MIA: Major Wilhelm Schulz

[Rubber_Duck]

Chapter 2 - The mission

Wilhelm slowly recovered of the shock he suffered, still sitting in front of the console. He stood up slowly, making his way to the still locked doors of the overseer's office, which slided open quietly, once he was close. He made his way through the communications room, with small, slow steps, totally being caught in his thoughts. "Sector B-3, Omega 11... if it's a trace to my Vater? Maybe I can recover some more information? But why... in Gottes Namen... why didn't all zhe patrols find something zhere? It was an operation of four weeks" he thought to himself.

He headed towards the door to the main floor, suddenly facing Feldwebel Walter again. "Is everyzhing in Ordnung, Herr Major?" he asked. "What? Zhis... Oh, yes. I was just thinking... Feldwebel, please make sure my Mjölnir is equipped for a long term deep space Aufklärungsmission. Don't expect me to be back too soon, and keep zhis geheim."
"Jawohl, Herr Major" Walter answered. " Your Schiff will be ready in an hour."

Wilhelm passed the doors of the communications room, quickly heading towards the Kantine, to have a quick meal. He wasn't sure, when he would get the chance to eat again, so he decided to use the time his fighter was set up, to have a meal. It was a hard decision, because his mind was blown of thoughts, and full of curiousity what happened to the patrol in Omega-11. But a starving Major wouldn't be helpful, for searching his father.
Memories caught him, while eating his Bratwurst with Sauerkraut, memories of dreams, he had in the distant past. He was nearly hypnotic, remembering visual parts like Rheinwehr officers in a dark room, with metal walls... coldness, heat, flames and ice. Pain, images of his father. Wrath's on patrol in Omega 11, the yellow shape of the Walker Nebula.
He shook off his paralyze. "Interesting, which memories a single experience can restore" he thought.

After having finished his meal, and glancing at the clock, it showed him that his Mjölnir fighter should be readily waiting on the hangar deck. So, he got up, and quickly walked towards the hangar deck, taking the lift and reaching his ship in just 2 minutes. After the usual surrounding, and check of the ammo stats and the ships power generator, he glanced around. No one was there, the hangar personnel seemed to be in noon break. "excellent" he thought. He passed by the left side wing, and opened the housing of guncam and flight recorder. The control panel was lighted in deep blue, showing "system operative". He entered the main menu, and set the recorders to "automatic shutdown, manual trigger. Automatic sending deactivated". A silent beep could be heard.
"Shutdown options: (1) timer set shutdown (2) geographical shutdown".
Wilhelm took a second look around, then selected the (2), entering the coordinates of the Stuttgart -Omega 11 jumpgate. He confirmed with his personal access code, and locked the recorder housing again. "Whatever I am going to find... I am not sure, if everyzhing needs to be recorded... I am glad, zhat I can use zhe trigger manually." He smiled.

Schulz boarded the cockpit of his Mjölnir, and left the hangar. Direction: Stuttgart. For gods sake, nothing special happened on his way to Stuttgart. Or... he maybe just didn't realize. His mind was paralyzed. Hope. To see his father... to find out something. Hope. Always dies last.

---