2 weeks earlier....

  Grim reality pounded away at most Jihaddi like a twenty pound sledge to the skull.  Casulties were no longer serial numbers, statistics, or completely nonexistant as they had once been.  They were real people with real names now.  People that everyone knew.  No longer was the Jihad invincible and mighty, but now they were equals with their assailants. 

  Legion Commander Sandman was sitting behind his large black marble desk that dominated the landscape of his massive office made almost entirely of dark marble floors and walls with cherry wood all over.  The light had moved across the room, changing the whole complexion of it during his stay at the desk.  He had been there nearly all day, hopelessly trying to plan a battle strategy that didn't rely on the heavy firepower he was used to.  It wasn't working.

  Hoping for a quick end to his current problem, he turned to the computer at his side and keyed in the code for the Legion of Doom spacedock on the videoconference channel.  "Mr. Fisher, please tell me we're almost through.  People are dying out here, and we don't have the ground support forces to stop it."  The R&D director's face spoke volumes when he looked back with a look showing how irritated he was at being told to rush the people further, but he managed to display the respect necassary for superior officers.  "Commander, the troops are already working double shifts to complete the HOOD; we are ahead of schedule, but it will still be a while.  There's nothing more we can do. They're being pushed too hard as it is, and this isn't exactly like building an errector set."  Sandman put his head in his hands and nodded in acknowlegement, then closed the channel.  

 Sandman was one of the luckier Jihaddi, since most of the lizards were 
tied up taking care of his friends and their headquarters , but the mental strain of trying to come up with instant firepower was making a clawsipe from an 8 foot reptile start to sound relaxing.  The LOD was more than well equipped to take out an army of sponges and the occasional barneyknocker at best, but not to take on seemingly geneticaly bred killing machines with such 
advanced technology.  Not while they kept coming, anyway.  Even he, being immortal, couldn't help much since his powers were primarily effective in prolonging his own life, and not taking anyone else's.  Sandman's power came on loan from that which sent him, not from himself, and it seemed he had bad credit of late.  Sometimes he would be a mighty force of destruction, but most of the time he would be indiscernable from any normal human being.  The fact he hadn't recieved more than the minimal amount of power in a long time,  he knew that the Legion must enter the battle; whether for the sake of vengeance, humanity, or something else, but watching people die was not an option.

******

  The door to his gigantic office opened and one of the few soldiers in 
the skeleton crew at LOD HQ who was not helping to construct the LDS HOOD came in, his footsteps echoing in the large room, and handed a folder to the commander.  His mannerisms suggested he was in a hurry to make himself busy somewhere else.  "Sir, this is the latest report from intelligence."  

"Wonderful.".....  

"Sir?"  

"What is it, private?"  

"If I may speak freely, why is it that we are just sitting here while so 
many Jihaddi are losing their lives?" That question couldn't have been more perfectly timed, as that was one of the few questions about the whole war that had been answered thus far.  This isn't to say that it was a good answer, though.

"A very good question.  The answer is that no matter how hard we fight, 
we are just outclassed in weaponry in every category so far.  I don't 
want to lose any more Jihaddi to the blood bath that would occur by 
sending a YF-25 against a X'jirjq heavy fighter.  Unfortunately, we have 
to wait in agony.  Militarily, I know I'm making the right choice, but to 
be quite honest, I'm not sleeping very well at night."

"I see sir."  

The private then proceeded out of Sandman's office to continue the day's 
duties with a heavy heart.  He was not alone.

=========================================================================

--One day ago


Sandman was running combat simulations on LegionNet to look for an answer 
he knew he wouldn't find, when all of the sudden a comm message came in 
from LOD spacedock, startling Sandman.

"Commander, we've finally finished.  The LDS HOOD is complete."

Sandman suddenly smiled an evil grin, and noticed how atrophied his 
facial muscles were from the recent lack of good news.  This was what he had been waiting on for months.  The tables were now about to turn.  

"Excellent Mr. Fisher.  Time to assemble the troops, we're going to war."

******

  Sandman walked next door to Sub-Commander Ironman's office to bring him the news.  When the heavy door was cast open, Sandman stepped in, and saw the door close behind him.  He was in a space several square feet large, with another door in front of him, several holes in the small walls that surrounded, obviously armed with missiles and poisonous gas.  He was very familiar with this part, though, and waited the three seconds it would take for the next door to open, then proceeded in.

  The room he stepped into was just as immense as his own, but very different.  There was nothing obviously strange about it, but it caused people who had even been there as many times as Sandman to become disoriented for a few moments.  There was a pool table big screen, stereo, and a multitude of guitars on one side, a large conference table and important equipment on the other, and a more office like environment in the back.  All of the clutter and furniture, among other things may have been the culprit, but Sandman found his target much sooner than most, and proceeded towards the back.

  Ironman was in his desk chair, facing the window in the back, apparently, since the monitors on the table that were below the prominent window were off.
He was wearing the black trench coat that he was rarely found without, even though he was in his office, previously alone.  This, with the fact that nothing was on, it was silent in the room unlike normal, and Ironman had not turned around once he had been aware of Sandman's presence.  He just sat there facing the window, as if he was unconcerned.   

Sandman made his announcement anyway.  "Ozzy, its time to kill lizards."

He turned around in his chair, and stood up.  "Let's go, then..."

  The two officers then slapped the device on their upper arms and were 
transported in a quick flash of light to the cloaked spacedock in earth orbit.  The cannon fire outside could easily be heard, and everyone just arriving was wondering if it was hitting the station.  Tensions at the dock were as high as the emotions down at HQ, as people were wondering how long it would take for them to be hit by the artillery outside and possibly discovered, let alone the anxiety of hiding in the middle of a full-scale battle for survival.

  The LOD space dock is an extremely large, but austire spacestation that 
was built to construct the old LDS NEMESIS.  It had to be big since the 
latest ship, the HOOD was 5x3 miles in size.  Needless to say, the ship 
took up all but a fraction of the entire station, and the entire Legion 
of Doom not already engaged in combat stood at attention waiting for the 
christening of the ship.  Sandman climbed on one of the ledges of the 
hull, and began to speak, as Ozzy took his position at the front of the ranks with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for the sake of lives of those currently engaged in battle, I will make this a short speech.  Most of you have been working in here for the past few months getting 6 hours of sleep, eating combat rations, and spending every waking moment putting the bolts and rivets in to this monstrosity on which I stand.  Now comes the reward of your efforts; you shall all have a part in defending humanity from these evil creatures which plaugue us.  Make no mistake, not one lizard shall survive as of this time next year.  Your efforts have sealed that promise.  We shall fight, and we shall win!"
The entire LOD proceeded to shout the old battlecry: 

"LONG LIVE THE JIHAD! LONG LIVE THE HOLY WAR!"

"Without further delay, I now christen this ship Legion of Doom Starship 
HOOD."  Ironman handed the commander a lead-glass Fender stratocaster, 
and Sandman smashed it against the hull Pete Townshend style.  After the spectacular sight of the cloud of broken glass filling the air was over, the Legion proceeded to board the ship, amidst continuing shouts and cheers.  Sandman beamed himself to the bridge while Ironman led the group aboard.


  The bridge of the ship was very large and impressive, and took up 2 levels with a bridge going above the captain's chair on the lower level to get from one end of the upper level to the other.  Sandman walked over to the 
captain's chair in the dim emergency lighting and ceremoniously pressed a button on the arm rest to bring on the main lights.  "I'm glad to see they didn't change the control layout from the blueprints, or I might have just nuked the bay doors.", he said with a shallow grin, and proceeded to sit down 
while everyone else was filing in to get to their assigned stations.  
Ironman appeared on the bridge in a familiar flash of light, and turned to the commander. 

"I've just made a quick tour around the occupied decks, and I'm projecting that we'll be ready for launch in three hours, providing we can get the equipment taken care of and get to the briefing quickly."

"Not what I wanted to hear, but I actually expected it to be longer."

"Well, they're jumping right into their duties, finding quarters without too much difficulty, and securing decks better than I had hoped.  However, I didn't come up here to tell you that."  Several control panels, battle stations, and helm controls lit up across the bridge with illuminated screens and buttons, and test patterns began to appear on the main viewers.

"What is it, then?"

"I've also been in my office, and I got some disturbing news from the _Lexington_.  They've been fighting for hours, and the X'hirjq have deployed even more squadrons to take out the BJSF.  They're in much more serious trouble than originally projected.  Also, Shardik is on the surface with Windigo, and I can't reach him.  Not only is he not going to make it here, but it seems like he's in some trouble."

"Great.  Suggestions?"

"No, I don't think there's much of anything we can do about it."  Sandman was both deeply annoyed, and disturbed, after hearing that.  He knew that Ozzy was right, but didn't like it.  

"Alright," he sighed "get moving, and be sure to have everything ready by the time we brief everyone."  Ozzy gave the side of his arm a solid smack, and found himself back in one of the offices off of the main conference hall. 

******

"Thank you, private," Ironman said, accepting the requested delivery of the new prototype personal assault cannons and battle armor to the arena sized conference hall.  Sandman appeared seconds later, just as Ironman was about to open a call to several other officers.  

"Everything together?"

"Yes, just about to call in the rest of the people who were going to say something and clue them in before we ruin everyone's day," Ironman said, only half jokingly.

"Alright, call them in."

   Five minutes later, a general address filled the air, as the entire Legion of Doom military and partial civillian presence made their way into the room.
Unlike most large crowds, everyone got quiet very quickly, partially due to the seriousness of the situation that was constantly brought to mind by the sounds of heavy artillery only a few miles away and the visible explosions outside, but partially due to the ice cold stare Ozzy gave the whole group as he ascended to the podium.

  Ironman spoke.  "What we are about to enter into now is greatly different than any other battle we've been in, and you will need to be prepared accordingly.  First of all, this ship may not protect us from those damn lizards.  In fact, I'm betting that it won't.  The fact is, nearly everything they do is technicly impossible, and they outclass us in just about every area-- except firepower.  Most of the experimental systems on this ship like the trans-lightspeed drives, and other things are not online yet, and won't be availible to us, but we can't wait for them to be finished.  

  The lizards can move much faster, sharper, and easier than we can, and their firepower is superior to any previous Jihaddi attempts."  Stats and pictures appeared on the giant monitors behind him.  "Every last one of them was a warrior from birth, we think, and quite frankly, there *must* be some kind of higher evil involved for them to be so powerful.  Expect to be doing some heavy repairs if we make it back, and expect them to try to board us.  We must avoid that at all costs, because they are vastly superior on foot.  Intelligence is telling us that their culture is quite proud of hand to hand combat, as an art, and they are pretty damn good at it.  Don't let them take your head home as a trophy."

  Ironman stepped back and nodded to Rob Fisher, before sitting down in the shadows.  Fisher and Gremlin ascended to the podium, with Gremlin carrying a particularly evil looking weapon, very large looking, but in actuality no bigger than an M-16.  The mood in the room had changed briefly from solemn concentration to curiousity, and back as the light disclosed the face of the speaker, and the item which he would describe.

"These weapons here, which we will pass out shortly are our best shot at being able to destroy the lizards on foot, should they get through our defenses.  Hopefully, we won't need them, but we're requiring everyone to have theirs with them at all times.  Don't even stop at the little boy's room without it.
It works on the same principle as the main cannons on this ship, but on a much smaller scale.  However, it will at best even up the score."  Fisher and Gremlin stepped down, as officers started passing the weapons around the room.
Sandman ascended as they went to their seats.

"The rest, you can figure out on your own.  This is going to be hell, but we must engage the enemy to prevent anymore killing on our soil.  We MUST destroy them, and secure this area, so we can move on, and take the offensive.  This will be the pivotal event in the battle, and I'm counting on all of you to give your best efforts for victory.  Dismissed."

******

  The bridge crew was finishing the last processes for starting up the vital systems on the ship, and making final checks to make sure everything would work.  People were running around like irritated insects, passing reports and double checking systems, but were starting to sit down at their posts.  Ironman had just returned from checking the decks to make sure everyone was at their posts, making sure everything was in order, and getting a feel for the ship.  He welcomed the change of scenery from the endless corridors of black steel walls and emergency lighting only, since the ship was not running on it's own power yet.  His eyes had to re-adjust to the many lights coming from the stations on the bridge.

"You know, you should probably fire up the reactor, because running the lights on a ship the size of a city tends to drain the battery a bit," Ironman informed Sandman.  Sandman glared at him to meet his sarcasm, and hit another button on the armrest.  A dull roar coming from an indiscernable location on the ship started growing louder until it was quite deafening.  Sandman started grinning evily.

"Ensign Jones, turn on the sound suppression system.", He shouted. The roar of the engines was quieted to a low hum, so that the crew could conduct their business. The commander then turned to Ironman.  "You know, even with the cloaking device, the lizards will probably see something this big coming without some kind of distraction."  

"Yeah, but I don't think telling them to look at the goodyear blimp is gonna work too well."  

"Wait, I've got an idea.  They've got a price on my head, so maybe I should wave it in front of them so you can pull the ship into position to crush them."  

"Alright. We could send you out in a telecaster [YF-25 Fighter] and keep the transporter warmed up to pull you out real quick. That way, we can pull into position without anyone noticing, because they'll be paying attention to you, instead."    

"Well, the fact they can't kill me aside, this is a new shirt, and I don't want it singed.", he said with dry humor. "Since I can't think of anything else at the moment, I'll go with it.  You get the big chair until I get back.  I expect no mercy."  The sub-commander gave a smirk that easily be called a grin, as well. 

"I don't think that will be a problem...."


  Sandman punched a few keys on the armrest before getting up to set the 
coordinates in his teleporter remote, and opened the enormous doors on 
the space station.  He then hit the device on his arm and found himself 
on the flight deck.  He walked over to one of the technicians attending the 
fighters.  "Smith, are any of these fighters fueled and powered yet?"  

"Yes sir, about 5 of them.  I thought they were just for an emergency, or 
I'd have more of them ready by now.", she replied.  

"Thats fine, I only need one."  She looked at him slightly puzzled, and showed him to a ready one.  

"Don't you need a flight suit sir?"  

"Not necessary, I don't plan on being in a dogfight, and the cabin oxygen should be sufficient." Looking even more puzzled, she pulled the blocks off of the wheels for him, thinking her commander to either be insane or have a death wish.  She resumed her work, knowing that there was more behind this, but it was probably something she didn't want to know.

******

  Legion Commander Sandman screamed out of the flight deck of the HOOD 
and in turn out of the space station which contained it.  Since his 
scanners were specially tuned, he could see the massive metal creation pulling out behind him.  He swerved to the left and curved to hide his trajectory and 
make it look like he came from earth.  He then disengaged the cloak on 
the small fighter.  "I don't know why the hell I listen to you sometimes, 
Ozzy," he said to himself.

  
{Aboard the X'jirjq command ship}

"Commander, there is a small jihaddi fighter aproaching on an attack 
trajectory for this ship.  Pitifully armed, and an atmospheric fighter 
yet."  The commander replied: "This is most amusing, let the human 
approach."  The commander was full of herself because of the mere hilarity she would cause after showing up such a pathetic onslaught by the Jihad.

"Commander, our computers have confirmed the pilot as one of the jihaddi barney wanted executed."  

"Excellent.  fire at..."

  The communications device was forced on by a signal from Sandman's 
fighter.  "All right, you bastards want to kill me, you can have me in 
exchange for letting all Jihaddi space vessels be. But I warn you, if you 
do not cease combat with them, you will suffer."  The lizard then replied in 
english.

"You foolish humans aren't even worthy of the honor of fighting us.  Yes, we will kill you, AND your friends.  You may watch them die before we subject you to unspeakable pain, if you wish."  The lizards then proceeded to target the LEXINGTON with the phase-transit cannon.  The Lexington and it's fleet had taken quite a beating and was on its last leg if they couldn't get it repaired. 

(On the bridge of the HOOD)
  
"Take us into position, ensign," Ironman ordered.

"Aye, sir," the ensign replied.  The HOOD was moved in between the alien command ship and the Lexington, and Ozzy wanted to talk to the ship under fire.

"Open a low profile channel to the _Lexington_."  A technician did so, and Admiral Davis appeared on one of the gigantic screens up front.  The expression on his face was one of surprise, but also one of relief since he was no longer alone in this living nightmare.

"Good to see you again, Ozzy," spoke the Admiral as a panel behind him slowly caught on fire, noticable due to the lack of sufficient lighting. "I suppose this is your new toy.  You're coming to relieve me, right?"  The Admiral's subtle joke was more to confirm the slim chance that he might possibly get the chance to depart from the horrific scene than humor, although he knew full well that it was only wishful thinking.

"Hopefully, we'll take some of their punch away, and clean up the area.  For now, we've got to evacuate your ship.  According to our sensors, you're about to go down, and we can't take the chance..."  Ironman was interrupted.

"You've got to be kidding!  They'll destroy this ship when we're gone, and I won't let that happen."

"I don't believe so.  They don't care about your ship unless it's a threat, and unless you're in it.  The technology is useless to them, and they seem to have no shortage of ships.  We'll get you off of there, and come back when this is over."  Admiral Davis nodded slightly in acknowlegement, realizing that not only was this true but that he wasn't sure why he thought otherwise.  The horrific battle was wearing down on him, as fine an officer as he was. 

"Fine.  Just get my fighters on board so we can use them, and leave some people on board to do repairs."

"Agreed."  Ozzy turned to a crewmen.  "Get them off the ship, and make sure that they can't be detected.  I don't know, do something to make sure they can't tell where everyone's going."  "Now, Admiral, we're about to get you out of there and--" He leaned over as an officer said something to him.  "And send out a disturbance similar to the material in your engine core to make the lizards think you're history, but not be able to tell that you're gone but the repair crew is still there.  We think that it will confuse their sensors."

"Just as long as I can see my ship again, anything is better than what we've been doing for the past thirteen hours."

"See you on the bridge--  Get those guns online NOW!" the Sub-commander shouted, diverting his attention away from the Admiral in mid sentence as one of the main viewers showed that the lizards were powering up.  At that moment, one of the officer's voices was heard very loudly over the entire ship saying, "CLEAR DECKS 75-90 NOW!!! THE GUNS ARE COMING ONLINE RIGHT NOW!!"  Under the announcement, but gradually growing louder, a hum could be heard that was very distinct which pierced the decks.  The few people who were on the named decks scrambled franticly to get out while claxons reminded them that they had better hurry.  Tensions aboard the rest of the ship rose, because everyone knew that this was it.

  The lizard ship fired full power at the Lexington with a fury not unlike the surface of the sun but contained in one beam, however the shot suddenly dispersed a kilometer from the ship.  [roughly translated from the lizards' language] "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!!!  THEIR SHIELDS ARE DOWN, AND THEY AREN'T THAT POWERFUL TO BEGIN WITH!!!  THIS CANNOT BE!!!"  Just then, Sandman hit his transporter device, and was transported to the bridge of the HOOD with the fighter transported to the hangar deck.  The lizards would get their answer.  Just as Sandman matirialized on the bridge, Ironman gave the order to de-cloak and fire.

#Cue: _The Rage_ Judas Preist, off the _British Steel_ album

  The gigantic LDS HOOD suddenly rippled into view directly in front of the 
bulk of the lizard fleet with the visual impact of seeing a loved one shot in cold blood to the lizards (despite their different family values...).  It was an impressive sight to see, a three mile wide, two mile long monster in space, poised to attack, with a dim glow looming ominously inside of each cannon.  As it suddenly commenced attack, a deafening roar was heard aboard the ship as nine planetsmasher mk. 3 plasma cannons opened fire and released a continuous volley of plasmatic death before most of the lizards could curse their poor luck.  The 4 cannons on the tips of the wings were set on rapid-fire putting out an endless stream of small fiery projectiles ripping holes clean through the lizard ships after 3 or so cut the shields.  At the same time, the 4 cannons on the mid sections of the wings were sending out larger star-like ammunition, continuing through the lizard ships like they weren't there.  They weren't afterwards.  The main gun running through the entire keel of the ship  sent a stream of blazing solar matter right through the lizard flagship, without hesitation to meet with the sheilds or hull; just cutting through it like a bullet through wet kleenex and starting a spectacular explosion.  All this was in the course of about 5 seconds.

  Given the great speed of the lizard capital ships, those not directly 
in front of the LDS HOOD were smart enough to get the hell out of the way 
and try to assume an attack position, or ANY position *not* in front of 
this harbinger of death.  With speeds never before seen by those not previously stationed on the front lines they darted around the mighty ship, despite their nearly comparable size, and opened fire.

  Sandman assumed his position in the captain's chair, and saw what the 
lizards were doing.  "Commander, they're moving to fast for us to 
target!  What are your orders?"  

"Just strafe them, but be careful not to hit the Lexington or any planets.  We're bound to hit a couple of them."  Ironman turned to Sandman again. 

"The shields are working perfectly right now, but those bastards are bound to figure out that there's holes in them soon.  Especially since there's so many of them."  

"I know, but there's not much we can do except try to nuke them before they find them."

"We've got the crew of the Lexington now," Shouted a crewman from the large catwalk above the commander.

"Ensigns, evasive maneuvers; take them out in blind fire, and keep them from hitting us," Ironman ordered, turning away from Sandman.

[Editor's note: The LDS HOOD uses a completely invincible shielding system, but can not generate the necessary power to form a complete bubble around the ship even when diverting all power from the guns.  The shields are controlled 
by a targeting computer which forms them to block incoming shots, and 
only 5 sections of shield can be formed at once unless the size is reduced.]

  The barrage of aimless fire took out several heavy cruisers, but the majority of the enemy vessels were left darting around the ship taking shots at it and hoping the favor wouldn't be returned.  Unfortunately, they didn't have as much to worry about as they thought.

  The lizard commander aboard the new highest ranking ship not destroyed yet was very nervous.  "That fat purple one who hired us told us that our technology was superior.  If that is true, then what the hell is this?!  If they have more of these, we will be conquered."  The bridge crew listened to their commander, but none knew what to say, so just kept following their attack plan, except for one. 

[Translated]
"Your lack of faith is contemptable.  Our technology IS superior, and we shall destroy them.  They have too many weaknesses, for I have seen it," she said, correcting her superior.  "This defiant show of force will just mean that we will make them suffer more when we destroy them.  Do you not agree?"  The other lizard acknowleged its junior officer with its confidence somewhat restored.

******

#Cue: "Alien Nation" by the Scorpions, off _Face the Heat_

  All of the sudden, the cannons on the HOOD stopped firing, with only the vast expanse of hull mounted mini-turrets and flak cannons dotting the horizon with fire. "What the hell is wrong now?  Ensign, why aren't the cannons firing?!"  Before he could answer, one of the technicians in engineering came on the comm system.  "Sir, the cooling system in the guns is offline! We are repairing it now, but it will be a while."  Sandman replied,  "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Do it as fast as you can down there, and be ready for a boarding party."  The commander thought for a moment, then moved his attention to Rick Sanford, who was standing several yards away at a nearby terminal.  "Get down there.  You've got your work cut out for you."

"Aye, sir.  On my way." The officer made his way to the back of the bridge and
left.  Sandman got on the address system after confirmation from Sanford, with a total change of attitude. "ALL NON-ESSENTIAL CREW MEMBERS, PREPARE TO REPEL BOARDING PARTIES!!!  BRING OUT THE HEAVY ARTILLERY, AND SECURE ALL DECKS. MAKE SURE YOUR AREA IS AT 98.6 DEGREES SO YOU WON'T BE SEEN IN THE INFRARED RANGE!!"

"Ensign, put us on a retreat course, full power," said the Commander once again.  Admiral Davis, who had just made his way to the bridge of the HOOD (mostly due to the violent shaking of the ship under fire) turned to the commander and said, "I thought you said this thing was faster than any thing they had.  Why are we going to have to deal with boarding parties?"  

"It has a higher top speed, but its about as good as a chevy sprint on 
acceleration.  We'll have to make top speed before they get to close, or else get the guns online, or..."  

"Or what?" Davis somewhat impatiently asked.

"Let's not think about that," the Sub-commander said, motioning Admiral Davis to the seat on the other side of Sandman that Major General Shardik had left vacant.  One of the main viewers was showing the mass of heavy cruisers closing on the ship, with superimposed readings in the lower left corner that reminded all those on the bridge in a sort of evil way that they were only making it take longer to be overtaken.

"I'm going to assemble the guard.  It might not be a bad idea to secure the bridge either, since they shouldn't have much trouble finding it," Ozzy suggested, making his way to the back of the bridge with a heavy cannon he pulled out of his trench in hand.

"I was thinking the same thing."  Sandman then hit a few buttons on the arm of his chair, and armed guards came to the bridge, passing out extra artillery to those already there.  He then proceeded to pull a large assault rifle from out of his black ankle-lenth coat and took off the safety.  "I'll stay here and defend the bridge with the admiral and these men.  We shouldn't have any problems.  I'm feeling an extra power surge today, so I doubt any lizards will get past us.  Head down to engineering and secure it."  Hearing this, Ironman left after he got a satisfying view of what was going on, he exited the bridge.

  Five minutes later, one could not walk in any of the occupied decks without looking down the barrel of a very large gun.  That did not provide any comfort to anyone, though.  By then, every square inch of the ship's interior was seturated in an ominous red light, merely sufficient at the task of illuminating the way, but no better.  

  Ironman walked down the halls five decks below the main bridge, flanked by five heavily armed soldiers whose look of aggression and thirst for vengeance almost appeared to match his own usual appearance.  Their final inspection was well timed, because an unthinkable message over the public address system was only seconds away.

******
    LT Sanford slid down the ladder through the tight hatch, almost
wrecking the plasma rifle slung on his back in the process, and sur-
veyed the chaos of deck 20, sector ten.  The auxiliaries technicians in
charge of the massive cooling machinery, without which the main guns
could not function stopped running frantically around when they no-
ticed his approach.

    "Sir! during the firing there was a burning smell," the leading
chief babbled out, "Then the metallic hydrogen pumps just shut down
and two of them caught fire!  I don't..."

    "Easy, chief," the Lieutenant  said, putting a hand on his should-
er to calm him, "Just lead me to the alarm panels and data record-
ers."

    15 seconds later LT Sanford swore softly.  "Damn, I thought these
things had enough excess capacity to handle the heat load."  The
electromagnetic pumps that kept the liquid, metallic hydrogen flowing
were even more sensitive to overheating (though in this case, "over-
heating" meant about -150C) than the guns and had shut down automa-
ically, but not fast enough for two of them to lose their supercon-
ductivity and catch fire.

    "Okay, chief, isolate the bad pumps, reset the alarms, and re-
start the system.  Get the coolant temp back down to normal, then
start repairs."

"Can the cooling system handle the load without the bad pumps?"

    Rick Sanford closed his eyes for a moment and called up the specs
for the cooling system and did some fast arithmetic.  "Actually, it
should.  Those two pumps were supposed to be our safety factor."  He
sighed, "Then again, it *should* have been able to handle the load
*before* we lost them."  He did some more mental arithmetic.  "Tell
Commander Sandman that he can use the Keel Gun or all the wing guns
but not both at once.  Have you got a spare repair party?  Preferably
an armed one."

    "Yes, sir, and yes, sir.  Buchanan!" the chief bellowed over his
shoulder, "You're with the Lieutenant until further notice!"  Turning
back to the Lieutenant, "Where will you be taking them, sir?"

    "Radiator bays.  I want to see if that's why the cooling system
can't handle full load.  Keep her running, chief."

    "Aye aye, sir."  Buchanan's gang picked up their tools, slung
their plasma-rifles on their backs and followed LT Sanford.

******
#Cue: "Hunter / Killer" by Fear Factory, off _Demanufacture_

  Eyes widened on the bridge of the mighty vessel when the counter over the image of the persuing vessels neared 5,000 klicks; the maximum distance for X'hirjq vessels to transport their soldiers onto the _HOOD_.  Sandman turned to Admiral Davis while glancing with the other eye at his control panel to see that all battle stations had been secured and said "You'll need this," as he handed him a plasma rifle.  Before another thought could be had, claxons immediately sounded upon detection of foriegn lifeforms on board.  One could almost hear every single human being on board saying "oh shit" in perfect sync.  

  In flashes of light, the seven foot tall, fearsome creatures appeared before nearly all the Legion of Doom and newly arrived BJSF soldiers.  Because they weren't able to scan the inside of the ship, the lizards chose to spread out
and increase their chances of finding the ship's vital areas.  This by no means meant that they were spread thinly, as the black lizards outnumbered the Jihaddi five to one by anyone's best guess.

  A war of ducking behind corners ensued once many unfortunate guards found either an enraged lizard or a bolt of firy death through their chests, while a somewhat smaller number of lizards realized that their armor couldn't stop an all-out barrage from Jihaddi hand weapons.  As of 2 minutes into the fight, losses were low but gaining, and the _HOOD_ was steadily widening the gap between it and the pursueing lizard fleet; they had abandoned the earth for the moment because they knew this ship had to be destroyed, and it wouldn't hurt them to leave the other jihaddi alone for a few minutes: the ground forces would hold them long enough.  Despite the fact that the pursuing x'hirjq were losing ground, the forces already on board were taking care of their mission just fine.

******
#Cue: "Disposable Heroes" by Metallica off _Master of Puppets_

  The fifty or so people on the bridge who had gotten out of their seats and shut down the manual controls to be ready with their weapons for any x'hirjq who would board were not dissappointed.  As soon as the warning was sounded five x'hirjq warriors appeared on the bridge, dissoriented, but not enough so to forget to shoot three crewmen while their eyes adjusted.  The fifty or so others who had taken sniping positions on the second level walkway or taken cover behind workstations and terminals had responded as a reflex action by pummeling the intruders with as much firepower as they could.  One of the lizards was nearly vaporized by the attack, and the four others lunged at those on the lower front section and eviscerating a two of them while another was shot, and the remaining one managed to jump out of the way and join a fellow crewman behind cover.  

  Sandman burst out from behind his chair with his cannon carefully aimed at the head of one of the intruders, trigger pulled.  The head of the lizard erupted like so many watermellons at a Galagher show.  "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, YOU MOTHER FUCKERS?!! COME HERE!!!" shouted Sandman as he stood in the middle of the bridge unprotected.  The aliens decided to charge him and do hand-to-hand instead of shoot him, just like he anticipated, and the lizards got a point-blank blast out of Sandman and a pummeling from nearly thirty other officers on the bridge, much like before.  Admiral Davis, whose fire had contributed to the carnage, stood up and asked, "How did you know they wouldn't shoot?"  
  
"I didn't," replied Sandman.  The rest of the bridge crew was standing up as well, shaking themselves off, turning over chairs, cleaning debris off the disabled controls, and applying frantic first aid to those who had been attacked.  A frenzied sound of systems powering up and the sight of many panels lighting as people tried to get things back to some semblance of normal operations.  "All of you up front and everyone upstairs, get out there and secure the bridge area from the outside.  We don't need anymore of them coming in.  MOVE!"  On his command, all those except the few men operating stations nearby to the captain's chair rushed to the back, some down the stairs, and all out with guns clicking and powering up.  They knew that they must repel any more agressors at ALL costs.

"I need damage control right now," stated Sandman to everyone still in the bridge. 

"Got it, sir."  The screen from his station appeared up front on one of the main viewers.  "As you can see, several decks have taken heavy damage due to crossfire, but it's mostly superficial.  However sir, it appears that approximately fifteen x'hirjq have made their way to engineering, and the casulties are almost 100% on our side."

"Dammit..." Sandman tapped a few keys on the console of his chair and opened a channel.  "Ozzy, I don't know where you're headed right now, but you've GOT to get to the engine room right away.  They've taken out nearly everyone there, and they'll have our engines down in no time.  Maybe even life support."  

  Ironman pulled the device on his lapel closer to his mouth as he walked down the halls, spotted the enemy up ahead and started backtracking as fast as his legs could carry him, along with his men.  "I can't talk right now... I'm already headed in that general direction, and I'll get there as soon as I can."  Shots now grazed the fleeing troops, and Sandman correctly considered this the end of the conversation.

    The moment the boarding alarm sounded, LT Sanford shouted, "Hit
the deck!" and ducked behind an electronic bank.  He drew a bead on
one of the materializing X'hirjq and fired a split second before it
stopped shimmering.  The Lizard warrior had just enough time to notice
the plasma beam before it cut her in two.  Buchanan's gang settled
into the firefight with equal aplomb, but the enemy outnumbered them
by at least two to one.

******

#Cue: "Children of the Revolution" by Killers off _Murder One_ 

  Ironman slammed himself against a wall as a clawed hand shot past his arm.
As the creature followed through and went past the corner, Ozzy grabbed it's head and snapped it with a quick show of immense force.  The five soldiers around him quickly knelt down beside him, firing around the corner as Ozzy pulled out his weapon to join them.  "This isn't helping us get to the engine 
room..."

"No sir, it isn't," stated one of the accompanying officers, who's uniform was lacking a name on it.

"Somebody get us a shortcut because this way isn't going to work."  A blast nearly tore through the wall Ironman was standing behind as he was talking.  One of the soldiers tapped a few keys on one of the instruments clipped on his uniform next to the communicator as the rest took cheap shots around the corner trying to keep the lizards at bay.

"Got it.  Keep going down this corridor and we can jump into the crawlspace above.  There's a service tunnel around here somewhere that will go right next to it, and we'll have to blast through."

"Blast through?  Whatever works..." Ozzy pulled out a rather large hand grenade while finishing his sentance.  "Run open the hatch.  I want to be up there when the backdraft gets here." He pulled the pin, but held on tightly, waiting for a response from his fellow soldiers.  As an answer, one of the others who had not spoken yet pulled out a shoulder mounted cannon and carefully edged around the corner before letting loose a furious and impenetrable wall of death.  The other four darted further down the empty hallway with the leader bounding up to a nearly invisible set of handles in the ceiling.  While holding on with one hand, he swung himself over to a latch and twisted it, which sent him and the hatch to the ground.

  Ironman leaned over the shoulder of the armed soldier securing this corridor, but turned his head to see that they had gotten the hatch open behind him and were climbing in.  "Now how do you want to do this?" He asked of the seemingly unnamed soldier with the large gun.

"I don't know, sir.  Either way, they'll come after us as soon as we let up."

"Alright, when I give the signal, run up to the hatch, and I'll throw it with a three second delay.  Got it?"

"Yes, sir."  The soldier got up from his kneeling position, ready to book.

"NOW!!"  

  As he gave the signal, the soldier released the trigger and ran down the hallway several yards at the same time Ironman threw the grenade.  With amazing speed, the soldier leaped up at the high ceiling, grabbing on to the sides of the opening and propelling himself as hard as he could through the hole with his arms.  Right behind him was the sub-commander with the lizards only ten yards behind him.  He ran as hard as he could, picking up the cover to the crawlspace on the fly.  He jumped in the same manner as the soldier before him, but throwing the cover up to those inside first.  A x'hirjq hand missed his ankle as he sprung through the hatch, another officer closed it, and a thunderous blast ripped through the adjoining hallways from the large grenade.  The backdraft heated up the ceiling which was now the floor to the fleeing officers, as well as melting everything but the walls for 200 yards in every direction.  A breath of relief (and for air, since much of the oxygen in the area was consumed in the minute it took for the explosion and reprocussions to take place) was had now that those lizards they had just been fighting were dead.  

******
#Cue: "Aces High" by Iron Maiden off Powerplay 

  Having a moment to collect his thoughts, Sub-Commander Ironman pushed a few buttons on the device attached to his lapel, and began speaking softer than normal, as to avoid drawing the attention of anything that might be left down in the hallways. "Lieutenant Sanford, I need to know your location."

  On a lower deck, somewhere across the ship, his voice could be heard in the communicator of the lieutenant, as shots singed the walls around him and those with him.  "I think we're in sector eight, but I'm not sure.  We were on deck 20 last I checked."

"Alright.  We're heading down to engineering-- the lizards have it and they're going to knock our engines out.  I'm going to need you with me."

"Correction.  They HAVE knocked out our engines, and main power too," announced Sandman, suddenly speaking on that channel.

"I didn't know this was a partyline," stated Ironman with nonchalant sarcasm.
"Are the elevators, bulkheads and loading decks still working?" He asked, continuing.

"Except for the elevators, everything is for now.  The problem is that we're coasting now.  The lizards aren't catching up to us, but if they fix their damage quick enough, they will," responded sandman.

"Joy." Ozzy then turned his attention to the lieutenant, who he could tell was taking heavy fire from the lizards.  "We'll have to climb down the elevator shafts, but we'll be in sector seven as soon as we can.  Can you retreat and meet us there?"

"I think so, but it won't be easy."

"Then that's what we'll do.  Sandman, it would help if you could close some of the bulkheads as they retreat.  It sounds like they're outnumbered."

"I was thinking the same thing but none of the internal shields will be availible," stated sandman in reply, as he watched a map of the corridors Sanford and those with him were in, with security measures highlighted on the screen.

  Ironman motioned those with him ahead, as one of them informed him of the location of the nearest elevator shaft that would put them in one of the decks that stretched across most of the ship.  After a few moments of crawling, they found the hatch that was marked for the area they were headed to.  The soldier without the nameplate on his uniform took a listening device out of one of the pockets in his jacket and checked for the enemy beneth the ceiling they were crawling through.  After a nod from the soldier, the hatch was torn off and the soldiers plunged eight and a half feet to the floor below, landing professionally.  They found the elevator in front of them as they hit the floor, and two of them turned around for cover as IronMan took out a large knife to pry the doors open and the remaining two pulled various cables and metal clips out of pockets on their uniforms and off their belts.  After several attempts IronMan plunged the knife through the doors and pulled them apart with a violent motion.  

  Before he had turned around, the wires had been loaded into small hand guns and shot into the floor, and Ironman was presented with a clip which he put on his belt.  "Well, let's go, boys..." announced the sub-commander, confirming what they knew they had to do.  The officers then flung themselves backwards down the elevator shaft, dissappearing into the blackness.

******

    Rick Sanford motioned for Buchanan to join him.  "We need to re-
treat to sector seven.  Sub Commander Ironman is going to meet us
there."
    "How sir?" Buchanan ducked as a particularly near miss sent a fine
spray of molten metal over the two of them, "We're pinned down, here!"
    "I'm working on it," The LT muttered.  He looked around for a bit,
then spotted a pipe running overhead, and a very nasty grin spread
across his face.  "Ok, I've got it.  You take one-half of the gang.
I'll take the other half, and we'll do a leap-frog retreat on my sig-
nal.  Don't argue," to forestall Buchanan's obvious attempt to pro-
test, "Just do it.  I've got a surprise that should cover us."
    Buchanan relayed the order to his troops and signaled LT Sanford
that he was ready.  Rick Sanford then took careful aim with his rifle
and blasted a section of the overhead pipe just in front of the
X'hirjq.
    Liquid freon gushed from the broken pipe and evaporated, covering
the Lizards in a choking cloud of -65C vapor.  The LT flashed a grin
to Buchanan, "That should hold them.  I just hope Commander Sandman
will forgive me for ruining his wine collection.  Move out!"
    Buchanan's squad rushed to the rear while LT Sanford directed a
covering fire.  As soon as Buchanan was settled he covered the LT's
retreat.  Slowly, they made their way to sector seven.

******
#Cue: "Contortion" by Fight off "War of Words"

"Commander, a squad of the aliens has destroyed one of the bulkheads and is headed for the bridge."

Sandman thought for about a second and said, "They must have figured out where the bridge is.  I'm going after them."  The iris of Sandman's eyes turned blood red instead of their usual green.

"You mean you're going alo...."  Admiral davis saw his eyes, and just shut up.  He had no idea what was up with sandman, but assumed that sandman did.  "Then I'm going to head up the defense up here."  

"Alright."  The Commander then got up and left the bridge, leaving the crew there to keep operations running.

  Sandman walked for about 2 minutes when he got to one of the few large bulkheads in the hallways and waited.  He knew the lizards would have to come this way.  He also knew that they could rip him to shreds without breaking a sweat, IF they got the chance.

  With a large hum and metalic scraping sound the door opened and removed the barrier between 12 lizards and Sandman. The opening of it caught the lizards a bit by surprise since Sandman's side of the corridor was much more brightly lit (although it was only emergency lighting like the rest of the ship) and they didn't expect anyone to be there, let alone just one human.  In the half a second the lizards had to catch their senses, Sandman raised his right fist, and then clenched it.  Simultaneously, the lizards just fell to the floor screaming-- a most horrid noise-- as they fell victim to Sandman's temporarily increased power.  They were being subjected to their worst fears, but amplified a hundred fold; Sandman allways had this power, though he needed a slight boost to have it effect the lizards with their increased psionic resistence.  They writhed on the floor for about 5 minutes before their brains simply burned through synapse after synapse in terror.  Sandman unclenched his fist, returned it to his side and continued through the corridor.

  The commander signaled the bridge. "While I'm out, I might as well do a little cleanup.  There ought to be plenty of targets in the area."

"Aye commander."

  Sandman walked a short way further and down a corridor to the left, and came to a large door.  He pulled a key out of his coat and fumbled for the lock in the dim red emergency lighting, and turned it.  The wall moved upwards to reveal a large garage containing a small detachment of the Black Sunshine special vehicle unit.  In front was a '75 Corvette stingray, black of course, that had been fitted with a sheild device, plasma cannons in the headlights, HEAVILY modified engine with nitro, and other goodies.  He screamed out of the garage and headed for the nearest cargo lift.  Along the way, he passed some LOD troops that had just finished cleaning up some lizards.  They saluted, and realized that wheels might not be a bad idea.

  Sandman radioed the bridge crew, "How much further until I get to that cargo elevator ensign?"

"You should reach it about 1 minute after you take the 5th right.  Main power is still out, but your car should have the cables to run the lift off of its own power."

"Good enough.", He replied as he just barely managed to pull the car around the turn and saw the edge of the shields singe the corner of the wall. "I see it now.  Am I going to meet any immediate resistence?"

"Negative sir.  The nearest alien squad should be 500 yards down the corridor which will be to your right."

"Good.  Tell our people there I'm coming."

  Sandman stopped the car in the lift after pushing a button to open the door to it and climbed out with the engine still running.  He reached into the pitiful trunk and connected a cable to one of the access panels, and the main lights and control displays came on in the lift.  He then took it down 10 decks.

  When he got down to that level, he disconnected the cable, and climbed back in the car to peel out towards the battle.  The headlights raised, and 4 plasma rifles slid forward into the 2 round holes in each short, wide headlight enclosement.  

  The LOD troops moved to either side of the hallway, leaving the middle wide open, and the lizards down the hallway that were just shooting at them noticed the corridor empty the next time they poked their heads around the corner.  Just as they realized this, they jumped into the open to head toward their target and evicerate the humans for being stupid enough to stop shooting.  They heard the roar of Sandman's engine, but thought it was some internal ship system.  They realized too late that numerous plasma bolts would be going through their midsections.  Sandman squealed into a U-turn and backtracked to talk to the senior officer with the security detatchment.  

"I guess they should have brought some artillery too, but then I doubt they had any idea we would be driving cars on our ship.  Anyhow corporal, I want you and your men to go down to the flight deck and get 3 F.U.C.T.'s and pull into formation with me."

"Yes, Sir.  Are we going after a specific target sir?"

"Anything thats reptilian and moves.  I'm picking up about 15 of them at the nearest power junction."

  The lieutennant led his squad towards the flight deck where a small number of F.U.C.T.'s were parked next to some of the fighters, and brought them back within five minutes.  The power junction was also a hallway junction, meaning there would be a little room for the vehicles to fan out and open fire.  It was a ways off, and they had to move slow because the tanks weren't fast moving, so it took a few minutes.

  When they got there, the lizards decided to charge sandman's small squad with their rifles.  It didn't work.  The lizard artillery would probably outclass the LOD's by quite a bit, but not their footsoldiers.

"This is too easy.  Too bad there's not enough room to manuver in engineering.", Sandman commented to the soldiers with him.

"Speaking of which sir, how is the Sub-Commander doing?"

"Good question."

  Sandman called up the bridge and had them give a fix on his current position.  

"Sir, he's in an elevator shaft on his way to the mid-decks closing in on Lieutenant Sanford's detatchment.  He's moving away from engineering a little," stated the crewman with mild puzzlement.  

"Right.. Patch me through to him."

"No need," interrupted Ironman, "I've been listening on this channel since we
fell down here."  Ironman, using one hand to grab the line that was preventing him from plunging nearly twenty stories to a jammed elevator below and pulling his communicator to his mouth adjusted his position.  "I think that we could use some of those vehicles as soon as we step out of the shaft.  Sanford's outnumbered and we need to get him out of there.  We're lost if we can't get him down to engineering."

"Bridge, do we have anything down there?" Sandman asked, somewhat demandingly.

"No sir, but if you take the hallway you're in about 300 yards, there's another cargo-sized elevator that is somewhat close to the elevator the Sub-Commander is in.  You can take that if you're willing to leave the area you're in."

"This area isn't very important, so that's what we're going to do.  Keep track of us on our way down there.  I don't want any surprises." 

"Sir, there is a cargo bay full of armored vehicles on the other side of the lizards, just so you know."

"I think we can manage alright if you just pick us up and drop us off by Sanford.  We can handle it from there," said Ironman, interrupting yet again.

Sandman knew that Ozzy must be close then, and decided that the discussion was over.  "Alright then.  We're on our way."  Sandman made a motion with his hand to the others driving with him and they headed down the hallway, did the same procedure as Sandman did before to get the elevator operating.  

  They soon descended to the desired deck, and immediately gunfire was heard up ahead.  Also, shifting their attention to an adjoining hallway an elevator they assumed to be the one Ironman was making his way to.  "Where's Ironman," sandman wondered alloud.  As if it were an answer to his question, the door to the elevator shot from it's expected position to the floor several yards away under the force of Ozzy's boot, while he and several others followed it out and directed their gaze to the commander and his detatchment.  Ironman stuck his thumb out with a cheap, but almost evil smile as he and his soldiers climbed in the passenger seat or down the hatch of the wheeled weapons.  They soon let the tires squeal and hurtled themselves into the large area where a seemingly hopeless battle was being fought.

  As they entered the large room that opened up from the hallway and adjoined about ten others they could clearly see the Legion of Doom and the small number of TCN pilots with them on one side, with tables and fixtures overturned for protection, and the larger number of lizards on the other side sending a wall of fire to the Jihaddi.  The officers in the convoy took half a moment to survey the scene and then sent themselves screaming at the lizard's side with all guns blazing, but Ironman and his soldiers bailed out and rolled across the floor to the Jihaddi under the new cover that the convoy provided.

"'Evening, Lieutennant," Ironman yelled over the gunfire, with a fake smile and ten gallons of sarcasm, "how are you and the kids doing?" 

"Just wonderful, Sir," returned Sanford with equal sincerity, "it's the same 
situation here as it was in engineering.  We've been holding them off for 
twenty minutes now, outnumbered two to one." The two of them shot past the 
friendly vehicles to the lizards on the other side of the gigantic room upon
finishing their thoughts.

"Well, as you can see, the cavalry is here, so we'll let them take care of it.  
You and I are off to engineering, along with your men."  Dodging stray gunfire 
and shrapnel flying through the air, the new group of about twelve men crawled around the corner to the hallway they had been several yards from and made their way across the ship.

******
#Cue: "Army Ants" by Stone Temple Pilots off "Purple"

  The grim appearance of the black, artillery scorched corridors that seemed to never end did nothing to affect the mood of those cautiously, but hurredly making their way through them.  They were more concerned about what they would meet up with when they met their destination, and what might be around the next corner.  One of the Lieutenant's soldiers had her eyes fixed to a small 
scanner that was their only warning for the enemy, to which they would be completely exposed to.

"Sir, I'm picking up something unusual," the tech said, handing the device over to Ozzy for him to look at.  Without time for another thought, the walls
burst apart ten yards ahead and behind, revealing a handful of lizards on either side.  

   As a reflex action, the whole Jihaddi detatchment fell to the ground unloading every last round of ammo on their attackers.  This left three lizards left, but those three were the ones clinging to the ceiling that
jumped down to place their ordinances in the back of the Jihaddi.  

   The LoD soldiers slowly stood up, dropping their weapons and watching the lizards kick said weapons across the floor.

"This is new... taking prisoners, I mean," Snapped Ironman to the x'hirjq.

"Silence, human.  The only speaking you do is answer questions," the lizard barked in broken english.  "You tell me where engines are, or I will kill you," she continued.

"Engines.... engines... Oh, right.  Well, I knew that one, but I have this little problem thinking when I'm staring down the barrel of a gun.  You know how it is..." Ozzy volunteerred.

"SILENCE! If you don't tell me I kill you!"  Ozzy quickly surveyed the situation.  Three X'hirjq standing shoulder to shoulder five yards away, obviously not the smarter ones, seemingly a little nervous, and their armor
had taken a beating.  "Perfect..." he thought.

"Alright, I'll help you then.  Just settle down..." the Sub-Commander said to the amazement of his surrounding troops.  He quickly thrust his arms in the air (something the lizards had not asked them to do already) and out the sleeves of his coat came two heavy-ordinance hand pistols, which he grasped with his hands, pulled his arms down and crossed them, and unloaded-- all in the blink of an eye.  One of the lizards managed to get of a shot that exploded one of the red emergency lights overhead, but the close range at which Ironman shot them caused their chests to erupt in a gruesome display before they could really react.

"We should make these things standard issue..." Ozzy muttered, as he brought his arms to his sides and the pistols were flung back up his sleeves, apparently by some machinery concealed in his jacket.
  
  The troops checked for any serious wounds, located their weapons and regrouped (mentally, too) as Lieutenant Sanford observantly stated, "Looks like those bastards cut our trip short." He motioned to one of the holes in the wall.  "If we can get through there, we just need to climb down two decks and we're there."  Sanford took the lead position from Ironman, and the group 
headed down the access corridor, brushing aside I-beams and wreckage.

******
#Cue: "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister off "Best of Twisted Sister"

  A smile cracked Commander Sandman's face as the lizards slowly, but surely
began to diminish in number, while the LoD had lost only two F.U.C.T.s and three men so far in this particular battle.  The scene was that of heaps of smoldering metal and bodies (mostly reptilian in this case) all across the floor of the large concourse, vehicles with guns blazing darting around the wreckage but clearly moving in on the X'hirjq who were just now starting to
inflict some damage on the LoD forces.

"All soldiers close in," Sandman shouted over the radio channels as he pointed his own set of wheels towards the hallway the lizards were using for cover. "Let's fry this little school of bitches," He continued, with an evil smirk.

  A formation of heavily armored tanks and specially equipped cars made a solid wall of metal and death as it made its way over the bodies and towards the uncharacteristicly fleeing lizards.  The Legion detatchment had no trouble mowing down about twenty of the remaining lizards, and literally running over the final few, but not after making the long hallway structurally dangerous from the high-powered cannons they used, just to get through the lizards' armor.

"That was fun," thought Sandman out loud.  "Regroup and reload, because we're going to clean up the rest of the mid-section.  Reinforcements might not be a bad idea, either.  Somebody see who else is in the area and get them over here." He shouted to the convoy. 

******
#Cue: "Architecture of Agression" by Megadeth off "Countdown to Extinction"

  Admiral Davis brought his plasma rifile up to shoulder height and focused on the source of the blasts that ended the life of five LoD soldiers and two BJSF pilots.  Ignoring the annoying signal beeps from one of the consoles on the bridge, he set his rifle on low power, narrow beam and with computer-like accuracy blew off the small quarter-inch section of the lizard's shoulder that could be seen by him near the corner of the wall.  He immediately switched to full power and obliterated the lizard as she fell to the ground in pain from the first blast.

  The Admiral, and the soldiers around him who had unsuccessfully tried to pick off the stray lizard stood up.  "Now check the sensors again!  Are you *sure* there's no more lizards out there?" ordered Davis, with his intimidating stature and military decoration.  

"Yes, the deck is secure now," sputtered out a technician who made his way to one of the terminals.

"Alright.  Close the bulkheads, blast doors, and whatever else this ship has
to make sure we don't get any more guests."

"Aye, sir," replied a large group of LoD and BJSF crewmen shoving bodies and wreckage out of the way and assuming their stations.  The hum of systems powering back up and warning messages about releasing emergency safeguards, along with the return of normal light levels filled the bridge.

"Patch me through to Commander Sandman," requested the Admiral.

"Yes?" Sandman asked Admiral Davis before one of the bridgecrew could confirm the new connection.

"The bridge area is secure now.  I had the whole deck sealed off to prevent any more lizards from coming up here, and it looks like most of the controls up here are in working order... Now what?"

"Well, I'm down about six decks disposing of some X'hirjq.... Are you able to run the ship from up there?"

"I don't think that should be any problem."

"Then check on the progress of the guns and the engines.  We can't keep running like this forever."

"That was what I was thinking, too.  Davis out."  The Admiral then changed his attention to one of the crewmen.  "What is that beeping?  Can't you turn it off or something?"

"Let me see..." started the crewman, "That's one of the comm channels.  It's Colonel Most Holy.  Should I put him through?"

"Yes, go ahead"  The Colonel appeared on one of the main viewers, with a backdrop of crossfire, blown conduits, and wreckage, with only the light of rifles and fires to see by.  

"Admiral Davis?" Questioned the colonel, expecting Commander Sandman and the usual bridgecrew to be in front of his eyes.

"Yes.  Long story.  What do you need?"

"I'm on deck four, by the portside wing cannons.  The lizards are heading over to the cannons to destroy whatever they can, it seems.  We've taken heavy losses here, and need whatever reinforcements we can get."

"Well, Sandman's on the other side of the ship, and there's two detatchments in the upper and lower midsection..." The Admiral moved for a better look at the display that showed the location of friendly and enemy soldiers.  "It looks like you'll have to take some people from engineering.  That's the only place close enough to be of any help."

******
#Cue: "Blackout in the Red Room" by Love / Hate

    LT Sanford headed for the main status boards as soon as Engineer-
ing was all clear.  "Damn! the Lizards shut down the accelerators and
the secondary Tokomak fields!"
    "Gee, it's a good thing you speak English, LT," Sub Commander
Ironman spit out with biting sarcasm.
    "The accelerators are what supply new fuel to the reactors, sir,"
the LT explained, "and shutting down the secondary fields allowed the
plasma to expand and stop the fusion reaction."  He tapped a button
and called up more readouts.  "The good news is they didn't dump the
plasma completely.  Probably because the interlocks only allow that
if a massive failure of the magnetic bottle is immanent.  All I have
to do is restart the secondary Tokomak and use the accelerators to
heat the plasma back to fusion temperatures.  Buchanan!" he called out
over his shoulder, "Do the fast shutdown/restart checks on the second-
ary Tokomak and the fuel accelerators and prepare for a fast restart."
    "Do the fast shutdown/restart checks on the secondary Tokomak and
the fuel accelerators and prepare for a fast restart, aye aye, sir."
Buchanan left to organize his men at their panels.
    Sanford continued his study of the master status board.  "Other
than that, we're in good shape sir.  I think I can have the main en-
gines back on line in twenty minutes to a half-hour.  Did Commander
Sandman get the word on the cooling system?"
    "He did.  Is that the best you can do?"
    "In the middle of a battle, yes sir."
    "Get her running, Lieutenant."

******
#Cue: "Face Down in a Gutter" by XYZ

"Sir, we need help up here.  Whatever you can afford," informed Colonel Most Holy, as he opened communications to Sub-Commander Ironman.

"Joy... Unfortunately, all I can send you is myself.  Everyone else is needed down here, because we can't afford to have this place taken again.  I'm of no use down here, tho."

"Well sir, I'll take it.  Some extra weapons couldn't hurt, either."

"Right.  I'm on my way..." Ozzy turned his attention to the lieutenant.  "Is it safe for me to teleport there yet?"

"I'm pretty sure, yes.  Besides, I can pull your pattern back if it doesn't work."

"How comforting..." Ironman thought out loud with the kind of sarcasm Sanford was starting to get used to.  "Help me get some of the extra weapons over here and send me over to Most Holy's location."

  Two minutes later, Ironman found himself staring Most Holy in the face after a powerful flash of light.  "Pass these weapons out and lets go.  We've just regained control of the bridge and engineering, and I don't want to lose anything else," stated the Sub-Commander.  
 
"Sir, there's a split in the hallway about an eighth of a mile ahead.  Both paths loop around to the access corridor in between the cannons on this wing.
I suggest we split up so we can corner whatever's over there, and keep more from coming," volunteered the Colonel.

"Agreed.  You take these five, and I'll take these two," the Sub-Commander said, while motioning to the soldiers that were still alive, "so let's get moving.  The enginges will be back online in about fifteen minutes or so, and I want the guns to be ready... we only get one shot at this..."  Nods were exchanged, and the two groups parted company, and headed down monotonous hallways once again.  But it wasn't long before the monotony was broken, right at before the second junction.

KABAM!!  A horrible force tore through the air and sent gallons of blood everywhere that wasn't occupied with something else.  Ironman watched the shattered bodies of the men he had with him hit the floor as he drew his two-handed repeating disruptor cannon out of his coat and sqeezed the trigger, diving for cover.  Unsatisfied with the fragment of armor that bounded back his way under the barrage of his ammunition, he locked the trigger and shot everything he could connect with up ahead.

"Colonel," Ironman screamed into the lapel over returning fire, "I'm going to need some help over here... I have no idea how many of them there are, but they just took out Jameson and Taylor a few inches from myself.  I'm penned in, and there's no way out."  Before the Colonel could respond, gunshots and explosions could be heard on the other end of the comm.  

"No can do.  It's the same thing over here, probably the same lizards if you're as close as I think you are.  My men are alive though, save Peters.
We can't get over there..."  It was obvious that his sentance was cut short due to some crossfire he had to deal with.

"Alright," the Sub-Commander paused as he pulled several fist-sized shells off his uniform and shoved them into a second barrel on his cannon.  "Tell your men to get something over their eyes, and get ready for some kind of small backdraft."

"WHAT?! You aren't going to set off any charges are you?"

"It's either that, or you can get patched to the bridge and give them your last requests." A positive click was heard over the comm links as the shells were locked into place and the shaft closed on the cannon while Most Holy began to speak.

"You have a point there..."  Most Holy could be heard giving the instructions to his people, and continued.  "Alright.  Whenever you're ready."

"NOW!!"  

   Ironman hit the thumb-button on the cannon and sent three shells hurtling down the hall, and quickly covered his face.  After a quick blast of searing heat, he looked up to find five extra bodies strewn across the floor where his shells impacted, but also some extra unfriendly fire from around the corner.
"I didn't get 'em all.  Looks like there's at least one of them left."  Ironman unloaded a few more rounds to try and hit what was around the corner before waiting for a response.

"There's still a bunch of 'em over here," Most Holy replied, "Maybe you aren't as close as I thought."

"I guess not... DAMMIT!!!" Ozzy exclaimed suddenly, after squeezing the trigger with no response from the gun.  "I'm out of ammo.  This is not my day..." He then thrust the gun to the floor, and waited for the oncoming fire to start; but there wasn't any.

"Colonel, it seems that she's out too.  There's no return fire... I'm going up there to do this the old-fashioned way."

"If you ask me, you're insane, but good luck."

"Thank you, Colonel."

#Cue: "Of Wolf and Man" by Metallica off "Metallica"

   Ozzy charged up the hallway with his Maenad battle claws on (Don't leave home without 'em...) catching the lizard on the fly (and off guard, as well) and flinging both he and the lizard through the open bulkhead to the maintainace catwalk inside the upper wing cannon.  A stream of particles could be seen running down the middle of the massive cannon, suspended in mid air (although the only air in the giant tube was a small ammount pumped to the tiny catwalk area to one side when the guns are offline) and growing larger, as the guns were apparently coming back online. 

  The two fell with a sizeable jolt that shook the less rigid floor they were now on.  The lizard, which towered over Ozzy as they both stood up by about two or three feet by his guess took it's massive clawed hand and tried to knock him over, but he dodged, and was given a deep wound to the left shoulder instead.  He responded, not with a wince or by falling back, but with a violent thrust of his own battle claws into the face of his assailant (although he had to jump to do it effectively) causing the lizard to reel back, as blood coursed out the flaps of skin he had created.  He flipped backwards and observed for a split second.  In that split second a fury welled up in him that would frighten even war-hardened soldiers.  Rage coursed through his veins making it difficult for the adrenalin to compete, but it was a focused rage that he had learned how to use like a weapon, not blind anger like the rest of the world knows. 

   He sprung up after that instant seeing only what he assumed to be the jugular of the lizard and red.  He connected, sending the towering beast into the wall next to the bulkhead door, causing an eruption of more alien blood, but also some of his own due to the lizard's retaliation consisting of a flailing claw to his chest, paritally rupturing his light armor.  Before any further reaction could be had, Ozzy plunged his claws through the right arm of the beast, picked it up, and threw it halfway across the catwalk.  The lizard lept up immediately and let out an ear-piercing battle cry before lunging at Ozzy.  It flew towards him with amazing power, but spun around to smash him with her tail before connecting, flinging him into the rail.  He quickly turned around and thrust both clawed fists into the lizard's chest with nearly superhuman strength, hoping to damage the lizard before she could react.  It worked, but only because he had gone nearly fist-deep into the lizard's chest.
He then stared the lizard right in the eyes, who was now starting to bend backwards in pain, with an evil look about his face that dripped blood across slits for eyes, that almost took on a red hue now, and gritted teeth.  An energy left his gloved hands with unbelievable power, causing the intruder to go into convulsions and even smoke a little.  The picture was terrifying, as can be said since a second lizard was now watching.

  The second lizard charged at Ozzy, but met with a hand he pulled out of the first lizard that flung her into the now larger beam in the middle of the cannon using the power of her own charge as momentum, only to have her instantly disentigrated upon contact.  Ozzy plunged his free hand back in, claws first and continued to destroy the first lizard.

******
#Cue: "Destroyer" by Twisted Sister off "Best of Twisted Sister"

"Sir, engines are back online, and the estimated time for the guns to charge is two minutes," Sanford's encouraged voice announced over the bridge comm system, that Sandman also had himself patched into.

"Good work, Lieutenant," Sandman returned, before Admiral Davis got to the station that the chanel was being handled by on the bridge.  "Admiral, did you get that one?"

"Affirmative, Sandman.  We also got another interesting encrypted message a few seconds ago on a secure channel.  The Lexington is about as fixed as she'll get out here, as well." A few explosions were heard on Sandman's end before he responded.

"This is too good...  You should be able to get a message out to your fighters, despite the distance since I'd immagine that they'd want to get back aboard; there's not a whole lot the fighters can do at this point anyway.  The lizards will just think that they're fleeing."

"I think I'll do the same, if you don't mind.  They need me over there, and the bridge is clear for you to teleport up here they say."

"I don't think that will be too much of a problem; I was thinking of getting back there anyway.  We're cleaning up over here better than I expected, and I'll need to be up there when we bring the ship about and strike back."

"Alright, I hope you don't mind me borrowing one of your fighters, then..."
Sandman cut him off.

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea.  Ours are just atmospheric and aren't built to take the kind of weaponry those lizards have.  I think we have a couple of yours on here, actually and that would be a *much* better idea, Admiral." 

"Alright, I'm on my way then." He was about to turn towards the door when he found a flash of light in front of him, and Sandman was standing before him.

"Happy trails then, Admiral, and congradulations on figuring out how to run this backwards bridge here." He and the Admiral shook hands and the Admiral parted for his fighter.

"Ensign, run the evacutaion procedure.  I want to give the people some warning before the guns come back online," The commander instructed, as he turned to one of the crewmen.

******
#Cue: "Bloodstone" by Judas Priest off "Screaming for Vengeance"

  With the broken lizard flailing it's massive arms hopelessly trying to stop the horrible agony that Ozzy was putting it through and letting out terrifying screams of pain, Ozzy's concentration was somehow broken by a pulsing red light down the rails of the catwalk, and he noticed that the guns were nearing full power.  That little trail of particles in the middle of this cavernous barrel that was big enough to fly ships through was now big enough to swallow one of them.  Then, a familiar, but unwanted message came tearing through the air of every deck on the ship.

"ATTENTION!  EVACUATE DECKS 50-95 IMMEDIATELY.  THE GUNS ARE COMING BACK ONLINE NOW!!!  THE BRIDGE IS SAFE FOR TELEPORT..."

  Ironman tuned the rest out, and gave his hands a jerk, sending the lizard to the ground.  He placed his foot over it's chest, sent his right arm into the air and drew his close-proximity blaster to the face of his victim.  "I don't have time to play, anymore, bitch..."  The lizard's skull then erupted into a spray of blood and unidentified fragments under the force of his blaster.  His timing couldn't have been better, either, since the bulkhead doors were beginning to close.  "Oh SHIT..." he exclaimed to noone in particular as he made the best leap he could towards the doors hoping they wouldn't scissor him into two pieces, and rolled out to the hallway he had left a little while earlier, noting that neither Most Holy or the lizards were on the other side anymore.  Not caring to investigate and be irradiated, he slaped the switch strapped to his shoulder and after a flash of light, found himself staring at his chair on the bridge.

  "Welcome back," Sandman said, noticing that Ironman was completely soaked in blood, whether it be his, or the lizard's.  "a towel might not be a bad idea, before you mess up the bridge worse than it already is."

"Right..." Ozzy made his way towards the rear of the bridge and pulled some towels from the lounge, using some to quickly tend to his wounds before returning to his seat in the middle of the bridge, on the right-hand side of the captain's chair.

"Sir, guns are back online, as well as engines, but no cloaking device.  Also, sensors show that the lizards haven't gone after the BJSF fighters and Admiral Davis is almost aboard the Lexington," a crewman volunteered, after getting the readout at his station.

"Good... Bring us around, and start momentum back towards the lizards, and channel all power to the keel gun for a wide beam when we've hit the halfway point," Sandman ordered, as he sat down.  Ozzy checked damage control and sent some security commands from the console on his armrest, and then looked on, content to do as little as possible since his wounds were starting to become noticable.

******
#Cue: "Reckoning Day" by Megadeth off "Youthanasia" (sic)

  The massive piece of metal and firepower suddenly came alive with fire coming out it's maneuvering thrusters and an eerie glow in the barrel of the gigantic keel gun, but blackness in all the rest now.  Hellbent on destruction, it made a 180 degree turn and switched directions with a powerful thrust out the back end, speeding towards the enemy.  In less than three seconds, the halfway mark mentioned before was reached, and a blast was sent forth from the keel that was big enough to engulf the entire pack of pursuing lizards.  And it did.  As quickly as the blast was unleashed, vessels dissentigrated, crashed into each other, or erupted into spectacular explosions, depending on how close they were to the center of the blast.  All vessels were rendered helpless, if not completely obliterated on impact, and a core explosion from one of the medium-sized persuers dealt the final blow to the rest; except one.  Unfortunately it was the big one, that hung out of formation, and merely lost it's lower decks to the blast which only grazed it.  The ship began to return fire.

"FIRE AT WILL," shouted Sandman, as he immediately saw that there was a ship left.

"Sir, one of the power conduits we jerry-rigged just blew out again!!" Yelled Lieutenant Sanford over the hissing of fire supression systems and a crew trying to fix it.  "We're trying to get it back up..."

"Understood Lt.," Sandman replied.  "Damn.. this is just GREAT....  Fire torpedoes at will until we can get the guns back up," he ordered to the crew.

  A volley of torpedoes smashed against the sheilds of the enemy vessel, which  had it's sheilds doubled up in the front.  They caused minor damage, but the X'hirjq ship returned fire causing heavy damage, since most of the power had been diverted to the guns, not the shields.

"We've got hull breaches two decks down," Ironman shouted over exploding panels and shouting crewmen while the lights briefly went out and the ship was shaken, "they're sealed off, but we can't take much more of this."  He turned his attention to the comm system.  "Lt., how much longer?!"

"Only a few more minutes, sir.  We're scrambling as fast as we can."

"We don't HAVE a few more minutes.  A few more shots and we won't be having this discussion anymore." He turned his attention back to the main viewer, where something totally unexpected happened.

  The X'hirjq ship suddenly was blown in half, in a spectacular show just like the smaller ships before it, to reveal the _Lexington_ on the other side, which had just blasted the ship's unprotected rear to pieces with it's keel gun.  

"Nice job there, Admiral," Sandman said as he stood up and the viewer pictured the bridge of the Lexington, in similar disrepair to his own ship.

"It looks like you needed it.  Our sensors show that your guns were down again," stated the Admiral.

"Yes, it happened *again*.  We're going to have to double-construct our power system when we get back to the dock, which doesn't seem like a bad place to head to right about now."

"Agreed.  I suppose we can escort each other back..." A crewman on the _HOOD_ interrupted.

"Sir! All patrols report that the enemy bording parties have been destroyed!"
The bridge suddenly became unbearable to even a Metallica roadie's ear as the whole crew started cheering, and that same crewman made the announcement over the shipwide intercom.

"Alright... Let's get home and get a salvage team out in the wreckage once we get there.  If there's any thing we can use, I want it," Ironman ordered.  Now I'm going to go to the infirmary and put myself back together,"  he finished.

******  
#Two hours later...


    Lieutenant Sanford twisted the right controller on his EVA unit
and rolled forty-five degrees to avoid an errant chunk of debris.
Most of what was left of the X'hirjq ships was twisted, useless metal,
but occasionally a larger piece held nearly intact machinery.  Elec-
tronic banks, weapons parts, power supplies, all being carefully re-
trieved and sorted by damage control technicians under the LT's watch-
ful eyes.  Buchanan spotted him and took enough time out from super-
vising the salvage of what looked like a plasma cannon barrel to wave.
LT Sanford waved back and continued his inspection.

    A much larger piece of debris loomed in front of him.  This looked
to be an almost complete enemy bridge, miraculously blown clear of the
main structure during the explosion.  It was so big that the salvage
crew were working inside the thing.  He activated his magnetic clamps,
backed up to a bulkhead until they locked, then unlocked from the ma-
neuvering unit and "walked" into the ship, his magnetic boots provid-
ing good traction.

    The scene inside was quite satisfying.  A technician with a video
camera was taking careful pictures of everything for later analysis.
Several welders were carefully slicing panels and equipment loose
where their best guesses said they could do so without too much da-
mage.  Two petty officers had set up a miniature AC/DC, variable power
supply and were carefully applying selected voltages to whatever
seemed like it might be in working order.

    The chief in charge walked over and saluted.  "This looks like the
bonanza, sir.  How it happened I'll never know."

"'The universe is not only stranger than we imagine,' Chief, 'It
is stranger than we can imagine,'" Rick Sanford quoted.

"Who said that?"

"Don't remember, Chief, but it fits."

"Lieutenant," one of the techs at the power supply called out,

"You better take a look at this."

    LT Sanford ambled over to see that the box the techs were powering
up was acting like a small holo recorder/projector every time they
touched their leads to the right terminals.  "Um...I think I'll take
this one with me back to the Hood," LT Sanford said thoughtfully.
"This seems really important."

******

"...anyway, as I was saying, the lizards had been taken right after I left for the bridge, they say.  It was amazing how we were actually able to fight them
on foot.  I didn't even know it was possible," explained Sandman to Admiral
Davis, who was sitting on the other side of the conference table in the war room back on the bridge of the HOOD, although there were no holographic charts on the table, and the lights were back up to levels one could read by, instead
of the emergency lights and red warning lights that had been on when he was 
last on the ship.

"Yeah, and I heard they even captured two of them and let 'em watch as we 
nuked their ships before killing them," Ironman added.

    The door burst open and a breathless and obviously excited LT San-
ford rushed in.  "Commander, Sub Commander, you're never going to be-
lieve this, but we've found one of the Lizard's Black Boxes!"

"I saw a lot of black boxes floating around out there."  Sub Com-
mander Ironman seemed in an unusually sour mood.

"No, no, sir.  Like an airplane's flight recorder!  It seems to
have their logs recorded holographically.  Including what looks like
enough navigational data to find their way back to their homeworld!"  

"Now that is something I've been waiting to hear," Ironman stated, mood changed entirely.

"Get the navigational info off of there and send it to all Jihaddi commands.
Just make sure it's encrypted well enough so the lizards don't know that we 
have this," Sandman ordered.

"Might not be a bad idea to nuke the wreckage once you're done with it, so they think that all we got to see was dust, if they ever make it back this way," Ironman added yet again.

"Right, Sir."  Sanford left the room.

"Well, enough of the chitchat, then.  Let's get back to business," Sandman said.

"I'd like to carry that information back with me personally.  I want to get it into the Lexington as soon as possible.  Once she's all fixed, I immagine we'll be giving those lizards something to think about," Davis announced.

"I certainly I agree with you there.  We'll be touching down in the midwestern 
U.S. to complete repairs with some of the systems down, but we'll be using the ship as a base.  Since most of us are all healed up now, we've got to offer whatever assistance we can on the homefront before getting off to some other end of the universe," said Ozzy.

"Well, I'll be off to my ship again.  I guess I've got some interesting stories to tell Arsenal, now," the Admiral said, standing up.  They shook hands, and the Admiral left for his shuttle.

******
#Cue: "Addicted to Chaos" by Megadeth, off "Youthanasia" (sic)

  Three hours later, after some repairs and final searches through the wreckage, the horrible lizrad killing monstrosity of metal, cloaked now, touched down in some war torn wheat fields somewhere near Kansas.  Loading ramps hit the ground, and another chapter was about to begin...