Missions of security, p.1
Missions of Security, page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Winter Plans
Chapter 2: The Spring Rush
Chapter 3: Bibelgesellschaft
Chapter 4: Now Hiring
Chapter 5: Blood in Erfurt
Chapter 6: Babies
Chapter 7: The Battle of Flieden
Chapter 8: Home
Cast List
Missions of Security
A Ring of Fire Novel
Bjorn Hasseler
Baen
Missions of Security
By Bjorn Hasseler
Neustatter’s European Security Services is open for business, and business is . . . too good?
With the National Guard, private industry, and even a seemingly tranquil farming village caught in an explosive political crossroads all relying on NESS for missions of security, Neustatter and Astrid find themselves pressed to staff, train, and equip the agency while keeping up with their clients’ growing requirements in scope and complexity.
-- A simple railway escort mission involves a secretive manufacturing client from Grantville bearing mysterious cargo and a captured fugitive all destined for Magdeburg during the Baltic War . . . what could possibly go wrong?
-- The Bible Society hires NESS to guard a flock of Anabaptist, Catholic, and Lutheran high schoolers en route to riot-torn Erfurt and Jena, but will NESS’s own pastor tear them apart first?
-- Already strapped for personnel, the last thing Neustatter needs is for a regiment of dragoon militia to choose their wagon train for . . . "involuntary provisioning."" Can a handful of badly outnumbered agents protect a village that isn’t sure it wants their help?
Missions of Security is the sequel to A Matter of Security, and contains the full text of the previously published short story, "Blood in Erfurt."
Missions of Security
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Bjorn Hasseler
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
eISBN: 978-1-62579-958-6
Cover art by Vladimir Shvachko
Cover concept by David Monath and Jeff Carrico
Original publication May 2021, 1632, Inc.
To the ROTC cadre at Gettysburg College, especially Colonel John Tartala, Major Collins, Captain Terry Briggs, Sergeant Major Steven Hoffman, Master Sergeant Alex Anderson and Professor/Lieutenant Commander Bruce Bugbee. What you taught me is showing up in all of this year’s stories.
Acknowledgments for the original edition:
Thank you to Eric Flint for creating the 1632 universe and making it a shared universe.
Thank you to Jim Baen and Toni Weisskopf, who have supported the 1632 community from the beginning and gave us a place on Baen’s Bar.
Thank you to Walt Boyes and Joy Ward, editors of Ring of Fire Press, who made sure this novel got better along the way. Thank you to the Ring of Fire Press staff. There’s a big difference between hearing about all the steps of publishing a novel and watching people make your novel happen.
Thank you to Dave and Aaron for their good advice along the way.
Thank you to everyone who has read the Neustatter stories. Thank you for asking for more.
Additional Acknowledgments for this edition:
Thank you to Toni Weisskopf and Baen Books for acquiring the NESS books.
Thank you to everyone who asked if you could still get the books and who waited for them to come back.
Chapter 1: Winter Plans
Saturday, October 8, 1633
“It’s been just over a year since we met the up-timers at Alte Veste,” Edgar Neustatter said. “We worked the winter in Grantville, went home, and brought our families back to Grantville. We went to basic training and formed our own outfit. This attack by the League of Ostend is just the next step. Give it a little time, and we will have wagons and trucks to guard.”
News of the Battle of Luebeck Bay had arrived yesterday. Neustatter’s European Security Services could not afford to linger at the Thuringen Gardens day after day, but the high school also had a radio tuned to Voice of America. Big crowds were gathering in Magdeburg, moving toward the palace. No one really seemed to know what would happen next.
They waited anxiously all day, getting nothing done. Neustatter stationed Ditmar in the high school, and the others took turns as messengers, bringing news back to everyone else in the refugee quarters. When Otto returned and rattled off a whole list of names of people who were being cheered by the crowd in Magdeburg, everyone was relieved. Astrid recognized President Stearns and Princess Kristina. She did not know the rest of them—yet.
Sunday, October 9, 1633
NESS awoke at dawn on Sunday to someone pounding on their door. The men literally rolled out of bed and reached for weapons. Karl headed for the fireplace, slow matches in his hand.
“Neustatter! NUS Army! Open up! We need you now!”
Neustatter motioned Ditmar into position next to the door, then he unlocked it and swung it open. A soldier in uniform stepped in, and Ditmar hastily lowered his clubbed musket. The soldier winced but did not step back.
Instead he asked, “Do you know about the Battle of Wismar Bay? And the crowds in Magdeburg?”
“Ja.”
“John George says Saxony is leaving the Confederated Principalities of Europe.”
“Bastard,” Neustatter pronounced.
“He has to pass orders before Saxony can do anything.”
“It is, what, eighty miles from Magdeburg to Leipzig, ja?” Neustatter asked. “A dispatch rider could cover that in two days, reach Leipzig tonight.”
“Exactly. Saxony might do something stupid. Your personnel records say you can ride.”
“They do?”
“Somebody checked that box. Can you ride a horse without falling off?”
“Ride, ja,” Neustatter answered. “Cavalry charge, nein.”
“We need patrols on the border, and we need them tomorrow. You are to report to Sara Carroll for a check-out ride, and then you will be given your sector.”
The men were out the door in minutes. Neustatter took a minute to tell Astrid, “Miss Schäubin, you will have to watch the office. If any clients come in, tell them we have been called up but will return when we can.”
Tuesday, October 11, 1633
After the men left, the women and Johann went to Sunday services at the Lutheran congregation Ursula had found. Now that they had moved to the high school refugee housing, they were probably just as close to St. Martin’s in the Fields, but Ursula was insistent. Anna was inclined to agree. Astrid figured a Lutheran church was a Lutheran church. Neustatter later called it her charmingly naïve phase.
Astrid sat in the office each day they were gone, except Sunday. Frau Ennis came by on Tuesday to check on the progress of the workmen finishing the building. Astrid scrambled to her feet.
“How are you all doing?” Frau Ennis asked.
“Anna and Ursula and I wish the men were not going to be gone for so long,” Astrid answered. “It will be for no longer than their mission to Halle, but it seems like it.”
Leigh Ann nodded in understanding. “I don’t like it, either, when James is gone.”
Then she looked around the room. “Miss Schäubin, you need a desk and a chair if you are going to sit here all day,” she stated. “And you need a phone.”
“Ja, we do,” Astrid agreed.
“Then let’s go shopping.” Leigh Ann said that like it was all settled.
“Someone has to be in the office.”
“Is everyone else out with Neustatter?” Frau Ennis asked.
“Nein. Ursula and Anna are in our quarters.”
“How ’bout they watch the office?”
“I think that would be all right.” She hoped.
“If you don’t mind my saying so,” Frau Ennis continued, “it says something that you are the secretary.”
“Ursula is quite normal,” Astrid explained. “She has a child and is a good cook. Anna is simply quiet and sews very well.”
“And you’re the one who is getting a job. Does Neustatter trust you to make decisions?”
“For some decisions, he must.”
“Are you and Neustatter . . . ?” Leigh Ann’s question trailed off.
“Are we what?”
“You know. Together.”
“Nein! Why does everyone think that?”
Leigh Ann shrugged. “Sorry. It just seems . . . natural.”
That sounded more like a question than a statement to Astrid, but she let the matter drop.
Ursula and Anna were initially hesitant but agreed to stay at the office. Frau Ennis and Astrid walked into Grantville. Astrid learned a lot as Leigh Ann told her about each business they passed by or the family that lived in each house.
“So that is the Historical Society.” Leigh Ann pointed to a building on right side of the road.
“Ja, Frau Haun,” Astrid responded.
“Please, Miss Schäubin, save the ‘Frau Haun’—or better, ‘Frau Ennis,’ since I took James’ name—for when we are signing the rental agreement,” she said. “I’m Leigh Ann.”
“Then I bin Astrid.”
Leigh Ann smiled. “Amideutsch?”
“Ja. Our village says, ‘Ich heet.’ It is Plattsdeutsch. Hochdeutsch is Ich heisse.”
“That piece of Amideutsch is our fault,” Leigh Ann told her. “It sounds like President Kennedy’s speech. Ich bin ein Berliner.” She told Astrid what she remembered learning about the Berlin Crisis up-time.
“But use ‘Miss Schäubin’ at work,” Leigh Ann advised. “Was ‘Miss’ your idea?”
“Neustatter’s. When the men came home from the war in April, he called me Fräulein. I told him not to say that where Herr Augustus or Frau Sophia might hear. Or anyone who might go tell them. Our men had been in Grantville after Alte Veste until good traveling weather came in the spring. They started talking like you do here.”
Frau Ennis—Leigh Ann—raised an eyebrow. “I’d heard that. I don’t get outside of Grantville much, and when I do, it’s usually one of the towns right outside the Ring of Fire. I hadn’t realized the nobility would take offense.”
“Some certainly will.” Astrid smiled. “I understand some of the adel near Grantville have gotten used to you up-timers.”
“Been contaminated by our ideas, you mean. Absolutely. Let me tell you some stories . . . ”
Leigh Ann led Astrid to a furniture store. It sold chairs, couches, desks, beds, and so on, all down-time-made but incorporating up-time designs. At least, Astrid thought they were up-time designs. She had never seen anything like them before.
“I know what you down-timers call a desk is what we up-timers call a lectern,” Leigh Ann told her. “But that is not what you want. You want to be able to sit comfortably with all your paperwork within reach. Besides, I’ve seen the movies that Neustatter talks about. I gather you’re the gorgeous blonde dame who’s going to be sitting behind the desk, so pick something you like.”
Astrid examined the desks on display one by one. Several featured intricate woodworking on the front panel and around the edges. She looked at the cost of one of them and blanched.
There were simpler designs, though. She spotted a plain wooden desk and checked the price. NESS could probably afford this one.
Leigh Ann raised an eyebrow. When Astrid nodded, she looked for the sales clerk.
Astrid saw only one drawback. “I do not think it will fit in the door.”
The sales clerk knelt down and pointed to something underneath the desk. “There are heavy pegs here, here, here, and here.” He pointed them out. “They slide. It comes apart.”
“That’s ingenious!” Leigh Ann exclaimed. “Do you have those on the fancier models, too?”
“Some of them.”
“I will definitely mention these to my mother-in-law. She works in real estate.”
Astrid got talked into two desks and two chairs. She suspected they would need more chairs, but she wanted to talk to Neustatter first. Leigh Ann helped her arrange delivery and payment. Then they started back.
“What’s next on NESS’ list?” Leigh Ann asked.
“Up-time firearms and horses,” Astrid answered.
“I might be able to help,” Leigh Ann said slowly. “Where are you going to keep the horses?”
“I do not know.”
“It’s a shame there’s no bridge across Buffalo Creek right there,” Leigh Ann mused. “If there were, you could keep them in my parents’ barn. Of course, if there were a bridge, the two halves of our property wouldn’t be so cut off from each other. I wonder if we could put up a bridge . . . ”
Build a bridge, Astrid marveled. Just like that.
“Might even help Mom get back to the farm more often.”
“What do you mean?” Astrid asked.
“My mother Julia works at a day care in Grantville. She stays in town during the week and comes home on the weekends. It’s not far as the crow flies, but it takes quite a while, and it’s almost impossible in winter weather. My kids and I moved in with my parents while my husband is with the army.”
“Is he at Camp Saale?” Astrid asked.
“No, he’s with one of the new units, but he’ll be back next month. For a while, anyway.”
Sunday, October 16, 1633
The men arrived home in time for dinner.
“We rode horses for a week and made camp every night,” Astrid’s brother Hjalmar told her. “Guarding the salt wagons was more dangerous that patrolling the border with Saxony. The salt mission at least had a brawl.” He was going to say more when Neustatter called everyone together.
“Circle up! Sit, stand, whatever.”
“Basic,” Hjalmar whispered to Astrid as they all gathered around. Most found seats at the table in their quarters.
“The Confederated Principalities of Europe is now the United States of Europe. Captain-General Gars will still be the emperor. President Stearns is going to be the prime minister.”
Neustatter looked around to make sure everyone understood. Astrid nodded. She had heard that at her classes while they were gone.
“The New United States is going to be called something else, and Ed Piazza will be the new president.”
The women had heard that, too.
“The dragoon unit that Tom Simpson organized replaced us. The NUS Army said they want their best riders on the border and us guarding wagons. The USE and Sweden are going to try to hold Luebeck and Wismar. They’ll be under siege by the League of Ostend soon. That is the French, the Danes, the Spanish, and the English. The NUS Army is rushing supplies to those two cities. They are using trucks—and using up a lot of fuel. So supplies they might have moved elsewhere by truck are going to be carried by wagon. Even when the trucks get back, they are going to conserve fuel as much as possible. They need us.”
“Us, NESS? Or us, all the mercenaries and security services?” Stefan asked.
“All of us,” came Neustatter’s answer. “Some of the Albernians are out on a mission, so they will probably not take as many convoys as they otherwise could. We will be allowed to take our Reserve weapons. Our first priority will be cold weather clothing and range time.” He looked at Astrid. “Have any clients shown up yet?”
“Nein. But the office is almost ready. I believe Frau Ennis will find a way to get us a telephone. I need to talk to you about up-time weapons and horses, too.”
Astrid could tell Neustatter was interested, but he held his questions for later. With dinner, discussion of the new Lutheran congregation, and the political situation, later became the next day.
Monday, October 17, 1633
Neustatter turned in place, studying the NESS office from the inside. The two desks were set up to the left of the door.
“I like this,” he said. “How much did this cost?”
Astrid told him.
“Not bad,” he said. “Not bad at all. Und you mentioned a telephone, horses, and guns?”
“Leigh Ann—that is Frau Ennis—said she had some ideas. She said if there were a bridge over Buffalo Creek here, we could keep the horses in her father’s barn.”
“That would really help.” Neustatter smiled. “You do realize, do you not, that the reward for doing well is more work? I need NESS’ secretary at the desk, answering the door and the phone. If there is nothing else to do, do your school work.”
Astrid nodded. That made sense to her.
A mounted courier arrived before noon with assignments for NESS. They were needed in Erfurt right away—so much so that the NUS Army was sending a pickup despite the fuel shortage. He handed over written orders, which Neustatter read and passed to Astrid.
The Committees of Correspondence had been recruiting, and ever since the Battle of Wismar Bay, volunteers had poured in. Several hundred were gathered in Erfurt, and the new USE Army wanted them at Camp Saale for basic training.
“Do not ask me who stays with the NUS Army and who moves to the USE Army,” the courier warned. His weary tone said he’d been asked that question a lot already. “They do not tell me who or why.”
