Boostedt close to Neumünster, 7 weeks after the Seeadler Raid

Ulrich Stoiber was as happy as he could be while wearing clothes-this was a place he did not expect to see again, at least in this way.
When Germany`s army started to enlarge it became obvious that more bases were needed. North Germany had seen already two battles so it was natural that some of them would have to be there. The fact that it was still federal property, being close to major roads and rail and surviving infrastructure all made sure that the barracks at Boostedt were reopened. For once pushing a round peg through a round hole the Bundeswehr named the new tank unit-which was supposed to become battalion sized-the 183th Battalion for the unit that had been stationed there before the base was closed and the battalion was disbanded.

The Tank school had given back the old unit colors-a yellow tank over a leaf on a blue shield, and facsimiles of that had been liberally applied in the new and old part of the Barracks.
When Ulrich had reenlisted he had been sucked in the organizational maelstrom that was the Hag Graef Raid, but he had been promised a posting with the 183th when it became operational. To his surprise the Army actually kept their promise.
He had received some leave after the raid and had arrived at his new posting 2 weeks before. Now was a special day: The first tanks had arrived in Boostedt.

He was currently walking around the Leo2A8 that had yet to be unloaded from the "Elefant" transporter and tried to spot the changes that he had been told about.
When he first heard about their new tanks he had been more than a little skeptical but only practice would show if he was wrong or not. During the decades after the Cold War Germany had reduced it`s great tank force from more than 2000 to an approved 250 or so. Many of the "surplus" tanks had been sold, but many others had been too much used up to be sold quickly.
Kraus-Maffay had combed the depots and had found more than a 100 Tanks which were worthy of a rebuild while the Army figured out how their new tank were to look like.

The new tank had started as an A4 model and still sported the older L/44 gun, not the newer L/55 which had a third more power. Ulrich had problems to envision any target in this bright new world where this would make any difference and the shorter cannon made the tank more maneuverable in many circumstances.
There was still a discussion about the best ammo loadout, but one thing was obvious already-the sabot-clad fin stabilized subcaliber darts (APFSDS) which had made up the largest part of the Leo`s ammo before would mostly disappear.

The totally clapped out engines had been the reason why nobody had picked these tanks before and replacements were hard to find. The old 1500 hp engines had therefore be replaced by brand new 1850 hp ones which were also much smaller, allowing for nearly 1000 additional liters of diesel fuel.
A dozer blade had been added to the tank in order to improve performance in difficult terrain.

The original armor was still in place-that was not a problem as it had more than enough strength for the Warhammer battlefields, but each side of the turret showed a metal plate showing a rune-for magical protection. Some dwarf clan was exchanging their work for high-grade steels and lathes.
On top of the turret the old commander`s machine gun was replaced with a remotely controlled weapons station. An additional machine gun and a 40 mm grenade launcher were sure to add anti-infantry firepower.

At the end of the turret a new armored container housed the latest addition to the Leos capabilities: A small, electrically driven drone housing a remarkably good camera. Having enough "juice" for 20 minutes of flying it was a good way to spot problems and chances without exposing the tank too much. A small company in Lübeck was making these and they were quickly becoming a fixture in Bundeswehr units.

Even harder to spot were several small cameras which were placed at various nooks around the tank to give good allaround vision to the tank commander.

They would hope fully keep the accompanying infantry to convert to patty mode when backing up.

He was so looking forward to give the Eisenschwein (Iron Pig) a spin.

Destroyer "Lütjens", on the Great Sea

Captain Ingo Steuerlein leaned against the bridge wing, his thoughts on a voyage on their own. His ship and the convoy it was protecting were on the way back to Germany, the radar was clear to max range, so a slight relaxation was possible.
"Old fashioned, but functionable!" was the thought Ingo had, looking over the convoy. In 2011 the Lütjens had been sold to be broken down, her time over. But before the ship travelled to Turkey on her last voyage, the Weltensprung had happened. Today Germany needed every military naval vessel, so the ship had been recommisioned.
Lütjens was old, but here on this world a really tough nut. Reliability was the code word for everything now, fancy frills came second. The whole operation stood under that imperative. Unlike at home, here the freighters most often did not anchor in the harbours, them being too big, no, like the sail age gone by, the ships anchored off shore, the goods delivered by boats and rafts.

And quite often at that. Outside of one, two handfuls of big nations, the settlements, even the nations, were rather small from a modern standpoint. So the mass of trade goods per settlement was not that high. To fill the holds, Convoy 35 had travelled a circuit of a full sixty stops, grazing a strip along the Southlands coast.
But before he could spint the thoughts further, a voice brought Steuerlein back at once.

"Contact, Green 22, max radar range, CBDR. Signal strength hints at a metal vessel. Shall we ping him, Sir?"

"Wireless?"

"Silent and no answer to our hails."

"Try it again and ping him. Alert level 2, something smells fishy here! Civilian vessels shall give 4 degrees to port."

"Jawohl, Herr Kapitän!"

"Definitely a steel ship, Sir! Close to a small island. Nothing on the airwaves except us."

"Mist! Verdammter! Tell Captain Wunderlich he has control over the convoy for the next hours. We will investigate that strange ship."

"Aye!"

During the approach the rumours and assumptions on Lütjens steadily rose. Who or what could it be? Condition 1 had been set. Missiles and cannons pointed at the bogey, when visual range was reached. Everyone above "armed" with binocs searched the horizon.

"Got it! Hmm ... old design. Who still builds something like that?"

Steuerlein turned his binoculars to the indicated position. He looked... and let his optics sink down in surprise. For the first and only time in his life Ingo Steuerlein really hoped that nobody on the other vessel was alive. Because that would have ramifications above any problems Germany or the native nations already had.
In his brain the equally famous and infamous name repeated in a loop: SS Waratah

Porsche stem factory, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany

Ingrid Schrödinger, like her teammates, sat in front of the various monitors, following the simulations there. While one might think this design team worked on a new sports car, nothing could be further away. Decades of making top sport automobiles linked the firm forever with these vehicles, but in the early days under congenial founder Ferdinand Porsche, the corporation built vehicles of all kinds. Even Panzer.
Ingrid and her team had the honour to be the first Porsche team after seven decades to construct a Tank again. AVFs like the new Leo2A8 or the re-activatiuon of the Gepard Flak tanks were good ideas and useful, but stopgaps in the end. Unsurprisingly, the Bundeswehr began to task the various firms in Germany with the development of new weapon systems.
In the case of the successor for the Leopard 2 tank after the showing of the first project studies, two competititors were left: Kraus-Maffei-Wegmann and surprising many, the Porsche project.

The design estimates to be reached given by the Bundeswehr were hard. Not only should the, tentatively named, Leopard 3 be a vehicle for the Warhammer battlefields, it should safeguard technological knowledge and being useable on Earth as well. Not an easy to reach target.
But the studies of both firms had much promise. Kraus-Maffei had a well earned name in tank building already and their prototype showed the expertise gone into it. It was an obvious evolution from the excellent Leo2 design and promised to be the tough nut the Bundeswehr wanted for the tank corps.
Porsche´s design was different and showed that it´s parent was a high-tech vehicle smithery. Despite still compact measurements it was a rolling castle. Immensely hard and with heavy firepower on fast tracks, in fighting capabilities it surpassed the other prototype. The flaws in all this was the possibility of overengineering and mainly the price.
Ingrid´s orders now were to weed out last bugs, making the design simpler to maintain and shave off the endprice. As one could imagine, this was easier said than done.

Unnamed Island, Southlands Coast
The sailors of the Lütjens were swarming over the Waratah, investigating every nook and cranny. The Weltensprung had deposited the ship fully on the beach of one of the many medium and small islands before the Southlands shores.
And rather early it became clear that the old steamer had not been hit what spirited Germany to this world. Time and weather had nibbled quite a bit. It seemed that the ship had been here for the century it was gone from Earth. Luckily for the searchers a log had been found in the Captain´s cabin. It was obvious that Captain Ilbery left it intentionally there for a possible search team to find.
Captain Steuerlein was busy reading the entries after the brittle book had been taken apart and the pages carefully placed in plastic sheets to stop further degradation. The first entries confirmed what the people on Earth assumed about the fate of the Waratah. The ship was on her course to Cape Town, when the heavy storm, so many ships there reported on back in 1909, came up. The ship fought through the battering gales and waves, when suddenly among the lightnings the Waratah was bathed in a rainbow coloured light. At first, crew and passengers believed an unusual hit by a lightning, but there was no damage by it.
My God, they never found out that this is another world! thought Steuerlein after reading more entries. Directly after the light, a enormous lurch went through the Waratah, when the ship beached itself. Owning to the adverse weather conditions and being close to the South African coast when hit, the people onboard believed that the storm beached them on one of the islands off South Africa. Crew and passengers waited a month for rescuers, the ship having enough food and water. Then Captain Ilbery, thought to finally having pinpointed the position, decided to set over to the mainland and trek to the next settlement. He left the book with his planned route in his cabin to find. Then crew and passengers lowered the boats, went to the mainland and packed with a lot of provisions, began to travel to a settlement which was not there.

The crew of Lütjens had found the remains of the boats on the nearest coast of the continent. Steuerlein and his crew hoped that the survivors of the Waratah found a place to live, but knowing the world they were now on... Still, the people of Waratah could have been lucky for once. After rejoining the convoy, Captain Steuerlein called Berlin and told them their find. The mystery of the Waratah was now partly solved and the fact that the ship still was on the Warhammer world indicated that baring a wonder, a trip to WH was probably a one way trip.

Office of the Chancellor, Berlin, Germany

It was an unusual meeting in the chancellory. The leaders of all halfway "normal" political parties and several important NGOs met with Angela Merkel. The theme was very earnest. With the find of the Waratah two things were clear: First, a constant return to home was close to impossible and second, the plannings had to keep in line with a possible arrival of even more advanced people in the future. So Germany had to plan for the future and more, now was the time for some serious reforms on all levels. Not at once, but step by step. Reforms of the armed Forces, reforms of the federal states, reforms of the industry and agriculture werr just the important ones.
For this, Angela Merkel wised for a broad basis, a general consensus in most cases to make fluent transitition. There was grumbling and joy, paranoia and looking forward, but with few exceptions a general line of actions was reached. Together with national elections, several reforms would be voted about by referenda. And while some refom proposals had the support of even political enemies, there were controversial ideas which would be decided after the elections by who would win them.

Bargteheide, North of Hamburg, 8 weeks after Seeadler Raid

The back room of the restaurant was in far worse shape than the more sumptuous one in Hemmingen, the talks less airy and the participants more tired-they had been at it far longer. Everybody was looking at everybody else to see what were to happen next-who would be the first to move and to declare what was forbidden.

Claus Tolles viewed them in a detachedly, to him they were self-propelled pieces on a chess board with capabilities and weaknesses to be used as needed. Their personal opinion about him did not matter at all, but the risk to himself and losing his chance at greatness if he started wrongly did. Still, this was obviously the moment, so ready or not he had to make his move.

Standing up and walking to the top of the tables in a deliberate manner he felt all eyes on him. Rapping the table to silence the few murmurs still to be heard he went at it.
"Gentlemen –and Lady-lets cut the chatter and get to the real reason why we all are here presently. None of us is happy with Germany and her place in this world at present. Many of us have lets say "special needs" which would not meet the understanding of our fellow Germans if they were to come to more attention.
And while together I think we have assembled a group of interesting talents and capabilities we can surely agree that we cannot change the fate or structure of Germany so much that it would fit our needs.

We have trained soldiers here, engineers and scientists; we have sources for serious weapons, some industrial machinery and transport. Still, if we would try to change Germany itself to our liking we would bloodily fail.
So what is the use of this meeting then if we cannot change the things that we cannot? Simply, if we cannot change things to our liking inside of Germany, we have to step outside. Outside Germany we are suddenly a major force which we can use to further our aims without all the restraints that our do-gooder fellows want to apply to us all.

If we want, we can form a heavy weapons platoon from our ranks easily, even quip them well. As such we could turn any battle we take part in favor of potential employers. We could also raise indigene troops and offer potential employers help with their technological development.

And by doing all that we should gain riches and influence enough to give each of us what their heart's desire. We even might go a step further-we would not be the first mercenaries that take over their former employer. I say mercenaries because this is what I propose us to be: Techno-mercenaries in a world full of ignorant barbarians."

The silence that greeted him was as loud as any sound he had ever heard. Shit-had he miscalculated after all-were these people not what he was looking for?
The catcall came from the back rows: "Better to be a big fish in a small pond, eh?" "Damn right it is, at least for me-but how about you? What do you want-fight and work for your dreams-to reach what you desire or to dream sterile dreams the rest of your dearly lives? What is it going to be?"

There was the silence again getting heavier by the second and the sinking feeling got worse with each heartbeat. Then an anonymous hand started rapping on the table, quickly followed by others, then turning into shouts of agreements.
They all mingled into a roar in his ears which drowned all other sounds-except for something which sounded like the flapping of enormous wings-but that was surely an accustic illusion.

It took him a while to get control of the meeting back, but the mood of it had changed as the barrier everybody had feared to break had been eradicated-the feeling of possible accomplishment filled the room.

"From my talks to you I have an overview what each of you can contribute-we should divide ourselves into a "military" and a "science" group and look for what we can do. We also should…."

"Aren`t you forgetting something Herr Tolles?" The voice which had so unexpectedly stopped him was female, one of the few in the crowd. "And what might that be, Frau…Heim."

"You have no indigene scouts, nobody who can show you the ins and outs of the local power structures, especially so far from Germany as we will have to go to escape the Fatherlands attention. And even worse-we have no magic support at all, and that would cost us."
Claus Tolles could see the skeptical look returning to many faces and even despair in some of them now that their fond hope was about to be taken away again.
"And can you propose a solution to this deficiency, or can you just naysay?"
" I may have a solution for us, but it will be difficult, and possibly dangerous..."
"You don`t say-please explain"

Railway to Altdorf, 8 Weeks after Seeadler Raid

Ralf Winkler listened to the slightly asynchronous sound of the 3-cylinder compound engine which pulled the train to Altdorf. It was music to his ears as would be the sound of a good motorcycle engine or a hot car.

The Class 05 engine that pulled this particular train had a distinctive sound-and impressive performance-which was as it should be as this was the first official trip of the new locomotive and the special train made as the gouvernment train for th empire.

He had marveled at the interior of the train which was VERY nicely appointed-even better than the 1st class of then standard trains running this route. The Emperor and Germany`s government had decided that the first official trip of this train should be special-and what could be more special than bringing the slaves liberated from the Hag Graef Raid back to the Empire.

Currently he was sitting in a car probably meant for functionaries accompanying the emperor in future. He liked the aesthetics of these cars a lot-they combined the old-world craftsmanship shown in many details with the comforts of a high-tech society.

He took it as a symbol of the great opportunities which were to be had in this new world. So far Germany had to work hard at just keeping what capabilities it had-often having to cut back at least temporarily. The battles fought within a little more than a year demonstrated that this was a far less peaceful world and that there was probably a great more bloodshed to come.
But here, in this train, he could see what could be done-the fusion of magic, craftsmanship and technology, the opportunity to discover new lands, the chance to subdue monstrous evils the future could be great if they could grasp it.

"One last job" he had been told – and it had been meant as a Bonus, that was obvious. He had a group of 20 ex-slaves to look after until they reached Altdorf where they would be discharged. There he could have 2 weeks of R&R if he wanted it-as travel to foreign countries had become rare, more dangerous and difficult he had taken the offer in a second and his wife would follow in a few days.
Many of the other medics and soldiers which had been drafted into the Hag Graef raid had been offered this trip-and most had taken the offer immediately.

He was slightly dubious that the Dark Elves former captives were send out well prepared but from his conversation to the former slaves he heard that they were marveling at the riches bestowed on them. He had probably underestimated how poor most citizens of the Empire really were-they had actually received quite a bounty by their standards.
Some good clothing, including boots, medical help and even a couple of hundred Euros each were estimated by them to be much more than they needed for a restart of their lives in the Empire.

His group still cycled between looking at their luxurious surroundings and scanning the landscape which magically rolled by them. If any had known this area before he would have seen a huge change-the empire had cut back the forest at least 100 meters to both sides of the railway for security reasons and this country was covered by lots of newly found farms.

One feature captured the attention of many passengers so Ralf took a look as well. When the ex-slaves turned to him for explanation he was able to help. "That was one of the new "Lanz Bulldog", they are made again. They are like the tractors some of you may have seen in Germany. They are not as strong or comfortable, but there are very few things about them a village blacksmith cannot repair. They are actually mechanically simpler than a steam engine: One cylinder, 10 liters cubic capacity, no gear box and will burn anything flammable which is liquid.

This close to the railways the farmers have easy access to fuel and spare parts and the "Lanz" can still do the work of several horses-so a single farmer can work a much bigger farm.
"I hear that a lot of the new communities around here are organized around "Raiffeisen" cooperatives-as far as I can see no nobles in sight. These areas are rapidly getting stronger economically as they have bigger markets for their produce and better access to technology-I guess this could shift power inside the Empire."

The info from the medic made for thoughtful looks on many faces of his charges. The medic would not have been surprised if a lot of them planned to settle in these areas.
Getting to the Altdorf railway station took another two hours and the train slowed down considerably so the masses of humanity cheering the train on had a chance to look at it. Ralf harbored the suspicion that at least half of the enthusiasm was due to the new train: the railway virus in the empire was that bad.

Still, the train went into the station after what seemed to be an eternity and he moved forward to organize disembarking. He just had a short look at the stand erected inside the railway station and the musicians arrayed in front of it.
He had seen the personal colors of Emperor Franz on the stand-he was not sure if the monarch would actually greet the homecoming ex-slaves.
He heard the music that was played when the train came to a stop but took his time to identify it-the cheering of the crowd and unfamiliar instruments conspired to mask it. Finally understanding hit him:

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
sind des Glückes Unterpfand:
|: Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,
blühe, deutsches Vaterland! :|
Unity, Justice and Freedom
for the German Fatherland.
Let's all strive towards this Purpose
Brotherly, with Heart and Hand.
Unity, Justice and Freedom
are the Promise of Happiness.
Flourish in this Blessing's Glory,
Flourish, German Fatherland

A pretty good day to be a German after all, but there were still things to do before he enjoyed himself too much.

Altdorf, the Empire, 8 weeks after Seeadler Raid

Ralf Winkler left the Tavern he had been assigned to, making sure that the small package in his pocket was not visible. While the sale he planned was technically not illegal here the German government would have frowned upon it. The very least they would have insistent on would be a right for first buy and they would have paid a pittance.
He wanted to show his wife a really good time in Altdorf and that meant some "play money". While the Winklers were not exactly poor they did not have the means to waste serious money on a "once in a lifetime" trip even if they would have loved to.

Luckily Ralf had one item that should bring more than a little money in Altdorf. Discrete enquiries in the Internet about possible buyers had given him first hints, a few questions in another Tavern had given him more.
As his questions had caught attention it had not been too long before he was approached by an imperial he could not directly place but who had more than hinted at an willingness to buy.
Today he wanted to close the deal, so he had left the Tavern "for sightseeing", leaving a note in his personal belongings where he went, just in case.

After leaving the Inn behind be begun to double back on his way, changing roads at random.
While his amateur attempt at countersurveilance was more salve for his mind than actually useful it was purposeless as nobody followed him. It did serve to confuse him so much that he lost his way in the warren that made up Altdorf`s roads that he had to pay a street urchin some cooper coins to lead him close to his intended target.

The back alley he walked down was gloomy even in in broad daylight as the high houses and the narrow way conspired to keep light out. Stinking pots for waste and "night soil" showed the bad parts of the medieval city.
Counting doors he arrived at the one which had been described to him. Knocking the sign he had been he was rewarded by a quick opening of the heavy door and a wordless summons. He was led via storerooms into more sumptuous corridors past rooms full of stone faced men bend over desks writing intelligible things while whispering to themselves.

Arriving in front of another door his way was barred by two footman who did a check on hidden weapons before he was ushered into the inner sanctum.
The man greeting him was fat and clad in colorful clothing. Moving his many chins he greeted his visitor and bade him into the chair in front of his desk.
"So Herr Winkler, I was told from reliable sources that you would be willing to sell something …unusual but useful to my house, something that needs to be sold discretely."
"Minher Klement, I have been told you could require what I might have on order. Let` s cut to the case here and not to waste too many words: From what I hear many of your competitors already acquired such devices while your house so far has to do without. This is your chance to get your edge back."
His counterpart refrained from any comment when he unwrapped the package he had brought, but could not help himself but bend forward to look at the item on display before him.

"Here is what you so rightly desire: A FX-81 calculator with solar power. It will do any calculation you may require of it as fast as you can input the numbers and will supply flawless results every time. It is powered by light so you will never have to acquire expensive batteries.
It will serve the house of Laurenz and Clement well, making tabulating sums and balancing your sheets much easier and will reduce the man-hours of costly calculators.
I will sell you the device and instructions in how to use for the paltry sum of 100 Gold pieces."

Klement`s face went from pasty white to red in a second "You are a thief, I could get a similar device for just 20…..
30 Minutes and lots of screaming, threats to leave and general tomfoolery later they settled for 50 pieces, a cost free visit to Clemens tailor and the use for his barge for a weekend for the calculator, the instruction and an introduction into the new double entry bookkeeping.
Both were sure to have robbed the other blind, which was the sign of a successful negotiation.

Bremen, Germany, same date

The flames which erupted from the test stand went up for more than 30 meters and the roar of the violent combustion shook the ground and even far off buildings.
The onlookers were frozen for a few seconds and then started to applaud enthusiastically. DASA had successfully built a new Viking IVb rocket engine as it had been used in the Ariane 4 of the precdecessors of DASA had made them before, but it had been a challenge to assemble a team and find the right materials and tools to produce them.

While not as efficient as newer engines which used cryogenic fuel they used storable liquids which meant they were useful for the upcoming satellite launching program but also for more military applications.
Together with the test of a humungous solid fuel booster last week they had just gone a huge step towards building a German space program.

Cave below Hag Graef, same night

The Dark Elf mage checked again that that the clamp held the head of the Hung prisoner was indeed fastened tight before he applied the saw to the brow. He was neither distracted by the grunts of the victim nor the blood which flowed copiously. An aide would cauterize the major blood vessels-it would not do for the prisoner to die too quickly.

Removing the cranium and setting it aside for further use he used a scalpel to remove the dura mater and had a look into the brain itself. While the influence of Chaos could be seen in details the brain was still "standard" enough to allow for the intended procedure.

Canting phrases which seemed not to fit a human or Elf tongue he pushed several silver needles into the brain centers which were associated with sight,hearing and speech. The needles showed coldly glowing inlays when they were placed right while the Hung lost what little intelligence and speech he still had. When the final phrase was uttered and the last instrument placed a jolt went through the head of the prisoner and the temperature inside the cave dropped markedly.
The priest removed the gag which had silenced the prisoner so far quickly.

The eyes started to glow slightly and a hoarse voice filled the room "Malus Darkblade, my favorite general. Interesting to see you still alive and in this place. Is it possible that you have your problems still in grasp?" The voice was just a pale shadow of the real presence of its owner as it was filtered through all too mortal means, but still it spoke of depths of hatred and control which were unfathomable by beings which were less old and powerful than him.

"Yes my Lord, I have. The Hung tried to take advantage of the damage caused by the treacherous German slave raid but were too hasty and lacked preparations. We managed to ambush them some distance from Hag Graef and devastated one of their hordes.
We made a goodly amount of prisoners and killed what we could not use. Our own losses were…acceptable."
"Yes, your losses were low for such a battle. Still it seems remarkable that so many of those lost were from those factions most likely to oppose you."
"No trap would be complete without some bait my Lord. It seemed prudent to kill two birds with one stone here."

"Yes, indeed. This shows me why I should still be talking to you. But now tell me more of that "slave raid". We need to know more about the threat the Germans pose-and you saw it first-hand. So tell me, what makes them so dangerous?"

"Where to start my Lord? We do not know everything and yet so much. Let me start at the individual German soldier. When we corner them in hand-to-hand combat they are not especially dangerous. Some have bayonets on their rifles, but a good spearman can overcome them. The problem is getting into that range as the German can fire up to 20 aimed shots per minute no matter whether he lies prone or stands in cover. And he is the least dangerous part of the German army.
They have rifles which shoot hundreds of rounds per minute, missile launchers which can kill even the largest War Beast and small cannon which shoot grenades by the dozen. It does no matter how much Druchii attack them, over open ground we will lose as long as they can shoot.

Their ships have cannon which have a range of at least 20 miles-they never entered the harbor and some of their shells hit the temple of Khaine on the far side of the city. They seem to be able to shoot up to 10 times a minute.
They have small, self-propelled armored chariots which withstand everything we can throw at them and have weapons which kill even Demonettes by carload lots.
Their flying machines have incredible speed and firepower and some of them can put their soldiers and chariots wherever they please.
What is less obvious is that they seem to react with great speed-from what we hear from other sources they can talk over distances whenever they want-a big advantage if there ever was one."

"I see. I do not think it is wise to engage the Germans any time soon-we have to learn more about them. Now about you and your wretched City… I have asked the other Lords to keep of you for the present-we can no longer afford that internal bickering. It is no use to do the Germans work for them. Before that it was good to be able to measure our strength against ourselves when there were so few worthy enemies, but now the situation has….changed.
You still need to provide troops later for the Invasion of Ulthuan, I will try to hire mercenaries to keep the Hung occupied..."
"Thank you my Lord."
"Do not thank me, you will pay in some way, sooner or later."