Same disclaimer, I don't own Hogan's guys, I just borrow them and promise to return them in fair-to-middling condition most of the time... This will be my first full length story in the Hogan's Heroes fandom posted and I would love feedback. I promise to respond to all SIGNED reviews, please remember that I cannot respond to anonymous/guest reviews, although those are just as welcome! I do not promise to change anything, but I do listen.

For Hogan lovers, there will be a distinct LACK of Hogan until the end. Sorry if that's a little bit of a spoiler, but I don't want to disappoint readers who only want to read about Hogan. I like him too! I promise, he'll be around for other stories. ALL of the OCs in the story are completely made up, as I don't want to use any real names or places(with the exception of canon people/places used in the show episodes).

Disclaimer: There will be violence, implied abuse and tense situations. I did try to keep it as tame as possible while still telling the story. Also, sorry for the lame title, I suck at thinking up titles.

Huge thanks to my beloved beta TinySprite who helped me with feedback and suggestions and to Bits and Pieces who encouraged me so much. Also, to my friend River who listened to me babble plots. You're all awesome!

Chapter One

Whereupon Hogan has left camp for Underground business, leaving his Heroes in charge but a German officer comes to camp on his own sordid business.

"Roll call! Everyone line up, hurry up! Raus! Roll call!" Schultz shooed the men out of the barracks into the cold. The men of barracks Two filed out, harassing Schultz the entire time. Newkirk smirked at the whole group as he took the end spot. With Hogan out of camp, Kinch took over the leadership but Newkirk was the one shoved out in front. The POWs had rather gleefully ignored rank and elected him as the figurehead, much to the Cockney's chagrin. To the Germans, Newkirk was the temporary senior prisoner, but the prisoners all knew that Kinch was in charge.

"Settle down, guys." said Kinch quietly. The ruckus died out within a minute. He watched Newkirk snorting with amusement. They all were huddling inside coats and jackets waiting for the head count to be done. All of the main crew were under extra stress with the Colonel gone. Officially he had been taken off for questioning by the Abwehr. Unofficially the Underground had sent a operative to take him out of the camp so he could meet with some Allied higher ups for a briefing on something the High Command wanted done soon. Unofficially, his men were all on edge with him out of the camp and therefor out of their sight. To say they were protective over the Colonel was to make a gross understatement. As usual, for security reasons, much of the camp was in the dark about the Abwehr being fakes, leading to even more tension than normal.

To add to the command team's discomfort, Klink had a high ranking visitor roaming about causing issues. The German Army Major-General was overly fond of pushing the prisoners about on the slightest excuse. Major-General Hendrich had brushed aside Klink's objections several times already. His excuses ranged from innocence of having touched the prisoner to made-up offenses on the part of his victims. Kinch spread the order to keep away from the German Army officer as much as was possible. Newkirk ran interference with several other prisoners, moving less experienced prisoners away and keeping themselves available as targets but generally out of range of actual physical contact. Olson got knocked down once, but the general fuss and confusion that resulted somehow separated Hendrich and his two bodyguards from Olson before anything else happened. When the dust settled, the POWs had dispersed to other activities or into the barracks innocently, leaving the Germans standing alone.

The unrest resulting in the POW population had the regular Luftwaffe stalag guards all on edge, which made Klink on edge. The kommandant disliked anything that upset the routine of the stalag, especially anything that upset his prisoners and made them more unruly. Unruly prisoners tried to escape. Unruly prisoners rioted. The guards were all used to their normal tame prisoners. Kinch had been on the move constantly, trying to make sure to touch base with each of the barracks' chiefs. Carter circulated through the camp, chatting up both prisoners who were more stressed over the situation and guards who appeared nervy over the unhappy prisoners. His normal cheery nature helped to soothe the worst cases. Newkirk made more of an effort to engage both guards and prisoners in card tricks and entertained the surly guards with magic tricks and truly horrible jokes in equally horrible German. His poker games were more upbeat with joking and wild stories of past amorous encounters with ladies.

By the time evening roll call was called, the POWs were all on edge, ranging from annoyed to downright frightened. The command crew were looking forward to getting everyone back inside the relative safety of the barracks for the night. All of them were more used to the majority of their "work" happening at night, during missions outside of the wire. Spending the days doing damage control inside the wire wasn't normal. Doing any work inside the wire without Colonel Hogan around to spearhead the tactics was decidedly abnormal.

Klink began his normal long-winded speech while the visiting Major-General stalked down the rows of prisoners. Having been frustrated during the entire afternoon with prisoners who disappeared whenever he came near, he was now looking for any opportunities.

Newkirk sighed and rolled his eyes at the others. With Hogan gone, it seemed that Klink was nervous about the prisoners getting restless and perhaps attempting escapes. Personally at this point, Newkirk felt that the speeches of how hopeless the Allied war effort was were probably making the prisoner population more likely to engage in schemes. Annoyed bored prisoners were not only more dangerous to the Germans, but also harder for Kinch and the Heroes to control.

Klink raised his voice stridently to carry throughout the compound. "The Allies are already defeated! The sooner that your leaders recognize the superior might of our German forces, the sooner you can all go home!"

Newkirk raised his own voice. "Well, maybe we ought to just go 'ome now? Get a jump on things before the rush, Kommandant?" His sarcasm made Klink's face turn red. "Of course, could be your reports are a bit inaccurate, considering how few Luftwaffe planes we see limping back overhead every day." He smirked as raucous laughter broke out. He hoped the smart remarks would release some of the tension of the prisoners who had already begun to mutter in the ranks.

Major-General Hendrich rushed to confront the temporary Senior POW. "There is no talking in the ranks, you English dog!" The German loomed over the smaller man, forcing Newkirk to tilt his head back to look him in the face. "You will keep your mouth shut when your betters are speaking!"

He knew it was a bad idea. The smart idea would involve shutting up or giving the Kraut an apologetic 'yes sir' to pacify him.

Newkirk wasn't often accused of being sensible in these situations. Even as his mouth opened, Kinch groaned behind him.

Eyes narrowed, Newkirk spoke carefully. "When my betters show up, I'll consider that. I just see a big mouth Kraut."

Although it was blatantly pushing his luck, even Newkirk was surprised when Hendrich punched him in the side of the head. Before he could go down, the German grabbed him and slung him out into the center of the compound. "Filthy cur. You seem to want to talk. We shall oblige you." A motion brought one of the hulking bodyguards over at a trot. "Take him to the guest quarters. I will question him about the proper behavior of a POW towards his superiors."

Kinch stepped forward slightly. "Kommandant! I protest, Corporal Newkirk cannot be questioned without his Senior Officer present." His eyes followed the bodyguard half dragging their friend across the yard. "Additionally, he is a prisoner of the Luftwaffe and shouldn't be subject to questioning from a German Army officer."

Klink waffled. Hendrich outranked him and had already made it clear that he would use that rank to get his way. Klink made a token effort to dissuade him. "Sir, with Colonel Hogan out of the camp, Corporal Newkirk has been appointed the representative of the prisoners. He is needed elsewhere, so it would not be in the best interest of the security of Stalag 13 to allow you to hold him for questioning..."

"Klink, shut up. I'm not removing any of your precious prisoners. Corporal Newkirk will be on the grounds, so there's no issue." Hendrich sent an evil grin at the residents of Barracks 2. There was a rumble of protest from all of the nearer ranks of prisoners that made Klink blanch.

The unhappy noises from the prisoners made Newkirk focus. He twisted in the grip of the bodyguard and held up a palm towards Kinch. The gesture for everyone to stop and quiet down was seen by most and the grumbling subsided. He got his feet underneath himself and jerked out of the guard's hands. "I can bloody well walk on me own." He sent a glare towards Klink for allowing it but went along with a minimum of pushing.

Major-General Hendrich smirked at the impotence of both fellow prisoners and kommandant before stalking along to the guest quarters behind his guard and Newkirk. His second guard followed along behind carefully watching the prisoners. Klink paced after him for a few feet before hesitating and then returning to dismiss the formations and go back into his offices.

Kinch was immediately surrounded by anxious prisoners. Carter was at his elbow. "Kinch! We can't let them do that! He might hurt Newkirk! That's not right!"

Olson snorted loudly at Carter. "What do you mean 'might'? Newkirk'll be lucky to walk out alive. That Kraut will beat him to death! Let's go get him back!" He was jostled by several others that were all agreeing with him.

Kinch raised his voice just enough to be heard. "Enough, guys." He paused for everyone to shut up. "We can't do anything. Newkirk knew better and he seemed confident he would be okay when they took him."

LeBeau muttered in French before erupting angrily. "Oui! They'll make him tea! Why should we worry? He just insulted the bastard to his face in front of everyone! Of course they'll hurt him."

"Settle down, LeBeau." Kinch stared the little Frenchman down. When he finally looked away muttering, Kinch continued. "There's no doubt he'll be roughed up. But we can't make a German Major-General and his guards disappear from the middle of camp without endangering the entire operation. What then? Colonel Hogan isn't even here, and what happens to him when the Gestapo is waiting for him to return to Stalag 13 because the prisoner population is gone along with a German Heer Major-General and his bodyguards?" He waited as everyone muttered unhappily about his facts. "Everyone needs to step back and calm down. Hendrich isn't likely to murder a Luftwaffe prisoner here in the camp. Newkirk knows how to placate Kraut officers, he's survived camps for years doing it."

Carter wrung his hands. "But Kinch, we don't even have a tap in the guest quarters. How are we going to know what's going on?" His anxiety seemed to catch and others began to ask similar questions.

"We won't, but we can find out which of the stalag guards is going to be watching the guest quarters. If it's Langenscheidt or Schultz, maybe we can get them to keep an ear out at least. Also..." Kinch inhaled and looked at the still angry Olson. "If you can tell me honestly that you can keep yourself under control, I want you to get close to the building and try to keep tabs on what's going on. You're not to enter the guest quarters or be discovered under any circumstances... "

Olson straightened up and nodded. "I can do it. I can be right outside where the lights don't reach. It's hard to hear much through the walls, but it's better than being all the way across the compound."

Before he could move, Schultz came trundling over to begin shooing them inside. "Everyone inside the barracks, raus, please boys, inside the barracks, back back back..."

There was a lot more grumbling and angry mutters directed at Schultz than normal. He leaned back and moaned at their complaints. "Please! I cannot do anything! I know nothing!"

LeBeau shoved his way to right in front of the rotund guard. "Schultz! You know they're hurting him! Newkirk does lots of things for you! You could at least try to help him!" He was moved along towards the barrack's entrance as Schultz continued to wave all of the inhabitants inside. "Schultz, s'il vous plait! Please! Bitte Schultz!"

"Nein! Cockroach, I cannot! If I could..." He waved him inside sadly. "I cannot."

LeBeau gave in. "Fine Schultz, next time you need help, non! Nothing from me! Bosche!" He spat angrily even as Schultz rolled his eyes and walked around the barracks counting heads. When he got to fifteen and sighed, his gaze went to Kinch.

The tall radioman crossed his arms and leveled a glare on their guard. "If you want to count Newkirk's head, you know where he is. Hopefully he still has that head attached."

Schultz gave him a reproachful look. "Please, don't even joke about that, Sergeant Kinchloe."

"Who's joking?" Kinch walked over quietly, highly aware of the eyes following him. "Listen Schultz, we're all worried about Newkirk. You know he didn't mean nothing by all that talk."

"I know but... " Schultz lowered his voice. "But I can not do anything to help him. You know that. I am just a sergeant." He looked ashamed but also worried. "You know I would never hurt anyone, but I can not go against orders and I can not tell a Major-General what to do." He straightened up and rocked back on his heels. "I have to go now."

"Wait, Schultz..." Kinch stepped up next to him now so he could speak quietly. "There's always a camp guard on the guest quarters, right?"

"Ja, on the porch, always." Schultz agreed readily.

"Well, couldn't that be you? Then you could kind of look out for Newkirk, you'd be right there, right?" Kinch put on his best pleading expression. "We're not asking you to go barging in and rescue him, just be there in case there's something you can do to help him? Please, Schultz? Come on. Haven't we always looked after you? Who shares his Red Cross packages every time? Isn't it Newkirk?"

"Ja..." Schultz thought it over and then gave one short nod. "Ja, I can stand watch on the porch." He held up a cautioning finger to stop the outbursts. "But! Just on the porch, nothing more. Only because you are all such good boys... most of the time." He went to the door and gave one last sly look at them. "When you are not up to monkey business."

"Danke Schultz." Kinch was all smiles as the guard shut the door behind himself. The moment it clicked shut, Olson was ducking down into the tunnels to head for the closest exit point to the guest quarters. "Be careful Olson."

"I will." Olson disappeared and the bunk slid shut again.

Kinch stood for a few seconds before turning around to gesture at everyone. "All right, everyone hit the sack. I know... but sitting up in the dark isn't going to help anyone." He watched everyone reluctantly go to bed even as he shut down the lights. Then he settled next to the window to keep watch as best he could. The small crack in the window shutters allowed him to see a blurry view of the building across the compound. Kinch couldn't spot where Olson would be crouched behind some shrubs, which was good. It meant the man was less likely to be spotted by Germans too.

Taking a deep breath in, Kinchloe let it out slowly and tried to relax. Things like this situation were a job hazard they all faced. It never made things any easier, no matter how many times it happened.

"Kinch?" The urgent whisper from the bunk next to the window made him turn to peer through the gloom for Carter. "Kinch? He'll be okay, right?"

"Sure, Carter. Not Newkirk's first rodeo, right?" Kinch reassured the younger American easily. It was true that it wasn't the first time their resident Brit had gotten himself into trouble. Between his inability to curb his tongue and his hidden need to protect his friends, Newkirk seemed to end up in front of angry Germans far more often than anyone else. Once Colonel Hogan had arrived in the camp and taken control, that had lessened just a little bit. There was a restless movement from the bunk and Kinch turned back to speak quietly. "Go to sleep Carter, I'm staying up for him."

"Okay." There was hesitation from Carter. "But wake me up if he needs help when he gets back, okay?"

"Sure." Kinch couldn't help his smile. Carter might be a little naive but he worried over his friends as well. "I know where to find you."

Then he went back to his self-imposed watch. Kinch wished that Colonel Hogan was in camp. It wasn't that the trio hadn't dealt with these incidents in the past before Hogan arrived. It was just that Hogan had an innate ability to make his men trust that things would always turn out right in the end. Now all Kinch could do was to watch and hope.

End chapter

Sooo first chapter is up. A note, my research says a Major-General in the German Army(Heer) would be below General Burkhalter, but above Colonel Klink, although it IS still a different branch of the German military. Technically speaking, he should not be interfering in Luftwaffe business, but he does still outrank Klink and a great deal of German officers did a great deal of things they technically should not be doing. Just like the German officers who strong-armed Klink into agreeing to donate a lot more money than Klink could afford on the show, or the German officer blackmailing Hogan for a million dollars worth of diamonds on the show... there were plenty of evil German officers about during the war.

Thank you for reading!