Part 152, Chapter 2766
Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six
12th March 1979
Rural Silesia, near Liegnitz
Silesia was hosting the vast military exercise that the European Defense Pact this year. Niko had found himself working in the General Staff as they had found themselves managing dozens of Divisions from different countries, the logistics chain, and everything that came with that. As a very junior Officer who actually lived in this region Niko found himself riding Zwei all over the backcountry of Lower Silesia on this or that errand. Coordination had become a major issue and very often he had to spend a great deal of time finding the various headquarters. It might have been a cliché, but it wasn’t a surprise considering the massive egos involved that no one was prepared to admit that they were lost. Niko had left Army Headquarters early that morning with a map and a radio with the task of finding where the various Divisional Headquarters actually were as opposed to where they were supposed to be.
Not that Niko was alone. He had been joined by Bruce, his British counterpart who was an old friend from the various Calvary competitions that they had taken part in, and a Second Lieutenant James Acree from the American Observation mission. It was rumored that the American President wanted to have American troops take part in European Defense Pact exercises in an effort to further improve diplomatic relations. The Observation Mission was considered key to that.
Acree was a self-styled Cowboy from Texas who said that his friends called him Slick, apparently that included Niko and Bruce. He had been delighted to learn he would be shadowing them on horseback. It was amusing to watch the deference that Slick was paying to Bruce who was acting the role of the British Gentleman. Niko knew the truth, that Bruce was the son of an Auto Mechanic and had grown up in the industrial city of Sheffield. He talked and acted the way he did because he had attended an exclusive Public School as a scholarship student. That was also where he had gotten into equestrianism and fencing which had brought him into Niko’s orbit.
This ride would have been a pleasant experience, except it was still winter no matter what the calendar said. The temperature had not once gotten above freezing the entire time they had been out. They were all roughly the same rank, but Niko lived here so that left him in charge. At the moment, Slick was telling them about his experiences in the US Army’s 6th Air Calvary Regiment after he had graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. He had apparently had a few misunderstandings about the changing nature of warfare when he had arrived in Fort Riley, Kansas. Niko kept his opinion that Slick was full of shit to himself. There was no way that he could have gone through all those years of training not knowing that most “Cavalry” rode helicopters or armored vehicles these days. Of course, Texas. Even Niko knew about the reputation that Americans from there had. Aunt Kat had told him stories about dealing with American businessmen when she had worked in Customs at the old Tempelhof Airport before it had been covered by an upscale neighborhood and the Humbolt Campus of the University of Berlin. Apparently those from Texas or Massachusetts tended to stand out as they had they were the most likely to proposition her. Niko had been shocked to hear that had ever happened. His aunt’s reputation for not gladly suffering fools was extremely well documented and her favored means of solving problems were seldom delicate.
It was either fortunate or unfortunate that as they trotted along they had plenty of time to talk.
“Does every place around here look like this?” Slick asked, “The icy asshole end of nowhere.”
They had been avoiding towns and villages as they had been making their way east towards Breslau along the “Front lines.” Any place with a population would present complications. It would take about five seconds for the people in any of these places to recognize Niko and he would be obligated to meet with the Hetman. That would be useful when they had to stop for the night, but at the moment it would just take too much time. So they had seen a lot of narrow lanes running through snow covered fields and forest.
“Come back in a few weeks” Niko replied, “This whole place will be a mire.”
“And you live here?” Slick asked.
“My family’s house is a few kilometers north of here and I’ve lived here my whole life” Niko said, “Except for a year I spent in Argentina.”
“You ought to get Niko to tell you about that” Bruce said, “Peacekeeping mission, real cowboys and Indians.”
“How’d that work?” Slick asked, sounding a bit bewildered.
“With the Cavalry” Niko said, “I was sent to be the aide of an Oberst… er… Colonel when I was attending Wahlestedt, the Cadet Academy. That took me to Argentina.”
“Now you said your folks live around here” Slick said, “How big a spread are we talking?”
“That depends” Niko replied. They had crossed in and out of land that Niko’s family directly owned several times over the last several hours. Not that Niko was about to tell slick that.
“All of Silesia sounds about right” Bruce said with a laugh, “Your family also has land in Argentina. Right Niko?”
“That is one way to look at it” Niko said, “I wouldn’t say that we own Silesia though, my father would say that we merely run it, symbolically of course.”
“Just who are you?” Slick asked, sounding confused again.
12th March 1979
Rural Silesia, near Liegnitz
Silesia was hosting the vast military exercise that the European Defense Pact this year. Niko had found himself working in the General Staff as they had found themselves managing dozens of Divisions from different countries, the logistics chain, and everything that came with that. As a very junior Officer who actually lived in this region Niko found himself riding Zwei all over the backcountry of Lower Silesia on this or that errand. Coordination had become a major issue and very often he had to spend a great deal of time finding the various headquarters. It might have been a cliché, but it wasn’t a surprise considering the massive egos involved that no one was prepared to admit that they were lost. Niko had left Army Headquarters early that morning with a map and a radio with the task of finding where the various Divisional Headquarters actually were as opposed to where they were supposed to be.
Not that Niko was alone. He had been joined by Bruce, his British counterpart who was an old friend from the various Calvary competitions that they had taken part in, and a Second Lieutenant James Acree from the American Observation mission. It was rumored that the American President wanted to have American troops take part in European Defense Pact exercises in an effort to further improve diplomatic relations. The Observation Mission was considered key to that.
Acree was a self-styled Cowboy from Texas who said that his friends called him Slick, apparently that included Niko and Bruce. He had been delighted to learn he would be shadowing them on horseback. It was amusing to watch the deference that Slick was paying to Bruce who was acting the role of the British Gentleman. Niko knew the truth, that Bruce was the son of an Auto Mechanic and had grown up in the industrial city of Sheffield. He talked and acted the way he did because he had attended an exclusive Public School as a scholarship student. That was also where he had gotten into equestrianism and fencing which had brought him into Niko’s orbit.
This ride would have been a pleasant experience, except it was still winter no matter what the calendar said. The temperature had not once gotten above freezing the entire time they had been out. They were all roughly the same rank, but Niko lived here so that left him in charge. At the moment, Slick was telling them about his experiences in the US Army’s 6th Air Calvary Regiment after he had graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. He had apparently had a few misunderstandings about the changing nature of warfare when he had arrived in Fort Riley, Kansas. Niko kept his opinion that Slick was full of shit to himself. There was no way that he could have gone through all those years of training not knowing that most “Cavalry” rode helicopters or armored vehicles these days. Of course, Texas. Even Niko knew about the reputation that Americans from there had. Aunt Kat had told him stories about dealing with American businessmen when she had worked in Customs at the old Tempelhof Airport before it had been covered by an upscale neighborhood and the Humbolt Campus of the University of Berlin. Apparently those from Texas or Massachusetts tended to stand out as they had they were the most likely to proposition her. Niko had been shocked to hear that had ever happened. His aunt’s reputation for not gladly suffering fools was extremely well documented and her favored means of solving problems were seldom delicate.
It was either fortunate or unfortunate that as they trotted along they had plenty of time to talk.
“Does every place around here look like this?” Slick asked, “The icy asshole end of nowhere.”
They had been avoiding towns and villages as they had been making their way east towards Breslau along the “Front lines.” Any place with a population would present complications. It would take about five seconds for the people in any of these places to recognize Niko and he would be obligated to meet with the Hetman. That would be useful when they had to stop for the night, but at the moment it would just take too much time. So they had seen a lot of narrow lanes running through snow covered fields and forest.
“Come back in a few weeks” Niko replied, “This whole place will be a mire.”
“And you live here?” Slick asked.
“My family’s house is a few kilometers north of here and I’ve lived here my whole life” Niko said, “Except for a year I spent in Argentina.”
“You ought to get Niko to tell you about that” Bruce said, “Peacekeeping mission, real cowboys and Indians.”
“How’d that work?” Slick asked, sounding a bit bewildered.
“With the Cavalry” Niko said, “I was sent to be the aide of an Oberst… er… Colonel when I was attending Wahlestedt, the Cadet Academy. That took me to Argentina.”
“Now you said your folks live around here” Slick said, “How big a spread are we talking?”
“That depends” Niko replied. They had crossed in and out of land that Niko’s family directly owned several times over the last several hours. Not that Niko was about to tell slick that.
“All of Silesia sounds about right” Bruce said with a laugh, “Your family also has land in Argentina. Right Niko?”
“That is one way to look at it” Niko said, “I wouldn’t say that we own Silesia though, my father would say that we merely run it, symbolically of course.”
“Just who are you?” Slick asked, sounding confused again.
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