Operation Phoenix: Enter Sandman. I was pacing around the bridge of the LDS NEMESIS shouting at my crew as news of the HERCULES' fate was delivered. "WE DON'T _HAVE_ TEN MINUTES PRIVATE!!!! IMPROVISE!!" he then responded: "Sir, I seem to have forgot about proceedure 00149. We'll have it done in one minute." "Thats what I thought." Of course, there is no such thing as proceedure 00149. It was a monumental task to prepare the NEMESIS for battle. Preparation on something the size of a city is never easy. "Sir, all systems are go", announced the helm officer. "FINALLY!! Power up main thrusters, we don't need jump drive, and warm up the cannons." The LDS NEMESIS, being approximately 5 miles long, 2-3 miles wide, proceeded to scream out from the depths of the Atlantic ocean where it was hiding on a collision course with the alien ships in orbit; this of course brought tide levels down a bit world wide. =-/ ---- Aboard one of the X'hirjq ships, one of the peons at the science station almost had a heart attack. "SIR!! ENEMY SHIP APPROACHING AT 8000 KINTARES!!!! SHIELDS ARE DOWN AND THEY HAVE ENOUGH FIRE POWER TO....." Suddenly, the ship was no more. The other 3 ships didn't take too kindly to that though. The 2 battleships and the carrier had enough time to get their shields up, and to power up weapons, whereas the NEMESIS' main guns were still recharging. ---- I was sitting back fairly smug in my chair, giving out calm orders. "Lieutenant, fire the end-wing cannons and keep firing them while the mains recharge. That ought to keep them busy." "Aye-aye sir." The smaller cannons on the ends of the NEMESIS' wings were built to fire rapidly, but not with as much force as the other 3 big ones. They would be able to rip right through most lyran ships, but it wasn't working this time. I didn't think it would, but I also thought we had enough sheilds that it wouldn't matter. *BOOM* The lights dimmed for a split second and the ship was rocked to the side a bit. "What the hell?! Thats not supposed to happen. DAMAGE REPORT!!" "Shields at 75% Sir. No other damage reported." It didn't sound that bad for us, but I knew if there were anything powerful enough to do that much to us out there, we were in trouble. *BOOM**BOOM**BOOM* I was nearly thrown out of my chair in 3 differnet directions this time. "DAMAGE REPORT!!" "Shields at 25% and superficial damage to the hull!" "HOW LONG TILL WE HAVE MAIN GUNS?!" "In 5 seconds Sir!" Just then the big red button on my arm rest lit up. Needless to say, I beat the crap out of it. **FOOM** The NEMESIS was filled with a deafening roar/hum as all cannons fired at 100% power on one of the ships. [For reference, any one of the main cannons can decimate a planet.] The alien ship was instantly vaporized and the beam kept going past it for probably a light year (we don't really know) at half strength. We can only hope it didn't hit anything friendly. *BOOM**BOOM**BOOM* I heard a loud crack as the lieutenant gave the damage report before I asked. "SHIELDS ARE _DOWN_ SIR!! HULL HOLDING AT 85%!! TERTIARY SYSTEMS ARE DOWN!!" Basically, this meant not only were we hurting, but the video games wouldn't work. "ENGINE DECK! CHANNEL ALL AVAILABLE POWER TO THE GUNS!!" *BOOM* The main lights then went out, so it was pretty dim on the bridge, and some sensors stopped working. "Sir, we are grabbing all the power we have, but I don't know if she can hold on for much longer!!" yelled the chief engineer. The alien ships were taking a nice beating from the smaller guns, but they still had shields at low percentages, at least. Suddenly, I heard the loudest single noise I'd ever heard in my life. The next thing I knew, myself and a few thousand members of the LOD were standing with me in the very bland space station that the NEMESIS was built in. It had no weapons, but it had very thick shields and armor, a cloaking device, and it was huge inside. Apparently, the safety recall device had kicked in. The NEMESIS was lost. I had a very sick feeling at the pit of my stomach, and I could see that the rest of my men and women weren't exactly exited either. I walked over to the wall and had the computer play back the sensor logs, and sure enough, there was a massive explosion recorded, and debris fitting the description of the NEMESIS. All I could do was stand there for who knows how long. What I thought was THE most powerful creation of technology ever, was just destroyed. This was not good. After I had regained some of my senses, I had the computer engage a transport device to move all salvageable debris into the hangar. I then got on the address system. "All right people, whatever you're thinking about right now, put it aside. We have some major work to do, or things will only continue to get worse. The NEMESIS is lost, if you haven't figured it out by now. Therefore, R&D personel, you are ordered to commence "Operation 2nd coming" and pull any people out of other divisions that you need to get the work done ASAP. This is far from over people. Just remember, whatever losses we go through now, WE WILL WIN. IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN, IT SHALL BE DONE. [The crowd then joined me] JIIIIIHAAAAAAD!!!!!!" It was the best pep talk I could come up with on the spot, and I hoped it worked. I sure as hell wasn't feeling to fired up myself. I couldn't just sit here and wait for my plans to be finished. I had to be on the frontlines. I needed to find the evil planet, and see what I could see. That would be easier said than done though. Nobody knew where it was yet. For the moment, all I could do was pray for the other Jihaddi against the alien fleet, and try to help out planet side. I could only hope to make some use of the STRATOCASTER and JAGUAR once again, since I knew that sending out foot soldiers would be a death sentence. I called over a large group of soldiers and officers that R&D hadn't taken yet, and said "computer: Take us planet side and inform HQ of the situation." And with a chirp, we were back on Earth. TO BE CONTINUED. L E G I O N C O M M A N D E R S A N D M A N