Winds of Change

Note and Disclaimer: I'll be saying this every time. I don't own the characters to Hogan's Heroes. I would like to thank those who have created this series. However, the character I have created in this series, Colonel Michalovich, belongs to me, so if you want to use her in any story you wish to write, please email me with permission first. Thank you!

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A cool breeze rustled into Hogan's quarters as he was sleeping. Aware of the cracks in the window shutters as he woke up, as he had every other day, the commanding officer of the Stalag 13 prisoners gained consciousness on an early spring day to a cold room. Damn wind, he thought as he opened the inner shutters to another useless day at a prison camp with more missions to run for London. Already, the German guards had allowed the outer shutters to be opened, allowing the prisoner to feel the early morning's cool winds and the camp's spotlights, which were often on, especially on darker days and nights. In which case, the day was chilly and threatening to give all of the barracks around the camp a leak in the roof.

Like Klink is going to care, Hogan thought, his optimism lost, he wished for once, for the remainder of the day. I agreed to be senior P.O.W. officer because it was convenient, but barely missed out on being their commander on these missions. The tunnels were meant for something and the Germans haven't detected anything. He sighed. What the hell else can I do for these men? I have a responsibility to the men and I will take it, no matter what, because they I am their commanding officer. These men need me.

Already, the day was young. It was 0530 hours, a dark hour without sunshine to warm the prisoners. Roll call was soon and it was expected that, as a message from the Underground came through the previous week told them, a particular train was coming through the town of Hammelburg and dropping up some important prisoners. Hogan was anxious himself as he remembered what the day was, forgetting that strain the previous missions had on him. To him, though, this particular train carried precious cargo and the work had been worth it, even if it had been done with a little persuading. Indeed, it was going to save the Allied Forces. And all it had taken was a few months to accomplish what was going to take place on this dreary morning – Tuesday, May 4, 1943 – and London had been happy that the transfer of the two prisoners was going to be completed. The Underground, who had worked with these two people in the past, was equally anxious, as Hogan was, to get them out of their previous location in Poland and get them to release information about the German rocket base destined to destroy the Allied Forces.

First, though, interrogations had to be conducted by the local Gestapo units before they could work. It was final step in getting them situated into Stalag 13 and it could drastically change within a matter of seconds if the situation turned into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Damn Krauts, Hogan thought and it was not for the first and final time. He remembered his own interrogation by Klink and the Gestapo as he sat back down on his top bunk. Joking around, stating his rank, name and serial number or being silent had saved him. Damn Hochstetter and his Gestapo goons! Damn their methods of interrogation! They could kill our chances of ever defeating them with a touch of a button. London doesn't even know any information about this rocket base, only the agents do. And Nikki…oh, God damn her sometimes. She said she wouldn't follow me. And look where she is now: a colonel, an agent, codename Desertstar, who is up to her knees in trouble. She and Nancy know too much for their own good. Hogan paused in his thoughts. Well, she could have been ordered as she was told to go on this mission for London. I doubt it though. Selfish as she is, she could just follow me and get herself into trouble. She's been known to do that. I mean, she wanted to follow her father back to the Soviet Union, but I wouldn't let her. She couldn't. It means much more than giving up her U.S. citizenship and military rank.

A knock on the door, always interrupting Hogan in his ponderings, made the Colonel jump. What now? Hogan thought as the door opened to reveal Schultz, the barracks' guard.

"Colonel Hogan, roll call is soon." The simple words, instead of the Sergeant's usual rumble and the sirens that Klink had installed the previous week, confused Hogan. The sirens irritated everyone, the Kommandant included, but it had saved time for the guards. Indeed, they only need to have the sirens ringing and the prisoners filed out instead of each guard running to the barracks to get everybody outside for roll call.

"What's going on, Schultz?" Hogan asked. "Usually, Klink has the guards sound the sirens and have the prisoners assembled outside." Quickly taking out a chocolate candy car from under the pillow (the chocolate itself almost broke in Hogan's hands, as it was melting from the heat), Hogan handed over the bribe to Schultz in exchange for information. The men, before they had Hogan as their commanding officer, had Schultz trained to help them at times. Hogan had only confused the guard further, as the time of his confinement passed, and trained him to see, hear and know nothing. The prisoners also helped him to make him think that he is as stupid as he thought he was.

"The Kommandant is sleeping presently," the guard said, stuffing the chocolate bar in his coat, a first in a long time. Hogan thought it strange. "Roll call is soon." The message was repeated, but why the Kommandant was sleeping, instead of seeing the prisoners up at roll call, was baffling Hogan.

"Why? Does the Kommandant not want to be disturbed?" Hogan asked, reaching under the pillow again. He was worried that Klink might mess up the arrangement that day and screw with the Gestapo's prisoners. He handed Schultz another candy bar, with promises for more strudel from LeBeau, but it yielded no better results.

"WHO said he wanted to be disturbed?" Schultz asked, scratching his head as he pocketed the bar. "He only asked that he NOT be woken up. Captain Häffenulz is going to be at roll call."

Hogan nodded, avoiding the temptation to shake his head at the redundant statement Schultz said. The Captain himself, a temporary aide for Klink for the day, was sent to Stalag 13 on his way to the Russian Front. He's perfect and not bound to ruin anything. However, with Klink in bed for the time being, we might need someone to keep him there. Häffenulz is usually fit to handle affairs. Why not stall his transfer?

"Thanks, Schultz," Hogan said as the guard left, telling the other prisoners about roll call within the next minutes. Growls about the early hour were said, but the prisoners knew, everyday, the hours of roll call. They could not change it.

Soon enough though, Hogan's main executers in the schemes against the German war effort – Kinch, Newkirk, LeBeau and Carter – gathered around the Colonel in the doorway of his quarters. "What's next, Colonel?" Kinch asked first.

"We know 'ld Klink is sleepin'," Newkirk said. "But, why?"

"Because the filthy Krauts are always lazy," LeBeau said with a hateful sneer.

"Or m-maybe because Klink wants no one to bother him," Carter said, aware of human nature and its need for relaxation. He wasn't too fond of Klink, though, and tried to stay his cheery self…and as far away from Klink as humanly possible.

"But we don't need to bother him," Hogan said. "We can't have Häffenulz waking Klink up. The Captain can handle things with Hochstetter and easily get us our prisoners. He's as stupid as Klink is, except he isn't much of an idiot. However," Hogan cautioned as his men tried to interrupt him, "we need to keep Klink in bed. He could easily mess anything up."

"How?" LeBeau said. "We can't just order Klink to stay in bed."

"Perhaps we should," Hogan said with a glean in his eye.