Interlude: A Precious Future (End)

Retirement was an exceedingly luxurious word in the Imperium of the thirtieth millennium. Under normal circumstances, almost no one used it. Even when they did, it was usually one of its Imperium-redefined synonyms—death in battle, sacrifice, missing in action, and so on.

Wounds would be healed, lost limbs replaced with prosthetics, and fleeing answered with bullets from behind. In short, once most people entered military service in the Imperium, the best ending they could hope for was death in battle.

Of course, so long as the numbers were large enough, there would always be exceptions.

The lucky few who earned a chance to "make a wish" through great military merit, only to use it to request retirement; battle-hardened veterans who had served dutifully for years and genuinely endured until their unit reached its retirement term; noble officers from distinguished families, capable in their own right, yet personally judged by the Departmento Munitorum after some campaign to be "no longer suited for the battlefield"...

In a galaxy this vast, there would always be unusual people—exceptionally unlucky or exceptionally fortunate. Sometimes, there was not much difference between the two.

However, after the thirty-eighth millennium began, this situation seemed to have changed, at least according to the Departmento Munitorum's regulations.

Every soldier who had fought in at least one war was required to undergo regular psychological assessments to confirm whether they remained fit for duty. If they were judged unable to continue serving, they would be advised to retire.

Those dissatisfied with this could apply to their immediate commanding officer for a comprehensive assessment. Only by passing it could they remain in service.

As for those who failed, they would return to the Departmento Munitorum headquarters on Terra alongside those who calmly accepted their future, where their merits would be assessed and subsequent