SONNENWIND

"Olunyan Flight Control to SONNENWIND Ik," said the officer from the spaceport.
-- Extracted passage, Booklet 037

The SONNENWIND (German: Solar Wind) is a Scout-class Driver ship that plays a pivotal role in three booklets of Die Terranauten. Originally crewed by a Lodge of Drivers under the dual command of Cler Masurin and Yoron Errehan, the SONNENWIND becomes the vessel of escape, loss, and transformation for Narda and her companions after their liberation from the internment camp on Taschkanur. It is aboard this small scout ship that three of the saga's most devastating deaths occur -- Rollo, Greeny, and the SONNENWIND's own Lodge Master Mashram Eschrit's betrayal -- and where Narda performs the unprecedented feat of navigating Space II without a mistletoe.

The ship later reappears as a Terranaut vessel, tracking captured operatives into Space II on a rescue mission (Booklet 040).

Specifications

Internal Layout

The SONNENWIND is a small vessel designed for reconnaissance and independent operations rather than fleet combat. Key features include:

• Computer Ring -- The ship's central data and navigation hub, where Kar Dougster is stationed (Booklet 037)
• Section VIk -- A technical section containing Umwandler (energy converters) G and H, critical systems for the ship's power and propulsion
• Reserve Mistletoe Storage -- Compartments for storing backup mistletoe blossoms essential for Space II navigation; these were confiscated by the Gray Guards on Taschkanur (Booklet 037)
• Research Data Systems -- Scientific databases maintained by the ship's scientists, Jessica Xiam and Dania Makiri; this data was deleted at some point, jeopardising navigation calculations (Booklet 038)
• Lodge Chamber -- Space for the Driver Lodge to operate collectively during Space II transit

Crew and Lodge

The SONNENWIND is operated by a Lodge -- a cooperative group of Drivers who pool their PSI abilities to navigate the ship through Space II. The Lodge structure reflects the ship's dual-command arrangement and includes both pilots and scientists.

Command

Lodge Members

Previous Lodge Master

The SONNENWIND's original Lodge Master -- prior to Masurin and Errehan assuming command -- died on Gurumdhan, a detail that suggests the ship has a history predating its appearance in the saga.

Notable Passengers (Taschkanur Escapees)

History

Origins and Early Service

The SONNENWIND's history before Booklet 037 is only partially known. It operated as a Scout-class vessel -- a small, independent reconnaissance ship used by Drivers for exploration, supply runs, and intelligence-gathering across the stellar empire. Its previous Lodge Master died on Gurumdhan, after which Cler Masurin and Yoron Errehan assumed dual command of the vessel and its Lodge.

The ship's designation as "SONNENWIND Ik" in communications with Olunyan Flight Control suggests it may be part of a series or class of similarly named vessels, with the suffix indicating a specific hull or registration number. A related entry, SONNENWIND K, is described as "a Scout-class ship used by the Treiber," possibly referring to the same vessel under an abbreviated designation.

Arrival at Taschkanur and Capture (Early 2501)

In early 2501, the SONNENWIND arrived at Taschkanur -- the remote prison world orbiting the double sun Reshnan Alpha and Beta -- seeking supplies and intelligence. The planet housed a Gray Guard-administered internment camp for captured Drivers following the destruction of Zoe.

The timing proved catastrophic. Queen Rina daBriden (also known as Rinada Briden), the Gray Guard commander on Taschkanur, ordered the SONNENWIND to stop. The crew was ambushed by the Gray Guards, captured, and imprisoned in the internment camp alongside the other Driver prisoners. The Gray Guards also confiscated the ship's reserve mistletoes -- a critical blow that would severely limit the SONNENWIND's ability to navigate Space II during any subsequent escape attempt (Booklet 037).

Liberation by Narda and the Schlicktaucher (Early 2501)

The SONNENWIND's imprisonment on Taschkanur coincided with Narda's daring plan to escape the camp. After a failed glider escape that left her presumed dead, Narda was rescued by Turg al Togman, a Schlicktaucher -- one of the planet's intelligent native species. In their subterranean caverns, Narda's PSI abilities were restored by the Still Waters, and she forged an unprecedented alliance with the Schlicktaucher.

Narda orchestrated a coordinated assault on the internment camp. The Schlicktaucher attacked the Gray Guard positions while Narda used her restored PSI powers to coordinate the rescue. In the chaos:

• Rollo and Greeny were freed from imminent recapture
• The entire imprisoned crew of the SONNENWIND was liberated, including Cler Masurin, Yoron Errehan, Mashram Eschrit, Kar Dougster, Mil Fraumin, Rogmash Al, Jessica Xiam, and Dania Makiri
• The combined group fought their way to the spaceport at Olunyan

The SONNENWIND escaped Taschkanur with its crew, the Taschkanur escapees, and a single remaining mistletoe -- the last one the Gray Guards had not confiscated (Booklet 037).

The Odyssey: Taschkanur to Aqua (Early 2501)

The SONNENWIND's voyage from Taschkanur to Aqua is one of the saga's most harrowing journeys. Chronicled across Booklets 037-038, it tested the ship and its improvised crew to the breaking point.

Pursued by Ringos

Immediately after escaping Taschkanur, the SONNENWIND was tracked by two combat Ringos. Narda urged the Lodge to use their last mistletoe to jump into Space II, despite the grave risk to Rollo and Greeny, whose Driver abilities had been destroyed by forced brain operations. The ship took a warning shot but successfully made the jump (Booklet 038).

The Horror of Space II

The transit through Space II proved devastating for the lobotomised passengers. Rollo, stripped of the PSI abilities that would normally shield a Driver from Space II's alien influences, was overwhelmed -- becoming violent before falling unconscious. Greeny was saved by the residual consciousness of her deceased twin sister Whity, who now existed as part of Space II's dimensional fabric (Booklet 038).

Meanwhile, Jessica Xiam discovered that the SONNENWIND's research data had been deleted, jeopardising their ability to calculate navigation coordinates within Space II. And Mashram Eschrit, the Lodge Master who had joined the crew during the Taschkanur escape, secretly harboured plans of betrayal (Booklet 038).

Yamarahan

The Lodge set course for Yamarahan in the Lumir System, seeking help from Gulben Horg, a Servis and old friend of Rollo. On Yamarahan, the group encountered Silent Drivers -- victims of the same brain operations inflicted on Rollo and Greeny -- and narrowly escaped the planetary police after being detected for PSI activity. Gulben Horg provided coordinates to a safe haven but was killed by the police. Before dying, he revealed that David terGorden was on Ginger in the Kashmir System and mentioned the League of Free Worlds (Booklet 038).

El'ait and the Death of Rollo

The Lodge headed for El'ait in the Vennigat System, hoping to find a decommissioned Driver ship with fresh mistletoes and navigation data. Unknown to them, Mashram Eschrit had secretly transmitted the Lodge's plans to the Kaiser Corporation.

At the El'ait spaceport, the Lodge walked into a PSI-trap. In the chaos that followed, Rollo was killed -- the second devastating loss from Asen-Ger's original Lodge group, after Whity's death on Taschkanur. The surviving Lodge members fled in a Ringo, pursued by Kaiser Force ships, and eventually made their way back to the SONNENWIND (Booklet 038).

The Derelict Driver Ship

With the last mistletoe withering and no safe destination, Greeny -- guided by the residual consciousness of Whity -- steered the SONNENWIND through Space II one final time before falling into a coma. The ship emerged near a wrecked Driver vessel.

Susmandor and Eschrit's Betrayal

On Susmandor, the Lodge made contact with Ruman Marjew, who turned out to be both a Kaiser Corporation representative and a resistance fighter. He confirmed that Ginger was free and that David terGorden was on Aqua.

It was here that Mashram Eschrit revealed himself as a traitor, attempting to hand the entire Lodge over to the Kaiser Corporation. The Lodge stopped him, but the alarm was raised. They escaped Susmandor, leaving Eschrit behind (Booklet 038).

Greeny's Death and the Impossible Navigation

Back aboard the SONNENWIND, Greeny died -- the third and final loss from the original group of companions. With no mistletoe remaining, no navigation data, and three of her closest friends dead, Narda did something unprecedented in the history of Driver space travel:

She led the Lodge into Space II without a mistletoe.

Fueled by grief, determination, and a telepathic vision of Aqua and David terGorden, the sixteen-year-old PSI-girl guided the SONNENWIND through the chaotic energy of Space II by sheer force of will -- an act that no Driver had accomplished before. The SONNENWIND arrived safely on Aqua, and Narda was reunited with David terGorden at Middlehaven (Booklet 038).

Terranaut Service: The Naria Operation (c. 2501)

By the time of Booklet 040, the SONNENWIND has been integrated into the Terranaut fleet, still under the command of Cler Masurin and Yoron Errehan. The ship is now operating as a Terranaut vessel, conducting support and rescue operations.

When four Terranauts -- Ennerk Prime, Suzanne Oh, Onnegart Vangralen, and Lyda Mar -- are captured after a sabotage operation on Naria and deported aboard the Kaiser Force courier ship XS-571, they send a psionic tracking pulse to the SONNENWIND before being put into deep sleep. The SONNENWIND follows the XS-571 into Space II, attempting to maintain contact with the captured operatives and mount a rescue (Booklet 040).

The rescue attempt is complicated when the XS-571's experimental Seeker navigation device malfunctions, and the Terranauts are ultimately transferred to Outpost Station in the Norvo System before being transported to the penal planet Sarym. The SONNENWIND's role in the pursuit is not fully resolved in the text, but its presence demonstrates that the ship has transitioned from a vessel of desperate escape to an active asset of the Terranaut resistance (Booklet 040).

Significance

A Ship of Transformation

The SONNENWIND's narrative function is less as a warship or explorer than as a crucible of transformation. Everything that happens aboard the ship pushes its passengers toward fundamental change:

• Narda boards the SONNENWIND as a rescued prisoner and disembarks on Aqua as the first Driver to navigate Space II without a mistletoe -- a feat that marks her emergence as one of the saga's most powerful PSI operatives
• Rollo endures the horror of Space II without PSI protection aboard the SONNENWIND, foreshadowing his death on El'ait
• Greeny achieves a transcendent act -- guiding the ship through Space II via her dead twin's consciousness -- and then dies, her sacrifice enabling the Lodge to find the derelict that provides their next coordinates
• Mashram Eschrit is exposed as a traitor during the voyage, demonstrating that the greatest danger to the Terranauts comes not from external enemies but from betrayal within their own ranks

The Mistletoe Crisis

The SONNENWIND's voyage from Taschkanur to Aqua is one of the saga's starkest illustrations of the mistletoe dependency that defines the Driver civilization. The Gray Guards' theft of the ship's reserve mistletoes on Taschkanur effectively cripples the vessel: with only a single, withering blossom remaining, every Space II transit becomes a potentially final one. The ship's predicament embodies the strategic reality that "whoever controls the mistletoe controls the stars" -- and that without mistletoes, even the most determined crew is trapped.

That Narda ultimately transcends this limitation -- navigating without any mistletoe at all -- makes the SONNENWIND the site of the saga's most significant challenge to the established order of Driver space travel.

From Fugitive Vessel to Terranaut Asset

The SONNENWIND's progression from a captured scout ship on Taschkanur to an active Terranaut vessel tracking enemies into Space II (Booklet 040) mirrors the broader trajectory of the Terranaut resistance. What begins as a desperate escape becomes an organised military operation. The ship's survival and continued service is itself a small act of defiance against Valdec's regime, which sought to eliminate the Drivers and their vessels entirely.

Key Events Aboard the SONNENWIND

Connections

Characters

• Cler Masurin -- Lodge Master and co-commander
• Yoron Errehan -- Lodge Master and co-commander
• Narda -- Escaped prisoner who becomes the ship's de facto leader during the odyssey to Aqua
• Rollo -- Lobotomised Driver who dies during the voyage
• Greeny -- Lobotomised Driver who dies aboard the ship after guiding it through Space II
• Mashram Eschrit -- Traitor Lodge Master exposed during the voyage
• Kar Dougster -- Driver stationed at the computer ring; born on Ginger
• Mil Fraumin -- Driver who boarded the derelict ship
• Rogmash Al -- Driver and Lodge member
• Jessica Xiam -- Scientist who discovered the deleted research data
• Dania Makiri -- Scientist and Lodge member
• Queen Rina daBriden -- Gray Guard Queen who ordered the SONNENWIND to stop at Taschkanur
• Ennerk Prime -- Terranaut who sent a psionic tracking pulse to the SONNENWIND (Booklet 040)

Locations

• Taschkanur -- Prison world where the SONNENWIND was captured and later liberated
• Olunyan -- City and spaceport on Taschkanur; the SONNENWIND's departure point
• Reshnan Alpha and Beta -- The double sun system the SONNENWIND approached en route to Taschkanur
• Gurumdhan -- Planet where the SONNENWIND's previous Lodge Master died
• Yamarahan -- Planet in the Lumir System where the Lodge sought help
• El'ait -- Planet in the Vennigat System where Rollo was killed
• Susmandor -- Raw materials planet where Mashram Eschrit was exposed as a traitor
• Aqua -- Water world where the SONNENWIND arrived after Narda's unprecedented navigation
• Middlehaven -- Capital of Aqua; Narda's destination
• Naria -- Planet where captured Terranauts sent a psionic pulse to the SONNENWIND (Booklet 040)

Technology

• Mistletoe Blossoms -- The SONNENWIND's reserve supply was confiscated on Taschkanur; the loss drives the central crisis of the voyage
• Space II -- The alternate dimension navigated by the SONNENWIND's Lodge
• Lodge -- The cooperative Driver group that operates the ship
• Sarym-Shield -- PSI-blocking technology that suppressed the imprisoned crew's abilities on Taschkanur
• PSI -- Psionic abilities essential for ship navigation

Organizations

• Terranauts -- The resistance movement the SONNENWIND serves from Booklet 040 onward
• Gray Guards -- The military force that captured the ship on Taschkanur
• Kaiser Corporation -- The entity to which Mashram Eschrit secretly reported
• Olunyan Flight Control -- The spaceport authority that communicated with the SONNENWIND on Taschkanur

Appearances

Notes

The Name. "Sonnenwind" is German for "solar wind" -- the stream of charged particles emitted by a star. The name is apt for a Scout-class ship designed for independent, far-ranging operations across the stellar empire: like the solar wind itself, the SONNENWIND moves silently through space, driven by forces greater than itself.

SONNENWIND Ik. The designation "SONNENWIND Ik" used by Olunyan Flight Control in communications with the ship suggests a hull or registration suffix. This may indicate the SONNENWIND is part of a numbered series of Scout-class vessels, or that "Ik" denotes a specific configuration or variant. The separate glossary entry for SONNENWIND K -- described as "a Scout-class ship used by the Treiber" -- likely refers to the same vessel under an abbreviated form of the Ik designation.

Section VIk. The internal section designation "VIk" mirrors the ship's own suffix, suggesting a systematic naming convention within the vessel's layout. This section houses the Umwandler (energy converters) G and H -- critical power systems for a ship of its class.

The Previous Lodge Master. The death of the SONNENWIND's previous Lodge Master on Gurumdhan establishes that the ship has a history beyond what the saga shows. Masurin and Errehan are not the ship's original commanders but successors who inherited command after a loss -- a detail that gives the vessel a sense of institutional continuity and accumulated experience.

Three Deaths, One Ship. The SONNENWIND is the only named ship in the saga aboard which three significant character deaths or losses occur during a single voyage: Rollo (killed on El'ait after being traumatised aboard the ship), Greeny (died aboard the ship after guiding it through Space II), and Mashram Eschrit (exposed as a traitor and abandoned on Susmandor). The ship becomes a vessel of attrition, its crew diminishing with every stopover until only the core group remains for Narda's final, desperate navigation to Aqua.

The SONNENWIND appears in 3 booklets of Die Terranauten (037, 038, 040). It is a Scout-class Driver ship that serves as the vessel of escape from Taschkanur, the site of Narda's transformation into one of the saga's most powerful PSI operatives, and later an active asset of the Terranaut resistance.