Jegukian War Junk "Wondeo", 1 seamile distant
Phan Tamruat Bak nearly smashed his binox against his Junk´s hull, so irrated he was by Ang´s display. It would have been an expensive smash, since Bak as an important officer had been given a Zeiss binox. Access to the fantastic German locking glasses or just even Imperial ones, which had improved massively in the last years was a sign of status all over the Khoreshian peninsular.
Bak´s ire, who was known for his rather laid-back attitude, came as a shock for his officers.
"Sir?"
"Ang might be famous, but he is an idiot with things he has few ideas of. We all know what happened to Kim´s flottilla when he challenged the Germans and the Nipponese are friends of them.
"Sir, that might be true, but we have seen that the Nipponese are too proud to beg the Germans for help. i do not say that what some Captains do is the right thing, but the repercussions are not very hard."
"For now, for now, my friend! Someday, one of our "Wild Ones" will push them too far and they will talk to the Germans. Alternately, the Nipponese will lash out without German help."
"If they do that, we will win, because the trade with the Old World makes us rich and we get stuff never seen before. Look at our rocket launchers please, Sir, they are the best in thousands of miles!"
"You are right, 1st AO, but you did not see what I saw."
"Sir?"
"Last year I spent my whole amount of holidays to travel to and visit Sumeto, the Nipponese capital. I tell you, the Nipponese get things from the Germans we do not and they use it. Sumeto has railways and they have a field for, they call them Zepelinu, ships which sail the skies!"
"Sir, I do not doubt what you saw, but if the Nipponese have these wonders, why do they hold back? Why do they let us take the toll from them? As you see, Ang has full control of the situation over there."
"I do not know why they do not use these wonders against us. Maybe they are very expensive or they have only a few of them and are loath to risk them against us. Our tribute might annoy them, but the risk to loose more than they gain might hold them back.
What I do know is that every time one of our flottillas cashes in toll from the Nipponese, I look like a fool in the eyes of many admirals, a doomsayer. But i just want to stop a mistake before it happens."
"Sir, I fear you will lose standing with the admiralty again, " said one of Bak´s officers, who used his looking glass to watch Captain Ang´s flottilla and the Nipponese merchants, "the Nipponese have started to signal the Bhag Nang."
"Shit!"
War Junk "Bhag Nang"
"Sir, the Nipponese are signalling us!"
"Thought so! Tabo, once again it becomes clear that you just have to underscore your wishes the right way to get them."
"Yes, Sir!"
"Well, now that we enforced Jegukian naval power, what do the 'Nippos' say?"
"Sir, ... eh, Sir-"
"Out with it, sailor!
"They say: Suck our cocks, pirate scum!"
For a moment, Captain Ang was silent, then he turned to his XO. He started an order when he heard a shrill whine and his brain registered another thing. The Nipponese merchant Junks started to make around 6 knots despite the comparatively light winds.
But before he could think more about that fact, tall water columns arose around his ship and others in his flotilla. What the -?
"Tabo, all ships open fire on the merchants!"
Imperial Nipponese Navy ship "Tora"
"Ute!" (Open fire)
The roar and the pressure wave of the Tora´s 10.5cm guns rolled over the ship. The Tora and her sister ship Kaga were Altdorf-Class vessels Nippon bought in Germany to strengthen her naval power. Together with 6 Rotholz-Junks of the newest evolution, all armoured and equipped with engines, the "Kido Butai" was by far the strongest fleet of the Nipponese Navy.
For years, there had been a discussion in Sumeto how to handle the Jegukian money extortion attempts. For a long time, the Imperial Nipponese Navy had the same problem as the Imperial Cathayian one. Both Navies were strong enough to take on the Jegukian Fleet, but the costs and possible losses outweighted the possible gains. So teethgrindingly both powers still paid the tribute. Even after Germany made it clear to the Jegukian government they considered Nippon their friends and warned against rrying to get the sea toll from said friends, the Jegukian soon recognised that Germany was not often in the Far East of Warhammer, at least at that time in history.
And since the Nipponese tried to save face by not asking Germany for help openly, the Jegukians still took the ill-gotten tribute from Nipponese ships for years. But now Nippon had tech surpassing the Jegukians by some margin and with that a less massive, therefore less costly too, task force could be gathered. While it was still a risk to put their strongest ships into the line of fire, the Nipponese admiralty was convinced the gains were worth the risks.
A merchant convoy, with volunteer crews, sailed towards Jegukian controlled space, the Kido Butai hanging back, but on watch. Sometimes the Jegukian task forces did not try to gain the sea toll when they saw the Rising Sun flag, but mostly they did.
Then the bait convoy met two Jegukian flottillas. While the Jegukians outnumbered the Kido Butai, ship for ship the Nipponese had the better ones.
Admiral Takeo Toda, a relative of Daimyo Hideki Toda, who had had been transported with his fief to the Old World over a decade ago, still marvelled at his command. The Tora was a leap ahead of anything else sailing the Far Ocean, even if the new Nipponese War Junks were hardly push-overs against their normal opposition.
"Sir, we straddled them with our 3rd salvo, should we go to rapid fire?", came a message from the gunnery officer.
"A straddle with the 3rd at this distance? Phenomenal! Hai, go to rapid fire, but save one of the flag vessels! We should bring home a gift for Tenno-Heika!"
"Hai, as you wish, Sir!"
Jegukian War Junk Wondeo
Unlike Captain Ang´s flottilla, whose sight onto the Nipponese warships was mostly covered by the merchant vessels, Wondeo and her ship group had a relatively free look at the Nipponese. Captain Bak swore, this situation was exactly what he feared would happen one day. He saw the water columns of impacting shells, the Nipponese merchants which were turning to give the rapidly approaching warships more room and the Nipponese lead ship. It was of obvious Old world construction, most likely German design.
He was still taking in and analysing the situation when Bak heard the WHANG of a big explosion. He turned his head and saw a smoke pillar where just moments before two of Captain Ang´s Junks had been.
"Damn this war-hungry idiot, damn him to the nine hells! Rocketry officer, aim all our launchers at the Nipponese flag vessel, we need to help Ang!"
"Aye, sir! Aiming at Nipponese flag vessel!" Signals rushed out from Wondeo to the other ships, then as one Captain Bak´s flottilla fired their launchers. Several dozen rockets were hurling towards Tora.
Nipponese warship Tora
"Tai-sa!"
"I see, machineguns fire! Brace for impact!
Tora´s machinguns which could fire into that direction opened up. While they shot down several approaching rockets, the distance was too small and the rockets too fast to destroy more than a few. Then the rockets impacted on Tora, the explosions washing over the ship. The other Nipponese vessels, which all were now trying to cross the T against the Jegukians as ordered by Tora, waited with held breath for what had happened to their flagship. Then the smoke cleared and cries of joy were heard on the Nipponese vessels.
Tora´s bow flag was missing, the whole bow section was covered in blackened spots, but that was it. The "Altdorfs" were neither Bismarck- nor Hipper-class, not even Von der Tann or Blücher-class, but they had good armour compared to what the opposition was bringing to the fight. In addition, the Jegukian rockets were optimised against wooden vessels, rightly feared for for a long time, but they were not optimal against the steel hide of Tora and Kaga.
Jegukian War Junk Wondeo
"By the Gods, they are unharmed! F-! Gunnery officer, keep as many of our launchers and guns aimed towards the Nipponese flottilla and fire away! Helm, course 313!"
"But Sir-!"
"No 'but, sir'! Don´t you see how fast they are and what a punch they carry? If we stay, nobody at home will know what happened here today."
"Captain, their lead ships might be too good for us, but the Junks-"
"I hoped that as well, but take a binox and look at the Nipponese Junk which was hit by the 'Woncheon'."
"What the-"
"Exactly, XO, exactly! The damage done is neglible. This is what I feared for years, that the Nipponese would finally strike back at us!"
As if to underline Captain Bak´s statement, another War-Junk of Ang´s flottilla blew up at that moment
Hamburg Blankenese
The house of the Hermanns family was divided from its garden by a small public path, like all the other houses in the Treppenviertel (Quarter of Stairs). It made up for that by having a breathtaking view of the river and a really classy neighborhood. The sun was out, nature went on a riot and birds made their rounds. Well, not everything flying was a bird and Ernst Hermann shooed something away that had definitely too many teeth to be a bird.
"That little rascal thinks our cat is his next lunch."
"What's that, short-tailed wyvern? If he gets to Fritz it is even money who wins. Kill the little fragger before it happens."
"Isn`t that a bit bloodthirsty for a biologist to say Andrea"
"I did not ditch common sense when my thesis was accepted father. Of the many species that entered Germany in the last 12 years this is one of the worst. There is no real predator to take care of it and the little bleeder regularly kills animals it cannot eat. It kills for sport and if we do not do something about them the kids will not learn how a squirrel or a dove looks like. There is some talk about releasing a tailored virus for them before that happens."
"Uh, aren`t you for letting the natural balance take care of that?"
"Not such a good idea. Whenever a new species is introduced that is a gamechanger things can get pretty bleak for a while. And our environment has to take in quite a lot of new critters presently. A lot of them with real teeth. Some of them is ok, all of them at the same time is not so good. Just ask Australians about it."
"You are probably right. Still, I am not sure you would have said the same before your cruise. And what about you little problem with the law?"
"Oh, come on. I want to have a bit of fun with Beate at Lilabe. And at the bar, not on the bleeding dance floor, this asshole grabs my ass. Two broken fingers is just fair."
"Uh that…"
Both we interrupted by a excited eight year old boy whose mouth showed clear signs of chocolate ingestion.
"Hi Aunt Andrea, thank you sooo much for the chocolate. It is good, but it tastes a bit funny."
"Hi Frank. That funny taste is cacao, there is a bit more than 30% in there again. You`ll get used to it."
"Why did they change that?"
"Because this is the way it should be. Cacao was very hard to come by during the last years, so they put in very little and a lot of Ersatz and sugar. Now we can buy more things are back to normal."
"This is not normal chocolate Aunt."
"Depends on whom you ask Frank. I think you will get used to it."
"Sure will and thanks Auntie."
"I hope he will not get used to it not too much, his dentist is quite happy as is."
"Understand. What they sold as chocolate the last years was an atrocity. Now that it is better again…"
"He has never seen the good stuff before Andrea. He was not even born when the Weltensprung happened and there are so many things he`ll never see. No Picadilly Circus or Las Vegas visit for him, no Nepal trips. He learns different languages at school these days, a different geography and history. And he has no problem at all to believe in magic."
"Not too hard when you can see it happen. And he will be able to Elves, Dwarfs and Goblins, he may ride a Dragon and explore a new world."
"Yes, but the ease they accept it is..unsettling let`s say. This world is changing us and I am not sure if for the better."
"Father, we change this world big time. There are only a very few corners of it that are no touched by the Weltensprung and our doings yet. We change too and that is just fair too."
"As fair as two broken fingers?"
"Want to see the hematoma the asshole caused?"
"No, not really. But is not the old Andrea."
"The old Andrea would not have survived an hour in "Köln`s" rigging, she had to go."
"You did what….
Close to Castle Artois, Bretonia
The drone was one of the new ones, having a small gigacap to enhance range. There was a gyroscopic stabilizer that held the camera below and that was a good thing. Leon wasn`t the world`s greatest drone pilot and the CCD sensor could work on infrared light but needed more time on target to make it happen. The false dawn shone on a line of serfs that assembled before their hut, who shivered when they were counted and cringed when a whip hit them. The pictures might be black-and-white but they would get everything across what was needed.
Leon made sure the drone was back before the sun came up for real. He packed it up well before joining his little team. He wanted some shots of the serfs working in the field, them they would make their way back to the Rebel territory. So far things had been boring and he had hoped for some more spectacular pics, but what he had was already very convincing. It would have to do and boring beat being chased considerably.
Ten kilometers from Team Leon
Swearing would not do, the Lady did not like it. Still Robert de Grail had to apply a lot of willpower to make that happen. He had found the camp of what had to be some Rebel group, he had found something that was a track. Just that the bloody thing terminated at a small stream and neither his tracker nor he could find the exit point.
"We have to get the dogs Sire, that is the only way."
"We will lose time that way."
"We have no track Sire."
"Yes..we do. And we have to make hast. Double time Maurice, from here to the castle."
"Yes Sire."
Close to the Fields
Claude had scouted ahead, so that their way was free of surprises. They avoided anything that might be a path and all ground that would provide easy tracks. Here the former poacher shined, they had been in a school where the price for passing the tests was continued respiration. Leon thought that the army had schooled him well and had to realize that he had either forgotten a lot or these guys were simply better. The team took their time and managed to find an acceptable observation spot in a copse of trees that was not too far from some fields. Leon`s binoculars revealed some deserted huts in the background, they were in ill repair after the winter was through with them and their owners could not make the necessary repairs. The serfs were making their way through the rows of plants, their backs net down in a way that gave Leon sympathetic aches. From what he could see the farmers weeded between the plants and maybe looked for snails or other pests that would east the plants. This looked like hard, boring work for anybody, but here the farmers had started two hours ago with a forced march to the fields and they would have to do the same again when their work was finished. The gaunt faces and stick-like figures bore mute testimony that this was more than the serfs could endure for any length of time.
He watched and filmed the work for a while when one of the overseers approached one of the serfs. He was too far away to make something of the exchange that followed but saw the serf cringe. The overseer slapped the serf`s hands and a few leaves of what might be lettuce dropped to the ground. More screaming followed and the overseer pulled out a pair of manacles. The serf lifted his hands in supplication before suddenly punching the man in the face. He turned around and ran as fast as his spindly legs would carry him. He ran to the border of the field a few hundred meters away from Leon, there was no need to take action. He watched as the serf ran, stumbled and then continued, he noted that the overseers took truncheons from their belts and he winced when he saw another overseer approaching from the flank who would surely get him.
And then that overseer stepped into something unseen and dropped with a crash that startled the serf. He fell himself, got up in the nick of time and ran in another direction, this time directly at Leon`s observation post. Merde. Leon debated getting back from is observation post, knew he would be exposed and did not do anything. The serf managed to stay a few steps ahead of those who wanted to catch him and crashed in to the brushes bordering the field a few meters from Leon. Curvier winced when he saw his pursuers follow him in and made his way to his team as fast as he could. The sounds that came from the brushes told him stealth was no longer important. A dagger nearly touched his chest before Claude realized who was before him. When he stepped aside he allowed a view to a massacre. All four overseers were dead and all messily so. His team had all been serfs before and hated anybody enforcing the old regime with a will. All of them had long knives to finish off whatever animals they had poached, they cut through human flesh with the same ease than deer. And at least one set of wounds was to the back.
The world crashed down on Leon Curvier there and then. He had known that that killing might be necessary in this mission, he had brought his rifle for that purpose. With his mind, he had known that and even before he had gotten to his people he had actually hoped that they got all of them. His heart saw grisly wounds, smelled the coppery tang of blood and the foul smell of bowels voided in death. He knew that these deaths were because of him, because he, in his arrogance, thought he could pull something off to end what happened to Sarah. He stood rooted to the ground and his fingernails dug deeply into his palms. How could he be so arrogant and..
"Patron?"
Claude`s question and the look he got from his men broke the spell. Arrogant idiot or not, there were people depending on him and he would not add insult to injury by letting them down. He needed to do something and by the looks of the serf who struggled under Maurice, soon.
"That was …unexpected. Seems like we have to go, and be quick about it."
"They had it coming patron."
"Won`t say different. Maurice, can you release that guy please, he starts getting blue in the face. And whoever you are, please do not scream, ok?"
The next minute was taken by a wheezing breath and it took a while before the serf was able to speak again. He had a severe case of the shakes, hardly surprising. Leon took the time to have a closer look at the man. He had all the signs of malnutrition one could expect, with knuckles of a higher diameter than the fingers, a face far too old and a body that was painfully thin. His eyes were wide open and focused on something far, far away. He could hardly tear his eyes from the killed overseers.
"Hey, I am Leon Curvier, I am here to show others how badly you and your fellow serfs are treated. You have a choice, you can stay here or you can follow us, we will go back to the Rebel lines. I suggest you follow us."
"Don`t kill me , don`t…."
"What? Why should we kill you?"
"You kill everybody who dies believe in the Lady."
"No, we fucking don`t. We kill assholes who want to beat people for a bit of salad."
"Oh my oh my oh my…."
The small group got underway a little later. Martin, the serf, was quiet and followed as he was still deadly afraid of those who had rescued him from a beating or worse.
