General Schwarzkopf watched as Lieutenant Meyer and the Analytical Engine returned from their jaunt to the city. His eyes were immediately drawn to the outrageous horse and cart contraption following along behind, as the Engine entered the wooden gates of the military encampment. Surely, the Indian shaman and his cart full of idols was not a serious candidate for military specialist? The cart and horse barely looked roadworthy, much less battle worthy.

  Nicholas Meyer, with a big grin on his face, hopped down from the Analytical Engine in front of General Schwarzkopf. "I have someone for you to meet, Herr General!"

  "Seriously?" questioned General Schwarzkopf.

  "I know! I know what it looks like, but I have run the data through the Engine three times and I am sure that this can work. Could you please summon Lady Echinacea and Lieutenant Jaeger to a meeting with Hartmann and yourself?" requested the enthusiastic Nicholas Meyer. "I will bring the Swami with me."

  Schwarzkopf made the necessary arrangements and soon the six disparate personalities were seated around Schwarzkopf's wooden meeting table. Nicholas Meyer introduced the three officers and Lady Echinacea to the Eastern mystic.

  "Thank you all for joining me to interview Swami Chronos," continued Lieutenant Meyer, after the introductions were completed, "and thank you Swami Chronos for being willing to investigate the possibility of employment with our battalion. I will attempt to be as brief as possible in my explanation as to why I believe that you would be a valuable addition to our fighting force. We are about to be deployed into battle versus a fearsome opponent, and your specific talents were identified, by my Analytical Engine, as being the most magically powerful tools in the entire city of Kielsburg. Would it be possible for you to explain, in your own words, exactly what you believe your cart to be capable of, and what magiks you have harnessed to create your device? The fate of the Holy Prussian Empire may rest on your creation."

  Nicholas Meyer's words immediately brought Schwarzkopf, Hartmann and Jaeger to attention. They were used to Lieutenant Meyers assertions about battlefield possibilities and had learned to take them seriously. Lady Echinacea looked somewhat more sceptical. Swami Chronos, who, despite being suddenly placed in a rather uncomfortable position, was remaining remarkably calm.

  In measured tones, he made his response, "Yes Lieutenant Meyer, I will do my best. Sirs and Madam, I have devoted my entire life to the study of time. I noticed that from a young age, many life events resulted in severely negative consequences and I sought ways to ease the suffering caused by these singular events. To this end I journeyed through the highest mountains on the Earth, and travelled the silk trading routes to the Far East, as well as all the way to the Holy Prussian Empire. With the help of mystics and monks and spiritual leaders of hundreds of temples and sects, I have managed to produce a mobile altar capable of reversing the passage of time. The effect is a small one, since the act of altering the flow of time is unimaginably difficult. However, if a tragic event takes place in the immediate vicinity of my cart, while I am in control of the device, it is possible for the injured person to experience a 'second chance,' possibly reversing the effects of the injury."

  This explanation was met with the rapt attention of all four officers. Even Lady Echinacea was starting to become interested.

  "Would it be possible for you to provide a real world example of what your device is capable of, Swami Chronos?" asked General Schwarzkopf.

  "I can, Sir," replied the Indian mystic. "Suppose a soldier next to me is unfortunate enough to suffer a wound from a bullet, he will perceive the sequence of events to take place a second time. There is a possibility that the second chance will produce a less unfortunate outcome from the bullet. The second chance is the limit, however. My altar is not capable of producing a third chance."

  "So he still might suffer the same injury?" inquired Hartmann.

  "Yes, Sir," replied Swami Chronos.

  "Even so, your altar would seem to be of tangible benefit to any military unit. Have you offered your services to any other Prussian battalion?" asked Schwarzkopf.

  "I have, Sir, but the results have been mixed. I joined up with the 689th battalion for a month earlier in the summer. The commanding officer judged my value on the battlefield substandard compared to a more conventionally trained battle mage. Possibly, the fact that I require a rather significant salary may have influenced his judgement in that regard," explained Swami Chronos.

  "How significant a salary are we talking, Swami Chronos?" asked Schwarzkopf, with a newfound scepticism.

  "Sir, respectfully, I am duty bound to forward almost the entirety of my pay to the headquarters of my religious order, back in my homeland of the Hindus. Moneys that I raise on my travels have proven to be instrumental for the continued survival of my order," answered Chronos.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "And the actual required salary is?" asked Schwarzkopf.

  "Five gold marks per month, Sir Schwarzkopf," replied Chronos, with a determined tone in his voice.

  Schwarzkopf had to do everything he could to reign in a knee jerk reaction of disgust. He had been through enough history with Nicholas Meyer to know that all might not be as it seemed, but five marks was simply a ridiculous amount of resources to commit to an Indian horse cart driver. He turned towards Nicholas Meyer in the hopes that he could sort out the awkward situation.

  Meyer first addressed the mystic. "Swami Chronos, I want you to know that I completely understand the reasoning behind your salary requirements." He then turned towards General Schwarzkopf and the others sitting around the table. "In order to justify an expense of this magnitude, I need to explain a few things that I have learned from the Analytical Engine: First off the underlying mathematics which form the logic system of the Engine are a base 6 number system. In other words, the chance of a given event taking place is calculated as a 1 out of 6 chance, or a 3 out of 6 chance, etc."

  "Most modifications made by military specialists change the probability of an event by 1 out of 6. An especially skilled specialist might increase that to a 2 in 6 chance. So, almost all of the spells employed or technical improvements that we have introduced to our battalion are designed to improve our battlefield performance by 1 out of 6. That represents a 17% improvement in survivability or killing power. Our best specialists might improve things by 2 in 6, or 34%. Does this make sense to you all?" asked Nicholas Meyer.

  Everyone, even Chronos nodded their heads.

  "Great!" responded Nicholas Meyer. "Now, here is where it gets interesting. Lady Echinacea is an outlier. Her magnificent Goddess Standard of Protection is absolutely unique! It affords a 5 in 6 protection against any battle wound. You have all seen the astounding result of the employment of this device. Our men still suffer wounds, but at a rate 83% less than those in other units! Without this marvelous device, our Wolf Knights would have suffered 6 times more casualties in our most recent battle versus the hobgoblins!"

  Erich Hartmann interrupted, "This is absolutely fascinating Nicholas! I have never heard you break down the analysis of the Analytical Engine into such tangible explanations! I am learning a great deal from this."

  "Why thank you, Erich! I am glad that my thoughts on this matter make some sense to you. Because here is where it gets interesting: I believe that Swami Chronos's astounding altar can be used in conjunction with Lady Echinacea's Goddess Banner. The Analytical Engine judges this to be possible. The 'second chance' feature of the altar will allow a second 5 in 6 chance to avoid an injury from attack. Combining two 5 in 6 chances of avoiding injury is a battle changing advantage. Our enemies would have to inflict more than thirty injuries to have just one of those injuries actually land. Now, the effects would only be felt by one unit, which would be the Wolf Knights, but that unit, and the officers and specialists within it should be as close to invulnerable as can be imagined!"

  General Schwarzkopf seemed to fully comprehend the importance of Nicholas Meyer's words. Possibly, because he had realised that he himself would likely be deployed within the nearly invincible unit. "Lady Echinacea. Does this explanation make sense to you, and does it jive with your understanding of the inner workings of your Battle Standard?"

  "Reducing such important and spiritually significant features to mere base six mathematics makes me somewhat uncomfortable. However, I must admit that I am intrigued by the analysis. I always thought of the Analytical Engine as a rather boorish device, but I am beginning to appreciate its value. Somewhat. The other aspect of your question implies that the magical qualities of my Banner will work in conjunction with the magic inherent in the Time Altar of Swami Chronos. To my knowledge this would be the first attempt in history to combine the two magical systems. Will it work? I cannot say, but I am deeply intrigued by the possibilities. Increasing the protective qualities of my battle standard 6 fold would be incredible. One might say that it could impart an unfair advantage to our troops! I am all for such an advantage! If you all decide to attempt this, you can be assured of my full co-operation!"

  "Thank you, Lady Echinacea, for your insights," added Schwarzkopf. He turned towards Chronos. "Swami Chronos, I would be pleased to make a formal offer of employment to you, for the salary of 5 gold marks per month! If you accept, we would like to employ you immediately."

  "Sirs and Madam, I would be pleased to accept your offer and I look forward to working with you all," replied Swami Chronos.

  All members of the meeting clapped their hands with great satisfaction.

  "Jaeger!" interjected General Schwarzkopf. "It is going to be up to you to figure out a plan that will get that cart into the middle of your Wolf Knights, and somehow make it possible for it to keep up with the rest of the unit. I wish you luck with that task, and you have about two days to make it work!"

  "Yes, Sir!" replied Lieutenant Jaeger. "I will do my best, Sir! You can be sure that we will be strongly motivated to ensure the deployment of both of these fine magical devices!"

  "I bet you will, Jaeger. I bet you will," responded Schwarzkopf. "Hartmann! I need you to put together a report detailing how all of our newly acquired military specialists are fitting into the battalion, and their assigned companies! Please report to me in two days as to the progress made. We will be entering into battle against a formidable opponent very soon, and I want to know what to expect from everyone!"

  "You can count on me, Herr General!"

  Lieutenant Meyer!" continued Schwarzkopf. "I need you to study every angle of this with your blasted bucket of bolts out there, and have battle plan suggestions ready to go when it comes time to deploy all of these newfangled companies."

  "I am on it, Sir!" replied Meyer.

  "I knew that you would be, son."

  The battalion got to work.

  ______________________________________________________________________

  Swami Chronos

  Profession: Hindu Swami

  Leadership: 3

  Fighting skill: 1

  Attacks: 0

  Quickness: 1

  Power: 1

  Defence: 1

  Speed: 3

  Wounds: 1

  Armour save: none

  Special abilities: Swami Chronos operates his Altar of Horology and can join any unit. This altar allows a second chance for magical protection from any wound suffered within the unit.

  Mount: Cart horse

  Experience points: 612

  Salary: 500 pfennig