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The Pegasus-II long-rang habitation station. It was the first installation of its kind. Created by the United Republics of America, it was made to show their power to the world and to transport a crew of volunteers to a new one. This new world was found in the constellation Pegasus and was the first world confirmed to support life beyond Earth. And while the other superpowers fought for our solar system, the URA set their sights further.

At least, that was what they said one hundred twenty-seven years ago. The crew had been training for this mission for all of their living memory. Chosen at a very young age, the goal was to keep them detached from Earth and prepare them for a world unlike anything known. The crew would spend long periods of time stored in cryo, waking up periodically to adjust to the higher gravity they would have on the planet. Even with the time in suspended animation they would live on the station from when they left Earth at around ten years old, until they arrived and were in their twenties. With only eight months before they met the planet the crew was eagerly anticipating their arrival, but one had her mind elsewhere.

The rabbit was in her quarters looking out the viewport to the endless distance before her. She was a hybrid: a creature, made by man, to fight their battles for them long ago. She could see her reflection in the glassteel; her snow fur so bright it proved difficult to see past. She examined her reflection for a moment. The creature looked down to her brown paws on the bolted frame. She followed up her arms and watched the dark color split and break into spots and stripes, revealing the white beneath; her arms decorated with the marks of science, medicine and work from her time training on-"No."

She moved her vision quickly to her face. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in flows as black as the darkness she was staring into, outlining her light ears resti on either side of her head. She saw her pink nose complemented by her emerald eyes; but those eyes were unsure, worried, fearful. She corrected her vision. As she looked past the length of the ship above her and into the nothing, she found the familiar star. Sol. It's was small and dim, just like all the others surrounding it. And the Earth, the world she knew and the place she was born, was so distant a memory it may as well not exist anymore.

"Something the matter?"

Mary turned to see a lemur, incorporeal and a soft lavender color. The presence that spoke was SVAaNA, the ship AI and caretaker of the crew. SVAaNA had watched over them from the mission's beginning and saw them grow.

"N-no. I'm fine, Savannah." There was hesitation in her reply. "A bit dizzy is all."

Mary sat on her cot and continued to stare out into space. Silence fell over the two.

"I have increased the ship's rotation. I can't slow us down now, though. This is the surface gravity you'll expect once you arrive." SVAaNA stated. She was trying to keep Mary's mind off of what was bothering her.

"Yeah. It must be the extra gravity."

Both of them knew that wasn't even close to the truth but neither would say more about it. Silence fell upon them again. SVAaNA wasn't easy after this dialogue. She was designed to care for the crew of the ship on their journey and on the planet. SVAaNA was anxious as the Pegasus was nearing its destination. A moment later the intercom cracked on and a voice broke the quiet for them. It was Jon. His voice was more or less average but it carried weight.

"Attention everyone. As you know this is the last time we'll be 'awake' before we arrive, so I want us to get one last training session in."

Everyone else on the ship groaned and James, who must have been standing near Jon at the time, could faintly be heard in the background over the speakers rhetorically asking "Again?"

"Yes. Again." Jon replied to James. "I want to see everyone on the simulator deck in 20 minutes."

The intercom clicked off.

"With all the training he's made you do you all could take on the New Roman Empire." Savanna giggled. It was odd for most AIs to make jokes but the crew had gotten used to it from her.

Mary turned to face SVAaNA. "I think that's exactly what I need." She said back with a smile. Savanna got the message and, with a nod, disappeared. Mary stood up, looked at her reflection, smiled, then left for the simulator deck.

Mary made her way to the locker room before the simulator deck. As she walked in she noticed she was not alone in the sterile-looking armory. Jon was already there and was just about finished suiting up for the game planned. He had a rather difficult life back on the blue planet but didn't talk about it. However, Mary had once gotten ahold of some of the documents on the rest of the crew. Jon was found in an alley behind a building. His parents left him there. He never said why they did. Perhaps now he doesn't remember. It was all so far away. Jon finished with his fastens and buckles then slid his longsword into its scabbard and stood by the door to the simulator, waiting for everyone else to arrive. He was a proud-looking fox but that could have been the lion coming through. Jon had the smaller build that most foxes had as well as their color and pattern but his young, gold mane and cat-like face revealed his heritage. He was a few inches below six feet and one of the shorter males on the crew. However size didn't keep him from becoming the mission Commander and, though perhaps Mary could have made a better one having always scored higher on her examinations, all of the crew, felt him to be the better leader. He knew how to weigh his options quickly, and knew his friends strengths as they grew together. Jon always took the responsibility onto himself, no matter the situation or result.

Mary kept walking through the locker room when she saw a large tortoise leaning against the wall. Everything about him was huge. He stood at nearly eight feet tall and was built like a rock. But for as big as he was he never came across as intimidating. He was too gentle for that. As he stood there his shell shone like polished bronze and his scales were dark green like a forest camouflage. He looked down at Mary as she entered the room with eyes that blazed with a fiery orange hue and a big, friendly smile.

"Ah, hello Mary. I should've known you'd be one of the first to get here." He spoke with a big voice that made him sound like he was yelling but was more jolly than anything else. "How are you?"

"Hello Brutus. I'm fine, thank you for asking." Mary replied as she made her way to her locker. "Anything new with you?"

"Not really. It's not like much new can happen onboard." Brutus said with a short chuckle and a wave, then turned back to the door.

Someone else had arrived before Mary as well. He seemed like a typical gray mouse, and in many aspects he was, but he has brave. Quiet, but brave. That's not to say he was without fear, but rather that he was willing to take it on. For as much as he kept to himself the rest of the crew all felt they knew him personally. He had actually been born on one of the Martian colonies and had never seen the Earth until he was 'adopted' into the project. He sat on a bench against the wall between two sets of open lockers buckling his boots with his rapier and the rest of his combat harness beside him. He kept a small chain necklace with him that had a small red charm made from Martian iron and had his name engraved in it.

Lance Canton Jr.

Mary was putting on her combat harness when another member of the crew strode in. The new arrival waded his way across the room with all the pride dragons were known for. He had a personality bigger than Brutus and always had someone's attention. Though he was a dragon he had odd coloring for any hybrid. He was a near-jade color with white markings down his back and wings. He made his way to a locker opposite of Lance He never wore the full harness, claiming that it didn't fit his wings right but he really just wanted to show off his scales.

A few moments later a small rabble entered the quiet box room. Three hybrids entered, one of them sharing the results of an experiment they had been running on some of the flora in the green module. Among the group was a skunk who, very clearly, did not want to run another simulation. She took pride in how she looked and Jon's announcement, as it appeared, interrupted her while she was grooming. She was also a rather industrious skunk. Whenever she wasn't brushing her glossy, striped fur she was building some new machine out of whatever spare parts she could find. She quickly made her way to her locker and suited up in her personally modified harness, though did so somewhat impatiently. She tied back her silver hair before putting on a set of goggles with a built in General Awareness Display. The device which she built gave her real-time information on her environment, including an short range motion tracker. Her suit also had a tac-pad on the left forearm instead of a bracer so she could set up a direct interface with any electronic system.

Mary began to say "Hello Kaitlyn." to her as she suited up but then realized that she probably didn't want to talk and cut herself off short.

Meanwhile, another of the group continued talking about their experiments and how the plants were performing better than expected under the simulated near-infrared light of VS Pegasae. He wrapped up what he was talking about before making his way to his locker and suiting up in his harness when Brutus walked to the locker beside him and took his longhammer from it. Brutus looked down at him and gave him a smile.

"Hey Jane. Sounded like your test is going well." Brutus said to him. Jane was a small, brown raccoon, which was made even more apparent beside the massive tortoise. His eyes shimmered like amethysts in his head. Jane had a long striped tail which expressed his mood for him. It also betrayed him whenever he lied, not that he was good at it in the first place.

"Oh yes. The results are so promising that, soil biding, hunting may not be necessary." Jane replied with a gleeful confidence looking back up to his tall friend. Brutus smiled back at him then turned to stand next to Jon but noticed Jane was, rather conspicuously, staring at him. He turned back to Jane and handed over his weapon to the racoon. Jane was stunned. He didn't think he'd been noticed, nor anticipated Brutus's reaction. Jane took the weapon in both hands and as soon as Brutus let go of it the hammer fell to the ground with a rezoning bang. Everyone else was startled by the commotion except Brutus who started laughing and then picked up his hammer and put it over his shoulder. Jane felt a bit embarrassed and shyly holstered his pistol.

The next two from the group split off to get ready and had lockers right next to each other. One was a short, tan otter with hair only a few inches long, named Angelina. She was rather inflexible, both physically and mentally, however this did not make her any less sociable or agreeable. After she slid the harness over her shoulders she lifted her hair and asked the wolf standing next to her if he could zip her up. He stood at nearly 6 feet tall and with an impressive build. His fur was so dark he looked like a silhouette with substance. His eyes were deep pools bronze that anyone could get lost in. He was only half dressed when Angelina asked for his assistance but he stopped suiting himself up to close the metal fasten up to the nape of her neck.

"Thanks, Michael." She said to him before turning to her locker and setting her quiver on her hip.

"As the moon." He replied, his voice flowed through the air.

A sweet smile broke across her face that she tried to hide. Michael smirked and finished gearing up.

Almost as everyone else had finished, the last member of the crew snuck into the room and quickly prepared. She slipped into her harness, snapped on her bracers and strung her quiver over her shoulder before turning to face everyone else. She was a bright but quiet owl. She always knew what to say however didn't always have the heart to say it. She took another moment to look over everyone else and brush back some of her white feathers. The snowy owl's yellow eyes eventually found Jon who looked back with an expression hinting at a small loss of patience. "Ready Andrea?"

Jon turned after a brief moment to address everyone in the locker room.

"Glad you could all make it." He said with a curious blend of sincerity and slight annoyance

"Yeah. Great." Kaitlyn replied with her rather blunt sarcasm.

Jon sighed. "I get you're not all excited about this but we're almost to a new planet. And I'd feel better if we just did one more sim to prepare."

James stood up from the bench he was on. "Eh, why not? Its not going to kill us to do one more." He didn't realize it but he had just saved Jon a lot of hassle.

"Besides, it's fun breaking those bastards," he added with a devious grin. He cracked his knuckles while he spoke just for the extra effect.

Everyone got a quick chuckle out of that.

"Alright. So it's a standard capture the flag." Jon stated. "Brutus, James; you two try to sneak around on the left; meanwhile Mary, Michael and I will push forward to clear a path for Lance, Kaitlyn and Jane."

"Why are the two biggest guys sneaking around?" James interjected.

Jon looked over at him and said "Because you two won't be seen on thermal."

James nodded back.

"And you two," he motioned to Andrea and Angelina. "Provide cover for us as we move up. Once we get to the ridge Brutus and James will help us clear it then you two meet us up there use it to pick them off."

"Got it," Angelina replied.

"After then Michael and I will hold them back as Kaitlyn, Lance and Mary move up the right with Brutus, Jane and James distracting them on the left."

Jon looked them all over. "All set?"

There was a sound of agreement between them all.

"Close enough," Jon said and shrugged it off.

"Ears fast," he commanded before hitting his fist on a large square button on the wall which opened the door beside him. Jon grabbed his longsword then charged through the doorway, with the rest of the crew close behind him.

As the crew charged in they were greeted by a barrage of phasic fire. The teal lights hissed through the air with the odor of burning aluminum. Everyone took brief cover before Jon gave the signal to move. Once he did Angelina and Andrea both rose just over the barrier and let loose an arrow each as Brutus and James dashed to the left wall and made their way up the side path. The room was built as a long octagon with an elevation in the center that had a clear view of the room and two round, mostly-open zones; one by the door, the other at the far end of the room and had small clearings and paths along the walls. The main path that lead from these open zones to the ridge in the center of the room was a valley that narrowed as it went up. There were a few small paths that connected the main valley to the edges of the room to allow openings for escape or ambush.

Angelina and Andrea ducked back behind the cover and Andrea looked at Jon.

"There are six shield carriers in the valley. First four have one shooter and the last have two. I saw seven extras without guards but I'm sure there are more hiding in the walls." She reported. Jon gave a nod as acknowledgement then turned to look around the barrier and hit a button on his sword which ignited the edge of his blade with an amethyst glow; an aggressive buzzing hissed from the weapon. Angelina and Andrea both turned over top their cover and let loose two arrows. Once they hit their marks Jon tucked and dove out from behind the barricade and charged forward. Michael vaulted over and followed him up. Mary dashed out behind the two and kept low.

As the three charged forward Mary broke right to take out a drone she saw sliding down the valley wall. She jumped into the air and quickly unsheathed and activated her twin shoto with a whine and a hiss, then plunged the blades into the machine's torso. Mary spun the now limp hunk of metal beneath her. She kicked the military training droid, now a pile of scrap, off her swords and it clashed to the ground under Mary who evaded away.

Meanwhile, Jon and Michael made their way up the valley. The first shield carrier charged the two and slammed his shield down in front to halt their progression. Jon quickly evaded to the right of the drone to take out its support. Michael vaulted onto the shield. Before the machine could process events Michael rend its head from its torso and made his way on. Jon landed in front of the next combat drone. It took aim at him but Jon sprang up with a twist and cleaved it in two from hip to shoulder and he ran on.

The drones began a slow march down the valley to slow the assault team. Jon dashed to meet them coming down. Every foot of ground lost meant more time to retake it. He meet the line head-on and held them back briefly, slashing clean through the first. A pile of broken machines began to grow around him but the line kept its advance. One got within his swing and knocked him down. It had him pinned. His blade fell to the floor as he did. The drone's rifle was in his face. A flash of metal went through Jon's vision and the drone fell over. Michael had disarmed and decapitated it in one motion. Jon pushed the machine off him then jumped to his feet. He took his blade up and brought it down into the neck of another drone before pulling it out and slashing between its head and shoulders. Michael, now to Jon's left, was aiding in holding the line. He smashed the side of one's head and deformed it then spun backward and his blade ran through it's center. Michael lifted the machine into the air and brought it crashing down on another. Mary had been fighting along the right wall. She dashed straight for one drone. It took aim at her. She dropped and slid beneath it. She plunged a sword into its leg and pulled it through before rising back to her feet and charging once again.

The three battled their way to the crossing at the top of the hill, where the side paths met the valley. Once they reached the summit they began to divide the machines apart and clear the ridge from the center. Jon stayed in the middle to keep any drones from trying to retake it while Mary held the right; and Michael, the left. Michael was holding off three when another came up his side. Before he had time to react the machine hit the ground with a the sound of crumpling tin. Something caught it in the side of the head. James came charging forward and tackled one of the droids Michael had been fending off and severed the major cable connecting the motors and central processor before grabbing his thrown weapon and taking off again. Michael jumped back as he knew what was about to happen to the remaining droid. It went to take a step when it was sent airborne. Brutus stood behind where the machine had just been.

Michael gave him a cold look and turned away.

Brutus smirked and kept walking.

Meanwhile, the drones on Mary's side retreated before long and the five regrouped. Jon called up the others and, quickly, Kaitlyn, Jane, Andrea and Angelina met with them and got ready for the next part of the plan. Andrea and Angelina got into position to protect the ridge and capture zone. The droids had mobilized along the center path expecting another frontal assault. They were acting exactly as Jon predicted. He held up his left paw with four fingers extended and motioned around the left side of the room. Brutus, James, Michael, Mary and Jon ran to the left while Kaitlyn and Jane slipped off to the right wall. The two of them were able to avoid detection and made their way around to the flag.

Meanwhile, Jon's plan was going as expected and the droids were concentrating on his group. Any drones further from the fray were being taken down by Angelina and Andrea.

Kaitlyn and Jane made it to the clearing where the flag was set when they saw Lance, the flag in one hand and his rapier in the other, fighting off the waves machines closing in on him. The two of them jumped to his aid and got him out of there before their path was cut off.

The three ran back to the ridge and down to the capture zone. As they neared it Lance jumped into the air and slammed the base of the flag to the ground. There was an electronic chime and the droids deactivated. Lance stood himself up and turned to the others. Brutus and Jon were smiling while everyone else was giving him a look of impatience and very slight amusement.

"Was that really necessary?" Kaitlyn asked rhetorically.

Later, they had all gotten out of their combat harnesses and gathered in the mess hall for their last meal onboard the Pegasus. SVAaNA was deactivating miscellaneous systems to save power on this last leg of the journey, so most of the lights had been shut down. Everyone's meals consisted of a mix of mostly fruits and vegetables but some of them had small steaks so their bodies wouldn't lose the ability to digest meat.

They were all nearly finished with their food at this point. James took down his last of bread then looked over to Jon and asked. "So, you two had that planned, huh? Mr. 'Communication-is-key' ?"

Jon chuckled. "I thought you were over that now? I mean, since you are so much bigger than being jealous of a mouse?" He finished it off mockingly imitating James from earlier after the simulation.

Everyone started laughing.

"So Brutus," Angelina started "what were you and Michael talking about earlier?"

He quickly turned to face her.

"Hmm? Oh that? Just reviewing some of the data from VS Pegasae. Some small flare activity but it won't be any trouble."

"Oh, okay." She replied then took another spinach leaf to her fork.

"Oh!" Jane interjected excitedly. His tail jumped and he set his fork down a little too rough. "I just remembered! So earlier Savannah, Kaitlyn, Andrea and I were looking over the images of the planet and we finally decided on a site for the colony." Once he finished his sentence a holoprojection of the planet formed in the center of the table.

"We decided on this little spot here." He pointed to a region on the projection and the map, courtesy of SVAaNA, zoomed to the location. As the map continues to center the location Jane continued.

"Its in a large plateau just south of the equator, a bit on the nearer side to the star. Its about two miles from what we believe to be a forest, though we are not quite sure for obvious reasons, and seventeen-point-five miles from a lake. Measurements so far suggest that the temperature ranges from 65 to 75 degrees [Fahrenheit] with occasional variances and the atmospheric pressure should be very near one atmo."

"Wow! Really?" James questioned skeptically.

"As the planet has its south pole locked to the star there are no seasons to cause drastic changes in temperature."

"Oh."

"From this spot VS Pegasae will be just above the horizon so artificial light will not be necessary for the plants to photosynthesize."

"But we should keeps some extra light over there just encase." Kaitlyn added on at the end of Jane's sentence. Clearly the two have been debating on this for some time.

Jane replied to her statement but more to the rest of the group as reassurance. "The star's light properties are sufficient to maintain the plants but, yes, I do agree."

The holoprojection disappeared from the table. At this point everyone had finished their meals and was waiting at the table.

"Alright," Jonn started. "Everyone ready?"

There was a somewhat awkward and disorganized reply but the general idea was everyone was ready. Jon sat up and a holoprojected scoreboard appeared in the center of the table and began to rotate slowly.

FLAG CAPTURE

LANCE

DRONES DECOMMISSIONED

Rex: 38 12 253

Michael: 34 12 702.5

Jon: 33 12 685.5

Brutus: 31 13 101

Lance: 23 10 069

Andrea: 19 10 914

Mary: 17 10 707

Angelina: 11 10 208

Jane: 7 9 998

Kaitlyn: 6 11 613

Upon seeing the scoreboard James stood and shouted with excitement.

"Yes! Wooo-hoo! Yeah!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down James." Angelina said.

James sat back down. Jon got up and walked to nearby cabinet after James had him moment to take out two cupcakes, bringing one to Lance and the other to James.

"There you go. These are the last two we have so enjoy them. All the rest are 21.141 light-years away so I'm not going back to get another if you drop one."

As Jon said it, the rest got up from their chairs and left the mess hall, chatting to each other quietly in pairs.

The crew organized their things as more of the ship's nonessential processes were disabled. Lance and Kaitlyn had already packed some of their things for when they would leave the station after cryo. One at a time the crew made their way to the cryo chambers and set themselves up for storage.

A few of the others laughed.

Jane began to speak as they all got themselves prepared. "Just think of it. A new world. We will be the first to look at the sun and see a mere star."

His statement was met with a chorus of agreement and excitement.

"We are the embers of civilization and will make for ourselves a world free from the strife of mankind's follies." Andrea spoke. There was a silence.

SVAaNA projected herself into the room.

"Okay, looks like everyone is ready?" She posed to the crew.

"All set," Jon replied.

"I'm so excited," Angelina said as set herself in the cryo tube. "I don't think I'll get any sleep at all."

Everyone laughed, including SVAaNA who replied with,

"Good luck with that, sweetie. But remember, the longer you take the longer you have to wait to see the surface."

Angelina laid down in the cryo tube quickly.

Everyone was down now and waiting.

SVAaNA began to close the lids and told them all before they were activated for the last time,

"Goodnight. I'll have the colony constructed and waiting for you all when you wake." She told them.

"Bye." Lance and Brutus said back to her.

"Take care!" Mary slipped in before the lids all sealed.