Chapter 22

"Sultan Omarid", close to the estalian Coast

Irglier still could not get truly comfortable with his Captain´s robes, but at
least he was a Captain again. What a year for the succcessful Corsair. First the
totally FUBARed raid in Germany, him nearly dying only to be saved by some of their
disgusting High Elf cousins! Then being given to the Sultan from Istrabul as an Elf
advisor. He was surprised by his cousins sneaky move.

Irglier could barly stomach the fact that he had to get Asur information from Araby
in exchange for his saved life, but his special ire was resorved for Maleus
Darkblade. Backstabbing was nothing new in Dark Elf society, but expending an
experienced crew like his was wasteful. Irglier nearly forfeited his life upon the
reaction to the documents he read about his Raid into Germany. According to the,
for lowly humans surprisingly good, spy service of Istrabul, Darkblade had known
that an attack into Germany would be suicide without impeccable preparetions!

Revenge thoughts blossomed in Irglier´s mind, but to be able to do this, he needed

to rise higher in status. so Irglier began to travel with convoys of Istrabul. 3
months back, his great chance came. The Istrabulian Corsairs he was with, decided
to take down one of the newcomers ships, sitting nicely on the ocean.
Irglier was the only one arguing against, but most captains dismissed his story
about Germany as a fairy tale. Since he was only a captain in training, despite his
experience, the Dark Elf could only keep his small ship back. THere was a very
mutinious feeling aboard and for a moment he thought he had made a mistake, when
the firefight with the german ship spoke for him.
Irglier´s ship was the only one to return.
After this event Irglier got a command over a flotilla. It was a beginning. Maleus
Darkblade, you will curse the day you threw your best captain to the wolves. That
day will come and sooner than you think.

Coaster "Baerbel" Sea of Claws same day

To say that the "Baerbel" had a checkered past was an exercise in understatement.
Build in 1986 on a Netherlands yard she had plied mostly the Baltic and North Sea
trade. Neither various owner changes nor a never-completely-solved murder on board
could keep her from doing so. When the Weltensprung arrived she was in a small
Hamburg repair yard for a very complete overhaul. This overhaul took more than 5
Months in the end as her new owners decided that she had to change a lot to fit in
with the new realities. A sturdy crane gave the ship the capability to use
underdeveloped harbors, replacing some of her 250 Containers with Portacabins gave
some Passenger space which could carry up to 100 people if comfort was not a
priority.

The business plan for this investment was to use the "Baerbel" as a tramp steamer,
plying the trades which were not done by the bigger ships of the German merchant
marine. Unfortunately the investors had not foreseen how very poor most of the
Warhammer world was, or that bunker oil would be so expensive for a while or that
the ship needed an armed crew when not part of a convoy.
It had not taken too long before the Coaster went into receivership and waited for
a new owner. For some time there was no interest, but then a new investor was able
to pay off most debtors and placate enough of the rest so they could take
possession. Now the Baerbel sported even more living quarters, bigger fuel tanks
and mountings points for the machine guns which started to be legal for ships
plying the overseas routes.

On the bridge the Captain was checking his position himself for the umpteen times,
making the Navigator feel more and more useless before checking their surroundings
on the radar again. Finally he spotted a small contact which approached them at
about 20 knots. As the Baerbel was just making headway they should meet soon
enough. Stepping outside to a bridge wing he turned his Binoculars to the bearing
his radar indicated. Sometime later a grin lit up his craggy features and he
ordered his crew to lower the Jacobs Ladder normally used to get the pilot on
board.
The rigid inflatable boat which pulled alongside his ship contained 2 men and a
woman which looked slightly strange from a distance. "Permission to come on board"?
"Permission granted"
Due to the Jacobs Ladder neither Claus Tolles nor Jasla had any problems scaling
the sides of their new home.

Altdorf, Barque close to the Bank of the Reik, Festtag

Christine Winkler was feeling like a Queen when a maidservant brought some
additional fruits to the low table in the lounge on the back of the luxury barque
which a grateful Trader lend her and her husband for the weekend. Looking into the
mirror she again marveled at her new blouse. She had foregone the temptation to
order a grandiose robe she could never wear and had the tailor make her a series of
very nice blouses and some trousers from silk-she enjoyed them greatly and thought
that they accented her figure quite nicely.
Going back to her husband who was flopping on a series of really big cushions at
the stern of the vessel under a protective shade she hated to break the relaxed and
happy mood, but she had not found any stretch of time alone with him since she
arrived in Altdorf. Well-no sense in delaying the inevitable-otherwise it would
fester.

"Dear, isn`t there something you should be talking to me about for a while now?"
She watched her husband draw himself out of his relaxed pose and steeling himself.
"Yes, I suppose there is. And now is as good a time as any other-so let's do it"
"First off I owe you a big apology for the bleeding amulet. I did not realize that
it is special when I got it on the Battlefield-I was a little too busy to see that
then and there. But when I was back home it became quite clear that I aquired
something …powerful. Remember when I told you about the patient we had during the
Papenburg festival-I knew he had a pulmonary embolism and not a myocardial before
we attached the ECG-I could literally see it. And I managed to get the needle in
him even into a vein which would have given the anesthetist a hernia-and you know
well I was never very good at that.

That evening I knew I had a magical artifact. I knew that it is potentially

dangerous-not just to me. I knew that I should give it to the authorities who could
study it at leisure and in safety. And I knew I was a bloody idiot who just could
not do it. You have lost patients yourself dear, you know what a wretched feeling
that is and that it stays with you for nearly forever. If I would have told you
about the amulet you would have insisted that we dispose of it-and rightly so.
And the next time a patient of mine would have died I would always have wondered if
I could not have saved him if I would have just kept that thing.
That night I knew I should give it away and get back to being just a mediocre part-
time medic for your sake and mine-and just could not find the power in me to do so.
Ever since then I am the much better medic who feels guilty because he endangers
his wife alongside himself. What can I say Christine besides I am deeply sorry for
being too weak to resist."

"That is what I thought. I would say I would not have done differently, but we both
know I am too much of a coward so I would have thrown it into the next garbage can
as fast as possible. But I understand you so well. All is forgiven-but be more open
in future-please?"
The couple embraced each other for quite some time before they were able to speak
again. "Now that this is over-what do we do now?"
"Ah that is going to be interesting-in every sense of the word. First off I have to
return to Germany, otherwise I am AWOL and that will not do. The Shallya cult has
asked me to keep the amulet for the time being-it seems to me it works well with me
and they want to make use of my knowledge."
"I can understand that, but as you may imagine I do not fancy a move to Altdorf."
"Neither do I, but it is possible that it will work differently anyway. Doctor Bach
at the German embassy checked Jan out and was deeply impressed. He seems to be well
connected with the Charite` and asked us to contact them. And lo and behold-the
other 4 holders of the amulets seem to be interested in a visit to Berlin as well-
seems they want to learn something while they teach me. And which place would be
better?"
"The Reverent Mother of the Shallya Cult in the Charite` talking about possible
treatments with the high and mighty "Professor Doctors"-that is something I have to
see"

"Pass me another glass of that wine and you will honey"

Wiebaden, BKA Headquarters, Bäkertag

Commissar (Police Lieutenant) Ibrahim Duerr was looking at the voluminous report
from CSI that was on his desk about the two dead Terrorists in the Couronne
wilderness. Their findings had been clear enough: The Idiots had made a stop not
too far outside of the German border to change cars, had freed the witch and were
killed. As the car had only been found a couple of days after the attack it was
difficult to find any tracks and identification had been difficult due to the
action of scavengers. Currently not everything was clear, but the body of Manfred
Horst had led the investigation clearly into a direction of left-wing terrorism.
As the assault on the prisoner van had been perpetrated by more than the two
assholes the search for their usual associates was on. He had already contacted the
"Verfassungsschutz" in the hopes they knew more than him as they were supposed to
keep tabs of the left wing loons.

Great Forrest, Quarry and Railyard

Heinz Albers walked into the mess hall he had helped building himself. The hall was
brand spanking new and looked like a cross of a wooden barn and fantasy Viking
longhouse.
On the inside it was mostly open rafters, naked wood for all to see and lots of
open space.
The furniture fit in, with Tables of huge trees sawn into single boards and seats
from split trees. To a German this was an unusual wealth because such prime wood
was expensive, to an Imperial the work to fashion these would have been excessive
before the Weltensprung,

One of the German inventions that the imperial craftsman especially liked was the
power saws that had been brought to convert all the fallen trees into useful
railroad ties-but also many other pieces of lumber.
Confronted with a wealth of construction material which normally would have taken
them months to produce the imperial workers went into a frenzy of barracks building
so they could stay in decent houses rather than spend months in tents. Not to be
outdone their German counterparts had shows them some new construction techniques
like plank trusses and helped with the erection with their power machinery while
they waited for some of their heavy equipment to arrive.

This had of course backfired as this was part of the reason why the Railroad
company had dropped so many new workers and material on them.
So they could start building more barracks, more warehouses and workshops and of
course a bigger mess hall. As the newcomers did not want to sleep under Canvass
they had shared the workload right from the start which held helped to close the
rifts between newcomers and old hands before it took off for real.
In all that had led to a assortment of low wooden barracks and a couple of wooden
halls which rivaled a small imperial town. There were gaps in many walls and if you
touched the wood there was always a danger of becoming stuck to the sap but
compared to tents it was paradise.

Heinz Albers was happy at the spirit shown by the crew of railroad workers and
quarrymen from Germany and their imperial counterparts-the achievement of the first
months which had directly improved their well-being had sanded of some of the rough
edges which could have been expected.
The fact that they were the only humans save for some bandits and trappers within
100 Kilometers or so also helped.

This evenings meeting had not much to do with the railroad they all served or their
living quarters. Currently the Landwehr was based on those Quarrymen which had been
the first to arrive. With so many workers here it was time to enlarge the Landwehr.
While these could, in theory, be drafted experience showed that Landwehr units
composed of volunteers were always better motivated and more efficient.

Finding Quarrymen and Railroad workers that had formerly served the Bundeswehr had
not been too difficult and the Imperial who had not been soldiers before had
received some training when they were prepared to work for the railroad.
Some depots in far-off Germany gave up hand-me down equipment which still had some
useful „life" and so the workers could do double duty of standing guard for
themselves and working their asses off for a railway which was strategically
important.
Needless to say the workers were not so happy about this but were told to shut up
and soldier. In the end they had the choice of facing the Great Forest unarmed and
with whatever guards the empire could rustle up-or form a decent Landwehr unit-so
no choice at all.

The Bundeswehr had send them something of a motivational speaker who was said to
tour many of the newly erected Landwehr units. Captain Brenneke stepped up to the
speakers lectern to announce him:
Gentleman, let me introduce you to somebody who can tell you what the Landwehr is
about better than anybody else. I present to you Major Martensen, commanding
officer of the 31 Landwehr Company of Papenburg.

The middle aged man had few hairs, looked a little tried and did not have the the
powerful physique expected from a renown warrior-but the cheers he got from the
assembly would have done any rock star proud.
After the Papenburg Raid he had been a media celebrity whether he wanted or not and
the armed forces could not withstand the temptation of turning him into a PR Tool.
The atrocities of the Dark Elves and the fact that his unit had been everything
that stood between hundreds of civilians had indeed been a help in that regard, as
well as that he was unassuming and so-average. Many people could relate to him.
Even in the Empire he had some recognition for the novelty that the"City Soldiers"
beating the dread Druchii.

"Good evening Folks. Thanks for the warm welcome, even if I am not sure what I did
to earn that. I have heard that most of you are not too happy to join the Landwehr.
I understand that very well. You do hard work and expect others to guard your
precious behinds while you do so. You are told that the Landwehr is at the bottom
of the totem pole for manpower, equipment and training.
The prestige for serving in a Landwehr unit is low and the pay is lousy-the extra
hours you have to invest in your unit will not do anything for your social lives
either.
If we were a part of a fictional novel we would would be helplessly slaughtered by
a hero or villain at the beginning of the 3rd chapter.
That is all true, but there is also another truth-we are the first line of defense
as most of the time we are closed to the point when the shit hits the fan.
For those civilians close to that point we are the ONLY line of defense-if we are
not there there will be no saving of those we cannot protect.
And WE do not do it nobody will do it.
We do this job despite old equipment, despite low training hours and despite the
fact that at our age we should be sitting in front of a fire telling tall stories.
And while we may not have the newest toys and are no longer at the prime we can do
this.
I can attest that we can if we have to. I had the honor to command the 31st
Landwehr last year. Then the Spitzohren decided that the piece of Germany that we
guard were the right place to ply their usual trade to murder pillage and plunder.
We were the only force which could be there on short notice. We met the Dark Elves
on the battlefield of Mitting and we handed them their heads. They brought hundreds
of Corsairs, Cold Ones, Witches and even a bleeding Dragon-we had us and the
venerable equipment that the Landwehr usually receives.

For two hours we have been the only thing that stood between countless civilians
and bunch of sadistic torturers and slavers-and they did not pass.
We were not especially strong, lucky, gifted or wise: We won because we adhered to
the oldest military wisdom there is:"Sweat saves Blood"
We used our time we had to train well, we all knew the terrain we were supposed to
fight in and we maintained the equipment we have been given well. We had good unit
cohesion and with luck and the courage of a lot of average people we met the enemy
and met their measure.
And because of this I am damn proud to be a member of the Landwehr – can you do the
same?"
The cheers that filled the hall were even louder than before

There would be a Landwehr unit at the Quarry-actually there would be a strong

battalion worth of volunteers by the end of the evening.

Coaster Baerbel, Sea of Claws, same day

The small wardroom of the Baerbel allowed only the leadership of the Mercenaries to
sit and discuss their business. Claus Tolles looked down the table and mentally
manipulated the chess pieces on his game board which were supposedly comrades in
this great enterprise. How could he place these guys so that they all had to rely
on him for arbitration while at the same time not introduce so much centrifugal
force as to rip the structure of the emerging company apart?

Manfred Hartig and that Breitkopf guy were representing the technical and science
group-they would be once side. Miroslav Weit and Wolfgang Böhler were leading the
two combat platoons-they would be the other group. He would have to think about a
replacement for Wolfgang in that role sooner or later-he was wasted there.
Jasla was the first of the non-Germans who would undoubtedly have to be integrated
somehow-that would be the third group.
Captain Pfaff and his crew were somewhat outside of these groups as they would
return to Germany from time to time. No need to bother them with too many details.

Time to get things rolling. "Gentlemen and Lady, your reports please"
The round started at Wolfgang Böhler. "At present a lot of the members of both
Platoons are pretty seasick and are on meds-maybe a good thing as some of them
realized now what they have gotten themselves into. Apart from that all is fine and
the guys finally took the poll: We are going to be the "Schwarze Schaar" (The Black
Company).There is a lot of argument about our choice of first potential employer
and I have to admit to having reservations about it as well"
"All in good time-but this seems to be the only possible one which fits all of our
needs. Manfred?"

"My people are about the same as the gunslingers-no big problem. Dr. Corzelius has
the seasickness in hand it seems and the name seems to fit."
"Jasla, your turn"
"I had contact with the Supreme Sorceress of Ghrond again. We have an offer of safe
conduct and a meeting with the Witch King-more I cannot do"
"Thanks, that should be all then. We see each other tomorrow same time."

Coaster Baerbel, Cabin of Jasla, Sea of Claws, same day

Because of her importance to the Black Company and as nobody trusted Jasla with
their lives she had received her own Cabin, a rare luxury on the small ship. It had
a second inhabitant now. A beautiful young blonde woman who knelt on the floor,
legs slightly spread, face down and naked save for a steel ring around her neck.
She had crossed her arms behind her back, hands to elbows, enhancing her already
remarkable figure even more. Petra Heim`s sight would have inflamed most men and a
great many women, but her thoughts were not focused on any human at present.
For the best part of two hours she had thought about what Jasla might to to
her/with her. Then the realization took hold that she could not imagine what the
Elf might want and that it would be her mistress decision, not hers-nothing to
worry about. She just hoped to be strong enough to be worthy of her Mistress
attention.

Jasla still sat in the wardroom, nursing a tea and simply enjoyed life. Just being
able to use her magical senses again was wonderful, to have more influence in her
fate was giving her back her lifeblood and best of all, her boredom had ended for
sure.
One of the new things she had to get used to: For the first time ever somebody
wanted to be her slave voluntarily. She was not sure how long Petra would last but
the thought to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh again was giving her a boost
which drugs could not give. She decided that she had given her new found slave
enough time to simmer and got up.

"On a word Jasla"

"What do you want from me Claus-I thought we are done for today"
"Oh, no business any more for today. Let's just say I would regard it as a personal
favor if Mrs. Heim would be able to walk the stairs under her own power by this
time next week and to remember her own name."
"What`s this to you-you have a shine in her too? I might share her a bit if I am in
the mood"
"No, nice as she is I am pretty sure I can make up the shortfall sooner or later.
But it would give the Company funny ideas if they learn that it is ok to kill other
team members, so don`t"
"I`ll think about it" She got as far as to the door when Claus landed on her back
putting her on the ground and she felt the tip of a knife at the skin above a
kidney "Think faster witch"
"Now that you put it like that dear I think I can accommodate your wish" It was
highly tempting to do something about Claus behavior, but presently she was alone
with more than a hundred well-armed Germans on a strange ship. Even if she could
kill them all she would not be able to reach Nagaroth by herself, best to bide the
time. On her way to the cabin Jasla was looking forward to the meeting between
arrogant Claus and Malekith-that would be interesting to see. She just hoped to
survive the fallout.

Bremen, DASA Factory, Sigmarstag

The Mage of the celestial order watched the rapidly spinning ball behind the
transparent barrier with interest. Seemingly all on its own intent the ball lowered
itself to a silver bend surface below which responded with a shower of sparks. The
ball moved down touching a seam between two plates and friction-welded them
together.
"What you can see here Meister Kepel is the construction of the second stage
propellant tank for our new Rocket. Let me show you what we have in mind in our
conference room." The DASA representative led the mage to another room where he had
prepared the essential of every space operation: A Power Point Presentation.

It showed two rockets side by side, both of roughly the same height, but one had
the same, slightly bigger diameter throughout whereas the other slimmed down at the
top and then had a flared out tip.
"As you can see we have based the new Rocket on the old Ariane 4 but changed the
second stage to storable liquids and increased the tanks to make up for the reduced
efficiency of the fuels. We use the same engines throughout the rocket to reduce
costs-the lower stage has 5, the upper stage 2 of them. The base version can push 5
ton payloads into a low Warhammer orbit or dump a "special payload" of 7 tons
anywhere on this world.
We can increase the payload with the addition of 2 or 4 solid fuel Booster rockets
which were originally meant for the Ariane 5-with that payloads of more than 9 tons
are doable."

Most of this went right over the head of the mage who did not want to show his
ignorance and so changed the topic to something he could relate to. "I hear you
want to call your new rocket "Greif" (Griffon)"
"Yes, a lot of Germans were very impressed with these beasties during the parade
with the Emperor in Berlin last year so it seemed like a good name to take"
"So what are your plans now?"

"We already launched a couple of sounding rockets from Cuxhaven to check on the
orbital mechanics of this world. Thanks to the meticulous records of celestial
movements your order has kept and our own observations we have a pretty solid idea
of what they are and the test flights confirmed them as far as they can from
suborbital shots. The next step has to be the insertion of a satellite into orbit
but this is a much more substantial undertaking. We have to wait for the completion
of the start complex in launch has to be to the east to take advantage of this
world's rotation-and Peenemünde Nord is nearly the only place where a failure will
not drop its remains into heavily populated areas.
If everything goes as planned the first launch pad will be finished a little while
after we have completed the first rockets."

"Yes, I have seen that launch many times already. It succeeded 20 times out of 24,
in the cases where it failed there seemed to be flames from the sides of the upper
part-didn`t you call it… the second stage?"
"What-err sorry, please tell us more Meister Kepel. Some more coffee?"

Great Forest, Quarry and Depot, same Date

Major Brenneke was looking like shit-a pasty skin, deep shadows under the slightly
red-shot eyes and loose skin which showed the loss of some weight all indicated the
same thing: He was working far too many hours and got not enough time to eat, sleep
or LIVE. But needs must when the devil drives and he was driving hard. Shortly
after the counts visit things had started to happen: More people arrived, more
equipment appeared, more barracks and warehouses needed to be build, more orders to
be given and more reports to be heard.
Now these things started to slack off a little as nobody was sleeping under canvas
anymore and there was a warehouse space for the things which really really needed
them. The cantina started to function again and the sanitary system just broke down
every other day with signs of improvement.
So now he could apply some of the time he did not have again to the needs of the
Landwehr. He had taken his promotion in stride and even remembered that they had a
beer in the cantina over this. Normally his Captains were not so bad at keeping the
work away from him, but the fact that he had to weld Imperial, German and other men
and women into a cohesive whole without the benefits of a really good staff took
its toll as well. The meeting he had now was of a different sort however.

"Now do not get me wrong Herr Schneider, I am not going to look the gift horse in
the mouth. But when Rheinmetall wants to just give me some military hardware for
free I have to ask why?"
"To be quite frank with you Major, we see this as a kind of promotional activity.
So far all German hardware which was acquired by the Empire was a gift from Germany
in one way or another. Now that everybody has seen what our weapons can do they
want more of it-but sooner or later they have to buy instead of waiting for
handouts. We have anticipated this and have prepared some offers for weapon systems
which are more in line with the Empire`s needs, their financial situation and the
security needs of Germany. So far the Empire did not decide either way, so we think
that we`ll give the Imperial German Railroad some samples where the Empire can have
a good look. So let's have a look at what`s in Santa`s bag, shall we?"

Pushing his Laptop around so that the tired Major could have a look the first thing
he saw was a low-slung gun which took him a while to place. "Jesus, what is this-a
pimped up M101?" The Landwehr officer was referring to a 105 mm gun/howitzer which
had been introduced into the US Army shortly after WW1.

"I would state it a little differently, but yes. The Bundeswehr received a lot of
them as their first field artillery after WW2. Later they modernized the guns by
adapting them to a longer L/39 barrel with a muzzle brake to increase range. We did
these conversations for several other customers as well and still have a number of
these at hand."
"Aha, and now you want to unload these guns with a construction date of 1921 on the
Empire."
"It is not that bad-we had to change barrels and recuperators anyway and all parts
are certified. And at a weight of 2 tons they are far more maneuverable for the
empire than the FH 70 howitzers and the 105 mm ammo is also much lighter-and
cheaper."
"OK, we`ll have a look. But you should include some training into your gift or we
cannot make much use of them"
"You will receive some instructors if you take them-just make sure you have some
hopeful warm bodies for a Battery of 4 guns lined up"
"They`ll be there"

"Ok, the next one is this"

"What is that contraption" "This is a quad mount of 0,50" Caliber Machine guns for
air defense and serious infantry assaults"
"Isn`t the old 20 mm Rh 202 twin not good enough anymore"
"Oh, it is plenty good, the problem is that everybody in Germany wants them and we
do not have enough to go around. Also they are so lethal because of their explosive
ammo-and when I quote the price for the shells to the Imperials the all get wide
eyed. When I have to go solid slug there is not much difference in damage if we go
down to a lower caliber. The 0.50`s are already in the army for door guns in
helicopters and the new trains use them in their turrets so the ammo is around.
The old M2 is a little heavy but robust to no end and it is not as if we have to
pay royalty for them any more so we are making them again.
"Makes sense. Yours look like they are on a pedestal mount."
"You can put them on a foundation or on the bed of a flatbed truck pretty easily.
And they will take care of any air problem here"
"And will not be too much of a threat to Germany if they fall into the wrong hands"
"There is that"
"Well, if you wish to bestow us with such riches who am I to say no. I just hope I
do not need them for real"
"I would say the same, but my company would be better served otherwise"
"A honest salesman, will ye wonders every cease"

Great Forest, close to Castle Wolfenfels, Brunntag

Sergeant Blascoviks had taken a while to warm to warden Markel. The warden had a
grand total of 4 teeth (all black), a vocabulary of roughly 500 words, 3 different
kinds of lice and was wearing some of his clothes since about forever. What colored
his fingernails was something the Sergeant did not want to speculate about as the
alternative would spoil his appetite. But he did know the lay of the land like the
back of his hand, knew what should live where and when. He had also learned the art
of stalking and stealth in a school where the price for succeeding was continued
respiration.
It had been hard work to pay the man the respect he was due and not to alienate
him. The warden on the other hand could not make heads or tails of the Germans who
tried to treat him like an equal and where nobody seemed to know whether they were
commoners or nobles.

But bit by bit the warden and his helpers and the Germans had gotten used to each
other and established mutual respect. That the KSK medic had pulled 2 teeth under
local anesthesia had helped as had the medicine which had cured the woodsmen of a
longstanding worm infestation-a typical risk for people who eat venison on the raw.
But what helped even more was that the Germans were willing to listen and learn-
when had the high-and-mighty nobles on their castle ever done THAT. So slowly at
first but with ever increasing speed the warden tried to impart his wisdom to the
Germans while he learned about the workings of a double-barreled shotgun. By his
personal standards the Germans were still bumbling through the woods but he had to
admit they were much quieter already. By the standards of the tin-clad overlords in
the castle they were virtually soundless.

Since both groups had established an understanding they had started to patrol the
woods to the sides of the Middenheim road with increased frequency. It did not take
them long to find the signs of passing Beastmen and to localize them in an area
some 10 kilometers from the castle.
Now they wanted to do something about that and had set out to Patrol this area more
aggressively. Blascoviks and Merkel had agreed that the warden would scout the
woods in front of them.

The KSK Sergeant started to think that the warden was already out too long when he
started to hear something out of place. Before he could localize the sound the
grinning face of Merkel popped out of a bush few meters to his left. Signaling him
to keep silence the warden used the sign language both shared to show him that a
group of beastmen was not so far away. They should be about 20 and were currently
feeding. The Sergeant asked the warden to lead and signaled his men to follow.
About 30 minutes later they arrived at the outskirts of a small clearing.

When they were close enough Blascoviks used a "Spider"-a small toy like drone which
he controlled via a handheld computer. The drone was able to go under bushes no man
could have crossed without noise. It`s small camera gave the sight of a group of
Gors which were lying on the ground already sated while some Ungors were still
fighting for the scraps their stronger brethren had left. Having a closer look at
the remains made the Sergeant draw in a breath.
Pulling back the wardens and the soldiers got a quick and quiet briefing from him
before taking their positions around the clearing. The warden was grinning like
mad-he had been entrusted with a new toy he had just learned to use.

The sergeant managed to get close enough to the clearing undetected that he had a
line of sight to several beastmen. "Hearing" several clicks against his mastoid
bone which indicated that everybody was ready he drew a bead to the breast of the
biggest Gor in his area of responsibility and shot him. The 7.62 mm rounds he used
was frangible and converted practically all organs in the Gors chest into mush. Not
checking his targets condition Blascoviks changed targets and shot another Gor
before several hand grenades arched from a bush much closer to the Beastman-the
warden was distributing his toys freely.

The other patrol members had started firing on his first shot. Before the assault
the beastmen had felt quite safe deeply inside the woods. The only humans who could
find and stalk them here were the Wardens-and they lacked the ability to fight them
successfully. The armored warriors who could have done so successfully made such a
ruckus when they moved in the woods that they were heard long before they found the
Children of Chaos and could be attacked or avoided as needed. An attack by forces
which could stalk them undetected and had so clearly the ability to annihilate them
was an devastating novelty. Being under fire from two sides and the rapid and
violent death of their leader and a large part of their group panicked the
remaining Beastmen into flight. By coincidence and not design one of them promptly
ran to the bushes which housed the warden. The Sergeant got 2 of the group but a
huge Gor reached the brushes before he could do more. To his relief the sound of
two rapidly fired shotgun barrels indicated the warden had been alert.

After a quick check of the enemy and his own forced he contacted the castle via the
wireless. "Yes Lt., we found a group of 21 beastmen at coordinates … and ambushed
them. 21 enemy KIA, no own wounded or killed…. Thank you Sir. We also found the
missing persons from traders caravan…No Sir, I do not think there are any remains
fit to take back for burial…Yes Sir, we will Return to Castle Wolfenfels now.
Ending the call the Sergeant winced when he saw the warden apply his knife to the
groin of one of the fallen Beastman. He had suspected already where some of the
pouches came from that the warden had presented to his men as gifts, but to know
that directly was still unpleasant. He had to make a mental note to drop them
before going back to Germany.

The Warp-What is time?

The Being sat on a throne, but not at rest, instead showing a tension that looked
like it could rear up and dismantle creation at a heartbeats notice.
Other Gods likenesses were so complicated that humans could only glimpse parts of
them.
His was not.
Other Gods thoughts were so complex and intricate that no human could ever aspire
to understand a small part of them and even then probably only to be deceived.
His were not so.
Other Gods emotions were so subtle, so strange and so interleaved that humans could
not relate to them.
His were clear.
His thoughts and plans were simple, clear and oriented towards a simple goal and
therefore nearly always succeeded.
His thoughts and emotions were of a terrible, brutal simplicity and clarity and all
the more powerful because of that.

He is Khorne and all skulls taken in combat was his, all blood spilled in battle
was his and in his mind that was all in all the Universes worth having.
He did not have the gift of prophesy which his brothers shared in some way or
another but he did not need it. As long as Blood was spilled and Skulls taken, who
needed to know who`s side won and who`s lost-the skulls and the blood was always
the same. The strength, the speed and the luck, the better tactics and the brothers
in arms-they decided the worth of a being in Khorne`s eyes-who`s side they were on
did not interest him at all.
His thoughts were moved by the patterns of war like his hands were moved by muscles
and sinews-he needed no Gift of Prophesy to see that a great Bloodshed was coming.
Armies were gearing up for the confrontation even if they did not know it yet,
Battlefields prepared themselves and future Mass Graves waited for their
inhabitants.
Khorne relaxed the little bit he was capable of and waited for the inevitable. Any
human who could have seen him could see his emotion in the upward movements of his
lips-but humor it was not.