I woke up to the feeling of clean sheets and a comfortable bed. The air tasted clean and crisp, which was a welcome feeling compared to the damp, stuffy bunker air I was used to. I slowly opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. I'm laying on a white hospital bed in a small room with white, sanitary walls. My gaze drifts to the ceiling and I see a beautiful mural showing the valiant heroes of the Stelken war all standing proudly on Urtol, with their fists raised into the air. As I look to the right I find a window, and beyond that window is a view of Urtol from thousands of miles outside its' atmosphere with a sea of twinkling stars permeating the endless void of space.

I realize now that I must be on one of the Federation's hospital ships, high above Urtol. What I don't know is how I got here and why I'm not dead. The last thing I remember is bleeding out on the floor of the cafeteria, miles below the surface. I realize that after Mindal had triggered the bunker lockdown, the Federation must have deployed a force from their orbital fleet to assist us.

As I'm pondering my predicament, the plasteel door to my left opens and two people in white medical uniforms walk in. One of them a white haired man who must have been in his 60s. The other was a younger man with dark hair who must have been his assistant. I assume they must be the doctors in charge of my care and sit up to meet them, only I can't seem to sit up, or move any of my limbs for that matter. The doctors seem to notice this and rush over to my bed. "Don't try to move lieutenant. You've sustained several serious injuries to your body." they told me. "We had to reconstruct most of your chest cavity and almost all of your abdomen, you're extremely lucky the response team found you in time." I merely looked at them and said pointedly "Why cant I move?". They both shared a look and said "Your spine was completely destroyed from the back down. Human medical reconstruction has progressed leaps and bounds since the Stelken war but unfortunately it's looking like you'll be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of your life."

Completely stunned, I simply sat in silence. My wish to live had been fulfilled but now I was to be shackled to a chair until I die. Then I remember my friend Mindal, who last I saw had been laying on the floor in a crumpled pile of armor. I spoke up and said "Were there any other survivors recovered from the bunker?". The two doctors nodded and the older man spoke. "There were three injured soldiers recovered including yourself. All of you suffered serious injuries and were transported by shuttle to this hospital ship. When the response team arrived they found the 25 remaining soldiers protecting your body, they even shot at the response team when they entered before they were told to stand down" The doctor chuckled a bit after saying this but all I felt was pride for my men, having risked everything with me and still ready to give more after the battle had finished. "What about Staff Sergeant Mindal, Is he alive?" I asked. The older man smiled weakly and then frowned as he spoke. "He did survive, yes but I'm sad to say he's in a similar boat as you. His lower body was completely severed from the hips down and the spinal damage was too severe to restore his legs. In a few years technology might progress far enough to implant robotic legs, but until then he'll be confined to a wheelchair as well."

After hearing that I was extremely happy that Mindal had survived. However, I was also immensely sad as he would now also be confined to the same boring sad life that now awaited us. "Can I see him?" I asked with a hopeful tone in my voice. The older man laughed and said "Funny you should ask, he actually forced us to wheel him down the hall to see you." The doctor turned back to the door and scanned his wrist to open it, revealing a disheveled looking Mindal on the opposite. He looked up when the door opened and his face lit up upon seeing me laying in bed. "Lieutenant!" Mindal shouted before wheeling himself into the room. "We'll give you two some privacy and check back in a bit" said the doctor with a smile on his face.

Once they had left I turned my head to get a better look at Mindal. He was still as pale as ever, sitting in his wheelchair smiling at me, and I'm not sure exactly why, but that brought me great comfort. He looked me up and down, frowned, and then spoke up. "What's the word sir? You look like shit!". I laughed as I looked at my own body. I was covered from head to toe in huge bruises and large bandages on my chest covered the gashes the kryssik had given me when I shoved my sword through its' mouth. I looked back at Mindal and spoke dejectedly. "They say I'll walk again Mindal. I think I might have preferred if you hadn't saved my life." "Nonsense!" Mindal said laughing. "I wouldn't have wrestled with a massive monster and given up my legs if I didn't think you deserved to live!. Plus it seems like I was right about you. After all, you did paint the cafeteria with that thing's guts!". I laughed loudly and then cringed from a twinge of pain in my bruised chest. "I guess you're right. I definitely wouldn't be alive without your help though, so thank you." I said sincerely. Mindal merely smiled "Think nothing of it." he said. "I needed to ride a giant kryssik as my ancestors before me for the bragging rights!". I smiled genuinely as it seemed like Mindal was genuinely laughing about the whole experience.

We talked for a while longer about what comes next. Mindal planned on going into reserve duty, traveling to schools to recruit for the military just at the old veteran had done years ago. On the other hand, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Most of the reserve jobs consisted of administrative work, and having been only doing administrative work for the past 6 years, I was naturally hesitant to make any decisions yet. We continued discussing our futures, weighing the pros and cons until we were interrupted by the door opening.

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We both looked up, expecting to see the doctors again, but this time a tall man in a black uniform walked in. He was an elderly man with wild grey hair and a fragile-looking pair of glasses perched upon his nose. His eyes held an immense amount of intelligence, and surprisingly, and equal amount of kindness within them. He walked in to the room and swept his gaze across us until he spoke. "Good! you're both here. That makes this easier". The man pulled a chair over from the side of the room to the foot of my bed and sat down, almost melting into it. "Gentlemen" he said. "You've both fought valiantly and loyal for the Federation, saving many lives at the expense of your own". The man straighten up in his chair and continued. "My name is Colonel Wagner and I represent the Federation Military Development division. The doctors tell me that both of you may never walk again, even after putting yourselves in the line of fire for your men." Col Wagner frowned. "It would be a waste of such loyal and proven warriors to send you off to the reserves to live out your days as a glorified paper pusher." He then reached inside his uniform jacket and produced two sealed, white letters and handed one to each of us. "The Federation has authorized me to make you an offer." He leaned back to slouch in his chair again. "This is an offer to join a top secret program that I'm not authorized to give you details about until you agree." "However" he said, leaning in. "I can tell you that this program might give the use of your legs back to you."

I merely lay there stunned, but Mindal spoke up. "What are the risks?" He said with a hint of suspicion in hit voice. Col Wagner merely laughed "Good question!" His tone change to one of utmost seriousness. "Certain death of course, but you wouldn't really be living in the state you're in now would you?". Mindal started to speak again but I interrupted him. "I'm in" I said with utmost certainty. The life I would lead if I were to remain as I am now would not be one worth living. Mindal, at least had a chance. He could still use his arms and feed and cloth himself. I would be reliant on others for basic necessities for the rest of my dreary life. Mindal's head whipped to face me with an incredulous look on his face. "Are you sure?" he said "We don't know anything about this! He even said there's a good chance of us dying!" I simply nodded and said "The life I have now would not be one worth living". This seemed to satisfy him and he turned back to the Colonel. "If he's going then I'm in too." He said with determination in his voice.

"Excellent!" The Colonel said and clasped his hands together. "You're transfer paperwork has already been arranged so all you'll have to do is open your envelopes and sing." Mindal opened both of our envelopes and held mine up for me to see. Written on the top of the paper in bold lettering were the words Federation Officer Project. I scanned down the page until I found the signature box at the bottom. I looked at the Colonel and pointedly said "I can't exactly sign anything since I can't even hold a pen." "Don't worry about it!" The Colonel laughed. He then grabbed my wrist and lifted my ID up the the paper. There was a small beep and the entire sheet of paper flashed white for a millisecond. Once the paper had returned to normal my ID number and signature were both neatly written on the bottom of the paper. "We recruit lots of paraplegics into this program, so we made sure to have a way for them to sign the paperwork." The Colonel said with a small smile. Once Mindal had used his ID to sign the man shook his hand. "Excellent, I'm going to go find some nurses to help get you into a wheelchair, First Lieutenant, then we'll be on our way." Spoke the Colonel. "Sir, I mean no disrespect but I'm only a Second Lieutenant." I said but he smiled down at me and said "That's the neat part, the contract comes with an automatic promotion for your service to the Federation!". After that he opened the door again and walked out to presumably find help, returning a short time later with three strong looking nurses and a wheelchair in tow.

The nurses lifted me into the wheelchair and the Colonel pushed me out of the door and down the hall with Mindal following closely behind. "You guys are going to love it at The Lab. There's all sorts of cool weaponry and armor that no one in the Federation have even seen yet. Not to mention the food there is way better than the lab grown crap they feed to the military out here." The Colonel said yammering on while wheeling me down the hallway. "Don't even get me started on the showers, if you think you've had quality showers, just wait until you try one of the rejuvenating medical showers. They used Stelken genetic technology to make it! I swear those things clean you down to your DNA!". Colonel droned on about the unending luxuries of The Lab until we finally reached the hangar bay of the medical ship.

Being a standard construction ship, most medical ships in the Federation fleet had large hangars to accommodate a massive influx of patients during full scale wars. This ship was no exception, having a hangar almost half a mile wide by a mile deep. All throughout the hangar, medical personnel and maintenance crews were buzzing about, transporting patients from the planet below or repairing damaged components. The Colonel wheel me all the way to the back of the hangar where his ship awaited us.

My jaw almost hit the ground as the sleek, black and red warship came into view. This ship had to have been more expensive than half of the shuttles in the hangar! It was around 250 feet long by 60 feet wide. With pitch black plating that seemed to draw in the light around it. Across the entire ship was beautiful, ornamental, red inlay, depicting spiraling geometric shapes that my mind could hardly comprehend. As we approached the ship I spoke. "Forgive me sir, but where exactly is The Lab located?" The Colonel smiled. "Why Earth of course! Where else would we get the funding for a ship like this?" Earth, the height of power in the Federation. A planet so lush and fertile, you had to serve a minimum of 20 years in the military just to apply for citizenship. Mindal and I both shared a look and smiled. We both shared the same thought. This transfer to The Lab might not be so bad.