Vitality Medical Station in human-controlled space. 1 week after the raid on the Elunari Facility.

“Draining Bio-Sculptor. Warning. Draining Bio-Sculptor,” repeated a synthetic voice.

I sloshed out of the Bio-Sculptor tube onto the cold floor white floor. I began coughing my lungs up as I attempted to clear my system of this awful gel-like substance. I imagine this is what bleach tastes like. After coughing for a good few minutes, I looked up at the man dressed in all white with a datapad standing over me,

“Commander Kronos of Hades Squad?” He asked.

“Yes, that’s me,” I croaked.

Fuck, this gel really dries your throat out. The nurse tossed me a warm bottle of water, which I promptly destroyed in seconds. Ah, much better. Although I need to consume much less water than a Human, water was still so refreshing.

“What is the last thing you remember, Commander Kronos?”

“Being admitted to Vitality Station to regrow my left hand.” I fired back. The nurse began tapping away at his datapad and continued,

“And last question. How old are you, Kronos?"

“15 standard years old.”

The nurse looked confused at my answer and knitted his brows at me as if I was lying. I was currently naked and standing over him. I was easily 2 feet taller than him. My appearance betrayed my age, however, I really was only 15. After a few moments of swiping away at his datapad, he responded,

“So you are… What the hell did they feed you?”

“Nutrient paste,” I answered non-committedly.

With a look of slight disgust, the nurse said, “Nutrient paste, huh… anyways you don’t seem to have any side-effects from the Bio-Sculptor. You are to be aboard Vitality Station for another 3 weeks while your hand finishes the regrowing process. Head Doctor Suárez will be your primary care physician while you are on board… and your room is 117. Clothes are on the table before you leave. Any questions?”

“None.”

The nurse gave me a nod and walked out of the room. I tried to flex my fingers but realized I didn’t have fingers currently. My wrist and palm had regrown over my time in the Bio-Sculptor. But it would take at least a week or so for my fingers to grow. I walked over to the jet-black sleepwear they left out for me and slipped it on.

I disliked this 3 week waiting period. But I was at the mercy of the medical staff while I was here. There wasn’t much for me to do in this kind of situation. I didn’t need to eat or sleep as often as Humans. There was nowhere I could train at this station where I wouldn’t cause damage. And I didn’t do anything else but train or go on missions. So with nothing left to do, I just opted to sleep. Maybe help my hand grow back faster, and get me out of here sooner.

—-

I jolted out of bed sweating and breathing heavily. Damn, another one. It’s only been 72 hours since I rolled out of the Bio-Sculptor and this is the second time I’ve had the same dream. Or I guess people might call this a nightmare. The events on Odeus 5 replay over and over again until I wake up in a cold sweat. I hear the final words of that Xeno child and watch as I fail to grab him.

I’m not sure what’s more problematic. The fact I’ve never had a dream in my entire life until now. Or that this event is somehow affecting me. Not wanting to think about it, I rolled out of bed and hopped into the sanitation unit cleaning myself. I readied myself so I could go get something to eat.

I strode through the halls, the recovering Marines or medical personnel were unconsciously moving out of my way. Thankfully these hallways were much wider and taller than normal so I could walk comfortably down them. I walked into the mess hall, grabbed a tray, and avoided the lunch line. I headed straight to the empty nutrient paste dispenser. Does nobody ever grab this stuff? It’s really good for you.

I sat down in the corner of the room and began chowing down. I had come to enjoy the taste of nutrient paste. I often heard the regs complain about how bland the stuff was, but it wasn’t bad. It was also the most efficient thing a soldier could eat anyways.

I sat alone and looked out into the vast room, everybody was sitting a healthy two whole tables away from me like I was a disease. It didn’t bother me. It was par for the course actually. I was about to finish my food when a short Hispanic woman wearing a dark blue lab coat walked over to me carrying a meal tray,

“Seat taken Commander?” I motioned to one of the many open seats around me. And of course, she sat down directly in front of me. The Doctor in front of me was probably in her early thirties. Brown hair and eyes, average height. Let’s see, and she’s th-…

“Are you checking me out Commander Kronos?” she asked innocently with a smile on her face, wrapping her arms around to cover herself.

“That’s not the word I’d use, Head Doctor Suárez. I’m just simply investigating you, that’s all."

“Ah, well you’re no fun,” Suárez said dejectedly. “Anyways, it’s nice to meet you, Commander Kronos. I’m the lead Doctor on this station. And I apologize that I haven’t had time to speak to you since you have arrived. I was a little preoccupied with a fresh batch of Marines off of Odeus 5.”

“It’s fine. I’m just passing time at your station. I don’t need any extra care while I’m here.”

“Nonsense! I pride myself on being the most passionate and compassionate Doctor in the Navy! It’s unforgivable that I’ve neglected you these last few days, especially someone as important as you Commander!” Suárez stated, standing up from the bench and striking a pose with her spoon in her hand.

Not wanting to draw any more attention than I’m already getting. I attempted to defuse the ranting Doctor,

“Yes, yes, of course. It’s fine. My hand is growing back fine and I’m in no pain to speak of. I’m sure there are plenty of people on this ship who need your help far more than I do.”

“I suppose you are right… however, I want you to come in for some checkups next week.” I was about to protest when she hit me with a “Non-negotiable checkups, Commander.” Not wanting to risk the wrath of the Doctor who decides when I get to leave this station. I simply nodded and agreed to her terms.

“However, there is something I want to discuss with you, Commander. I have to admit this is the first time I’ve met a Generation 1 Commando. There aren’t many of you guys left out there after all,” She said with a tint of remorse.

“It’s fine really. To be expected even. We were merely weapons to be used in the service of Humanity.”

“Huh… so it is true,” Suárez said incredulously. “I read some reports about the evangelists being pretty aggressive with you guys, and how you often diffused the situation just by agreeing with them. But do you really believe you aren't a real human, Commander Kronos? That you don’t have a soul?”

Ah shit, here we go again.

I've already had this conversation an infinite amount of times. When I was first deployed many were so zealous in their efforts to demonize us Gen 1s. Spouting how we weren’t real humans and we lacked a soul. Of course, I agreed with them. This would often surprise the vast majority of them. It was hard for them to call out the thing they were complaining about when I just sat there, nodding my head agreeing with them. I never considered myself to be a real human. Just a weapon for Humanity to wield. I was grown in a tube on Mars after all, and I doubt I had a so-called “soul”, if those even existed.

“If you have read my file Doctor, then I am sure you understand my opinion on these matters. I, along with all of my comrades, understand what we are and what our purpose is. There is no mistake. We are not real humans and we never will be. Doctor Octario created us in a lab. I spent my first few months of life in a tube, only to come out as an adolescent. Before I even reached my first decade of life I was already a man being sent into battle. We are soulless weapons, not humans.” I stated with conviction.

Doctor Suárez stared at me with a look of shock for a few moments, while tapping her rice with her spoon,

“Have you ever heard the saying Commander, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck? Well, you look like a human, you walk like a human, you talk like a human, then you’re probably a human, Commander.”

“Such a simple line of deduction doesn’t apply to us, Doctor. We are merely weapons masquerading as humans.” The Doctors wrist watch let out an alarm as she sighed,

“Duty calls. This conversation isn’t over Commander. You and I are going to have lunch together every day until you leave this station.” I raised my finger to protest when,

“NON-NEGOTIABLE! A prescription of a daily lunch with the cutest Head Doctor on the station for a Mr. Commander Kronos!” I sat back down as she beamed at me with her spoon in hand pointing at me. Flinging rice onto my face in the process. I simply nodded to confirm as she picked her tray up and left. I enjoyed the remainder of my cold nutrient paste in peace and silence.

—

It’s been two weeks since I’ve been on this station and I'm beginning to grow restless. My daily prescription dose of Doctor Suárez was really starting to wear me down. I didn’t have a very large social battery but it seemed the Doctor's was infinite. To alleviate myself I decided I’d go on a nightly jog around the station. I had just made it back to the crew quarters when one of the crew doors slide open and out came a familiar face,

“Heimdall. It’s good to see you.”

“Howdy ho! It’s even better to see you, kid. I’d say you look good but seems you’re missing some fingers there young man.”

My fingers had only regrown the first digit at this point and I could start flexing them now. They looked very awkward.

“I’ve had it worse,” I responded.

“Oh, I know you have, boy. Come walk with me a bit.”

Heimdall was one of the first Gen 2 Death Commandos I ever had in my squad. He eventually got promoted to Commander as well. He even leads his squad now. He was on the shorter side for a Gen 2 and he had some kind of reaction to the implants that greyed his hair out. Even though he was only in his late twenties, he looked 20 years older.

“What brings you to this station, Heimdall? You seem fine to me.”

“Oh you know, just getting a routine checkup. Nothing special, just the usual. Besides, I'd choose beautiful Doc Suárez over old hag Octario any day, ahha!”

“In your dreams, Heimdall. You don’t stand a chance against her,” I quipped at him.

“Did you just? Nevermind… Anyways, that was cold, kid. A man can dream can’t he?”

“Not a fan of dreaming currently.”

He winced a bit at my harsh words but didn’t ask, I didn’t mean to say it so aggressively either. Heimdall had led us to the rehabilitation ward. I was about to ask him what we were doing here when he opened a door to reveal a large white room with brown pads on the walls. It had a bunch of Parallel Bars for patients’ rehabilitation. He walked over to one and slid out the metal bar from its housing and tossed it to me.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You are stressed out kid. You haven’t unclenched your fists since we started talking. I can tell they got you cooped up in here with nothing to do but sit on your ass. So, we are gonna spar a bit.”

“Heimdall, I’m fine really. Besides, it's against the rules, you know that.”

“Get the stick out of your ass kid, you know you want to. Besides, did somebody give you orders saying you couldn’t swing a metal bar around with an old squadmate?”

“No…. I guess not.”

“Then let’s get to it. I promise I’ll go easy on my crippled Commander, ahha!”

I spun the improvised staff around. It was difficult when I was missing two-thirds of my fingers on a hand, but I would make do. It felt good to swing something heavy around, instead of just doing bodyweight exercises all day. Heimdall didn’t give me much time to warm up as he ran straight for me, smiling his wicked smile. Crazy man. I mainly just deflected his blows as I couldn’t really challenge him with one hand.

“Say kid, what are you gonna do after the war?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, the war isn’t gonna last forever. We have already crushed a majority of the Xeno council races. The Elunari might have a lot of worlds but they are gonna run out of them eventually. There are even some whispers of peace talks.” Heimdall said all this why attacking me relentlessly. So much for going easy on me.

“I don’t know. I’ll probably stay with the Commandos til the day I die.”

“Bullshit! A young man like you should have DREAMS! ASPIRATIONS! You don’t need to fight forever. There are plenty of things you can do! You can train the next generation! Hell, you could even go private! I’m sure people would pay top dollar for a Death Commando chief of security.” Heimdall didn’t really give me time to think as he backed me into a corner.

“I haven't thought about it, Heimdall. Besides I don’t think that far ahead about unimportant things. I’ll go wherever humanity needs me.” He swung at my legs as I leaped over him using the bar like a pole vaulter.

“BAH! There you go with that “humanity needs me” shit. You’ve done plenty for us boy! Make your old man a promise, and think about the future a bit, will you? Go settle down somewhere, buy a farm, and live your days out in peace. I’m sure you and Nyx would be very happy together,” He stopped, sweating and staring at me with an intensity I'm not sure I’ve ever seen from him. And when did he become my old man? He’s only like 13 years older than me. And what’s all this talk about Nyx being happy with me? I sighed,

“Sure thing, old man. I’ll give it some thought.”

He just gave me a big stupid smile,

“Good… good. I know that’s all I’m gonna get out of you today. I gotta go kid. I can see you already feeling much better,” Heimdall smiled back at me.

Huh. Maybe Heimdall did understand me. I do feel alot better. Matter of fact I haven’t felt this good in weeks.

“Thanks, Heimdall,” I said honestly.

“Anytime kid. Next time we meet, I’ll buy you a drink or something… ah, wait shit, you got a few more years for that huh? Eh, whatever, doubt anyone is gonna check your birthday you bald-headed demon, haha!” He said as he walked out tossing me his makeshift weapon that was now dented to hell and back.

What am I supposed to do with this?

—

It’s my final day at this station. My hand is brand new and feels perfect. Normally a soldier would just have their hand replaced with a bionic one. But my normal hand was much more efficient than some simple bionic replacement. The month I had to take off would be worth it in the long run. I just have one final examination left and I can return to Hades Squad. They are still on Odeus 5 mopping up the last of the Elunari forces.

“Sooo Kronos, I have a question for you. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a few Parallel Bars being destroyed, would you?” asked Doctor Suárez, eyeing me.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry as in you did it or sorry you don’t know?”

“Sorry,” I replied again.

She just smiled at me and began tapping away at her datapad,

“Serious head trauma… requires two weeks of observation…” She mumbled out.

“Commander Heimdall of Asgard squad did it.” Sorry old man, I apologized internally.

“See that wasn’t so hard. But in the future, please refrain from smashing my medical equipment. They might just have been some metal bars to you, but that stuff is expensive!” Rather than repeating myself again I just gave a nod of understanding.

I really didn’t mean to break the stuff. It just kind of happened. Besides, Heimdall was the one who went hard, not me. Doctor Suárez sighed at me and continued,

“Well, your hand looks good. All your scans are coming back just fine, and your one week of rehab was a success. I’d say you are in tip-top shape. Unless there is something else? Perhaps you wanna stick around just to see me some more?”

Oh no, I definitely didn’t want that. But there was something…

“Do you dream, Doctor?” I asked.

“Huh? I mean yeah of course. Don’t we all?”

"What do you normally dream about? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well… nothing really. They are just dreams. My dreams are just a weird mess of random things that I end up forgetting as soon as I wake up. I mean like, for example, I had a dream last week where I just walked out the airlock and started swimming in space.”

“Swimming in space? I see…” I answered.

“What, do you normally not have weird dreams, Commander?” Suárez asked me.

“No, I’ve only started dreaming recently.” Not wanting to go into detail or mention that they might actually be nightmares rather than dreams I omitted some details.

“Huh. I’m not really knowledgeable about dreams. But I mean you sleep so you should dream, right? I don’t really know what to say… I guess I’ll just report it and Doctor Octario can probably help you out.”

“That would probably be for the best. Thank you, Doctor.”

I didn’t think she would be able to help me. If anybody would know what was wrong with me it would be Octario. She turned her datapad towards me,

“Place your hand on the scanner and you are set to go, Commander.” I did as I was told and was rewarded with a little beep of confirmation.

“Well, this is it, Commander. You are free to go. Just one more thing. Try to live for yourself, just a little bit, okay? And don’t be so hard on yourself either. You are a good man, you don’t need to go through life like this,” She said to me with a wry smile.

“I’ll do my best Doctor and thanks,” I answered.

She gave me a salute as I began to walk out. I technically outranked her anywhere but on this station and she had never actually saluted me before. But I turned and returned the salute anyway. Somebody was waiting for me with a transport craft to take me back to the Silent Night.

I went back to my room and slipped on my undersuit. It felt good to be back into it. I left my room and headed to the hangar bay. A hangar of a medical station always smelled unhealthy, it was an awful concoction of oil and cleaning chemicals that singed your nose hairs. I walked towards the shuttle that had a young woman with black hair waiting for me on the ramp, giving me a warm smile. She really needs to stop making this a habit. Or maybe I should just stop losing limbs.

“Welcome back, Commander,” chimed Nyx.

“It’s good to be back.”

—

Mars. Mount Olympus facility 2502.

“I have a medical report that you should read ma’am.”

“Just send it to me and I’ll get around to it,” said a pale older woman with salt and pepper hair, wearing a jet black lab coat.

“I believe it to be important ma’am. It’s in regards to A002.”

“What’s wrong with it? I get medical reports about the first generations all the damn time. What makes this one so special?'' questioned the older woman. The other woman wearing jet black office attire responded,

“A Doctor Kassandra Suárez of Vitality Medical Station recently reported that A002 had successfully regrow his han-”

“Will you just tell me what is so interesting! My weapons lose limbs all the damn time. I don't care about that stuff!” The younger woman sighed at her outburst,

“Doctor Suárez reported that A002 admitted to having dreams for the first time and sought consultation.”

“Wait, what?! It had a dream? That’s not supposed to happen.”