Middenheim, very early in the morning, the next day

"Here is another one Master, an especially nasty one as you like them"
"Yes, it is good, but I need more much more of them. We want this plague to succeed, not to fail like the last one. And for that I need rats, many rats."
"If this wretched slave is allowed-what do you need the rats for-will you sacrifice them?"
"You are right-you are wretched and have much to learn about Nurgle`s ways. The sacrifices to Nurgle are those who succumb to the illnesses that we spread. But the illness itself is spread in different ways. Some by breathing, like the ones you failed to gift, and this one is given by the fleas that inhibit rats. So I need many rats-and mean ones."
"Yes master"

The loudspeaker that was in front of the mixed group of Wolf Guard and Germans gave the conversation remarkably clearly.
Ottokar Proktor was the first to speak. "That should settle it-as much as I would have liked to keep this guy reporting what we want, but this is too much."
"Herr Proktor, I do not understand you. For the last days you have stayed our hands and asked us to leave this heretic free so that we can spread lies, sorry "disinformation" to the enemy-and now you want to take him?"
"Alaric, I am sorry for this change, but now the potential risks very much outweigh the potential gains"
"What happened to change your mind so quickly?"
"The only plague I know that is spread by rats fleas is the Black Death, the bubonic plague"

Everybody in the room was silent but for the sudden indrawn breath by many. The normally stoic Wolf Guards went deadly pale and had good reason to. The Bubonic Plague had killed nearly every second human in the Empire many centuries before and it was not forgotten, especially in Middenheim.
"It is a blessed thing you placed this, this..microphone on this traitor, thank you Herr Proktor. We will handle this forwith."
"Please stop for a moment, we should talk about this a little longer. If we do this we have to get all known agents very quickly-and discreetly. Let`s do it right, please…"

Ingolf had just stepped into the corridor which led to the office he shared with other stenographers when somebody approached him from behind. He was about to turn when something was sprayed into his eyes which burned terribly and made breathing very hard. He was still struggling with that when a sack was pulled over his head and his hand were roughly bound. He was carried away before anybody had a chance to see what happened.

"Lady" Ester was still in denial about what happened. Her household naturally started later than most Middenheim ones, so the steely eyed Wolf Guards had hauled her out of bed. Her guards had obviously not been able to mount much defense and her servants had likewise succumbed.
All of that was bad enough as she had paid the local Guard enough in money and services to be reasonably safe from such raids-and the Wolf Guard was far above such things. But the real shock came when she was kept in the Dungeon for hours. Not that she was overwhelmed by the screams and other sounds or the sight of the many instruments.

No the "thing" that got her was the sight of Ottokar Proktor, the nice likable, harmless German civil servant which liked to brag so much who was now sitting in front of her. And he did not look harmless or likable any more.
He was accompanied by a burly imperial who`s hood made his role in this too clear. She had refrained from pleading as the trap she had arrogantly walked into had been all too clear. Self-loathing had kept her so from saying anything when he asked her about associates or methods.

"You are sure that your usual methods would not help? They seemed to work rather well with this Ingolf-he now talks freely enough"
"Yes, even if he will not write much in future. But with her this will not work."
"Why not, you seem very persuasive?"
"She is Slaneshe`s strumpet-she craves all sensations whether it is a fine lay or the whip. I`ve had that before, I could literally put them to death-and they laugh."
"Fuck, well no harm in trying…..oh wait. Why don`t we.."

And that was when her real nightmare had started. Now she lay somewhere, gagged, blindfolded, ear plugged and swaddled in so much cloth that she did not feel her bindings. She felt nothing beyond a stifling heat, heard nothing, saw nothing-it was driving her mad by the minute. For something to drink besides tasteless water, for a little bit of meat-even for the whip she would gladly tell all her secrets as otherwise her mind would fracture into nothing at all. Indeed that was the only thing that she felt-her mind was going in small pieces….

200 Kilometers North of Middenheim, afternoon, 2 days later

Ernst Hermann watched the last "beaters" return to the camp through his binoculars. This would be the 3rd attack on a Chaos camp by his mixed group and he wanted to have a little change of pace to keep his enemies on their toes.
The Army camp below his vantage point was a lot bigger than the last two he had raided. The intelligence he got said that the Chaos Army was closing up rank and marched a lot faster than before. His observations confirmed that. He was happy that his group was mounted on truck or horse as otherwise keeping pace would have been very taxing even for his elite soldiers. Enough of the rabble that accompanied the army felled out already. To his astonishment these clapped out followers were not just left where they lay. He had observed several instances where these unfortunates were gathered up and placed on a cart-and at least once after getting a rather nasty punch to the head.
But now it seemed that everybody in the camp was busy with cooking and getting a rest. This time no palisade had been erected-whether this was so because he and similar teams had proven this as useless or whether the army was simply too exhausted after the long march was of no concern to him.

He wanted to have another look at the camp before the planned strike. His binox were showing the camp in great detail. In the middle a collection of greats tents had great variation-from some which were looking half-rotten and on the verge off falling apart to beautifully detailed silken monstrosities which showed symbols which tended to move while he looked at them and which left his head swimming. In other places Chaos Barbarians had erected much cruder tents while some Berserk warriors had even removed the topsoil so they could sleep on the bedrock.
His inspection of the camp ended at the place where some Chaos followers had started to work on the venison the hunt had yielded. They had rigged up crude frames which held the animals at their hind legs so removing the fur and intestine was easier.
His brain refused to work on what his eyes were telling him twice before he had to accept the truth. Some of the frames held those who could not keep up with the march. The KSK lieutenant had to fight his stomach which insisted on removing the last meal and his instincts which told him to eradicate this abomination here and now. Slithering back on his stomach until he was safely out of sight he went back to his Servals with burning ice filling his thoughts.

"Any news from Dirk."
"No Boss, he says all is fine-whats up you look bad."
"Nothing that keeps us from doing our job-quite the contrary-these guys need to die."

When everybody was at their posts he gave the signal to the two soldiers manning the GMG. This was a very nasty device that could throw out 400 40 mm grenades out to two kilometers per minute. As their target was huge and they had Dirk observing the fall there was no need to expose themselves more than necessary.

The first salvo was "just" 20 Grenades-not even 3 seconds of firing. "Left 30, then fire for effect" was heard both by him and the crew, so there was no need for him to relay the corrections. The gunner and his assistant fired the rest of the ammo in the first box and were about to change to the next one when the sniper reported in again. "Boss, there are 2-no 3 Dragons or something coming your way-go go."
Shit-was this a trap? No matter-he had to get out of here. The small glade which held the two trucks was ringed by trees-he would never spot the enemy in time to shoot-he had to get elsewhere and fast. "Fall back to the Rally point-now now now"

As everybody was in the trucks they could drive off within seconds. For the Lt. It was hard to keep everything under control as he was shaken in his seat by the fast drive along a path that in better times had been used to move felled trees. As the path was rutted and soft except for trucks here was thrown about in his seat all the while he was craning his neck and upper body to spot the threat and the other truck. Through the small slit of sky he could see between the tree crowns he could spot a glimpse of wings or a sinuously strong body at times.
His gunners were fixed better than him and opened fire whenever they could see anything. While the 7,62 mm fire of the MG3 was of questionable value against the half-seen beasts the 50 mm HMG was another thing altogether.
The Browning HMG was venerable and a little too heavy by modern standards but used an ammunition that was newly developed for it. Using modern propellants which would have made John Moses Browning happy they achieved a much higher velocity and thus energy. It was sure to penetrate the dragons thick skin-but if they would hit something vital in time was another question.

And the fight was not so one sided-mostly behind them but on two heart-stopping instances in front of them fireballs appeared which would have consumed his little command if they would have been direct hits.
It came as a surprise when they broke through into the Glade they had used as a resupply point earlier. Now to see if his plans were any good. "Driver-stop at the treeline. S 2 drive into the clearing, evasive pattern"
While his truck drove close to the edge of the Forest the second truck started doing circles and wave patterns in the ferns that covered the open space, throwing soil into the air with the urgency of their flight.

His gunners for the first time had a stable platform and more time to engage. When the first Dragon settled for his attack run the gunner established a lead and then walked the tracers directly into the beast getting hits from the front to the tail end. At first nobody could see an effect-until the wings unceremoniously folded and the Dragon crashed into the trees at the far edge of the glade.

"Stop cheering you idiots-where are the others ones? S2 keep driving, we are not finished yet." Ernst knew he was not supposed to scream, but raising his voice to the point where wireless was no longer needed was ok, wasn`t it? An surely a second Dragon appeared at the treeline belching fire as it went. The fireball did not miss totally, the fringe of it covered the second Serval for a heartbreaking part of a second. When it emerged it was clear it was out of the fight for now everybody on board was trying to punch out flames that burned on armor or clothes, nobody could fight or drive. The combat vehicle coasted to a stop when the driver was unable to do his job.

The Best which has so nearly succeeded twisted around in the air and tried to make the tightest turn it could to make sure that the Germans would not escape their fate. It had lined up the car again when 3 streams of tracer found it. While some of the lighter bullets seemed to bounce the HMG rounds vanished inside the Dragons magnificent body. No quiet death this time-some of the bullets must have found what made the Dragon breathe fire-and a screaming writhing fireball impacted on the earth between Lt. Hermann`s car and the stricken one on the meadow.
"Driver-forward, close to S2, let`s see what we can do to help." The car went forward 5 meters and then slid to the side when a piece of loam gave way. As parts of the car`s bottom was on the ground they could not drive forward or backwards.

Nobody needed orders-everybody jumped out to get the Serval going again. The KSK officer had just unlimbered from his vehicle when something in the periphery of his sight made him turn his head. The third beast had arrived. No Dragon this time-a Wyrm. Looking like a Winged snake with 4 clawed legs it could not spit fire – and certainly did not need to. Its well armored body and meter long claws showed how it did its business-and currently Serval 2 was between it and him. It moved towards the stricken KSK vehicle two as if it knew that nobody could harm it-slowly and with undeniably purpose. Ernst Hermann throat went dry and the thoughts in his head were chasing themselves in circles always trying to find a way out-and did not find anything.

And that was the time when a second sight send him into freeze mode again. It was a sight that, like the Wyrm before him, had no place in the world he had left nearly two years before-but made perfect sense here.
The line of Reiksguard Knights which went galloping over the glade seemed awfully small compared to the Wyrm and their lances ridiculous against such might-but on they came. A textbook charge-close together, lances out and galloping at full throttle at the right time-but to what avail?
The KSK officer had often despaired at the knights. While the armsmen took to the modern weapons offered to them like ducks to water they refused what they did not know at first and even now considered their firearms secondary. They had an arrogant view towards "commoners" and sometimes seemed to enthusiastically ignorant-but nobody could fault their heart.

He did not just see see the impact of the knights-he heard and felt it. And while the lances may seem puny, well pointed iron tips that were propelled by 400 kilogram moving at upwards of 30 kilometers were not to be ignored. Horses screamed, lances broke-and everything was drowned by the scream of a Wyrm that was hit in body-and pride.
His tail swung around to scatter the knights-sending some flying and discouraging the rest. Wounded but still fully dangerous it reared itself up to take terrible revenge-and then its chest exploded in a fireball. Everybody`s eyes went back to the car where Sergeant Blascoviks lowered the tube of his MAW launcher. "Fuck off asshole, nobody invited you to the party."

It took the KSK 30 Minutes to round up everybody, perform first aid, load the two knights which had not made it and right both cars. They had to machine gun two advances to Chaos knights which wanted a piece before they could go. Time to work elsewhere, they had certainly overstayed their welcome here.
It was much later at night, when everybody rallied at a point where they could lager for the night and await pickup when Hauptmann Hemmler pronounced them all "Dragonkillers" and introduced the rite of marking their armor with the acid for a Wyrm`s bloody claw.

Altdorf, same time

Lieber Herr Sierck,
We wish to thank you for your patience, having reviewed your script, the band as a whole have expressed an interest in working with you on this project.
At Rammstein's request, we would like to host you at our offices in Berlin, Germany for preliminary collaberational meetings at your earliest convenience.
We will be happy to make suitable travel arrangements as you require. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
To confirm travel arrangements, my direct dial telephone number is 0049 30 759 2267.

Yours,
Joachim Bloch
Representitive - Artistic Talent
Pilgrim Management

"The band as a whole"? This was more than Detlef had expected in some ways, he was aware that he was, in Germany at least, relatively unknown, or atleast, relatively unknown for now. Sierck smiled at this.

As Sierck left his apartment in Altdorf for the German Embassy, (the only place he was aware of that had one of the long distance telephones), he heard, or rather noticed for the first time, the news from the cryers and on the posted news sheets: Chaos on the March - Dread forces from the north. Plague in Middenheim.
Plague - Sierck, while never observantly devout, made a mental note to drop by the temple of Shalya and make a votive offering. Shalya may be busy, but it could never hurt.

As he approached the Embassy, Detlef could not fail to be impressed at how these Germans had adapted to the Empire, at the Embassy gates, a combined patrol of Reiksguard and German Soldiers in their far more drab grey uniform jackets, spindly muskets, (or Gewehre as the Germans called them), but looking no less serious.
After showing the Guards the letter, he was permitted inside. Once in the Embassy, it was like being back in Germany, computers and Telephones on every desk. Fine clear glass for drinking from, even the machines that, (rather noisily), made something similar to tea, an aquired taste to be sure, was there. He approached the reception, the recepectionist, while not cold, was business like.

"Der Telefonraum is down that corridor, in the first door on the left. An assistant will help you with the dialling sir".
Once inside the room, he was directed to a booth.
"what number do you wish to dial minheer"? The assistant asked in unaccented Reikspeel.
"This one here on the letter please. I must ask, are you from here in the Empire"?
"Nay Minheer, I am from Germany originally, but because I work in the diplomatic staff, I was sent on a course to learn the language of the Empire. We are lucky, that not only in our cultural roots, but also in our linguistic roots, we are very similar it appears".
"Of course, thank you".
"My pleasure Herr Sierck, and I would like to add on a personal note, I watched your play Drachenfels this last week, it was incredible. Ah, it is ringing now, please speak normally as if the person you speak with is in the same room".
"Thank you, however I have travelled to Berlin previously and have learnt from my errors there, and thank you, I'm glad you have enjoyed it"

"Hier ist Bloch" came the voice, crystal clear, even here in the Empire, German communications were excellent.
"Minheer Bloch, hier ist Detlef Sierck, I have recieved your letter and would be greatful indeed to meet the band, I am free to travel immediately so we could meet sometime next week assuming the roads are good"? Travel across the Empire, even with these new German inventions would take a while, maybe a week wasn't enough, should he have said two?
Joachim goggled - a week? Really? Could he not be here tomorrow with the train or if he... a smile played across the managers face, so you want to play at influence eh? Time to play some of my own I think.
"Herr Sierck, if you are ready to travel, what say we pick you up this afternoon around 3pm, and arrange to meet with the band tomorrow around the same time"?
"So fast"? Detlef's mind was stunned, hundreds of miles in just one day? While these Germans may sound like they are in the same room, surely travelling to them was not as simple as all that? Hiding the sceptacism he felt he replied, "that would be wonderful Herr Bloch, I look forward to it".
"Excellent, I will arrangefor you to be collected from the Embassy at 3pm and I will meet you upon your arrival at Tegel".
"Thank you. Until then".
"until then Herr Sierck".
Detlef replaced the reciever - 3pm, he had time to return home and pack, take lunch and be back here.
Thanking the assistant, he returned home via the Temple of Shalya.

In Berlin, Bloch made a short series of phone calls, made some notes and satisfied, called his assistant.
"Trudi, please make a reservation at the Raddisson Tegel for 1 guest, Detlef Sierck and arrange a car to bring him here for 2.30pm please, no, I will collect him from the airport personally, danke".

Pathology, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), two hours later

"Hi Torge, we have here some "presents" for you." the policeman said to employee of the pathology.

"Fine, how many, Frank?" Torge answered.
"22."
"Ouch. I fear I miss the game." Torge said.
"The HSV will lose." Frank said.
"How can you survive here as Werder fan?"
"I am a policeman with a gun."
"Anyway, I will call Dr. Petersen. She will be happy not to go to her rendezvous."
"Is it serious"
"I don't know. But we should talk better something else before she comes. Who do you bring us and what happened?"

"On the Baltic shore, erm, Sea of Claws shore, several chaos warriors and a chaos champ tried to make their revival version of D-Day. Well, a dwarf and a man did beat them back. The dwarf, however, did not survive as well. And as the UKE is better equipped than Lübeck it was decided to take them to Hamburg."

"Oh. I guess Dr. Petersen did ever want since the event to see a chaos champion and other races."
"Indeed, I want." Dr. Petersen said, who just arrived to hear the report. "Dr. Gottesacker, please call the team. Work is waiting."
After some minutes in the pathology.
"So here we have 22 interesting bodys from..." Dr. Petersen said to her team when she was stopped by Susanne, a student.

"I can see only 21. Look!"
"Where is the 22nd body? I did count him. Dr. Gottesacker, did you lose a body?"
"No, ma'am! I also counted 22."
"Then we have to look for the body. As he is dead he can't be far away."
In this moment she saw a small person trying to go out of the room but collapsing.
"There. He is still alive! We must help him. Who had done so miserably? Who needs a few lessons in determinating death?"

Hamburg, UKE, two days later

When Gotrek awoke, he smelled the same things he had only a few weeks back. Felix was sitting next to him. In this moment a man entered the room.

"What has happened?" Gotrek asked.

"We were attacked on the shore. You were deadly wounded. But you made it back again." Felix explained.

"Indeed. You were very lucky. I am Prof. Bulmentritt. I did examine you. And what has happened is still unbelievable. First off, your body has healed in a way no one can explain. All your scars are gone as well as your tatoos. Not only because we transplanted the skin, but also in the not damaged parts as well. Normally you would need about 15 more plastic operations. But you don't. Also, how do you see me?

"Very good! I... my eye!"

"Yes. We are in no way able to make a new eye. We have some steps towards an arificial eye. But an organic one, which is working? No way. I don't know, who made the mistake, but it was only seen here. It is way too remarkable. It has to be magic. If you told me that three years ago, I would have thought you were insane, but today it is the only explanation. With the new magic detector we could see that you are under influence of rune and chaos magic. Both very powerful magic.

However, this is being reduced when your healing continues. It had been reduced significantly and will be hardly measurable if you're healthy."
"What does that mean?"
"To be honest: I don't know! I talked to some magicians and even phoned to Altdorf. It seems you have to go to Altdorf to get more answers."
"Yes, I have to go. I need to go to Kharak Hirn as well. I need some answers on many questions."
"Do you want to talk to someone? I could..."
"Thanks, doc, but I need something else. When will I be able to go?"
"In a week. What is remarkable, if one considers your heart, lung and stomach were de facto destroyed!"

A little later the professor had left the room. Felix said: "You're so calm. Everything is okay?"
"Yes. Finally I know, what I have to do. I have many questions but no answers."

The Warp, somewhere? Sometime?

Again the being regained councieousness. Again it felt it had ceased to be. It could feel the pain. But what had happened it again did not know. Again most plans were corrupted. However, this dwarf was dead at least...

German Army Quarters, Counts Court, Middenheim, same time

"Sorry Boss, but the magic indicator that we got must be broken. No matter what kind of magic I dial in it always indicates strong magic-but does not show a direction. The needle turns with me"
"That thing is new, shouldn't do that, let me see...you are right broken. I have one more, please be more careful."
Ten minutes later "What do you mean – also broken-that is really not possible. But see the two have a tendency to go a little bit to the left ...and down. Down?"

It did not take the Major very long to rustle up magical help from the court-and they knew only one substance that would show up on all winds of magic-Warpstone. And from the indicators a real shitload of warpstone was moving slowly under their feet-that could not be good. There was only one group of malcontents who used Warpstone in such amounts. The same evening the call for the Tunnel Raider was relayed to Altdorf from Middenheim. There were rats in the cellar and they needed to die in the worst way.

2000 Meters AGL above the Great Forest, near to the Quarry, same night

The airship was slowly flying along a racetrack course that made it fly above the same spot of Great Forest again and again. It looked a lot like the NT Zeppelins that now crossed the sky in ever increasing numbers, just its skin seemed to have a slightly different hue. Its cabin sported less windows that usual and it already had diesel was an eye painted on each side of the envelopes bow and the Cabin showed writing in old style German script under the front Windows "Holzauge" (Wooden Eye).

Inside the envelope a radar turned ceaselessly ans several monitors inside the windowless cabin showed the results. It was the first operational patrol of the AEW airship which had been ordered because of the increased sightings of Dragons and the windowless part of the cabin housed a quiet speaking team of radar operators who were preparing for the second half of boredom (also called watch) and opened the thermos bottles of corrosively strong coffee when one of the operators lifted his arm.
Herr Leutnant, see this-I have 5 bogies inbound-sorry 8, err... lots of bogies inbound. I see many bogies inbound, course 140, speed 190 knots attitude 70 meters or so. I say they go for the Quarry-ETA 25 minutes..."

90 Meters AGL, Great Forest same time

The gigantic tree crowns of the Great Forest were moving like a storm was going through their leaves-but no mundane wind was providing motion. Huge wings pushed down masses of air to keep majestic bodies aloft. Snake like necks lifted malformed heads crowned by bend horns. For an distant observers it seemed like a view from days of the unthinkable past when Dragons had ruled a world that knew nothing of Elves, dwarfs or even humans. Dozens of the awe-inspiring cunning monsters were flying in a huge flock-some sported riders, most did not.
If said observer would have come closer he would have seen the mutations that had transformed the previously majestic fliers into malformed caricatures of themselves. Missing scales allowed a view distressingly deep into alien bodies, asymmetric wings needed lots of compensation. Eyes that should show cold and inhuman intelligence mirrored pain and madness of alarming sanity.

One of the biggest of these flying abominations had a rider-Ehgrimm van Horstmann brooded about the secrets he had been shown. Earlier his patron-mighty Tzeench himself-had gifted him with vision of disturbing clarity and pictures so fine-and yet he had no frame to compare them with. Some weeks ago the warp had been massively roiled up by a storm the like of which Ehgrimm had never seen-and then it was just gone. And with the storm his patron went silent, something nobody and nothing had witnessed-ever.
Since then the demons of the Warp had become more active again and there were signs that his master was also stirring – and then things went quiet again. This was intolerable; unthinkable, an affront against the natural order of things and it was threatening his power base.

Much of the intelligence used by Archaron about the Empire came from his sources-he was the backer of countless Chaos Cults. And now many links were broken, others weak. And weakness was something not allowed in the Great Crusade of the 8—folded path.
One of the last visions he had been granted had been about the Quarry that had seen so much bloodshed already. It had been revealed to him that this place was now used by the Imperium and their new allies as an Army Camp where they marshaled their forces and stored a huge wealth of weapons, fuel and munitions. Fuel that would burn, munitions that would explode and incinerate those who foolishly believed that their mundane technology could best the magic gifted by the mighty Chaos itself.
This could be a target worthy of his wreath-and something to show the other Chaos Champions that he was mighty. He had made terrible sacrifices and promised great riches to powers that lesser mages would never dare to contact. Using old deals and new alliances he had managed to achieve what no other had done in memory of time immortal. To the great alarm of everybody in the Chaos Crusade a huge two-headed Dragon had approached the camp. Both of his huge heads had their own personality-both were so absolutely mad that they were utterly incomprehensible to mortal minds-and both hated each other.

Of all Chaos Great Dragons Galrauch was the greatest, most mighty-and the most unhinged. This was just fitting as he was the sire of them all. The unholy fusion of an elven Dragon and a Lord of Change forged at the time of Malekiths grasp for power he had been the beginning of a line of flying monsters. He had brought what seemed to be an unending stream of his lesser siblings with him. This bounty of power had to be used-and used soon. If they would have been kept at the Chaos army they would have soon caused problems.
The Dragons had already attacked some of the imperial and German teams that had cowardly attacked the Chaos Army on the march. While they had suffered some loses that had put an end to these incursions and had lifted the morale of the Army greatly. Thatz brought the question: Now what?
The attack on Middenheim could only happen together with Archarons army-so it had been written in the stars. The best target was where the foolish humans stockpiled their weapons as long as the humans were unaware of the new threat.

This should be a simple undertaking-Galrauch alone had devastated the Bretonian city of Languerre de Lac-and here he was a part of a flying armada. They would succeed in this-and then the world would see what could be wrought with such might.

Airport 50 Kilometers from Altdorf, same time

Colonel Hoppe`s fingers had not stopped moving for the last 2 Minutes. He was following the words on a checklist he did not need to read and who`s words were so firmly in his mind that he was no longer aware of speaking them.
He was readying the most powerful combat plane in this world -and he was in a hurry to finish. Ever since yesterday his fighter-bomber wing was at heightened alert when a Hammer Hawk Drone had shown disturbing news. Now he was taking a part most of his fighter wing into combat. He was far too occupied by thinking about whether old Oswald Bölcke who had given his name for his wing would agree to what they were doing.
But the old pilot would have been impressed mightily by the screeching of 16 high powered Jet engines, the brilliant shock cones of the afterburners lighting up the night or the rumble of the planes who turned the guts of every close attendant to jelly.

The 8 Eurofighters were taking off from one of the newest air bases of the Reiksbund, established a couple of Kilometers from the Railway to Altdorf. It was fondly believed that its existence was yet unknown to the forces of Chaos as it was officially just a construction site. The few people who knew better had yet to leave the base.
His warbirds had a mission like no German pilot had before-he was sure they would do well. The Circus Boelcke had opened again – and it had such wonders to show to this world.

Quarry, same time

Heinz Albers was sprinting to his position-the same redoubt than he had defended so few days before. As the "Screamers" had been a common occurrence during the siege nobody had any problems identifying the warble of the air raid alarm for what it was. The quadmount was already being readied when he reached his station and the machine gun teams were setting up their mounts for high-angle fire. What was missing was any sort of target-or an explanation for the alarm.
Despite knowing better the sudden outbreak of light drew his sight-the night start of Patriot missiles was a spectacular sight as always-but this time it was a ripple launch of several. Heinz Albers started to swear at his own reflexes that had cost him his night sight for a while and tried to get his Company under cover as much as possible.

Finally his field telephone rang and Major Brennecke gave him what he needed nearly as much as ammunition: info. "We have a raid inbound, consists of more than 40 something-probably Dragons. ETA is 15 to 20 minutes. The Air force will be a little late to the party and I do not think the Patriots are going to get them all, so stay sharp."
"Will do. Major-I do remember that many Dragons use poison-should we break out some protective masks?" "Good idea-I will send you what we have. Consider to send all personal without them into the caves."
"Understood, will do."
Putting down the receiver the Captain touched the hammer pendant hanging from his neck. "Sigmar protects-but mostly those who help themselves" and much louder "Lieutenant Teut-we should receive masks soon. Distribute them to the machine guns teams."