August 27, 2152
Emory woke up drenched in sweat twice throughout the night. She didn't know why she did so since she wasn't having a nightmare either time. So, when morning finally peaked through the windows, she felt like she hadn't slept at all. The other girls were still sleeping soundly which led Emory to sneak off her bed as quietly as she could. Creeping slowly, she made her way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Before hopping in, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Strangely, a prismatic glow seemed to just outline Emory's body. Still, it may have only been a mirage due to a lack of sleep. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped into the shower. Steam quickly filled the room since Emory preferred to take very hot showers. After spending far too long in the piping water, she finally got out and made her way to the main area. Unsurprisingly, all her roommates were starting to wake up.
Sam yawned, "So, Captain, what's the plan for today?"
"I'd prefer if we held off on the formalities for now," Emory glared, "I thought we'd go to the library and decide which squads go to which planets. But I also think we need to add one more person to discussion first."
"Gwen and the boys are already getting ready, so who else do we need?" Tana asked.
"The last squad leader," Emory emphasized, "If I were in their spot, I'd want to be part of these kinds of talks. They're going to be leading a squad, so at the very least, I don't want our first meeting right before we leave tomorrow." The other three nodded their head in agreement as it was a good point until Tethys scowled.
Tethys wondered aloud, "Wait, how are we going to find this person? It's not like we could go door-to-door." Emory smirked before clicking a few buttons on her watch.
"Yesterday I got the evaluation and entrance records for all the students who were selected as well as planetary details about the upcoming mission. With everything going on yesterday, I didn't have a chance to open and look through it. See, it says here the last squad leader is someone named Nephenee Lavender," Emory gestured to the hologram. A tall, teal-haired girl holding a lance was displayed on the screen for all to see.
Tana commented, "Wow, she might be taller than Innes. What do you think she's like?"
"It says here that she has the Force Sphere," Emory read, "Isn't that a private sphere?"
"Yeah, but the Violet's are an open clan. More open than us even since you have to take the Rice name to be taught Shifting," Sam explained. They combed through more background information while they changed into normal clothes for the day. Nephenee had moved to Mars Base Three within the last few years and previously lived on Earth. Her mother was a Violet but married outside of the clan, taking her wife's last name. Like most of Emory's friends, she had a total level of six. The data even contained the results of the assessment which led them to discover this girl had placed second overall, beating out everyone but Emory. Once they had gotten dressed, they headed off to the room listed on Nephenee's information card. Emory knocked politely, and footsteps could be heard on the other side. When the door opened, a lean girl a few inches taller than Innes stood in the doorway with a puzzled look on her face.
She greeted them, "Hello. Can I help you?"
"My name is Emory," Emory introduced herself, "I'm looking for Nephenee."
"What's this about? You don't look like you're with the military or the school," the tall girl responded with a hint of worry in her voice.
"My friends and I scored well on the assessment; in fact, I was the top-ranked student. We're going to plan the upcoming mission and wanted to get Nephenee's input on it," Emory explained, "Are you Nephenee?"
The tall girl nodded, "That's me. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'd love to come along. Give me five minutes to change. Can we grab something from the cafeteria on the way? I'm starved."
"I like her already," Tana laughed. After Nephenee changed, the five girls made their way to the cafeteria and picked up a horde of pastries before continuing to the library. Because it was the weekend and early, the place was rather deserted. Gatrie, Gwen, and Innes were waiting just inside with a pile of books on the table next to them.
Innes stated, "Gatrie and I arrived early, so we collected some materials about different star systems and about the exploration of the Sol System. Is this the last squad leader?"
"Pleased to meet you," Nephenee extended her hand, "My name is Nephenee." After Emory introduced everyone, the group of eight headed to a table at the back of the library with the books in tow. Though it was unlikely anyone would come in right now, it was still better to be secluded to reduce their chances of being disturbed. Once everyone sat down and was comfortable, Emory began outlining her plan to the group. The squad leaders were Emory, Gatrie, Nephenee, and Tana while their second-in-command would be Tethys, Sam, Innes, and Gwen respectively. Every group of twenty-five would have five students from the blaster, blades, mauls, and polearms classes each and two or three students from the hand and support classes. This total included the squad leaders, so, for example, Nephenee's troop would have four other polearm students besides herself. Before deciding which squad the other ninety-two students would be on, they looked at the information they had on the star systems they would be going to. Between the four systems, the Collective had identified six possible planets that could harbor life. Like Earth, these planets were selected because they had oxygen-rich atmospheres that allowed people to survive without space suits. Initial scans showed no signs of a Mantoan presence or other intelligent life on these planets, and the Collective had done a good job of highlighting several potential landing sites. Books started flipping open as everyone grabbed one detailing one of the four star systems. Once they were done, they would swap with another person to learn about a different system. Nephenee was shocked by the amount of information they had collected.
"How did you all get so much information?" Nephenee asked, "This seems like more than some students could get their hands on."
Innes clarified, "I told the main desk that Emory needed materials about the assessment mission, and they just handed these to me. They must have already known we would be here eventually."
"I spoke with the rest of the High Collective at the party about gathering all the information they had," Emory commented without lifting her head, "Let's get some lunch and then make our picks on a full stomach." Without realizing it, the group had spent three hours already combing through the charts, maps, and analyses about the star systems. So, when Emory made this suggestion, it was as if a wave of hunger rushed over them. Innes let the receptionist know that they would return and to request that others be kept away from their area.
Much like breakfast on the weekend, lunch was just a buffet of different cuisines but largely grab and go food instead of sit-down food. Like Tana and Innes, Nephenee was a big eater, yet her food looked strange when she returned to the table.
Tana asked with a mouthful of food, "Why'd you get such weird food? Nothing looks bad, but the combinations you have are like pineapple on pizza."
"I suppose I just eat how I've always ate," Nephenee replied with a shrug, "This is the food I grew up with. Sauerkraut on hot dogs and soup with sweets."
"Where did you grow up?" Sam inquired.
"I grew up in the heartland of North America, on Earth," Nephenee elaborated, "One of my mothers was born into a farming family. We only moved to Mars for her job."
Gatrie commented, "I bet it was a big change from the open environment to the habitat units here. Though, Mars is halfway covered in a bubble, so there's some room to roam."
"We live in Habitat Three, so a bit less developed than here," Nephenee sighed, "From the highest point, you can see the boundaries of the unit. Back home, you could look from miles in every direction and only see more fields. Seas of wheat and corn."
"That sounds rather peaceful. Maybe one of the planets we go to will be like that," Innes suggested.
"I've never been outside of this unit," Emory confessed, "So I'm also looking forward to exploring some place without restrictions. Do you all think there will be animals to see?"
Innes added, "Though we didn't find any animals on Proxima Centauri B, there's no reason to believe we won't find them somewhere. I read earlier that most of the planets are orbiting red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri B, so most of the planets will be dark like there too."
"Doesn't that mean it will be unlikely there are animals on those planets?" Gwen contended, "After all, only a few animals we've come across have adapted to using infrared vision. A few snakes, some bats, but nothing big like a bear or a cow." The group continued to dine and make wild guesses about what may or may not be lying in wait for them in the future. Nephenee seemed to fit right in with the group, a good sign that Emory noticed. After they finished, they returned to their table in the library and started picking where they wanted to go and who to take with them. Nephenee and Tana would be going to the systems that had two planets each, so those teams had more students with the healing sphere than Emory or Gatrie's team. Since they didn't know exactly what challenges they would face, each squad had at least one student with every public sphere. Gatrie and Nephenee lightly argued over specific combinations of the students, like a student with the Blight sphere with a sword instead of a lance. But in the end, everything went very smoothly because none of them were too particular about one piece or another. Finally, Emory went over the training regimen the group had perfected, so she could train her squad in the same way. Though exploration was important, Emory admitted, it was equally important that they be prepared for conflict. With the Mantoan base's location a mystery, it was good to be ready. When they finished picking squad members, almost everyone stood up to leave while Nephenee remained sitting.
Emory spoke softly, "Is everything alright, Nephenee? I know we went over a lot of information, so it's totally okay if you're worried about some part of it."
"You all planned this so easily," Nephenee worried, "But we're all just kids. Aren't you worried we don't have the life experience to do all this?"
"Of course I'm concerned that we're going on this big mission despite being only eighteen years old. But we can't sit around here and do nothing either. If we want tomorrow to be better than today, we have to fight for it. I don't plan on letting them take any of this away from us," Emory comforted her. Nephenee looked up at the determination overflowing from Emory and felt a calming warmth bubbling up inside her. She joined the group for dinner and after dinner training. As this was her first time using her magik around them, she was surprised when she realized how strong they all were. Even though evenings were only light impact and mainly focused on meditation, these seven clearly had exponentially more mana than she did. When they finished, the group split off to their own rooms. Between the anxiety for tomorrow and the research done today, Emory tried to lay down but couldn't seem to relax. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours as time ticked away into the early morning. She had drifted off to see a few times, but she never stayed asleep.