The Awakening Elias awakens with all of a sudden in an unknown place. it's a quiet room, with pale walls, but he doesn't recognize it. Anxiety raises in him, because he remembers that he is late to submit his last report after the last patrol in NB. Maybe he fainted from tiredness? Then he realizes that he has several medical instruments around him. That's so confusing. He gets up struggling, from the bed, with a weird huge feeling of weakness. "Maybe it's because i haven't done much workout lately" he thinks. But he is definitely too tired.
Then he crosses his own gaze in a mirror, and he's kinda petrified: a thick and long beard such as has never seen himself with before. Why? Elias always shaves. What happened? Even more worried and incredulous at all these oddities, he begins to suspect and fear what may have really happened to him. He can't find his phone anymore, not even the neural link. Heading towards the lobby of the facility, he finally finds a terminal. The day he reads scares him between a mixture of fear and the feeling of having lost a lot along the way: 5 years have passed.
A nurse suddenly reaches him. She seems slightly happy with his awakening.
After helping him settling down, she consulted the logs of the patient:
"It's definitely a miracle you are still alive after everything that happened to you. The violent nature of the accident would have easily been fatal in most cases. Do you remember who you are?"
A doctor shows up. A bunch of checks up and few quick operations on the terminal: "Herr Köetz, i am Doctor Muller. I'm delighted to know you are back with us. We've had worst cases for sure, but yours was a delicate one as well. I've checked the logs about you in the database. What's the last thing you remember?"
"Hmm... Probably something like a ship?"
"Yes, you were a pilot for the Rheinwehr"
Elias felt a bunch of memories slowly unlocking.
"It seems that after you took part in a war operation, your vessel got damaged but you managed to survive in your escape pod. Here says that the medical tests done after that accident were all negative."
"Then what's happened"
"What they didn't notice is that you actually had a concussion. A metal plate of the vessel went directly on the temporal lobe, and there was probably a certain amount of internal bleeding from what i read here. And in the following weeks it got worse and worse, until one day your colleagues found you lying on the ground of the office."
With a scolding tone he adds: "More timely check ups during that period would have definitely saved you from this..."
"You also got transferred from the military hospital of Neu Berlin one year after the accident. They really needed space there..."
Elias notices something between sarcasm and contempt in the doctor's words. But everything is already confusing at the moment, so he doesn't ask about it. It will be something to discover later.
"Anyway. Follow the rehab process, but from what i see here you're gonna be fine very soon.
About the present, everything could feel weird at the beginning. I don't see much contacts in your files here. I'd say your best bet would be to get in touch with your colleagues. Viel Glück."
They leave. Elias sits for few minutes, pondering what just has happened. But everything feels too complex right now.
Thus he goes for a walk outside his room. The clinic looks very elegant. The technology definitely went further meanwhile.
Few days later, Elias is ready to see Planet Neu Berlin's sunlight, once again.
Vizeadmiral Gunter Kunrad closed the communication channel and leaned backwards in his chair at his desk. "Something wrong, Herr?" Bootsmann Holger Lahm asked. Gunter kept looking at the empty screen. "There is a pilot that has returned from the dead it seems." Lahm looked at him confused. "What do you mean?" Kunrad turned his head towards him. "This pilot, or rather Kapitan woke up from a coma after 5 years. I just accepted his reinstatement into the Rheinwehr."
Holger now understood what he meant with "back from the dead". "I'm surprised they still believed in his awakening after 5 years. I can't imagine what he must feel after hearing how much years of his life he missed!""Yes..." Gunter played with the pen in his hand. "...and there will be a lot of catching up to do on current events. He's heading here as we speak, so make sure he receives a warm welcome and gets comfortable. This briefing might become shocking for him."
Stuttgart was a new place for Elias, he had never been there before. A surreal scenario, made even stranger by all that situation and news that was affecting, almost crushing, Elias's life.
With recent weeks spent in rehab in New Berlin, Elias now felt fit again.
Once took a transport, it was time to see once again the space. The ships look much the same as they used to, he thinks. But something immediately catches his eyes: now "The Ring" is totally different. A gigantic structure that envelops the entire planet. He can't believe his eyes. Some passengers on the transport notice, amidst a few quiet giggles, that Elias is following the structure with an astonished gaze, like a kid.
The journey towards the Stuttgart system proceeded peacefully, but no point in hiding a blatant anxiety that is attacking him.
After checking his device for the umpteenth time to check that the road was the right one, he heads towards the entrance of the structure. The secretariat staff welcomes him.
"Guten Morgen, I should confer with the Vizeadmiral Gunter Kunrad. My name is Elias Köetz."
"Guten Tag, let me check. Yes, the Vizeadmiral is waiting for you in his office."
Elias slowly starts to walk towards the corridors that leads to the vizeadmiral's office. Beyond that door, there's so much to discover, from an unknown past, to his future.
"Guten Tag Vizeadmiral. I'm finally here, ich bin Elias Köetz."
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