[B]Sandy Shores[/B] Yuuki got a glint in her eye, and the same devilish smile appeared on her face. She saw an opportunity, an opportunity to make a better America. One that would work, one that wouldn't need a revolution every few decades to keep the power balanced. "I wouldn't dream of it." She said "Socialism is how to fix America, and all you need is a push. We can give you that push. What do you think would happen if a hundred ships appeared at San Francisco, and began to attack Imperial personnel? It can be taken. You;re not going to get anything but fame for derailing trains and shooting down planes, if you want to change America, you need to take land, and good land. Not places like this, I'm talking major cities with lots of oppressed workers willing to pick up a gun and fight for their freedom, or even just work for it." She began to pace around the room, her left hand on her chin and her right laying on an old commercial pistol she kept as a family heirloom. "We have computers capable of running millions of programs in tandem, so many programs, in fact, that we are on the brim of a sentient AI. We've always used non-sentient AIs as workers and consumers, artificially enhancing our economy. We've never thought of it before, but what if that same technology was used on combat robots? If a city with robotic production facilities was captured... oh yes... this will work! If you let us, we'll bring in some more equipment and use this town as our home base. If there are any nearby cities with robotic production facilities, we can take them. Will you accept this course of action?" [b]Antarctic Surface, Haven City Vicinity[/b] A saucer flew through the radiation-bathed air, propelled by magnets on the ground and floating as a result of quantum levitation. Inside the strange vehicle rode seven people, five of them pale skinned city dwellers and the other three city dwellers with naturally dark skin (One African-Antarctican and two Asian-Antarcticans to be precise). They were wearing military uniforms, but they weren't Navy, Army, or Marines. Their uniforms were white with gold highlights, just like most Antarctican uniforms, but they were far bulkier. Each held a helmet beside them, with a golden tint and a retractable solid face plate. On the shoulder of each uniform there was a patch displaying the affiliation of the suit. The patch showed the Earth at the bottom, with a spaceplane of sorts heading away from it towards a brightly shining red star. Twenty-two other stars were displayed in the sky, and multiple names encircled the image. In the center it read "Antarctic Space Agency". On the back of each suit, there was a large backpack presumably for oxygen storage. The levitating disk finally began to slow down, and the seven people put on their helmets. As the crackling of their Geiger counters began, the door opened. They were met with the sight of a strange rocket, a lifting-body spaceplane standing upright on the pad. A cargo elevator sat over to the side, meant to bring up spacecraft from the production and storage cities below the ground. Personnel in radiation suits talked to the seven astronauts using built in radio communication, and trucks were leaving the area already. The group reached the launch elevator, and took it up towards the giant craft. Entering the cabin, they closed the hatch and began with the launch preparations they had memorized over and over again for the past month. The controls were simple, and not dissimilar to lifting body transport aircraft used by the military. Four joysticks sat to the sides of the first two chairs, with digital readouts in the center (high-definition for complete clarity). The entire ceiling was covered in switches, which rested on control panels that could be folded out to give the pilots access to the same controls, but on a digital interface and with a better HUD. On the forward windows was the standard holographic HUD, with multiple options for its configuration accessible through the central computer terminal in the middle of the console. There was also a simple touch keypad for controlling the RCS thrusters. It was strange that with a single press of one of those digital buttons, the entire craft would move. A few hours later, the coutdown clock reached T-10 seconds. One of the pilots turned on an old cassette player, and turned the volume up as far as he could. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxm9bDZrWpc]A folk tune began[/url], but the moment the vocals began, everyone knew it was anything but folk. Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Thunder towards tomorrow on an oxygen stream Thunder toward tomorrow by her flaming rocket song Mark a new time of man, booster candles like the dawn Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Foundation of the future Courier of dreams Thunder On Sunshine brightens the horizon Tension rings the morning haze The shuttle standing proud against wind Knows the distant stars her wings will never grace Countdown, pulses race, the launch begins Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Thunder towards tomorrow on an oxygen stream Thunder toward tomorrow by her flaming rocket song Mark a new time of man, booster candles like the dawn Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Foundation of the future Courier of dreams Thunder On Columbia, the promise of better days to come Columbia, new mistress of the sky Sailing orbit free, track the moon, and chase the sun Fly Columbia, for human kind fly Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Thunder towards tomorrow on an oxygen stream Fly toward tomorrow by her flaming rocket song Mark a new time of man, booster candles like the dawn Fly, Columbia (Fly, Columbia) Foundation of the future Courier of dreams Thunder On Thunder On Thunder On On the side of the spacecraft, the name "Columbia" was displayed proudly, a name chosen by the crew. Encircling it were the reproduced signatures of Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon.