Lassenwelt Station
Conclusion
Continued from Part Two

	As the fresh unit of redcoats comes up to the east wall, the crafty Scots dash round to the unguarded south wall and fire into the backs of the dazed Germans still facing the last few natives in the courtyard.From the north, the rifles of the Fellahin clear the last German marksmen from the blockhouse roof.
	The second unit of British regulars charges the east wall and drives the ragged defenders from the gate. Herr Direktor returns smartly to the barracks building and a tremendous explosion splinters the palisade which blocks the cave, followed by a deep, low growling sound from the cave.All the surviving German troops in the courtyard now turn and run for the barracks building.

Suddenly, the British commanders are struck dumb in amazement.

From out of the cave - from out of the prehistoric past- a huge upright reptile emerges. Even more incredibly, it is strapped into an enormous grey tarpaulin with iron crosses on the sides, and on its head, a Kaiserlisch spike, held on by cables tied under its chin.

It is Kriegersaurus Koenig!

Morale wavers on all sides.

"Stand yer ground, ye crawlin' ferlies! Ye'r no sooperstitious blackamers!" shouts Sgt. McCamecasy, as the Highlanders bolt headlong from the south wall toward the steamer, ancestral memories of Loch Ness rising unbidden in their fevered brains.

On the north wall, the Ouazulu warriors ("superstitious blackamoors" to a man) stand their ground, then make an orderly withdrawal,wisely deciding that forty-foot reptiles with six-inch teeth would better be handled by people with firearms.

In the center, the redcoats pull back as the field gun,just unloaded from the steamer, advances in support. On the left, the Naval Brigade cautiously advances to the wall lately abandoned by the panicked Scots.

The silence is broken by a roar of reptile and riflery,as the huge beast hurls itself through the gate, making directly for Maj..Overpass, who has emerged from the docked steamer to take personal command of the infantry in the center. The monster writhes under the volley fire of three infantry units, but continues its rush at the thin red line tipped with cold sweat, which retires by ranks firing until its back is against the lakeshore.

The Naval Brigade now lack a reptilian target and contents itself with decimating the German machinegun crew on the barracks roof.The Fellahin, safely behind the beast, pick up the cue and leave the gun with only a single crewman.

The German troops and scientists abandon the barracks,bolting across the vacated courtyard to the mine building, in hopes of making it to the undamaged train, but the sharp-eyed Ouazulu warriors see the move and stream forward to cut off the escape.

Lt. Ware-Crinoline lands the Rotary Ornithopter on the steamer's roof and the Royal Engineers rush forward to reload the rocket tubes.

The Kriegersaurus wades through the line catching one transfixed Tommy in his jaws, and killing three more with hind legs and tail. Incredibly, the redcoats' morale holds and they redeploy northward along the shore as the monster arrests his huge momentum to turn and follow.

Two flying reptiles now emerge from the cave and circle the courtyard. The Germans watch desperately, hoping that this new threat will terrify the natives into a rout and give the Germans a final chance for escape. They are bitterly disappointed as the Ouazulus shake their spears skyward in defiance, and the pterosaurs wheel away toward easier prey.

Caught in a crossfire between three infantry units and a fieldpiece, the great beast falters as rifles roar and shells bury themselves in its flesh. While the Ornithopter circles for a rocket attack, the Kriegersaurus turns its great head heavenward, and roaring one last blast of defiance,collapses into the shallow water at the lake's edge, its thrashing tail smashing the bow of the launch to splinters.

Then it is still.

The wide-eyed Tommies lower their blistering Lee-Metfords and stand silent in wonder as the churning ripples slowly fade away on the lake's surface.

The Germans huddle in the upper story of the mine building.There are not enough troops left to fight their way to the train through the mass of black warriors, and with twenty Fellahin rifles moving up in support, any attempt to drive off the natives by firing from the windows would be suicidal. When Omar, the Fellahin bugler, moves forward with a bomb to blow the building's door, von Schwann bows to the inevitable, and runs up the white flag. Lassenwelt Station, and therefore the Valley of Time, is now another bauble in the crown of the Queen-Empress.

RETURN to the Major General's Page
Copyright©1998 David Helber.No commercial distribution of images or text from any page on this site without written permission.