Northern Neighbor

[Magnolia League]

Belgrade, July 31st 1978, around 4 PM

Walking down the old cobble streets of Belgrade's old town Draža Pajić couldn't help but remember the first time he came marching through the capital. It was December of 1941, and at only 18 years of age he was the youngest of Marshal Tito's personal guards, who escorted the future President as he entered the newly liberated city. There was twelve of them, to be exact. Three became cabinet members, three became senior officials, three joined the General Staff. One died of a heart attack, one was executed for treason. Only Draža joined the UDBA. But, that was long ago. No one but him and a few ghosts from the past knew much about his fifteen year adventure in intelligence, and he preferred to keep it that way. He was a new man, a policymaker at the Foreign Ministry, and at 55, he was just a few years away from peaceful retirement on a sweet, sweet government pension.

It had been a particularly rainy July. The streets were wet and the sky was dark, you could hardly tell it was only four in the afternoon. As he rounded the corner and approached the door to his 19th century townhouse, a personal gift from the Marshal, he happened to glance through one of the street-facing windows which peaked into the small mansion's salon. Through the silk curtains, lit by the faint sunlight which barely made it through the thick cloudy sky, he saw his gramophone in the corner, a record by Zdravko Čolić, his favorite musician, placed immobile on the record player. Peculiar, he almost always made sure to put his vinyls away when he stopped listening. He didn't remember playing that particular record last time he used the gramophone either - though, granted, he had just come back from vacation the previous day, and hadn't stepped foot in the salon in a good while.

Unlocking the front door, he couldn't help but notice the doormat had been strangely wet even before he rinsed his shoes on it, and as he opened the door and stepped into the small foyer, a dry umbrella in the rack alerted suspicion. He placed his wet umbrella beside it, and turned right, stepping through the open door of the salon, singing jovially in a smooth bass.

"April u Beooograduuuu...."

"...jedno prošlo dooobaaa..."

---

Berlin, August 1st 1978, around 8 AM

"Mr. Ambassador?" The gentle voice of Ambassador Viktor Kordić's secretary followed a knocking on his open office door. He looked up with a warm smile from a pile of paperwork he had left for himself the previous day, pulling his glasses to the tip of his nose. "Pričaj, dušo." She stepped forward and handed him a single page telegram. "A message from Belgrade." Reading it through quickly, he gave it back to her a few moments later. "Very well. Have a courier forward this to the Ministry."

About half an hour later the German Foreign Ministry would receive a letter addressed from Yugoslav Foreign Minister Edvard Kardelj, inviting 'the foreign minister and/or any other high dignitaries of the Bundesrepublik' to a formal discussion with Minister Kardelj regarding the further opening and expansion of ties between the two neighboring states, with the meeting location already determined to be the quant lakeside town of Bled in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, unless the German Ministry have any objection in this regard.

@German Federal Republic

[Mitteleuropa]

Foreign Affairs Minister Helmut Schmidt responds in short order, and the completed letter is sent back to the Yugoslavian government, aggreing both to the invitation and the venue selection. The Foreign Affairs office details travel plans into Slovenia, and further contact information.

[Magnolia League]

Belgrade, August 5th 1978

In a windowless room in the Belgrade headquarters of the State Security Administration, better known as the UDBA, seven young men ranging between 20 and 30 years of age would be lined up shoulder to shoulder, as Draža Pajić paces slowly up and down in front of them, looking over their individual folders and superior officers' reports from their time in training, files in his left, cigarette in his right. There was nothing outstanding, no diamonds in the rough, a few hiccups here and there from each of them, but Draža knew better than to expect perfection. He was well aware that in this world he had escaped, or at least tried to, perfection tended to raise more suspicion than it eased. The boys were good for the job.

"And the verdict, your honor?"

"Is this all I get?"

Colonel Sašo Rabić, a ghost from Pajić's past, smiled sarcastically at the comment. "You've been gone so long we need to see if you've still got it before we trust you with more." He looked Pajić up and down briefly before continuing. "With how much you resisted my offer on Monday, I'd never have expected such zeal in checking some rookies' files." He chuckled. "You were praying every night that I come drag you out of retirement, weren't you."

Without responding Pajić abruptly stopped his oscillation. "Tomić, Keln; Bašić, Minhen; Zalokar, Beč." Raising his head, he looked up and down the row of would-be agents in front of him. "The rest of you are coming with me, to Berlin. Welcome to the frontline of the Revolution, drugovi. The UDBA is glad to have you." Turning around to return their paperwork to Rabić, he exclaimed "Otpust!" as the agents scrambled and returned to their stations. With the room empty, he let silence speak for a few seconds, as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"Is Korvin still active?"

The Colonel had waited patiently in silence beside him, almost as if he expected their meeting wasn't over. "He just took over the Rome Residence."

Pajić nodded slowly. "I could tell that kid was gonna go places." He smiled gently, as if recalling long gone memories. "He'd be perfect for this job, you know."

---

Bled, August 14th 1978, around 1 PM

After two weeks of planning and coordination, the date of the meeting would finally arrive. Kardelj had arrived in Bled two days prior, and had stayed at the eventual meeting venue, the beautiful state-owned (formerly royal-owned) villa overlooking Lake Bled from its southern shore. On the morning of the meeting date, he travelled to Bled's railway station, on the opposite side of the lake, where the German diplomatic coach arriving soon after noon. Kardelj would exchange basic pleasantries with his German counterpart, conversing briefly with him in German as they made their way to their respective vehicles, their journeys to the venue separated for security purposes.

After a bit less than ten minutes the small convoy would arrive at Vila Bled, for decades used as a personal vacation residence for high ranking members of the League of Communists, particularly Tito while he was in good health, recently liberalizing access and making it a more formal, diplomatic and business venue. An honor guard would line the path leading the men to the grand entrance, with a German and Yugoslav flag hanging from two windows either side of the entryway, Yugoslav on the left, German on the right.

The men would be escorted by the Director of Operations at the villa to a mid-sized conference room overlooking the lake. Once there, the Director would leave, and Kardelj would offer Schmidt a seat opposite him. "My friend, please, take a seat. We have much to get to."

[Mitteleuropa]

Wearing a simple grey suit, the Minister eyes the Slovenian countryside and it's beauty, while suppressing the memory of his father's voice; "Those damn slavs, good for nothing socialists! Avoid them and their decrepit nation like the plague. I have no doubt they're plotting something disgusting for our Germant, and it will not succeed!". The Senior Schmidt was more conservative and hawkish than his Junior, and although Helmut had a difference in opinion, the stereotypes and assumptions about Yugoslavia had been deeply implanted in his mind, regardless as to how accurate they may be. So far, it seemed to be a perfectly reasonable place, with reasonable people, but Helmut knew this look into another nation was heavily filtered.

Taking his seat, the German Minister would exchange a nod and smile. "Let's get to it then, Ambassador. It appears that Yugoslavia desires a shift in it's relationship with Germany, please elaborate as you wish."