“You think there’ll be more aircraft?” Schiller queried, more serious now and taking no offence at his friend’s patronising tone.
“You can bet your last Reichsmark they will,” Müller answered instantly. “Those TDUs are tough — we built them that way for a reason — and each aircraft carried two of the devices: one main unit and one back up. We must assume the worst case scenario that NATO captured all four in working order.”
He took a short breath. “Markowicz and Lowenstein’s research was a fully-funded British MoD project right from the start and DARPA also got involved with further funding the moment it looked like it was going somewhere.” He shrugged. “I don’t know exactly how much cash was sunk into the research prior to us grabbing Lowenstein, but I can guarantee you it was in the range of several billion US dollars…and that was in spite of the Global Financial Crisis. The moment our involvement became known the whole thing was handed over to MI6 and they were basically given carte blanche to find us and wipe us off the map at all costs!” Joachim grimaced, ignoring the urge to touch a jagged scar at the back of his neck that was the result of an injury received from flying shrapnel as his C-123 cargo plane had been fired upon by Russian ground forces while taking off just moments prior to making their ‘jump’ into history. “Thorne and his bloody Hindsight unit had the complete financial and material backing of the UN Security Council, NATO, the United States, the European Union and the Russians. Those bastards just had to snap their fingers for money or anything else they wanted to start rolling in.”
“And we’ve had seven years of unrestricted freedom in this world…” Reuters observed finally after a short pause, having absorbed and accepted everything Joachim had said “…and we prepared for five more years before that: planning, research, development and procurement. We may not have had he backing of ‘world powers’, that’s true, but you’d also have to admit, Joachim, that our own resources were by no means insubstantial. I can think of very few situations in which Hindsight or anyone else could get in the way of what we’re doing here.”
“I can give you one right now, Kurt…” Müller pointed out with much less good humour. “Suppose for a moment that one of these four possible aircraft that arrives — even the F-35 we already know about — is loaded with tactical nuclear weapons? What’ll that do to our planning of Sealion or our occupation forces in France… or if the Strategic Air Command has ‘loaned’ them a B-1B Lancer or a B-2A Spirit with enough nukes to turn every major city in Germany to dust?”
He gave a hollow laugh, already well aware of the real concern Reuters felt. “You’re worried more about what this new arrival might do to shake the Führer’s confidence in you…aren’t you? How d’you think turning Berlin being wiped out would shake that confidence…assuming, of course, any of us were all still here to bitch about it afterward anyway…?”
“All right, all right, Joachim!” Reuters half growled, half laughed as Schiller shook his head, also smiling. “You’ve made your point.” He took a deep breath and a sip of water from a glass on the table before him. “You think I’m more worried about the Führer than I am about Hindsight or this jet that’s turned up, and you’re right…I am more worried about that!” He took another breath, and there was a genuine fear and seriousness in Reuters’ eyes now as he spoke.
“When we made contact here for the first time, we couldn’t get anyone to take us seriously to begin with. Even with the few tasty little morsels of technology Schiller brought with him on that first mission, it took every ounce of his persuasion and three months of bargaining and pleading just to get access to a suitable airfield for the rest of us to land on another two months later. No one…and I mean no one…wanted us to get anywhere near Hitler ourselves, and it took a full year before I was actually able to speak to the Führer face to face. Hess, Bormann, Göbbels, Himmler, Göring, Rohm and a brace of others at or near the top of the Nazi Party hierarchy, and all of them hated and mistrusted us…” He took a short breath before continuing.
“Seven years later, it’s true we’re in a far different position, with myself as Reichsmarschall and all of us in positions of great influence. Our core group has been almost entirely absorbed into the Wehrmacht now, and it is we who wield the power in Germany directly below Hitler himself. One thing hasn’t changed however, and that’s the fact that most of the other players in this little intrigue we might whimsically call the politics of the Nazi Party still hate and mistrust us…moreso now because of the power we control. The Reichsführer-SS Himmler has started to come around and warm to us, and there’s the potential for a real and useful ally in the SS to come out of this, but I suspect the others I’ve mentioned would all rate myself — and the rest of us by definition — somewhere lower than eel shit in the scheme of German society.” He took a deeper breath this time before continuing once more, both other men mesmerised by his words.
“So now to address your question, Joachim, regarding the possibility of these irritating newcomers perhaps threatening or, indeed, using nuclear weapons against us…during Sealion or otherwise. Well — in light of what I’ve outlined above, what do you think the likely outcome would be if for any reason I suggested to the Führer that we perhaps ‘ease up’ a little on our Western Offensive? We’ve started something here in Germany that can’t easily be reversed or even slowed down — if at all! In the face of continued opposition from every sceptic and ‘doomsayer’ in the NSDAP, I’ve spent the last seven years convincing a reluctant Adolf Hitler that an invasion of Great Britain and its subsequent total subjugation is not just advisable but integral to the continued existence of Grossdeutschland once Western Europe is conquered. It was hard enough winning the confidence and trust of the man at all, let alone enough of that confidence for the Chancellor to permit me to take over the running and planning of the war entirely. If I go to him now and suggest that maybe we need to ‘slow down’ — to ‘hold off’ for a while — I’ll destroy everything we’ve accomplished here in a second.” He left another very pregnant pause hanging as the reality of what he’d said sunk in completely.
“I’ve made too many deals and called in too many favours for this to fail for any reason! Remember what happened to Rohm and the SA: that can easily happen to anyone who gets far enough on the wrong side of Hitler for him to start hearing the words others are constantly whispering in his ears. Political power and military force can both be virtuoso musicians, gentlemen…” Reuters gave a wry smile “…but neither of them have any principles. They’ll play any tune you wish and play it for as long as you wish if they think you will pay…but sooner or later you do have to pay. The position we’ve carved for ourselves now controls us as much as we control it…nuclear threat or not. If this new enemy can destroy us then they will, and we’ll be dead. If we fail the Führer now, we’ll be ruined here and no better off…almost certainly eventually dead anyway, in all truth…and probably in a far more brutal and drawn out fashion than anything an atomic bomb could do to us. Whether these supposed nukes exist in reality or not is therefore in practical terms utterly irrelevant: we die or we succeed…it’s that simple. I, for one, intend to do everything I can to make sure we succeed.”