I dreamed a dream. Secured deep in my pod a millions miles into space, I dreamed a dream of lush fields, flowing rivers, and a peaceful blue sky. But the vision was consumed by fire, everlasting burning fire, and pain, so much pain.....
“WARNING! WARNING! EMERGENCY EJECTION MODE INITIATED!” I awoke to the LIFETECH comm unit installed in my pod. With flashing red lights and the repetitive beeping, I felt my pod being expelled and momentarily a sensation of floating, then a plummeting sense, falling so fast it was darkening my vision, darker and darker the pod became, the flashing lights and beeping slowly droned out, followed lastly by a deep dull explosion, then darkness....

I dreamed a dream. I dreamed a dream of lush fields, flowing rivers, and a peaceful blue sky. But the vision was consumed by fire, everlasting burning fire, and pain, so much pain.....

I awoke again to a jarring thud. Instantly sharp pain seared through my side. I looked down to see a sharp piece of wreckage of some sort had pierced the pod and cut deeply into my proto suit, as a faint blue mist hissed from it... My blood, my energy... I panicked, reaching for the emergency pod hatch released I yanked hard, it came off, but the door didn't budge. I was stuck, as my life slowly seeped away from me... I closed my eyes... Is this how my short life ends, So much time in cyber sleep for this.... Darkness fell again...

"Hey we found one!"
"Readings are faint, but someone is still alive!"
"The hatch is stuck!"
"Move out of the way!"
BANG!
Light streaked into the pod as I opened my eyes weakly to be greeted by several beings. Much like me, with glowing eyes, but dressed in very odd looking armor, one holding a gun I recognized as the punch gun, a emergency hatch opening tool. Immediately i was lifted out by a particularly large fellow, who laid me down.
"No. 77, I need you to take a look at him." he said gruffly.
“Right away No. 43.”
A smaller knight with gentle eyes and dressed in a whitish armor kneeled next to me. "Pretty nasty cut, might have to seal it." she said in a kind voice. She pulled out what looked like a red striped sword. "Hold still, this might sting a little." A searing second of pain, and the slight wispy stream of blue mist ceased from emitting from my side. No. 77 looked at me. "I'm sorry, but the damage is pretty bad. I don't know if you can handle it alone out in this world we are in now.”
"What do you mean?" I whispered. She smiled faintly. "You won't survive in your condition. You can't store more then 10% of your mist energy. My heart faltered. “You mean?...”
90% of your tank has been destroyed." She said grimly. But then she smiled. "Come with us, we will let our squad leader determine what to do with you." The giant of a man named No. 43 helped me to my feet. “Come, I'll carry you.” I stared at him. “Who are you guys?” No. 43 smiled. “We are the Spiral Knights Retrieval Unit, SKRU for short.”
We bypassed the rescue camp, and took an alternate path, down the ledge, to what appeared to be a bunker, sealed with a giant steel door. No. 77 punched in the access code, and the door hissed open. “Welcome to HQ.” she said smiling. The room was brightly lit with white circle lights set into dark, flat, steel, ceiling, and a assortment of weapons and gear lay about in neat piles here and there. In one corner a flickering ember light glowed from a doorway, accompanied by sharp crackling and hissing. “Seems No. 24 is still working on his gadget.” No. 43 muttered. No. 77 nodded. “Can't blame him, he works hard with whatever tech we dig up you know? Especially on this confounded planet.” No. 43 nodded. “Indeed such a planet is unlike anything we ever seen much less trained for.” No. 43 looked down at me. “Yeah there is a bit to learn here. Our squad will fill you in.” I swallowed a lot of questions inside me and nodded. “Yes sir.” No. 43 smiled. “No need to be formal, ranks don't matter here, its all a matter of survival.” He smiled and clapped a massive hand on my shoulder. “This way.” He guided me down a hall to a steel door. “Our squad leader is in here.” He opened the door and I was greeted by a knight dressed in very official-looking armor. “No. 21, this is the new one we told you about.” No. 21 nodded. “Indeed. Very well No. 43, I'll take it from here.” No. 43 nodded and closed the door behind him. No. 21 looked at me over his glasses. “Well now, seems you had a bit of a rough landing eh?” I nodded. He continued to speak. “I understand you can't join the other regular knights in their current expeditions, so how would you like to join us?” I stared at him. “Join you?” No. 21 nodded. “Yes, as you see accidents like yours are sadly a very common occurrence. Naturally, thats where we come along, hush things up, and take in the poor fellow as a new recruit for our work, a secret and very little known work.” My mind blanked. “What do you do sir?” No. 21 looked at me sharply. “Are you saying you will join us?” I nodded. I mean, if I can't join the rest, this is my only chance to be useful right? No. 21 smiled. “SKRU is a top secret group that works one one task and one task alone. We sink to all depths of the clockworks, retrieve the knights that have fallen and sent out a return to haven signal, wipe their memories of us, and repair their functions if needed.” My head started spinning. “Um sir, what is clockworks? Depths? Haven? I'm sorry I do not understand sir.” No. 21 smiled. “I'm sorry I got a bit ahead of myself. Let me explain, it all started when a explosion occurred on the Skylark...”

I stared at the ground. “So this core... Its our only chance of getting home?” No. 21 nodded. “Yes, as far as we know.” I sighed deeply. “Alright, tell me what to do.” No. 21 smiled. “First basic training, next we will outfit you with gear, No. 24's finest I may add, third, we send you on a live retrieval mission, then you will start on delta squad. Oh and you will be No. 54, as your ID number.” I nodded. No. 21 grinned. “So, shall we begin?”