The officers of the Honor guard, the imperial navy and the army all exited their great Barracks in unison after listening to leaders speech and with a few parting words they all separated to prepare their particular troops. Not many of them believed in the idea of intelligent life out there with capable enough means to have a true war against ; some at best expected the idea of hunting certainly, but the idea of a true war on the horizon after so many years of peace kept many soldiers up that night with smiles on their faces. The capitals self defense army mobilized early the next morning to attend the opening of the newest factory to aid in escorting the materials it would produce to the shipyards; especially what was concealed under the tarp on the giant flat bed.
Upon arrival the final components of the ship were integrated and with their modular design it would most likely be ready to fly by tomorrow, the prospect of which excited the navy who were busy running diagnostics and last minute checks on equipment. However they were all eventually escorted away for a surprise test prepared for the crew waiting in the hanger; inside a mock up of the S.S. Imperial colonization shuttle had been revealed, it was obviously what the army had transported here but regardless it was sitting in the middle of where their astronauts had been running their anti gravity training for the past few months. In fact this was also part of the reason the army had chosen to escort this shipment in such numbers and in full battle gear. All crew members were positioned as if they were on duty, artificial gravity on inside the ship and 0G outside. In fact it seemed like a fairly normal training session until the explosive decompression. Alarms began blaring and the reports of multiple hull breaches erupted from various communication panels. The army was running combat tests to see how well the navy was prepared for the possibility of 'alien borders' or the more likely extreme terrorist cell hijacking, it was also a worth while test to see how effectively they were prepared in case of the possibility they were able to board a ship in space and capture it by force. The high pitched whirring before the sudden explosive burst from the barrels of the soldiers hand held rail guns were everywhere throughout the ship, in fact the mock up was having holes punched through its hulls everywhere considering the fact that they were using live ammunition on both sides. And though the crew lost the battle after a mere twenty minutes, they possessed enough innovation to throw off the 'enemy' and delay the armies forces long enough to make sure they paid for every step they took into their ship and lets just say, the affair had an explosive ending. They fought valiantly and to the last breath and they made sure the enemies of the empire would not learn their secrets; it was a glorious death.
The army and the navy were both satisfied with the procedure and stamped out another batch of soldiers and sailors to replace those lost after the bodies were cleaned up and sent to the Atmos for processing. In fact it was a relatively easy to add a few extra pods to those that were being loaded onto the colony vessle who were ready to be born to defend and expand thier new home; only the ships crew would be born in space and would have to handle the task of finding a suitable site for colony A+1 and ensure its new residents were settled in safely.
