Charite`, Berlin 22.12.2013

Ralf Winkler was looking at a petri dish in frustration. It showed a cross of black against a slightly pink background. It was the best proof he currently had for a new approach to healing that he and the four other amulet holders worked out.
All of them were spending their time now learning as much about the human body as they could and healing patients with lost nerve functions. As nerve cells normally do not regenerate, or if so only under special circumstances and often very incomplete their work was by now much in demand.
As this provided a lot of money that the Order of Shallya could very well use the 5 spend a lot of time in Germany by now and the Charite` provided a couple of small apartments for them and in case of the Winklers the family.

The work and the learning were very rewarding but also exhausting. The Sisters had to start learning about the human body pretty much at zero and relied a lot on the former medic who in turn learned how much he did not know. Before getting additional lessons in anatomy for him the retina was the place where light was converted into nerve signals and that was it. Now the retina had 10 layers with different tasks all to be studied.
The process of converting sugar into power had been quite straightforward; now Ralf got cold sweat just thinking about the citrus acid cycle. But with each new lesson learned and understood had come new and better ways to heal as understanding meant that the 5 could manipulate the correct cells or processes. When the healing had started at the Charite` most of the work consisted in things like assisting the nerve connections for severed limbs or skin that had been replanted. From these beginnings they had graduated to much more difficult work. The current culmination of which had left a photo on his desk. The former finance minister of Germany had shaken the hands of the 5-standing up. Given that he had been bound to a wheelchair for many years that was quite an accomplishment and so they had their work cut out.
What made this doubly rewarding was that the money for this was send to the Empire and financed such things as the "Brush your teeth with Shallya" campaign or the installment of water pumps with a decent filter in villages.

The medic was still looking into the petri dish 5 minutes later but did not really see it. After a couple of more minutes of doing nothing he got up quickly and grabbed for his coat.
"Honey, do you need the car for anything at the moment, I need to go out urgently."
"No problem dear, where do you need to go so fast?"
"Don`t know it yet"
"What?"
"Sorry, I really don`t know yet."
The medic got the family car from the park. Ever since they found the money to convert it to LNG their fuel problems had lessened markedly as natural gas was by now no longer a rationed commodity. Driving off to an unknown target he was still trying to come to grips with the urge that had just taken him.

Norsca, same date

The heavy CH 53 helicopter had to apply full power at takeoff, beating the loose snow on the ground into a Mini-Blizzard that cut off all sight for a few moments. When the view became better again it did not improve the mood of Paul Müller. The Paratrooper Sergeant was tasked with securing the LZ in northern Norsca during the Evac of the Sami and while he scanned the horizon he could see that the black line on the horizon was getting higher and closer.
He looked around for the leader of the Nomads and then jogged to him as fast as his heavy protective clothing and armor allowed.

"Abrran, looks like the last heli went out well and will reach the ship before the storm closes in, but this was definitively the last one before the storm blows itself out."
"I am already happy that this one went out, these were the last Ren. We men can wait until the storm dies surely."
"Still I would have preferred to fly the humans out first."
"I get you Mr. Müller, but this is our way and these were the last living Ren on this world except for some in your Zoos-they would not be valid in some generations anymore."
"I know. Ok, we should get to that cave of yours before the storm is in."
"Yes. Look sergeant I am sorry about that, but at least we can show you the hospitality of the Sami. There are worse ways to spend Christmas."
"Thanks, I am looking forward to that."
The Paratrooper brought up the rear of the group that moved towards the cliff that loomed in front of them. At the cliffs base a dark spot indicated the entrance to a series if caves that tunneled the rocky plateau that rose of the snow-bound plain. Neither the German soldiers nor the nomads had explored the system fully and none intended to. They were just interested in taking cover from the approaching blizzard that threatened to bury them all under snow.

Glienecker Brücke (Glienecker Bridge), evening

The Bridge spanned a part of the Havel that was called the "Tiefer See" the deep Lake. From the pedestrians walkway on the side of the bridge the waters looked black, cold and foreboding. The women standing at the rail had chosen this spot because of these very features, she did not want her decision to be an easy one.
Christmas is for most people a time of rest, of joy and where rifts in relationships are at least temporarily bridged. That Christmas were a time for joy is hardwired into most humans born into western civilization and most feel it up to a point.
But if for whatever reason Christmas is not a time for such joy it hits doubly hard, turning regret into despair and sorrow into depression.

Christmas is also the high season for suicides.

The woman looked into the cold waters that flowed under the bridge and saw a nasty death of hypothermia and drowning. It would not be an easy death and she shuddered at the thought. She was moderately afraid of heights and the dark below gave her the shivers. She had already turned and started on her way back when she saw the Christmas illumination that adorned the bridge. It triggered the memory of the children`s faces again and she started the way back to the edge again.
She was not slowing down when it came to climbing the rails and was about to gain leverage for the jump when a hand clamped about her right shoulder.
She was so surprised that she gave an involuntary shriek.
She was pulled backwards from the edge and the owner of that hand did not stop till she was as far away from the handrail as the pedestrian walk allowed and he had positioned himself between her and the water.
The woman looked at an 40-something man with few hairs, a beard and broad shoulders who looked her in the face.

"Don`t-whatever it is, this is not the solution."
"What-what do you think you know?"
"You were about to jump-and it is not worth it."
"You have no idea..."
"No, I do not have. Make me understand."
"As if...who are you anyway."
"Ralf Winkler, at your service. And you might be?"
"That is a joke right...oh it is really you"
"I think I should have missed that photo shoot-or I should have killed that Dwarf, I do not need this. No matter-what matters here is you and what you were about to do."
"And what do you suggest to do now?"
"I see this working out in two ways: One is that I call the police. You will likely spend this night in some locked room under observation and have a talk with a doctor next morning.
The other is that we sit down at a better place than this and you tell me what makes you kill yourself. After that we go our own ways. So what is it going to be?"

The ride in the car back to the Charite was practically in silence where both Germans were holding to their own thoughts. An hour later saw them at a not-very much used room at the Charite` that had been a Chapel in a time long gone. It had been assigned to Ralf and the 4 other holders of Shallya`s amulet and was used by them as a shrine to their goddess. A small statue of Shallya occupied the back niece of the room.

"So this is where you do your "magic" Herr Winkler."
"No, we work in the operation rooms that the Charite` provides under the supervision of the senior physician. This is the place where we restore ourselves."
"So you are a believer in this-whatever"
"I am not a believer in very much and I do not have to have faith. About 3 hours ago I did not even know that you exist and would not have found my way to the Glienecker bridge without a lot of work with a map-I was led there it seems."
"Uh"
"Indeed, uh. And now I really would like to know who you are and why you choose the long jump."
"I am Marion Heinitz, and I work as resident doctor at the Sonnenhof"
The medic lost both a part of his composure and color while he felt primeval ice running down his spine. So far he had not been sure what the problem was but hoped like most suicide attempts it was not overwhelming. Now..now he knew all too much.

If at the end of his life somebody wants to die in peace and without much pain and not be prodded, poked and tested till the last breath he can do so in a hospice. These houses do not look like a hospital and nobody tries to cure what cannot be cured, instead there is excellent palliative care-meaning the doctors take the pain away. Hospices are good places to die.
Some are more specialized. Like other of its kind the Sonnenhof offered the services of a hospice to the young.
It is a place where children go to die.

"I can see the name tells you something Herr Winkler."
"Yes, indeed it does. I have to salute you Frau Heinitz-I could not work at this place for a day, let alone longer."
"Ha-if that stupid movie has you to rights you have been at bloody battles and had to fight for you and your patients. And you tell me you could not..."
"Mylady, Papenburg and Hag Graef were places where I could just lose my life. Your place is worse-it kills all hope. That I could not stand"
"Neither can I."
"However long you have worked there it is long enough then. If you are in a ships rigging you have to give one hand to the ship and one for yourself. You seem to forget that part."
"I cannot."
"You cannot go on-you are literally killing yourself. Job is done with honor, look for another."
"I cannot-stop looking at me like that. This task is important, I can do it-I could do it-but it became so important to me that it took everything else. No friends-no husband-no family that wants to see me, no hobby, just job: that is me. An hour that I do not do my job is a wasted hour, the children need me. I am really good at working with them-I can make the pain go away, always and not kill them before their time-much.
This is what I am, this is what I do. Take it away and there is nothing left. And now I cannot stop-and I cannot stand it. What am I to do?"

"Oh sweet Mother...what can I say-what can anybody. I can only share my experiences, if that helps...When I was still a medic I kept a ledger-red circles meant the patient lived-black crosses mean he died. Most of us had one. You need a different one obviously.
Yet, we lost patients often enough. Of course none of us wanted to admit that this hurts-we were all strong macho men, and stupid to boot. And still we went through the cases afterward to make sure we did not fuck up
Were we as fast as we could?.
Did we diagnose correctly?
Were all procedures followed?
Did we check often enough to see what changed?
If the answers were the right ones we could look at ourselves and say we did it right, it was not meant to be. A couple glasses of Glenfiddich also helped but even we knew that too many were a bad idea.
I am pretty sure you could answer all the questions right-what I do not know if it makes things better.
"Yes, I do diagnose right and I follow the bloody procedures-and it makes so few difference."
"I am very sure it makes a big difference-or you would not be here. So what is it?"

"That close to Christmas most guests-I mean the children are home, but some are still at the Sonnenhof as they could die any minute and the parents cannot give sufficient care. And this bloody year we have 5 children all with Leukemia-they are like little angels-they just get quieter every day and then they die. I cannot stand the thought of them dying-and I cannot treat them."
"That is bad but I would like to show you something, I`ll be back in a few minutes, please stay for that long. And I think you need that." Leaving the sobbing doctor a pack of paper towels the medic went outside. When he was back Marion sat where he had placed her but watched the statue of Shallya. Ralf was tempted to leave her as he knew the rest that the goddess could bring, but there were things to do...

"Hi Marion, I am back, sorry to disturb you. And no fear-you can come back whenever you like and bring whom you think needs this place. But before I want you to look at this."
The medic handed a petri dish to the doctor, which showed a cross of black dots across the pink surface of the agar.
"What is the meaning of that Herr Winkler?"
And he told her. And told some more-and then he picked his mobile.
"Mother Herad-yes it is me, Brother Ralf. Can you come to the Chapel please and bring the others?-Thanks."
"Hi dear-it`s me. I know no good way to say it, so right away: I think I just wrecked our plans for Christmas. Could you come up for a moment please?"

Norsca, same time

Jasud Irrland was striding through the howling storm as if it did not exist. While he could see nothing but darkness with bits and pieces of white in it, it did not mean he was blind to the world, he was just using other senses.
The souls of lesser beings were just blips on his radar, their emotions coloring his sight and tickling his tastes.
He was clad in armor of the finest mesh, of the most intricate set of carapace armor that could be forged and decorated by grand designs. His sword had been cut from a crystal that had been made to serve as a blade by sheerest sorcery. He did not brave the blizzard alone but marched ahead of his band.
A mixed band it was but he had taken quite a while and effort to form it. On the expendable outskirts were Marauders of Norsca. Notably strong and resilient even in an environment that asked for such attributes to survive they had found that their needs and tastes exceeded even the elastic bounds of their society and had gravitated into his circle. Witches that needed protection and tutelage made magic do for them what nature could not do to protect them from the cold that cut to their bones.

Former Knights from the old world who in their quest for perfection had gone down the wrong path-or the right one depending on whom you ask formed the hard core of his band. He had searched for visions that would guide his future path for improvements. After an eternity of fasting, meditating and partaking in rituals that would seem like boundless orgies of lust and pain he had been shown a place. A place of power, of a gate into countless possibilities, a gate that might bring him so very close to his ultimate Lord.
It had taken a considerable part of his considerable wealth and the lives of many followers but now he was finally close to the source of his perfection. He could already feel the latent power of this place, the siren call of promise and the cold lure of challenge.
And from what he could sense Slaanesh had already seen fit to provide for the necessary sacrifices
Inside the Caves Paul Müller made his rounds to check on his Platoon. Making sure that everybody knew his tasks and that everybody was supplied was second nature to him by now. The central cave that the Sami and their saviors were using had easily the size and proportions of a Cathedral. They had used the largest cave mostly for their Ren when the storms became too harsh even for the hardy animals. Now it was occupied by a mix of the not-yet-evaced Nomads, German Paratroopers and Marines plus a couple of boatloads of their own Norsca Marauders who looked like the mean version of Conan the Barbarian.
Stepping forward he walked up to Jens Johannsen who was resting at a wall with a Laptop on his knees. His face showed the rapidly changing colors of a video game.

"Still playing "Dawn of War?"
"Hi Sarge. Yes, this old crate will not play anything more recent and a poor warrant like me cannot afford a new Siemens Laptop for just 3990,- Euro."
"You could sell your collection."
"Ha, I should have never talked about it. But even 4500 points worth of Space Wolves will not buy a new computer these days. Besides which-do you have any idea how long it took me to paint them?"
"No, probably too long if I'd try. You have 20 more minutes to play, then take your Squad to the caves entrance and relive Meier."
"Will do Sarge"

Going forward through the cave he was approached by another Paratrooper who waved him over. "Sarge, have a look at this."
"What the fuck…"
"Exactly my thoughts." Both men were looking at a veritable labyrinth of very precise, very shallow grooves in the floor that terminated in a small hole in the middle."
"The Lapps did not mention something like this before."
"Don`t call them Lapps, ok? They do not like it. Apart from that I think the bleeding Ren thawed that out-they slept here last night."
"Ok, I`ll ask around if somebody noticed it. But the La..Sami were here for quite a while and nothing happened so I think it is safe for two more nights. But clear all equipment from this..thing and have nobody step on it."
"Ok"

Going on into a smaller cave at the side of the main one he was confronted by two burly Marauders bearing shields and swords.
"I want to see the Captain."
"Wait Soldier"
"Let the man through you louts, can`t you see it is our dear Feldwebel?"

Inside the smaller cave he was greeted by a woman about his height. Her furs covered most of her body but Paul Müller knew they hid a rapier-slender figure with muscles like steel cables. She had half the mass of most her warriors and was at least twice as deadly. Her raven-haired beauty was diminished by several scars, ritual and otherwise and hygiene habits that was large on spreading a lot of fat on skin for protection and bad on removing it when it reached the "ripe" stadium.

"Well met Silv. As you predicted the storm closed in after the last helicopter lifted. We will have to wait until the storm blows itself out."
"No skin of my nose Feldwebel-easiest earned 500 Euros in my life"
"Good you see it that way. I have posted sentries on the main entrance and on the two tunnels into the mountain but we are spread a little bit thin. Would you care to reinforce?"
"Nothing but the best for my favorite Feldwebel-I will send some groups."
"My men have found some runnels in the ground in the center of the cave, you know anything about it?"
"No, we usually do not use these caves. I`ll have a look later."

"Thanks. Are you set up well for food?"
"Yes, we are still fine. But I hear you still have some chocolate?"
"Ha, thought you would mention it. As the weather guys predicted the storm some nice guy packed us a Christmas pack. Yes, we will share it a bit."
"Ah Christmas-the feast of giving gifts, eating too sweet food, drink mulled wine and exchange gifts."
"More or less-how did you know."
"My fleet visited the Christmas Market in Lübeck last year."
"Ok, now I understand how you got your ideas about Christmas. What did you do there?"
"They sell our shrimshaws"
"Ah, get it."
"Thanks for the offer to join. By the way the new sleeping sacks you brought are really good – I thought I sleep in summer. And you have space for two, so if it comes to sharing you are invited."
"Err-I`d be honored." The hand that slammed into his shoulder felt like cut from iron hard wood.

"You are all right soldier boy. See you later."

On his way back to the main cave Paul mused on the mix of good and bad luck that had hit the Sami after their transport to the Warhammer World. The Sami had been taken at the same time than Germany and transported to a comparatively empty section of Norsca.
Their nomadic ways had allowed them and their animals to survive while coming to grips with their new world. Their satellite phones did not work of course but one of their older Radios was able to pick up long-wave transmissions from Germany which gave them at least an idea about their situation. It was hardly surprising
The first Norscans to stumble upon them were of the Skraeling Clan which was very fortunate as they had already learned the lesson not to fight the strange newcomers without excellent reason. Actually their Hetdrottning Ylva Ormsdottir had contacted the Germans as fast as she could.
Unfortunately "as quickly as they could" meant that messengers had to travel to the Hetdrottning`s fortress, then somebody had to be send to Germany-and they had to provide proof of what they told. All in that took significant time.
Even when their message had been heard the Germans had to send a fleet to pick them up.
They had dispatched 3 Frigates, a Replenishment ship, the troop transport "Papenburg" of Hag Graef fame and a livestock transport ship-the latter to transport the Ren with the Sami were unwilling to leave.
Until the Germans could get to the Nomads the Skraelings had provided security for the Sami-at a price of course.

Haus Sonnenhof, Berlin

The Hospice was very nice inside and probably quite beautiful if you were a child. The walls were kept in warm yellows and lots of wooden furniture gave an impression of Ikea. Toys were scattered through the house as were pictures for any by the Children who were residents here. None of this in any way resembled the normal atmosphere of a hospital, quite deliberatively so.
The small group that moved through the rooms were moving slowly and quietly as one would do in a church while the doctor leading them was moving as if in a daze.
They entered a small conference room that was more businesslike and that contained several adults that looked at the group with a mixture of hope, disbelief and dread. By prior agreement Raf Winkler moved to the head of the table and opened the talks.

"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks for seeing us so late in the evening at such short notice."
A middle aged woman with deep lines in her face was quick to jump in. "As if we could decline if what you offer is true"
"We do not know yet if we can offer help to your Children, but we can certainly try."
Another distraught parent raised his hand. "Many of us have spent heaps of money on mages, none could do anything, in some cases it made things worse. What makes you different?"
"While there are some mages that have the power to influence even these conditions they are very few and usually very deep in their studies. Others are connected to Chaos and their cure is worse than the illness. We have already proven that we are able to heal, we just have never tried the procedure that we propose on humans. It has worked in vitro and on animals, but as many a cancer researcher rightly will tell you that is not a guarantee that it will work in humans. Our knowledge of the human body is superior to any other mage you might ask. We want to heal by using a path that has been proposed my medical science for some time now, but so far nobody found a way to initiate it by purely mundane means.
We do not ask for money, and what we have in mind will neither hurt you children, nor is there a grave danger for your children-we just cannot promise you healing, we can just try. The question is: Do you trust us enough
They got their decision 15 minutes later, it was no real surprise. It took much longer to print the necessary forms and have them signed. The 5 looked at each other and while they never voiced the question the felt the heavy responsibility that had just descended upon them.
The still prepared for what they felt necessary, but only very few words were exchanged.

Close to the entrance into the cave, Norsca, a little later
Gromulk was looking at the snow that was pushed by him nearly vertically. His doubted that he could see anything past 2 meters or so and hearing anything above the howling wind was simply impossible. While he prided himself that he could endure the cold better than the German who was on the other side of the caves entrance he had stopped feeling anything in his toes a while ago and could keep his fingers from doing the same by flexing them continually.
Looking around again he thought he saw something moving but nothing definitive-more like some snowflakes not falling where they should than anything identifiable when suddenly a line of red crossed the Germans neck and his head fell forward. He was still trying to make sense of that picture and his cold hand was moving towards the sword pommel when the ice cold tip of something entered his jaw from below. Whatever it was, it nailed his tongue against his palate and went into his brain before he could issue a warning.

Jens Johannsen was back inside the tunnel a few meters behind the caves entrance when a number of lightly armored figures sprinted through the opening without any warning. He was still wrapping his mind about this and pulled up his assault rifle when several of his Marauders jumped into the way of the attackers.
The first two went down as quickly as they got into the way of the assault as they had neither time nor space to parry the strikes aimed at them, but the second pair was more successful. Using their shields and swords mostly to keep themselves from being killed and retreated to avoid being overwhelmed. Even backpedaling and mostly parrying they bought the time needed for the paratrooper to get his rifle to the shoulder and open fire. Shooting between the two Norscans he fired single shots in best Paratrooper tradition-ammo is always more precious if you haul all of it yourself-he was hitting with every shot and the bullets penetrated deep enough to wound other targets behind the first hits. The G-62 rifle allowed for very rapid shooting as the muzzle did not rise too much and the report which was stunningly loud in the tunnel alarmed the other Germans and their charges that something was up.

Walking backwards to keep the same distance to his swordsmen he managed to change the first magazine without ever losing the sight of his targets. Fur-clad barbarians threw themselves forward with over the dead bodies of their comrades and they as fast as he could pull the trigger. One of them was too strong, too macho and too drugged on his own endorphins to realize that the bullet that had penetrated his huge chest would kill him. He half-jumped half fell past a Norscan sword and put his own axe into the inside of the defenders leg. The pulsating spurt of blood told everybody that death was imminent and the Swordsmen threw himself into his enemies in turn.
The second barbarian was soon outflanked even with the culling that Johannsen applied to the attackers and fell to a sword that penetrated into his left side. There was nothing between the German and the attackers-but for his rifle. Now that the defenders were out of the way the paratrooper pulled the second trigger on his rifle. The muted thump of the Grenade launcher was hardly noticeable-the explosion in the attackers midst could hardly be ignored. The paratrooper used the respite he had been given and ran down the tunnel as fast as he could and entered the great cave in which the Germans and Norsca were preparing to defend themselves.

Turning around to direct more shots at the attackers he did not see the mosaic on the ground and walked right through it. Targeting the attackers that emerged from the tunnel he never saw the thrown axe that went at his forehead just under his Helmet-he just dropped to the ground. The axe had opened his skull but not killed him right away. He was just unconscious while he bled out through his head wound while around him the battle commenced.
The blood which came from his head wounds so freely went into the runnels were it filled channel by channel, always flowing forward and coloring the symbol red. When it finally reached the middle a little bit went into the tiny hole cut into the ground there.

It was met by sensors so fine and so sophisticated that German scientists who dug them out ignored them for a long time. A computer that would max a couple of Turing tests were it designed to have the capability to communicate with words took in the available data-and decided that it was time to act.
The machine it started was like an iceberg, only 10% were visible. The part the Germans dug out years later was the size of an office tower-that were the 10%, the other 90% were in the warp. It started to pull in a bubble it had stabilized in the warp for a VERY long time.
Getting the bubble and its inhabitant from the realm of the might-have-been to a more solid environment made it bleed energy into what humans called reality.

Haus Sonnenhof, Berlin

The child lay on its Bed and had a beautiful stuffed bear in its arm-which did not keep it from looking frightened at the old crone that bend over it. It had a skin white and as translucent as bone china. It was very slender and the lack of hair indicated the aggressive chemo therapy that had ultimately failed. "Mama said you will not hurt me."
"And we will not. You will just dream for a while and there will be good dreams-that I can promise."
"When they put me to sleep I was always sick when I woke up."
"Not this time. If..when you wake up you might be weak but you will be fine."
"Ok."
The wrinkled hand that rested on her brow had looked to her a little bit like a spider but it was warm and tender. She did not even hear the "Hush now, Child" as she was fast asleep.
"Shall we, brethren?"
The 4 figures that entered the room made a circle around the bed and put their hands on the beds rails. It steadied them when their eyes misted over and their minds went elsewhere. If they would have observers they could have seen the outline of something that hovered above the child but could only be described like the shimmer of heat waves.
The minds of the 5 had been fused into a "Gestalt" a singular mind whose capabilities exceeded the capabilities of each of them by far. Using their amulets like small straws put into a drink they took energy out of the warp to do what needed to be done.

This universe obeys laws doesn`t it? Drop a stone and it will fall, put voltage into a wire and it will heat to the point where it gives off light, put a hot stone into cold water and it will cool-always. Very reliable, very soothing these rules. If you like this state of affairs-do not look too closely or the illusion will spoil. The billions upon billions of molecules that make up a stone will be moves by gravity-yes. But what a single atom will do is far less certain and in no way will it always do the same thing. The single atoms or their components behave as they wont and they certainly do not like observation. Try to pin them down and they will perform impressive feats to keep you from doing so. Even more interesting is that observing them changes their behavior.

What the Gestalt did was looking at the mass of particles in a certain way which made them take the paths that were more unlikely, but not impossible. Where added energy was required to go these paths it was provided by the warp through the five.
And so the Gestalt had a look at the small body below it and searched for the source of the trouble and compared its findings against the new found store of knowledge. Things were indeed more or less as expected-time to change them.

Cave, Norsca

The flash of light that emerged from the mosaic in floor preceded a heat wave that seared those who were too close. It was accompanied by lightning that struck the walls and the ceiling of the cave at seemingly random points. The smell of Ozone wafted through the cave.
Those of the humans who had been too close to the mosaic were badly burned. This concerned the attackers more that the defenders as those already had tried to avoid the array and at least the Germans had been looking for a little distance from the attackers.
The area described by the blood-filled runnels vanished under a dome of eldritch lights and multicolored lightning. Defenders and attackers alike looked at it in awe; the fight was forgotten for a moment.

Inside the dome the center of the mosaic was empty one second-and had a huge armored figure laying on its back the next. Bewildered it looked around as for the first time in such a long time it had sensations-gravity was fixing him to the floor, cold air rushed in his lungs and his eyes were assaulted by rapidly changing bright light effects.
Turing his head to the side he saw the figure of a freshly slain human besides him. Overwhelmed by sensation and lacking the memories to work on them correctly his hardwired instincts took over. As if on its own violation his right hand –his heavily armored right hand reached for the skull of the fallen warrior and scooped up the greyish-pink matter that emerged from the wound.
Gorging the warm bloody mass down he reached for more and after breaking open the brainpan with one hand removed the rest of brain. Wolfing down the matter did not just bring sustenance to him- the RNA and certain long-chain polymers were met by a specialized organ that analyzed them, making some of the memories of its former owner available to the being.
Simply moving the limbs and looking around fired up neurons that had not been used for eons and standing up, at first a slow process speeded up considerably. Hands that he nearly forgotten to have grabbed weapons crafted by the being itself-devices that he could not name at present.
When he was up the dome of lightning disappeared and he found himself in a huge cave that was lined with humans on both sides. On the one side a diverse group of humans prepared their meagre defenses: Mail-armored barbarians nocked arrows and readied swords and shields. Others were cladded much more like the warriors he remembered from somewhere, carrying strange-looking autoguns and were clad in a mixture of carapace armor and softer stuff.
On the other side there were many more warriors-more fur-clad barbarians were mixed up with finely-armored knights of obvious skill. All of them seemed like fine fighters and aggressive to boot. What was not so easy to discern was that the Chaos affliction of the attackers. But instincts so deeply honed that even forgetting one's own name could not bury placed them right is that camp.
The being had never been accused of overthinking things, quite to the contrary. Now that there were still so few thoughts it was doubly true. Based on its instincts the being roared a challenge to the world-to any world and went into attack.

Paul Müller had gone from sleepy to alarmed to desperate to incredulous in the space of less than 5 minutes. The sudden assault of a large band of Chaos warriors in the middle of a Blizzard had come as a nasty surprise and but for the desperate defense of his warrant and the Norsca it would have been a massacre. Even with the warning the situation was not good. He could not estimate the enemy`s numbers but from the fact that the stream of attackers through the caves entrance was unabated hinted at a considerable warband.
The simple truth was that he had not enough ammunition and the skraeling mercenaries not enough bodies to stem this tide. If the Chaos Warriors would not break soon from the loses that his men dished out that he would not live to see Christmas.
While he still tried to position his men better "it" had happened. A fireworks of sorts had taken the center of the cave and had annihilated a part of the attackers and few of the Norscans who had interposed themselves between the paratroopers and the attackers.
When the dome of light had vanished it had revealed the most astonishing sight.

A huge figure stood in the middle of the circle. At least as big as a grizzly bear its head was crowned by a shock of white hair that was partially braided and a long white beard that hung on an enormous chest. Grey eyes as cold as the storm outside rapidly moved in an attempt to take the situation in. The craggy face was marred by two long fangs that emerged from the upper jaw. The colossal body was clad in a grey and black armor that covered everything but for the head. The back was hidden by a pelt that looked like it came from a wolf-provide that wolves got to horses size. In the warriors hands were a long boxy looking rifle that was close to the size of a heavy machine gun and something that looked like a cross between a sword and a chainsaw.

Before the Sergeant could wrap his mind around the sight the figure tilted his head back and issued a cry that was part man, part wolf and all challenge and then pounced. Storming forward with seemingly no thought for cover he lifted his rifle one handed and fired a long burst into the Chaos band. The targets ruptured in ways that hinted at explosive ammo of considerable strength. Even the scores of warriors taken by the salvo paled against the impact of the giant into the enemy`s ranks. The blade wielded by the newcomer screamed nearly as loud as its victims and the fast rotating teeth chewed though armor, flesh and blood with equal ease. Splattered by blood and gore the giant ripped through the Chaos warrior like a chainsaw through balsa. Still other Chaos warriors tried to get into the back of the new ally and to pounce there.
Time to stop gawking and to start acting like a soldier again.

"What do you need folks-a written invitation to the party? Meier-form a base of fire from the right, the rest-follow me. Running forward into the melee was not in any tactical manual that Paul had so far read, but if they wanted to support their new ally it seemed the only possibility.
Stopping few meters from the free-for all in front of him he lifted his rifle up and acquired targets as fast as he could made them through his reflex sight. The red dot that seemed to hover in front of his eyes settled on helmeted skulls, armored chests and flailing limbs and wherever it settled hot lead followed. The first magazine went through with terrible speed and the second was not much better. Yet, together with some others he managed to keep the enemy from flanking the armored warrior. The next magazine lasted longer as the enemy became few on the ground. By now the giant that decimated the Chaos warriors so adroitly pushed into the tunnel leading to the outside. Easily enough for 6 men side by side the tunnel was just wide enough for the warrior to swing his huge sword. Many of the missiles that were hurled at him were strangely deflected before they ever hit him and the few that connected with his armor did no discernible damage.

Emerging from the tunnel into the free space the Paratrooper realized a break in storm that allowed the armored giant to carry forward his assault on the chaos band. The visibility beyond 10 meters or so was nil and so it became difficult to fight as a cohesive unit. Emptying his next magazine Paul found himself behind the giant as a Chaos Knight performed an impressive somersault which brought him on top of the giants shoulders and lifted his axe for a strike. Paul`s 3 round burst removed him before anything could come from it, but the bolt that stopped at the back position of its travel told the story of an empty magazine.

His hand was on its way to leave the rifle for a reload when the snow parted to reveal a new Warrior. Bigger by the paratrooper by a head and covered by heaps of iron hard muscles he had a grin on his face when he lifted his huge axe to stove in the German`s head. Pushing forward from his right knee as if starting a sprint from a block Paul thrust the rifle below the warriors guard. His bayonet pierced the stomach at the Solar Plexus, ending breathing and life immediately. What made the soldier drop and turn he could never say, but he relinquished his rifle in time to avoid the sword stroke by a thumbs breath. Kicking with both legs he threw his attacker backwards for the few seconds he needed to draw his pistol and shoot the attacker 3 times in the center of mass. The rest of the pistols magazine illuminated the nightmare that the fight had become long enough to show where his bullets had fallen. Having achieved more space the paratrooper retrieved his rifle by putting his right foot on the chest of the fallen Champion and pulling the bayonet out.

When the rifle was reloaded he looked around to see that the enemy had either been killed or fled into the white hell that surrounded the fight. Only on one side could he hear the sounds of fighting and even there it seemed that there was only a small fight.
Walking over he found Silv in a duel with an armored figure who wielded what seemed to be a sword made of glass. When this sword made contact with one of silv`s swords and loped off a few centimeters of steel he could see the danger posed by the extraordinary weapon. Shouldering his rifle he waited for an opening between the two combatants. He had to stifle an involuntary yelp when a huge armored glove laid itself on his shoulder. Craning around he saw the giant who watched the fight with interest and who wished no intervention.
Paul could not fathom such idiocy which in his mind had no place on a battlefield, but he knew already that Silv`s people saw things differently-and so obviously did their visitor. Still in the face off such an obviously superior sword and the better armor sported by Silv`s enemy it seemed hardly fair. Silv had to parry the sword strikes aimed at her by the flats of her blades as anything else threatened to destroy them. The thrusts by the Chaos Champion she had to avoid by a combination of parrying and quick evasions, something she did with nearly supernatural speed. Still it seemed she had no room for a single misstep and if her stamina should falter she would be killed surely.
The Chaos warrior pushed forward for all he was worth hoping to exhaust her soon and to take at least one more life, if possible with impeccable style and could see the first result of that tactic.

Silvs breath became ever deeper and faster and despite the intense cold sweat flex from her head when she moved quickly. This could not go on for long-and did not. Evading the next thrust she threw herself flat with her legs towards her enemy. Scissoring them around his ankles brought the warrior to the ground with her where he was greeted by an upraised sword.

Covered with blood Silv climbed unsteadily to her feet and was about to raise her arms in triumph when she was confronted by the Giant who stood before her. Bending downwards like a bear who sniff his newest catch his nostril flared when he sniffed at whatever he could smell of the Norscan warrior in the middle of a storm.
It was rather obvious that whatever he smelled was not to his liking when he lifted his huge sword and thumbed the activator. Given the giants relentless assault on the Chaos Warband Paul had to assume that like all Norscans Silv been touched by the warp in some way and this touched the giants sensitivities. Still, a bond forged in combat is not easily thrown off and Silv was a part of his command, however contemporary.

Paul Müller moved between the Norscan hetwoman and the giant in an effort to cool things off and found that he confronted an armored human wielding a sword probably his weight with a bayonet that could maybe scratch the paint on the armor. A look into the giants eyes showed that he could no longer step out of this. No matter how much his legs wanted to give or that he wanted to avoid the contact with these piercing eyes he had to stand his ground as the consequences could exceed his and Silv`s lives.
For an eternal second the oh-so normal human and the huge augmented giant confronted each other, then the giant threw back his head and started to laugh heartily. His hand nearly dislocated the paratroopers shoulder when he cuffed him and nobody could understand his speech but he seemed amused-and satisfied with his company.

Paul thought it was time to establish at least some contact and crossed his right arm in front of his chest. Enunciating carefully he declared himself: "Paul Müller"
He saw the confusion in the giants face who seemed to have problems in reciprocating. The giant made the same gesture – and could not speak. Confusion, aggression and despair went through the face like clouds in a storm. Then the eyes found the symbol of a wolf`s head on his vambrance and his own memories dug up by combat fused with the information taken from Jens Johansens brain.
Pushing the arm outwards again and punching it at his own breast with the solid sound of a safes door closing he looked Paul Müller in the eye when he declared "Leman Russ"