Chapter 21

Government Quarter, Berlin, Germany

"...Now we give over to Jörg Schönenbohm for more informations on this exiting
election evening!"

"Thank you, Carmen! Here is the ARD Election Center again. As the trends and
calculations all eveing already hinted at, the coming government is most probably a
Grand Coalition. Clear losers of the evening are the Greens and the Liberals,
closely followed by the Left. The new parties had not enough time for a coordinated
campaign, but the results of three of them give interesting ideas for the coming
elections. It is the high total of all small and new parties, nearly 9%, which
cancel out the traditional coalitions.
If the calculations, now that only 16 voting districts still ocunt, are not upset
be a totally unusual result this late, then even with the overhang madates a Black-
Yellow coalition is two seats below the needed majority. In the case of Red-Green
it is worse, even with a theoretical inclusion of the the seats of the Linke, they
are three seats below.
There is still the possibility of a so-called "Black Ample", but with the Greens
very divided about that the probability is slim. The classical ample coalition
would have to be tolerated by the Linke, which the other parties already spoke out
against.
And many voters for weeks said they want a Grand Coalition, to make sure that
Germany has a broad based government in the difficult situation Germany now is in.
But what we can say this evening for sure is, with the Union parties the
uncontested largest faction in the coming Bundestag, Angela Merkel will be
Bundeskanzlerin again.

200m above ground, Earth

The being drifted across the surface of Earth at a leisurely pace. His/her/it´s
senses fully opened to the plants, animals and humans on the ground. It felt weaker
than normal, the flow of the Winds of Magic very obviously less than it was normal
for the Changer of Ways.
But it was enough for what it was here and there were ways to open the channels of
this universe wider.
The being savoured the input his senses brought. The humans of this world were
nearly clueless to the endless world of Magic. The plans in it´s brain popped up as
easily as breathing was for a normal being. It already knew several new potential
followers. In a way, the Changer of Ways regretted to share the position of this
new world with it´s siblings. But to get the flow of Chaos going here, in this
sheltered part of existence, all 4 gods had to work together.
But if he was fast and prepared now, his siblings would lag far behind him. A
shudder of joy ran through the being, when it neared one of his coming followers.
Targeting leaders was a special tasty treat, all the plots, just by influencing a
handful of persons... He was the Changer of Ways - and if he had his way, the ways
on Earth would change - to his liking. He folded his wings and concentrated on the
form he would show to the coming pawn. It was more difficult here, but that could
change...

Altdorf, Temple of Shallya, Kings Day

"Patsch" The impact that the spoon made in the stew slowly consumed by the medic
showed that he was too weak even to control the descent of his arms with the
attached eating utensil. His hand showed an alarming amount of shakes.
"You think you can keep it down?"
"I hope so Serena, my blood sugar must be too low."
"Your what?"
"Sorry, I´ll explain another day, I am not thinking clearly. Is it always that
bad?"
"No, normally it is not. We will have to teach you how to control how much power
you put into the healing. You killed another of our cherished misconceptions there-
we were sure than men would not be able to add to the ritual"
"That will only make me happy if that ritual worked. Any news on Jan, I mean Lt.
Fredriksen"
"Currently he is still sleeping"
"Do you think we sorted him out?"
"You tell me. We totally relied on your knowledge about these "nerves" and "Axions"
and what not, and thanks to you we put enough power into that ritual to raise a
corpse, so sorry but I have no idea"

It was a clear sign of the medic`s fatigue that he did not get fidgety on these
news and managed to sleep through the next two hours in a comfy chair. He needed a
little time to get his bearings again when his wife woke him. "It looks like Jan is
waking up-you want to come?"
Fearing the worst Ralf followed his wife into the room the cult had assigned to the
former Landwehr officer. The sight that greeted him made him turn away and leave
the room more quickly than he came.
The first thing he had seen was the former lieutenant grasping for his wife's
hands-and he had shown no tremor at all. The medic did not think that he could
claim that the air was dusty enough to make his eyes water.

Great Forest, Quarry, Baekertag

Count Karl Friedrich of Altdorf showed an incongruous picture. His beautiful

clothing of orange and red silk with carefully applied brocades contrasted sharply
with the bright yellow vest and helmet the Germans had forced on he was quite
conscious of the image he presented to the world but couldn`t care less now. The
sight of a Liebherr T264 Truck which dumped a load of more than a hundred ton of
associated gravel on the slope of the defensive wall held him captive. Two Crawler
Excavators distributed the load while a little further along a crawler tractor
distributed earth on top of the gravel a graded it roughly.
Turning to Captain Brenneke and his German adjutant he had to shout to make himself
heard which did not curb his enthusiasm any. "This is most impressive work-if I
would not know better I would think it is magic. You have made walls which would
have taken the Empire a dozen years to erect in weeks. When you are finished this
place will be well protected. I am greatly impressed."

"We just put our quarry overburden in a different place and distribute it in a
different way you highness. But we will feel much safer when we are done. Let me
show you some other things still in the works."
Moving to the railroad branch which went into the compound where the walls had not
yet reached from either side the Captain showed two short pieces of rails which run
perpendicular to the others. "We are just modifying a set of cars to act as the
leafs of a huge Gate-we can open and close them then electrically when finished. We
started to put a Palisade on top of the walls already, there will be a firing step
behind it and we start to flesh out some of the redoubts…..

While the Captain showed the defensive projects underway the delegation moved back
to the admin building where they sat down with some snacks. The count congratulated
himself again that he had gotten involved with the railroad business. A lot of his
peers still considered money a necessary evil and income only honest if you could
get it from the backs of tenant farmers-he was different even before having made
inroads into the banking business and far trade.

The empire thought it better to have government influence in this project which had
huge ramifications, so he was a natural to represent the Imperial government in the
railroad company. He had been sure to earn a lot of money on this but had never
thought about the huge prestige and standing it would bestow him. Unfortunately not
with many of his peers, but the merchants and traders who suddenly thought he could
walk on water were much more useful than his high-bred fellows. That his German
aide and his mixed staff had a lot to do with his performance was a given, so no
need to mention it in the right circles, wasn`t there?
They found themselves in the office of the captain and project manager, which was
big enough, had some battered furniture but a nice aircondition and electronic
equipment.
That the refreshments were served by a burly aide instead of a comely serving
wrench was to be forgiven-and the Germans had such funny ideas about treating
serving women anyway.
When all the presentations were finished he could start making his "pitch".

"I can see you did not only do wonders about you defensive works and the quarry
itself, but also for the living quarters, workshops and storage. This shows me that
you, Captain Brenneke and your team are the right people and this is the right
place to put a material depot, an engine workshop and additional living quarters
for construction workers. You will, of course, receive a bigger budged and more
workers-which also means a bigger Landwehr unit."
Captain Brenneke was less than happy about these news, his workload was already bad
enough. "Thanks for the praise sir, but may I ask for the reasons behind this?
Until very recently this was the place for the quarry and not much else"
"You earn the price of good work Captain-more of it. The original plans for the
placement of the institutions which will come here were drawn up without any
thought about how they might be defended but only their closeness to their working
places. This might work in Germany but will not do in the Great Forest.
I know that I place great responsibility and work on your shoulders but I am
convinced they are rightly placed there. You will get additional staff-use them
well.
Captain Brenneke still had little enthusiasm but even less choice: "Can do, Sir"

Altdorf, Training center of the Imperial German Railroad, Same day

Again the Landwehr Sergeant managed to overpower his assailant in hand-to-hand

combat, again his team cleared the wagon from there.
The black-and-white video ended with the whistle of endex.
Major Wolf and his staff did the presentation about the first run of the new
training scheme run by the Training center for the Landwehr units specially
constituted for the Railroad. Lieutenant Colonel Grube and the Imperial General,
who commanded the "Kaiserlich-Deutsche Landwehr" had viewed the video with polite
interest.
Finally the Lieutenant Colonel was able to give his comments: "Gentlemen, thanks
for the outstanding presentation on the new training scheme. For such a new course
run in a new facility I am impressed how much already went right and how little
went wrong. I also think that you have identified the spots which need improvement
correctly-please give the detailed report by next Baekertag and I will be sure to
endorse your recommendations. I also need your recommendations for personnel for
our new special project- this exercise should give you a basis whom to recommend. I
think that Feldwebel we just saw would make a good addition-he led his team ably
and had a good sense of priorities.

General Hermann piped in when Grube was finished. "I can only confirm these words-
well done gentlemen. Train as hard as you would fight and victory will be ours. Let
me also make a recommendation for poaching the Landwehr soldiers: Take the Gerber
guy for Close Assault training and maybe for the project itself. "Hu, you got me
there General. I thought you wanted to recommend your personal armsman?" "Yes,
until yesterday. Then he wanted to show Gerber the superiority of his fighting
style in the ring. He came out decidedly as second best-and we need the best for
our new toy"
Outside of Middenheim, Koenigstag

The runway of "Lager Middenheim" was mostly a strip of ground free of trees and
shrubbery and just long and strong enough to allow for the occasional landing of a
"Transall" transport plane. A wooden tower served as traffic control and a sturdy
metal girder mast close by showed that Zeppelins also made a visit from time to
time.
A wooden hangar and some barracks were the only buildings and there were few trucks
around. The comparatively short runway was no challenge at all for the "Storch"
which approached this small island of Germany in the Empire. The landing was
straightforward and precise, landing after 1/3 of the strip without drama and a
long Taxi to the field in front of the Hangar.

"That will do Lieutenant Alpers, that was a good overland flight. Let me introduce
you to "Lager Middenheim then." Quiped the pilot. Somewhat later Nathan reported to
Captain Würth, the commanding officer of the Lager. After the formalities were over
the Captain could discuss the Lieutenants future and his tasks.
"For the time being I will put you together with Lieutenant Marks, he is here for a
while now and can show you the finer points for Bush Flying. He is one of our most
experienced pilots, you can learn a lot from him. You have to do so in a short time
thou as we are long on tasks and short of pilots and planes. We currently are the
Bundeswehr post most distant from home and our supply has to come by plane only-the
railroad will be done next year if everything goes as planned.

Presently we are looking at a dozen Teams distributed through Middenland, training

the locals and gathering intelligence. We bring their supplies, evacuate any
injured, fly recon and on occasion shuttle some local muckety-muck around. You can
expect 20 flight hours a week minimum-get used to it.
"Yes sir"

Factory close to Altdorf, Koenigstag

"Brrrrrt"….."Brrrrt" Emma still marveled at the sewing machine that she was working
on. The parts were moving too fast to see and still produced stitches so fine she
could not have done it by hand if she would have taken 10 times the time she needed
to finish now. Currently she was attaching the arms to T-Shirts, always the left
then the right. She did never make a full shirt, only the arms, or sometimes the
front and back parts. At first she had wondered why this was so, but the supervisor
had explained that the shirt was finished faster if everybody was making just a
small part. She had to admit that she learned her part quite quickly and now could
finish shirt after shirt without really thinking about it. This left her the time
to think about her lot and her new surroundings.

The factory she was working in was brand new. Constructed mostly with new lumber
and boarding it still smelled of sap and freshly cut wood-not that she minded that.
The roof showed huge glass windows, giving her good light to work. They even had
outhouses with running cold water and provided small pieces of paper-the latter had
taken some getting used to.
She had not believed all this when she first heard the canvasser who had screamed
his news in the marketplaces of Altdorf, but desperate as she had been then she had
decided to give it a try.

That her child was born out of wedlock would not have been such a problem-that it
showed such clear Stigany heritage was. Forced to leave her family and village she
had tried to make a living in the streets of Altdorf only to find that the future
just held a life of malnutrition, sexually transmittable diseases and the social
standing of a pariah.
Until the Germans came into her life.
The company had set up a scheme where the mothers who had a day off were looking
after the children of everybody. They gave everybody a room-an own room just for
herself and she did not even have to share her bed with anybody. The costs for the
room and for her food in the cantina was directly cut from her wage-but even so she
was paid 15 Euros a week-and she could keep it all to herself-well mostly as the
supervisor kept a little back from all the women which did not do him favors.

The supervisor had told them that today was a special day-somebody from the
"TeUeEff" would come and check for "Social Compliance"-whatever that may be. She
had to remember that she had to give her age as 18 years-not 16 and that she had to
say that all of her wages were paid to her-and that she was paid for overtime-
whatever that was.
If she could remember that she could get a shirt from the ones she was sewing-she
could sell that well in Altdorf, these days everybody wanted an Addidas Shirt.

Highway 31, Construction Site close to Ruehler marsh, Bezahltag

Claus Tolles was sweating and shivering-but neither from heat or cold. His clothes
were soaked through from the mud he lay in since an hour-but none of this mattered.
What mattered was that ever since he had received a series from seemingly innocent
SMSwas that he had taken his station at the Autobahn (Highway) 31 together with his
compatriots and waited for the call to action.
When he was really sure that something had gone wrong his radio finally relayed the
series of clicks that meant showtime. Carefully lifting the net which so far
covered him and raising his head he saw the "Sixt" rental truck who`s obviously bad
driver needed both of the reduced wideness lanes inside the construction site and
no car could pass him. Two cars behind him a white-green bus-like prisoner
transport van and an accompanying police patrol car followed. Just in front of
Claus the driver of the rental van seemed to totally loose it and the right front
wheel left the tarmac. Slamming the brakes the van`s rear turned to the left,
forcing all traffic behind it into emergency stops and causing two small fender-
benders.

Claus did not see any of this but after pulling the straps of his gas mask tight
again jumped up and raised his RPG at the prisoner`s bus cab. Screaming like a mad
man he pulled the trigger, the sound and flash of the firing totally masking the
warheads impact from him.
A "Crump" followed by falling debris signaled that the second RPG gunner had taken
out the Patrol car. Putting the RPG back on the ground he took a couple of cans
from his belt and lit their fuses. Red Phosphorus inside the cans started to burn,
giving dense, irritating smoke which hopefully kept anybody from interfering.
Sprinting to the Prisoner Van he met with Manfred Horst who carried a Moisin Nagant
rifle. Despite it`s age the rifle had no problem putting two rounds low through the
door of the van. One of Manfred`s crazies had emerged from the rental van and
applied a device which had started as a fire-extinguisher but now pumped CS-Gas
into the interior of the van. Claus helped another of them to raise the motorized
angle grinder to the door. Normally used to cut through steel railroad rails it
made short work of the locks.

Dropping everything but his pistol Claus entered the van first, scanning for the
personal of the van. He found two who still tried to put up masks by their own and
dispatched both with head shots.
Searching both yielded the keys to the cells. Checking the spyholes showed his
target shortly and he tore the door to the compartment which held Jasla open. As
she wore handcuffs, her various anti-mage charms and the CS-Gas had started to
penetrate her cell she could not offer much resistance when he pulled her out of
the van and into the bog.
Following a pre-scouted route they arrived at their getaway cars soon enough.
Splitting into two cars to various ways Claus pushed Jasla into the back seat of
his car while Manfred took the wheel and one of his compatriots rode shotgun.
Picking their way along farmers roads they managed to reach the German border in
short time and vanished into the Couronne wilderness.

Inside the getaway car, Forrest of Couronne, a little later

Jasla had a hard time to make sense of the new situation but started to hope for a
better turn. When the hapless Petra had entered her world she had hoped to use her
for a prison break but learned soon enough that while the German student was
malleable enough she seemed powerless to do so.
When she was still trying to use all of this to her advantage she was told she had
to appear in front of court again-it seemed some idiot wanted to sue her for
damages. She had to go to Papenburg again for this. The transport had promised to
be even more boredom-until that ceased to be quite literally with a bang-several of
them. She still tried to take her bearings when she was pulled out of her prison
and taken along for a ride.

At first she thought her abduction (?) liberation (?) was done by highly
professional warriors as they had overwhelmed her guards quickly and had shown lots
of preplanning in her getaway. Now she was no longer so sure when the two Germans
in the front seats of the cars alternatively whooped, screamed that "they did it,
could not believe it" and "a great blow to the fascists" and more nonsense she
could not make head or tails of.
The German at her side was considerably more composed than that and while he
encouraged his companions she felt that he was less than sincere.
Finally the bouncing ride through the forest ended and the stopped at a clearing.
Getting out of the car the two madmen went to pull a tarp from another car while
the third started to undo her cuffs while addressing her.

"Hello Jasla, I am Claus, the guy who engineered your escape. Do not try anything
funny, or you will try to walk without a kneecap. Do you really want to be free?"
"Yes" When her handcuffs came off she found the handle of something pushed into her
hand. Pulling them forward she found it was a long and obviously sharp dagger. The
German had retreated by now a couple of meters.
"Show me that you are worth your freedom-kill these two idiots over there" It took
her seconds to realize that he was serious-and no time at all to make up her mind.
Wordlessly sprinting towards the two Germans who were still fumbling with the
catches of their tarp she kicked one of them to the ground while punching the
dagger through the side of the brainpan of the other. Moving the blade inside the
head from side to side to make sure she turned in time to catch the other one while
he tried to rise having a look of utter incomprehension on his face. She wiped that
off with a kick to his jaw, dropping him to the ground again. She ground her heel
on his Adam's apple, hearing it break under the pressure. Stepping back she watched
his face contort when the swelling in his neck blocked the airways and the useless
drumming of his limbs on the ground.
Ah-the little pleasures of life.

She allowed her only a moment of distraction and then looked for the strange
German. Standing a few meters away the pistol he kept aiming at her did not waver a
millimeter. He nodded before addressing her "Not bad-you did not go stale in the
Slammer"
"What do you want"
"I have needs of the services of a good mage-and you want out of here-are you
interested?"
"Keep talking little man"

Cordenka Factory, Obernburg am Rhein, Sigmarstag

Eric Meier was not so happy with his new job-not that he was going to tell this to
anybody as he was happy to have a job at all. His company was making special
technical threads for cloths and similar, of which nearly 80% of these were
exported before the Weltensprung. As these customers had evaporated after that and
new customers had been hard to find, so lots of workers had been laid off. While
these days there were lots of new jobs to find in different – but that would have
meant moving, starting fresh as a new guy and often lesser pay in a new company
making hammers, computers or whatnot.
Then his company had come up with the wild scheme to end them all-and to
everybody's surprise it had paid off and now the company was in better straights
than ever before. He went down the aisle of production units and saw that all 30
reels in this row were patiently spooling up the thread-and what a thread it was.
Several times stronger than Kevlar it could be used in everything from really
strong armored vests to ropes which theoretically could hold a space elevator. This
was something everybody wanted-and his company had it and had patented several
production steps.

Turning around at the end of the row of reels he rounded the holding units and went
to the feed side. This was the part he was dreading. A conveyor belt was slowly
transporting the worst kind of offal down the line where it was eagerly gobbled up
by spiders the size of big horses. Normally these were the riding animals of
Forrest Goblins who had sold some of these to their company for what amounted to
pocket money. These days Cordenka breed their own spiders with an eye for increased
silk production. The sight of their many eyes which followed him when he made his
way down the way, the movement of their mandibles when they gobbled down their food
and the sounds they made while doing so never failed to give him the creeps. That
he was separated from the spiders by a strong glass divider did not help at all.
But it was a job-and a well-paying one these days was not to be sneezed at.

Great Forest, isolated Cave, Baekertag

Arok the Lame was a desperate shaman. He had hitched this fate to the rising star
of Garek Brightfur and at first that had turned out all right. Now that Garek had
sworn fealty to the Harbinger and the forces of Abbadon he had received additional
troops to fill the gaps in his capabilities and advisors and trainers to enhance
those which were already there. Among them were several sorcerers who all had
access to much more Lore than he had been exposed to. He might be similarly
powerful in the warp, but their greater refinement gave them an advantage.
If he wanted to keep his place in the light he had to become better and more useful
again-but how to do that without a better to teach him? There was always a way but
it was extremely dangerous. Feeling that he had no choice he set the rituals in
motion. He had gathered some of the most potent herbs and mushrooms which aided
performing magic and had made up a most potent brew which had the force to kill a
dozen Shamans such as himself.

He then had retreated into a secluded cave and had force-fed this brew into an
unlucky Ungor aide who had promptly died under strong convulsions, breaking most of
the bones in his body against the bindings which held him.
Before he died he had performed one last service to the Shaman by filtering the
vicious liquid through his kidneys. The resulting brine should still be potent
enough but was supposedly less lethal. Sitting in front of a bowl of the stinking
salty liquid he pondered his future if he declined the risk. Seeing only dismal
failure he found the willpower to gulp it down he started the same convulsions as
his former aide-even if the absence of bonds prevented the self-inflicted injuries.
Arok felt none of the painful cramps, the biting of the tongue and Lips which
colored the foam on his snout red or the voiding of his bowels-he was in a
different place and time and saw things he had never dreamt of before.
He stood on top of a huge fighting vehicle which gave of a mighty roar. Looking
over a huge tube which seemed to be some sort of weapon he saw a vast featureless
plain of dust which allowed him to look till the horizon. When he looked down he
saw that he had human arms clad in black cloth. Arok somehow knew that this chariot
was the riding was the mightiest of his kind and that it could smash his enemies
with ease.
Similar chariots were moving forward to his left and right in a strange fashion-
they had multiple wheels which moved inside some sort of steel band.
Suddenly the chariots to his left and right started to maneuver wildly and the
funny things on his ears jabbered things he could not understand. Something like
birds appeared on the horizon and became larger quickly only to reveal they were
not birds at all but something different. The Shaman had to watch helplessly as
strange lights blinked on the nose and wings of the not-birds and beads of light
connected them to one of the other chariots and set it on fire, then his own. The
vision allowed him to feel the pain of the burning before the scenery changed.

Now he was wearing black again and also a strange conical hat from some straw, but
the rest of his surroundings were more familiar as the showed a huge vibrant
Jungle. The weather was hot and humid but the sky was clear except for some clouds
which were straight as arrows and very thin. When he looked a little longer he saw
to wonder that they grew in one direction quite rapidly. There seemed to be black
specks at the very tip off these clouds but he could not be sure.
He was still looking at the specks when a whistling sound grabbed his attention,
making him look at the valley below him. A great roar of explosions marked the
sudden upheavals which destroyed the prime forest below him in a row which seemed
to go on endlessly. The roar of these explosions masked the approach of other
planes so he saw the low fly metal bird just in time to watch them drop long
canisters into his vicinity. Again the vision allowed him to experience the burning
through the napalm before moving somewhere else.

Next he was sitting on a horse wearing loose clothing and some head cloth, holding
an odd looking rifle in one hand. He was riding at full tilt with about 30 scrawny
looking bearded humans which were similarly clad fleeing from something. When he
turned his head backwards he saw something he recognized: a flying contraption
which looked just like the ones he saw when the humans raided the herdstone. He was
still wondering how this could be when a 30 mm shell blasted him to bits.

This was thankfully the last of these visions-the next ones concerned more familiar
topics about spells and how to shape them, about the power of the warp and how to
use it decisively.
When he woke up a long time later he knew exactly what to do. Not bothering with
cleaning himself up he grabbed his ceremonial flint dagger and started to cut off
the pinkie fingers on both hands.

Castle Wolfenfels, Koenigstag

The thin blade of the Rapier missed Hauptmann Hemmlers Chest by a fingers width or
so it seemed-this was just the latest hair-raising attack the Hauptmann managed to
barely turn. While his heavier sabre was able to turn the lighter blade of his
assailant easily it was so quick that it was very hard to parry in time.
Even when he managed to take the initiative his enemy was hard to hit. While his
sword looked very much like the ones favored by the Tilean duelists he had no
dagger and was able to have most of his body out of the reach of the Reiksguard
Hauptmann as he could twist his left side out of the way. His sword hand was
protected well inside an elaborate basket.
The fight moved back and forth across the ground with neither fighter managing to
land a decisive hit. Finally he locked the baskets of the two swords together,
pushing the weapons out of the way and closing to a corps-a-corpse. Barely managing
to get a foot behind his enemies he pushed forward one more step. His opponent
dropped unceremoniously on his back letting go of the air in his lungs with a
whoosh. Hemmler reversed the grip on his Sabre and forcefully punched the tip into
the ground besides his sparring partner.

Offering him a hand he pulled him up on his feet. "He is no great swordsman he
says. He got only little practice he says. He fears to embarrass himself he says.
Sigmar be praised Lieutenant-what will you do when you properly train with cold
steel? You gave me quite some run for the money there."
"Thanks for the praise Hauptmann, but I do not think I ever had a realistic chance.
I probably should stick with by Rifle"
"Don`t say so Ernst-you keep this up and you will be quite a firebrand soon. Care
for another round" Breathing heavily the KSK Lieutenant checked his watch before
answering.
"Love to Hinerk, but the plane will arrive shortly"
"Ah, saved by the plane aren`t we" Both men removed the leather protectors from
their swords and moved to the outside of the field.

A short time and a quick cleanup later the two officers watched a "Storch" make the
landing approach. While the exercise ground they were on was barely longer than 100
meters in any direction it was not a problem for the versatile plane. Turning into
the wind the pilot actually managed to land within half the distance and then
leisurely taxied the plane to the onlookers.
Two figures emerged from the cockpit. One was an mid-30`s pilot with a 3 day beard,
the beginning of a pouch, Ray Ban sunglasses and a strictly nonregulation vest, the
other a slightly younger man, much more slim and trim who wore mostly uniform.

The older man stepped forward and produced something which might be a salute
somewhere. "Good afternoon Hauptmann Hemmler, Hi Lieutenant. Nice to drop by again.
May I present my replacement, Lieutenant Alpers to you? He will take care of this
lovely piece of real estate for the foreseeable future and that means he will also
bring your supplies"
"Welcome to Castle Wolfenfels then Lieutenants. I take it that you will stay
overnight and enjoy dinner with us?"
"Certainly and thanks for the invitation"
Later in the same evening Hermann was dinner partner to Hauptmann Hemmler again as
the Baron wanted to grill Lt. Marks about the world and the changes to their supply
flights. The new pilot had been coupled to Ermine who seemed to have a good time
teaching the young pilot the finer points about the table manners in this Castle.
At the same time they seemed to have a enjoy themselves, talking and occasionally
giggling animatedly. The KSK officer was not sure what to make of this when the
Hauptmann pulled him aside.

"Hey, Ernst. I am sorry to lose the old pilot, he seemed quite …experienced and
always willing to haul something extra along for us. I hope his replacement will
see the light before soon." Thinking about the bootleg DVD`s with the latest
"Bundesliga" soccer games which Marx had always delivered Ernst Hermann could only
agree.
"He brought me a little gift-said something about helping with the Ladies. Care to
explain" Looking at the handful of condoms in the Hauptmanns hand the KSK man could
just avoid laughing and promised an explanation later.

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"Tonight, on Top Gear! Richard befriends an Orc, James Befriends an Elf, and I
Befriend a Mercedes XLS!
On Tonight's show, we cross from France to Poland through what used to be Germany
in old German 4-wheel-drive cars, and ask 'With the Germans gone, who makes the
best cars now? And has the loss on the Nurburgring finally stopped automakers
obsession with cornering at the expense of comfort?
Afterwards we will give away the Mercedes, now already a classic, in a special
tombola! And don´t miss Richard´s mushroom dish in Poland! And the biggest
concentration of german cars still on this planet! Stay tuned!"