The Myrmidons have accompanied the miners for just over two weeks now. They have been digging more and more tunnels and have been grabbing different kinds of metals. Any excess stone was used as concrete.

Slowly, sunlight became dimmer as every 24-hour period passed. Gabriel had been focused mainly on the mission. He had been keeping watch at many different places. Sometimes he patrolled the tunnels, while other times he was guarding with his comrades outside, standing at the perimeter of the mine. Both places were scary in a different way, but Gabriel preferred being out in the open. Whenever he was in the tunnels, he would be in danger of getting stuck or the ceiling collapsing. Whenever he was out in the open, he was in danger of being attacked first. He would be occupied by his thoughts, but he always made sure to focus on the mission so that he would be ready in case enemies attacked.

He was in a briefing with his squad. Kipmi had announced that the sun had set, and it was going to be dark for about a month.

Gabriel was with Choi, Siu, and Johnson, as he had been for his whole deployment. This was his fireteam and he would be with them whenever the squad needed to split. The rest spent most of their time down in the mines as some of the soldiers were miners for the company before enlisting.

"Well, it's time for us to stand guard," said Choi. The soldiers activated night vision on their high-tech visors. She was a woman that was a bit short and not too skinny, with dark hair and light skin.

Johnson was also nearby. He was a bit shorter than Gabriel, with black hair shaved into a buzz cut. He had dark skin and black stubble.

Gabriel and Siu put on their night vision goggles, which was part of the visor. They then equipped their weapons and went outside. They stood on watchtowers that were on the outskirts of the camp. On each tower there was a mounted machine gun with different types of ammo and explosives in different boxes. The towers had metal bars that were covered by sheets of plastic.

Outside, it was pitch black, with only a few white lights from inside the camp. There wasn't much to see without night vision goggles. All around the place was a dark void.

Gabriel had his rifle strapped to his back. He gripped the machine gun. The gun was placed on a stand that was hooked onto the railing, and it could rotate in all directions. He grabbed the end of the weapon, which was where the trigger was located.

With every rotation that passed he was able to come to terms with what happened back on Earth. He took a few deep breaths and kept his eyes wide open. His other squad mates were standing at other towers, and he was only connected to them with his communicator. On the surface, there were only a few other workers, including Joo Dee.

The only thing he could do was pivot the turret or look behind him. He had to change positions every few seconds so that the enemy couldn't catch him by surprise. It also helped relieve his boredom.

He was free to think about a lot of things, but most of the time he was replaying some events in the past that he enjoyed. He focused on his work, but he was always looking forward to the breaks that he would take with his squad. They were slowly getting to know each other. It was one of the few times when they could relax and meet as friends rather than for business.

He enjoyed Kipmi's leadership. He was always focused and responsible yet was also funny whenever he could be. His tone was firm, but at the same time he spoke calmly and had a caring side to his voice.

Gabriel didn't know how much time had passed. He would sometimes be called for a meeting or for a break, or when his shift was over.

The buzz of his communicator in his head notified him that someone needed to talk to him.

A woman's voice then spoke, and Gabriel recognized that it was Choi.

"Sergeant, what is it?" Gabriel asked.

"I heard some gunfire and I saw some movement," said Choi. "I think the enemy has found our base. Stay alert. They could attack from any side."

Gabriel gripped his gun tightly, scanning quickly, then having small periods of time where he would turn around from his position on the gun and grab his pistol in case someone were to sneak up on him. With quick reflexes, he was changing positions quickly. He hadn't seen anyone.

"I'm currently engaging with the enemy," said Choi. "I called the rest of the squad up here."

Kipmi walked down the halls with a drill in his hands and two guns strapped to his back. His communicator beeped, then Choi's voice came in calling him to the surface.

He turned to the miners, who were hard at work with small handheld drills. Nearby, there were machines with larger drills that dug tunnels. There were fluorescent white lights on the ceilings and metal scaffolding lined the walls and roof. The ground was full of purple dirt and small rocks.

"I must go to the surface," said Kipmi. "There's an attack. Everyone, stay here. Just keep calm and dig hiding places for yourselves. We will do our best to hold them off and keep them from going down here."

The miners silently began drilling while the Myrmidons ran up. They grappled up the long tunnel all the way to the surface. As soon as Kipmi and the rest of the squad were up, they grabbed their weapons and walked over to defensive positions on cliffs and high rocks at the edge of the camp.

Kipmi then spoke on his communicator again. "Joo Dee, I need you to take everyone who is still in the surface underground."

"Yes, sir," Joo Dee's voice was heard from Kipmi's headset.

Gabriel was in a tower by himself, and the only other person nearby was Siu, who was in another tower several meters away. He felt a bit nervous as he was alone, but it was necessary for the squad to be spread thin.

Gabriel's heart was racing. Although he had been in many fights during his years as an ordinary infantryman, this was different. Every new battle was different somehow. There would be a new environment and things could always play out differently.

In his night vision, he could see people well, though it was a bit hard to identify them. He would need a good eye to tell the enemy apart from his squad. It was hard to see colors, so he would need to identify the enemy based on the shape of their uniform or any insignia.

Gabriel heard a bullet fly past him as a soldier came into view. Gabriel began firing his machine gun as the soldier disappeared behind a stone column. He only saw the soldier for less than a second, but he could see that it was clearly an enemy. When he saw the circular logo with the three-tongued flame on the front of the helmet, there was no doubt that it was a Fire Nation soldier. There was no doubt that the enemy was in front of him. He stayed low, occasionally crouching behind the railing of the basic tower. The tower wasn't advanced and provided a low amount of protection.

Gabriel turned and drew his pistol. Seeing that no one had snuck up to him, he continued to fire with his gun. He could see the muzzle flashes from Siu's position. He heard the clanging of metal as bullets hit parts of the tower. He rose back up and provided covering fire. In front of him, the area was wide open, with just a few rocks for anyone to hide behind. He knew there were enemies behind the stone columns in the distance, where it would be hard to get an accurate shot with his guns.

A few enemies ran ahead, and Gabriel opened fire. The enemies dropped down, and Gabriel let go of the trigger quickly. He noticed that he didn't use up a lot of bullets and didn't keep firing when the enemies fell. Gabriel guessed that he had hit the soldiers at least twice in the body. Some of them were behind rocks and it wasn't clear if Gabriel had killed them. Gabriel stayed there to deter anyone else from advancing, though he sometimes stayed low in case someone was hidden and could get a good shot at him. In the heat of battle, Gabriel's senses were heightened, and he felt the thrill as he was working towards his goal of defending the base.

Nearby, Gabriel spotted Siu firing again. On a ledge that was closer to his position, he spotted Tanbur. He was down on one knee, carefully aiming his weapon towards the darkness. A few enemies ran and Tanbur gunned them down quickly. With every pull of the trigger, Tanbur carefully fired a burst of three rounds at each enemy, hoping to conserve ammo. He hoped to put multiple bullets inside each armored soldier to kill them more quickly. With his machine gun, he had a larger ammo capacity than most of the other soldiers. Most of his bullets missed, though. He saw a bit of surprise when he thought some of the enemies got back up and ran away as if they weren't wounded at all. Bullets from another direction kept shooting at the soldiers, and Tanbur turned towards Gabriel.

Gabriel was still using his machine gun, making sure not to squeeze the trigger. He occasionally released it and sometimes fired blindly to hinder the enemy's advance. For a few moments, the enemy didn't make any new moves. Gabriel cautiously moved his gun without firing. He wanted to conserve ammo. He also was ready to draw his pistol when needed. It was holstered on his leg, where he can quickly take it out and put it back in.

Sweat dripped from parts of his face and neck. It was uncomfortable as he couldn't wipe it. He just had to wait for his skin to dry, but that was the least of his worries. Sometimes his pulse would dip just a bit, but in another moment, he found himself moving as quickly as he could even though he felt like his heart could burst from the strain.

Gabriel took a few deep breaths as he continued to return fire. If he stopped for a few seconds, the enemy could rush through and possibly sneak up to him by going up the tower.

After firing a few more rounds, the enemies kept moving forward. Some were gunned down while others managed to find cover.

He only needed to reload a few times and he had managed to hit the enemy multiple times, managing to pin them. They stayed behind cover while Gabriel fired a bit, not to try and hit anyone, but to discourage the soldiers from moving forward. Deadly accuracy meant nothing if your target was hiding behind something solid, so he held his fire for a few seconds before firing another burst.

The soldiers scattered while the Myrmidons continued to fire. Some of them managed to get close to the base while others were shot dead and fell out in the open.

A few seconds passed and Gabriel turned to draw his pistol. When he did, he saw an enemy rush forward. The brief flash of the Fire Nation's insignia was enough to convince Gabriel that it wasn't any of his teammates. Gabriel opened fire, hitting the enemy with three armor-piercing bullets. The soldier dropped dead on the staircase. The enemy had been wearing a spacesuit that had a grey and white color scheme, while the armor and helmet were black.

He heard more footsteps, so he sat next to the wall to protect himself from getting shot from outside. Drawing his rifle, he opened fire on the soldiers. He had killed three of them and their bodies littered the staircase. Gabriel had been quick and only fired a few bullets, hitting each soldier at least twice.

"This is Hoodman. There are enemies rushing my tower," said Gabriel to his communicator.

"This is Siu. I'm going to aim near the entrance in case more enemies get through," Gabriel heard her through his headset.

Gabriel manned the machine gun again and continued to fire. There were a few pauses when there was no movement. After what felt like an eternity, Kipmi's voice came in.

"Cease fire, there hasn't been much enemy activity. I'm not hearing any gunfire. Let's regroup inside the North Tower."

Gabriel and the other Myrmidons left their posts. Although he had a bit of running to do, Gabriel reached the meeting place in no time, with the other soldiers showing up seconds later.

Kipmi stood in front of his squad. As Gabriel stood still, he felt uncomfortable as his sweat drenched his suit. It would eventually dry, but individual water droplets on his skin weren't the most pleasant feelings. Sometimes, he hated standing still, but he was quite tired from the fight. He took a few deep breaths and his racing heart calmed down within seconds.

"We appear to have driven out the enemy," said Kipmi. "We don't know when they'll be coming back. We have either killed them all, or some retreated. Choi, I want you to take Hoodman, Siu, and Johnson for a patrol outside the walls."

Choi took her soldiers, and they immediately went to the outskirts of the base. They had their weapons out and once they were in the open, they scattered for a bit. Gabriel couldn't see much out there. He could only see some rocks, but everything else was total darkness. He felt a bit warm, but his fear remained, though it didn't cripple him. He kept moving forward in case an enemy could pop out of the corner and attack him.

The group scattered a bit, but they could always see each other. Gabriel walked slowly and his rifle was always raised. Soon tiredness was going to come, but there were only a few hours before he could have his shift in sleeping. His brain suddenly began to feel heavy, but he stayed alert by trying to keep his eyes open. However, he wasn't forcing his eyes open to the point where he raised his eyebrows.