Berlin, Office of the Chancellor, next morning

The object whose picture was shown on the projection screen looked like a cylinder with several rectangular panels sticking out at various places. Blurry outlines and visible holes in the panels showed up against the stars brilliantly contrasted with the black of open space.
"We have taken these pictures with the Alfred Jentsch Telescope in Tautenburg, the largest in Germany at present after we received a hint by an amateur astronomer. It shows an object in a geostationary orbit which is obviously not of natural origin. It is approximately 20 meters long with a diameter of 5 meters. The panels extend to roughly 20 additional meters in every direction."

"Are these solar panels?"
"No Mme. Chancellor, we do believe that these are radiator panels for getting rid of waste heat. Their structure and orientation points to that. Whatever powered this was probably a lot more powerful than solar panels."
"Any idea what it is?"
"From the number of meteor strikes we can make a very rough estimate of the objects age, it is likely older than 20.000 years. That would make it a satellite placed by the Old Ones. Placed in such an orbit it could be useful for communications, recognizance or as a weapons platform-anything more is speculation."
"So what do you propose we do about it."
"In the short run we should reprioritize our astronomic efforts-there are a couple of likely places for similar objects to be for example the Lagrange points. In the medium term we propose a flyby by a satellite of our own to get a better look and an estimate of the state of this object. Anything else, like a manned mission with sample returns should be discussed after such an effort."

"Do you believe there is anything useful left after such a long time?"
"We do not know for sure. We believe that there will be no functioning systems left, but it could give us a big step forward in material sciences and maybe of the integration of what we call "magic" and "technology".
"Very well, please write up a recommendation for the next Cabinets meeting."

320 Kilometers north of Middenheim, 300 meters AGL, same afternoon

The Wyvern was huge for its kind measuring 10 meters from snout to tail and strong by both steel-like muscles and magic. Even it strained under the load it had to carry.
The huge Orc which rode on its back massed close to half a ton when taken together with his arms and armor. Looking around the countryside through eyes that could only be called small when compared to the huge head. Being so much back behind bony ridges they managed to hide the high intelligence, for an Orc that is, well. They did not hide the hate that the Orc felt for anybody and everything. Kicking the Wyvern he rarely used again he got it into an even faster speed.

It took him half an hour at the end of the flight to find his target. For one of the biggest armies that ever invaded the Empire it did not look like much. There were many tents and other accommodations, cooking fires and animal pens-for maybe 5000 beings.
Humans, even the hardy Chaos Warriors could not live of everything, like his Orcs could. They needed food, and lots of it, reasonably clean water and their horses needed wheat or rye as part of the diet. As they could not and would not transport these things in amounts needed by an army exceeded 300000 beings they had to take them from the land they were traversing.
As neither the food was concentrated so much-or when it was it was inside well-fortified cities-the Great Chaos Crusade had to disperse over a wide area and march more or less in the right direction at the same time. They would pull together for battles and sieges-but otherwise they would be distributed over an area bigger than most counties. It would not make for a nice display with miniatures-but it kept everybody fed.

He landed his beast in the middle of a field provided for such doings and went off his steed. Giving the reigns to a couple of sturdy Chaos Warriors he made his way to the welcoming committee.
Archaron himself was there, as were a couple of mages and high ranking Champions. Walking in front of them as if he was alone he stopped a couple of meters away from the group.
"You called me, so I am here humie. What do you want?"
"Well met Grimgork Eisenpelz-it is good that you heeded my call. There are new developments we need to consider-but not here. Please follow me."
Grimgork followed the Group which had so much variation-the bronze Armor of the Khornates he could respect, the feathered cloak of the Tzeench mages not so, the rusted carapace of another even less. He had to make small steps so not to overtake-or trample-the group which made its way through the deep mud that the movements of an army camp invariably produced.
The biggest tent in the middle of the camp was the unsurprising target of their small procession. The Orc warlord had been here before and as before he noted the Orc skins that made part of the patchwork leather that clad the tent. Loosers-they deserved their place. But whether Archaron deserved to keep his skin intact was another matter-he had not determined that yet.

The tent contained refreshments, some of them even suitable for the Orc Warlord. It also had a huge mirror and a cauldron filled with a foaming liquid. The Mirror showed an image of Crom the Conqueror-not things were different.
Crom had bested him in single combat AND his army had bested his old horde-this was why he was taking part in this "crusade". Why the humies found it necessary to have "reasons" for fighting and why they had to have gods for that was beyond him.
By because of his defeat he was here-he had to prove to himself and the world that he was worthy, that he was the best there was. Archaron gave his the creeps, all the more reason to find out who was best, but not now.
"I have asked you to attain this meeting as there have been new developments that will change our plans. We all have heard about the emergence of a new nation, the Germans, into this world. We have, actually, slowed our conquest to see what were to happen. Then we found that the Germans may be mighty-but only act if attacked. We thought they would simply ignore what we do in the lands or thrice-damned Sigmar, and so we finally attacked. Now we hear that there is an alliance between the Germans and the Empire. Now we see that they fight the Children of blessed Chaos side-by-side. And now we see that they pose a danger."
Archaron gestured towards the mage that had accompanied them. "Malash, show them what you have learned"

"Oh assembled Champions of the Eight-folded path, I have sought truth with the denizens of the warp. Many sacrifices were…"The mage froze when he saw the look given to him by Crom and Grimgork. Archaron was as unreadable as ever in his armor, but this was probably even more menacing.
"Masters, I have been shown battles for you, see for yourself:"
Dropping a vicious liquid into the cauldron and canted phrases that were probably not meant for a human throat. The steam from the Cauldron increased in volume-and in brightness, glowing by its own. Before long pictures could be seen in the mist.
Grimgork saw a huge army of beastmen emerging from dense forest, he respected these. As hungry for war as his Orcs they were strong, resilient and always willing to mix it up close and personal. And they had whipped up a fair bunch of them too-Grimgork had no word for them but would have estimated the warherd would give a worthy fight to his Hard Horde.

On the other side of the field the humies(?) seemed to have nothing but a lot of magically propelled vehicles. He had heard about the steam tanks sometimes used by the humies-but these looked bigger and more dangerous. Still, so many beastmen should be able to….the picture now showed the vehicles opening fire. Impassive on the outside the warlord went ice-cold inside while he watched the humies massacre the Children of Chaos in about the time needed to talk about it.
He had no problem at all with bloodletting-on the side of his enemies as well as on his own, but he saw no way that he could fight back against this kind of enemy. Practically no Beasts managed to close with the vehicles and none of them seemed to do any damage except to color the armor of them red. Maybe his boar rider could do better with the closing part-but about damage?
The next scene was about the beastmen that guarded the cave to the shaman-and the artillery that savaged them. The infantry assault by the humans was against an enemy who could not fight back better than a weak kitten.

The last shared vision showed a flying something that savaged a Chaos Warrior camp not unlike the one he was in in about a minute.
No one in the tent spoke for a while.
"As you can see the Germans are to be taken seriously. Anything else would lead to disaster. But we are still blessed by the four true powers. The Germans let their machines do the fighting for them. But they have a weakness. Our spies have found it, let me show you."

Archaron presented his allies and underlings a pile of different papers:
"This is the transcription of the news we have from Middenheim. There our spies report that the Germans can only send help in a big way in a few months, when their "railroad" is finished. The flying machines they use have to carry their fuel for the round trip to Middenheim with them, so they cannot transport much more than a few soldiers and lesser weapons. The report says that the Middenheim nobles quiver in fear because of this and some try to leave the city."
"Then this is "newspaper" called "Spiegel", the mirror. We stole one of them from a German in the train to Altdorf and it is new. Let me show you: here. It says there: The Germans armed forces are woefully unprepared to help our allies when to railway is near. We have neglected to acquire lighter wheeled armed vehicles when we knew they would be useful for asymmetric warfare-whatever that might be….Then they go on and say it is a big scandal for the Secretary of Defense, some Thomas de Maiziere, and there are calls for his resignation….
"Then here I have the protocol of the interrogation we made of two Germans were captured in the countryside. They told us that no substantial German armed forces are near, even when we applied the question…."
"So all told it looks like we have to respect the Germans-but we still have a chance-if we move quickly and seize our chance before it is too late. In 6 Months the Germans might have an army like..that one…before Middenheim. Then it becomes very difficult, if not impossible. But if we move quickly we can take Ulric`s temple before substantial German reinforcements arrive.
I have already broken the siege of the Bronze Fastness off-as nice as it would be to have it this would take too much time. We have to move our troops through this corridor-there has been no foraging there yet, and there are two good roads so we should be able to make good time."

"That is all well and good humie, but don`t you forget something"
"Grimgork-how nice of you to offer an opinion-what do you think."
"What about these humies flying machines, these …..planes. They can hurt bad-some hordes already found."
"Ha, good that you ask, see this drawing in that "Spiegel" This shows the range of German planes with arms-see here, this is where the farest ones end, and this is where we are…so see, nothing to worry. And for the "Lager Middenheim, I will see to it soon, no fear…."
The voice in the mirror quipped up "With such a thing as such newspapers, why do we even bother with spies any more"
"Ha, to keep them honest of course..."

"So what I propose is….."

University of Karlsruhe

Fräulein Meikle was putting the finishing touches on her new project. Experimentation had shown that her and the works of other human technici were indeed part mundane physics and part magic-many of their creations would never work otherwise. Her own horse for example was powered by wound springs-her newly found knowledge had shown her how inadequate this would have been but for the little extra she could add.

If a mundane mechanic tried to bring together such creations they would always fail-when somebody like her contributed to the works in a meaningful way they worked. This was a world of magic AND science-or was it always just the same?

Now she had more knowledge-and such new possibilities. Parts made tolerances she could not have named before joining the university, materials as light as they were strong, power sources that were as compact as powerful and computers that were good enough to beat her at chess comprehensively.

She had used a lot of her new toys for a new and special project. She had tried to build something like it even before the Weltensprung but had been foiled by bad materials and tools. Now things seemed to come together beautifully.
There was financing aplenty for it as times were full of danger-and opportunity. She could have even paid her own way as she got serious royalties for all the "Magic Indicators" produced in such amounts. But it was better to have others on board-they had machines and experiences aplenty to build such things...

Two of her students lifted up the pauldron in its place, she used a cordless drill to screw it into place. To her and the faculties astonishment there were more than a few Germans who were able to do the "magic thing" with technology. When all was said and done these were the Germans-By now there was a standard test for them and she and some of her colleagues were having the time of her life holding lectures, learning things and trying out new combinations. The opportunities were...limitless.

After seeing the last screw was in place and everything was as it was it was supposed to be she lifted the two lithium-ion accumulators in place-how much more power did these give than her old clockworks-and connected them right. Holding her breath she pushed the power switch.
For a second nothing happened but then with few sound her new creation started its first hesitant moves.
Build like an oversized set of plate armor with a helmet too large it moved first the arms individually and then in concert. A slow step forward was followed by more of them, cut short by a wall. The crisp turn made her proud of the degree of control already achieved.

All of a sudden the figure fell into a stance like presenting a rifle. The voice that issued from the two speaker mounted at the helmets sides boomed a "to the Emperor" and made everybody freeze-this was NOT part of the program.

The laughter from the armor became much quieter when the visor of the helmet swung up by its own violation and revealed the face of a middle aged mechanic. "Sorry folks, always wanted to do that."

Roland, one of the technicians that had helped her finish the magic indicator on board of "Seeadler" had tested out well for a technicus and was now trying out their suit of armor. "It fit really well except for a binding feeling about my left knee. Apart from that there is practically no movement lag and I definitively do not feel the weight-500 kilogram and it wears like a shirt. Marvelou...Shit.

The suit had frozen on him and it took two hours to free him of the encumbrance. But they were on to something very very good.

Quarry, 10 days after the Battle

Heinz Albers was just watching the worst abuse of good tractors he had ever watched. He had his suspicions when the Fend machines had arrived-but seeing them at work was worse. Whoever had dreamed up this scheme was barking mad and the fools who had approved it were worse. Never ever was this going to work-he just hoped the failure would kill too many people.
Well-this was not his problem; his current job was clearing the other part of the field which still had tree stumps and some industrial-sized boulders which needed moving. He knew he could do that professionally and would let others do the madness.

If he would hurry he could keep his appointment with Father Huss later, the Father was due to leave with Valten for Germany later where better medical care was available. The blaster had been an agnostic as far as he could remember. Knowing that gods were a reality in this world was one thing-being touched by one, however peripherally was a totally different one-and he needed help in getting his head settled about that.
Thumping the hammer pendant about his neck with the flat of his hand he went about the business to make things go "boom" again.

Between Quarry and Castle Wolfenfels, same Date

Captain Manfred Berger applied his Schmidt Hammer to another spot of what his men had termed "Ersatzbeton" (replacement concrete). The value the instrument showed wasn`t too bad, so he went to the next spot to repeat the testing on the foundation on this bank of the stream.
The task of his air mobile engineers had been to erect a new bridge over one of the countless rivers which cut through the Great Forest and the Road to Middenheim. There was a solid stone bridge over the river-with a useable wideness of maybe 1.80 meters and a "rated" load of maybe 5 tons, so something better was obviously needed. As things were urgent helicopters flew the material in from the quarry and time was of an essence so compromises had to be made.

His men had mixed quick setting cement with the local soil and then pumped in water to produce something which could be taken for a concrete foundation if one were squinting very hard and put the fingers in his ears.
His testing revealed that the foundations were probably strong enough to hold the Baily Bridge whose parts were just flown in. The parts were supposedly "light" at 300 kilogram max. and it were supposedly possible to erect the bridge without power equipment.
Berger would have none of it; two light cranes had been flown in already. Once he gave the foundations a clean bill of health they would start assembling the 30 meter span-things should be finished by tomorrow evening.
Then it would be up to the next bridge.

Middenheim, same date

Ingolf the writer was making his way back from work by the way of the markets. As much as he needed to go home and share the news with his companion he needed to eat. As his wife had died before they could have any children he had to go out and he had to buy foodstuffs.
When he walked down the marketplace he found that some of the stall owners he usually frequented were not at their booths today-some of them had stand-ins, it seemed mostly their spouses or children. He finished the first round of shopping with a stall he usually frequented was no exception, the 40-something middle aged proprietor of the stand selling yams was missing, as was his wife.

Their daughter was a slightly chubby blonde of 13 years who tried to keep up business as well as she could. Normally a healthy looking youth she today looked pale, sweaty and way caugthing from time to time.
"No, my parents seem to have some flu, they are both in bed with fever and the caught Sir. I am sure they will be back soon." The sweaty hand which handed him his change was testimony of a high temperature.
"Look after yourself Child, you could catch it too. Give my kindest regards to your Parents"
"Thank you so much Sir, I will certainly do so."

While he halfheartedly haggled for the price of some vegetables and some not-so-fresh meat he found that prices were going up-it looked like people were getting the news about a possible Siege already.
The Germans seemed to have anticipated that already-they were using their meager transport abilities to bring in food-this enraged the nobility to no end. They did not care if some peasants died-more weapons would mean that THEY would live.
Making his way back to his apartment he passed the Black Plagues memorial-he smiled when he went in its shadow.
Drawing a deep breath caused his to start coughing also-it was time to get back to his apartment to get this under control again. That he was just doing another job for his real masters never occurred to him.

300 Kilometers North of Middenheim, same Date

Ulrika Wolfsdottir was running for her life-and she was losing. Two weeks ago she had been bored out of her skull-oh how she longed back to that life.
She had been living in a small hamlet where nothing ever happened. The biggest excitement had been the annual visit by a Strigany caravan who showed their arts and offered exotic trinkets and earthly services and the few times a year when she would accompany her family to the market at the castle of their Baron.

During the last year she had blossomed into a fine figure, and so her father and her brothers had become extra "protective" of her-how she had hated them for that and how much she would give to see them again. Her little village had been taken by brigands. To her they were the epitome of evil and masters of warfare-to more experienced observers they were a band of marauders who had acquired an Aspiring Champion as a boss.
She had been spared only as she had been looking after some lost sheep with her brother. She could keep him from trying to join the "fight" only by pointing out she needed his help. Ever since then they had made their way towards where legendary Middenheim was supposed to be-until they had run into the next band of bandits.

Her brother had used his cudgel on the first bandit who had offered them passage against her "services" –his screams were still haunting her. Now she was running down a nearly nonexistent path through the forest in the vain hope to outrun the savages who wanted her in the worst way. Her legs were burning, she could hardly hear anything save her heartbeat and her labored breath and she knew she would collapse soon.
Trying to coax still some more distance out of her body her ankle was suddenly snatched and she dropped on the soft forest floor just to find herself face to face with a stinking, gap-toothed monstrosity.
She was about to scream when a hand seemingly made out of iron clamped on her mouth. "Shhhh small one. If you want to live you have to trust Warden Merkel, yes you have."

Lake Constance

Urs Zurmalmen was looking at what had to be the biggest skeleton in the world. Made from Carbon-fiber composites a spaceframe structure went nearly all the way through the biggest hall Urs or his wife had even been in.
The "Luftschiffwerft Friedrichshafen" – the air ship yard – had invited for a first tour of their facilities as a PR venture especially for those citizens of Friedrichshafen, many of whom had been less than happy about the huge floating sheds that marred their seafront.
And now he was looking at a skeleton of a zeppelin of 280 meters length and it was overwhelming. How the complete Zeppelin he could see from many models and pictures, but the completed superstructure brought the message of the sheer size home better than anything else.
One of the many Yard employees that were making the rounds was willing to answer questions with an IQ of more than room temp for a change.

"You are right-in many ways this is not an old-style Zeppelin. We use a semi-rigid structure, which means that the complete airship either had to be gas-filled or supported to bear its own weight. We also do not use separate gas cells but sub dividers-they do a similar job with less weight."
"And why do you have this ballonet? Usually only non-rigid airships have them."
"Well spotted. In the old days when the airship heated up during daytime they had to vent gas to keep the internal pressure within reason. To compensate they had to drop ballast at night when the temperature decreased. This was often the limiting factor for range. With Helium we really do not want to do that-it is still too costly. So we have an air-filled ballonet which we use to keep pressure even. As we have wrapped it around the gas bag it also insulates the lifting gas and if the skin gets pierced it is just the ballonet which we can replenish with a pump. And last not least we want to go a lot higher than most traditional airships-then we need to equalize pressure a great lot."
"Why do you want that additional height?"
"First off we can go faster and more economical as at the attitude we are planning-around 5000 meters-air resistance here is around half that of ground level. Second there are less gusts and similar, so you get a better ride. And lastly it is above what the flying critters here do, so it increases safety."
"A plane can go much higher."
"And the plane needs an airport at the start and finish of the trip and much more fuel in between. Before the Weltensprung this was not so important-now it is. And besides the normal passenger and cargo carrying there seems to be a market for Airship Cruises.
"And why the envelope is not cigar shaped?"
"Good one. We have changed the shape of the envelope so that it provides more lift at higher speeds. Even the old airships relied in part on that, but here we get a LOT of lift, increasing service ceiling at cruise speed by more than 1000 meters"
"Speaking of fast-how fast is that?"
"Depends on the model-the passenger one will do around 280 Kilometer per hour cruise speed. The freight one will be around 150 kilometer per hour-but that one will fly lower."

"So you resurrect the Cargolifter?"
"Psst, do not say this name in these rooms. If we could drive a stake through the heart of this misbegotten adventure we would do it. But you are right; we will take part of the concept-exchange water ballast against cargo and the platform that can be lowered to the ground. Some clever guys want to call the cargo hoist and it`s control room the "Transporter room"-Treckies them all."
"And the Model with the Camouflage over there"
"Oh, we just think the German army might like the capability to drop two Panzerhaubitze 2000 complete with ammo and support within 4000 kilometers within 24 hours of notice."
"Err-I think so too. Thanks for all the info."
"Glad to be of help. Can I get you to buy some lots for the new Zeppelin Lottery? We will give the money to the fugitives in the Empire from their current invasion."
"For that I`ll buy more than a few."

Lager Middenheim, very late next evening

"Thruuum" Nathan Alpers heard rather than saw the landing of the A 400 M-funny that the two aircraft of this type the German Air Force had cobbled together always landed at night. Probably to hide the vehicles that were unloaded or the material from the prying eyes that were probably on the Middenheim walls or on the Middenland fields. Whether it helped was anybody`s guess but it had to be tried.
He had expected to see a C-17 sooner or later but Major Winter, the new CO, had explained that the aircraft would damage the unimproved field too much. They could repair that damage, but it would take too much time. Also the C-17`s were a very limited resource, husbanded for those times you really really needed them.

Going over to the "Mannschaftsheim" the German equivalent of a NAAFI, for a big pot of extra-strong coffee for another night recon flight he found the usual crowd of Pilots, maintenance and logistics personal and some of the guards. By now there was a mixture of Germans and White Wolf knights-the Middenheim rulers took their lifeline seriously.
The Cantina had the look that was by now expected with new and fast construction: Lots of wood, very mixed furniture and by now some spectacular carvings from some enterprising imperials. Looking for familiar faces Nathan found a pair that he had not expected.
"Look at our enterpisching Lieut Runeschmith…"
"You think he will bring back the plane we lend him all right Walter…?"
"I schink so"
Both Airman Horst and Mechanics Apprentice Steinier were quite thoroughly plastered-and obviously in good spirits together. They had already shown signs of a mended relationship before, but this was much more than the pilot had expected. He was not adverse to this, among other things as a functional team that maintained his beloved Storch increased his life expectancy markedly, but he was curious.
"I am happy to see you two getting along-but this is new. Care to explain this poor flyer what is up?"
"Becasche…bec…"
"Because Airman Walter Horst has cut a rune of flying this afternoon. It is workable-not so good as mine or that cut by a real runemaster-but he has made a working rune. He is the first human who did so in dwarven knowledge and the first human I have to call clanbrother. And so we drink for him and the new times and for …bonk"

The head of the dwarf hit the table with a resounding bonk. After making sure that no real injury was caused Nathan and a couple of airmen made sure they got into their quarters without problems-and without recognition by higher ranks.
He was on his way back to the hangar when the shouting and the shooting started. "Oh shit, not again"

Ingolf the writer could see the Laager Middenheim well from several palace windows. He could see the burn marks on the hangar and on the strange plane with the black-and white checkered side. He could also see that the plane was listing top one side.
On a part of the runway and in front of some buildings the Germans had placed yellow flags with a design on them he could not place. The only humans he could see in these areas wore what looked like a soft silver armor all over. This was good, the more news he had the more pleased his master was. And that meant that he had less pain-and better pains…

On his way back to his apartment he went by the market again. He was not yet at the Yams stand again when the blonde girl got another coughing fit and her not too well fixed shirt slipped from her shoulder. The red pustules the exposed skin showed got a lot of screaming and panic.

250 kilometers North of Middenheim, next morning

Edward the tanner was still in a state of shock. The day before yesterday armsmen from Middenheim had arrived at his village and a meeting had been announced. The news given by the soldiers had been a confirmation of their worst fears. An army of the dark powers their priest always warned them about was coming and nothing would be able to stop them before they reached his home.
So the villagers were asked to leave their homes and go to far off Grimmighagen. They could only take with them what they could carry for push on handcarts as they would have to make good time if they wanted to evade the attacking hordes.
The next morning the strangest sight in his life appeared-a horseless cart drove into their village and distributed foodstuffs, simple tents and some blankets. They even offered to take some of the old and children with them to Middenheim, an offer taken up by many families.

Edward had been in much better spirits when he led his family to the road-till he saw the soldiers burn down their homes. He felt empty inside-the place where he was born, where his wife had borne him fine Children and where he had expected to die-gone. The granary where the villagers farmers had stored their grain-burned, the few pigs which gave some diversity to the diet-slaughtered. He made sure that his family did not see his tears-and started pulling his cart. This was no longer home, but if and where he would find a new one he did not know. The only thing he knew was that he had a family to look after, he just did not know how to do it. But whatever the future held-it was elsewhere, so he did what he could and picked up the march.