Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to Digital Anvil and Microsoft.
Two down, one to go. Von Claussen had arranged to get word back to Noske after a chance encounter with an LWB sympathizer within the WVS at Holstein before moving on to Bruchsal. Ironically, persuading the Bundschuh might be harder than he'd implied to Noske and Friedlander, because Botzler was dead.
Botzler's former assistant, Greta Kerner, was a capable woman, but felt she lacked sufficient control over the organization to persuade all Bundschuh that now was the time for an all-out assault on the government, since she had been unprepared to assume Botzler's position so quickly.
Greta said as much as soon as von Claussen closed the door to her private office on Bruchsal - the office that once belonged to Botzler. She sat in the chair behind the desk and von Claussen took the one opposite.
Von Claussen said, "Would you have the Red Hessians at the gates of New Berlin? Would you have the Corsairs try to kick over the traces and pillage what is left of our great House? Conditions are ripe for something like this: the Chancellor's dead, the government nearly bankrupt. The time for us to strike is now!"
Greta sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I cannot find fault with your reasoning, Herr von Claussen, but…" She still seemed uncertain. "A war? An actual war? Against the combined might of Rheinland?"
Von Claussen took a different tack: "Fraulein, how long were you Botzler's assistant leader?"
"Well, three years now." Kerner frowned and peered at von Claussen.
"And in those three years, did Botzler ever once criticize your abilities, whether in private or in public?"
"No."
Von Claussen slapped his hand on Kerner's desk. "Then it's settled. The Bundschuh will accept you as their leader if you act like one! So come, we have a war to fight, do we not?"
A slow smile crossed Greta's face as she nodded and sat up straighter.
/\/\/\
On Darmstadt, Hans Noske had brooded for several hours over the possibility of a new revolution in Rheinland, sitting motionless in the chair in his office. Finally, he could stand it no more and went back to the bar. He sought out his deputy leader, a taciturn man named Franz. Just Franz. He never gave his last name, and nobody knew what it was. Years ago, one person had rumored that it started with an S, but that was so vague it could mean anything.
In the end, Noske didn't care. What he knew was that Franz had the organizational ability and skill in logistics to set up anything from a small raid on Synth Food transports to an all-out assault on Stuttgart - if the LWB had the equipment and the manpower; currently the LWB squadrons used Franz's battle plans when attacking Synth Food transports heading through trade lanes in the Stuttgart system. Of course, the LWB didn't have the ability to attack Stuttgart and take it back from Synth Foods, but that hadn't stopped Franz from drawing up plans against the day it might happen.
Noske also had no doubt that those attack plans could be adapted for a three-party assault on New Berlin.
Franz, coincidentally enough, was sitting in the same far corner as von Claussen had some hours before.
"Herr Noske." The other man nodded at Hans as he sipped at his drink.
"Franz. You know von Claussen was here earlier?"
"Yes. Rather hard to miss him with that uniform, you know."
"Hold on a second. I want a beer." Noske went to the bartender and got a tall stein of beer. Sipping appreciatively at the foam, he returned to the table and continued. "Anyway, what he told me must be kept in the strictest of confidence. This information could be used by the wrong people."
Noske was thinking about the Red Hessians, and was pretty sure Franz was doing the same. While the LWB was allied with the Red Hessians, Noske knew as well as anyone that alliances can, and do, change with time and circumstances.
Franz nodded.
"The Chancellor is dead. Von Claussen thinks that the Vice-Chancellor will not be able to stabilize the government in time, and that we should strike while the iron is hot."
Franz stared, then let out a slow whistle. "Tall order! But let me guess. He wants us to throw in with the Unioners and the Bundschuh and combine forces for an attack on New Berlin." He shook his head. "The sheer audacity!"
Noske grunted and said, "That's about the size of it. Lunacy, if you ask me, but von Claussen is persuasive. I gave my support.. conditionally."
"Conditionally?"
"He has to inform me if the Unioners and Bundschuh are in. If not, we're not going to do a blasted thing."
"And why not, Hans? Meaning no offence, but it's not like the leader of the LWB to turn away from a chance to settle a score with Synth Foods."
Noske shook his head and stared into his beer. He muttered, "You know as well as I do that we don't have the ability, on our own, to attack even a private corporation's vessels and headquarters with complete victory for us, much less the Rheinland police and military." He looked up at Franz and continued, "Corrupt though they may be, they will still perceive us as a threat, and enough of them will line up with the government to squash us flat. I do not propose to fight a battle I cannot finish."
Noske realized that Franz could make or break this deal as much as he himself could. If Noske agreed to pitch in with the Unioners and Bundschuh, but Franz offered no logistical support, the LWB could write itself off as a serious partner in a new government.
Franz seemed to be leaning towards approval. He said, "How will we ensure that the news about the Chancellor doesn't leak out? We have to tell our people something, but we don't want them worried because Niemann's gone."
"We just won't tell them the part about the Chancellor. We're just going to announce that we're getting off our butts in this system and taking the fight to where we should be doing the most damage, and to wrap things up, anyone who breathes a word of what we're doing to the Red Hessians or the Rheinland fleet will find out the hard way what an air lock is for!"
Franz grinned. The die was cast, as far as he was concerned. He said, "Enough of this talking! Let's toast the LWB's new battle against the government that keeps Synth Foods in charge of Stuttgart!"
/\/\/\
Karl Friedlander, unlike Hans Noske, had no doubts, either about himself or what had to be done. He had been in, all the way, from the moment that his underling had informed him that von Claussen - the same von Claussen that was such a legend in the Rheinland fleet - wanted to discuss an important matter with him. That could only have meant one thing, in light of the recent instabilities in Rheinland and the short-lived dose of propaganda that the government had spread across the news nets. It meant that von Claussen had somehow had a hand in stopping the instability in the colonies, and needed help for whatever he had in mind.
Thus, the conversation with von Claussen had really been just a formality. He called his squadron leaders into his office, and gave short instructions to each. The result was that over the next few weeks, Unioner squadrons in groups of four or eight would move through the Bering Jump Hole over to Frankfurt and hook up with the Bundschuh at Bruchsal.
Of course, Friedlander was no fool, and he made sure that any Unioner who let slip the word about what was going to happen would find his or her ship unaccountably locked on a collision course for the Westfalen...
Author Note: Up to now it's been pretty similar to the old fic, but after this we'll see some changes.