Lost to the wind

[Serpentis]

As they glided through the Crow Nebula in Sigma-13 and hit the trade lane, Karl cleared his throat, “Boss?”, Sergei turned his head at Karl, “Yeah?”, a moment later, “You didn’t mention how the call with this Li was..”. Sergei chuckled and turned his chair around as he faced Karl, “She was.. Short with me, but then again, I’m a guy, as far as I am aware, the Chrysanthemums doesn’t really trust men as much as they do women.” he shrugged, “Could be rumors or something, who the f*ck knows?”, Karl chuckled, “Got it, boss. Well, good thing we got a few days until it’s time to meet them, yeah?”.
Sergei nodded, “Yeah, four days traveling around Kusari, been ages since I was here.”. Karl checked the console he was at and Sergei turned to the helm and directed the Lindwyrm into the next trade lane. “Been meaning to ask you, how did you like your time with the Hessians?”, it took a while for Karl to respond, “To be honest, it was boring as hell. I used to work on a cruiser back in the day, but got put on Northeim, not sure why. So, glad you got me out, boss.”, Sergei chuckled, “No worries, besides, I need you, ok?”, Karl Chuckled, “Danke, boss.”.

Then they continued in silence as they closed in on Honshu jumpgate, they hit the signal to jump and a few moments later they were in Honshu, greeted by a patrol of Kusari Naval Forces. “Halt, what is your business here, Freelancer?”, the man sounded annoyed and bored, “We’re selling rheinbier on New Tokyo, officer.” It took a few moments, “Ok, you can go, stick to the lanes.” and then clicked off the comm line. Sergei maneuvered the Lindwyrm into the next trade lane there was a sudden, “Sh*t..”, Karl sighed and Sergei turned around, “What?”, Karl looked at him, “Tail. Think it’s Helena.”, “Sh*t indeed.”.
As they reached Akita, the Lindwyrm drifted closer to the border station, and a minute later, a familiar fighter, Helena’s Eagle flew towards them.. “Incoming hail, boss.”, Sergei groaned and hit the comms button. “Helena, pleasure to meet you here of all places.”, there was a chuckle on the other end, Helena’s voice seething with delight for some reason, “Sergei, how nice to see you again, just a random happenstance. Yes?”. Sergei groaned, “What do you want, Helena? I don’t have your stuff anymore, remember?”, Helena let out a giggle.
“What the hell?” Sergei thought to himself at the sudden giggle. “That’s not what I am interested in, I’d like to get to know you a little better, see.. We checked the Rheinland registry for a mention of you. Surprisingly, we only found a few mentions in the public records, buuuut, we found a lovely picture of a man named Hans from a few years ago.”, she was silent, waiting for Sergei to respond, he decided not to act stupid again, no point if they checked the Rheinland registry of all places, “Yeah, so what? Why? Are you part of the Rheinland intelligence or something? Or do I have a nice bounty on me so soon?”. Helena’s voice was smooth and extremely pleasant now, “No no, you got me all wrong, I was actually hoping I could hire your services for a job, it pays well and will remove some.. Issues my employers have with you after the last time we spoke.”.
Sergei frowned and muted the channel, “What do you think?”, Karl took a few seconds to think, “At least hear her out?”, Sergei nodded and unmuted, “What’s the job?”. Sergei could hear Helena’s smirk through the audio, “We need someone to make a delivery to Freeport 9, in about two months, you pick up the Package at Freeport 14 in Iverness.”, the line was silent for a bit until Sergei asked, “Why not use someone else? I mean, Freeport to Freeport, easy enough for a Zoner, right?”, Helena answered with a hint of hesitation, “Well, see, after having seen you work for the Hessians and saw your very professional attitude and allegiance to the job, I thought to myself that I could use someone like that. The pay is five hundred thousand, half before and the rest afterwards if it arrives safely at FP 9.”. It took a while for Sergei to think on the offer, he looked at Karl, who in turn shrugged, he turned back to the comms, “What’s the package.”, there was a chuckle, “I won’t tell you that, but I can tell you it’s not illegal, not that that matters in the Omicrons, but I would rather that it remained out of reach for all potential parties save the one person I will tell you about when you get to FP 14. So, interested?”. Sergei leaned back in his chair and decided to be a little b*tch, “Eight hundred thousand, half at start.”, there was a minute before Helena responded again, “Deal, I’ll send my comm frequency, I’ll give you a call in about two months.”, Sergei chuckled, then realized this package must really be important if she willingly went up three hundred thousand for a single trip. “Got it, we’ll be ready by then. Bye bye, Helena.”, her voice came back over the comms, a bit… Sensual.. “See you soon, Sergei, toodles..” and the line went quiet.

Sergei groaned and turned to Karl, “Eight hundred thousand is a lot of money.”, Karl nodded, “Aye, boss, it’s a hell of a lot better than any normal job.. Do you trust her?”, Sergei barked out a short laugh, “F*ck no, not after having her shoot at us, but, it might give us more information on whoever she works for, which I’d like to know.”. Karl nodded, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that too since she appeared.”. Sergei turned around and laid a course towards the New Tokyo jump gate. While they traveled, he kept thinking about who might be the employers of Helena, could be any intelligence agency, could also be The Order, but he doubted it. “Core? Hm, no, why would they want a package from house space to where they are? Wait, no, that actually makes some sense.”, he sighed and decided to push the thoughts aside for now and focus on the here and now, there would be time to ponder over his potential death later.

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