《Dyson Approaches》 Prolouge: Boot Camp As the maglev train rushed through Bandito Station. Antonio Quilion looked out the window at his home rapidly receding into the distance. "I''ll miss this place," he thought. It had been his home for the past six months. He thought about his mother and a wash of confusing emotions rippled over his now not-so-tan face. The training had been absolutely brutal, especially to a boy with his stick-man frame. Designed for the well, or at least moderately fed, he was an exception in his cadet class, in that he had never had enough to eat where he grew up, Largo Street Place. As he saw an older African Solite walk past he was immediately reminded of ¡°The Experience¡± and put his face in his hands. He felt a twinge of fear, immediately followed by shame. "I''m supposed to be past this¡­especially now", he scolded himself. His friend Lin sitting next to him noticed that something was up and asked "what''s up, lanky?" "Nothing, nothing, just remembering my childhood", Antonio replied. "Approaching the Independence Spaceport . Disembarking passengers, please prepare your luggage." "Guess that''s where we get off," he remarked. As soon as he jumped off the train, he was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the ships docking with the Magdocks. He took a few seconds to regain his bearings and looking around, found the administration offices, to which he was supposed to report. Since he was just a lowly grunt, he was at the bottom of the food chain and would probably doing general maintenance, since it was very rare for citizens to get high enough clearance to enter the sector, let alone the spaceport. As he walked through the spaceport, he was amazed at the vast ethnic diversity, since both his childhood home and the class of militia he had graduated from were almost completely Hispanic. He was absolutely astounded when he saw a Cyber, because only super-soldiers (whose surgeries were paid for by the government) or the extremely wealthy could afford the cost of the surgery, the implants and the genetic modification necessary to keep them from rejecting those implants. He wondered which of the two categories this person belonged, immediately dismissing the possibility of wealth because of the tattoos that came snaking out of the man''s short-sleeved T-Shirt. Those tattoos were gang symbols from where he grew up, the Black I''d Peas, to be precise. They were a classic rock band from mid 20th century, or something like that. He remembered listening to their music when he was at some gang-bangers in his younger days. He then wondered how someone so closely associated with those gangs was wandering about the Secure Sector, let alone how he became a super-soldier. It was possible that he came from another Station entirely and that the tattoos were just a coincidence. In fact, that was probably the most likely thing. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He continued walking because he had a ways to go until he reached his destination. It was all the way across the spaceport, about thirty kilometers away from the train exit. Antonio wondered why the administration office was so far away from the maglev station, but concluded it must be for security reasons. After three hours of walking through the giant corridors, he arrived at the Central Administration Hub. As he walked into the office, he saw a beautiful receptionist at the desk. "How may I help you?", the receptionist said as he walked into the office. "Hello there, miss. My name is Antonio Quillion and I''m here for my assignment." "You''re one of the new recruits, correct? Let me check what your assignment is." the receptionist checked the computer and, after a few moments she said, "Ah, I see your name. Your assignment is external maintenance. Head over to Maglock 31 to grab your equipment and get started. You''re a bit late, so you should probably get going before you get a reprimanded. I''ll let your squadron leader know that you''re on your way." Antonio walked out the door of the Hub and into the corridors again. After about five minutes he reached the dock he was supposed to report to, which was totally vacant. He heard yelling coming through a small door to the side of the dock and decided to go check if that was where his instructor was. When he walked through the door, he saw a tiny, muscular midget that was yelling at a group of cadets in uniforms like his. "You stupid newbies! Is that how you put on a spacesuit? By pulling?!?! You''ll be dead by the end of the day if you do it that way!", he said, adding "Ah, there you are, Antonio, right? I''ll just call you Newbie Forty-Two. If you survive basic EVA training, that''s when you''ll earn a nickname. Now get your stinking butt on over here! Come on, Come on, I don''t got all day!" "Yes, Jebediah," Antonio replied, looking at the midget''s name-tag on his uniform. "You will not call me Jebediah, newbie! You will refer to me as either ''drillmaster'' or ''sergeant''," the midget said, adding "Do you understand, newbie?" "Sergeant, yes sergeant," Antonio replied. "Good job, newbie! Now show me how to put on a spacesuit! Do it fast, we don''t got all day!", Jebediah said. -------- After three weeks of intensive training, Antonio, now called Glofish, finished the midget''s basic training camp. It was time for his first out-of-station repair trip. He slipped on his suit and climbed into the Grav-Sled he was using to carry the materials for the trip. As he was starting the engine of his Grav-Sled, he felt a rumbling beneath the floor of the station, followed by extreme shaking. What was going on!? Chapter One: Red Alert! As he wondered what was going on, his Comm-Badge blinked red, meaning that the station was under attack. He thought it was a drill, since it had always been one before. As his sled undocked, he saw 156 major energy signatures on his scanner, and thousands of signatures approximately the size of missiles. About a dozen of these signatures were following his sled. All he could think was: "Is this real?" He immediately decided that it must be, and that he should take as many of the attackers with him as he could. Because realistically, there was no way he could escape, and almost no chance of survival. As soon as he decided this, he started accelerating towards the closest of the energy signatures. Though there was almost no chance he could actually destroy it, he was determined to do the best he could. More and more missiles started homing onto his position as he continued accelerating towards the enemy ship. When he was about half a kilometer away from the ship, over 250 missiles had started tracking him. He decided to use the enemy missiles against their owners. As he wove between two missiles converging on his position, he shouted with joy at his amazing escape. He continued towards the enemy ship, getting ready to activate his navigational thrusters. At this point he was traveling at over 5 km/sec, and thus there was almost no chance of avoiding the ship, though he was still determined to try. Though Antonio expected to die, he knew that he would take the enemy ship with him, and thus he knew his death would be meaningful. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. A few seconds later his hard work payed off, despite his expectations. As the ship grew closer and closer, his navigational thrusters did their job. He skidded on the surface of the hull, leaving grooves wherever he touched the hull. After a fraction of a second he was past the ship, surprisingly still in one piece. The ship was left in ruins from all of the missiles that had tracked him and failed to navigate around the ship. The ruins of the ship suddenly exploded outward, almost destroying Antonio''s gravsled and drastically sped him up, putting his speed around 9 km/sec. He used his navigational thrusters to turn around while still flying in the same direction. He then activated his mining laser and cut the three missiles that were still on his trail. As he kept flying towards another ship, more missiles were launched in his direction. As he wove between the missiles following him, several destroyed themselves by flying into each other. He continued unto the next ship, skipping along the hull of that ship as well. As he skipped along the next ship, the missiles that were following him crashed onto it''s hull, destroying it as well. His gravsled was finally knocked out after he destroyed five of the ships in the same manner. As the sled was destroyed, the unconscious Antonio was ejected away from the sled, along with the piece of rebar that had pierced through his left lung. Chapter Two: When Battles are Fought... ¡°What! Mars dares to attack us! Those dogs will pay for their insolence. Send Task Force Omega to attack their shipyards while the Fleet defends our borders.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ----- Three hours later, two admirals were having a conference through the Comm-Net. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s the right strategy? Mars must have more ships than that!¡± ¡°Our intelligence reports state otherwise.¡± ¡°You know that intelligence agents can make mistakes and that the reports have been wrong in the past. I still think that Mars must have more ships than that.¡± ¡°Then what would you do?¡± ¡°I would send a decoy force to battle the fleets we know about while sending the real fleet to cripple their shipyards and research facilities. We all know that if we inflict enough damage on them, then they will have to stop fighting, especially if that damage is purely military with few civilian casualties.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. How large would the decoy force have to be? Would it be a suicide force or an actual fleet?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say make the decoy force out of speedy and heavily armed frigates. The main force should be made up of our cruisers, battleships, and carriers.¡± ¡°So the decoy force is a suicide force?¡± ¡°Kind of, but not really. Their aim is to lead the Martian fleets on a wild goose chase while our main fleet destroys their infrastructure.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°That is a very good plan! I¡¯ll present it to the prime minister when I see him tomorrow.¡± ============= As the OPA prepared to attack Mars, the martians were under attack themselves by ships from Earth. ¡°Launch all torpedoes! Fire batteries one and two at 12.2.31 and battery four at 195.12.355¡±, the captain of the Martian battleship, the Corporation shouted. ¡°Sir, Battery four has broken down.¡± ¡°Our shields are getting extremely low, sir!¡± ¡°Send repair crews to battery four. What percentage, Ensign?¡± ¡°Twelve percent and dropping quickly! Sir!¡± ¡°Spin-up the reserve shield generator.¡± ¡°Sir, our shields will be gone by the time it is finished spinning up!¡± ¡°Then pray that we¡¯ll live until it does. Helmsman, activate the reverse thrusters! Let¡¯s try to disengage.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Also, send a message to high command telling them what happened here, in case they don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Sent, sir!¡± As soon as the ensign said that, a rumbling started, along with a screeching whine and many alarms. ¡°Sir, the fusion reactor is going critical!¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. We tried our best and we took five battleships, six cruisers, and a carrier with us. I¡¯ll see you in whatever heaven you believe in.¡± Then the ship exploded.