Ensnared

[Stoat]

FIVE

Jeske was awoken by a shard rapping at the door.

"Major Vardogr? Major?" came a voice from the other side.

"Yes, yes, I am coming!" he responded, irritated. The Wilde made the body arise, despite its reluctance. This was where the challenge began. The host's sense of self started to assert itself, as the nomad further integrated itself deeper into the structure and function of the human brain. He rubbed his eyes, then they opened the door slightly. Standing on the other side was a nervous looking Oberleutnant Fuchs. Jeske raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Major, we are approaching New Berlin, sir. We will be docking in approximately thirtyfive minutes."

Jeske nodded, and closed the door on the human. They sat on the bunk and waited. Jeske soon yawned, feeling bored. There was an old human saying that fitted perfectly, and Jeske smiled as it rose to the forefront of his thoughts. 'Time flies when you're having fun'. He laughed out loud, a deep belly laugh, and the connection with the collective retreated slightly. That sobered him, them?, slightly. **confusion**

They felt the transport landing. Jeske took a deep breath and rose. They felt the tingling running along Jeske's spine. **anticipation** He moved to the door, and opened it, striding out into the corridor beyond. Recalling memories of the layout of the Rheinland armoured transport, they quickly moved towards the exit. As he walked down into the hangar area, uniformed technicians, mechanics, officers, pilots all milled around. Jeske felt nervous, and forced himself not to project that feeling. Himself....... Him....... Jeske stopped at that realisation. He was Wilde, yet he was also individual. The collective was there, still very much part of him, but he could distance himself from that connection, should he choose to do so.

"Major Vardogr!" The loud exclaimation focussed Jeske on the uniformed man in front of him. It took a few seconds for it to register that this was a Kapitan addressing them. Jeske snapped a salute. "Get your tardy personage to command immediately, Major. You need to debrief. NOW!"

"Yes, Herr Kapitan!" Jeske forced the connection to the collective away. He couldn't react as he knew he must in this environment, with them too close. He started to run in the direction of the command centre.

**divert** **avoid** **remember**

Jeske pulled up, just before reaching the command centre. Shaking his head, he integrated further with the collective.

**re-aquire.........captured scorpion.........RISK** **contact........Schuster..........avoid darkbeings**

Jeske ducked down a corridor. The military had captured a Scorpion gunboat! **PANIC** He tried to reconnect with the collective, but the feelings paralysed him. He had to move, fast. How did humans cope with this onslaught? He needed a ship, that much he knew. He headed back towards the hangars.

As he hurried along the last corridor before reaching the hangars, a hand grasped him on the shoulder, spinning him around. Jeske instinctively reached for his side arm, but he was restrained by a vicelike grip. He looked straight into the violet tinged eyes of Vizeadmiral Jakob Schuster, and relaxed. Schuster's lips twitched in a brief smile.

"Major Vardogr." Schuster released his grip. He looked briefly from side to side. "Report to hangar seventeen immediately. A ship awaits you there. Do not fail in this mission Major. Much depends on you. Here are your orders." Schuster handed him a datacrystal, turned and left. Jeske headed directly for hangar seventeen.

As he arrived, he spotted the flight officer. Jeske walked directly up to him and snapped a regulation salute.

"Major Vardogr reporting for flight duty." He handed the crystal to the flight officer, who placed it into the computer terminal. After a few seconds he turned to Jeske.

"Bay four, Major. Gook luck, sir." The data crystal was handed back.

Jeske nodded, took the crystal, and headed for his ship. A Wraith fully loaded with Firekisses awaited him. He climbed in, set the launch sequences in motion, then entered the data crystal into the ships computer to study the orders. He was to proceed to Omega-11 to join in an escort operation. He reconnected fully with the collective then. They moved his hands to the computer terminal, and a complex series of keystrokes later, new data appeared on the screens. The transport, named Schlutzig, was carrying the remains of a Scorpion gunboat from Solarius Station to the Schatten Research Facility in Frankfurt. In order to minimize the likelihood of attack, the convoy would route via the far south of the system, taking the jump hole to the Dresden system, past the Battleship Altenburg and right across the system to another jump hole, this time to Frankfurt, and from there direct to Schatten.

The Wilde would send a small force to intercept the convoy when it was deep into the Swefelnebel, drawing the military fighters away from the transport, and allowing Jeske to attack, and destroy, the transport and any remnants of the Scorpion. It was a risky operation, but the prospect of the Scorpion being in the hands of the military was a much greater risk. They set the auto-pilot to cover the journey to Solarius.

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