Lost to the wind

[Serpentis]

Sergei had fallen asleep again, they had some time, two more days, until his meeting with Li Hana. He needed the rest, for some reason his last few days had been taxing on him. But he dreamt of flowers and fields of gold, there were half blurry faces of people he thought he once knew, he heard voices, distorted but familiar and he felt warmth and calm. Each time he tried to focus on these individuals he felt a sting in his mind, as if something was trying to block him out of being able to see or hear clearly. Sergei opened his eyes, he was getting used to the pain, but of course he’d like them to stop. He put his clothes on and sat down by the desk and checked the net. He searched for anyone that seemed to have any knowledge in implants or similar technologies, there were only a few and those were not exactly available to anyone.
He sighed and clicked off the console and took a look at his tablet, he saw he had a message waiting for him, as he clicked open the message he saw a man that he had never seen before. Sergei was confused but played the message; “Mister Sergei, I was introduced to you by a common friend, Julian at Rochester, he told me you did not mind doing less than legal trade. Oh, I forgot, I am Richard Haine, I work for an upcoming company in Liberty and we have possible opportunities for a man such as yourself. Now, there’s no job at this moment, but I can assure you that in the future there will be a lot of lucrative deals to be made, for both of us. Well, you got my frequency, feel free to respond to this so that I know you might be interested in working with us. Have a good day, Mister Sergei.”.
Along with the message was the man’s frequency, Sergei saved it, “More job offers, perfect. And here I was thinking we’d be just drifting along until Heinrich called.”, he felt like complaining, but he was really quite happy with having opportunities for work, they always needed credits, everyone does, that’s the way the galaxy runs.

As he came into the mess hall, most of the crew were already eating, Sergei gave a wave, “Good morning.” and grabbed his own breakfast, he nodded at Stein that was working the kitchen, “Thanks Stein, appreciate it.”. Stein smiled, “Got two fresh pots of coffee too, captain.”, Sergei grabbed a cup and sat down at the table with the others. The crew had all been out drinking the night before, while Sergei was out killing. He always believed himself being cold and unemotional, but he wasn’t, at times he wished he was, but he also knew that he had been numbed to certain aspects of life. The crew kept talking and laughing at the strip club they were at, Alice was red in the face and smiled awkwardly when the others mentioned she went back to the ship with a guy. It was nice to see the crew have a good time, mostly because it might turn ugly eventually and rather have them in a good mood for those times.

As breakfast ended and people went on with their duties, Sergei found himself on the bridge, where Karl was working, he turned, “Boss, I got a good trade deal, Sake.”, Sergei couldn't help but laugh. It took a moment for Sergei to move over to Karl and check the monitor, “So, we’re in the alcohol trading business now are we? First Rheinbier and now Sake?”, Karl just grinned, “But it’s a really good deal, but.. Destination is strange.”. Sergei checked the details of the deal, “Ile-de-France? F*cking Gallia? We’re going to Gallia?”, then he saw the profit and whistled low, “Would seem we are going to Gallia then..”. Karl chuckled and brought up a second window, “Here, this is the route and should only be half a day or so.”, Sergei nodded and patted Karl’s shoulder, “Ok, set a course, we’ll get going in an hour.”. Karl nodded, “I’ll head and get the sake then.”. Sergei nodded and moved to the intercom and broadcasted to the entire ship, “Ok people, we got a deal in Gallia, so we’ll be off in an hour, if you got sh*t to do in the city, tell me now and go do it, or get it when we come back. Sergei out.”.
As Karl prepared the route, Sergei checked the details of entering Gallia, “From what I gathered, Freelancers are fine in Gallia, so, we should be good.”. Karl answered from the other side of the bridge, “Yeah and we’re just selling alcohol, should be fine.”. After that Karl went out to get the wares from the commodity broker near the landing area, he managed to get a good price for a large batch.

Eventually the Lindwyrm hit the lanes again, traveling through Kusari for a while was something Sergei never really done, he enjoyed the sights and aesthetics here. But soon they’ll hit the Taus and off to Gallia, he had never gone to Gallia either, “F*ck, Heinrich was right, exploring Sirius..”, he chuckled to himself, earning a glance from Karl, “Boss?”. Sergei chuckled again, “Nothing, just.. Just remembered what Heinrich recommended, go exploring, it would seem to be what we are doing right now.”, Karl chuckled as well, “Good point, never did I think I’d do that either to be honest. I worked on a cruiser, all I ever saw was the dungeon of an engineering bay and the hangars at homebase.”. Sergei smiled at that, “Yeah, after working with the Military in Rheinland I got to see a hell of a lot of just that,. Rheinland, and sometimes the Omegas, but.. Yeah, no.” he sighed, “But back in the coalition I saw most of Sirius, or at least the independent systems.”.
There was a short silence before Karl asked, “Do you miss it, boss?”, Sergei had been thinking about this since Marlon called, “Yes and no, I miss the sense of family I had back then, but.. The freedom I have now is hard to beat. But I do miss the duties I had back then, being a Commissar in the coalition is quite.. Important. And I did a lot, organized a few battle plans against Bretonia and Rheinland and..”, Sergei stopped himself, “There is a lot more to it, but I haven’t been able to remember it. I spent years with them, but only got a few clear memories left.”.
Karl was silent again for a bit, “Can it be because of the implant?”, Sergei sighed, “Yeah, It’s malfunctioning and I have no idea what’s wrong with it and no else seems to either.”, Karl asked, “But you were in the coalition for a few years and then.. You worked for the military? Espionage?”. Sergei chuckled, “That’s right.”, Karl walked over to the side of Sergei and looked down, “Do you remember your time with the military though? All of it?”. Sergei looked up at him and shook his head, “No, I remember the first year well, but somewhere down the line, I forgot about the coalition and the last few years I was Hans and only Hans, then.. Something happened to the implant and both lives got f*cked up and mixed.”. Karl frowned, “Why not go back to the Coalition at that point?”.
Sergei was silent for a bit, “I did, once, Marlon helped me, but, at that time Katz had been gone and most of the information from my time with them was sealed away. Most of those I knew were gone or dead. And the information on the implant was sealed away as well, if it even existed anymore. I could’ve started again, as Sergei, worked myself up in the ranks and made a difference and maybe gotten access to the data, but, I got the feeling that I wasn’t really welcomed, to all except Marlon. But, I left.”. A long silence followed and then Karl nodded and said, “Sounds like you had a difficult time, boss.”, Sergei chuckled and looked up at him, “It was fine, I survived. Now, I just want to fix the implant and then we’ll see what happens. I am Sergei now, not Ivan.”.
Karl tilted his head, “Wait, could the implant override who you are now?”. Sergei just stared at him then frowned and thought for a bit, “No I don’t think so, I don’t think it was meant to change my identity, but rather that, since it was connected to the hippocampus for direct access to my memories, save them and then I could send the data back. So, now, when it f*cks up, I forget things at times now, sometimes long and sometimes just a few minutes.”. Karl smiled, “I’ll keep you updated in case you forget something, promise, boss.”. Sergei felt a bit of genuine happiness from that promise, he smiled at Karl and patted his back, “Thanks, number two.”. Then they eased back into their duties as the Lindwyrm entered the Taus, on course to Gallia.

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