I step out of my house and start looking for the others. I find them in the training room. I ask them,

"How did y'alls mission go?"

"It went pretty badly. We tried to do an extermination mission, but we got crushed. Even though we only killed about a third of the enemies, we still got about 1/3rd the reward," Scott says.

"How does that work? Does it get split among y'all, or do each of yall get the reward?" I ask.

"We each get the reward. Do you want to do a mission with us now?" Scott says.

Ya, sure," I say.

We head over to the mission board to see the available missions.

Group missions

Seek and Destroy

Exploration

Extermination

"Which do y'all want to do?" I ask.

"Exploration" "Exploration" "Exploration" Ar the responses I get. "Well then, guess we're doing exploration."

Available Exploration Missions

Enemy Base 50pp

Enemy Base 100pp

Enemy Base 300pp

After some discussion, we decide to do the mission with a 100pp reward. After the mission is selected a green line appears on the floor and leads us to the pods. When we arrive, I see the pods look different than normal. They're a dark non-reflective black, and much smaller than normal. They barely have room for a seat inside.

To make sure this mission can be done stealthily, the normal landing pods have been replaced with stealth landing pods. Choose your loadout below. Please note: All choices come with an automated mapping bracelet that scans the area around you. This ensures maximum accuracy in maps. Loadout-1: Stealth caught and automated lockpicker for getting in places where you are not wanted. Loadout-2: A box that can produce small explosive charges. Runs on energy and supplied material. Loadout-3: Laser pistol.

Looking at the list, I see it explains why the pods look weird. After some consideration, I decide on loadout 2, thinking it will be the most useful in the mission. I get in my pod, and when Everyone else gets in theirs...

Knockout gas is being administered...

********

I wake up in my pod. I see a planet approaching. It's covered in snow-capped mountains, and its sky is blue. What a nice place to do an exploration mission on.