(Part 1)
(Part 2)
(Part 2.5)
>"Speaking of Marseille, you girls *still* try to imitate the instructors & fight solo, the only reason we fight you solo is because we have the skills and experience required to do that, Marseille got shot down several times in her early days because she kept fighting solo, and she was already the finest aerobaticist of the Luftwaffe back then, once she was forced to work as a team with Pöttgen, she stopped getting shot down & instead of becoming another winner of the Wooden Cross she became the finest fighter ace of all time", Barkhorn lectures the cadets, she has clearly been waiting for a chance to bring up the fact that early on Marseille's striker units tended to be write-offs after every mission due to her reclessness.
>"...But aren't both your and Colonel Hartmann's scores way higher than hers?" Buttelmann asks, puzzled.
>"...Let's just say the Reichskanzler was less amused by Marseille's history of insubordination than Truman is & leave it at that" Barkhorn explains with her unease apparent in her voice, the name of the man being effectively a taboo among the former Karlsland military personnel, especially the ones serving in the armed forces of their former enemies.
>"What does that even mean?" Buttelmann asks, not understanding the implications.
>"What she's trying to say is the art school reject from Bohemia had Marseille placed under house arrest for the rest of the war after she pushed her luck too far in '42, there are even rumors of The Chicken Farmer trying to find an excuse to have her shot after the July Plot just to pick a fight with Göring, but her friends managed to protect her" Hartmann explains.
>"While we are on the topic of working as a team, why are we still assigning the least experienced witch as the Tail-end Charlie?" Illu asks for the umpteenth time, though this is the first time she has asked it in front of the cadets.
>"Where else would we put them?" Barkhorn asks.
>"How about as the wingman of the flight leader? "Hasse" insisted on doing that & her flight rarely lost anyone, and she NEVER lost a wingman" Illu says, getting visibly angrier with every word she speaks.
>"That's because you guys doctrinally split your flights into two pairs with one flying above the other ready to pounce on anyone trying to sneak up to the pair flying lower" Barkhorn retorts, not realizing she has left an opening.
>"And why would doing that be a bad thing? More flexibility AND better coverage" Illu argues back.
>"Because this is the United States of Liberion Armed Forces, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the generals in the Army were still convinced that breech-loading rifles are a passing fad" Buttelmann jokes before she can stop herself, eliciting a laugh from everyone in the O-club, instructors included.
>"I bet the Navy still has admirals who think all a proper Fleet needs are sail ships with wooden hulls & a hundred muzzle-loading cannon!" someone exclaims in between coughs from laughing too hard.
>"Well, the USS Constitution *is* still in commission" someone else jokes, causing everyone to laugh even more.
Meanwhile in East-Berlin, Waltrud Lehweß-Litzmann is woken up by someone pounding on the door of her apartment. Covering up herself before going to the door to see who it is, she already has an idea regarding her visitors.
Opening the door, she sees men in civilian clothes, everything about them reminding her of Gestapo, and here in East-Berlin, there is only one possibility as to their identity.
>"Oberstleutnant Lehweß-Litzmann?" asks the man who seems to be in charge.
>"Yes" she answers, trying to remain calm, Stasi might take even the slightest hint of fear as proof of guilt.
>"Pack your bags, you are going to Siberia" the Stasi man says with a barely suppressed grin.
>"What do I need bags for out there?" she asks.
>"You can't do much for your country without the essentials, and I doubt you can get most of them out there, so better stock up now, don't you think?" another Stasi man responds with a grin.
>"...So, it's not the Gulag then?" she asks for confirmation.
>"Why would we send an invaluable witch to die in the ruski Hell? You are going there to train our socialist sisters to rid the World of the capitalist swine" the leader of the Stasi goons answers with a chuckle. It seems he had chosen his words deliberately to mess with her, Karlsländer humor at its best.
>"Why me? Orussians have no shortage of experienced witches" Lehweß-Litzmann asks.
>"Orussians have exactly zero witches with combat experience fighting against witches trained by the West, plus, the Liberion Air Force has started using Karlsländer traitors as instructors, and there are precious few good socialist witches remaining in Karlsland who received proper training during the war."
