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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrus" data-source="post: 6251529" data-attributes="member: 1">"Let me see!" Roland rolled over, letting his sister take a turn on the viewpiece. Staring up at the night sky, he fancied he could see tiny moving lights, the same lights he'd just been watching close-up through their new telescope. He heard Simone draw her breath slightly, and grinned, understanding the awe that the sight caused. "That's enough, kid. Give it back!" He grabbed the viewpiece back from his little sister. In the tiny screen he could see the orbital shipyards around the Phobos industrial facility, and the mighty battleship being constructed there. Hundreds of tiny shuttles and men and women in environmental suits flitted around the vessel as it drifted there, held inside a great skeletal cage which provided power and infrastructure for the workers.The Excalibur was the first of its kind. A new, class XIII battleship, she boasted forward and aft pulse cannons and the newest torpedo technology. Two shield generators provided enough power to repel almost any Spartan attack, and her enormous antimatter engines were capable of FTL-12 - over 1,700 times light speed. On top of all that, she ran the newest experimental EMS-3 control computer system from Cooke Construction Systems, which were said to improve battle response times by over 13%, and the latest ESH-4 sensor arrays, finely tuned to improve targeting accuracy. "D'you think we'll ever get to see it?" Simone asked."I will!" Roland passed back the viewpiece. "One day I'll be captain of that ship. You'll see!"Simone giggled. Her older brother was a dreamer. He talked ceaselessly about joining the Navy, graduating the Academy, and being stationed on a great starship. She hoped it happened for him one day."Roland!" Their uncle's call from the habitat sounded urgent. They were in the arboretum, looking up through the dome into Mars' reddish night sky. Roland clambered to his feet as his uncle appeared in the doorway, a transmission slip in his hand."Roland - it's here!"Simone jumped! Roland had taken off like a rocket, racing towards his uncle. He snatched the slip and stared at it, almost fearfully, afraid to open it.  The outer seal featured a single sentence in a clear military font.Naval Academy Application Acceptance.</blockquote>

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