300 meters below the World`s Edge Mountains, close to Nagishzharr

It is said that you can get to nearly any place in the Warhammer World underground as so many factions have made mines and tunnels. What it took to use them was a knowledge of them and a lot of luck as the tunnels that were no longer maintained were often filled with deadly surprises or led to dead ends. And you needed to be a small well equipped group as there was no sustenance to be found in such underground paths, few water, neither food nor light and little enough air. Yet this particular tunnel was filled by a veritable army that marched towards a far-off target. They needed neither food nor light, no food and no air, no rest and no sleep. They marched slowly but surely, rattling bones and creaking skeletons, undead constructs and terrifying creatures. They were dead and should be motionless, yet one mind had bid them to move and one will had given them a target.
In the far-off Black Pyramid Nagash could not smile as he lacked the lips to do so, but any observer with the least inkling of the sight would have felt his elation. Things were going as planned and this time the Germans and their allies would be too distracted until they were too late.

Peenemünde Nord

„Des is doch a narrisch guads Driebwerk Bua. ISP 1400 du kannst zua den naxtn Planedn mid sinnvoia Zualadung…."
Nathan Alpers had been brought up with High German, the Lower Saxony dialect that everybody spoke. The Bavarian accent of his newest crewmember was thick enough to cut it with a knife, yet the astronaut was pretty sure that he had heard that his new spacecraft would be fitted with a really nice engine with a ISP of 1400 which could take "Nordstern" out to the next planets with a decent payload."
"All well and good Baschurr, yet I`d be really happier if that engine would respond better to everybody and not just you."
"Ah, you can throttle it well enough, no problem buam. Yet it need a helping hand from time to time and if you want to rest it I have to do it. Not everybody can be a runesmith you know."

Baschurr Rogach, all 145 cm and 82 kilogram of him had made the new tungsten cores for Nathan`s newest spaceship himself and had trained hard to be a useful team member besides pampering their new drive. A lot of that training had been at MTU`s facility close to Munic, so the dawi had picked up a strongly Bavarian-flavored German. Nathan would take a spaceship with a drive tested only on two probes, several other new systems and engineer that had not even heard of a spaceship six years ago on a trip to Verda. Compared to that explaining to Ermine that they would have to move to Lustria in a year or two had been safe and easy. _

News report on Kiel Week, Germany, Sommerzeit 2526

When Germany was still on Earth, the Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) was the biggest Sailing event worldwide and one of the biggest public festivals, with around 2000 ships and 3-4 million visitors each year.
The first year after the Weltensprung Kiel Week was suspended due to security reasons, but since 2521 Kiel´s biggest event returned to the world stage. The festival had always been an event where new maritime developments were introduced to the public, like in 1895, when the Kiel channel was opened during Kiel Week.
In times long gone by the various navies used Kiel Week to show off and while that had stopped after World War 2, on Warhammer this old tradition had been resurrected due to political pressure from various Old World nations wanting to show their own naval power. Less to Germany, but more to visitors from other Warhammer powers.
The Bundesmarine naturally could not stand apart and like in Imperial times, squadrons of Germany´s naval forces attended Kiel Week.

But even before the civilian and military ships this year Kiel the city itself was the star. On Earth, Kiel was situated at the Baltic Sea. This side-arm of the Atlantic Ocean was a lot closer to an inland sea than to the North Sea. For instance, the ebb-tide-cycles were very limited with just half a meter at the maximum.
But now, Kiel was sitting at the Sea of Claw`s coast, which was directly connected to the great oceans. With the Weltensprung, Kiel and the rest of Germany´s former Baltic coast suddenly had real ebb-tide-cycles which had to be cushioned with an extensive reworking of the military and civilian harbors.

In Kiel the needed rebuilding was so extensive and expensive that the planers finally ook a page from Wilhelmshaven´s cookbook after several plans were put into the rubbish box. Like in Germany´s western main naval base, the sea was kept out by sea locks. At Friedrichsort/Laboe, the shortest distance between the shores of the Kiel Fjord, a new sea lock was erected, with the last sluis finished just right for the Kiel Week. Now four sluises allowed the ships entry into the Kiel Fjord and the city harbour.
The Kiel Week had always been an international event, even here on Warhammer this stays true, if the number of nations dropped.
The largest contingent of foreign ships came from the Empire. The lead ship of her class, the "Altdorf" herself, the "Wurtbad" and "Magnus the Great", two renowned vessels, we would peg them a mix of War Galleons and Holks, 5 squadrons of "Wolf"-Class ships, 1 squadron of "Hellhammer"-Galleys and 209 private vessels for the races.
Were the Norscans united, their ships would be the largest contingent numberwise. 282 sailing ships of all classes, most of them Dragon-ships, both so-called Kingships and Longships.

Bretonnia to the surprise of all, continued to send a sizable number of ships, obviously to shore up her naval prestige. Lead ship of this year`s formation was the "Gilles the Breton", a War Galleon. Rounding out the Warships committed were 3 Corsairs and 14 Bucanniers, followed by 60 private vessels.
Kislev sent only 12 "Praag"-class escorts, to the sorrow of the people hoping to see one of the new "Rurik" Frigates in Kiel. For the regattas, 54 ships came from Erengrad to Schleswig-Holstein´s capital.
Estalia and Tilea, in the latter case nearly all from Miragliano, sent 16 Galleys and 49 regatta ships in aggregate.
Despite the great distance, Karak Varn attended Kiel Week again with 3 of their Monitors.

The distance might even be greater for the Ulthuan fleet, but sharp tongues whisper that the High Elves would sooner die than miss a chance to show off. When it comes to sailing ships, their building prowess is easily visible. The Elven Eagle- and Hawkships are impressively fast and maneuverable. This was proven once again when the Hawkship "Prince Larifariel" won the regatta in it´s class for the fourth time in a row. Altogether, the Elves sent 40 ships to Kiel, under the lead of the Dragonship "Elcordor".
A surprise visitor was the attendance of a single Albion ship. The "Caerned" was the effort of the Albionese to show that they were part of the Warhammer world as all others.

One of the biggest helaus was reserved for the Motoryacht "Korat" from Wang Chan and the 11 ships from Nippon, which had travelled with the "East Asia" Convoy to the Old World. The Thai were happy to see and feel that they were not alone on this strange new world and that feeling was mutual.
A magnet for the public were the Rotholz (Redwood) War Junks from Nippon. Rotholz, which was named for the deep red hue it developed when worked on, was a logical ship building material for the Nipponese. On a world where stealth and camoflague were still new concepts and showing the own colours paramount, having a building material the colour of your state symbol the results were clear.
But the issues with stealth aside, the new War Junks of Nippon showed the influence of the cooperation with us. Hull structure, better nautic design, the cannons on board... it was obvious that these ships were state-of-the-art in their corner of the world.

With 1400 ships this year, the new Kiel Week grew once again in attendance from 1303 ships last year. And even when a million things got worse for Germany, the Windjammer parade at the end of Kiel Week got better since being stranded on Warhammer. Big sailing ships are still the norm here, so the parade has enough ships to draw on. From about 12 "big ones" (and several smaller vessels still quite big) each year on Earth, this years parade had 49 major sailing vessels.

Temporary Headquarters of the Army of Light, Altdorf

"How you dare to utter such words within this holy walls!"
"Well, it seems that your holy walls won't punish me for my words.
Or should I interpret this as a sign of divine approval of my actions?"
"You cannot-"
"I CAN and I WILL!
Because this is necessary for the greater good."

It didn't seem like this discussion would lead to anywhere.
Torben finally had to realize that he wouldn't win over this group by showing his efforts or speaking his open mind about his vision of the future order.
Ever since he had officially joined the Army of Light several days ago, he had devoted his entire being into first fully realizing the current situation and then developing the necessary steps to reform the order into something greater.
Nobody could doubt his devotion – may it be the amount of working hours, his level of effort or his religious convictions – and while nobody would do so, here lay the core of the problem.
The clerics that were today gathered here with Torben Treumark were the administrative leadership of their still small order, tasked to form it into a powerful weapon against Chaos.

Several had been chose for their indisputable abilities, others had to use all their connections and to call in many favors to get into this illustrious group that might someday lead one of the mightiest entities within the Empire.
Within this competing and scheming group, one of the few unanimous agreements was that allowing this mere merchant into this group had been a borderline case of heresy.
And while this accusation was already grave enough, reality was even more threatening – for the clerics.
Torben possessed skills nobody of them could offer, skills that surely would be needed at some point.
His level of devotion was at least on the same level as theirs, and somehow the grandmaster was not only tolerating him at this point, but also allowing him to openly argue with him.
If nothing was done, they would lose more and more influence within the order, until all their efforts to get here would had been in vain.
So they had stopped to work together with Torben, they had to force the grandmaster to choose either all of them or this merchant – at that at a time they still were more important than him.

To resolve this deadlocked situation – Torben simply began to bypass the clerics if they wouldn't work together with him – this meeting had been convened by the grandmaster himself.
He wasn't present, but had made sure that all participants understood that if this meeting would end without result, he would use his kind of 'persuasion' to resolve the situation.
And he didn't miss the chance to emphasize that he would use his 'persuasion' only very reluctantly on people he actually saw as his allies.

"I will make you a one-time-offer:
Hear me out until I have finished, and if there is anyone in here that still doesn't want to cooperate with me, I will leave the order.
There will be no need for schemes, accidents or other sad coincidences..."
The clerics soon agreed, as this seemed to be the best and easiest way to get rid of this merchant.
If they had been dead certain in their goal to get rid of him, they shouldn't had allowed this German-trained merchant a chance to hold a 'Verkaufsgespräch', but they simply thought what could mere words still do in this situation?

Torben began to calmly walk up and down along the shorter side of the conference room, only beginning to speak after the attention of all clerics was focused on him.
He spoke in a calm tone.
"Especially in this young stage of the order, it is the perfect situation to prepare it for the great things it will do in the future.
This morning, the order was counting about two hundred souls – mostly higher-ranking clerics and their assistants.
Of course, it is important to first house all of this members, agree on a manifest that later thousands will sacrifice their lives to uphold, and to make sure that the order isn't overly… influenced by older brother orders."

The short introduction didn't miss its goal.
The goals of this group of men weren't hidden for Huss and his merchant minion.
Influence, prestige, connections, many things had to be prepared for during the infancy of an order, to make sure that the right people could influence it from the shadows during the coming years, decades or even centuries.
Torben spoke of this as simple facts, while the clerics understood his words as implicit threats.
Many of them were sure he now would try to blackmail them somehow.
But this mere merchant wouldn't step so low as to occupy his mind with such mundane topics.
He simply changed the topic.

"What is the purpose and ultimate goal of this order?"
Only after about a minute one of the clerics answered this rhetorical question.
"Our order was founded to use our new-found capabilities to push back both the Chaos worshipers and the Chaos wastes themselves."

Now, Torben began to speak with more enthusiasm.
He stopped his walking around, now he had positioned himself behind the small table he used for his study seasons.
A large heap of books – mostly having come from Germany and containing wisdom of many different topics – acted as his lectern.
"How much work, how much time, and how many lives do you think will be needed to reach this ultimate goals?"

The same cleric was answering.
And because this question touched his devote self, he answered directly from his heart, without sugarcoating or camouflaging his true belief.
He saw no need to hide behind beautiful words when his true belief was clear enough.
"This is a holy duty that will take many generations, and see many noble sacrifices to complete.
We will have to focus our entire-"

At this point, Torben interrupted the cleric, trying to use the momentum he had created to carry on.
His gestures – having been reserved and calculated until now – were beginning to use more space, and incorporate more vigor.
"Exactly!
Many generations, everything we can muster.
We will need to use our potential to the maximum.
If we want to reach this goal, we cannot be just another order, just another part of the cult of Sigmar, just another asset for the Empire.
We have to grow – no, evolve – we have to evolve into a powerful organization, capable of incorporating as much public contributions as possible, capable of uniting anything and anyone that sees Chaos as enemy.
How can we dare to waste our energy to infighting, competing or threatening, when there are waiting countless demons in the North, the South and even within the Empire itself?"
With his words, Torben was reaching nearly all of them.
They had made plans to profit from the order in one way or another, but all of them had a certain level of devotion, otherwise Huss would never had allowed them in.
All of them shared a grand vision for the order, for the Cult, for mankind.
And while his speech had already persuaded some, others were more careful.

"That we all know.
But we won't let a mere merchant dictate decisions that are opposed to everything that should define an order of the Cult of Sigmar!"
So now, they no longer denied his vision, only himself and the methods he was using.
He could work with this.
While the last part had been addressed to everyone, he now focused of the spokesman denying him openly.

"I already noticed how you reflexively deny anything that has clear German origin.
Tell me, would you oppose German swords – sharper, more resilient, easier to produce in the hundreds – in a fight against Chaos' best?
Would you oppose tactics that could save the lives of invaluable troops in the face of an avalanche of chaos demons?
It is irrelevant, if you see Germany as friend or foe, but you have to admit that their methods are working.

The arrival of Germany changed many things, and it will continue to do so for the unforeseeable future.
One has to adapt to such changes or perish.
Chaos already has received many humiliating defeats because of the new and unknown ways the Germans use.
But it is only a question of time, until even – or especially – Chaos will adapt to this changes.
Our forefathers already had to give their all in the many battles they had to lead against Chaos, many never returned.
Would their battles end in the same way today, them using the old ways, and Chaos using the experiences of the past few years?
I do not think so.
Chaos will bleed from German hands, but also learn with every and each defeat.
WE do not have to bleed to receive German teachings, only our hearts of they can't endure the 'disgrace' of learning old things in new ways."

They were nearly ready to accept his argumentation.
Germany was the unknown evil that always accompanied change.
But if they would embrace this change, if they would be at the forefront of change, it would be THEM that could influence the direction this change was leading.

"If Sigmar himself would come through this door, right this moment-"
Torben turned to the wooden door, pointed at it, and remained silent for a moment.
When he turned his eyes back on the clerics, he had to inwardly smile as some of them were hopefully looking of the still closed door.
"If Sigmar himself would be here now, and offer new wisdom, new skills, new tactics that would help us to eradicate Chaos, would you embrace it or reject it?
I will never say that Germany was a present send from Sigmar, but see how far we have come during this short years since its arrival?
We no longer hide in our houses, awaiting the next Chaos incursion.
We no longer fear the day when the next nation falls under the influence of Chaos.
No!
We argue about HOW to defeat Chaos.
Not IF we can defeat it, but what would be the best way to do so.
Germany gave us the chance, but it will be imperial hearts, imperial brains, and imperial hands that will push back Chaos."
It seemed like most of them agreed with him for the moment.
Now came the difficult part.

"I want to reform this order into the entity that will execute this grand operation.
And the best form to do so is in the form of a company – YES A COMPANY!"
Their newly won sympathy for Torben was already dwindling, so he had to push through this part.

"As company, we can offer our members more than enlightenment, salvation and an early death.
I am sure that all of us are faithful servants of Sigmar, and that you have only the best intentions, but first bring this to mind:
This won't be a preaching order that gathers money and warriors over long times, to send them against Chaos in the direst hours of mankind.
Yes, we will need a powerful military arm – the most powerful the Empire has ever seen – but we also need to feed these warriors, clothe them, give them articles of everyday life, and treat and evacuate the many injured and crippled that will surely appear along the path this order has chosen.
And it will not remain at one short campaign with all of our military assets.
This will be a war that will take decades and centuries, with a continuous stream of reinforcements.
Once liberated territories will only be vacated so we can attack Chaos once again in now known territory."
Now he was speaking himself into ecstasis.
He still had some kind of script he was following, but more and more of his words came directly from heart.

Without thought he touched one of the many books he had studied in the past.
German professional literature about topics like the importance of logistics, failures of mighty armies in past wars, experiences in competitive areas of trade, and many others.
Just like Luthor had told him on his first day, before they could even slay the first enemy, they had to master bureaucracy and the giant logistical train accompanying any army that was based on German principles.
And because they couldn't rely on the continued generous cooperation of Empire, Germany, or any other faction, they had to make sure that they shouldered as much burden by themselves as possible.
They had to create an organization that was standing on firm feet, independent from outside interference.

"With a corporate structure, our order can learn from the many experiences of the big corporations in Germany.
All you see right now are parts of the military and administrative departments.
But what about topics like supply and financing?
These books here told me of the many mistakes the Germans had witnessed in their old world.
For each man fighting at the front, there are about ten men necessary in the back, to make sure the fighter has everything he needs to work at the peak of his abilities.
These supporting masses, while most won't be ever present at the front, will be making work just as important than the fight itself.
And do you want this important work be done by brothers – and sisters – in mind or by strangers with unproven reliability?
Do you want to rely on financial help that will be withdrawn as soon as this order will be seen as too powerful?
Hear my words!
I am already sure that we will one day reach the fateful day others will fear us because of our capabilities and powers."

Torben took up a certain book and displayed its title to the assembled group of clerics:
'The Rise and Fall of the Templar Society'.
A book that was quite popular within the Cult of Sigmar – at least the first part of the book.
"The day will come when WE will be the enemy.
Not because we were wrong, not because we succumbed to Chaos.
No, we will be the enemy because weak leaders will fear we might turn against them..."

The meeting would take two additional hours, but at its end, all clerics shared Torben's vision.
He resolved their fears regarding his vision, his person, and his methods.
They had been captured by the inspiring speech of Valten to form a new order capable of fighting off Chaos.
But their imagination had been confined by common sense and past experiences.
What Torben Treumark – and the grandmaster Luthor Huss as one of his strongest supporters – imagined for the order wasn't a more powerful order similar to the others already existing.
In their eyes, the Army of Light was the future of the Cult of Sigmar, some day capable of mustering more military might than the Empire could today, financial independent from donations, and powerful enough so that the sole uttering of their name would solve disputes.

The direct fight against Chaos was the culmination of their order, but to reach and stay at this point would be the real ordeal for them.
Initially created to distract the more hotheaded elements of Empire and Cult of Sigmar, Valten would need several years to realize this, but on that fateful day in Sigmar's Temple, he had opened Pandora's box.
The Army of Light would follow its purpose, it would commit everything to their ultimate goal of pushing back and defeating Chaos.
And in the days to come, if this meant that they had to turn against an opposing faction – be it individuals, orders, companies, kings or even entire nations – they would do it without a second thought, for Sigmar!

World`s Edge montains

The ambush was well done, at least in the mind of the observer and he had more experience with such things than most. It was surprising given that Orcs did not run to such strategies, at least normally. Yet these were not the normal times, not in any way or shape and while the observer was not sure if Orcs could feel desperation they were surely taking desperate measures that were far out of character for them.

Maybe one of his own people had dropped a hint that had been listened to for a change, maybe one of the Orc bosses had grown his brain to apple size for a change. Yet, whatever had done it it had motivated the Orcs to go into hiding instead of presenting their numbers to the enemy and taunt them.
One of their crude fortifications lay at the end of the valley that meandered through this part of the great mountains. A small stream ran through its middle and the unbroken snow indicated where the Orc`s slaves tended to fields when the season allowed. A trampled line mixed mud with snow and paralleled the stream, the slopes to both sides of the stream were covered with evergreen forest heavily laden with snow.

From his viewpoint the observer could see the many small plumes of breath exhaled by many beings who waited. The observer mused what it had taken the Orc`s boss to suppress the animosity that was sure to flare up between so many greenskins that had to wait in the cold for any length of time. Shrugging his shoulders he decided that it would have to be one of the many forms of terror an Orcboss could dish out. Far more interesting was the column that made their way up the path through the valley. His eyes were not the best, yet the telescope he had looted so many years ago brought them into crystal clarity. Many short but powerful beings marched in step and obvious good order. There was an advance party, only a few soldiers their boss would not really miss when they found the enemy, probably by dying. After that there were long blocks of them, marching in file. Their short legs had obvious problems with the mud and snow, yet they relentlessly advanced. They were unlike anything the observer had seen before-short like stumpies of both kinds, having the copious beards of their kind they all wore the same clothing, the same armor and the same weapons. Armor seemed to be a mail shirt mostly and a strange shaped helmet. Most carried slender-looking firesticks, yet many other carried stuff he could really not place. All of them pulled small sleds behind them that held more equipment and bigger sleds were moved by shaggy-looking ponies.

All in it was an exercise in misery, hard work in the wet, cold mud as military operations were likely to be. It was nearly peaceful until it ceased to be with the suddenness of breaking glass. Where no sound penetrated the woods warcries shook the trees. A huge group of Orcs ran for once of the many places where the path forded the stream and stood astride the valley, offering a wall of green muscular flesh and primitive weapons to the enemy.
Boar riders emerged from the woods at a full gallop in several groups that made their way to the long column, threatening to split it into many smaller groups that would be unable to to support each other. They would be consumed by a much larger horde of Greenskins that emerged at the far end of the valley on foot. They raced towards combat sceaming, shouting and beating their weapons on shields. Nothing would keep them from rolling up the groups that would try to fend off the Boar Riders one by one. There were easily ten times the number of Orcs on the field of battle than stumpies, and probably they would outnumber them even more at the point where battle would be joined.
The observer nodded, this was a cunning plan that he could approve of easily. This would be a massacre. He was right, yet not in the way he had anticipated.

Shrill whistles could be heard even from where he was and the column stopped marching immediately. It unwound from a four-abreast formation to one of two lines in the time needed to talk about it the enemy faced the onrushing green doom and brought up the rifles they had so far carried on their back.
Even when they were a couple of hundred meters from their enemies Orcs and Boars began to drop immediately. Not in such numbers as to stop the assault, but by the far more than the observer had thought possible.
Small teams brought up something that the observer had never seen before and when they were ready there was more shooting, a great lot more of it. Small flames flickered in an evil light at the muzzles of whatever weapons the enemy used and wherever they pointed the Orcs and their animals dropped like fleas,
In other places the enemy erected small tubes that pointed skywards and dropped something into it. Explosions by the dozen tore through the Orcs ranks, gouging circles of death from green flesh and hate.

With every second more Greenskins dropped and the observer was not sure if the Orcs would be able to close to melee combat. If they could they would prevail, this was where they excelled, especially as the enemy was so strung out. They had already suffered grievous losses that would have crippled many an army and still they charged. In two places a few boar riders managed break through the line but paid a stiff price for every meter. Yet when the footsloggers were nearly at the point where they could finally engage and pay back for the beating they had already suffered the stumpies threw something towards the Orcs in great amounts. The Observer had no time to wonder before the first explosions assaulted his ears.
That had been the straw that broke the assault, many Orcs badly wounded and unable to ignore the pain and neverending fire that decimated their ranks.

There were survivors that managed to gain the dubious safety of the tree line. They no longer outnumbered the enemy and the bodies of the fallen covered the formerly white floor of the valley.

Aghast the obersver mounted his ride and made his way back to his people. He now knew why the Orcs had attacked his people in the dead of winter, death was chasing them. And if they were unable to beat the his people certainly could not.

The Archnarok Spider easily climbed the sheer face of the valley and brought him over the crest before anybody could even think about shooting him. Skarsnik would take his Goblins deeper into the World`s Edge mountains. He had heard a lot of stories that the humies were much more dangerous these days, but they could hardly be worse than what he had just seen.

Close to Weijin,

„Crack"-uff-„Crack"-autch-„Crack"-hen hao."
"Your highness has the makings of an excellent marksman I see."
"Thank you Tidu Böhler, this rifle makes it easy. So this is what you offer for the troops that you want to raise?"
Wolfgang thought that any fool should be able to hit the inner rings on a man-sized target at 25 meters when resting the rifle on a sand bag, yet these were the first shots that the Celestial Dragon, the Emperor of Cathay ever took, so it was not that bad.
"Yes, it is one of the two rifles that we offer your highness. The Mark 3 rifle you just shot so ably is the new standard rifle of the Chang Sheng Jun-the Wild Geese as we call ourselves. It fires brass ammo from a 10-round magazine, uses bolt-action to reload and is effective to about 500 to 600 meters."
"It looks a bit different from the rifle that was shown to us by Heckler&Koch."
"The Celestial Dragon is most observant. This is because they build a rifle used by German armies for a very long time. For various reasons, mostly having to do with saving face, we based our new rifle on a different one. Apart from a few differences this used to be called SMLE in my world or Lee-Enfield."
"Is this better than the German rifle?"
"Both have things going in their favor your highness. Let`s put is like that, it was the rifle picked by the army that was victorious at the end."
"Then it is a good rifle for our soldiers as well."
"Yes, it will be. Care for another few rounds Celestial Dragon?"
"Yes please."
It would not do for the Emperor to clean his own rifle, that was lovingly done by Wolfgang Böhler who added the cloth used to wipe the bolt and trigger to the batch sent to Ottokar Proktor.

Zharr-Naggrund

Jasla strode into the room as if she owned it, as if it was her throne room and her adoring subjects were awaiting her appearance. In fact is was a rather simple affair with a desk, two chairs, a blackboard and a few diagrams that hung from the wall.
The seats were taken by a middle-aged paunchy German and a young Druchii that was nearly his height. Mordred had been looking at some sheets before him together with the Germans when she entered. He was so very beautiful and his somber face lit up with a smile that made her smile back-almost. That was when the smile faltered a bit, when uncertainty crept in and the need for Jasla`s approval became obvious.
"So how is my sons progress today?"
"He has finished his algebra test at the 87th percentile Mistress, we are just going over the errors."
"Why only 87%?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop by several degrees and both man and Druchii ducked as if awaiting a blow, which they might very well receive, if they were lucky.
"Johann Prossy, you are obviously not up to the task I gave you. You were to teach my son and you achieve only 87% despite the best Mordred can do. We will have words about this and more later. Mordred, Natasha has made you your Kaiserschmarn, go to her and get your fill while I teach Mr. Prossy to do better."
"Thank you sooo much mother."
This time Jasla allowed Mordred`s smile to affect hers as well and the hug she received made her yearn for more.
"Go now, we see each other later."

Her son ran happily from the room and even managed to close the door without a bang. Jasla checked her memory again, yes she had chided her child for failing physics last week, this time it had to be the teachers fault.
"I see that you remember your instructions well Herr Prossy, I think we can forgo any punishment today."
"Thank you Mistress. Do all Druchii grow as fast as him? I mean he is barely four but his body is at least that of a human 12 year old and he handles algebra usually thought to much older students."
"My son is certainly not a weak human Herr Prossy, you would do well to remember that. Any inquiries into this matter would be very unwise and any breach of discretion terminal. Do we have an understanding."
Her words would have made quite an impact already, yet the needle that suddenly pierced him there underscored her intent perfectly.
"I understand and will obey Mistress. I beg for mercy."
"Well then, let us chalk this up to an unfortunate misunderstanding on your side."
The needle withdrew with remarkably few pain given its structure and placement.
"You told me that you would like to discuss a project of yours before your lesson to my son. Would you mind telling me about it?"
"Certainly not Mistress this is a project of mine I would like to pursue. Ever since we finished the "Crusader" and "Marauder" golems Lord Gurath is more willing to work with me. I have told you about my theory about how the Golems move-synchronous movement of atoms-correct? Well I wanted to see if I was right and he bound a minor entity of the warp to a boilerplate test article I whipped up. It worked pretty well, so I think we can build a much larger one that can bear arms. See here, I made some drawings. This shape is very good aerodynamically speaking, sorry it will not offer a lot of wind resistance, and it will also cause bullets to bounce off more easily. Here we could add some machine guns and BK108 autocannon and…"
"Looks impressive Herr Prossy, but did you not forget something?"

"Err-what Mistress?"

"How shall this move? I see no wheels, no legs and no, how do you call them, tracks."

"Oh that Mistress. This thing will fly."