Uncle Aur Aunty Ke Saath Maza Leya
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‘Grandpa, Grandpa! Look at the bird!’ exclaimed little Tanya. Her grandfather, Michele or simply ‘Pa’ to the children, cocked his head turning his black eyes skyward. Tanya looked upwards and marveled at the snow white hair and snowy white mustache of the world’s most intelligent man – at least in this child’s mind. ‘That’s a falcon, Tanya. They’re like hawks but smaller, quicker, and I think more beautiful. Watch him sail and hunt in the air’. ‘Gee, he’s pretty Pa. Does he have a family?’ ...
In the Amiri tribe a boy becomes a man when he’s Stood the Tests of Manhood and passed them. This is a set of tests to ensure a young man has the skills and attributes to make him a worthy adult member and warrior of the tribe. They include the use and care of weapons, jungle craft, leadership, knowledge of the laws, courage, and many more skills. All of the tests can be retaken twice in the testing period, except the Coup, which can be taken only once a year. This simple pass or fail test...
During the school holidays in June, 2005, Full Lieutenant Gordon Mannheim and Full Lieutenant Angelson are posted to the Royal Rescue Service, the Fishers, as observers so they can gain some knowledge of how the Fishers operate. They’re posted to D Company of the Gophers, the 2nd Fishers, and are assigned to 6th Platoon. D Company is based, and operates, in northern Berant where they cover the top quarter of the country up to the Sharten Mountains. On the first day Gerry and Angie are shown...
Since the first day of school one of Gordie’s best friends is Melody Hilston. When her family first moved to View Port she was very shy, but he soon got her actively involved with the rest of their classmates. They become great friends as she turns out to be a very lively, active, witty, and funny person. Her father is in the Guards and he was recently posted to detached duty in Carmel from the 3rd Claymore. Her mother is a teacher at the View Point High School located next door to the...
In September, 2007, Colonel Gordon Mannheim, acting Regimental Commander of the Protector’s Own, the Shields, has the full regiment on the Carmel bluffs exercising. In company groups they’re rappelling down the three hundred metre cliffs to the sea drenched rocks and climbing back up. They’re using the half kilometre long central section of the bluffs. This area is restricted access because it has a thirty degree downward slope for half of its length which is followed by a sheer drop making...
To help keep his mind busy in 2003 Gerry takes on more college courses by distance learning. He’s taking his time over two of them because they include some practical classes where he has some trouble attending all of the classes. The courses are Fashion Design and Jewellery Design. Gerry has Angie take him to the practical classes and a few lectures. Most of the students think she’s the student and he’s a relative she’s looking after. She gets to like the course work and she signs up as...
At 8:00 a.m. all of the girls in the sorority house have almost finished their breakfasts and the maids are cleaning up when Maria Franks turns to her two best friends, Toni Amaral and Mel Chesway, to say, “You’re sure it’s OK to help us with our shopping at Victoria’s Secret today?” Toni, short for Antoinette, says, “Yes, we’ve only the one class today. It’s a straight lecture which is being recorded and we can get it off the net later. The other two classes have been cancelled due to the...
5004, OTT Outside the bitter cold winds of Longnight howled around the thick Duro-Crete walls of the Burg; but here in my mother’s drawing room it was warm and cozy. The soak-stones glowed warm with Tyranno Oil fire in the oven. I always thought her room was just a bit warmer than all the other rooms and halls. Here in her chambers the gray and drab Duro-Crete walls were mostly covered with velvet curtains and antique tapestries depicting the first settlers, the gods, scenes of great clan...
Barbara watched in anticipation as the computer attempted to recover the data from the transmitter, fearful that the computer would give her some sort of error and she’d have to basically start from scratch in finding her friend and fellow vigilante, fellow Batgirl. Each minute that passed made Barbara a little bit more sick. FILE TRANSFER SUCCESFULLY “Yes!” Barabara went to work sifting through all the data immediately. More specifically, Barbara was looking for the audio logs...
This story was written for Master. i started it shortly after W/we met, and i finally finished it just recently. It is primarily fiction based on snippets of actual events.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The rest of my life, my real life, begins with a simple statement of His. ?Not until you ask for it.? Does He have any idea how powerful those little words are? Yes, He does. And now, so do i. The...
At the end of the school year in early December, 2003, Gerry is posted to the 3rd Royal Armoured Guards, the Brown Raptors, as the Corporal in charge of a squad and a tank commander. He knows plenty of theory on how to use the tanks in the field, but he’s never been inside one before. He’s there on a three week temporary posting while the tank’s normal commander is on compassionate leave to look after his family while his wife has an urgent operation. Corporals with the relevant training...
In April, 2004, Junior Sergeant Mannheim is assigned the task of training a special reconnaissance platoon. The regimental commander chose the members of the platoon for toughness and independence. Gerry has only himself to blame because he’d suggested the idea to Guard Command, so he gets to create it. HQ selects the test unit and he’s to pick the four corporals. It’s no accident he has the seventeen most troublesome privates in the unit because the regimental commander wants to see if the...
In late August, 2004, Senior Sergeant Gordon ‘Gerry’ Mannheim is in command of 1st Platoon, D Company, 5th Claymore on Military Police Patrol in the city of Dareena. The patrol is split into two units of two squads with his senior corporal leading one unit while Gerry leads the other. They’re patrolling the ‘entertainment’ area of the city because it’s well known for its cheap drinking establishments, strip clubs, prostitutes, gambling, and the related criminal types. Many of the off duty...
For a few years high quality imitations of ancient jewels and famous paintings have been cropping up around the world. They’re so good many of the experts have trouble telling them from the real thing. All of the investigations by law enforcement organisations around the world lead to blank walls of false identities or dead investigators. In mid 2004 the Royal Intelligence Service (RIS) learns about a group of artists in Berana who’re making high quality forged documents. They can’t get any...
Tim’s Halt is a large farm in a remote valley at the southern base of the Sharten Mountains which are the northern Berant border. This is one of many such valleys. The major crops are barley and hops. The only road through the Sharten Mountains is one hundred and twenty kilometres to the east, much further east than Darmore. However, there are several small passes in nearby valleys that allow foot traffic to pass through the mountains. Throughout history groups of brigands crossed the...
The year 2006 is a year of many diverse challenges and changes in Gerry’s life. In December, 2005, he passes his final exams to obtain a degree in law and is accepted by the relevant bodies as entitled to practice law. In February, 2006, he becomes a qualified lawyer entitled to appear in court and be paid to represent someone. A month later he’s appointed by the Amiri Tribal Council as the Amur Elder because the previous Amur Elder is retiring. The Amur Elder is the tribe’s senior judge as...
In mid May, 2006, Gerry has been Clan Father for three weeks when a special meeting of the Clan Board is requested by a clan member living in Dareena. The Board consists of the Clan Father, the Great Mother of the Clan, selected advisers, and senior clan members. The Board has more authority than the Clan Father alone and it’s a great deal easier to arrange for a meeting than a Clan Table, which is a meeting of all of the eligible clan members where a quorum of fifty-five percent of the clan...
In mid June, 2006, Senior Captain, acting Major, Gordon Mannheim is on loan to the Green Orcas, the 2nd Royal Sea Guards, with Lieutenant Angelson and a platoon of the 3rd Claymore under Senior Sergeant Chektar. There’s always been a bit of piracy in the region, usually fast small boats involved in smuggling or raiding small coastal cargo ships. Of late there’s been some talk about slavers in the region, and the rate of missing children has risen very sharply. The chances of smuggling...
In 2003 the eleven year old Gerry wants to build a couple of yachts. One for practical reasons and a luxury cruiser for himself. He decides to build one hull able to do both tasks with different fit-outs. The luxury yacht will be the first built to prove the design. He knows what he wants and how it should look. The experts say it can’t be done. He studies and qualifies as a maritime designer, maritime engineer, and chemist. Doing all of the studies by distance education and condensed short...
In mid March, 2007, Major Gordon Mannheim is an acting Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the 3rd Claymore, The Rocks, on a mountain climbing exercise in the Darunch Mountains. Colonel Phillips, the Rocks’ regular commander, is to evaluate Gerry’s performance. Technically, the Colonel is outside of the command chain during the evaluation and until they return to the barracks, but he’s able to take back command if he sees the need to. The weather is hot and very dry as it’s been an unusually hot...
By the end of 2007 Gordon ‘Gerry’ Mannheim has proven he knows how to control and manage troops in the barracks and in the field. He’s proven his combat tactical skills at various levels, and his courage. He’s excelled at the combat strategic theory and he’s shown he can handle all of the command administrative aspects. However, he still needs to prove his ability to deal with high level combat strategic and tactical matters in a changing combat situation the way it happens in real life....
It was virtually impossible to keep anything secret in Republican Spain. Spies, double agents and gossipers of every political persuasion had been flagging for weeks the probability of a move by the Popular Front against the CNT. By the time the first lorries rolled into central Barcelona packed with the Government's elite Assault Guards, over 1000 Anarchist Militiamen had reinforced the Telephone Exchange building. Across town, the emergency committees were convening and planning their...
If the Madrid leadership of the CNT were facilating, it was the same for the Popular Front Government. As the second day of the revolt dragged on it began to dawn on them the extent of the revolt in Barcelona. The Communists called for decisive action, but Largo Cabalero seemed overwhelmed into inaction. He refused to order Army units away from the front. Instead, he reluctantly authorised the despatch of more Assault Guards. Meanwhile, the Communists took the initiative, sending their two...
A year after the May Days revolt, the Russians were beginning to disengage from Spain. The Nationalists of Generalisimo Franco had gained the sea between Barcelona and Valencia, had that town under siege, and were cruising through Catalonia unchecked. Franco had hammered together the factions of his Right Wing coalition, the CEDA, the Falange and the Carlists, to form the SED, the party through which he would exert his personal rule for the next 40 years. Well over 100,000 people were...
The light cruiser slid placidly through the calm sea of the Bay of Biscay. Far off, the crew could see the slash of grey that marked the Spanish coast. The command bridge was cluttered with officers. Admiral Gorshin preferred the relative seclusion and fresh air of the upper bridge. "What do you think, Admiral?" Rykhov said. Binoculars were glued to the faces of both men. "The 'Admiral Scheer'," he replied, "six 280mm main guns on a cruiser hull. Diesel engines, about 33 knots,...
As the Battle of the Ebro drifted on into September 1938, it took on all the drama, and international attention, as any battle in France during the 1st World War. Casualties, sickness from unsanitary conditions, and the new horror of systematic bombing from aircraft as well as the usual relentless artillery bombardments, were horrific. Fully 12% of all Republican soldiers who fought in the War were killed, and a good percentage died on the Ebro. Falangist success in the North and South had...
"Hey,"'Oz' asked the man, "we're looking for a girl." "Who isn't?" replied the man. "A special one, this man's wife," 'Oz' continued, pointing at John. "She's supposed to be in a gun crew here, you heard of her?" "Up here?" the man said in surprise, "he should take better care of her. You a spy?" "No," 'Oz' shrugged, "I'm an Australian." "Good, don't like spies." "Hey," John called, "what about Benin?" "He a spy?" the man asked. "No, a New...
Yague's offensive down the Tarragona road stalled by mid-morning amid furious fire from hill 666 and fresh minefields laid during the previous nights. The valley was soon littered with burnt out tanks and the remains of their German and Spanish crews. Clearly, while the Republicans were in possession of the hill, an advance to the Ebro was out of the question. However, mindful of the many semi-trained conscripts in his army, Miaja wisely refused to take advantage of the Falangist setback...
In late September 1938, high in the Sierra de Montserrat above the town of Tarragona, Gustav Hoss lead his mixed German and Spanish unit along the razor ridge overlooking the Republican outpost. They had trained for weeks for this operation under instructors provided by the Wehrmacht's Alpine Korps. Their mission was to capture the passes through the Montserrat to break the deadlock on the Ebro. The batalion trudged through the snow among the high pine trees dressed in white onepiece suits...
John and 'Oz' crept down the network of communications trenches that linked the various positions on hill 666. The ground shook regularly and the exploding heavy shells reminded John of being in an electrical storm. Now and then they'd come across a group of frightened soldiers, their faces were white and their eyes were darting about. They'd ask them if they knew of the Brunete Battery and they'd get shrugs of indifference. Finally they came to a dead end where a harrassed signalman...
"NO!" yelled John, his voice rising with frustration and the knowledge that he had no other choice if he was to rescue his lover. He understood that the front was going to gradually collapse, that there was now no hope for the Popular Front Government of the Spanish Republic. "No way!" "Don't fucking argue," 'Oz' told him, "that floatplane can only take three people at a squeeze, you, Benin and the Russkie. I want to stay, y'here, really!" "You take Benin..." "Fuckin' mug!...
John stood and watched Benin for a little while. He was dressed in a Soviet Naval Lieutenant's greatcoat complete with epaulettes and a fur hat. Benin sat on a deckchair below the after bridge house tightly wrapped in a grey blanket. John thought she looked miserable. He went to her, smiled, and put a hand on her shoulder. "You look the part," she told him without looking up. Her voice was dull and lifeless. "Rhykov gave it to me. He said it would be better if I wore a uniform," he...
The crew of the 'Tchervonya Ukrainiya' grew more restless as the ship cruised through the Gulf of Finland. A Beriev flying boat had greeted the ship off Moon Sound at the entrance to the Gulf. The cruiser's crew had thrown their hats in the air and waved and yelled at the aircraft. John Greenhaugh had waved as well. The Beriev had made a low pass and he could see the pilots waving back. An Officer had clapped John on the back and yelled excitedly. After months away from home the crew...
In four days 'Oz' had got no further than Manresa on the Lobregat only some 20 kilometres from Barcelona. Here, the front line was confusing. Sometimes he'd encountered parties of Nationalist cavalry on the road and hid in the nearby scrub. At other times, parties of Government troops sat dejectedly in groups, smoking, sleeping in the sun, totally worn out. Signs of retreat were everywhere. Abandoned transport littered the fields. Guns, in full working order, sat protecting a bridge with...
'Oz's' group came down from the high pass before nightfall to find some shelter. The found a deep gully with a fast flowing stream that ran down towards the Llobregat. The comrades found ledges and hollows along the rock face of the cliff and tried to rest. It was growing colder still and the they huddled together to keep warm. To make things more uncomfortable, a shower swept down on them, freezing, sludgy rain heavy with ice. 'Oz' had wedged himself into a hollow in the rockface. The...
As Europe entered the last year of the 1930's decade, it seemed obvious to most people that a war was inevitable. Whether the conflict could be contained, no-one knew. Certainly, Prime Minister Chamberlain of Britain was one who thought a general European war could be averted. Nevertheless, even Britain was furiously arming itself to the teeth, just in case. The Soviet Union, too, had been rearming its immense military. But, unlike Britain whose armed forces were relatively small and could...
As the comrades approached Perpignan they encountered more and more Spanish refugees who'd made the trek over the mountains by other routes. Most often, they weren't particularly political, just groups of ordinary people terrified for the future or had their livelihoods wiped out by the war. There was, though, still a fair number of militia and Popular Army soldiers in the column and the French authorities were determined they weren't going to cause trouble in France. 'Oz' and the...
In March 1939 everything in Spain came to a final conclusion. Miaja, charged with the defence of Madrid, knew there was little point and began some limited 'discussion' with Franco's Generals. Negrin, the Prime Minister, had been flown out of Barcelona in a Russian aircraft and, after two days, appeared in Moscow with Stalin himself. The siege of Barcelona had been mercifully short. The Popular Army just didn't have any more fight left in them. The Nationalist General Prieto cut loose...
Catalina's childhood home was an old, sprawling villa just outside the village. It was a magnet for artists, musicians, political radicals and those who a later generation would call 'beatniks.' The professor himself was a kindly, bespectacled man with a well-trimmed beard. Catalina's Mother was an older version of her daughter, a big ball of energy who loved to party and paint impressionist paintings. 'Oz' was swept up into their orbit. He was a veterin of the 'anti-fascist struggle,...
John's rational side of his brain was ceasing to play a significant role in his actions. There was just he and this sensuous, sexy, young blond woman he was kissing and fondling. Beneath the heavy cotton of her shirt she was warm, so warm! Her arms circled his waist and snaked under his shirt, John could feel her fingers on his back, stroking and kneading his flesh, and her thigh sliding insistantly along his hardening dick. She'd told him she wanted a 'fuck from him.' The words had...
On November the 30th, 1939, in what came to be known as the 'Winter War, ' over 300,000 Soviet troops, including 5 armoured brigades, together with their air support rolled over the border into Finland. It was meant to be an 'occupation' and not much trouble was expected from the small Finnish army. Soviet newspapers reported 'provocations' on the border. The Finnish attitude was reported as 'hostile to Soviet interests. They claimed Finnish artillery had fired across the border....
On May the 10th 1940 Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and France were invaded by German forces. The 'phoney war' was over. The Dutch capitulated in 4 days, the Belgians two weeks later. France would last a little longer, just 47 days. Much has been written and analyzed about the speed of the collapse. Exaggerrated claims have been made, and are still being made, of the complete superiority of the German armour, both numerically and tactically, and even that the Wehrmacht far outnumbered their...
"You will be travel down to Minsk," Rhykov was saying, "there, you will be taken to an airfield. We have two planes prepared, specially adapted MiGs. You will learn to fly these planes. They are very fast, everything has been stripped from them, guns, armour, everything!" "They both have special engines," added Lieutenant Colonel Chernagovka, "with superchargers. Very special engines. It's important that they don't fall into German hands." "Both planes are to be fitted with...
The three intelligence men, the groundcrew and engineers watched helplessly as John paced the airstrip. He was beside himself and refused anything to do with anybody. It had been half an hour since he'd returned from the mission and there was still no sign of Jana Ivanova. Two technicians carefully removed the film from the two cameras the MiG carried. The negatives were reeled into a can, much like a cine camera, and these they carefully crated to be sent for processing. Rhykov hadn't...
Everybody remembered where they were, what they were doing, and who was with them when the storm broke. John was visiting Jana in hospital, Chernagovka had just arrived at his office and Rhykov was dreaming of rows of stenographers. Germany unleashed its Blitzkrieg in the early hours of June the 22nd, 1941. Despite numerous warnings to the Soviet leadership, including almost the exact day, it still came as a complete shock. The largest military force ever assembled, some 139 German and 14...
It was a particularly harsh winter, that of 1942/42. It hit the Germans hard, partly because they didn't expect to have to endure it. The temperatures were some of the lowest on record, but for the Russians, this was their country, their climate. Like the others, Benin wore felt boots without metal studs. The metal caused frostbite, a lesson the Germans were slow to learn. The troops at Novgorod were issued with Winter uniform of white snow suits and fur hats. Flying was possible on clear...
Leninsk lay some 30 kilometres to the East of Stalingrad across the river Volga. It had been projected as an industrial city but the war had overtaken its construction. A few factory buildings had been built but now they were just empty shells. The equipment had been shipped East of the Urals. A concrete runway had been laid out before the war for a future airport. No terminal building or hangars had been yet constructed but during the Winter some prefabs had arrived and lay ready to be...
In May 1942, as far as can be ascertained by trolling through German and Soviet sources, the defending Generals of Moscow, Zhukov, Timoshenko and Konev, could call on 13 Soviet Armies, including over 2000 tanks, to defend the capital. If these figures are correct, and there's room for doubt, the Red Army had total numerical superiority over the Germans in the Moscow area. The majority of the tanks were the then new, T34, which, together with the German PzKw VI 'Panther, ' were the best...
John was growing frustrated with the Volga District Air Defence Co-ordinator. Reports of the enemy bombers were contradictory. He gave up trying to get the latest altitude. However, it was 'Oz's' keen eyesight that spotted the enemy first, a hazy black smudge, like a swarm of locusts. "What's our plan, Red Leader?" he called. John scanned the formation. They were in waves, a squadron at a time, in tight formations for defence. Above them were groups of escorting fighters, twin-engined...
Between the 19th and the 22nd of November the right flank of the Rumanian 3rd Army ceased to exist under the pressure of 900 Russian tanks and two cavalry corps. XXVII Tank Corps commanders of the Russian 5th Tank Army found the Rumanians had cleared out so fast they left all their documents, personal belongings and breakfast behind. To the South two mechanised corps and the IV Cavalry rolled from the lakes area and folded up the Rumanian 4th Army. The pincer closed on the town of Sovietsky...
It took three weeks for the combined attacks of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts to relieve Peter the Great's city from 17 months of siege. The Russians stacked 12 Divisions of approximately 10,000 men each against 4 German, all seriously depleted. Nevertheless, given the unequal odds, it still took Sviridov's 67th Army and Fedyuninsky's 2nd Shock Army to close the gap of some 16 kilometres. On January the 17th 1943 Sviridov entered Petrokrepost' and opened the city to the outside...
Pavel Rodel was going to take his punishment like a man. Not for him would he cast his eyes downward or go on his knees and beg. In Siberia, one looked one's protagonist in the eye. There, men resolved disputes with a fist fight. That was the proper way, but he was now an Officer in the army and such things were unbecoming. He still longed for the old way, however, because there were few men who could best him in a fair fight. The fact that Benin's 'husband' was a Lieutenant-Colonel had...
Benin caught the tram home from the University as usual. It had been 11 years since the war finished and in that time Novgorod had been rebuilt, brick by brick. Sure, apartment blocks had gone up almost overnight to house the many thousands of homeless, and these were ugly and often shoddily built. But, at the same time, the historic buildings had been carefully reconstructed too. This was Russia's history, her visible legacy, and it was deemed important to her national morale to rebuild...
Benin and John's apartment was in a block that had been faithfully restored to its original, pre-war condition. It had magnificent views of Veliky Yaroslav's palace complete with the half-dozen or so Orthodox churches within its grounds. Part of Novgorod State University occupied the palace now, particularly the Faculty of Antiquities. Benin looked out of the window at the twin onion domes of the Church of the Asumption. It was floodlit, the white light gleaming on the polished gold. Where...
John and Jana both listened as a Tu-4 droned overhead. Its four massive radial piston engines rumbled as it passed over. The Tu-4 was due for retirement from the DA-V.V-S (Dal'niya Aviatitsya-Voenno.Vozdushniye-Sily = Long Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Force). A faithful reproduction of the American Boeing B-29, it had been the mainstay of the Soviet strategic bomber force in the early 50s. The lovers both looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking. 'Height,...
Briyan Briyanovich Khrinhov stood on the fantail of the RFS Poltava as it slid smoothly through the heads outside Wellington Harbour. It had been a year since the RNZN's Te Kaha had paid a similar courtesy visit to Vladivostok. Now it was Russia's turn to establish a first. Not since the First World War had a Russian Naval Vessel called at a New Zealand Port. This was the second port of call for the Poltava. Previously, she'd tied up at Devonport in Auckland, the RNZN's main naval base....
Bullying is not an accepted behaviour amongst the tribes as the elders go to a lot of trouble to see it doesn’t occur, so do the clan and family leaders. The few cases of bullying that do occur in the tribes are quickly and thoroughly dealt with, so repetition isn’t a problem. Oh, some boys and girls are very bossy and very pushy, but abusive bullying (either physical or mental) is very quickly stopped by the adults. Stopped in a way that makes those responsible to never want to do it...