Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Of course, combat only lasts a few moments. Parenthood is 18 years of seeing all the trouble that a smaller caricature of yourself can get in to.
Part 60, Chapter 837
Chapter Eight Hundred Thirty-Seven
12th July 1950
Lower Saxony
The movie wasn’t even finished filming yet, but it was already being called derivative of British and American films, Robin Hood and Zorro to be exact. Gerta thought that was stupid thing to criticize a movie for, it was said that most narratives were derivative of either the Crucifixion or the Odyssey. This one was no different, the film itself had elements of being an epic though rather than a swashbuckling adventure.
The film, Shadow of Edict was based on a short story written in the 30s about a couple, the nature of whose relationship remains ambiguous, Ulrich and Mitzi struggling to survive during the 30 Years War. Gerta had been cast as Mitzi which was the female lead and she understood the character in ways that the screen writer never could have. A woman fleeing her home into a war-torn countryside after being accused of being a witch. Her relationship with Ulrich, a rogue and mercenary, was only for the relative safety that brought her as his camp follower. She didn’t love the man her survival was dependent on, in fact she merely tolerated him. It reminded her in many ways of her own parent’s relationship. For Gerta, it had meant days on end in a dirty period costume, in rain and cold.
The military was in full support of this film, the result was that a scene which was intended to be only a few seconds as the two leads flee ahead of a cavalry troop was going to be very different from the script, a truly epic scene that the Director wanted to get in one take. This was after Ulrich’s Regiment gets overrun during a battle and is decimated. He is running for his life, pausing only long enough to get Mitzi. They were to run into a nearby forest.
“Action!” The Director yelled. Gerta had been told that they would only have one chance to get this scene right, so if she blew it this would mess up the entire filming schedule and put the film over budget. So, no pressure. She was trying to care for the wounded already coming into the camp. While ignoring the boom microphone that was a couple meters over her head, now that the wide shot had been completed only a few minutes earlier. Mitzi is trying to bandage a wound on a mans leg only to notice that the man has died of other injuries. While she’s still reacting to that, Ulrich runs up to her. Played by Jan Andersen, the actor was a few years younger than Gerta but that was actually in keeping with the story the script was based on.
“We have to go, NOW!” Ulrich yells at her.
“But…” Gerta said looking at the wounded soldiers.
Ulrich then grabs her arm and yanks her along just as the pounding of the hooves can be heard and the first cavalrymen enter the camp. She ran with him, it wasn’t really acting because Gerta was aware of the tons of horseflesh bearing down on them.
The other actors, mostly stuntmen scattered, and the cavalry made a show of hacking them down as they ran. Gerta and Jan ran for the trees. They nearly reach that relative safety when they are spotted, and bullets flew. They had planted explosives in the trees to simulate bullet strikes. All Gerta had to do was keep running forward, following the course that had been laid out that she had run a dozen times in rehearsal and hope that the pyrotechnicians hadn’t messed up.
The first of the explosives went off and Gerta could hear the pounding of hooves as she ran between the trees. Then was a loud POP! and she was showered in wood splinters. That was a bit too close for comfort which caused her to involuntarily lean forward as she ran, as if to duck.
“CUT!” The Director yelled and Gerta stopped running and was trying to catch her breath. The next scene would be Ulrich and Mitzi trying to fight and elude the Cavalry but that would take a few hours to set up.
“Perfect” The Director said to Gerta and Jan before he went back to yelling at the crew.
“Never thought I’d hear that from him” Jan said, “Now we wait.”
“I’ve things to do” Gerta said, “My assistant has been after me about the messages piling up. I’ve gotten a few calls over the last few days.”
“Hard to stay in character when talking on a telephone?” Jan asked.
“No worse than going back to the hotel at the end of the day” Gerta said, “I just know that there is seldom anything in those messages that will make me happy.”
“The happiness of Gerta von Wolvogle versus the world?” Jan asked sarcastically.
“Don’t you know it” Gerta replied, “My ride is here.”
“What?” Jan asked.
One of the Cavalrymen rode up to them, Gerta took his hand and swung up behind him on the horse before kissing him.
“This is my husband, Kurt” Gerta said, “Kurt, this is Jan, my costar. Kurt is one of the extras on this film. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Kurt gave Jan a mock salute and they rode off.
“Of course, it would be one of them who gets the girl” One of the crew said. Jan just laughed at that.
12th July 1950
Lower Saxony
The movie wasn’t even finished filming yet, but it was already being called derivative of British and American films, Robin Hood and Zorro to be exact. Gerta thought that was stupid thing to criticize a movie for, it was said that most narratives were derivative of either the Crucifixion or the Odyssey. This one was no different, the film itself had elements of being an epic though rather than a swashbuckling adventure.
The film, Shadow of Edict was based on a short story written in the 30s about a couple, the nature of whose relationship remains ambiguous, Ulrich and Mitzi struggling to survive during the 30 Years War. Gerta had been cast as Mitzi which was the female lead and she understood the character in ways that the screen writer never could have. A woman fleeing her home into a war-torn countryside after being accused of being a witch. Her relationship with Ulrich, a rogue and mercenary, was only for the relative safety that brought her as his camp follower. She didn’t love the man her survival was dependent on, in fact she merely tolerated him. It reminded her in many ways of her own parent’s relationship. For Gerta, it had meant days on end in a dirty period costume, in rain and cold.
The military was in full support of this film, the result was that a scene which was intended to be only a few seconds as the two leads flee ahead of a cavalry troop was going to be very different from the script, a truly epic scene that the Director wanted to get in one take. This was after Ulrich’s Regiment gets overrun during a battle and is decimated. He is running for his life, pausing only long enough to get Mitzi. They were to run into a nearby forest.
“Action!” The Director yelled. Gerta had been told that they would only have one chance to get this scene right, so if she blew it this would mess up the entire filming schedule and put the film over budget. So, no pressure. She was trying to care for the wounded already coming into the camp. While ignoring the boom microphone that was a couple meters over her head, now that the wide shot had been completed only a few minutes earlier. Mitzi is trying to bandage a wound on a mans leg only to notice that the man has died of other injuries. While she’s still reacting to that, Ulrich runs up to her. Played by Jan Andersen, the actor was a few years younger than Gerta but that was actually in keeping with the story the script was based on.
“We have to go, NOW!” Ulrich yells at her.
“But…” Gerta said looking at the wounded soldiers.
Ulrich then grabs her arm and yanks her along just as the pounding of the hooves can be heard and the first cavalrymen enter the camp. She ran with him, it wasn’t really acting because Gerta was aware of the tons of horseflesh bearing down on them.
The other actors, mostly stuntmen scattered, and the cavalry made a show of hacking them down as they ran. Gerta and Jan ran for the trees. They nearly reach that relative safety when they are spotted, and bullets flew. They had planted explosives in the trees to simulate bullet strikes. All Gerta had to do was keep running forward, following the course that had been laid out that she had run a dozen times in rehearsal and hope that the pyrotechnicians hadn’t messed up.
The first of the explosives went off and Gerta could hear the pounding of hooves as she ran between the trees. Then was a loud POP! and she was showered in wood splinters. That was a bit too close for comfort which caused her to involuntarily lean forward as she ran, as if to duck.
“CUT!” The Director yelled and Gerta stopped running and was trying to catch her breath. The next scene would be Ulrich and Mitzi trying to fight and elude the Cavalry but that would take a few hours to set up.
“Perfect” The Director said to Gerta and Jan before he went back to yelling at the crew.
“Never thought I’d hear that from him” Jan said, “Now we wait.”
“I’ve things to do” Gerta said, “My assistant has been after me about the messages piling up. I’ve gotten a few calls over the last few days.”
“Hard to stay in character when talking on a telephone?” Jan asked.
“No worse than going back to the hotel at the end of the day” Gerta said, “I just know that there is seldom anything in those messages that will make me happy.”
“The happiness of Gerta von Wolvogle versus the world?” Jan asked sarcastically.
“Don’t you know it” Gerta replied, “My ride is here.”
“What?” Jan asked.
One of the Cavalrymen rode up to them, Gerta took his hand and swung up behind him on the horse before kissing him.
“This is my husband, Kurt” Gerta said, “Kurt, this is Jan, my costar. Kurt is one of the extras on this film. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Kurt gave Jan a mock salute and they rode off.
“Of course, it would be one of them who gets the girl” One of the crew said. Jan just laughed at that.
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Her relationship with Ulrich, a rouge and mercenary
Flip it to rogue and it's awesome. That last line after Kurt picks her up: awesomeness.
Flip it to rogue and it's awesome. That last line after Kurt picks her up: awesomeness.
A typo like that just makes me see red.
Well, to be fair, some of the radical anabaptists were rather communitarian and anarchist.
This might be the time. Truman is a straight shooter, and probably won't care. Otherwise, requesting the return of a weapon used to a assassinate a head of state would probably be considered to be in bad form.
There is still the various trials to go thru and the subsequent appeals, so for right now the chain of custody must be persevered.
As a compromise the US government can acknowledge that the German government owns the weapon and it will turn it over to them after everything is done with and the Germans would agree to keep a strict record of the chain of custody just in case.
I just realized that Germany might not actually be the legal owner; Russia might be, as the gun was taken in war rather than stolen. The chain of ownership might well be completely legit, other than the fact that it was smuggled into the USA. Getting it back to Germany would certainty be a great goodwill gesture.
Part 60, Chapter 838
Chapter Eight Hundred Thirty-Eight
15th July 1950
Potsdam
On a bright Saturday afternoon, Sigmund pressed the button and the plastic explosive under the sandbags went off fifty meters away. All the others were looking at him, green with envy. Matthias had to think of a new contest for the boys, their teachers and parents had been astonished with the sudden interest in academics and school events. They had been less than thrilled to learn what the prize was. Matthias had explained that these were boys and one had to understand what motivated them. A chance for wanton destruction with no consequences was the sort of thing that they dreamed of and Matthias knew a lot of ways to go about doing that.
“Okay” Matthias said, “You lot remember what’s next from the safety meeting?”
A dozen different excited voices were all talking at once and it turned into a debate. Finally, they settled on one answer. “We’re supposed to wait for the range officer to declare the area safe and proceed cautiously” Michael said. It was pretty good that he was able to recite that from memory. These boys weren’t soldiers, so Matthias gave them a bit of latitude in how they came up with answers because in the end he wanted them to be children their age learning as well as having fun.
“Good” Matthias said, “Normally, on a range it would need to be swept for unexploded ordnance but because no one else has used this one it’s fairly safe, but on the real kind you need to always keep to marked areas.”
The boys were all staring at Matthias as he spoke, wide eyed. He had just made this real for them, not some game. They walked out to the steel plate as Matthias gathered the wire used to set off the charge. Over the previous weeks they had carefully carved the mirror image of the Troop number and their names into the thin sheet of plastique and mostly inert. Without a blasting cap it was extremely difficult to set off. He had made sure to wire it when they were not present that morning. This might have been a fun project but there were limits. If they eventually joined the military and were invited to train at Judenbach for the SKA or MA, he would be more than happy to teach them how to use the same principles used here to cut I-beams, steel rails and to take down structures. Clearing off the remains of the sandbags they looked in amazement, all the letters and numbers were blasted into the steel plate.
“Okay” Matthias said, “You all put in a lot of work and Sigmund might have got first prize, but you all deserve a reward. Who wants ice cream?”
They all lit up at that mention. Blowing stuff up and a treat. For them this was the perfect day.
Berlin
“If I had known” Gerta said.
“You would have what?” Kat asked, “Dropped everything and come back to Berlin because I was having some undefined personal crisis?”
When Gerta had gotten around to reading the messages that had been left with her assistant she had discovered that there was a dozen from Kat all saying the same thing. I have this major problem that I need to talk to someone I trust about. This is too important to leave as a message with an assistant. It hadn’t been until filming had wrapped for the week that Gerta was free to follow up with Kat. Finding out what was going on though was mind blowing, Gerta had personally thought that this would never, ever happen.
“I can understand that, but you didn’t need to be so rude to Bette though” Gerta replied.
“In my defense, your assistant is completely clueless.”
“Don’t be that way Kat” Gerta said, “She’s a lovely person and she knows where to get those shoelaces I like, the ones with the rainbow sparkles.”
Ah yes, Kat thought to herself. Despite everything else, Gerta was still twenty-nine going on twelve.
It had been a difficult week for her. The nausea that Kat knew was coming had arrived in full force. Then she had needed to go to work and pretend that everything was fine while her back ached and her moods swung wildly as she was dealing with the usual assortment of travelers. She had made it through the week without killing anyone or getting any complaints, so Kat considered it a victory. Few things made her day more delightful then having a businessman with a tan line where his wedding ring normally was asking if she was free that weekend when she had been throwing up her lunch in the bathroom not fifteen minutes earlier.
“You’re going to have a baby” Gerta said, her voice getting high pitched and making Kat wince. “It will be yours with Douglas so it’s going to be beautiful, we already know that.”
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead” Kat said glumly, “I’m just wondering how I’m going to make it through the next eight months.”
“So, the due date is in early to mid-February?” Gerta asked, “Wouldn’t it be funny if you had it on the Second of February, everything happens to you on that day.”
Dear God, the chances of that Kat had not thought about. The idea of giving birth on the twelfth anniversary of the Reichstag bombing was beyond perverse.
“I would cross my legs and hold it in until the third” Kat said, and she meant it.
“Don’t be silly Kat, it doesn’t work that way” Gerta said with a wide smile on her face.
Kat looked at Gerta and wondered why it had to be that a sperm found an ovum in her while Helene was in Brazil? Gerta was one of her closest friends and Kat loved her like a sister, however her wildly optimistic perspective and whimsical personality simply wasn’t well suited for this situation. When she and Doug had started to talk about this seriously, all the available literature had said it should have taken months of trying. Instead, they had hit the bullseye with the first shot. It made her want to scream at the perverse luck that was involved. Helene would appreciate and understand that, Gerta didn’t seem to.
15th July 1950
Potsdam
On a bright Saturday afternoon, Sigmund pressed the button and the plastic explosive under the sandbags went off fifty meters away. All the others were looking at him, green with envy. Matthias had to think of a new contest for the boys, their teachers and parents had been astonished with the sudden interest in academics and school events. They had been less than thrilled to learn what the prize was. Matthias had explained that these were boys and one had to understand what motivated them. A chance for wanton destruction with no consequences was the sort of thing that they dreamed of and Matthias knew a lot of ways to go about doing that.
“Okay” Matthias said, “You lot remember what’s next from the safety meeting?”
A dozen different excited voices were all talking at once and it turned into a debate. Finally, they settled on one answer. “We’re supposed to wait for the range officer to declare the area safe and proceed cautiously” Michael said. It was pretty good that he was able to recite that from memory. These boys weren’t soldiers, so Matthias gave them a bit of latitude in how they came up with answers because in the end he wanted them to be children their age learning as well as having fun.
“Good” Matthias said, “Normally, on a range it would need to be swept for unexploded ordnance but because no one else has used this one it’s fairly safe, but on the real kind you need to always keep to marked areas.”
The boys were all staring at Matthias as he spoke, wide eyed. He had just made this real for them, not some game. They walked out to the steel plate as Matthias gathered the wire used to set off the charge. Over the previous weeks they had carefully carved the mirror image of the Troop number and their names into the thin sheet of plastique and mostly inert. Without a blasting cap it was extremely difficult to set off. He had made sure to wire it when they were not present that morning. This might have been a fun project but there were limits. If they eventually joined the military and were invited to train at Judenbach for the SKA or MA, he would be more than happy to teach them how to use the same principles used here to cut I-beams, steel rails and to take down structures. Clearing off the remains of the sandbags they looked in amazement, all the letters and numbers were blasted into the steel plate.
“Okay” Matthias said, “You all put in a lot of work and Sigmund might have got first prize, but you all deserve a reward. Who wants ice cream?”
They all lit up at that mention. Blowing stuff up and a treat. For them this was the perfect day.
Berlin
“If I had known” Gerta said.
“You would have what?” Kat asked, “Dropped everything and come back to Berlin because I was having some undefined personal crisis?”
When Gerta had gotten around to reading the messages that had been left with her assistant she had discovered that there was a dozen from Kat all saying the same thing. I have this major problem that I need to talk to someone I trust about. This is too important to leave as a message with an assistant. It hadn’t been until filming had wrapped for the week that Gerta was free to follow up with Kat. Finding out what was going on though was mind blowing, Gerta had personally thought that this would never, ever happen.
“I can understand that, but you didn’t need to be so rude to Bette though” Gerta replied.
“In my defense, your assistant is completely clueless.”
“Don’t be that way Kat” Gerta said, “She’s a lovely person and she knows where to get those shoelaces I like, the ones with the rainbow sparkles.”
Ah yes, Kat thought to herself. Despite everything else, Gerta was still twenty-nine going on twelve.
It had been a difficult week for her. The nausea that Kat knew was coming had arrived in full force. Then she had needed to go to work and pretend that everything was fine while her back ached and her moods swung wildly as she was dealing with the usual assortment of travelers. She had made it through the week without killing anyone or getting any complaints, so Kat considered it a victory. Few things made her day more delightful then having a businessman with a tan line where his wedding ring normally was asking if she was free that weekend when she had been throwing up her lunch in the bathroom not fifteen minutes earlier.
“You’re going to have a baby” Gerta said, her voice getting high pitched and making Kat wince. “It will be yours with Douglas so it’s going to be beautiful, we already know that.”
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead” Kat said glumly, “I’m just wondering how I’m going to make it through the next eight months.”
“So, the due date is in early to mid-February?” Gerta asked, “Wouldn’t it be funny if you had it on the Second of February, everything happens to you on that day.”
Dear God, the chances of that Kat had not thought about. The idea of giving birth on the twelfth anniversary of the Reichstag bombing was beyond perverse.
“I would cross my legs and hold it in until the third” Kat said, and she meant it.
“Don’t be silly Kat, it doesn’t work that way” Gerta said with a wide smile on her face.
Kat looked at Gerta and wondered why it had to be that a sperm found an ovum in her while Helene was in Brazil? Gerta was one of her closest friends and Kat loved her like a sister, however her wildly optimistic perspective and whimsical personality simply wasn’t well suited for this situation. When she and Doug had started to talk about this seriously, all the available literature had said it should have taken months of trying. Instead, they had hit the bullseye with the first shot. It made her want to scream at the perverse luck that was involved. Helene would appreciate and understand that, Gerta didn’t seem to.
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Nice one. It brings back memories--when I was a kid, construction workers were getting ready to blast some ledge for some work on the street. They let me push the plunger, just like in the cartoons. (Could never do that in this day and age!)
If Kat gets to keep her job, that could open the way for other new mothers to keep their jobs
If Kat gets to keep her job, that could open the way for other new mothers to keep their jobs
It's actually Kat's depressive and pessimistic personalty which is somewhat at odds with the situation...
Part 60, Chapter 839
Chapter Eight Hundred Thirty-Nine
16th July 1950
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
It was the most amazing game that Hans had seen in his life. Uruguay had made a come from behind win at the last-minute upsetting Brazil in front of over two hundred thousand people who had been stunned by what had just happened. Brazil had been heavily favored to win only to watch it all slip away in the last few minutes and Uruguay had won before the most silent crowd that Hans had ever seen.
“That was something” Helene said as they left the stadium.
Hans would say so. The police and military were already in the streets expecting a festive crowd that they would need to keep under control. Instead the mood in the streets was ugly. These people were shocked, and Hans realized that it would only take a small spark for this to explode.
“We need to get back to the hotel” Hans said to Helene.
“Why?” Helene asked, “We were invited to that party after the game.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to be doing a whole lot of celebrating tonight here in Rio” Hans said, “This wasn’t expected.”
Helene looked at him with a bewildered expression. “It’s just a game” She said.
“A game bound up in national pride” Hans replied. As they made their way to the hotel he noticed an orange glow on the horizon. Hans had seen how distraught fans had reacted before, but this was far worse than that. The hotel was a large concrete building and they were on a high floor, so they were secure as they watched the city that was in chaos. It wasn’t how they imagined they would spend the last few days in Brazil.
17th July 1950
Berlin
Emil was surprised when he got the call from the Department that was responsible for the sale of the Albatros Al-214 helicopters that was to start soon when the Al-214 was to begin being phased out of service. The demand was overwhelming. He could imagine that Focke-Wulf/Albatros were just overjoyed, this meant that they could go ahead with developing civil versions of their helicopters and have a ready market. Not to mention having Al-214s in civilian hands would represent a huge opportunity for them in regarding the servicing the surplus machines and systems. That was a bit of good news that was welcome.
The space program was continuing to advance in terms of pure research but already there were questions regarding the practical applications. As Emil had discovered during the meeting to the heads of the various Service Branches in Zossen a week earlier, there were several applications, but beyond research and exploration he couldn’t talk about much of it. He had been told that technology was being developed to put a camera on a satellite in orbit. The ultimate reconnaissance and the value to intelligence was immeasurable. To get over-flights of army bases and airfields in the interior of America with no countermeasures. Hard numbers, movements and most of all the knowledge that your side was vulnerable to the same thing was priceless. The OKL had put together a group to study the implications under the greatest of secrecy. They were supposed to get back to him with recommendations, eventually.
At home, Emil had come to realize that while Zella was still a child, he could see that her becoming a young woman was right around the corner. As her father Emil wanted to yell “Stop!” but even as a Field Marshal and a Markgraf he lacked the power to make that happen. Maria had thought that it was sweet, and she reminded him that all children grow up eventually. It seemed like it was not that long ago that Zella had been the squalling infant that they had brought home to their house in Manly while they were living in Australia. Then Emil had been called away to Command the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division and he had missed a lot of Zella’s early childhood. It was something he still felt a bit of guilt for even if it hadn’t been his choice. Maria had said that she had come to terms with his leaving a long time ago, it had turned out to be a good thing because he had not needed to worry about his wife and daughter when Berlin itself had come under attack during the war.
Emil had then said that not all children grow up. The troubled girl she had mentored for years, Katherine, had gone about her sweet old time growing up if she ever had. Not even becoming a trained partisan of sorts in the Luftwaffe had caused that. Maria had looked at Emil with a slight smile on her face and said that Kat went about doing things in her own order. Emil was left feeling like something was going on that he didn’t know about, but Maria did. It was a real laugh, here he was the CoC of one of the most powerful military forces in the world and his own household left feeling like he didn’t have the first clue.
“Admiral von Schmidt here to see you, Sir” The tinny voice of the secretary said over the intercom. With that Emil felt a migraine starting. The deal was that the Luftwaffe and Kaiserliche Marine would share technology and information, but Emil found his dealings with the Grand Admiral exhausting. With Jacob von Schmidt it was like playing a game of chess and having to think a dozen moves ahead while not being allowed to see the board. One didn’t know what the Admiral wanted until he got it.
Emil pressed the button, “Let him in” He replied, and he steeled himself for what was coming.
16th July 1950
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
It was the most amazing game that Hans had seen in his life. Uruguay had made a come from behind win at the last-minute upsetting Brazil in front of over two hundred thousand people who had been stunned by what had just happened. Brazil had been heavily favored to win only to watch it all slip away in the last few minutes and Uruguay had won before the most silent crowd that Hans had ever seen.
“That was something” Helene said as they left the stadium.
Hans would say so. The police and military were already in the streets expecting a festive crowd that they would need to keep under control. Instead the mood in the streets was ugly. These people were shocked, and Hans realized that it would only take a small spark for this to explode.
“We need to get back to the hotel” Hans said to Helene.
“Why?” Helene asked, “We were invited to that party after the game.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to be doing a whole lot of celebrating tonight here in Rio” Hans said, “This wasn’t expected.”
Helene looked at him with a bewildered expression. “It’s just a game” She said.
“A game bound up in national pride” Hans replied. As they made their way to the hotel he noticed an orange glow on the horizon. Hans had seen how distraught fans had reacted before, but this was far worse than that. The hotel was a large concrete building and they were on a high floor, so they were secure as they watched the city that was in chaos. It wasn’t how they imagined they would spend the last few days in Brazil.
17th July 1950
Berlin
Emil was surprised when he got the call from the Department that was responsible for the sale of the Albatros Al-214 helicopters that was to start soon when the Al-214 was to begin being phased out of service. The demand was overwhelming. He could imagine that Focke-Wulf/Albatros were just overjoyed, this meant that they could go ahead with developing civil versions of their helicopters and have a ready market. Not to mention having Al-214s in civilian hands would represent a huge opportunity for them in regarding the servicing the surplus machines and systems. That was a bit of good news that was welcome.
The space program was continuing to advance in terms of pure research but already there were questions regarding the practical applications. As Emil had discovered during the meeting to the heads of the various Service Branches in Zossen a week earlier, there were several applications, but beyond research and exploration he couldn’t talk about much of it. He had been told that technology was being developed to put a camera on a satellite in orbit. The ultimate reconnaissance and the value to intelligence was immeasurable. To get over-flights of army bases and airfields in the interior of America with no countermeasures. Hard numbers, movements and most of all the knowledge that your side was vulnerable to the same thing was priceless. The OKL had put together a group to study the implications under the greatest of secrecy. They were supposed to get back to him with recommendations, eventually.
At home, Emil had come to realize that while Zella was still a child, he could see that her becoming a young woman was right around the corner. As her father Emil wanted to yell “Stop!” but even as a Field Marshal and a Markgraf he lacked the power to make that happen. Maria had thought that it was sweet, and she reminded him that all children grow up eventually. It seemed like it was not that long ago that Zella had been the squalling infant that they had brought home to their house in Manly while they were living in Australia. Then Emil had been called away to Command the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division and he had missed a lot of Zella’s early childhood. It was something he still felt a bit of guilt for even if it hadn’t been his choice. Maria had said that she had come to terms with his leaving a long time ago, it had turned out to be a good thing because he had not needed to worry about his wife and daughter when Berlin itself had come under attack during the war.
Emil had then said that not all children grow up. The troubled girl she had mentored for years, Katherine, had gone about her sweet old time growing up if she ever had. Not even becoming a trained partisan of sorts in the Luftwaffe had caused that. Maria had looked at Emil with a slight smile on her face and said that Kat went about doing things in her own order. Emil was left feeling like something was going on that he didn’t know about, but Maria did. It was a real laugh, here he was the CoC of one of the most powerful military forces in the world and his own household left feeling like he didn’t have the first clue.
“Admiral von Schmidt here to see you, Sir” The tinny voice of the secretary said over the intercom. With that Emil felt a migraine starting. The deal was that the Luftwaffe and Kaiserliche Marine would share technology and information, but Emil found his dealings with the Grand Admiral exhausting. With Jacob von Schmidt it was like playing a game of chess and having to think a dozen moves ahead while not being allowed to see the board. One didn’t know what the Admiral wanted until he got it.
Emil pressed the button, “Let him in” He replied, and he steeled himself for what was coming.
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Weather Satellites should also be of intense interest to the General in charge of airborne troops. That's a decade off OTL, but wouldn't be out of the question a little early.
Spy satellites were about in the same time frame, though slightly earlier. What would make for a great bit of fun is a bad film drop. Those early satellites actually dropped their film, and the Intelligence recovered it. A bad drop could put the film in the wrong area...
Spy satellites were about in the same time frame, though slightly earlier. What would make for a great bit of fun is a bad film drop. Those early satellites actually dropped their film, and the Intelligence recovered it. A bad drop could put the film in the wrong area...