Chapters Ocellus flew deeper into the sector than Gallus and came across a single planet called Soria filled with intelligent life. Everyone on this planet was very tech-savvy. She wondered why the Draconians had not invaded this world, but she soon found a startling answer when she met the planet's ruler, Mariel.
"We were at war with Draconia twenty years ago, but we favored brains over brawn and defeated them easily. Koval's father, Soran, was at the front lines and killed during the final battle. Koval vowed to retaliate against us someday. He has been trying to find other planets to invade in hopes of building a larger and more powerful army to avenge Soran's death.", she explained.
Ocellus was floored by Mariel's report. She took note of all of this in order to tell Flurry Heart once she and her friends had returned to Equus. This also worried her that the Draconians had possibly tapped their ships. However, when she looked, she did not see anything that was not present before the mission began. Once she had mapped out the planet completely and charted all of the surrounding stars, she returned to the space station
In Sector 6, Yona was mapping two large snow worlds. Being a yak, she was used to cold temperatures, so she did not need to wear any heavy clothes outside. However, that was the standard procedure at home. These planets were another story. They were five times colder than Yakyakistan. She had to wear heavy coats, a scarf, and goggles on both of the planets. At least twice, she reached an altitude in the mountains where she could not breathe without using an oxygen tank. One of the planets was called Nitrogenia. On this planet, she learned from the locals about how to properly climb with sherpas. She was experienced in mountain climbing from living in the mountains, but this gave her some new knowledge to add in case she ever took on a climb that was more serious than what she was used to. She was also taught how liquid nitrogen could be used in battle situations to freeze enemies in their tracks.
The other planet was called "Cryo". Here, she learned about battle tactics in snowy environments. The Cryonians were generous enough to give demonstrations for multiple styles of snow battle. They even gave her copies of blueprints for some of their snow vehicles, so that she could form a squadron for use in snowy areas, no matter where the battle took place. She thanked the Cryonians and the Nitrogenians warmly for giving her this new knowledge for snow battle and mountaineering. Both planets had their fair share of mountains, areas to build storm shelters, blizzards, and glaciers. She experienced heavy snowstorms on both planets. Some of which made it almost impossible to see where she was going.
Once Yona was confident that she had not missed any spots on either of the planets, she charted the stars and returned to the space station.
Heading to the final sector
Once the collected information was logged in the star maps, the Harmony was undocked from the space station and the Young Six headed to Sector 7. Arriving at the space station, they received some shocking information from the Commander, which was Daring Do.
"Supposedly, this solar system was home to an intelligent species. Shockingly, the space station we are on was pre-existing. We just had to repair it and create an artificial gravity generator. The planet we are orbiting is called Earth, and it was our first destination to map out. We had just started mapping when we heard that the budgets were cut. All of the information we managed to gather is that there is friendly life on the planet and the air is safe to breathe. Due to the budget cuts, we did not have the opportunity to scout for cities or technology. There are seven other planets besides Earth and its moon. They are called Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.", she explained.
"We will save Earth for last. Right now, we need to map the other seven planets.", said Sandbar.
Daring Do acknowledged Sandbar's plans and the Young Six proceeded with the final leg of their cosmic mission.
Sandbar chose to sit out charting Sector 6, so he stayed on the space station. Gallus proceeded to chart out a galaxy with three solar systems. The first one had eight planets that were all oceans. None of these planets could sustain life. Two of them had acid in the water, while the rest did not have enough plants to provide breathing oxygen. All of the planets had thick layers of clouds that blocked out the sunlight, so it was always dark. On the planets that did not have enough plants to produce oxygen, both the atmosphere and the water were heavily poisonous. Two of these planets had heavy concentrations of radioactive elements, so Gallus made sure to raise his shields to avoid contamination.
The second solar system was comprised of six planets that all had strange magnetic fields. In order to chart out these planets, Gallus had to magnetize his boots because the fields wanted to push him away, as opposed to a regular planet's magnetic field that would pull him down. These planets were metal all the way through and contained mines for the metals that made them up. These metals were like nothing Gallus had ever seen, so the inhabitants were happy to donate samples to him for research when he returned to Equus.
Once Gallus had fully mapped out all of the planets and any stars in the vicinity, he returned to the space station.
Silverstream was charting a group of six planets that were filled with lush plant life, forests, and deserts. Clouds were usually very light and rain was not heavy on the grassland planets. The picturesque view extended for miles in the wide open plains. Rivers flowed peacefully and at a steady pace to distribute moisture throughout the soil so nothing ever dried up. Inhabitants here included deer, elk, bison, prairie dogs, and many more herbivores.
The forested planets had tons of trees and several mountain ranges. Birds screamed through the trees in the forests and snakes were seen multiple times, so Silverstream had to watch her step to avoid getting bitten. She saw many different types of deciduous life here, such as bears, eagles, macaws, hawks, and wolves. She made sure to stay out of harm's way in order to map out all of the planets completely.
On the desert worlds, Silverstream had to make sure she had a lot of water to avoid dehydration. She also had to mark her ship's position on a GPS and use a compass to make sure she did not get lost. Temperatures easily exceeded 100 degrees, and she had to wear sunscreen during the day to avoid getting sunburned. Thankfully, she did not get lost on any of the planets and she stayed well hydrated. On two of the planets, she extracted water from cacti and even picked prickly pear fruits for food. It was a pretty view, but very hot.
Once she was certain that every square inch was mapped out on all of the planets, she charted out the stars and then returned to the space station.
Smolder's assignment for Sector 6 was to map a giant planet made entirely of water. A bubble surrounded the planet to provide a breathable atmosphere before Smolder dove underwater. She touched down in a hangar on a landing platform atop a giant underwater structure.
As she approached the platform, she contacted the planet's inhabitants in order to request landing permission. This involved stating her name and her purpose for coming. The inhabitants granted her the permission to explore right before opening the hangar for her to touch down. Once she had landed, she closed the hangar door to prep her ship for mobility under the water. She wore her scuba gear in case of a hull breach and if her ship was too large for tight squeezes.
After switching her ship to move on wheels, she rolled onto an elevator platform at the hangar's rear and was lowered down below the water's surface. Once she confirmed being ready, the hangar technicians flooded the chamber and equalized the pressure so her ship wouldn't be crushed. After the hatches were opened, Smolder piloted her ship through the crystal-clear water, taking pictures of many different types of fish, sharks, whales, and many other types of marine life. Some of the hot-water vents that she photographed were in places she could not reach while inside her ship. So she had to put on her diving helmet and take her camera outside with her. This gave her a great opportunity to use her scuba gear and it was surely a great time for her to go swimming on the mission. When she was finished mapping, she swam back to her ship and slowly ascended to the surface so she wouldn't get "the bends". After surfacing safely and flying into the sky, she returned to the space station.