Puffie rose from the bed. He had arrived at the planet of Minerva late last night, a planet that consisted mainly of mines, with Iron being the main metal exported. Basically being a near-uninhabitable desert planet, Minerva had no water outside of underground wells, and the planet’s elliptical orbit around the sun caused large temperature changes, the only sign of the seasons.

The rabbit looked out the window. It was a desolate place, with rock plains being almost the only terrain. A tank patrol kicked up a cloud of dust as it crossed the plains into the valley beyond.

Puffie sighed as he got dressed, thinking about the tangle of events that brought him here. Before, he heard news that the Rabbit Colonial Government was imposing heavier taxes and quotas on the colonists on Minerva, and how the colonists were getting more and more upset. Mining strikes and riots occurred, and when the RCG responded with sanctions, Civil war broke out. Puffie by then had joined the Rabbit Legion, the RCG’s military force. It had been a week after his training that he was deployed to Minerva. He had just got off the ship at the spaceport when his group was told to meet at the army base. There they were told about the situation.

"Ok guys, welcome to the mess that’s called Minerva. The police forces are in bad shape. The governer has enacted martial law, and the Local army defenses have mobilized just about all the forces on the planet. They can't hold the rebels much, so we need your group to get ready ASAP. You got 6 hours to sleep off the trip, and then you are going to patrol the city of Detamon. Understood?"

After reaching his quarters, Puffie had a little trouble falling asleep. He was worried about if it was even a good idea to join the army.

Puffie finished tying the laces on his boots, and donned his helmet and envirosuit. He then grabbed the blaster gun that sat plugged in on a shelf. He clicked an energy pack into the gun, and slung it over his back.

As he walked down the hallway over to the briefing room, his mind wandered back to rabbit earth. Thinking about how beautiful Rabbitearth looked in space made him think of hometown, Rabbittown. “I hope I get to see it again” he thought. Before he knew it, he was already in the briefing room, and among the other rabbits.

A friendly face popped in front of him. "Good morning!" he greeted. It was Peter, one of Puffie's longtime friends. “’morning Peter. Red-eyed enough for action?” Puffie asked. “Oh, wish I could stay in bed longer. Say, you don’t think they would serve some breakfast around here? I am getting hungry.”

“Peter, you know what the drill sergeant said in training: Briefing, then meals.” The two heard the chattering crowd grow quiet, and turned to the front to listen to the commander as he stepped in front of the group.

"Okay dusters,” He started “I was going to give you patrol jobs, but we're in a hot spot today. Last night, the Rebs commenced a raid on an outpost in Sulfon. That is a major resupply depot for our troops. So we need to take it back. We will drop you off by an abandoned mine shaft and you work your way through it to the base. Infiltrate it and blind the rebels to our attack force. Any Rebs that resist, Give 'em the works. Got that?"

There was a chorus of "Yessirs" and as fast as it started, the briefing was adjourned, and the soldiers got up to head to the tanks. Puffie stared at the map for a couple minutes before heading off.

Later the group headed towards the APC. Puffie, Peter and a few others got selected by the rest of the group in a “Rock Paper Scissors” Game during breakfast. "Puffie, you sure seem to be like the commander of this team today!" Peter said to Puffie as they headed to the APC. "I don't like going into dark, cramped, twisted places." Puffie replied. "The rebs could anticipate us sneaking in. And what's worse, they are miners. They would probably pound that shaft full of booby traps."

"I would love to say that you are just a scared-y-cat" Said Peter “But I have the same worries. We could volunteer to be scouts..."

Later, the APC Squeaked to a stop in front of a mine elevator. Some dirt bikes were already there, with engineers adding the final touches on repairing the elevator.

The team leader looked at Puffie and Peter "Alright, you two. You want to risk your butts’ making sure the party makes it through, Now’s your chance."