Falke fighter-bomber 5000 meters AGL, close to Nuln,

The single-seat variant of the Falke was even more a dream to fly than the double-seat trainer. Even more maneuverable and offering a brilliant view and high power-to-weight ratio gave the pilots the feeling that "angels were pushing them", especially compared to their first rides. The pale winter sun shone from a sky that was unmarred by clouds and offered a gods-eye view of the snow-covered landscape below.
Eberhard von Roon had no eyes for any of that as his view was filled by the most exciting view imaginable. The Black Dragon was huge and sailed majestically through the air. The scales seemed to ripple with movement and its head was turned towards him, a mouth filled with teeth and the promise of a poisonous death. He switched his HUD to gun mode and watched the funnel-shaped projection appear that predicted the fall of his projectiles. He pushed the stick and pedals without thinking and when the ring in his sight had settled on the huge target he pressed the button on his joystick. The plane`s wooden frame was shook from the massive recoil produced by the twin 30 mm guns. The tracers leapt forward and a few of them found their home in the Dragon. It was a bit disappointing as no explosions accompanied the hits, no blood and no bellow of pain indicated the wounding. He kept the nose of his Falke pointed at the space where the Dragon was going to be real soon and pushed the button a second time. More projectiles connected this time, yet their effect was no better than before. By now the beast loomed huge in his sight and there was only time for one more burst before he pulled his plane into a Split-S that Immelmann himself would have approved of. Lifting his head at the apex of the arc he could see the target fluttering down to earth.
The voice in his ears was far too loud for comfort.

"Lieutenant von Roon, you are a bloody idiot. There were other people who were scheduled to shoot at that target as well and you were at less than a hundred meters before you pulled up. We will speak about this when you are back on the ground and you will help the target tug`s crew splice in a new wire. For now get off the range."
The sheet with the Dragon`s image was still fluttering downwards when Eberhard von Roon had settled on a course that would lead back to the airport and another chewing-out that would only be cushioned by having achieved the best hit rate of all Eagles.

Close to Mingol Zharr-Naggrund

Lord Gholam watched his soldiers climb aboard the train and marveled. A few years ago he would have disdained any warrior so equipped. Instead of the plate armor favored by the DawiZharr for many generations they wore partial mail and boiled leather, barely enough to fend off an arrow from a Goblin archer. The helmet did not rise to an impressive height to intimidate the enemy but was low and flared to the back to protect the neck. The slender rifles were a far cry from the old blunderbusses but so much more effective and even the backpacks were not what he remembered from his time in the ranks but much bigger and supported by a set of belts that kept ammo and gear close to the soldier even when the backpack was kept at the baggage train.
Yet both on the training field and during the last hunt for escaped slaves these soldiers had proven to be many times more effective then their more traditional counterparts. Much more mobile due to their lighter load with a frightening firepower they were the best soldiers Mingol Zharr Naggrund could field and he would lead them to glorious combat.

The three companies of the first battalion, first regiment of the 3rd rifle division climbed into the train before him. Another sign of the new times. Too many of his peers they were not so impressive than many of the great works of DawiZharr engineers while he had seen the potential right away. Unimpressive, yes the steel boxes on wheels were that. Boring they were too, no magic powered them, no arms and nearly no armor protected them. And yet they could bring an army to the far-off World`s Edge mountains than he could muster the units from winter quarters. They would bring supplies and reinforcements as well and haul slaves and loot back.

His compartment was nice, with well-upholstered seating and other amenities and contained his staff as well. Shortly after everybody had his seat the train was pushed forward till the piston at its front engaged the vacuum tube that would pull them through then tunnels to their target. They would spend the days in darkness, surrounded by countless meters of rock and breathe hot humid air for that time. Just like home.
When the train engaged the tube he straightened in his seat.
"Gentlemen, this is going to suck."
Everybody laughed which was a good thing. He had been looking for members of his staff not sufficiently sycophant.

Close to Weijin, at night.

Ivil Bloodcrest checked again of the tarpaulin he had pulled over himself was as tight as it had to be and then switched on the small box in front of him. It started to glow, gave off the script he expected and then a slightly fish-eyed picture of something far too close to the grass to be human.
His thumb found the small stick and pushed, which made the picture change by moving forward. He diverted his attention between the picture of progress and a small side picture that gave him the approximate target of his drone.
Wolfgang Böhler had given him a task that was intriguing, dangerous and difficult. His erstwhile colleagues in Khaine`s temple would have called it impossible and without the toys the Germans gifted the Wild Geese from time to time it would have been. When he had been presented with the spider drone for the first time he had immediately seen its potential and practically salivated at getting his hands on a couple. He had to study intensely to master the controls and had achieved sufficient mastery in time. Now he guided the small device where even he could not go.

The sheer brick wall would have been not too difficult for him, yet he doubted that even he could have avoided being spotted climbing the 20 meters or so in full view. The many decorations set in the back wall of the temple had served well to hide his mechanical avatar. The small window that pointed at the North Star would have been too small anyway and had been a tight fit for the drone as well. When he had made it through the tiny tunnel that the window cut through the thick walls he used the sticky feet of the drone to walk it down the walls even when the drone hung upside-down at times.

It took more than a few minutes, yet finally the drone lowered itself to the bier in the middle of the room. Cathay`s best mages had worked on embalming the former Emperor, yet even they had not been able to fend off entropy and the dehydration of the body. The dead lips had pulled back sufficiently to expose the corpse's teeth. One of them was loose enough to be extractable by the drone. It was back with Ivil two hours later who stayed under the tarp for the next day before slinking from the forbidden city the next night.
The tooth joined the cloth used on the rifle on its way to the lab.

iran Country, Ulthuan

Hiratok whistled tunelessly while he performed one of the most boring and best paying jobs that his farming commune had to offer. The Porsche Tractor puttered as it had done during the last four hours since he had accelerated it and his load sufficiently to get to second gear, the tow path broad enough and straight as an arrow and the barges he towed behaved nicely so there was no excitement to be had. As a farmer of several hundred years of experience that was a very good thing yet even he was glad that this part of the trip was about to end. The Prince Elarion canal which he had followed the last days went through the locks at Four Oaks roughly at the same spot where it entered Caledor.

This was the place where he would cast off the six barges he had brought here, change to the other side of the canal and pull other barges back. Ulthuan had an extensive canal grid that had been expanded through the millennia. They ranged from just five meters wide to some that rivalled rivers in size. The smaller to the mid-sized ones were bordered by tow paths and allowed a single team of horses to pull more than ten times the load they could have managed on roads. This system had served Ulthuan well and was one of the reasons for its prosperity.

He started to slow down half a kilometer before the locks. His tractor would slow within a few meters from its present speed, but his barges would not. This was the second trip he made in this manner and this time he managed to bring the barges to a stop pretty precisely at their mooring stop. He was awaited by a small group of Asur that were in the process of hitching up two teams of six horses each.
"Good morning Hiratok of Tiran, I am Galewe of Chiro and these are my sons. Interesting contraption you have there."
"Well met Galewe. This is a Porsche tractor, we use it for barge hauling in winter when we do not use them on the fields."
"I hear they are human-made, dangerous and poison you and the fields."
"Have not seen any sign of that Galewe and if you respect it, it is no more dangerous than a horse. It will not frighten and bolt, it will not bite you when it is cross and it will not kick. But it will roll over and crush you if you do not watch where you are going and of you but your hands in the moving parts they are just gone. And they will not get you home by themselves when you have been at the next village and had one or two too many. But Isha, it pulls like mad and I like the thresher and the power saw that can be powered by it."
"Does it really pull so much?"
"Look at the barges-I can pull six with this, you can pull three with six horses. And I can pull or plow at night when it needs be."
"What-you are joking."
"Nope, this thing has pretty strong lights. So my nephew and me changed every few hours coming here, he is just getting ready on that last barge. Quite useful too when you have a field full of wheat and know that a thunderstorm is due."
"But won`t make a new one of you leave it in the same field than another."
"No, that it won`t, but it will earn the money to buy another one pretty quickly and if you do not have a load to haul or a field to plow it will not eat at all."
"Hmmm, well we are not allowed any, Prince Imrik does not like them. But there is an offer for a horse-drawn reaper and baler, do you have any idea if they are any good?"
"If they are half as good as the ones we use then go for it. Your back will be much better for it."
"They save so much work?"
"More than you think. I have a field of 14 aas and have reaped, baled and stored it in one day together with my wife and three workers."
"That is..fast. So what do all the others do when these machines do so much?"

"Well, we have taken a second herd of cows these days, but we have 16 members of the cooperative that have gone to work in the new manufactories in Lothern since the beginning of this year. It is not that we sit idle and we earn quite a bit more that way."
"I heard of that, but we are also forbidden. Maybe a good thing, I hear one can get mad sitting at a desk and doing the same thing again and again."
"And walking behind a plow and looking at an horses ass all day is so much more interesting right?"
"Well….."

"Nordstern" 5000 Kilometers above Warhammer World

Nathan Alpers sat in a chair which had an upholstery measured in millimeters, yet the very low gravity he was under made it comfortable still. The same pseudo-gravity allowed the juice in his glass to remain where he had poured it and the crackers he and Erik Bär munched would not present an unacceptable risk to shipboard ventilation. Both watched the screen before them which depicted a less-tired looking Nathan being interviewed by "Jumbo" Reimers.

"So today you want to tell us about two new spaceships Nathan."
"Yes Jumbo. One is finished in orbit already, the other one under construction. Both will enhance our capabilities enormously. Let us start on the one that is already finished, the "Nordstern". We built it using the experience gained from the old "Polarstern" and she is better in any way. We lengthened and reinforced the superstructure, added two sets of tanks parallel to the certer one so we have three times the propellant and the engine has three tungsten cores which makes it much more powerful. We have more pressurized working space as the new hab module is in the wheel and more pallets for various equipment. Despite all the added mass "Nordstern" can accelerate at 0.2 G instead of 0.1 and has a delta-v which is six times better."
"Sorry Nathan, can you explain Delta-V to the audience?"
"It is the capability of a spaceship to change its velocity. For example the Delta-V of the old Saturn V rocket was roughly 12 kilometers per second, we can do many times that depending on payload."

"So what are you going to do with it?"
"The first mission we will undertake is to place a couple of navigation satellites from Kopernikus to their high orbit, when we are done with that we take new instruments and several probes and embark for Sage 17. There we will take on propellant now that the extraction facility works and if all works our well we set off for Verda."
"You will not land?"
"No we will only deploy remotely controlled probes and observe from orbit. We will return when we have a reusable landing craft, which might well be the second craft we talk about."
"It still seems impossible, a flight to something that might be Mars if this were the Solar System."
"Yes, on earth we would have to work much harder for this. But here we have the rune of flying that reduced costs to orbit by quite a bit, we have the new tungsten drives which would have to be nuclear powered if we were still on Earth and we get free propellant in orbit thanks to the Old Ones. All in a great push forward."
"Speaking of the Old Ones, there are rumors that you brought an Old One AI from orbit."
"Really now Jumbo, you should not believe every rumor in the net. I believe that came from the same site that claimed the death of the Horned Rat was just a special effect by the Bundeswehr to justify its budget."

"Too bad, this would be quite a catch."
"Yes, it would be if it were true. So what do you want to know about the other new spacecraft, the "Zwilling".
"Yes, that one. I have to admit it does not look like a spacecraft. I mean it is not sleek like a rocket or a plane like the old space shuttle, this looks like an old TV-tube."
"It is mostly optimized for reentry and the least amount of surface as we need to save weight where we can, so this shape makes sense."
"The last time you spoke you told me "Polarstern" would work well as a reusable spacecraft as it would accelerate slowly and not do reentries. This will do both and yet DLR insists this is the key to space and not another Space Shuttle, why?"

"The Space Shuttle had a number of weak points that we avoid. It had huge wings so it could divert to another landing site in case of war but are otherwise dead weight, we do not have them. The Space Shuttle used tiles for thermal protection, we cool the plug nozzle engine with liquid hydrogen upon reentry and avoid all that hassle. The Shuttle had no way a mission could be aborted before the Shuttle went into space once the engines were ignited, so security was paramount and the craft was taken apart and rebuild for each mission. We sit in a modified "Merkur" capsule when we fly this thing manned at all and can safely eject from the craft at any time. Most missions will be flown unmanned anyway so we can accept a lower margin of safety. The Rune of Flying will help as well and since payload is markedly smaller than that of the Shuttle we do not need boosters or external tanks. We will have to use the new spaceport in Lustria though, it is on the equator and that helps even more than it would have done on Earth."
"So Zwilling will make for cheap access to orbit?"
"Nothing you do in space is cheap, but we already have much lower costs than old ESA due to using magic and the same fully developed rocket again and again. "Zwilling" will allow to place people and smaller payloads in orbit cheaper and will allow us to gain experience with this kind of craft. In the long run we want to replace the "Greif" with something like "Zwilling" but much bigger."
"Isn`t building a spaceport in Lustria quite expensive?"
"It would have been if it were the only thing we build there. But now that so many companies need access we would have built the harbor and some sort of town anyway."

The interview went on from there for quite a while, but Nathan and Eric were interrupted by a beep from the intercom.
""Des Driebwerk sieht guad aus Bua und da Dreibstoff hod de tests bestandn" By now Baschurr Rogach had toned down his Bavarian accent a bit and Nathan had grown more used to it, so he understood that both engine and the propellant checked out. He would get acceptance by DLR hours later of course but trusted the Dawi engineer enough that tomorrow would likely be spent working through the long checklists that would start the trip to Verda.

Eisigfurth, Sylvania

The mold opened with an evil hiss and the black mass inside steamed with residual heat and humidity in the cold temperatures around it. The black bowl was still rather hot, yet the skeletal fingers that grasped for it perceived no difference. The undead skeleton removed the part reverently before pushing a red button. The mold closed again and a heavy-duty pump switched audibly on. While the minivan-sized machine worked the undead placed the bowl on a pallet and turned in time to repeat the process.
Another skeleton came with a manual forklift and collected the full pallets before dropping them off in another room. Here humans took the bowls, trimmed the flash from the plastic and assembled the parts received into tool boxes. They would be in Germany two weeks later.

If anybody could play the long game it was von Carstein who had seen centuries go by. He marveled at the riches that oil brought his country but the questions of: "How long will that oil last" and "what then" had been in his mind pretty soon. Currently the situation of everybody living and many undead was looking up in Sylvania, with medical services, food and consumer goods available in amounts that would have been unheard of a few years ago. Also, the mortal`s fear of ending as food had been mostly eradicated by the Red Cross which managed to feed Sylvania`s masters just fine.
But what when the oil dried up? When the humans would be discontent now the Vampires knew very well they could not just kill wholesale amounts till the serfs would be quiet again, there would be a reckoning for that. And they had seen that the Reiksbund was fully capable of making them pay.

Fortunately the same advisers that had told Carstein that the oil would end at some time had offered a solution. These days the trains that took the oil from Sylvania brought a part of it back in the shape of plastic pellets. Germany was making a lot of high-end plastic products these days, yet there was no production of simple items like tool boxes, shelves or Tupperware. So the vampire had financed a joined venture with several German firms and factories sprung up in various places. That a sizable portion of the workforce did neither ask for breaks nor pay had been quite attractive to the Germans.

Close to Nagenhof, Ostmark

The 10 gram piece of lead, steel and cooper was wholly unremarkable, just a shiny pebble at rest. That changed when three gram of powder behind it burned very rapidly and pushed the bullet out of the barrel at about 800 meters per second. Now it was no longer harmless but contained the energy to kill a human being six times over. In the tail of the bullet a tiny bit of phosphorus caught light and marked the passage of the bullet in the air. It had not even reached the half-way point to its target when a second bullet was sent on its way and a third one was launched before the first punched through paper and carton.

The MG3`s burst lasted for three seconds only, yet more than 50 bullets ripped the paper target to shreds and less than a minute later another burst ripped into another one that popped up a bit before it.
It was not spectacular or even exceptionable shooting, yet there were more than a few spectators and all cheered lustily. Ines Kramer released the trigger when the rest of the belt disappeared in the hungry weapon, waited till a pat on her shoulder told her she could stand up and removed the earplugs that lessened the assault on her ears.
"If you ever tire of pulling teeth we have another job for you Captain Kramer."
"Thank you Sergeant Merkel, you make for a good teacher."
When the dentist left the range she saw that the former Warden pay some money to Oberst Hemmler, both widely grinning. She knew the two would be betting whether she would finally show up at the range. She had obliged when the nagging had reached epic proportions and it had actually been fun. Useless fun, but fun.

Elmenhorst, 35 kilometers from Zurin, Talabecland

The snow that covered the huts and ramshackle houses did the village of Elmenhorst a favor as it hid the ramshackle construction and general poverty from the newcomer`s view. The snow had been trampled into deep mud between the dwellings long before they arrived and now threatened to drag anybody who tried to traverse the village`s road down. The air was still, dry and bitterly cold. Still all villagers had assembled at the central place that held what was grandly called the market once a month if the traders deigned Elmenhorst with a visit. The clothing on their backs comprised probably every bit of fabric that they owned and it was still not enough to keep the cold at bay. The steam that came from their mouths whenever they breathed, the blue lips and pale fingers were mute testimonies of the cold, their shivers were not. The tremors were due to the group that had fallen upon them in the depth of winter. A varied group it was, well-armed, ruthless and determined to achieve its aims. It was led by a huge man who looked like he had not smiled for a long time. His high hat, the leather coat and the hammer that hung from his neck made his intentions clear before he even had opened his mouth which had not kept him from keeping them in the cold anyways to make his speech.

"I am Matthias Thulman and these are my men. I have come here in the depth of winter as the foul stench of Chaos has fallen upon you. A shrine to fell gods has been discovered in a clearing only a league from this place, fey lights reported from the deep forest and travellers who pass close to your village disappear without a trace. You have allowed evil to dwell among you and I will root it out no matter what it takes and what measures I have to take. I will show no mercy to anybody who stands in the way of my investigation and I will succeed. And now open wide.

Streng, his longstanding companion stood watch with his new-found weapon while two of his strongman made the rounds of the shivering villagers. Matthias might not refrain from anything, but even he would not inflict Streng`s stench upon anybody who had a cotton swab pushed in his mouth to gather a sample. He would also have been unable to write the names on the test tubes into which the swabs were placed. Both strongmen had finished about half the line before them when a man drew a dagger, screamed something that should not emerge from a human mouth and charged Matthias. He made three steps before a deep boom shook the snow from nearby trees and a tight group of buckshot pulped his heart.

Thulman had no eyes for him, he already kicked his spurs into his charger`s side to follow the slender form that tried to run away. The woman tried to make it to the dense underbrush into which he could not follow but his horse was by far too fast to allow that. Matthias pulled his new pistol from its sheath and did his level best to aim for the fugivive`s back. A pull of the trigger gave a surprisingly small sound and two wires spooled from the weapon. Arching her back like in the grasp of a seizure the woman dropped to the ground. The witch Hunter bound and gagged her before she regained her facilities.

Checking the swabs took nearly two uncomfortable days which the villagers spent in a barn under heavy guard. A visibly relieved but upset burgomaster hosted the Witch Hunter will ill grace before they parted.
"So what was this business with the strange pricks you put into our mouth."
"Oh, that is very very new, I received mine just this year. They take samples of something called DNA, said to contain the plan of our bodies."
"Uh, is this a newfangled nonsense by these Germs?"
"Germans you mean, yes this is their invention but no nonsense. You have heard that fiends that turn to Chaos often bear mutations as a sign of their allegiance?"
"I do not know much about such things, but yes I have heard so."
"Mutations will show up in this DNA long before they become visible to the naked eye and the Germans have developed a small apparatus that detects such mutations. Dr. Benecke is on loan from the German BKA to take care of the equipment till we have learned how to use it right."
"So you can find witches and fiends of Chaos without torture now?"
"That is to be seen burgomaster, but the last weeks have been quite successful."

250 Kilometers north of Zuwarrah, Araby

James Corradi was as alive as he could be. He tried to capture any sensation that came his way-the murky darkness of the corridor before him, the hieroglyphs on the walls to his side, the crunching of dead inspect bodies under his boots, the dusty smell of the air that had been in these rooms since Nagash still drew breath.
He was walking point for his squad, a duty that required him to move a few meters ahead of his comrades who covered his advance with their weapons while he tried his level best to spot trouble before it killed him or his men. This was a duty that needed to be shared, no man could keep up the concentration for long, nobody could stand the feeling that every step might be his last for any great length of time. He would scout this corridor until the crossing he could see in 20 meters and then delegate it to another.

The tomb around his squad had been as quiet as it should be for as long as the Germans had been close until it had birthed skeletons and undead constructs at intervals during the last weeks. As two of the constructs had scarred the teams of a nearby drilling rig shitless before the Desert Rats took it down the pyramid became the target of a mission by the Foreign Legion. If there was a Necromancer or Tomb King down here he need to die a bit more convincingly before James could get back to the barracks.
His right foot explored the next tile before him carefully before he put his weight on it. It neither moved nor gave any indication of trouble until his left foot was airborne. Then the floor under him tilted forward till it was nearly vertical, dropping the sergeant into the darkness below.
His squad managed to crack the floor half an hour later, yet the warren of tunnels below offered no body, no traces and no other hint where their sergeant had been taken to.

Galleon "Erasmus" South Sea, 300 Kilometers south of Saratosa

The pale winter sun shone on a collection of ships. Their sails hung listlessly from the yards as not even the slightest wind billowed them to provide locomotion. While the sailors were busy pouring water over them so they might catch the slightest breeze there was none to be had and so the small convoy was getting nowhere.

Pieter van Ries looked morosely at the scene and pondered his ill fortune. He had been one of the many Marienburg sailors who had been stranded on the Warhammer World when his native city disappeared and Germany came to this world.
As the most experienced captain of the ex-Marienburg traders who found themselves in Erengard at that moment he had organized a shipping company. The first years had been good as far as business had been concerned. The Germans had an insatiable hunger for materials and van Ries had often known where to obtain them. Likewise the Imperials had increased needs and the "Marienburgers" had been willing to fulfill them.
Yet during the last years things had gone sour. The Germans did a lot of their own shipping these days now that they knew where to go, having built the ships needed in this world and having erected harbors that suited them.

The Imperials and the Norscans began to use new ships inspired by and build with German help, and while these were a far cry from the German monsters they were still far in advance of what van Ries and company commanded. Still there was enough cargo to go around even if money was tighter than before. Van Ries had been happy that the Breton`s military reputation had sunken so much during the last years as it had allowed him to hire two War Galleons. They were not made of steel, had neither engine to drive them nor cannons that would hit targets beyond the horizon unerringly but more than 60 cannon on each would spell quick doom on any pirate that would attack them.

Yet cheap as they might come by, they still cost a pretty penny for each day they protected the convoy and currently none of them moved an inch. He finally got irritated enough that he decided to pester Meister Servantes again. The Celestial mage had promised to rouse a favorable wind this morning and the sounds of the ritual he performed in his cabin had gone for long enough. To be more precise they had stopped some time ago already and nothing but a dead calm ensued so it was time to remind the mage of his duties.

He had learned not to barge in the mage`s den unannounced a long time ago and rapped his knuckles at the wooden door several times without an answer. Neither that, the shouted inquiries or the banging of fists would gain any better result. When van Ries and a boatswain finally broke through the opening they found Meister Servantes dead on the floor. Copious amounts of blood pooled under the mage`s head, coming from mouth, nose and the empty eye sockets.
When the captain of the Erasmus was back on deck the pounding of the galleys` drums could already be heard.

Galley "Mahmud IV", closing on "Erasmus"

Jamal al Din, beloved of the Sultan, Star of the Faith, Wonder of the Seas and High Admiral of the Al Dhin marauder fleet smiled. From what his mages told him his plan worked out, for once. Life had not been good the last years. Twice ships of his fleet had tried to stop the new ships that plied the South Sea to collect their rightful tribute. Both times the fleet had lost all ships used in these attempts to keep up the laws of the sea. Their standard prey, the ships of the Tilean city states had acquired surprising teeth. Jamal still remembered the view of the "Mehmet II" going up in flames after being shot just twice by a Tobaran galleass which had somehow gotten far better guns, so they had to be avoided as well.

The harbor they used in Saratosa was well and truly gone. While some mused of taking the riches that were now amassed there it took a lot of hashish to make one believe one might make it alive. He had found a new harbor for the fleet, yet there had been few targets for the taking.
None of that was a problem today, today the gods smiled upon him. Ships nobody who could hurt him cared too much about, his mages had come through and made a beautiful calm that left the heavily armed Galleons and fat merchantmen target for the taking instead of formidable enemies. It was great, it was a good day to be alive and it was time to loot and plunder.

He had managed to curb his enthusiasm. His instincts wanted nothing more than to close with the enemy and kill, yet if he wore out his oarsmen too early they would be unable to fight. Other captains would not care and just replace them after the battle, but his men were all fighters. They might grumble, they might ask for their share, but he had a few hundred warriors on ships that otherwise would hold only a few dozen.

And even at a reduced speed his fleet managed to close with their targets. Even in the calm it was necessary to take the galleons out first. If any of his lightly build galleys would cross their broadsides but once they would end up as so much kindling.

"Achmed, signal to Youssef and Karim-they take the starboard ship. Signal to the others: follow me."
"It shall be done Amir."
The Galleon that Jamal had picked had launched two boats who tried to turn their mothership by rowing, but Jamal had none of it. His ships might be lightly built and would founder in the weather that the Sea of Claws often held, but they were maneuverable.
His ship was the first to line up the broad stern of the Galleon at less than a hundred meters.
"Fire you dogs, fire" was hardly needed, the gun captains of the few heavy guns mounted in the "Mahmud`s" bows belched fire and smoke.
For a wonder none of them burst as they had been double loaded. At this distance none of the 8 cannonballs missed their intended target. The beautifully detailed gallery at the Gallon`s stern burst into splinters of wood and glass. Not even slowed the balls in the least while they made their way into the warships gun deck where they flew down a long undivided room filled with men and weapons. Overturning ordinance, ripping bodies apart and filling the room with splinters that drew wounds like sabers they doomed the ship together with similar salvo`s from two other galleys. Blood was running freely from the galleon`s sides when Jamal's men swarmed over the railing.