[b]Gateway California, Mojave Desert[/b]
Fergus' feet slowly trudged through the garden on its gravel trail, biting his lip nervously. Every step he took was filled with fear, fear of what would come. There were so many things that could go wrong, and if any of them did go wrong, well... there goes the funding. Sure, Fergus was rich, but not nearly rich enough to accomplish his goals, so he had approached David Wilson and asked for funding. He promised great rewards, beamed solar power, Helium-3, orbital weaponry, and the extension of NAF rule of course. He accepted, but he certainly didn't know that Fergus didn't actually care about any of that. To him, the entire corporation was nothing more than a means to an end. The oil was nothing more than a kick-start, the natural gas there to build up capital. Solar power a good image, medical businesses to help people along the way. The war was perfect as well, giving him a chance to improve relations with the government. Everyone thought KTCI existed to make money, but on this day that interpretation would be challenged by KTCI itself.

Looking around him, Fergus saw a sight much different from most towns in the NAF. Other places were mostly slums, the middle class had all but disappeared despite all the government efforts against it, and the upper class was just as small as before. In Gateway, however, the standard of living was much higher. Houses might all look the same, but all of them had two stories and ten rooms, running water, electricity, and multi-gigabyte internet connections. Food was clean, and the water was cleaner. Even the work week was better, with a whole day taken off (Wednesday to be exact). It was unfortunate that this standard was not the norm elsewhere, but one step at a time. Can't change the whole world overnight.

[i]But you can inspire it[/i] Fergus thought, feeling the ground tremble beneath his feet. He looked up at the sky, the shining stars calling out to him. Their calls wouldn't last, because they were soon obscured by a rising cylinder riding on a tail of fire into the night sky. The [i]Starfire[/i] mission, first space launch since the war. Everybody thought that there was no chance of returning to space, with the global economy in shambles and so many dead. Of course, somebody had to prove them wrong. And proving people wrong was Fergus' specialty. They said he'd never become anything, then "Fergus McClain" became a household name. They said he'd never be loved, then he got married. They said he'd never be able to pay off his family's debt, then he became a billionaire. Now he just sent six people up into the very place that nobody thought humans would return to within the century.

[b]KTCI Broadcast to All Governments/Organizations[/b]
"This is CEO Fergus McClain of KeyTech Combined Industries. The citizens of the NAF already know this, but none of you do. At eleven-hundred hours PTZ yesterday, a ballistic device was launched from a secret KTCI facility in the Mojave Desert. This is not a missile, it is a chemical rocket that is part of the KTCI [i]Planetes[/i] program. It is carrying a capsule containing six astronauts into low Earth orbit, in which they will remain for two days before returning. This is the first manned spaceflight since the ISS was brought down in 2016, and believe it when I say that there's a lot more coming!"