Castle Artois, Bretonia

The Baron`s study was well-heated but several participants of the meeting that was headed by Robert de Grail were shivering from time to time.

"Was this really necessary? Your man Gourdin seems to know no bounds."
"The traitors` family were condemned anyway and it proved to be more efficient to torture them. The traitors were easily able to speak once they were willing and my aide did not have to hold back."
"He did not have to hold back on children?"
"The law says they were to die anyway."
"The customs say they usually get adopted."
"The customs say we lose. Baron, under your stewardship this fiefdom was an important part of the organization that helped serfs to escape their duties and you did nothing to stop that."
"That is slander. We lost less serfs than…"
"Your fiefdom was not losing serfs, you spoiled them anyway. This barony, which King Leoncour gave into your care, was used to bring many serfs of others nobles closer to the German borders. Your knights and your men-at-arms did nothing to stop that, actually they applauded them at times."
"What, I know my knights they would have never…"

"They applauded the dancing troupes and the bards that traversed these lands, they listened to the songs that were lauding their nonexistent deeds, looked into the nice cleavages that were offered to them and never once counted the numbers of helpers. The helpers which were less when they went deeper into Bretonia and that were more when they returned. The helpers which changed every bloody time because they were runaway serfs. And there are freedmen and freedwoman in your realm who supported this."
"We inherited many of the serfs and freedman from the former Baron.."
"Your excuses are irrelevant. The very same network is now used to breed discontent in your serfs and to rob you of your tithes. They will be found, they will be stopped and then peace will come to your realm once more."
"You want to give more people to this monster?"
"You want to give your realm to the rebels?"

Airship "Vormann Stefens", LZ-123, 200 meters above Sea of Claws

Master Commers had received a reward and what a reward that was. It would have been one of the high points of his life anyways but it was so much better as he had earned it together with his comrades of DGzRS Kreideklippe, the first official Life Saving station in the Empire. That status was nice but did not help them any in the latest tournament open to all DGzRS chapters in the Reiksbund. They had to prove their training, their readiness and at least at one point their courage as well. They had competed against younger men, they had measured themselves against people who had done this long before the Weltensprung and by Mannan, they had come out on top.

Their reward was a ride on an angel. Not just any angel, but with "Vormann Steffens", one of the newest of them and one with a shining reputation. The German merchant fleet had grown by leaps and bounds during the last ten years and no port outside of Germany had anything approaching proper medical care. In the first years most merchants made their voyages in convoys with the navy providing medical facilities, but this was no longer practical or possible but for a few contested regions. With the Reiksbund treaty many more ships became eligible for this service. Few ships could afford a resident doctor and the only way to bring doctors to the ships in a hurry were airships.

The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service got the contract to provide that service and so a small fleet of airships in the DGzRS silver and orange livery were built in Friedrichshafen and Finkenwerder. "Vormann Steffens" was the lead ship of the latest batch, powered by five 750 hp diesel engines, able to keep station in winds that were close to gale-force and seriously fast for an airship. The medical equipment was as close to a hospital as possible for something mobile, the doctors and thaumaturgs first-rate. Currently the airship was making nearly 200 kph and held a course for an Imperial freighter where a crewmember had an acute appendicitis if the symptoms were described correctly by the captain.
Master Commers had been allowed to use the jumpseat back of the pilots and riveted by the sight of the sea below him through the huge cockpit windows. The pilot was a nice sort and in a talkative mood, something the Imperial Captain appreciated.

"I do not think you know how much you have changed shipping during the last ten years Captain Peters. Before I could just pray to Mannan that there would be no storm, now the Marine Radio gives me three days of warning. In the old days any sail we spotted could be the Breton corsairs, the Norscans or even the bloody Spitzohren. If they see our flag these days they change course. If I did a long trip, especially in winter it was even money I lost a tooth or two before it was done, now we have your vitamins. And I`ll wager good money that you would not have touched the hardtack we ate then, the weevils were actually an improvement when they got into that stuff. Now we live like kings and it is normal that we all come back, not fate or luck."
"I still hear a lot of grumbling from Imperials I tell you."
"Problem is that your ships can carry so much. Kreideklippe is a small harbor and even we often had as many as 50 ships in port. Now we see two feeder ships each week if we are lucky. It used to be that people booked passages on our ships when they wanted to go anywhere, now they take the train. Lots of people out of their old job. Maybe they were shitty and dangerous jobs but that was how they earned their livelihood and they are gone now."
"That sounds bad."
"Not so bad as it sounds, we have many more fishermen these days and there are other ways to earn a living now but still there are enough unhappy people around."

"What did you do, I heard you had a barque?"
"Oh, I do well. I added a couple of cabins and now I take tourists out who want to sail and see the Kraken and the whales."
"That is a good idea."
"Yes, and I got it from one of ours."
"Who was that?"
"Jens Hermelin, used to be Vormann on "Harro Köpke".
"Hey I know that guy. Did you hear about…

500 meters AGL, above Khemri

There was no moon and while the cold desert air made for a spectacular canopy of stars it left the lands below as inky shadows barely discernible on a background of total blackness. The place that flew over the metropolis below did not show any lights and its quiet engines did not rouse the attention of those roaming below. The pilot was a mortal woman and would usually not have seen anything but for the bulky Night Vision Googles which strained her neck to the point of promising a migraine tomorrow. The mono-colored pic provided by them showed roads, columns, temples, statues and many magnificent edifices. While the picture lacked depth and contrast even the most high resolution display in full color would have failed to show any markets, shops, cafeterias or any other ways for the inhabitants to supply themselves.

This was not an error due of the display but such structures, if they had ever been present, had been destroyed by the passing millennia. Unlike the temples and statues Khemri`s denizens had no need for such buildings as the citizens were quite dead. That did not keep them from keeping up the rest of the buildings or having a kickass army when needed. One building struck out, the biggest pyramid in a town with many. It showed up on the display as the absence of light where there should be some, a dark, ominous triangle that was given a wide berth by the undead below. This pyramid was the pilot`s target and she made her way directly above it. Just before she crossed the edifice she thumbed a switch on her joystick that opened a couple of boxes fixed to the plane`s landing gear. Small bodies dropped from them and they tumbled for a moment before small parachutes and slowed their descent. Two smashed against the pyramid and their demise was marked by small flashes and an equally small fire. The rest landed more or less intact whereupon their parachutes released. Their fabric had been treated with chemicals which reacted when exposed to the oxygen around them. When the sun would rise the next morning the small parachutes would be inconspicuous piles of ash blowing away in the desert wings.

The undead rodents they had deposited on the ground had received their marching orders from a communications satellite. Some made for the main entrances and found them blocked, either by gates or rubble. The computers that guided them were not clever enough to navigate that rubble successfully, but at least they were well hidden once they got struck. Some other climbed the sheer walls and found several small openings that would allow Morslieb`s light to enter at certain dates. Much too small for any human they were passages for the small cybernetic spies that made their way down long shafts that led in the Black Pyramid`s interior.

Naizon, Bretonia

Snow had covered the land as a shroud covered a body. The intense cold had made the trees shed their leaves and left black trees seemingly denuded of every life rising from a white cover that hid anything below. Georges de Dubois liked things that way. The trees would not hide any scoundrel and the fresh snow would show any track easily. He led his former liege`s knights down the road that led to Sigmarsheim as the Dame Isolde had told him one of his patrols was in trouble. They had been ambushed during their patrol and Georges hoped that he could catch the rebels as they could not count on the charm that Isolde had given the troops leader. This way he knew immediately something was off and was able to lead his main body right into action. His troop was the only thing moving but for some tufts of snow that dropped of branches, the only sounds were the horses breath, the hooves beat and the harnesses creaks. All sounds were muted by the snow to give an unreal feeling and that increased his unease. He was still a few miles from the battle and tried to balance speed with arriving inn a shape fit to fight.

Something caught his eye on his left but before he could make something of it his attention was taken by his horse which shrieked in pain and went up its rear legs. Georges was never in danger of falling, he had spend so much time in the saddle to make that unthinkable. But when his horse went down again on all fours the legs did not stand up, but simply collapsed dumping him unceremoniously over his charger`s neck.

He managed to roll away and not being struck under the horse. By the time he had gotten again to his feet something had hit two more of his knights. One was swearing badly and held an arm that had grown a crossbow bolt, the other was horribly still. None of this had Georges attention, that was taken by the Knight Errant. They were a hot-headed bunch and did exactly what they should not. Pivoting on the road they charged into the woods without any regard for anything but for some enemy they had spotted.

Georges went into a rage right then and there, he had lectured them on the traps that the rebels used for their likes often enough and now they charged into them. He hobbled over to the horse left still guarded its former owner and mounted it regardless of the pains in his body. His outstretched arm twirled around his head, making the rest of his troop rally on him. By that time the woods were full of screams and shouts, the whining of horses and the sound of metal meeting flesh. Hoping that the Knight Errant might have caught up with the crossbow shooters who had tried to delay them Georges brought his Knights down the same path the others had taken before him. At the very least those foolish hotheads should have shown any traps left by those rebels.

Pushing forward he saw that the Knights were fighting something that blocked their way, he mostly saw their horses advancing and retreating in something like a madcap dance. When he got closer he found that the way was barred by pikemen who were able to fend off the Errant attacks. Well that could be solved easily enough, he would flank them and attack their rear, that would be that. He just led his troop to the side when the snow all around his position seemed to erupt. Like vengeful ghosts white-clad men rose from the snowdrifts, readied weapons from spears to axes and attacked from all sides at once. He had to fend for himself within seconds, but nothing would keep him from hearing and smelling the Knight Errant who got caught by the damned fire bombs. He hacked around him, his horse kicked with hooves and his armor fended off blow after blow. He managed to take off an arm, shorten a spear shaft and pierce a face before an attacker he never saw hamstrung his horse. This time he did not get the chance to stand up, these rascals had no honor. Instead something crashed into him from behind, dropping him face-first into the deep snow and something hot and cold at the same time pierced his armpit.

There was only blackness after that.

Potsdam

Like so many offices in Berlin this one was furnished with a mismatch of seemingly simple "timeless" pieces, ugly cabinets with fake wood faces and a lovingly made hand carved desk that was newer than the rest. The furniture industry still had not found its stride again after ten years and it was either highly expensive, used, of Imperial manufacture or not available at all. The grey-haired man using the office did not care too much about that, his office had no outside visitors he needed to impress. He preferred to spend that money on more useful stuff like the new computer before him.

There was a graphene-based processor in there, a new type of hard-drive and a battery which would keep the Laptop running all day without the need to recharge. It had cost roughly the same as a used car and was worth every mark. He rechecked the power point he would need for tomorrow`s presentation to the security cabinet. It contained the data from the same presentation he had held the last years around the same time and compared it to the new findings.

Donald Trevayne relaxed a bit into his chair and allowed himself another go at the green tea. He could see the waves in its surface through the paper-thin china that had been part of the his payment for his Cathayan mission, blew a bit on the surface to cool it off and then enjoyed a brew normally reserved for the Celestial Dragon and his family.

So far things seemed to add up, he would go through the data once more and then fend off the file to the "communication designer" who would make sure that it looked impressive.

So, 67% of the Skaven warrens monitored were still flooded and would be for the foreseeable future. Two of the intact ones were actually inside Germany, inside former mines. They housed the participants of "Project Paperclip" and their relatives and were a useful yardstick to compare others to. There were some warrens in the Empire that were tolerated as the local Skaven had professed no intention to attack anyone, had accepted a human garrison and were quite simply rigged with explosives to flood them if things got out of hand.

The most interesting development were the reformed Skaven who had converted to Christianity. Called the "Sleenek Pact" Skaven for their spiritual and political leader they had formed from former POW and had taken up work in German companies who had opened factories in the new territories.

They had found one of the Warren which was not entirely flooded and restored it as they were much more comfortable living underground. At least the Warren inside Germany had a regular police presence who could not report anything noteworthy but for a rather fundamentalist brand of Christianity that was preached. They were partners in a couple of joint ventures with companies like Fuchs&Konrad, producing mostly electronic parts and not too few toys. Trevayne noted that these companies lobbied pretty hard for the Skaven as they were among the most productive and cheap workforces. Care would have to be taken that potentially dangerous developments were not tolerated for the sake of profit. Donald had seen this happen before, both on Earth and now here it was not a pretty picture, especially as those who got hurt due to negligence were rarely those profited the most.

And there was a worrisome development that needed close observation at the very least. The Skaven had rightfully claimed that life underground was not safe and that they had a need to defend themselves. Given the nature of this world that was an understandable request, but Donald was as weary of armed Skaven as anybody else who had any part in the Skavenblight campaign. A compromise had been found, the Skaven were allowed armed forces but both their size and the armament were severely limited. Trevayne had his doubts that the size of the forces could be easily verified but so far nobody had found anything more advanced than a really well made crossbow.

There were reports that the new model Skaven were expanding into Bretonia, that needed careful monitoring. The Skaven had been dangerous before, if they ever got to their old ways again and used what they had learned making German computers and toys things would get rather interesting indeed.

Maybe it was the tea or a rather fertile mind, the idea to recommend German aid in establishing the new warrens presented itself. The Skaven would profit greatly from German made pumps, ventilation equipment and elevators. Offering these, of needs be at reduced prices would keep the Skaven dependent on German sources for a while and would allow for a bit of spying err monitoring. Yes, he`d write that up, that seemed like a good concept.

"Nordstern" orbit close to Sage 29, Warhammer World

Nathan Alpers had enjoyed every chance to be in space, look at the unblinking stars, enjoy microgravity and push mankind`s boundaries of knowledge into the cold depths of space. His joys had only increased when both "Kopernikus" station and "Nordstern" acquired gravwheels and the living quarters became better.

Now, for the first time since he joined the Space Program he had his first doubts and things were too much of a good thing. They were too much as "Zwilling 03" had malfunctioned spectacularly on its way to orbit. Something had decided to spray fuel inside the spaceship and lots of titanium, carbon fiber and fuel had produced a fireballthat could be seen from Kopernicus. There had been a couple of tense minutes before it became clear that the crew capsule had detached successfully and the crew was in for a bath in the ocean. While that cheered everybody up it also meant that Nathan`s Gold Crew would have to fulfill Black Crew`s mission and stay up for two more months.
Ermine had been quite understanding but the look on the twin`s faces when he had to tell them he would not be there for their enrollment into Neupapenburg`s secondary school was heart-wrenching.

There had not been much choice though, too much depended on that mission. The nanites had finished their job on schedule and he had taken "Nordstern" to the satellite he had wrecked a few months earlier. There had been doubts if his crew would be able to perform given that they had missed the numerous dry runs that Black Crew had in the Space Center`s pool. In the end his people had dismounted the parts, they could very well mount their modified replacements.

And now everybody could only watch if the last five months work would amount to anything. Nathan wasn`t sure if he would be happier if they succeeded or not. In the end things were not very spectacular. Telemetry and cameras agreed that there had been a release and there was a brief light when the engine ignited. "Nordstern" was barely in position to watch the results but they could be seen from orbit.

Black Pyramid, close to Khemri, Nehekhara

The pyramid was the biggest of its kind ever, erected by Nagash at the height of his powers. It had taken two mortal generations and a sizable portion of the kingdom's wealth to finish. It was said to be made partially or whole from black warpstone depending whom you were listening to but it definitely attracted the magical energies that were released at the world`s poles as well as those that governed life and death. It focused, altered and stored those energies to an unbelievable extend. It was attuned to Nagash and when he was inside his magical powers were enhanced to the point where even this world`s gods blinked.

When it had been finished Nagash had used it to unleash a spell that killed many priests throughout his country. It had been this deed that had triggered the rebellion and while it was an enormously costly war it killed Nagash in the end. Ever since then he had been barred from his greatest achievement and his successors had tried countless times to destroy it only to fail again and again. Now it was an intimidating reminder of a danger long past, of the evil that had transformed Nehekhara into the world`s most dangerous cemetery and a symbol of what might have been

The first two undead mice to enter the pyramid were a matched pair. One remained at the mouth of the small tunnel that led into the edifices center, the other made its way downwards till it reached the end in a wall of a huge chamber probably used for ceremonies. Between the two a thin glass fiber cable relayed information coming either from a communications satellite that held station above the South Sea or the swarm of iRodents that swarmed past the two. The computers held within their small ribcage enticed them to run down the many passages and room that branched from this chamber while small cameras recorded whatever was to be seen. A human would have been afraid, a human would have needed light to fulfill this mission and he would not agree to be abandoned when things were done. The small undead rats and mice did neither have the capacity for emotion nor the need for light. They found blocked passages, passages that led only back to themselves, empty rooms, room full of the traces of countless horrors and they triggered more than one trap.

They retraced their paths every so often, coming back to the room through which they had entered the pyramid and relayed their findings. Their mission would end soon as even their new-model power packs would run out soon and it was up to their masters if a second batch was needed or if their findings were enough. More and more of the iRodents returned to the room and powered down in dark corners. It was the next to last one that was in the room when the darkness was banished. At first it was just a faint green glow, then an intense green spot started to move along a wall.

Morslieb`s strange orbit had brought it to a place where its light shone down exactly the oh-so-small tunnel that was carved through the pyramid into this very chamber. The pyramid itself enhanced this light and the magic that came with it till it filled the room. The small spy sat unmoving while that light wandered to its destination. When the time was right it went exactly into the circle of warding that was outlined on the floor. When the light reached the outer symbols their lit up with a power of their own. When the second line was illuminated flickering green fire rose from braziers which had held only dust before.

When Moorslieb`s light hit the bones that rested in the center they did not reflect it, they absorbed whatever brightness there was. The room was in total darkness for moments before more light flooded the chamber. A formless column of light overwhelmed the rat`s sensor`s for a moment and when they had readjusted they found thatthings had changed totally.

The iRat`s powerpack held less than six percent of the original charge but it faithfully relayed the next 20 minutes. It did not have the capacity to fear but its masters made up for that when they watched the video.