Welcome to Mars

Null was confused, he had received a request for him to stop and submit to being towed to Mars orbit. He didn't understand why there were so many ships in the way but he wouldn't be able to stop. Even if he started deaccelerating now he would not stop before the ships. Null decided to slow down as much as he could.

The Martians had not seen anything that resembled the Aethon, they had seriously miscalculated its stopping capabilities. They could see that it was slowing down but would still be going at a significant speed once it reached the blockade.

"Sir, we received a reply from the unknown ship it says 'cannot stop, please move' " said the communication officer. General Alexander was faced with a hard decision. 'if the ship is hostile we won't be able to stop it if it gets past the barricade and we don't know its military capabilities. Sorry, whoever is on board but I can't risk the settlements' He thought to himself. "Send out a new message, tell the unknown ship it must increase its deacceleration or we will open fire" commanded the general.

Null received the new communication. He didn't understand why they were threatening him but he was already pushing the limits as it was. The flight plan was designed to stop in lower mars orbit. So without using some form of magic he wouldn't be able to stop. He decided he would just have to carefully fly past the ships.

As the unknown ship approached the blockade the General gave the order to open fire and launch the carbon nanotube nets. The General watched on, hoping that the ship didn't take too much damage so that they could study it. Unexpectedly the rail guns and the net had no effect and the ship blasted straight past the blockade. "Sir reports from the blockade. They say the ship had some form of active shielding and rail slug were repelled and it broke the net like it wasn't there."

"Activate the orbital defence systems. Target the unknown ship we can't let it get closer" ordered the General. "Sir, it appears the ship is slowing down and has sent another message. 'Please stop I am stopping, I only game to attend the new year event' '' relayed the communication officer.

Alexander decided to trust his instincts. "Place the defence systems on standby. If they stop in time escort them to dock 12.

The Aethon was escorted to the orbital base and was surrounded by Martian soldiers. Null had just disembarked from the merge pod when he was rushed by a group of soldiers.

"pputtt yooeru hanndns "shouted one of the soldiers.

It was at this moment that Null realised he had never talked to another human. he had always used neural-based or text-based communication that had been translated by Zeros computer systems. Null tried to speak, and he had another realisation. He didn't know how to speak. It wasn't just not knowing how, but he physically couldn't speak.

Null started to panic and when one of the soldiers grabbed onto Null arm all the training suddenly kicked in.

The scene in the dock turned into pure pandemonium. Null in his suit was more than a match for the soldiers surrounding him. Using his extra speed, they were able to dash to the nearest soldier and with a solid kick broke his leg at the thigh. He enabled his tower shield and turned on his non-lethal stun glove.

**Fusion Mode Engage**

If the system hadn't told him he wouldn't have known. Fusion mode gave him more strength and speed. He had taken out 8 guards in quick succession. He was getting numerous system updates. He was gaining affinity for motion and energy. Once he hit 20 in each he got a new message.

**Fusion Sub-Ability Unlocked: Wing Control**

The guards had started to fire live ammunition at him. Null was tempted to use his spells but remembered that Zero had told him not to use them. It turned out that between his tower shield and his now mobile wings he could cover himself up from the shots.

The room went eerily quiet and all the guards had stopped firing. A soldier covered in body armor entered the hanger and shouted something at the other guards before running at Null. He was carrying two stun-baton.

Null didn't know it yet, but he was fighting with one of the trainers who created the super-soldier program he was raised with. 'This is not right, he moves like he has completed our super-soldier program but I know all of the students. Sorry kid this will hurt'. John then used his superior experience and skills to get past Null defences and knocked him out.

His suit had a failsafe built in that if he died or lost consciousness that the suit and ship would go into lockdown mode.