Part of the Crew, Part of the Ship

[Einbeck]

29th April, 834 AS, Omicron Delta

A cloudy afternoon. An empty sea-side, waves crashing into the beach as far as the eye could see. Lingering thoughts and emotions, one of apprehension, of discernment, of uncertainty. These dominated the minds of those aboard the Schiller, in the Omicron Delta system, as the battleship came to a crawl yet again, not far off from Vaitupu itself. An arduous trek they had embarked upon, from Rheinland itself and now coming back around to the very place they had departed from. But all was not well. The landscape present within confines of the minds of those aboard, reminding them of their past, of simpler times, but still also of their current status, of Enlightened Beings, of One Mind, with One Goal and One Purpose, was a grand display of the Hunt's current status, gazing into the distance towards a gathering storm.

The thoughts drifted, focused now on the meeting with a special guest in the Omicron Delta system, with the LNS Tundra. Meyer and his brothers-in-arms spent several hours expanding onto the the Einbeck's, but Schiller's past, on the rekindling of the Wild Hunt. But above these, one notion took upon a role of greater importance -- the Schiller lent an offer to the Tundra, to become the flagship carrier of a reformed force of Enlightened within Liberty, the Independent Worlds and within the Crayter Republic. They would, in remembrance of Division Nine's old elements, carry the banner of "Black Division", representing the Infiltrators of The Wild Hunt outside of Rheinland itself; a banner that, by all intents, they planned to transform into one that the regional forces would grow to fear, though not due to their mettle in battle, but due to their cunningness and adaptability. The offer was accepted, in the end, a vision displaying Inverness and the fragility of the status quo there being crafted to let the Tundra know in full that the time to act would be now.

And yet again, attention changed, now directed at the Schiller itself, but also at the Einbeck, both vessels posted at the Complex in Delta. In the few days since the Wild had managed to enter Theta, and then with a diversion, further to Lichtenfelde, the Wild Hunt resorted to cruder methods of repairing the stricken hulls, and none much pleasant for any captured still present. Much alike the process used for the Scorpion drones, the Hunt, here, used bodies, dead or alive, mending them into the very structure of the vessels. It was the beginning of a slow process, one that couldn't truthfully be completed at the Complex, but it was a sure-fire way to become masters of their own kind of matterweave -- the kind that causes pain beyond comprehension.

This sadistic 'ritual' would carry on throughout the night and well into the next day; captured Rheinland Military personnel, unfortunate pilots from nearby patrols of the Core, Zoners, and even the standing crew, from Meyer and his closest partners from so-long ago, all would see themselves become a part of the crew and a part of the ship through this excruciatingly painful process. At the very same time, the Complex's engineers worked around the hour to replace whatever remnants of human technology there were with ancient designs of hybridized weaponry, much less energy-consuming and much more efficient in affairs of warfare, but also to repair the sections damaged in Thuringia weeks before with new ones and with the matterweave. The result was a monstrosity beyond what the Wild Hunt had created before; both the Schiller and the Einbeck were on their path to no longer be simple, rumoured 'ghost ships', but a united mind with one goal only: causing eternal torment to their nemesis, Humanity, and through which spoke none yet also all.

And so the final chapter would begin for both, as they were paraded from the Complex and into the depths of Omicron Delta, hoping to capture yet more souls to serve the cause.