LAST TIME ON LICC...

Old enemies resurface...the first real conflict starts...holodramas turned real life?

Rambo's very small brother jumps from the shuttle bay's ceiling. It's alt-Furby, dressed like the legendary hero and - of course - heavily armed.

"I am your worst nightmare."

Five seconds, four grenades and 300 M60 rounds later the intruders have found a nice warm place in the afterlife and the shuttle bay is in urgent need of major repairs.

What fun, visitors. Arthor, anyone we know?

Arthor: "No."

Good. Well, they're not going to get any further into the ship unless the hanger repressurizes, or they cut their way out. At the same time, no one can get in here either. I have an idea. There should be an emergency release for the outer doors, closing them and allowing the hanger to repressurize. All we need to do is close the door and wait for reenforcements.

Gene stepped into the other room behind the cockpit. There was very little space inside because of all the equipment stored in there. The walls were lined with 4 closed tubes, each large enought to hold a standard sized humanoid with ease. There was a pair of lockers and an closed access hatch on the back wall. But in the center of the room were a pair of racks that went from the floor to the ceiling. The one rack was loaded with weapons, of various types and sizes. There were old-fashoned slug throwers, phasers, blasters, rockets, gernade lauchers, as well as a large array of non-lethal weaponry as well. The other rack held a vehical of some sort, but it was folded to fit in the confined space.

Gene went to the locker and pulled out a thin pressure-suit, and then a pair of blaster pistols from the rack. He put on the suit, armed the blasters and turned to Keiran.

Sorry, but you're going to have to stay here. Arthor lacks an airlock, so the entire cockpit would have to depresurize in order for anyone to leave. Arthor, let him out as soon as you can.

Before Keiran could say anything, Gene stepped back through the doorway, and the door closed and sealed, leaving Keiran locked inside the weapons room.

Arthor lifted off from the deck, much to the supprise of the O'Kaks in the hanger. The hatch on the underbelly opened up. Gene jumped out firing, and hitting several pressure suits, disabling them. He then ran a crooked course towards the emergency close switch.

I strike again!

"It's all right, Arthor, hard vaccuum won't affect me." Morgan says.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it would be safer for you to stay." The program replies.

"Safer or not..."

(And with that, Keiran visualizes himself suddenly appearing inside the shuttle bay. But this time, nothing happens. He tries again, concentrating more strongly. Nothing changes. On a hunch, he takes a tricorder from a side pocket, and begins a local scan.)

"How did he get this much Plotonium? With a room like this, you could pilot the ship into a sun and remain safe."

"I'm sorry, sir, but..."

As Gene runs towards the controls, he hears Arthor give a warning. Gene dives forward into a roll just as a shot goes flying over his head. Mid-roll he fires, and hits the offending pressure suit. He completes the roll and continues running. He hits the emergency controls and uses them to push off in a different direction. He dives behind a stand alone control panel for cover as the outer doors close and the hanger begins to re-pressurize.

Inside the weapons room, the door unlocks as Arthor appologises for the inconvience to Keiran.

During all the interminable meetings, Artsy spends the time with Seeker, trying to figure out a way to interface him with the new training programs. In the end, they have to settle for telepathic linkings to the crew involved in the simulations. That is more than enough for Artsy, though Seeker professes himself DISAPPOINTED.

When the ship shudders under the first lashings of the Okakian attack, Seeker nearly launches before Artsy can remind him that the Okakians are largely unfazed by energy weapons. Unless you can create iron, she scolds him, we're just going to have to sit this one out.

Delgado regards the snooty butler.

"Oh! Right! I guess I've never seen Captain Tacoman's kids. Well, anyway, what say we get out of here?"

Delgado carves open another hole and climbs out, waiting for everyone else.

And not a moment too soon!

Milkshake hands the kids one by one to Delgado, who hefts them up to the turbolift doors on Deck 3.

"Whew!" Delgado pants after everyone is safe and sound on Deck 3. "Am I glad to be out of there-- whoa!" He manages to grab a trio of redshirts and prevent them from plummeting down the turbolift shaft. Having escaped death, at least temporarily, they move on, as another O'kakain volley causes the ship to lurch.

"Let's get you to the bridge, Commander, I think the butler can handle the kids."

"Right. Let's just hope some of the ship is left by the time we get there!"

Grant, I can get into the O'kak ship using the phase cloak.. maybe I can do some internal damage to that thing...

Rikard: Security teams to all decks. Repel all intruders. Computer, locate Commander Milkshake.

Computer: Commander Milkshake is on Deck 3, Section 8.

Crewman Yates: Commander Rikard. I'm reading a group of O'kakian troops closing on Commander Milkshake's postition.

Rikard: Uh oh.

In sickbay, Butrfli is attending to various duties when the doors open, revealing several O'kaks. She begins chanting, and the O'kaks are instantly covered and stopped with several layers of concrete. Butrfli retrives several hyposprays, walks over to the O'kaks, and injects them. They immediatly fall asleep.
Nighty-night, fellas. Butrfli to the bridge, I've managed to stop three O'kaks from sickbay, but the Nocturnian injection won't last forever...
Jackson: At least they havn't reached the bridge yet...

"Where's the brigsh?"

"This way! Here's a sign."

"Hehe, those fools can't even spell 'Bridge'. Look, it reads 'Brig'!"

"Yes, we'll teach them!"

Translated from O'kakian.

Milkshake and Delgado move as silently as possible towards the nearest Jeffries tube. Well, as silently as you can go when you're moving as quickly as you can and one of you has armored boots on, but...I digress.

Needless to say, up ahead come the sounds of doors being forced open, heavy footfalls and sibilant O'kakian voices exclaiming something about the nice carpet.

Milkshake looks back the way they came. It appears clear, but due to an eccentricity of the ship's designers (the Q, in case you've forgotten), Deck 3 has an extremely limited number of access points. It's forward or nothing.

"It's forward or nothing." Milkshake says, then looks over at Delgado. "Your first real fight. Are you ready?"

Delgado activates his light saber, turns it to "shield" mode, and brings out his hand weapon.

"Bring it on."

I have a feeling they're going to try to seize Engineering, that should be our first priority. There should be already a secure enough presence on the Bridge.

Ok. On to Engineering then. Just hold on and let me get some things.

Gene walked underneath Arthor and rapped his knuckles on the underbelly. A section of the bottem dropped down, revealing the weapons rack.

He placed one of the blasters in a holster on the small of his back, underneath his coat. He took out the old silver revolver, loaded it, and holstered that on his right hip, along with several speed loaders worth of amunition. Then he took a rapid-fire plasma rifle with an attached gernade launcher, and several stun gernades.

Well, I'm ready. Do you want to get something from my collection before we go?

"All right Hornets, fire Hellbores on my command. Tachyon cannons to full guys. Shunt power from the phasers. They're not doing much damage anyway. Let's clear the road!" With that the 12 red and silver fighters of Basnhee squadron do a series of complex and amazing manuevers that would look great on an IMAX sized movei screen, firing all along thw ay samshin the defensive weapons of the O'Kak ship to pieces. If the Hellbores work, the sheilds on this ship will be gone, and the Spidership can finish it off with little trouble.

Meanwhile on Plotonia, planet with the richest deposits of Plotonium in the known universe, an experiment is underway.

"I tell you, O'Neal, if this works we can solve the galaxy's energy problems for the next billion years!"

"Yes, Schwartz. It was brilliant. Tapping the atomic structure of Plotonium will provide an almost endless energy source."

"Well, let's begin the test."

The test started off as predicted, but then...

"Schwartz! The energy! It's out of control!!!"

"Increase the resistance!"

"I did! Resistance is futile!"

"Pull the plug!"

"I did! It's generating it's own power!"

"Remove the samples from the reactor!"

"I did! There's been a chain reaction and it's spreading to external Plotonium samples!"

"Run away!!!"

The scientists ran away and just as they dove for cover behind a big old ordinary rock, the laboratory exploded and energy arced all over the planet and flashed into space faster than light.

"It blowed up."

"It blowed up real good."

They examined the remains of the laboratory and came to an amazing discovery.

"All the Plotonium, for as far as we can scan, has been converted to iron!"

"Amazing!"

"Do you think this chain reaction has extended to the rest of the planet?"

Off in the distance could be seen approaching a massive angry horde of Plotonium miners waving torches and pitchforks.

"I think that's a safe bet. Run away!!!"

They made it to the spacecraft and blasted off of Plotonia, which will now probably have to change it's name to Irony or something. However, in space O'Neal mused,

"The energy flashed off into space. Do you... do you think that it could have affected all other pieces of Plotonium the way the Plotonium on Plotonia was affected? Could this mean Plotonium No More!"

Dramatic music plays. Schwartz looks at O'Neal with a serious look on his face.

"If you believe that, then I have some swampland on the sun I'd like to sell you."

(A ventilation hatch over Milkshake and Delgado swung silently open and Lt. First dropped down into the hallway, armed with her big gun. She also had a bandana tied around her head, camoflauge pants, a t-shirt with DIE! written on it, and bulging muscles. She had been temporarily relieved of duty* after coming down with a slight case of Stallonitis**. She whispered to them,)

Eh, yo. Ee onna ash eze ys ooa ull.

(The Universal Translator blew a fuse and was no help. Fortunately her pounding, smashing and strangling gestures let Milkshake & Delgado know she was willing to fight the O'Kak.)

* The Ensign First on the bridge is her younger sister, Duela.

** The same thing Alt-Furby has.

Grant, I'll distract them while you plant the Hellbores!
With that, Alex heards for the O'kak ship, firing all the way. He then begins playing a cat-and-mouse game, cloaking and decloaking, phasing and unphasing , appearing in random spots, firing, and then cloaking again. The O'kak fighter fires whenever it can at Alex. This has the effect of trying to swat a single anoying insect while the rest of the insects are still attacking.
How's that for a distraction?
I can head inside and give the big guy a heck of a stomache ache!

Lopez shakes his head. "Plant Hellbores? They're not bombs," he mutters to himself. "Hornt Squad, are your Hellbore cannons armed?" All 12 Hornet pilots repsond in the affirmative. "All right. FIRE!" Twelve small craft simultnaeously send 12 glowing balls of energy out at the enmy ship. They cover the short distance quickly, and the balls explode into a spider web shape that rolls over the shields of the enemy vessel. All at once, all 12 Hellbore shots find the weakest point in the O'Kak's sheilds, and simultaneously detoante agianst it, opening a hole in the O'Kak's defenses. "Yes! It worked! Alex, we opened the door for you. Time to bust on in. All squadrons, pull back to defend the Spidership."

"Ah, here's the brigsh!"

"Wrong spelink again - 'Brig'. The LICC must be crushed!"

"Yes. Let's start with the captain."

The two warrior enter a surprisingly dark room. The door closes behing them.

Seconds later terrible cries, howls and other unhealthy sounds can be heard from the outside...

Suddenly a group of O'Kak appear on deck 8 with Jadlad and the redshirts.

Looks like trouble!

Catch me if you can you O'Kak ninnies!

Jadlad tries to lead the O'kak away from the unarmed redshirts, but unfortunately all of the Redshirts were killed by falling back down the mine shaft trying to get away from the O'kak's shooting at them.

Aw man!! I really should've roped that off or something.

This way bad guys!

Bbblllttt!!!

Jadlad runs around the corner and dimension hops behind the O'kak without them realizing it.

"Does he think we're that dumb?"*

"Yes, like we're going to chase him and fall into that shaft."**

Pizza Power!

Jadlad tosses extra gooey pizza slices at them rendering them helpless. Then he takes away their weapons and puts all the O'kak in the shaft.

=/\=Jadlad to bridge, I just caught a group of O'kak here on Deck 8, and put them in the mine shaft. There may be more closing in on Engineering.=/\=


* - Translated from O'kakian.
** - Ditto.

Right!
Alex's ship ripples as it phases and then heads towrds the O'kak ship. Like a dart, it penetrates the ship in the spot opened up by the Hellbores. After a while, there is an explosion in the launch bay, followed by several more internal explosions in that section. After that, the shields go down in that area.
Alex to Grant and the Spidership, I've done some major internal damage to this thing. The cargo bays are at the belly of the ship, so I'll head there next.
True to his word, the next series of major explosions happen near the bottom of the vessel, causing even more damage. Soon, the experimental ship streaks out from the ship, still phased.
I don't think that thing will last much longer. Spidership, if you want to destroy it, now's your chance!

A group of four O'Kak are carefully moving down a hallway. Suddenly, they hear the buzz of a transporter and are confronted by four androids wearing martial arts outfits.

Android #1 (cracking his knuckles): Beware, intruders. Because the face the Four Lethal Poisons!

The O'kaks look dumbfounded, and the androids charge in and a fight breaks out.

Pants `Em!

RIIIIPPP!

Divine Noogie of the Four Winds!

WOOOSH!! WHOOOOOOSH!! WHOOOSH!! WHOOOOOSH!!! SCRAAAAAAAAPE!

Burning Lotus Towel Snap!

WAAAAAP!! OWWWWW!!!

BOOT TO THE HEAD!!

CRAAACK!

Commander Adon, fire at will.

We'll take out that ship and then get rid of the rest of the O'kakians on the ship.

Ouch!

Aye, sir.

Adon manipulated the controls, and the spidership unleashed a dazzling amount of firepower at the O'Kak ships.

(End commercial. The shot opens again, this time on a silent and dark Main Engineering. The camera moves slowly and smoothly toward the warp core, which has several black streaks of carbon scoring on it. Nothing happens for several seconds, then...

A shot, a scream, and a body falls from an upper level directly in front of the camera. An O'kakian shock troop, a large parsel of explosives in hand. Windward drops down from the catwalk on Engineering's upper level. Morgan steps out from a side corridor near the Main Status Board.)

"One last one." says Windward, his blaster barrel emitting wisps of heated plasma residue.

"None down there." replies Morgan. "Now, where's the crew? Fisherman, Ansh, no sign."

"They might have escaped before the dinos broke in."

"Quite possibly." says Morgan, tapping on a systems console.

(Thump. Thump. Thump. Both heads snap around, looking at a spare, small equipment bay, the source of the noises.)

First, Milkshake, and Delgado advance cautiously down the Deck 3 corridor, heading toward the O'kakian voices, which seem to be receding.

Perhaps we can sneak around--

And then the nearest door slides open, and two O'kakians step out, prompting a furious round of fire from Milkshake and First.

When the smoke clears, one lizard-man lies deceased on the deck, but the other remains, protected by a buzzing personal force field. This one's rank markings are more elaborate, and his teeth are worn, signifying age. The mouth quirks open in an O'kakian grin.

"Captain Milkshake, it is my honor to greet you. I shall now request and expect surrender of your ship."

Milkshake knows this O'kakian. A very infamous leader of the late Terran invasion.

I'm sorry we're unable to accomodate you, Lasdas Herresh. If you drop your weapon, however, I promise fair treatment.

Herresh bobs his head.

"That would be imprudent, Captain. If my team of well-skilled saboteurs in your core room fails in their mission, my scout squadron will surely destroy your vessel beyond repair."

Boom.

Gene points the rifle at the equipment bay and slowly approaches it.

Arthor, I can't get a reading in there. Can you see what's inside?

Arthor: "I'm sorry Gene, but there appears to be a dampening field around that area. My sensors are unable to penetrate."

Great.

Gene kept the rifle trained on the door, as he quickly pressed the "open" control. The door opened, and the person on the other side was greeted with the sight of Gene Windward aiming a plasma rifle at them.

Arrh! Don't ye be a-pointin' that at me, laddie!

Ansh pushes the Angry Fisherman aside. She notices Keiran

Observer! Please tell your friend that we're the Engineering crew. We were hiding from O'Kakians when this idiotic Fisherman broke the inside contorls for the door to try to keep them out. It seems to have worked, only it also kept US in!
How's it going?

(Morgan looks up at the non-shaking Engineering compartment.)

As well as can be, I suppose. We're either getting better at avoiding shots or the threat outside the ship is finished. As for the O'kakians here, Mr. Windward has quickly dispatched them. Are you two all right?

(Several meters behind them, the right claw of the O'kakian shot by Windward begins to open, releasing the parcel of explosive. The bomb itself, basically a ceram canister of antimatter with a small magnetic constriction manipulator, is in danger of sliding off the deck and down the core shaft. For the moment, this remains unnoticed.)

We're OK, though Fisherman was just saying that the air was beginning to run out in there and so even if I'd surrvived it he would have been in BIG trouble. She thumps her left palm with her right fist We should probably have a look around and see how the systems are doing, I hate to think what the O'Kakians have tampered with...

Hey, what's that?
The redshirt lunges and manages to catch the bomb just as it falls off the deck. The redshirt is left hanging off in a perilous way.
I could use a little help here!

AS the 25 fighters of the Spidership (Hornet squad, Banshee squad, and Alex's experiemntal craft), head back towards the Spidership, Lopez checks reports from the flight deck. "Uh-oh. OK pilots, when we land go striaght for the wepaons lockers in the Pilots Lounge. We've got hostiles on board the Spidership. Repeat, hostiles aboard Spidership. Alex, don't use the phase craft inside. We can't risk damaging anything vital in case more O'Kak ships show up."

Not use the fighter to fire inside our own ship? Well, it's going to tough, but I think I can do that...
As soon as I land it, I'm going to grab a few weapons from Rocket's lab and join the fun...

Sorry pilots, you can't land right now. The hangar doors don't work and the hangar bay itself took heavy damage during a firefight. But we're working on it, I promise!

Rikard watches the viewscreen as the last sparks resulting from the O'kakian destroyer's explosion wink out. He smiles.
Nice shot Adon. Alright, let's get those O'kak troops off of this ship.
He gets up from the captain's chair and makes his way to the turbolift.

A couple of O'Kakians have a terrified female blueshirt backed up into a corner. They are obviously trying to get some information out of her....

O'Kakian: Well, if you don't know anything, then I guess you're useless to us.

The two O'kakians start to raise their weapons to fire at her, but suddenly two teal-colored lightsaber blades spin through the air. One slices through the barrel of one of the weapons and the other cuts through the arm of the other O'Kakian, severing it just above the wrist.

Looks like its time to take the trash out!

The O'kakian whose weapon he destroyed starts to reach for the severed lower arm (and the weapon still clutched in its hand) of the other O'Kakian. Rocket Ranger spins the double-bladed lightsaber and initiates a back-thrust, pushing the back blade through the O'Kakian's chest, killing him. He looks closely at the wounded O'Kakian.

Don't give me any trouble, and you'll just go to a nice cosy cell. Otherwise.....

He motions to the dead O'Kakian lying on the floor. Then glances in the direction of the female blueshirt.

Go find a weapon of some sort to defend yourself with. There may be more of these scum around here.

The blueshirt acknowledges him with a nod, then walks off.

She's walking?!? It's an emergency! Shouldn't she be running?

(three O'Kakians come upon Ensign Tai who puts his arms up in the air)

Don't shoot! I surrender!

(Then Deadmon, the digivolved version of Redshirtmon, floats through the floor and posseses the body of the rearmost O'Kakian and shoots the other two)

All right! (They high five each other then go off to find more O'Kakians)

Alex programs the experimental ship to land with the other fighters and stands up. Looking around the lab, he notices several weapons, many he doesn't recognize. He finds that many of them have plaques explaining them, including...
...Horck x-45 Slayanator, one of the rarest weapons in the multiverse... I wonder how Rocket managed to get one.
Oh well...
With reverence, Alex picks the weapon,hefts it, and leaves Rocket's lab.
It's time to do a little hunting.
Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting O'kaks.

Hey, that's my line!

I'll stop these O'Kaks!

Gets blown to smithereens by O'Kak weapons.

You must respect my authoritay!

Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

Delgado scrutinizes the O'kakian leader, looking for the source of his personal force field. He slowly dials his lightsaber back to normal as he spots the power source sitting on the lizard's waist. There's only one question: will the shield deflect his lightsaber? Delgado steels himself.

Three...two...

The O'kakian leader cocks his head.

"I hope, Commander, your officers aren't planning anything... rash."

Urm... maybe I'll wait...

Commander Rikard, shouldn't you remain on the bridge and orginize the security teams in repelling boarders?

A schematic of the Spidership appeared on the viewscreen, showing all the known locations of O'Kakian troops onboard, as well as all of the Security Teams.

But if you really want to fight them, a small squad is approaching the bridge through the emergency stairwell as we speak.

Engineering. Mostly quiet except for a few crewmembers and a panicked Redshirt hanging over the core shaft, holding a strange device.

How's business?

Little Rambo catches the Redshirt at the last moment and lifts him into safety.

Hey, what's this? A O'kakian gift? Hmmm, smells like antimatter. YUMMY!

alt-Furby swallows the bomb at once. A few seconds later he burps.

Sorry. Happens sometimes...

Two things happen simultaneously.

The reinforcements that Herresh was undoubtedly stalling for appear.

And Milkshake makes his move. In one swift movement, he releases the Polymorph Rifle strapped to his back, brings it up and fires. Herresh is propelled backward, the forcefield about him buzzing and crackling with purple lightning.

Upon seeing this, the newcomer O'kakian soldiers open fire, and the allies dive as best they can, but Milkshake is hit, and First and Delgado are grazed.

(Several minutes later in Engineering...Keiran is busying himself with a systems console.)

"These power settings are all wrong. This is possibly the most inefficent power setup I've ever seen on a starship. No wonder the systems are failing."

(He begins to move the glowing virtual 'sliders' on the ship display, routing more engine output to shields and inside security protocols. But every time he makes a change, it snaps back to the original configuration. A holowindow opens, and the bird image squawks at him.)

"These are the default settings, optimized for normal ship flight. Please do not change default settings."

(Keiran frowns at this.)

"Computer, the ship is in a combat situation. Release defaults."

"Squawk. Rerouting to combat defaults."

(Suddenly, most power is shunted to shields, weapons, and security. Lights and consoles everywhere dim to their lowest level, and gravity is suddenly decreased to 0.3g.)

Thanks for taking that off my hands!
With that, the Redshirt manages to grab onto the platform with his other hand and pull himself up.
With Delgado here, I may survive things...
Meanwhile, Alex attempts to make his way to the bridge, firing the Slaynator at any O'kaks that get in his way. He keeps changing settings, to see what they do.
This is pretty cool.
Up on the bridge, Jackson activates all the systems on his Cybersuit, getting it ready for battle. He opens a compartment in the suit, pulls out a lightsaber, and places it on the console.
That's for just in case.
Everybody that doesn't have a weapon get one from the locker.

At the same exact moment as the gravity decreases, Rocket Ranger appears in another hallway filled with O'Kakians, and is wearing a slightly bulkier set of armor with no cape that has magnetic clamps in the boots so that he is able to stay grounded. He is also holding a huge rifle.

I have come to chew bubblegum and kick @$$, and I'm all outta bubblegum.

He fires the rifle, unleashing a massive blast of purple-colored energy, which causes a powerful explosion of concussive force stunning the O'Kakians when it hits.

See this? This is my....BOOMSTICK!!

He notices one of the O'Kakians wasn't hit. The O'Kakian starts to reach for the pistol in his holster.

Go ahead. Make my day.

The O'Kakian manages to draw the weapon, but Rocket Ranger unleashes another blast of energy from his rifle, this one yellow in color (he changed the setting while talking). The blast blows the O'Kakian to bits.

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Translated from O'kakian

"That's him."

"The Ranger. We'll both recieve promotions for this."

"[EXPLETIVE]! He killed Drasfa!"

"That [EXPLETIVE]! Die, Ranger!"

That said, the two O'kakian shock troops step out of a recess in the corridor, and open up on RR's back with automatic, highly illegal energy weapons.

"Gaaaak!" Delgado cries as an O'kakian blast scorches across his chest and shoulder. Despite the pain, he quickly recovers and switches back to "shield" mode, deflecting more fire while getting off some return shots with his phaser. He manages to miss the oncoming soldiers with his first few shots, but then he nails an O'kakian straight in the hand, blowing up his disruptor. The resulting explosion takes out the three nearest O'kakians, causing the rest of the group to pause momentarily.

"Commander! Are you all right?" he shouts over the din.

"Perfect." Milkshake grates. He doesn't quite know if Delgado heard him, because several alarms from his armor's onboard control system are screeching through his helmet. He raises his Polymorph Rifle again and gets off one more shot, then tosses the weapon back. "Computer, activate security forcefield, Deck 3, section 176!"

"Squawk! Unable to comply due to current default power settings."

The O'kakians begin to raise their weapons again.

"First, Delgado, get back, get away! I'll cover our rear!" the captain shouts.

I don't suppose you can turn the gravity back to normal around here, can you? ... Wait a minute!

Gene seems to freeze again for barely a moment.

There shouldn't be any magnetic bottles just lying around here, right?

Ansh shakes her head.

That's what I thought.

Gene lept towards the warp core, but in the much lower gravity, he grossly overjumps the mark. Muttering something that wouldn't be able to air on K-NIT, he releases the rifle, and draws the pistol in one smooth motion. He fires the pistol to correct his motion and he grabs the canister just before it could roll over the edge. He bounces off of the safety railing and fires again to stop, more or less.

We have a slight problem. There is antimatter in this canister, and the magnetic field is decaying. You've got about a minute to get it someplace safe before the container fails.

67 seconds...

Morgan instinctively extends his hand towards the container, fully intending to open a dimensional rift around it and send it somewhere 'safe'.

Nothing happens.

64 seconds...

Morgan mentally reviews the situation. At least 5 decks and 4 sections in any direction separate Main Engineering from open space. Not to mention that the antimatter in the container would have quite a blast radius.

61 seconds...

"Quick, are the transporters online?" Morgan shouts.

The computer responds that all available power is rooted into the defensive systems.

You're right Adon. I should stay here. I wanted to find Commander Milkshake and drag him up here but I'll leave that to you and Jackson. And the rest of the crew.
He points at two of the bridge crew.
I want you two at the emergency hatch. Anything O'kakian comes through you shoot. The rest of-
He's cut off in mid-sentence as the turbolift he was heading to opens. Four O'kakians step out, firing. Three of the bridge crew are hit, one of them immeadiately killed. Rikard dives out of the way as a bolt grazes his leg.

(On the bridge PD Insane grabs a blaster pistol and starts firing it in the O'kakians' general direction.)

Rrra ooogah rugga oaie!!!*

(Lt. first switches her gun to Fate Worse Than Death andf turns several of the attacking O'Kaks into Barney clones, singing, "I love you" and trying to convince the other O'Kaks to be friends with LICC.)

* No. You don't want to know. ;-)

Unfortunately, the two O'Kakian shock troops pick the wrong moment to fire. Rocket Ranger, who hasn't even noticed them, teleports out the split second before they fire. The blasts from their weapons travel down the hall and obliterate another group of O'Kakians who were coming to back up the O'Kakians that Rocket Ranger had already taken care of!

Arrrrgh, prepare to repel boarders, matey.

(Shadow Senshi throws her tri-bladed knife, it splits into three spinning blades which cut deep gashes in the gun hands of three of the O'Kakians, then the blades arc back and rejoin so she can catch it. She shifts to her shadow form and moves behind the uncut O'Kak, solidifies long enough to grab him around the neck and then shifts to shadowform with him and pulls him into the shadowrealm. Exiting on Deck 13 where they resolidify and she lets go of him and reverts herself to shadow and back to the shadowrealm.)

Man, that was tougher than I thought it would be.

Jackson raises his gauntlets and begins firing at the O'kaks. First emerges Jackson's famous plasticine taco shell, which wraps itself around one of the O'kaks. It is followed by a more classical phaser fire. Finally, in a massive firefight in which several minor consoles are fried, the bridge crew manages to repel the invaders.
According to the sensors, there's several more of them on the other decks...

Rikard tries to stand but his hit leg won't support him. He grabs a nearby railing as he hits his communicator.
Bridge to Sickbay. We need some help up here. We have wounded.

Oh great. If things get even more boring around here, we'll have to get Charles to recite some of his poetry. C'mon Beej, let's get a drink.

I'll be right up.
True to her word, a few seconds after that, Butrfli materalizes on the Bridge. She takes care of the wounded, and turns to leave via turbolift.
Jackson: You aren't leaving the way you arrived?
Butrfli: Oh... that was just one my spells that I tweaked to look like a transport pattern. The real transporters seem to be out... and gravity is low, too... It's lucky that the Bridge has it's independant systems, or we would all be floating on the ceiling. I would use the spell to return, but it was a one-way spell.

"Right!" Delgado starts hopping backwards as he follows Milkshake's orders. Unfortunately, the gravity soon pummets to .03, turning his small hops into giant, ceiling-bouncing bounds.

"Oh ••••!"

Meanwhile, the gravity drops to .03 on Deck 8, and the pizza covered O'kak Jadlad put in the mine start escaping.

Free! We're free!*

Jadlad looks at the camera.

I hate when things like this happen.

You get back in that mine right now misters! Don't make me go over there!

He starts chasing down the O'kak.

That's it. You're all in big trouble!

*Eh, you know by now.

Two more O'kaks enter the Brig in search for helpless redshirts. Something quickly knocks them out and ties them to a magnificent torture rack. Their eyes are forced open and an ancient "music" video starts to play in front of them...

"You drive me crahahazy..."

The O'kaks are strong and survive for nearly 90 seconds before their brains explode. Splosh!

Mwuahahahaha!

Sensing the Quito's excitment as the little alien is trapped in the turbolift, Artsy heads out to look for her. The kids may be perfectly safe with the Butler, but Artsy has no intention of leaving them without better protection while O'kaks are roaming the ship.

She is heading towards Zen Forward, following Quito's sendings, when she hears footsteps ahead and voices she does not recognize. Okak? Artsy darts into a side corridor--or tries to. The gravity takes this moment to drop to 0.3, and the artist sails into the wall with a less-than-graceful thud.

The footsteps pick up speed and round the corner....

...and reveal themselves to be two O'kakian shock troops, bearing between them the very surprised and also very motionless Lasdas Herresh, suspended in an golden-colored crystalline shell. The pair (trio?) stop when they reach Artsy, and one trooper instinctively reaches for his weapon, letting go of the frozen commander with one hand, and nearly jostling the whole heavy load loose. The other trooper berates the first one.

"Hrssshirhssshfffss! Shhshhhrrrishffgggd shrriis!"

"Hsssiiisshhrr! Grrhhhsss-" the first protests.

Herresh has nothing to offer to the conversation.

"Hsskffff sshrrrs KKSSS!" the second roars.

The first one inflates his neck membranes and lets them flutter for a second, the O'kakian version of a shrug. Together, they hustle past Artsy, bearing the Lasdas between them, heading aft.

Alex, who has discovered a pair of emergency magnetic boots in a locker, is proceeding along the hall quite nicely. He runs into the group of O'kaks, points his Slayanator at them,and says
And just where do you think you're going, Hmmm?

The group of O'kakians that Alex has encountered, four of them to be precise, don't feel the need to respond. They simply open fire with small missile weapons, apparently not caring about collateral damage.

(Morgan and the Fisherman finish draining the O'kakian antimatter bomb into a manual fuel intake valve in Engineering's lower equipment bay.)

"Quick thinking, Ansh. If we find any more bombs, we'll be able to disable them here." Morgan says, pulling the ceram canister free.

"Be careful, there still might be some antihyrdrogen left--" Ansh shouts.

BLAMF!

Alex activates another device he found in Rocket's lab. This one opens a small portable hole, designed to take weapons fire and send it harmlessly into the nearest sun. Luckily, it works. He glares at the O'kaks and says
Hirssserrrshhh Grhrrsss *Cough Cough* um...SshhhrrrgggKSSS Rrrssgggh?
The O'kaks look at him oddly, first because he spoke to them in their own language, and secondly because he just ask if there were insects in their land vehicles. He learned the language in his home dimension, in case he either captured or was captured by O'kakian forces. The begin laughing, giving Alex the opportunity to fire at them. They go down easily, since he used the Quantum phaser option.
That ought to hold them for a while.

Something materializes right at the feet of the two O'kaks who are carrying the Lasdas. They trip over it, and can't escape as it says...

Hi! I'm a 3 second bomb!
Hi! I'm a 2 second bomb!
Hi! I'm a 1 second bomb!

KABOOM!!!!!

Scratch three O'kakians. OK, two. the Lasdas is merely rendered unconscious... for long enough.

Artsy watches as the Okaks hustle past. They take absolutely no notice of her, and she considers whether to follow them. Gunfire echos from the corridor in that direction, and flushing rich blue, the artist ops for her original passageway.

"HSSssshhhshSHH!" "Ow!"

"RGHHSSssshghRR ssshHHsssj SSjjkssss sshiis!" I have a terrible scratch on my leg from that evil bomb!

"HHSSsshiisss sshjh shhhjjsshj. HSSsshhhsJkkk!" And I as well. We must continue!

"SHHRSHKKKKK KKK!" Right!

The two O'kakians pick up Herresh again and continue as fast as their wounded legs will carry them.

Suddenly, four small portals open up above the O'Kakians as they try to carry Herresh. A bomb containing laughing gas, keyed specially to affect only O'Kakians, falls through each of the portals, which then quickly closes.

Uh-Oh!

All four laughing gas bombs detonate.

Three O'kaks have materialized on the trap-deck. Nothing has happened to them yet but suddenly...

"Szrgl..!"

That's it. 500g are too much for every O'kak.

Zrrrrrt. Wssssh.

Now the hallway is clean again and looks as harmless as ever.

Arrgh! I'm a-thinkin' that if'n we can beam red shirts onto all o' them thar O'kaks, the problem'll be a-takin' care o' itself!

Fiddles with the replicator and transporter controls...

Arrrgh! Computer! I want ye t'be a-beamin' red shirts onto all them O'kak intruders!

Computer: Unable to comply. Please restate request in Standard.

Arrgh! Ansh, lassie, would you be a-makin' that infernal thingie be a-doin' what I want?

Delgado continues to ping-pong his way down the corridor backwards. He's lost sight of both First and Milkshake, but the sounds he can hear ahead of him suggest that the Commander was able to repel the O'kaks.

After thudding his head for the nth time on the ceiling, he decides to see if he can get himself back on deck. He takes the control unit off his belt and starts fiddling with it for a while. Presently, the blue circle on his belt glows, and shortly thereafter a pair of emergency magnetic boots materializes within Delgado's grasp.

"Well, I see the auto-recall works," Delgado mutters as he slips them on, a somewhat gymnastic feat considering his situation.

Once the boots are on, he activates them and finally regains his footing on the deck. While he gathers his bearings he feels the ship rumble, almost like there was an explosion somewhere within.

"Hmmm... wonder what that was?"

A group of O'Kak's walk into a corridor with some black tunnels painted on the walls. Wondering what this means the O'Kak's walk between two of the tunnel openings when a train comes out of one tunnel, runs the O'Kak's over, then goes into another tunnel.

(Ensign Ardluck has made it to one of the LICC's speeders. Once inside he activates it and runs a scan on the Spidermobile)

Hmmm, bioscan shows 47... make that 42 now*, O'Kak soldiers still alive on the ship. Looks like one group has some people pinned down. Well... (he activates the transporter and Snooty Butler Man, Fran, Logan & Quito materialize.

SBM: Well it's about time someone remembered that shuttles have independent systems.

(Fran & Logan are upset because they thought they could perform a spell that would transform O'Kaks into toads.)

Well, this is a speeder, not a shuttle, but yeah...

Can you run the systems on Jackson Tacoman's ship?

SBM: Of course.

Then why don't I beam you & the kids over there and we can use the transporters of both ships to move crewmembers into ambush positions.

SBM: Very good, sir. Although might I suggest using the transporters to move the O'Kaks into the cells of the brig?

That sounds good too. (Snooty Butler Man & the kids are transported to Tacoman & Butrfli's ship)

* See Trainman & Cabooseman's post ;-)

Herein follows translated O'kakian speech

"Claw team. Claw team, respond!"

"Claw team has been destroyed, T'lak."

"Who is this?"

"Shhras of Piercer Team, T'lak. We, Fang Team and Speeding Limb Team have grouped and are preparing another assault on the command center."

"Very good. Continue as soon as possible, that our plans may come to fruition. Keep your teams grouped so that the personal shields may protect you all."

"Yes, T'lak."

As Alex wanders down the corridors, he hears a noise. Getting his weapon ready, he turns the corner, only to come face to face with Delgado.
Sorry, I thought you were someone else...
Seen any other crew member around here?
If this is just one battle, I wonder what the big dance is going to be like...
Come on, let's kick some O'kak behind! But first... could one of the cargo bays be temporally turned into a fighter hanger?
Meanwhile, on the Bridge, things have calmed down a bit.
Butrfli: ...so that means, I can use another spell to get back to Sickbay.
With that, she begins chanting and disappears with a pop of air.
Jackson: Josh, do you still want Adon and me to find Commander Milkshake?

"Bad news boss. The O'Kaks seem to have control of the FLight Deck," Brad Plevyak annoucnes dejectedly. Lopez sighs. "Great. Are any of our people in there alive?" "No sir. All non-O'Kak lifefroms within two decks are either dead or defending the ship elsewhere." "Well, that's good I suppose. Lopez to Commander MIlkshake. The O'Kaks have taken the Flight Deck, but a well placed shot from my tachyon cannon can cause the whole flight area to decompres. In other words, seek permission to fire on the Spidership sir."

"Commander Milkshake and Lt. First should be around here somewhere," Delgado informs Alex. Cargo bay as shuttle hanger, eh? Well, we'd have to give the fighters a way in, but other than that, it shouldn't be too difficult..."

One quick burst of com traffic reaches Lopez's ship, from parts unknown of the Spidermobile.

"Permission granted. Be very very precise, Commander. Hold on, I've just realized the SIF might interfere. Milkshake to bridge, shut down the Structural Int--"

Then is nothing but static.

Lopez takes in a deep breath. "OK boys, hang back. Way back. You'll need lots of clearence to make a manual landing if this works. And for the love of Everything keep your oxygen masks on!" Lopez's Banshee breaks off and swings around as it comes in on a steady course towards the fighter bay door, he activates his targetting computer. "Use the force Grant," he mutters ironically under his breath. He eases the trigger of the linked tin tachyon cannons on his fighter, and closes his eyes as he clicks, hoping the steady beeping that signfies a target lock isn't off, and pulls up to avoid a collision.

Alex to Grant, I think I have an idea... a couple of the cargo bays have exterior doors large enough to allow a bunch of fighers to enter, and the bay would have just enough room...
He rushes over to a nearby console and checks.
Delgado, Grant, Cargo Bay 4 seems to be large enough... hold on.. there's a small group of O'kaks in there... of course, if we open the doors, they'll be blown (not sucked, of course) into space... I think it might just work...

Between the two of them, the Angry Fisherman and Ansh manage to convince the computer to beam red shirts onto two of the invading O'kak parties (Piercer and Fang, to be precise).

Out of nowhere, a 16 ton weight falls onto the members of the Piercer Team, while a hail of strawberries, bananas, and point-ed sticks, not to mention a Bengal Tiger, destroy the Fang Team.

Arrrgh! That be better, eh lassie?

"You did it boss!" one of the Banshee pilots, Grant was too nervous to figure out whom, shouted into the comm systtem. Grant swung about his fighter and brought it next to Plevyaks which was alredy preparing for a manual landing. Grant looked ahead of him and saw that the familiar glow of the flight deck's sheilds and lights were gone. Outside the rear of the Spidership were lots of debris including O'Kak bodies. The shot was a clean one. "OK, Brad and I will aldn first, make sure the Deck is totally clear. We'll also try to restore power to the automated landing computers if we can."

I've had eneugh of this low gravity and lighting, I cant see what I'm doing and every time I step over to anything I end up jumping.

Ansh picks up a spanner and walks over to a consol

I think it's time I tried an old technic which used to work when the old fashoned computers I fixed up wouldn't work. Computor.

The Parrot appears. Ansh grabs it and threatens it with the spanner

Now, if you get gravity back to normal and lighting up a bit while still keeping lots of power in the shields and weapons then I won't hit you with this spanner.

"Squak! Unable to..."

Then I'm very sorry but...

Ansh start beating the parrot about the head. The parrot soon disappears again

Let's see if this works. Computor, retun gravity to normal and raise lights....

She no sooner says the words than they all find themselves stuck to the floor and the lights go up so much that they can't open their eyes

Computor, decress gravity and lower lighting!

Of course, they start floating about in the pitch dark

Meanwhile Jadlad has managed to dimension hop the O'kak he was chasing into space.

=/\=Jadlad to bridge. I got rid of the O'kak on Deck 8. How? Lets just say I asked them to hop along with me outside the ship.=/\=

Just then Jadlad found himself pinned to the floor and keeping his eyes tightly shut to keep out the light.

Aaaahhh!

WHAM!

Ouch.

Then just as suddenly he finds himself floating around in the dark.

Grrrr.

As Lopez and Plevyak approach the docking bay, a few more corpses drift out, and the bay appears clear. But nearly the exact same time they enter the bay, the internal lights are suddenly extinguished.

All Lopez and Plevyak can see for a second is total blackness, then suddenly the bay is lit by the starting engines of nearly every docked fighter and shuttle remaining inside.

The Banshees outside are caught totally by surprise as the stolen fighters erupt from the docking bay and begin savaging the unsuspecting squadron. Lopez and Plevyak abruptly find themselves under fire at point-blank range, within the tight confines of the bay. And several O'kakian-held shuttles jump to warp, all on different headings.

Just kidding!

*Plugs the artificial gravity and the light cords back in*

Why you little maggot, you make me want to vomit! You slimy scumbag, get on your face and give me 25!

I hate this comm system.
On the bridge, Rikard is working on the communications system, currently down. It sparks a few times and he hits it. Nothing happens.
Well, looks like the bridge's comm system is down. Jackson, yeah, I want you to find Commander Milkshake. The ship needs her captain.
The ship shudders.
What was that?

Thompson: Someone fired on the fighter bay. It looks like our own fighters.

Rikard: What? Why would they-

Thompson: The bay has depressurized. It appears that most of the O'kak troops down there were blown out.

Rikard: Good job Lopez.

Thompson: I'm still detecting O'kakian life signs sir.

Rikard: Where?

Thompson: Um, it's hard to pinpoint the exact location. Wait a second, I'm reading weapons fire! They're inside the unlaunched fighters and speeders. Banshee Squadron is under attack. We've already lost two ships.

Rikard: Get Hornet Squad over there now. We need to help the Banshees. And target those escaped ships and fire. Disable them if possible.

Alex hears the commotion about what's going on in space. All this time, Alex has been wearing a helmet with a visor. Flipping down the visor, Alex is able to control the experimental ship, and at the same time, keep up with events in his location. He ducks into a side room and flips the visor down and begins firing on the escaping O'kaks.
No way are they going to escape with our shuttles!
meanwhile, on the bridge, Jackson looks over at Josh and says
I wonder if the main battle is going to be this wild... if it is, we may not survive it...
He opens the turblift doors and looks down the shaft. Far below is the nearest turbolift.
I think I can use my suit's jets to take me down there... I'll be careful.

Jadlad dimension hops onto the bridge.

He looks at the comm system, and sees it's down.

Guess I've been talking to the voices in my head again.

That's right you ninny.

Quiet you!

Turning his attention back to the bridge crew.

Why don't you guys just use the "Emergency Comm System Backup"?

He opens up a panel next to Pseudoscience revealing a cup and string. The string has been cut.

Oh.

Lopez and Plevyak cower behind a fuel pod, the armor of it protecting them from the O'Kak blasts. "Dammit, why didn't our sensors pikc them out!" Plevyak yells, chekcing his blaster's power cell. Lopez fires a shot over his shoulder, not seeing it hit an O'Kak right in the face. "The ones in the shuttles must've saw what was coming. At least there aren't as mnay as there were before you and I landed. I saw one of the Banshees get hit. Hornet sqaud is on the other side of the ship but they'll probably come running. I wish we hand't lost all of Red Squad." "Yeah,. Delgado'll be PO'ed for sure." "That wasn't what I meant Brad. Those shuttles and speeders are getting away and we don't have enough fighters to track them all." Plevyak sighs and briefly rises form his hiding place to fire of three quick shots, all of which miss, but the O'Kaks shooting duck to avoid being hit giving Plevyak time to duck back down without being hit. "I think it was Bosco who got hit," Lopez says. He was right behind you when we went in to land. I hope he bailed out."

Rocket Ranger walks onto the bridge. He has changed into his normal armor.

Okay, what's the current status of this situation? Anyone know how many of those scaly s.o.b.'s are still onboard the spidership?

They're in the middle of a battle and Rocket Ranger finds the time to change his costume?

He's a diva.

Uh, you DO remember that he changes armor by using his wristbands, not by physically changing clothes, don't you?

Hmmmm.....perhaps another viewing of Manos, the Hands of Fate is in order!

Lights and gravity in Engineering continue to fluxuate wildly, and then shut down altogether leaving everyone in the room in total darkness and free floating.

This is really getting annoying. How do you people beat enemies anyway? And can someone please grant me a temporary authorization to access the computer?

Ansh permits computer access until lights and gravity are restored. Gene thanks her and then no sound is heard for several minutes.

Then the lights and gravity both return to normal. Gene finished putting his coat back on and then begins coiling a short cable and then places it in his coat pocket.

Much better. Ansh, can we get sensor feeds to the consoles in here? We need to find out what's happening.

The bridge collision alarms sound, adding to the frenetic mix of alarms currently playing on the bridge. On the viewscreen, until now playing live sensor feed of the firefight just aft of the ship, the two gargantuan Navy dreadnoughts drop out of warp, considerably the worse for wear. The Atlantis displays the classic signs of battle damage, while whole sectors of the Eurasia are clearly missing, with unquenched fires on several decks.

"Atlantis to Spidermobile, Atlantis to Spidermobile, respond."

Atlantis, this is the Spidermobile. What happened to you ships? Did you finally reach our destination?

A fuzzy image of the bridge of the Atlantis appears on the viewscreen. The bridge does not appear damaged, but a stone-faced Captain Jansen testifies to what her ship has gone through.

"Commander Rikard, it is good to see your vessel has survived. You appear to have intercepted one of the forward scout squadrons that Taconator has sent ahead of his full fleet movement. We and the Eurasia intercepted his fleet not 20 light-years from his staging area. The resulting battle was...difficult, but we've managed to destroy nearly half his forces at great cost to our standing personnel. I am ordering the Eurasia to withdraw to Earth, along with our dead and critically wounded. We, along with your ship and several of our support craft, will proceed to attack Taconator's staging area, where we will finish his threat.

I would like a full report on your situation since we disengaged. Why are your fighters in combat with each other? Has a mutiny occurred, and where is your Captain?"

I wouldn't say that we engaged them. We investigated the distress signal and found it to be the remains of the GROSS starship Dolphinmobile. After beaming the survivors aboard we set a course to catch up to you. On the way, we were attacked by an O'kakian destroyer. He managed to destroy it but a large group of O'kak troops have beamed onto the ship. Less than 20 are left but a large number hijacked our shuttles and speeders in our Landing Bay and are in a firefight with our fighter squadrons. Captain Milkshake is currently unaccounted for. We believe that he's belowdecks fighting the last of the O'kakian troops.

Jackson, who has by this time descended into the turboshaft, encounters the abandoned turbolifts. Checking various suit sensors, he learns that Milkshake, his children, Quito, and Delgado were in there, not to long ago. He also notices that the doors to deck 3 are open, so that is the first area of his search. He activates his suit communicator, sets it to LICC frequency and says
Jackson to any LICC personnel that can hear me, report! Steve, are you there?

(a redshirt from Deck 3 looks into the turbolift at Tacoman)

Uh, Yeah. I hear you just fine.

(he steps into the turbolift)

So what's the probleeeeeeeeeeee...

(unfortunately he didn't look where he was stepping and fell through the hole in the floor that Delgado cut earlier.)

SPLAT!!!

In another part of space, a familiar ship that hasn't been seen in a while is under attack. Various fighters move in but most are intercepted by either the ship's guns or its own fighter craft. A yellow beam strikes the front of the ship just to the left of the bridge, resulting in a small explosion.

Onboard the ship's bridge, there is substantial damage, and a few crewmembers lie either wounded or dead. The ship's commanding officer sits uneasily in his command chair.

Lt. Holt, activate the main guns.

Yes, Sir.

Brief pause.

Guns ready to fire, sir.

The commanding officer smiles.

Excellent. Ensign Pulver, open a channel to the enemy vessels.

Brief pause.

Channel open, sir. They're refusing to speak, but apparently they are listening.

This is Captain Luther Biggens of the starship Wytch Queen. We are unaware of why you have chosen to attack us, nor do we care why. You have forced us to activate our main guns. Which, I assure you, are more than capable of obliterating you according to our scans. My ship has suffered substantial damage, and my crew major injuries and a few deaths. As a result, your fighters are forfeit. We will destroy them with extreme prejudice for this cowarly attack. However, I am giving you 45 seconds after I finish speaking for your main ship to deactivate its weapons and to begin withdrawl from this area. Failure to comply will result in your annihilation. Captain Biggens, out.}

The ensign cuts the transmission. Lt. Holt turns to face Captain Biggens.

Do you think they'll fall for it, sir?

Captain Biggens looks at her.

I have no idea, Lieutenant. If they don't, then we'll have to send every flight-capable fighter we've got in to try and weaken their shields.

Another officer who had just arrived on the bridge in time to hear Lt. Holt talk after Captain Biggens contacted the enemy speaks.

Fall for what?

Captain Biggens looks at the officer.

A bluff, Lt. Wolfe. It would take 3 shots from the main guns to take that ship out, but we've only got enough left for one blast.

Another crewmember scans the enemy vessel.

Sir, they're buying it. They've just powered down their weapons and appear to be activating their warp drive! But the enemy's fighters also appear to be attempting to return to the enemy ship, as well.

Captain Biggens smiles.

Good. Ensign Pulver, hail our fighters and order them to pursue any fleeing enemy fighters and destroy them. No prisoners.

And down in Engineering, a commotion causes all eyes to look directly to the starboard corridor leading from the Core Room. There is sound of a scuffle, and phaser fire, then silence. But before anyone can respond, the door opens, and...

"The Captain!"

"The Captain!"

"The Captain!"

"Arr!"

Milkshake, his familiar blue armor strangely (and not entirely) replaced by an ancient suit of steel, is helped into the room by three very familiar 'heroes'. Angstrom is bleeding from his shoulder, ShootingStar has a phaser burn marring part of her attractive face, and BetaMax is moving in a stiff fashion. Milkshake looks blearily through his helmet's open visor at the inhabitants of Engineering.

"Ansh, Fisherman, Windward, Ob...Morgan. Glad to see you."

Artsy, informed by an annoyed Quito that the children are safely out of the fighting zone for now, heads towards Main Engineering (since it's closer than the Bridge). Surprisingly, she sees no Okaks along the way... at least live ones. An oddly artistic arrangement of bright red, soft cream-yellow, and straight wooden sticks catches her eye for a few long moments. The smell, however, is not particularly aesthetic, and Artsy quickly bypasses the heap, continuing on her way.

(from behind Milkshake and the GROSS 3 comes Lt. First glancing down the way they came & holding an O'Kakian weapon)

It's clear for now. They don't seem to be following us anymore.

(meanwhile in a side corridor Lt. First, with her big gun, is lying unconscious under some debris & running a fever as Stallonitis is running its course)

Dramatic music: duh duh duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!

Aaaaaaaaaaa! What's that music mean? Aaaaaaaaaaa!

(he then runs smack dab into the camera and knocks himself unconscious)

Using his suit's sensors, Jackson manages to locate Commander Milkshake and the group he's with.
Steve, you're wanted on the bridge. We've been contacted by the Atlantis.
Jackson goes on to give a brief description of the conversation.
Interesting change of suit. Let me guess.. the holosystems of your regular suit, right?
Has anyone seen Alex?
Just at that moment, Alex turns the corner, still piloting his ship through the helmet he wears. He doesn't notice the growing group until he bumps into Jackson.
Sorry about that... Jackson! How are things on the bridge?
Jackson: You mean besides the O'kak intrusion, the fact that we can't communicate with the lower decks, and other small problems? Just fine. Nice weapon, by the way.... Isn't that a Slayanator?
Alex: Yeah, It's a Slayanator. Replicator technology, so you can create and fire just about anything you want. It's also appearently extremely rare...
Jackson: I've seen them in the Cybertec catalog. Only a dozen of them or so are made each year...
Well, it looks like we've got a party going on.

No room! No room!

Yes. This board is up to 147k. Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Curiouser & curiouser.

A grinning set of teeth form, followed by what appears to be a felinoid face.

Don't worry about it, my dear. They're allllll mad here.

The face fades away with the grin fading away last.

Off with their heads!

The Furby arrives in Engineering too, dragging a few screaming former O'kak soldiers behind him at their tails. The unfortunate victims are dressed in baby clothes and wear (already filled) diapers.

What are you staring at? Oh, at those... As you can see I have already successfully brainwashed them. I think we need a big pram now. Mwuahahahaha!

After being briefed about the communication problems he pauses for a few seconds. Then...

Ok, until it is repaired we can use the Tubbies again. Dipsy is already on the way to the Bridge and Poo will stay here in Engineering. Just kneel down and speak into the belly screen.

Still quite far away from the Spidership Taconator's fleet is regrouping after the first battle. Several small figures monitor every move on a large viewscreen in a huge command center.

"Yes, exactly as expected. Well done by this few Earth vessels. They were very lucky that they only encountered this small enemy battle group."

"Right. The Spidership is in trouble too after an O'kak attack."

"Yeah, but they'll handle this alone."

"Then I suggest a test shot before the enemy ships join the main force."

"Of course, but first we'll disguise our weapon as a natural phenomenon. Insert the prepared warning into the Galactic Weather Service under further notices, class 7 subspace flares in the Shannon sector! Before we blow away the whole system let's first try to be subtle."

Alex, tell the bridge I'll be up there as soon as I can.

And holoarmor technology, no, this is the real thing.

Milkshake holds up his left gauntlet, which is mostly steel with patches of the old blue material left.

I ran into an angry squad of scalies while heading for Engineering. I don't doubt I'd be dead by now if our favorite new prisoners hadn't broken out and happened by. Betamax apparently has the incredible ability to render any technology obsolete.

"I had hoped to exclude the Captain from the field effect."

Aye, sir.
Alex, using the comm system from the experimental ship, contacts the Bridge.
Alex to bridge, I'm down here with a small group, including Commander Milkshake, Jackson, the crew from GROSS, and a few others. Commander Milkshake will be up there as soon as he can. He might even bring along a few friends.
Holy... that shuttle just about hit my ship! Attempting to disable it... it's engines and weapons are hit. No other damage. If we survive this, we're going to be in need of major repair.
Jackson: And perhaps a well-earned vacation.
Alex: Is that all you ever think about?

"Lopez to Bridge! Plevyak and I are still pinned down in the flight area. At least 5 O'Kaks, heavily armed. Our fighters can't land, our pilots will be vulnerable to attack if they try. Can we PLEASE, get some help down here?"

It is quiet on the mostly devastated flight deck. With the force field down and the hangar doors blown open it is now part of the endless void called vacuum. But the fighting continues. Outside the the Spidership the Banshee squadron fires at the captures fighters and speeders. Some shuttles have tried to escape but most of them suffered from spontaneous self-destruction. In the hangar Lopez and Plevyak hold their position but the O'kaks are close. Blasts from various weapons flash, sparks fly when something is hit and several beams from the ceiling have come down. It looks bad.

An O'kak soldier prepares for a suicide attack at the defender's position. Holding a large piece of the ship's hull as a shield he runs towards them, deflecting their shots. Only a few meters away he is hit by a perfectly thrown weasel going straight through his head. (The weasel of course wears a space suit.) Strange things happen in space, you know?

"Another one down, five to go. How are you, guys?"

alt-Furby, still dressed as Rambo but covered in blood now, sits next to the two pilots. He holds up a small sign saying "This is not my blood!"

"Some of the Furbycams still work. Two of the O'kaks wait at the door to ambush any reinforcements, two are sitting behind that molten fighter and fire at you while the last one tries to get into our back. Here are a few little surprises for them."

He hands Lopez and Plevyak two grenades painted like Easter eggs.

"Just hit them on the top, wait two seconds (not three!) and throw them. I'll fire at the other O'kaks then."

Just then, Alt-Furby is tragically directly under a 1000-pound metal ingot marked "Heavy Lourde", and is pressed into a Furbyflapjack.

muffled

Hey, that's like during the alt-Furby Wars in my old universe. Waitasecond...

Somehow the ingot goes ballistic and narrowly misses a very surprised O'kak soldier.

Frell, I have been already much better with aiming those things.

"Walking" like a squeezebox he connects to a dead O'kak's air supply and inflates himself again.

Better. Much better. Nice gas.

You been eatin' beans!!!