Days passed and it was now September. Gabriel and his squad had been in Polus for just over a year and the SSC's mining operations had been disrupted by the Fire Nation. They had been allowed to return to the military base near the colony, and Gabriel was just happy to be back there. He could catch a break, even if it's just for a little while.

He was thankful to have a bit of time to relax a bit, to process the information that the Marines had found. They had uncovered a conspiracy that proved his innocence and debunked any theories that Kipmi or Siu had been a killer within the squad.

The squad was down to three members, and they mostly did some reading and training to pass the time. Their barracks felt a lot emptier and quieter, which was to be expected, as only a third of them remained after a year in a foreign place and they had to deal with the weight of the revelation that two members in their squad were working for the Fire Nation. Now they also couldn't trust most of the people who worked for the SSC. Gabriel was more focused on his mission on Polus than the war on Earth. He learned that in these past few months, there was more fighting than what previous generations of Marines were exposed to.

Lieutenant Williams had put the squad on the sidelines as they had just gone through multiple big fights at once, against both external and internal threats. He told them that he sent the other Myrmidon squads on missions to raid small Fire Nation camps. The Marines were doing the same if they needed more soldiers. One group returned with POWs, who turned out to be Joo Dee and her mining team. That was how the conspiracy was uncovered, when they found out that the miners were unharmed and well-fed.

At the same time, multiple squads of Marines had members go missing in action, only to be rescued once they were reported missing. They had ended up as POWs.

Colonel Kuruk also reported that his ship and a civilian ship had been attacked by some members of the SSC who were part of the conspiracy. Fire Nation soldiers had also boarded the ship. After a long battle, some Marines were taken, and so were a few SSC workers and Sokka. Word got around quickly and soon there were search parties being sent. The Earth Kingdom had been going on the offensive more often.

A group of Marines used a drone to follow a polium shipment from a refinery. They managed to track it to a Fire Nation base and send the footage to their superiors. Joo Dee and the miners were allowed to walk freely, as they were unaware of the conspiracy.

The squad had been summoned by Lieutenant Williams after at least a week of relaxing and light drills.

"We have mapped a bigger Fire Nation base. It's much bigger than most of the camps that the Marines have been attacking," said Williams. "If we find any prisoners, focus on evacuating them before eliminating the enemies. As you were told, Colonel Kuruk's son was one of the civilians captured when the spaceship infiltrations happened.

"Since your numbers are stretched thin, I will be sending one other squad to help you. I haven't been able to replace many losses yet, but this squad is full. I will also be joining."

Just then, more Myrmidons arrived.

"It's meant to be a small and stealthy attack. We must focus on gathering enemy intel and rescuing prisoners if necessary. Along the way, you should place explosives inside."

Williams was pointing to each location as he used his computer to navigate through a 3D model of the base created based on photos taken by a drone. The base was a big building shaped like a box, though not rectangular, surrounded by a metal fence and guard towers, with big towers in the corners.

"Units of Marines will be posted on the outside of the base in case the stealth mission fails."

Williams also clicked on multiple parts of the map.

"You must land on those areas to avoid getting caught. You must then find a way to remove the guards near you. I'm splitting you up into four groups of three so that there's less noise and you can cover more ground. The Marines will wait for you to trigger the explosives, so make sure you detonate them as soon as you can get to a safe place.

"Now, make sure you get plenty of food and rest, as the mission starts at 2100 hours tomorrow night. You're all dismissed."

Everyone left. Kipmi took his squad back to their room.

"There's a chance we could rescue Sokka," said Kipmi. "Hoodman, I know how close you are to him. I also hope that we can find him and bring him back safely. We need to spend some time today preparing for the mission. We've all been working quite hard these past few days. We need to do a bit more training now that we've finished all that complicated stuff with the interrogations and clearing Hoodman's name. Larsen is still out there, and she might encounter us again for another fight. This is hard for me to say, but don't hesitate to kill her. She's an enemy now, and she will kill you if she finds you."

The next few hours were spent training with stealth drills. Gabriel had used some of his electric knives as well as normal ones. His main knife was a balisong, or a butterfly knife, which folds. It was commonly used in the Philippines. That knife couldn't deliver an electric shock, and the blade was a bit shorter than the others.

He had practiced sneaking and how to avoid detection. He would use his balisong against people, as it was easier for quiet kills. He needed to touch his enemy, so he was risking giving himself an electric shock if he was going to shock his enemy.

The mission was less about dealing damage to the inside and more about gathering knowledge about the enemy and looking for prisoners. Killing enemies wasn't a priority until after the explosives were detonated. They could kill higher-ranked enemies, but there was always the problem of hiding bodies.

It was dinnertime, then they had time to relax and chat before sleeping. Gabriel savored the moment when he could just slow down, with a bit of comfort before going on a mission when he would constantly be on his toes.

Kipmi's squad met with the other squad, and they went over the battle plans again, having decided to conserve their physical energy for the mission. Although Gabriel had every strategy and technique stored into his mind, he was still a bit nervous. He wasn't sure if he would be able to remember when to use each strategy. However, there was no point cramming today. He needed to have a great attitude and a clear mind.

Dinner was their last meal before the mission. Gabriel was mostly silent as he thought about what was going to happen. He was still thinking that there was something missing in his training, like there were a few things he still needed to cover.

It was then time to grab equipment. Each soldier packed explosives in their backpacks along with any necessary technology. Gabriel was full of ammo and had cleaned his rifle earlier. On his belt were a few knives, one of them being the balisong. Everyone was also equipped with rocket thrusters on their boots however they also had a parachute for safety. The rockets were attached to the backs of their legs and were small enough not to impede movement and the weight wasn't a problem. To control the boots, a visor was added over their helmets so they can see their speed and altitude, and for people to turn the boots on and off. Controls were on the sides of the visor.

They went to the airfield to board their plane. The plane was much smaller than the dropships used to carry troops and vehicles from spaceships. There were twenty seats, ten on each side, with a narrow hallway in between. The pilots were already seated.

Once everyone was seated, the plane began to take off. It didn't need a runway, as it was designed for vertical take off and landing. After a few minutes, it hovered in the air slowly before moving forward. Once it was high enough, it began to pick up more speed. Gabriel just stared up into the ceiling so that he wasn't making eye contact with anyone.

"Ten minutes until you jump!" the pilot called out.

Although Gabriel was a bit zoned out, he was still conscious enough to react quickly to the pilot's words, and he was able to mentally prepare himself. They were going to jump in groups of three and Gabriel was going to jump with the remaining members of his squad towards their objective. He was in the third group.

"Five minutes!" the pilot called out.

Gabriel made sure his rocket boots were ready. Everyone equipped their parachutes and the rest of their gear. Gabriel breathed slowly, feeling a wind rush through him as the plane continued its course through the sky. They were high in the air to make it harder for the plane to get detected and shot down.

The back door then opened. Everyone attached themselves to the wall until the pilot began the countdown.

"Five!"

The first three were staring down. They were so high up that they could see where Polus curved. Gabriel could barely see what was beneath them from where he was standing.

"Four!"

Everyone had already gotten up. Gabriel made sure his equipment stayed secure on his shoulders.

"Three!"

Gabriel took another deep breath and moved his legs to get some blood pumping.

"Two!"

At this point, everyone was on edge, as they were expected to jump with one second between each group.

"One!"

The first group jumped, then the second one did after a delay. After counting two seconds, Gabriel jumped out with his squad. The plane immediately changed its direction and increased its altitude.

Gabriel was picking up speed using his rocket boots. He was flying towards his target, staring down at the ground. The building looked miniscule from that altitude. Within seconds, his target was getting bigger. He was still going slowly enough that he wouldn't need to worry about heating up.

He spotted his target, one of the guard towers. He slowed down so that he could hover and turn his body upright, where he slowly descended onto the roof of the tower.

He landed softly and Kipmi and Siu did the same.

"We have touched down," said Kipmi. After a few seconds, the other groups confirmed that they did the same.

Light came from every side of the tower. The roof was a wide, flat piece of metal. The walls on either side of the tower were tall, thin, and made with a mix of concrete and metal. There was a great distance between the outer wall and the main building. The towers were connected to the main building through a tunnel.

Everyone did their best to avoid getting detected by the lights from drones that circled above. Between the wall and main building, there were smaller buildings that covered the vehicles, and soldiers moved between them. The main building was big and had many straight sides, made of both metal and concrete, with big windows on every floor Some windows were dark, while others had light coming out of them. They could see the main entrance to their right.

"We need to break into these towers and sneak into the main building," said Kipmi. "We need to get in quickly or else we will get caught."

"Why don't we go lower so we won't be detected as easily?" Gabriel asked.

"That's what we're doing," said Kipmi. "We will use our boots to go lower and find an entrance. We have a good idea of the base layout. It looks like everything outside the main building is a parking space for vehicles."

They then lowered themselves slowly with their rocket boots. They made sure that they couldn't be seen outside the windows. They landed near the tower. Once they landed, they opened one of the doors. The bottom of the tower had a metal staircase that spiraled up. Kipmi peeked around the corner to make sure the tunnel was empty.

"It's empty, but the tunnel is long and there are no hiding places," said Kipmi. "The end is empty. We must run slowly and quietly until we get there."

Everyone ran and made sure to land softly. Gabriel took long strides. They then crouched down when they reached the hallway, where they could either go forward, left, or right. They made sure to shoot every camera they could see using a suppressed weapon.

"We must go forward," said Kipmi. "We will look for intelligence if we can find it, though it depends on what we can find once we come across a computer that's on. The military is counting on us to provide information. Our end goal will always involve destroying the base, so start planting charges and spread them out. We need to save some for the outer wall, and hopefully we can blow a hole in it."

Siu planted one on the wall in the tunnel so that the Marines can have an entry point. They continued to walk through, strapping their rifles to their backs and pulled their knives out. Gabriel equipped his balisong, but he also had electrified knives at the ready.

They saw a few guards pass by them. Whenever they did, they were able to retreat and wait for them to turn around. They were more focused on sneaking around. The more people they killed, the more bodies they would need to hide, and it was going to get easier to detect an intruder. They were going to wait until after they detonated the explosives before they started killing their enemies.

"Our window of time is getting smaller the more cameras we destroy," said Kipmi. "Soon, they'll be sending soldiers after us. We must keep moving."

They continued to roam the hallways, sometimes finding empty rooms to hide in.

"Two groups said that they finished planting explosives and now they're moving upstairs," said Kipmi. "The third group is in charge of planting on the main gate. We need to check the lower levels once we run out of explosives. I just hope we can detonate them before they get disarmed."

"When do we detonate?" Gabriel asked.

"Once everyone's at a safe distance and when the alarm goes off," said Kipmi. "It's only a matter of time before the enemy discovers us and the rest of the team and hunts us down and we've only been here for a couple of minutes."

They kept planting, more focused on placing bombs than taking the time to find good places to plant.

"We just ran out of bombs," said Gabriel.

"Good," said Kipmi. "We need to wait a bit before we detonate them. Look out for enemies."

Everyone raised their weapons. Once they turned a corner, they saw the enemy and immediately took a shot before the enemy knew what was coming. Four soldiers dropped dead, and the group continued to push through the halls. Once they moved a safe distance down a hallway, they stopped and scanned. A few seconds later, an alarm blared throughout the halls.

"Hoodman, detonate it now!" Kipmi yelled.

Gabriel quickly pulled out the detonator and pressed it. They then continued to get as far away from the bombs as possible.

"All the other groups have detonated their bombs," said Kipmi. "Now we must get out as the Marines start making their way inside."

Everyone turned around and made their way back where they came from. There were multiple holes in the walls and floor where the bombs exploded. They shot enemies that they ran into. When they were becoming overwhelmed, they made a quick decision to go inside one of the bigger holes, where the debris made steppingstones letting them go down safely. They continued running once they reached the basement. The lighting at that floor was about the same.

"I guess we're staying here for a little while," said Kipmi. "We need to keep moving while the Marines upstairs keep our enemies busy."

They ran through the halls of the basement, finding a few labs and storage rooms. There weren't a lot of interesting things until they saw an empty cell block where all the doors were opened. They went down one of the elevators, going to the lowest floor, which was below the floor they were on. After a long ride, they exited. They peeked while standing against the walls. Gabriel held the door open. Kipmi and Siu saw a few soldiers guarding a massive room. After shooting them, they left the elevator and hid while taking a look at their surroundings.

On the far right, there were robots that had a skeletal frame and armor plating. They just stood, with no colors, no signs of activity. The group of robots was then transported upwards. There was a conveyor belt carrying robots. The belt stopped periodically, then a mechanical arm grabbed the robot and put it on the platform before the belt started again.

The three soldiers moved through the assembly line, taking out a few guards, as they noticed the prisoners look around whenever they heard a gunshot. Each prisoner was helping machines assemble robots.

Kipmi sent the other Myrmidons a text explaining that they were in an underground factory and were planning to free prisoners. The three then took their time moving through the big room. The place was well-lit and clean, with a lot of smooth surfaces and a high ceiling.

"You're all free," Kipmi yelled.

Everyone began to step away from their workspaces, leaving the conveyor belt to keep moving and unfinished pieces of metal began to pile up.

Gabriel moved through the group, eventually landing on a familiar face. "Sokka? Is that really you?"

"Hoodman!" Sokka exclaimed, and they hugged.

"You won't believe who we found," said Kipmi, stepping aside to reveal another familiar face.

"Choi?" Gabriel asked. He then stood silently, trying to replay the events that just happened, and taking a few looks at people he thought were gone forever. All the workers had gathered just in front of the elevator.

"Is it safe to go up, sergeant?" Siu asked.

"Let me contact the other Myrmidons," said Kipmi.

After he spoke into his communicator explaining everything, he turned to his soldiers.

"It's still not safe," said Kipmi. "There's still a fight going on. They're now planning to wipe out the base. The Marines have moved in. Once we take out this base, that should put us at an advantage, especially if we find any intelligence. We might not be able to find a lot of information if it's stored digitally and protected by a password. Now Choi, I need you to tell me everything you know."

Choi proceeded to talk to Kipmi, while Gabriel was still talking to Sokka, only sharing main ideas instead of being too detailed as if she were telling a story. She explained that they were captured and forced to build robots out of polium. She knew they were building robots and just assumed that they were being used for war. That explained why the Fire Nation was obsessed with polium and was even willing to steal and use other extreme measures to obtain it. She also saw the design of the robots, and she said that they were probably weak in the neck and joints, and that they would need to shut down the power core by destroying the head or chest.

"That's a good amount of information, Choi. Thank you," said Kipmi. "I think you might know the robot's weakness just by seeing what part you were building."

"I was working on the arms," said Choi.

Gabriel approached Kipmi once he was done talking to Sokka. "Sokka told me that he was forced to do the harder and more delicate parts of building robots. He told me that there was a traitor that led to his capture, which was how the enemy knew that Sokka had a good amount of robotics knowledge."

Kipmi explained everything that Choi said.

"Sokka said the same thing," said Gabriel. "He's the one that worked with the power cores."

A few minutes passed where everyone was busy chattering. Kipmi then announced that it was safe to move up and began moving a few people at a time up and down the elevator. Each prisoner then went to their cells to grab their helmets and put on their gloves. Once everyone was upstairs, Kipmi led from the front while Gabriel and Siu were busy talking to Choi and telling her about the impostor in their squad, who turned out to be a robot. Choi explained that the enemy was able to gather enough information from her and guessed that the robot looked and sounded like her. Gabriel and Siu said that they were convinced for a bit and were thankful that they were able to anticipate the robot's attempt to kill them.

They then went to the ground floor. The area was dark, and the soldiers shined flashlight. Parts of walls were missing, and the hallways were littered with countless bodies that everyone had to carefully step over. Gabriel was always thinking about the possibility of someone coming from the darkness and ambushing them. There were multiple holes in the floor, making a lot of surfaces rough. The facility was now dark and devoid of life, with only the footsteps of people providing sound.

"It's the Earth Kingdom Space Marines," a voice called out and multiple flashlights shined at people's legs. "We're here to help. We will take the prisoners to the vehicles and taken up to our ships."

Marines approached and began to separate the prisoners into groups to be escorted to helicopters and dropships while Kipmi and his squad were called to meet with the rest of the Myrmidons.

All of the Myrmidons from the other squad survived and accomplished their mission, even though they had to improvise in many areas. They had set off the explosives.

"While the raid was happening, we managed to go on one of the computers and take a few screenshots and make downloads. I think we managed to get enough detailed maps so we can see where all the Fire Nation bases are," the Myrmidon commander said. "We might be able to figure out their next moves based on the info. We ended up getting more information than we expected. But I think that's what happens when your priority is to raid the base and kill everyone. You'll be able to get information, and no one will stop you for a moment."

"Make sure that information goes to higher command," said Kipmi.

"Let's go back to our dropship before reinforcements arrive."

The squad then went back to the dropship that was sent to pick them up. While inside, they all sat quietly, as if to think about the mission they just went through, but Gabriel could tell that they were all grateful for its success. No one had been injured. The ride had been shorter as the spaceships moved closer to the destroyed enemy base.

Once they arrived, they put their weapons away before they had to report to Lieutenant Williams.

"I heard about the success of your mission, and that you had wiped out the entire base and might have information on the location of the Fire Nation's main base," said Williams. "I can see that Choi is back."

"Our mission was successful, sir," said Kipmi. "We had also freed POWs. They were being forced to build robots. Those prisoners could provide us with valuable information, and we could guess what the Fire Nation's next plan is."

"Yes, I can back up that information," said Choi. "I was there. I had been captured and the enemy grabbed some information from me. They ended up stealing my stuff and were able to add my features onto a robot."

"We have your uniform, Choi," said Kipmi. "We filled her in on the information about the traitors and the impostor robot."

"We'll need to be prepared if we're going up against robotic soldiers," said Williams.

"We sent photos of some of the maps that we saw on the enemy's computers," the commander of the other squad said. "They might be able to help us."

"That would be useful," said Williams. "We will also send scouts so that we can plan where to strike. We will need to go on the offensive really soon, so we need to start gathering our forces so we can plan an attack in the next few days. Now would be our chance, as the Fire Nation hasn't made another attempt at attacking the colony and a lot of civilians and some soldiers are already returning. The attack on the base did a lot of damage to them. It would take them a while to regroup and recover."

"What will happen now?" Gabriel asked.

"The more senior officers will review the intelligence and reports from the POWs so that they can plan for the attack. We will need to use a lot of vehicles and heavy weapons in case we need to face a full army of robots," said Williams. "There will be a slight risk in leaving the colony's defenses a little thin. We're not too willing to give up the base. As for you, all the Myrmidons under me will be part of the attack, while some will stay behind and defend. The mission went excellently, much better than we expected. You are dismissed. Make sure you are prepared for our planned attack."

The squad then left. They cleaned their gear before storing it. Everyone just returned to their bunks. Gabriel laid in his bed silently, trying to get a bit of comfort while he wasn't out doing something. He had already spent time talking to Choi and hearing what she had to say. He wanted to express his gratitude somehow, that he was grateful not to have lost anyone on the mission but gain an extra person and free the other POWs, including Sokka, who had recently returned to his father. Gabriel just let his body sit still and slow down.