The time came for the military personnel to return to base so that they could board the spaceship. It wasn't a hassle for them, and everyone returned on time. Nothing wrong happened with any of them. The five thousand or so men and women were standing outside being briefed by Colonel Kuruk. There was a platoon of Myrmidons that accompanied the Marines. This time, they had a space uniform. The Marines wore blue uniforms while the Myrmidons wore black to match the black berets they often wore. They were standing on a big field of pavement, which was cleared of any vehicles.

The colonel stood on a small stage behind a podium. He had tan skin, black hair that was in a buzz cut and black stubble. He wore an officer's hat with the logo of the Space Force, which was a golden planet with a ring. Beside him were the officers under him.

Behind the officers were multiple big dropships. They could fit vehicles like tanks, mechs, armored personnel carriers, and planes. They were a fraction of the size of the spaceship, but even each individual dropship was big. On the sides of the ship were the ramps that led to the hangar, which could fold to close it. They looked like big planes. The dozens of vehicles were chained to their places in the hangar.

"Today is the day we launch to space," the colonel said. "You all know what to expect. Just put away your equipment in your designated locker and sleep in your designated pod. If you are not to be frozen, but still need to be stationed at the ship, you will sleep in your pod normally. The ship's system will automatically wake everyone at the same time. Just sit in your pod for a few minutes and calmly walk to your lockers. You will be split into groups based on your platoon.

"Our mission is to bring technology home to make us more advanced. It's not just to win the war, but to also solve the energy crisis in most parts of the world. We are the few who are fortunate enough to be spared from the pollution. Let's help the rest of the world. Dismissed. The vehicles have entered the dropships, now it's our turn."

The Marines and Myrmidons were subdivided. They then entered the dropship where they were led to a hallway full of seats. Once everyone was strapped in, the engine started to charge up and everyone prepared for takeoff.

The ship slowly hovered in the air before accelerating. The ship flew in an angle that was almost vertical, making everyone lean back. Gabriel felt like he was shaking as the ship moved quickly through the air. The sky could be seen from the window. Blue quickly turned to black as the ship entered space. Gabriel floated for a bit, then went back down as the artificial gravity was activated.

The ship slowed down and landed in the massive hangar of the Sanctuary. After landing, the pilot told them to wait until everyone else was in the ship and all the hangar doors closed.

Once the hangar doors were closed, the troops walked out. The Sanctuary's hangar was spacious with high ceilings. There were white lights at the top. The big space was surrounded by metal walls.

The soldiers lined up behind their commanders. They then marched through the hallways towards the locker rooms. Despite having thousands of men, the soldiers were efficient in putting their gear away, like rucksacks and their contents, as well as any armor. Weapons were stored in an armory. Everyone stripped down to tank tops and shorts, going barefoot.

Gabriel then went with his squad to their sleeping pods. There was a hallway where the entire platoon of Myrmidons were going to sleep. On both sides, there were pods stacked on top of each other. Each door of the pod was square and made of glass. On each side of the capsule was a ladder and a small platform for people to step on to make it easier for them to enter and exit. The pod wasn't too spacious, but there was enough room for each person to sit cross-legged when inside.

Gabriel went in headfirst as instructed. Inside the pod, there was a vent that would blow air. Gabriel presumed this was how the people were frozen. The bed could still be used normally. He could lay comfortably and roll around for a bit. There was a blanket and pillows.

The ship's announcements came on. "You have 5 minutes before we freeze your body. Get comfortable. We will wake you up on August 18th, 2161. Lie down flat on your back as the countdown starts. Don't use the blanket because we need to freeze you. Sleep tight, everyone."

Gabriel stared at the ceiling. As the announcements mentioned the time in decrements of 1 minute, he took some deep breaths and closed his eyes. He then felt cold air blow into the room, and he lost consciousness.

Gabriel awoke and the pod defrosted. The moisture was being evaporated and he felt a bit warm, like he was inside a laundry dryer. His room needed to be dried. He then sat up and stared outside quietly. It was dark in the hallways. His eyes were a bit heavy, and he would hate it if he had to look at a screen or any lights. He was feeling a bit lightheaded. He felt himself. He still had the same muscles, and no hair grew.

"Good day everyone! I hope you had a nice sleep! This is the captain speaking. It's August 18, 2161. I suggest you take it slow and not view any news until you reach the base. I know I might have piqued your interest, but just be patient. I was barely able to resist the urge to open my tablet the second I woke up.

"To all the passengers. At 1300 hours, you must meet your commanders to grab your gear. At 1430, you will be taking the dropships down and you will be taken to your new barracks. The ship will stay in orbit without using power.

"To all the navy crew. Stay with your group. You will all get a chance to go to the colony a few times."

Once his eyes were wide open, Gabriel crawled towards the door of the capsule. The lights were turned on and the Myrmidons climbed out of their pods. They were all barefoot. Gabriel liked the feeling of the metal being a bit cold on his feet. It felt a little chilly as everyone was only wearing their sleepwear and their gear was in the big storage room.

Soon everyone had their gear. They carried it with them before meeting up with their commanders. After that, they took the dropships that were designed to carry people. The ship floated in orbit while the dropships descended towards the purple moon with thick clouds. The clouds were light purple. Some parts of the surface could be seen.

It didn't take long for the dropship to land. The passengers then grabbed their gear and walked out. They put on their spacesuits. The suits had a mask that resembled the oxygen masks worn in parts of Earth with high levels of air pollution. It was no longer the wide spherical visor like early astronauts wore. The visor was closer to the face and could be worn comfortably with a helmet.

They were on the spaceport, which was a wide concrete field with multiple dropships. Wheeled vehicles rolled around to unload cargo. The flat area was surrounded by purple. There were mountains and cliffs that were tinted purple. The clouds above were also colored in a purple tint. Some parts of the sky were clear, showing the darkness of space above and the distant stars.

The soldiers walked to the edge of the spaceport. In front of them was a group of tall metal structures shining like silver. The buildings were connected by bridges, and they were lined with white colors and glass. They were tall and stood in front of multiple purple mountains. At the bottom were arched doors and long, wide hallways.

Gabriel felt a bit lighter as he was outside. He was walking in a group, though, and he had to stay disciplined. He could try jumping later. He wasn't in danger of floating away, though.

He walked with his platoon of Myrmidons. At the front stood the lieutenant. They stood in front of one of the doors, which blocked an arched hallway. There was a place for people to swipe their cards and a camera on top of the doorway. The door slid open from the bottom to the top and closed behind the group.

The hallway sprayed a gas to decontaminate the soldiers. There was a second door. To keep oxygen in, the two doors were never opened at the same time. After decontamination, the soldiers were led to their barracks. The hallways had some windows for people to see the outside world. The floor was white, and some parts of the walls and roof were silver. The lights were white. The hall was littered with colonists walking around.

Gabriel put away his stuff under one of the bunkbeds he shared with Tanbur. The Myrmidons then sat on the beds quietly. The next day, they were going to be given a mission.

"At 1600 hours, you are free to walk around the colony and explore. Just don't touch anything and don't go outside," Kipmi spoke to his squad. "Make sure to be in the mess hall by 1800 hours. After dinner, I will give you a briefing regarding our mission, which starts tomorrow."

Gabriel walked out. He was glad to have a little bit of time to relax. Tomorrow he would be on a major deployment with barely any free time. He could see some action on a foreign planet.

There halls were wide and not too constricting. The ceilings were a bit high, and dozens of people walked by. Siu and Tanbur walked beside him. A few other Myrmidons followed suit. The squad of nine had split up and went into the different hallways.

From the inside, there were some windows that were made of strong glass. Outside, the purple sky could be seen, as well as other parts of the colony. It wasn't that big, but on some of the longer tunnels, there were moving walkways. On the west side of the settlement, there were different sports fields and an indoor park with different types of trees. The colony had been around for just over 60 years now, so most people focused less on exploring and building and now had more time for entertainment.

"Has anyone read any news yet? I've been itching to read some stuff. There are a lot of things to catch up on," Gabriel asked his group.

"Nothing yet," said a woman in the group. "There would be a lot of scrolling through social media pages. I think the best way is to look through websites and articles that show the highlights of each year."

"Well, Larsen, I'm nervous and we have our mission starts tomorrow," said Siu. "I would need to be in a strong state of mind to avoid any distractions."

The fair-skinned blonde woman nodded her head at Siu.

"To be fair, though, I wouldn't want to miss out on anything," said Tanbur. "I'm willing to check out the news now and just face it rather than go through the mission day by day with the thoughts in the back of my mind. I want to know some stuff."

"Well, I guess I need to read at my own risk," said Gabriel.

The group of six decided to sit down on the benches and pull out their phones. They decided to do some searching to know important events from the past six years. Two of the six had sat beside each other on a bench that was a bit far from Gabriel, Tanbur, Siu, and Larsen. Gabriel briefly looked over at them. There was a man with dark skin whose head was shaved sitting beside a woman with brown skin, a bit lighter than the man's, with black hair that was braided.

Gabriel scrolled through different articles. Some of them were entertaining, but not too important. He saw some of the new movies that came out, new actors, musicians and athletes rising to fame, as well as the 2156 and 2160 Summer Olympic Games having gone through, having been hosted in Mumbai and Lagos, respectively. The 2158 and Winter Games were hosted in Stockholm.

He read a few articles where there were some small battles, but overall, there was mostly peace, allowing the Olympics to go through. Countries from both sides of the war participated and the athletes bore no ill will towards each other. Soon after, his heart basically stopped upon reading an important article about the war.

The Fire Nation had taken the Philippines and most of Southeast Asia had fallen with it. They were also moving southward through Africa.

Gabriel was shaking on the inside, and he found himself skimming through the different articles. Sometimes he took his time to read, other times he didn't.

"No! The Philippines was invaded!" Gabriel barely raised his voice, but his yell was quiet enough that he didn't make a scene. The other Myrmidons turned their heads toward him.

"Man! The conflicts have escalated in 2157!" said Siu. "It looks like the Fire Nation is one step closer to world domination."

"Well, it will be hard for them to hold such a large territory," said Tanbur. "The Earth Kingdom could strike back quickly."

"The Philippines elected a new president who sided with the Fire Nation," said Gabriel. "He has a political party backing him up."

"Well, this war has taken its toll," said Siu. "It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are anymore. There are only two nations these days. No one bats an eye at me being Chinese but fighting against the Fire Nation. I have the stereotypical Fire Nation look, and so does Choi, because she's Korean and the Fire Nation's capital is Pyongyang."

"It looks like a good number of people are sick of the war," said Larsen. "In some places, you can travel freely between nations, and citizens are friendly with each other, no matter what side you're on."

"This war has been going on for over ninety years now with no peace treaty," said Siu. "The longest period without any major campaigns lasted for about fourteen years."

"Yeah, my dad was lucky to avoid the draft," said Gabriel.

"We can talk about this for hours, but it won't get us anywhere," said Tanbur.

"Everyone, pull yourselves together," said Gabriel. "I'm telling myself that too. Although on the outside I can look calm, my insides may be going haywire right now."

"We better learn to focus on the mission," said Siu.

They could go on and on about the news, but it was no use. Gabriel may have found himself being comforted the longer they had been talking, but what's done was done. It was just going to stress him out and make him feel like his energy was drained.

He stood up and went to the park with his comrades.

In the evening, all the Myrmidons were being called for a briefing with Lieutenant Williams, who was the commanding officer of the Myrmidons on this mission. They sat in a big room with a lot of seats. The lieutenant was in front of the screen. His skin was slightly dark, and he was tall and skinny. The Myrmidons were seated, and they wore their space uniforms and berets. There was a bit of chatter before the Williams turned the projector on and showed the first slide in his presentation. Everyone looked up at the screen.

"Tomorrow is the start of your deployment," said Williams. "You will be accompanying many groups on miners."

On the screen was a group photo of miners. Williams scrolled through some photos of the mines and tunnels. There were also pictures of different machines. There was an excavator with a big blade. There were also massive drills that could bore holes deep underground. Some of the mines were open holes, while others had small bases with a long elevator leading downwards.

There was also footage of miners and some robots that carried valuable ores. They have been mining for different metals like iron, nickel, zinc, and silicon. There was also a purple metal that looked like an amethyst. It was shinier than the rocks nearby, though most things in Polus were a shade of purple.

"That purple metal is polium," said Williams. "It's one of the metals that the world needs. We've mostly found it here, though deposits have also been found in asteroids. It's used in machines and construction. It can also help with energy generation. It's very malleable.

"Polium tools are absurdly sharp and are used for precise cutting. Sometimes we use our polium to mine more of it. Right now, it costs five million dollars for an unrefined kilo. On Earth, we mostly use large amounts of polium in our generators and supercomputers. It's also found in the reactors of our spaceships. It helps you stay frozen when going on long voyages. Small pieces are also found in computers, enabling them to communicate through long distances in space. The signal travels through a wormhole, meaning they have a smaller distance to go. Without that technology, a text from here would take a long time to reach Earth.

"This metal is stronger than most metals on Earth. It's also much lighter. There are other metals that are far more abundant in Polus than on Earth."

"The polium is then taken to the refinery on Mount Wanri. After that, our cargo ships take some to Earth, while others take shorter trips distributing it to our other colonies on nearby asteroids. Some of it even goes to Mars."

While Williams was talking, there were facts about polium and its position on the periodic table. There was a picture of it as an ore and another one that is refined. There were also diagrams on how to harvest and refine it.

"Your job is to monitor the group of miners and be on your guard. The Fire Nation could attack and take this war here. Some of you might be able to help with the mining as well. We are just going to be defensive right now. If we can hold the Alpha Centauri system, then we'll have an edge against our enemy. Your job is to accompany the miners to a new dig site.

"We haven't found any lifeforms here, so the only danger would be the Fire Nation and lava. There are a lot of lava lakes, and there is magma underground as well. In some of the colder parts of the planet, it snows. Your suit has a temperature regulator to keep you in a good temperature. It can also warn you if you're near lava based on the temperatures it's picking up. The other thing too look out for is earthquakes. You won't be on any bases, so you won't have the benefit of seismic stabilizers that allow a structure to keep its integrity no matter how bad it's been shaking.

"That is all the information about this mission. Everyone is dismissed. At 0630 tomorrow, you meet your group of miners, and you take your journey to your assigned site. Dismissed."

Everyone walked to bed. Gabriel had done his best to maintain his composure and sit and stare at the screen during the presentation. He tried not to think about the news that he heard about. Although unsettled, he just leaned forward into his chair, occasionally moving his eyes around. He had been a soldier for years and he knew better than to fidget or tap his foot. Gabriel the went to sleep and did his best not to move, but to just think about the mission ahead. He wasn't stressed out about it because he didn't feel too cold when trying to sleep.