The next update is in the works, but as stated above it doesn't have anything to do with Pinie.ShadowWarrior said:The suspense is killing me, stop comenting and start wrighting, we must have an update!
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Crusader Kings III Available Now!
The realm rejoices as Paradox Interactive announces the launch of Crusader Kings III, the latest entry in the publisher’s grand strategy role-playing game franchise. Advisors may now jockey for positions of influence and adversaries should save their schemes for another day, because on this day Crusader Kings III can be purchased on Steam, the Paradox Store, and other major online retailers.
Chapter 46
January 23rd, 1939
Cunard-White Star Terminal, Southampton, 14:56 PM
The massive Cruise Ship, flying the ensign of the British Merchant Navy, was slowly coming to a halt at the massive terminal that had been built here after the merger of the two lines in anticipation of the cruises to America. This plan had gone down the drain with many other investments and businesses when the Second American Revolution had hit, and so now the big cruise liners were travelling the route between Britain and Halifax instead of to New York. Business was slow, but there were still many who could afford both the price for such a voyage and the time associated with it. The RN Lieutenant on the pier was however not looking forward to see one of the first-class passengers, the people he had come to pick up were travelling third class. He could not wait to see his folks again, and despite his fathers misgivings about the British he was sure they would do well over here, as they would most certainly fit in well with the American Exile community, centred around the former U.S. Embassy that had not been handed back to the UAPR, despite howling protests from Washington. They currently had no political structure, and the group was more an assembly of Businessmen, Politicians and Civilians, informally led by the last U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Roosevelt. The 'official' U.S. Government in Exile was located in Toronto, Canada, and was led by John Nance Garner, Roosevelt's old running mate from the 1932 elections, and they were somewhat at odds about how to deal with Communist America. While Garner was proposing a more radical, aggressive and direct approach, Roosevelt favoured a more subtle way to handle things, he was proposing propaganda by Radio, leaflets and the sorts, and was constantly pressing the British authorities and High-Society for funding for these activities, while Garner was reportedly training militias and insurgents, meant to infiltrate the UAPR over the still very lightly guarded border with Canada. The success of this was disputable at best, of the last five groups four had been rounded up in a matter of weeks, and so far Radio Free America, broadcasting from Darwin was the only somewhat successful propaganda tool that the Exiled Americans possessed.
But all this was unknown to Leiter, and he would not find out for some time. Right now he was scanning the crowds of disembarking passengers for the blonde heads of his Sister and Mother, and the receding black hair of his father. After another few minutes he could see them through his binoculars, coming down the gangway, his mother up front, carrying an assortment of bags and suitcases, his sister in the middle with her own dufflebag hanging from her shoulder, the one that Felix had given her for her birthday when he had last seen them. In the back was his father, as usual playing the mule with the largest number of bags, carrying them under his arms, with another one in each hand. Typically for all the Leiter males his father had Jet-Black hair, while his mother and sister had the characteristic blonde hair of his mothers family. When they had passed customs Leiter was waiting for them to come down and exit the building, where he was waiting with a borrowed Saloon car, courtesy of Rear Admiral Edwards and Ian Fleming. The Car had been 'awarded' to the Section for their work in Wales, the Admiral and Fleming had allowed Leiter to take it to pick up his family and drive them to the House in Southwark they had bought through an Agent a few months ago. Luckily the Agent had been an old friend of Felix and so he had made sure that his parents weren't scammed out of the scarce money they had at that time. When his family finally exited the building Leiter said cheerfully: “Can I take you folks anywhere?” He was only answered by a screeching sound coming from his sister as she threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, knocking his Officers Cap off his head. “How are you Sandra, little sister?” he said jokingly, and Sandra answered: “You were born a mere thirty seconds ahead of me, so stop calling me that!” while slapping him on the arm. He turned around and faced his parents. “Well, Mom and Dad, how are you two?” He hugged both closely, letting them feel that he had missed them dearly. Caroline Leiter got teary eyes when she stepped back a bit and said looked him over closely with the kind of scrutiny only worried mothers could muster. “At least they have been feeding my little Felix well it seems. I missed you so much...” “Mum, I know how to take care of myself!” he grinned when he heard the voice of his father. “It seems so, Son. I can also see that you did it again.” Jonathan Leiter said with a grin on his own face. “Join the Navy I mean.” He hugged his only son and said : “It's good to see you son.” After a few more minutes of catching up the cold was getting to them all, provoking a comment from Jonathan who remarked that the cold in London was almost as bad as back in Colorado Springs, in turn leading to a remark from Felix who said that in this case they would have to move to Scotland where it was much colder then down here.
The loaded the rather extensive baggage into the Car and drove off. “What about if I give you the grand tour first, and then we grab a bite to eat? There's this incredibly god Italian in restaurant in Soho I know, the guy who runs it used to live in New York.” His father looked at his wife before he said that they needed to go by the Embassy first. The Embassy still handled American Immigrants in Britain, despite no longer having a country to represent, thanks to the official recognition Prime Minister Chamberlain had extended towards the Garner administration in Toronto in one of his last acts as Prime Minister. When they reached Grosvenor Gardens they entered, after passing the Police Constables guarding the building. Inside they could see civilians and officers wearing Uniforms of various now defunct services, from Army to the Marines, scurrying about and looking very busy. Actually the necessary papers had already been made in Canada, but some things could only be done locally, such as the licence for the shop. For the most part however it was mainly help on where to find the rest of the Exiles and guide that pointed out certain cultural differences, from football to tea and stating the arrivals new address in order to allow the Exile Government to keep track about how many of her citizens were where in Europe and throughout the world. This organization, far from really complete was simple: The Staff of the U.S. Embassies, wherever they had stayed loyal or at their posts were gathering that information, relaying it back to the Toronto Government, and where the Embassies had fallen into Communist hands or where no longer available for other reasons they simple did this in private houses or wherever they could find the room they needed. With this Toronto still had at least some population to draw its legitimacy from, and that had been the reasoning behind the recognition of said Government by London and Paris. Washington was not pleased about this, but as Churchill had put it in a newspaper article published a few days ago: “The squabble between the Toronto Exiles and the Communist leadership in Washington is an internal American matter. His Majesties Government and the rest of the British Empire see themselves as neutrals in this conflict.” If this stance would work out in the long term remained to be seen, but for now everyone seemed content with this solution. The age-old adage of 'Never change a running system' applied here, as it did often in politics these days.
Later that day the Leiters were gathered around the big table in their new family home. Caroline was studying her reunited family closely, and the sight still warmed her heart, despite all that time and all the horrible things they had seen. Felix and Sandra were already joking and bantering like they hadn't spent a minute apart, Jonathan was outwardly displeased at this childish behaviour, but she knew he was just as amused as she herself was. Felix however was a whole different story. He still cracked jokes at every opportunity, he still displayed that devil-may-care attitude that was his greatest advantage and greatest weakness at the same time, but something about him had changed. They had all been very surprised to see him wearing an Officers Uniform of the British Navy when he had picked them up, and this, paired with whatever sort of work hid behind the 'classified' with which he deflected questions in that direction seemed to have turned him into a much more grown-up man than he had been when he had left Colorado after his last visit there, just before he had been posted to London all these years ago. Both suited him well, and it seemed to her that her only son had finally found his place in the world, doing whatever it was he did. One thing was obvious to her: his work was important, and whenever something was important, whenever one Leiter put so much of his passion into something the rest of the clan supported him to the end, and she promised herself that she would do so again.
[Game effects: I couldn't kill off FDR again, the last time I did this the AAR failed, and I'm not taking any chances. Btw, this updates parallels to real events and Persons are fully intentional.
I was also pretty juiced up on caffeine when I wrote this, so please forgive the sillyness.]
Another great and amazing update...
...But why would want to kill FDR? Always better to be safe than sorry, looking forward to more.
...But why would want to kill FDR?
Always better to be safe than sorry, looking forward to more.
when did you kill mr roosevelt?
anyway, i really liked that update. it was interesting to hear about the exiled yanks and how they're getting along.
anyway, i really liked that update. it was interesting to hear about the exiled yanks and how they're getting along.
Spiffing pair of updates, while I'm disappointed the shoot-out wasn't inside the reactor (complete with emergency steam and giant dials in the red zone) it was still excellent.
As to the rest of the Leiter clan update, a good way of working in the US situation without it being a fact dump. I do agree it will be difficult to maintain British 'neutrality' in the long term, even the very pro-exile version currently being practised.
One thing though, I didn't undestand (c)
Unless the plan is to blame it on the American Commies. That would distract the British and get rid of the rival form of Communism.
As to the rest of the Leiter clan update, a good way of working in the US situation without it being a fact dump. I do agree it will be difficult to maintain British 'neutrality' in the long term, even the very pro-exile version currently being practised.
One thing though, I didn't undestand (c)
Why would the Germans want to kill off the most pro-Axis leading light of the British establishment and to unite the country around their fiercest critic?
Unless the plan is to blame it on the American Commies. That would distract the British and get rid of the rival form of Communism.
TheEnlighted1 In a failed UK AAR attempt I once killed him as a plot device, and the AAR promptly failed due to save game corruption.
BritishImperial See aboves response. I am glad you two liked it as I had some misgivings about the whole thing. Rest assured we will hear more from the Leiters in the future, in fact the next update will probably include them already.
El Pip Well, I have a probably irrational fear of Nuclear radiation ( something about being in the direct path of the Chernobyl fallout as a toddler does that to you ), so I will try to keep my characters away from it.
The US situation is a mix of motives from the OTL cold war, a bit from Cuba, a bit from Poland, a bit from central Europe, you get the idea. I must admit I don't have any specific plans for them yet, but the American exiles will provide excellent plot devices when there's a lull at the front.
As for your question about the duke, I PMed it to you, as it contains some small spoilers.
BritishImperial See aboves response. I am glad you two liked it as I had some misgivings about the whole thing. Rest assured we will hear more from the Leiters in the future, in fact the next update will probably include them already.
El Pip Well, I have a probably irrational fear of Nuclear radiation ( something about being in the direct path of the Chernobyl fallout as a toddler does that to you ), so I will try to keep my characters away from it.
The US situation is a mix of motives from the OTL cold war, a bit from Cuba, a bit from Poland, a bit from central Europe, you get the idea. I must admit I don't have any specific plans for them yet, but the American exiles will provide excellent plot devices when there's a lull at the front.
As for your question about the duke, I PMed it to you, as it contains some small spoilers.
Chapter 47
January 24th, 1939
Leiter Residence, Southwark, 1:23 AM
The women of the family had long since gone to bed, but father and son sat in front of the Chimney, each with a glass of the last bottle of real Kentucky Whiskey in the hand, and discussed things. Felix realized that his father had not changed at all, still interested in politics, still disliking the British, but to a much lesser degree, having realized that most of what he had thought about them had not been genuine dislike but rather family tradition. They had talked about everything, from his mothers work to the Empire Plan, that Jonathan regarded with suspicion, but was prepared to give the benefit of doubt. The older Leiter took a sip from his glass and asked the question that had been burning on his tongue all day: “So did you take an oath on the King when you joined the Royal Navy?” Felix laughed. “Didn't have to. I could prove I already was a commissioned officer, so I only had to take an oath always to obey my superiors unless they give unlawful orders... yadda yadda yadda. You get the idea.” he said while waving his free hand dismissively. “I was pretty much sitting around without a way to earn my living, and that was the only thing I ever learned to do. Besides, the Limeys have some pretty nifty ships. The Hood for example, I was six when she was laid down, but one tough ship, let me tell you.” Felix stared into the fire, but his father knew his son well enough, he could tell that Felix was skirting around the issue, clearly uncomfortable with what he wanted to say but did not dare to. Something was bothering Felix, and his father intended to find out what it was. “You know Son,” he said, “Somehow I don't think that's everything....” Felix sighed. “Listen, Dad... do we really have to talk about this?” “Oh yes we do. Listen... in the past I may have had some problems with you becoming a squid, but I've realized long ago that had you done as I wanted then you would have died with the rest of your Regiment at Fall's Bluff.” He said, referring to the battle where the only full U.S. Cavalry Division, augmented by most of the independent Regiments had died, where the once so proud U.S. Cavalry had died with it. Felix could only imagine that the news of this had been very hard on his father, who had been a Cavalry man to the bone.
“Do you have any Idea how relieved we where when we received your letter? For all we knew you were dead, like all those others that were recalled in the later days.” Jonathan continued. “It was very hard on all of us, believe me.” Felix grinned and replied: “I don't have to believe that, I knew all the time. That's why I jumped into the first clipper to Canada when I got your letter, it was hard on me too, you know.” “I can see that, Son.” Jonathan now realized why his son had been so evasive when they had talked about his own life when he had been to Canada, and despite it all he couldn't resist to ask. “I know you can't tell me, but at least I have to try. What are you doing in the Navy?” A smirk ran over Felix' face before he answered. “All I can tell you is that I work Naval Intelligence, nothing more I'm afraid. Sorry, Dad.” Jonathan gave his son a friendly pat on the shoulder and said: “No problem, Felix, I can understand that.” Father and son shared a grin, before Jonathan got serious again. “Something else. This whole thing, the alliance between the Krauts and Ivan, how much is there behind it?” Felix shrugged. “As far as the United Kingdom is concerned the whole thing is very serious, as for my personal opinion: I think that the whole continent is like a powder-keg, waiting to blow. Again.” Little did his Father know. The Soviets had repeatedly tried to replace the Agents lost over the last half year, obviously not content with the information fed to them by the handlers that had taken over the Cambridge Five, and the Admiral feared that this was only the beginning. The second big mystery was that Operation to assassinate the Duke of Windsor. So far all that was known was that the Germans were apparently behind it, but nothing definite had come in. It was either handled by unknown German sources within the British Empire, or the Soviets did not know about it. Either way, information was practically non-existent and the Duke's refusal to move back to Britain didn't help matters. It was too dangerous to ask the French for help. As the Admiral had put it: “French Intelligence has more leaks than HMS Victory after a bloody hurricane.” Felix shook these thoughts away. This was not the time to think about these matters, the day after tomorrow, when he returned to work, was early enough. His Father had looked at him with concern, knowing that whatever it really was his son did was really difficult to deal with for him. “You sure?” he asked, curious as to what his son would say. “Pretty much, Dad. What the papers say is crap. The Reds and the Nazis aren't best friends all of a sudden. If you ask me I could seriously see both Hitler and Stalin plot to backstab the other as soon as the west is taken care of. We won't let that happen of course. The French... well, they are the French, clinging to the old ways, but they'll fight if the balloon goes up.”
Jonathan Leiter's interest was again risen. “Clinging to the old ways?” he said with an inquiring voice. “Well, I could tell you about all the reforms the Brits have made to the Army and the Navy recently, but let's just say that the French, unlike us, still prepare to fight the last war instead of the next. And I...” Felix was interrupted by his Father's laughter. “Why are you laughing like that?” Jonathan answered, desperately trying to stop laughing. “You said 'we'. What, are you a Brit now?” “In a way yes, Dad. The Nation I served no longer exists. I will always be an American, but I had to take on dual citizenship when I joined the service, and I will always be loyal to those I am sworn to defend, be they British, American, or little green men from Mars. I will stay loyal to my comrades, no matter the cost.” His voice had risen with every word, and by the end he was as loud as he dared, practically yelling and whispering at his father the same time. Jonathan was taken aback. When Felix had left for Annapolis all these years ago he had been going there only to rebel against his father, totally ignorant of the world beyond the city limits and not really caring about anything then himself. To see him sitting here, defending his ideals with such fervour, was a new experience for Jonathan. He could see that his son had grown with the challenges this crazy world presented him, and as far as he could tell Felix had found something he really believed in, something he found worth fighting for, and Jonathan was even more proud of his son now than he had been when he had still been living in Colorado Springs. “Listen, Felix,” he said, “You misunderstood me here. I wasn't trying to belittle you or your choices. In fact I am proud of what you did. Far too many of us have gone... bad so to speak.” He referred to several widely published incidents where exiles had used their extraterritorial status to commit all sorts of crimes. These times where over now that the United States did not even exist on paper, but at a time this had been a certain problem, and there was still a good deal of bad blood, especially in the southern parts of Canada. “No problem there, Dad. It's just been a long day, that's all. Work is a demanding master these days.” “I can imagine.” Jonathan said, “speaking of which, how long do you have?” Felix leaned back in his chair and said with a smirk: “The day after tomorrow is the date where his Majesty, King George VI, beckons for my humble service again.” Jonathan answered, hooking onto his son's semi-serious tone. “Well, then, Old Chap, we shall make the most of it then. Tomorrow, on Wednesday, you will accompany us to the new shop then.” He became serious again. “Say Felix, what if war does break out between the Empire and the UAPR?” Felix shrugged. “I'll fight, just as I swore to do when I took the oath. I am an Officer in the Royal Navy and it would be my duty. Same goes for the Axis. Think what you want of the Prime Minister, but Churchill will fight if the cross the boundaries that were set for them.” “What do you mean?” “Basically if they attack Poland or any other European Nation the British Empire will consider this an act of War against the Allied Powers.” He then spoke more like a son than an officer. “Basically if they do something stupid that threatens British Interests in Europe things might get very hot very fast. Poland is just one example, same goes for Denmark, Switzerland, the Low Countries, practically all of western Europe.” “How is morale here?” his father asked. “Depends on who you ask. For the most part the population would support a war to defend Poland, but there are still those who think that cutting a deal with Hitler would be the smartest thing to do. That's not going to happen though as long as Churchill sits in No.10.”
[Game effects: I see Felix Leiter as my alter ego of sorts, so his motivations, morals and such are very close of not identical to mine, I also think that I would have acted that way had I been in his situation, I too would go for all or nothing in his place. Note the general overestimation of the French that was usual pre-war. *starts to mutter about incompetent Higher Officer Corps in the French Army* We'll get back to Pinie in the next update. Btw, January 25th, 1939 was indeed a Wednesday as far as I can tell. The link is most useful, and I think I'd post it in the useful links thread if it weren't four years old already.]
Great update. It's complicated having dual citizenship and I suspect Leiter's true allegiences are soon to be tested.
I do hope though that this reference:
"...and I will always be loyal to those I am sworn to defend, be they British, American, or little green men from Mars" doesn't portend an alien attack...please God no! not another alien attack!
I do hope though that this reference:
"...and I will always be loyal to those I am sworn to defend, be they British, American, or little green men from Mars" doesn't portend an alien attack...please God no! not another alien attack!
Well, in due time they will truely be tested.robw963 said:
As for that Reference, Leiter is a fan of Mr. Heinlein's early work, They know each other from Annapolis.
Well, let's see how long till the Fritzies give us a reason to have some troubles. Such an armed peace becomes stressing...
That's on the neighbouring thread, methinksrobw963 said:
By chance I was reading that while enjoying a decent whisky, a drink that seems most appropriate for that talk twixt father and son. Congratulations on making it seem a conversation and not two people discussing plot, good work indeed sir.
Kurt_Steiner Armed peace indeed. The situation could be compared to the situation during the construction of the Berlin wall or the blockade of the same city in OTL, probably also the Cuban missile crisis. The metaphorical tanks are staring down each others gun barrels.
El Pip
Thank you. I think that such conversations are always good plot devices when it comes to difficult subjects.
El Pip
Thank you. I think that such conversations are always good plot devices when it comes to difficult subjects.
another good update, which goes without saying. the inkwell entry makes me impatient for you to carry on.
Well, the next update is going to jump a few months forward, and after Pinie there will be another jump like that. As I am anxious to get the war started I'll churn them out as fast as I can and at the same time maintain the quality standard.BritishImperial said:
I'm this close to ditch the 75% complete Update I have written. Does anyone mind if we skip over the next few months, right to the execution of Pinie?
STOP! COOKIE TIME