Technical Briefing: Equipment of the “Kugelblitz” Unit

  (from Donnerschlag Command Dossier ZB-9)

  Combat Exosuit “Panzelhaut”: steam-powered armor with an integrated exoskeleton, cooling system, and a collapsible paraglider. Designed for aerial deployment from airships up to 5,000 meters.

  Helmet: reinforced steel capsule with full-face visor and integrated binocular targeting optics.

  Primary Weapons:

  Automatic musket (“Branntrohr-7”) using liquid-propellant charges

  Backpack flamethrower

  Hand grenades

  Support Units:

  Mechanized scout dogs (“Eisenhund”) used for recon, mine clearance, and bioscanning

  Deployment Tactics (Taktik Sturzkampfschwarm):

  During an assault, the Kugelblitz unit drops from the Donnerschlag’s deployment ramp in full gear. In freefall, the exosuits deploy their paragliders. The soldiers descend as a predatory flock, silently emerging from the clouds directly over the target zone. Upon landing, the glider module is discarded, and the exoskeleton is activated for combat maneuvering.

  ---

  — Herr Oberst, — the adjutant called, catching up with von Blumenkranz in the corridor of the airship Donnerschlag, — may I ask… what was the boldest operation ever carried out by Kugelblitz?

  The colonel stopped by the observation window.

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  Clouds drifted below, while the horizon burned faintly with the ember-glow of dawn.

  He didn’t answer at once. Then, quietly, he said:

  > “Klangwand.”

  He spoke the word as if it were the name of a fallen comrade.

  > “It was during the Franco-Prussian War. The French had begun testing a new system: a long-range acoustic detection station on the Atlantic coast. No observers — only sound. Parabolic membranes. Resonance sensors. They could detect the hum of our engines from eleven miles out. For us, it was a disaster.”

  He turned to the adjutant.

  > “No allies. No diplomacy. Just Kugelblitz.”

  ---

  Operation Klangwand

  The flight took place in pitch darkness, high above the Atlantic shoreline — a barren stretch of coast with only one landmark: a river mouth and the silhouette of the acoustic tower.

  Aboard the Donnerschlag: nine Kugelblitz soldiers, two engineers, a pilot, a radioman, and two Eisenhund specialists.

  The ship hovered over the drop point.

  Signal lights flashed. The ramp opened.

  One by one, the soldiers jumped.

  In the air, their paragliders deployed — silent.

  Only the wind whispered.

  They glided downward, directly into the dunes.

  French sentries never even turned their heads.

  The Eisenhunds moved first. Their thermal sensors read human presence through stone.

  Within thirty seconds, the layout of the fort appeared on the tactical slate.

  The team split:

  First squad — to the tower base.

  Second — to clear the control room.

  Third — to secure the perimeter.

  The alarm was triggered, but too late.

  The local garrison barely made it out of their barracks before the battle was over.

  Short bursts from muskets lit the corridors.

  Flamethrowers roared.

  Three Frenchmen surrendered. One was wounded.

  The tower’s main resonator was detached in thirteen minutes.

  Guides removed.

  Membranes folded.

  Amplifier core boxed and strapped.

  A transport ornithopter “Reiher” lifted the container from the shattered platform, guided by signal flares the troops had placed.

  A second ornithopter descended from Donnerschlag and retrieved the team under anti-aircraft fire.

  By the time the French artillery opened up, Donnerschlag was already rising through the clouds.

  Behind them — only the flashes of flak bursts and the stab of searchlights.

  > “Since that day,” von Blumenkranz said,

  “they know — if Kugelblitz moves under cover of night… many will not see the dawn.”

  And he walked on, deeper into the corridor.

  Beyond the windows, the clouds glowed softly — like the last memory of a forgotten war.