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Zoe wandered out of Freeport Two's medical bay and slumped to the ground, exhausted.
The stress and fatigue of finding a beat-up, lone Rheinland Military wraith, that was drifting through Texas and that the pilot was close to death was a bit too much for her. She didn't know what she was worried about: the pilots safety or if she could get him back to HC for questioning, so that the HC would be pleased with her and excel her to a higher rank.
Neither of those were important right now, as the Rheinlander was still in the Medical bay, what mattered was him getting into a stable condition.
Zoe raised her head up and looked at her surroundings once more since entry. Freeport 2 was a peaaceful place, the zoners who resided there were gracefully moving around and engaging in polite conversation with one another. She could almost swear she saw a Rogue within the crowd, with a few Outcasts with him. She knew that didn't matter though, as Freeport 2 was a peaceful place. She wasn't going to try report them anyway.
She couldn't help but admire the peace that was present here, how it would be so great if Rheinland and Liberty were peaceful with each other just as much as Zoners were to themselves.
She looked at her watch. It had been a few odd hours since she arrived with the Rheinlander. She decided it would be best to go back in and check on him again. She didn't want him to die on her, that might affect her chances of a promotion.
And with that, she picked herself up and went back inside the Medical Bay.
She entered through the doors and talked to the Zoner Doctor. "Hello, I'd like to see patient Baradlay please" she said.
Slowly the light reached his eyes and Eugen woke up. The hospital room was empty and he felt uncomfortable. He was still weak to think about what just happened. He tried to reach after his sidearm in his holster. Empty. Actually the holster wasn’t there where it supposed to be. It took five minutes for him to realize he’s not wearing his military uniform and actually in a different place. "Where am I?" he asked from nobody as noone else were in the room besides him. Silence surrounded Leutnant Baradlay.
As he tried to sit, terrible thought sturck his mind as he still couldn’t feel or move his left arm. Eugen slowly looked under the blanket and calmed down. Not so many pilots survived such a battle with a broken arm. „It’ll be okay” said someone and Eugen raised his head. The nursed smiled at the lieutenant and assured he hadn’t suffered any permanent injury. Eugen fell asleep happily.
A doctor entered the room. Eugen were awake at that point, staring at the ceiling and trying to remember what exactly happened. Somehow he managed to get to the Freeport without getting caught, but the thought that he had to get back to Rheinland disturbed him. The doctor stepped to his bed. "Someone wants to see you, may I let her in?”. The bandaged head slowly nodded.
The nurse came to the waiting desk and approached Zoe. The nurse looked up from the data-pad and spoke to Zoe "He said you can come in now".
Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. If he said that she could come in, that would mean he's still alive and didn't bleed to death from the wounds. "Excellent" said Zoe.
As they were walking down the corridor to Eugen's room, Zoe asked the nurse how he was doing.
Zoe checked her watch, then spoke to the nurse. "How's his condition? Is it stable?" "Yes" the nurse replied. "It was critical when he got here, he probably would've died if he didn't come to Freeport 2, Good thing you brought him here as it is now Stable" "He's still far from being fixed up though". "Alright, at least he's healing". "Actually Miss...?" "Valentine" "Miss Valentine, I find one thing very peculiar about the circumstances of this".
They then both stopped in front of a door that would take them to Eugen's room. Before going in, the nurse asked Zoe a question. "I find it strange that someone in the Liberty Navy would bring someone from the Rheinland Military here, rather than taking him directly to headquarters". "It's most peculiar".
Zoe hadn't expected the nurse to ask this, she was slightly stunned for a while. "It's the right thing to do" She quickly said, before the nurse could carry on the conversation and opened the door into Eugen's room.
Truly, she did not expect to see the Rheinlander in such a condition.
Eugen was encased in bandages all over his body. He looked like a mummy out of those films Zoe would only really ever watch if she was ever bored. This time though, what she saw was real and slightly frightening, as it gave her insight into what war can do to a person.
She came over to him and sat near his bed. "Hey, Eugen. How you feeling?" She said with a smile.
Eugen opened his eyes as he heard a woman asked him a question. All he saw was a young woman smiling at him. Eugen remembered her face, though could not tell where he had seen her before. Then the lightning struck. Pictures appeared before him, about the assault on Texas, the Liberty fleet and how he woke up in his Wraith covered with blood. Anxiously took another look around the room, hoping he notices his sidearm somewhere.
He felt a drop of sweat rolling down on his face, realizing she’s a soldier of the Navy before his bed. Half a minute passed since the question when he remembered how Zoe had taken him here and she meant no harm. Eugen took a deep breath. „I've seen better days.” His ears were still ringing. „Why did you bring me here?”
"You're injured, like, super injured" Zoe said quickly "You had blood all over you, your ship was busted. I thought you were going to die..." Zoe paused for a moment and looked down at the floor, it was clear she was uneasy about this. "I didn't bring you to HC because, they would've questioned you and questioned you. They might've let you bleed to death... or worse".
Zoe observed the patient in his bed. "Do you know how much longer you'll be here for? You're bandaged, but I doubt your wounds will heal in a day considering your condition" she asked "I hate to be blunt, but being here for too long is bad for the both of us".
„One more day and I attempt to get out from here.” – said Eugen slightly dazed – „It can’t be that serious.” As he said that, he sit up in his bed. His right arm was free from bondages so he used it to help pushing his body up. He put the pillow between him and the wall and leaned back.
Eugen were just looking at Zoe. He never had the chance to see his enemy. He wasn’t even sure if she is an enemy. Until that day, Libertonian pilots had been just a red cross around their ships, waiting to be destroyed. He couldn’t count how many fighters he had destroyed so far and how many survived. He just could not imagine to kill her. It was different then than on the battlefield. He decided to have a talk with her before he make any decisions.
With the help of his right arm he unrolled the bandage from his head. At first it was white like the snow, then it was yellow with disinfectant. The doctors shaved his head in order to heal the wound. It was 7 cm long, starting from the upper left of his forehead across the crown. Any cap would hide it, even if his hair grows back. As it didn’t bleed anymore, it was fine. The brain concussion he had was more serious.
The cut on Eugen's head was very worry some. It was deep and 7 centimeters long. Zoe really didn't want to know how he got that, but she thought it was like hell's vulture had just paid his head a visit.
When Eugen asked Zoe how he looked, she didn't really know how to respond. His handsome features had wounds along them that stuck out, fortunately, those were most likely due to heal. "You look... better than you did when you got here, to say the least" She responded.. "You're healing nicely though, so hopefully your visual wounds will vanish sooner or later".
Zoe checked her watch, her time was almost up. "Eugen, I can only be here a short while longer before I need to go out onto Patrol and then I have to be someplace afterwards" She then picked up his hand and held it firmly "I swear though, I will be back as soon as possible".
Eugen looked at her hand holding his, leaving him speechless for a few seconds. It might be the aftermath of the events or his condition that made him not to speak hastily. Or something else. How can two enemy soldiers be this close to each other like this? – he thought. Of course on the other hand, there were the distrust and nervousness about her.
A few days before he had been shooting Navy fighters with no regret and then he’s saved by one of them. Maybe they just needed him alive. But maybe, they’re not that different as the military propaganda hammered it into their heads. Either way he felt the need for a clearer mind to think about the whole.
„Go then.” - he said but didn’t pull his hand back. He saw something in her eyes, maybe he wouldn’t end up in some P.O.W. camp or worse. „I need some rest anyway.”
Zoe let go of his hand after the confirmation. "I'll be back to make sure you're still ok", She turned to one of the Zoner nurses "If you want Freeport 2 to remain peaceful, you'll keep him under guard. Got it?".
The nurse nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll be back in a few hours" Zoe said as she walked out the medical bay doors, waving goodbye.
Eugen then made himself comfortable, as far as it was possible, and tried to sleep. All his memories about the battle and what happened afterwards were still a blurred mass in his mind. But it all turned into some calm and quiet thing. He fell asleep.
After 12 hours, he woke up with a dry throat. There was a glass on the cupboard with some liquid inside. Eugen first thought it was some water with some kind of medicine – or toxic inside. He had caught some of Zoe’s words about keeping him under guard. Althought questioning the nurses about it would end up bad for him. Well, I’m thirsty – he thought and reached for the glass and drank. Clean water.
He wasn’t that calm. He remembered. The Rheinland Fleet had attacked the Libertonian forces at the New York gate. They had managed to destroy their capital ships however, the Navy sent a wing of fighters. That’s when a stray missile hit his ship. He had slammed at the top of the cockpit immediately , causing the wound on his head. He still felt the pain when he was thinking about that. He had no memories how his left arm broke, though he must hit the side after he had fainted.
Eugen summarized what he remembered and realized they might not had left him there intentionally. If his fighter’s core shut down, they could not track it, so the wraith drifted into the debris unnoticed. On the other hand, Leutnant Baradlay is well known about his opinion about the war. He was against it from the beginning and that’s reflected by his actions. Some famous officers like Major Einar Harkonnen or Major Siegfried Hermann would remove him from his position by all means. Though the current leadership wouldn’t do that.
If that’s the case, he’s listed as MIA and they would send someone to bring him home. The question was if he wanted to return after what happened … and after he saw through the propagand. Either way, he must talk with Zoe first.
His head felt better than the day before, he might even attempt to walk around, if it was possible because of the bandages. Unfortunately, the nurses had taken his weapons, the military dagger and gun and left only his other belongings in the cupboard. A lighter, his dogtag and somepictures, that’s all he had that time. Not even talking about his uniform, it was hopeless to save it.
A nurse came in. „Are you feeling better?” - she asked with smile. „Ja” – he answered without emotions. „I’m hungry though.”
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