The next morning after breakfast, Kipmi and his squad went to meet the mining team that they were assigned to.

There were thirty men and women of different ages. Some were in their late teens. A young woman approached Kipmi. She had long dark hair that was in a ponytail.

The miners all wore black boots, with suits that had different shades of green. The logo of the SSC was on the left side of the uniform. There was a tower surrounded by a circle. On the edges of the circle there was text that read "Smart Society Corporation".

"My name is Joo Dee Seok," said the dark-haired woman, "and I'm the head of this mining group. Joo Dee is my whole first name."

"I am Staff Sergeant Kipmi," said Kipmi. "Here are Sergeants Larsen and Choi. This is Hoodman, Siu, Tanbur, Ghuvi, Rodrigo, and Johnson. We are going to accompany your team to these coordinates."

"We're going to put our suits on. Our vehicles are outside," said Joo Dee.

"So will we. Let's meet back here."

The Myrmidons put black spacesuits on. There was an oxygen mask that was close to the face instead of a faceplate that looked like a fishbowl. This enabled the wearer to connect a helmet on their head. The suit wasn't that bulky. It looked like the combat uniform, except the part of the neck was connected to the mask so that the wearer could be sealed inside. The gloves and boots were also sealed together so that no skin would be exposed. Over the suit, the Myrmidons wore a ballistic vest with elbow and knee pads.

They loaded their weapons. Some of them had submachine guns, which were smaller and lighter than the assault rifles. Kipmi had a shotgun as a secondary weapon. Most of them used rifles, like Gabriel. Tanbur and Rodrigo used light machine guns, while Ghuvi and Johnson had a sniper rifle. Ghuvi was a bit tall for a woman and lanky. She liked keeping her hair braided when she didn't wear any headgear. Both snipers had submachine guns as their backup weapons.

Some of the rifles were equipped with grenade launchers. Everyone had a pistol as a sidearm. They also had explosive weapons.

Everyone grabbed their assigned weapons. The rest of the weapons were loaded on their APC. They then met up with the miners.

"Staff Sergeant, we're ready," said Joo Dee.

"Great. It's time to move, Ms. Seok," said Kipmi.

Everyone walked outside. The Myrmidons had an APC while the miners had a dump truck, a cargo truck that carried machines, and a truck that carried personnel.

The vehicles were much bigger than what Gabriel was used to seeing. The APC had wheels about twice the diameter of those of his parents' car. It had thick metal walls that were dark and big sliding doors on the sides. The car had eight wheels. There was a rectangular windshield and square windows on the doors. There were no windows at the back. On top was a space where machine guns were mounted.

The mining vehicles were even bigger. There was a dump truck that had tall wheels and could easily carry the APC in its bed. There was a ladder at the side for the driver and any passengers to climb.

The cargo truck had a big metal box, presumably where the drill and other would be stored. The mine probably won't be that big if they weren't going to use a bucket-wheel excavator.

The personnel truck looked like a bus that was for rough terrain. It had eight wheels and slits for windows.

Everyone boarded the different vehicles. Gabriel, Siu, Ghuvi and Rodrigo were placed in charge of the four different weapons on top of the car. They were on four different sides. There were four grenade launchers and four machine guns on each side. In the middle was a hatch with a ladder.

The vehicles then rolled out across the plains. There were mountains and some rocks. The ground was a bit sandy, though most of it was made of solid rock. The sky was still black, which revealed the exposed atmosphere. There were stars in the distance, as well as a bigger light. That was the sun, Alpha Centauri A. A few other moons could be seen in the sky. The sun had illuminated the surface for a bit, though the day wasn't as bright compared to one on a planet or moon with an atmosphere.

Gabriel was holding the machine gun and looking forward. Instead of thinking about the news, he did his best to breathe slowly and enjoy the moment instead of being depressed about the past or anxious about the future. He needed to be alert so that he could execute an order the second he receives it.

His gun had a belt that was attached an ammo box at his feet. He could see more clearly though the sight. He also took a brief glance at his temperature reader on his right wrist. It fit like a watch. It was 300 degrees Celsius, though his high-tech suit had a temperature regulator that was constantly blowing cool air at him. It felt like there was a bit of wind and the overall temperature was slightly cool.

The vehicles rolled though the barren land. It was eerily empty. There were no known lifeforms on this moon. However, there was still the danger of unknown things or the Fire Nation. The surface of Polus may have been mapped, but there were still a lot of things left to study.

To stay alert, Gabriel slowly moved the gun around. He rotated it and sometimes moved it up and down. He was moving slowly so that others wouldn't notice him. Beneath him, the car was rumbling a bit, though the engine made barely any noise. It sounded like wind was circulating through the machine. The terrain wasn't too rough, so the ground he was standing on wasn't shaking. As they approached a narrower path, the truck carrying most of the miners was in the front, then the cargo truck, then the dump truck, and finally, the APC was protecting the rear. It was still quiet except for the engines.

A few hours passed and eventually everyone was called to gather on the ground. The vehicles were lined up while the people were on a flat plain beside it. Gabriel felt great that his shift on the gun was done. It was something he was used to. He had to stand guard for long hours without being able to track the time. His imagination went wild, but he still had to be aware of his surroundings and get ready to fight the instant there was danger.

"We are at the coordinates that were assigned to us," said Joo Dee. "The first thing we need to do is build a temporary base here. We have building materials in the cargo truck. The last things we add to the base are the oxygen filters. After that, we assemble the drill so we can dig a hole, then we ourselves go down that hole."

For the next few hours, the workers assembled a temporary base with the building materials. The camp consisted of guard towers, a makeshift compound that had bedrooms and dining rooms, as well as storage and meeting rooms. The camp was surrounded by a layer of walls. Every wall was thin and made of a white building material, but it was durable plastic. The beds were simple, but they were good enough for someone to use if they were going to spend more than just a few nights sleeping in one location.

It was then time for the people to sleep, though it was still quite bright, and the sun could still be seen as a big bright dot in the sky.

"It might be bright outside, but it's time to go to bed," said Kipmi. "Get used to it. Our bodies run on a schedule, and we are tracking time like we're on Earth. The generic terms are 'rotation' for day, 'moon' for month, and 'revolution' for year. A full rotation on this planet is two months long."

Gabriel himself was getting quite tired. His head was feeling a bit heavier, like he wants to do nothing but sleep. He let his imagination run wild, imagining a better Earth, one free of war and pollution. Having been tired from an exciting yet safe mission, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Get up, everyone," Kipmi barked as he walked down the makeshift barracks. The beds were all low and the mattresses were thin. "Assume your positions. Some of us were once miners for the company. When it's not our turn to guard, we must do some mining ourselves. For now, we must help assemble the drill."

The Myrmidons got up and met inside the meeting area of the base. There were schematics of the drill being projected on a big screen. Each member had been assigned to a certain task. Everyone already knew where the drill was going to be placed.

Outside, there were some steel pillars. There were different carts with the different parts of the machine. There were metal tubes. One cart had the entire drill, which was twice the height of a person. It was shiny, and a sharp blade coiled around it.

On one cart, there was a thick steel rope. It was in a seemingly endless coil of loops and twists.

Once everyone built the foundation of the machine, they placed the drill and did the wiring. The drill hung between four steel pillars and was tied to a rope. The drill was receiving power through solar energy and wind turbines. They ended up with a tall tower surrounded by a metal fence.

"We have a kilometer of drilling to do," said Joo Dee. "Once we pull out the drill, we ourselves can go in there using that rope."

The drill began spinning and the ground was shaking a bit. The buzzing noise was loud at first, but it slowly began getting quieter. As the drill went deeper, the rope went down with it. Everyone then left the site, with a few of the miners monitoring the machine. Others began to assemble robots and handheld drills. Some of the robots were designed to drill, while others were designed to carry supplies. They were all half the size of an adult human and were shaped like humanoids. The diggers had drills for hands while the carrier robots held boxes. They both had jetpacks.

A few hours passed and the drill was done. The monitor had shown that the drill had reached the bottom. The mining team pulled the drill back up using an electric motor on the top that controlled the rope. After pulling the drill, they released the rope, letting it fall to the ground.

"It's time for everyone to sleep. That drill has been active for twelve hours," said Joo Dee. "It's almost the end of another rotation."

It must've been another 24-hour period. The sun changed positions ever so slightly and it was a bit brighter. Everyone went to the bedrooms.

"I received orders from Williams," said Kipmi. "Tanbur, Larsen, Ghuvi and Rodrigo, you will be joining me to go mining tomorrow. Everyone else will stand guard. Choi will command you all."

Everyone went to their beds. Siu turned to Gabriel. "It's been a while since I've been in a camp where the beds look like this. I'm still getting used to it. There isn't a lot of fancy technology."

"Yeah, and it can feel a bit lonely when you realize that the only people nearby are a few thousand on this moon," said Gabriel. "I haven't been in a camp where beds are like this, either. But in this camp, there are doors with two layers of doors and an oxygen filter."

Once everyone was in their sleepwear and their gear was stored, they crawled into their beds and the lights were turned off. The day had been long, and Gabriel decided not to check the news during his free time. He just sent a few texts to his family group chat about his arrival, though he couldn't give any details. He didn't want to get distracted from his duty from feeling down because of the news. He needed to remain strong. He can't change the past. He just needed to move forward with his life.