Chapter 42: This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough

This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough...

The image of the alien captain sneered at the group of humans as he allowed the full weight of his threats to sink in. Though he was trying to put up a brave front, inside Marcus was in torment. The last thing he wanted to do was surrender, but the thought of his home being destroyed along with everyone he knew left him with few options.

A sudden power surge seemed to encompass the whole ship, and the alien captain seemed to be talking to someone else. A moment later, his smug demeanor was replaced with one of anger. "What do you mean the cannon is off line!?"

Bob stepped out from behind his human friends and addressed his former captain. "I'm affraid my fellow engineers have secured power to the main cannon, captain."

Though the humans had a difficult time reading zetian facial expressions, they knew rage when they saw it. "YOU! You and the rest of the worker class would side with these...primatives against your own kind!"

For the first time since they'd met him, Bob showed real anger. "You are NOT my kind! You are a genocidal manic and a murderer! For nearly two-hundred years I have watched countless species driven to extinction by you and the ruling class. You turned our once noble race into blood thursty monsters! So if I and my fellow works have to stand with the people of Earth to stop you, then so be it!"

The captain stared daggers at Bob. "You will die a slow and painfull death traitor!"

Bob stood defiantly. "Then I die free!"

The image of the alien captain faded out, and silence filled the engine room. "You know I never thought I'd say this," Paulson quietly stated, "but I think I'm start'n to like the little green guy."

Bob turned and faced the humans. "Though we have neutralized the threat from the main cannon, the mothership is still on it's way. If we are to retrieve the rest of your people, we have to go now."

Marcus stared down at the alien. "Why are you doing this, Bob? Why help us?"

Bob took a few moments before answering. "My people have dreamed of freedom for centuries, but most lack the courage or will to fight for it. That began to change when we encountered your species."

That took everyone by surprise. "What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"While the Imperium was only interested in your phsyology, we studied the evolution of your culture, and though you are at times a violent and irrational species, you have demonstrated a capacity for courage and determination we have never seen. Your people fight against overwhelming odds; even when defeat is certain. While other species give into despair, yours only fights harder and often to the death. You and your companions actions here on this ship proves this observation. If any species can help us to defeat the Imperium, it is yours Marcus Lincoln."

Listening to the member of an advanced alien race speak so highly of them, filled the humans with a new sense of pride. Adams asked the next obvious question. "You're two-hundred years old?"

"I am actually only one-hundred ninety-seven. My species has a life span of almost four-hundred years, so I am as you humans say, middle aged."

Marcus extended his hand towards Bob, and the alien, having knowledge of the Earth custom, took the human's hand and shook it.

"Alright Bob, let's go kick the Imperium in the balls."

The bridge of the alien ship...

The alien captain was furious as it was becoming abundantly clear that he was only in control of half his ship. "When I get my hands on those traitors I will personally throw them out of the airlock!"

"Captain!" One of his crewman shrieked. "Look...they have entered the main cryo chamber."

The captain looked at the monitor and observed four of the humans, including the one who appeared to be their leader, enter the cryo room. All of the primitives were armed with disintegrator rifles, which only added to the captain's fury. It did not take them long to reach the examination room, and a few of the ship's scientist were in the middle of dissecting some of the primitives. One of the humans, the tall one wearing the primitive combat armor, suddenly became enraged and stormed into the room, cutting down the scientist without mercy.

"We have to stop them before they wake up anymore of their kind!" the captain growled. "We have several abominations in cryostasis, do we not?"

The ship's executive officer visibly tensed. "Yes sir, but..."

"Then release them!"

All of the crewman's heads spun around in shock. The executive officer tried to compose himself. "A...are you sure that's wise, sir? There is no way for us to control them..."

"Once they have ripped the humans apart, we need only contain them inside the cryo chamber and wait for the mothership to arrive. Release them. Now!"

Elliot was on his knees in front of the gore covered examination tables, crying his eyes out. "They...they trusted me. I was...responsible..." the sentence trailed off; drowned out by the soldier's sobs.

Colonel Hardigan placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I'm sorry private. There's nothing more we can do for them, but we can still save the rest of your squad."

It took a few moments, but the army medic managed to compose himself and stood up. They went into the next room and found two more occupied cryo pods. Elliot's jaw dropped, and he quickly ran up to them. "It's Daniels and Beckett!" the others could see the relief on his face. "They're still alive! I gotta get them out of there." He ran over to the controls. "Okay, I just have to remember the sequence Bob showed me, and they should be alright. If I know Daniels and Beckett, they're gonna want some payback."

Everyone stood back as Elliot punched in the sequence and the two cryo pods opened up. It took a few minutes for both soldiers to get their bearings, but soon Elliot and Colonel Hardigan were explaining the situation to them.

"Man this is some crazy shit!" Beckett stated.

Daniels rubbed his forehead. "This has to be a dream...or a nightmare!"

Hardigan shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not, Sergeant. Now I understand you've been through a lot, we all have, but my people are still down here...and I could really use your help. Are you up to it, soldier?"

Daniels and Beckett gave each other a weary look, but then nodded their heads. "Lead the way, sir." Daniels said. "We'll need a weapon."

Marcus and Sarah each handed an alien pistol to the soldiers, and after a quick tutorial, and introductions, the six humans went deeper into the cryo chamber. They went through a series of doors before finally stepping into a giant central chamber...and every one of them stopped and stared in horror. Both sides of the massive room contained endless rows of cryo pods.

"Oh my God!" Sarah gasped; her mouth gapped open.

Marcus slowly raised his PIPBOY. "Moira, how many cryo pods do you think are in here?"

"Based on my scan, there are several thousand pods...and most of them are full."

Marcus stared at the pods with a mixture of sadness and disgust. "We've gotta stop this!"

"When we find my people," Hardigan said, "we will." The Colonel walked over to a control panel in the middle of the room. "Bob told us my people would be under a special designation..."

A series of hissing sounds suddenly began emanating all around them, and they could see several pods being opened.

Hardigan lifted his hand off the controls. "That wasn't me!"

The six humans readied their weapons as they watched the pods. At first all they could see was the fog the pods released, but then they saw movement. Marcus looked down the sights of the disintegrator...and what he saw was the most disturbing thing he had ever seen. No two of the abominations were the same. Some more resembled zetians, but were twice the size, had tan skin, human eyes and five fingers. Others were more human, with greenish scales instead of skin, a zetian eye on its forehead, and another where its right cheek should be. Some had one arm that was engorged and larger than the other, while a few had what looked like tentacles for arms. Some had no teeth at all, while others had oversized fangs.

Elliot's hands started shaking. "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod..."

"Pull yourself together!" Sarah snapped. "Form a circle; cover each other!"

The six humans formed up just as the abominations charged them.

Engineering, a few minutes before...

Paulson had been pacing back and forth since the assault team entered the cryo chamber. "Man this stand'n around shit is driving me crazy!"

Mary was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Well your pacing is driving me crazy."

Paulson grumbled under his breath and continued pacing. Adams was checking her assault rifle for the second time, Somah and Sally had disappeared into a storage room down below, Kago was sitting cross legged on the deck and meditating, and Karen was sitting on a chair watching the Samurai.

Paulson looked down at the warrior. "Must you make that noise while you do that?"

Karen translated the cowboy's remark, and Kago uttered a response.

"What did he say?!" Paulson asked.

Karen smirked. "He said it's quieter than your walking."

Paulson was about to utter an obscenity when Somah and Sally burst into the room carrying a large bag of gear. "Hey, hey everyone! Look what we found!" The merc placed the bag on the table, reached inside and removed a combat shotgun. "Now that's what I'm talk'n about!"

Paulson looked envious. "Where'd you find that?"

"Down in the lower storage room." Sally said. "They got a bunch of stuff down there. Some of its pretty old."

The cowboy nodded. "Well is there anything I can use in there? I don't want to use any of these alien ray guns or whatever the hell they are."

Somah reached inside the pack and pulled out a lever action rifle. "Will this do, cowboy?" She handed the rifle to Paulson...who let out a whistle as he examined the weapon. "A Winchester 73! I used to dream about owning a rifle like this!"

Somah removed a box of .44 caliber rounds for the rifle, and a Colt .45 peacemaker revolver for the cowboy. Sally removed something from the bag and brought it to the Samurai. "Mr. Kago, I think this belongs to you."

Kago opened his eyes...and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. The child was holding his sword in her hands. "My sword!" He took the weapon in both hands and removed it from its sheath. "I thought it was lost forever." The warrior bowed his head. "Thank you, child."

Sally smiled. "You're welcome!"

Paulson snorted. "Man what the hell are you going to do with that?"

Karen stepped forward to defend the Samurai. "To a Samurai his sword is not just his weapon...it is an extension of himself. They believe it contains part of their very soul."

Paulson rolled his eyes. "Well soul or not, I don't think that oversized...tooth pick is gonna be much help against those aliens..."

He was interrupted by Bob running into the room. "You must hurry, your friends are in trouble!" He turned on one of the view screens, and they could see Marcus' team trapped in the middle of the main cryo chamber, blasting away with their weapons as waves of abominations charged them from all sides.

Bob turned to the humans. "They will be overrun if they do not receive aid."

Paulson locked and loaded the Winchester, and pointed to Adams. "Alright missy you come with me."

Adams stared daggers at him. "Ah it's corporal, not missy!"

Paulson sighed. "Fine. You come with me, the rest of you stay here."

Kago stood up. "I will join you."

Karen translated for Paulson, who shrugged his shoulders. "Well it was nice know'n ya. Come on."

Main cryo chamber...

The abomination grabbed Sergeant Daniels by his ankle and pulled him down to the ground. The creature was on him, its fangs descending closer to his throat.

"AAAAAAA, KILL IT! KILL IT..." His screams were cut off as the fangs were plunged into his throat.

Elliot screamed as he peppered the abomination with blue laser fire, turning it to ash. One look at Daniels and the medic knew it was too late.

Marcus had killed at least six of the creatures with his disintegrator but they kept coming straight at them, with no regard for their own lives. One of the abominations got within arm's reach, and knocked the rifle out of Marcus' hands. The Lone Wanderer extended his shock blade from his left arm and drove it into the abomination's chest. As the creature was convulsing from the electric charge, Marcus spotted movement to his right, drew his desert eagle and put four rounds into another charging creature.

Sarah blasted two more charging abominations into the afterlife, when a third swung it's massive arm at her. She ducked just in time, spun around, and came back up with her ripper in her right hand. She pulled the weapon's trigger, drove it into the abomination's lower abdomen and sliced him up to its throat.

Hardigan was beating one of the abominations to death with the butt of his disintegrator, when another tackled him to the ground, knocking the weapon out of his hands. Before the creature could deliver a death blow, Beckett shot it in the back with his alien pistol, turning it to ash. Just as the private turned to his left, another creature struck him across the head with its oversized arm, knocking him across the room and unconscious. The creature moved in on Hardigan, who was still on the ground and out of reach of his rifle.

Gunfire suddenly rang out, and the creature was peppered with .44 caliber rounds from Paulson's Winchester. The cowboy worked the lever-action rifle so fast Hardigan thought for a second he was firing an assault rifle. The creature screamed and staggered back before finally succumbing to the onslaught.

"Eat that you ugly sonsabitches!" Paulson yelled.

Sarah had just cut the head off another abomination when two more were about to jump her, but a full burst from Adam's assault rifle put both of them down. Sarah gave the corporal a quick nod, and the two women stood shoulder to shoulder as they blasted more of the charging creatures.

Marcus fired his last two desert eagle rounds into a charging abomination, killing the creature. Marcus dropped the now empty gun, and slashed another charging creature across the throat with his shock blade. Green blood sprayed across the Wanderer's face and torso.

Paulson was trying to reload his Winchester when an abomination's tentacle wrapped around his right leg and yanked him to the ground. The cowboy screamed as he was being pulled closer to the creature, and he struggled to pull his Colt .45 out of his holster.

Kago seemed to come out of nowhere, and with one swipe of his katana cut the tentacle. Paulson came to an abrupt stop, and the creature screamed in pain. The Samurai pounced on his wounded prey, and sliced the abomination's head clean off. Another of the demons charged the ancient warrior, but he moved like the wind, and the creature had lost both of its limbs before it could register that it was in trouble. Kago drove his katana into the abomination's chest, and it crumpled to the ground.

Paulson was still lying on the ground, watching the entire scene with his mouth gaped open. "Well shook my mouth!"

Kago proceeded to dispatch a third creature when a fourth was about to jump him from behind. The Samurai would have certainly met his end, if not for the blast from Marcus' sawed-off shotgun that blew the abomination's head off.

Kago stared at the Lone Wanderer, and a slight smile appeared on the warrior's face. "Boom stick!"

Marcus chuckled. "Yeah. Boom stick!"

Adams was reloading her assault rifle when a sudden pain shot through her left calf. She's thought the abomination was dead, but it was lying on the ground wounded, and now it's jaws were clamped on her lower leg. Adams let out a blood curtailing scream as the creature's jaws penetrated her armor, then her flesh and muscles. Elliot arrived on the scene and finally put the abomination down with a blast from his rifle.

With the last of the abominations eliminated, everyone took a moment to catch their breaths and checked the injured. Paulson helped a dazed Beckett to stand up, and Marcus ran over to Elliot as he was helping Adams to stay on her feet. "How bad is it?"

Elliot looked down at the wounded leg. "I've got to get her back to engineering to treat this leg, or she'll bleed to death!" He looked over at Beckett, who was bleeding from his head. "We should take a look at that head wound, Beckett."

The private shook his head and groaned. "I'm alright Doc..."

"No! You're not! You're coming back to engineering...doctor's orders!"

Beckett let out a sigh. "Roger that, Doc."

Marcus approached the cowboy. "Paulson, can you make sure they make it back to engineering?"

Paulson responded by spitting on the deck, and locking and loading his Winchester. "Fine. Let's go, people."

Once Paulson had left with his charges, the rest of the group continued the task of trying to find Colonel Hardigan's people. After accessing the main control console, and after looking for the special designation Bob had told them about, it didn't take them long to find all twelve of the lost astronaughts from the Martian colony. The group was made up of eight men and four women, representing the six space-faring countries from the twenty-first century. Based on the patches displayed on their space suits, Marcus counted four Americans, three British, two French, one Japanese, one Israeli and one Palestinian. The Colonel egarly actived the controls, releasing all of them from their frozen prisons. Once the effects of the cryo stasis had worn off, Hardigan went through the painstaking task of telling his people everything that had happened, and what they had to do to save what was left of their planet. Once they had come to grips with their situation, Hardigan began introducing them to Marcus and his companions. The first was an African-American female and two male officers.

"Marcus. Everyone. This is Lietenant Alice Johnson, Commander Mark Ortiz, and Captain Anthony Mosconi. All of them were part of my squadron during the war."

The group greeted the three American pilots, and Hardigan introduced the final member of the America group. "This is Dr. Philip Weinstein; one of NASA's foremost experts on Mars."

The balding dr. with glasses meekly shrugged. "I'm afraid that's not going to be much use to us in this situation."

Hardigan made his way over to the three British members of the team. "This is my second in command, Major Ryan Lewis."

The Major managed to give them a curt nod. "It's a pleasure...even though I wish it was under better circumstances."

Hardigan next introduced a blonde female to the group. "This is Dr. Victoria Taylor. Her field of expertise was the discovery of alien life."

"This is just so unbelievable!" Victoria said with baited breath. "To actually have been abducted by an advanced alien species! Tell me, have you had any interactions with them at all since you escaped?"

"Oh bolocks!" It was the third member of the British team. A rather tall man with brown hair and a Scottish broke. "We're trying to figure out how to kick their green arses, and all you wanna do is sit down and have tea with'em!"

Hardigan chuckled. "And that crusty Scotsman over there is Lietenant Steven McGregor of his majesty's Air Force."

McGregor responded by folding his arms and grunting. Hardigan next introduced the French members. "This is Captain Marie Blanc of the Fench Air Force. She saw action during the North African campain of 2062."

The Captain moved a strand of her raven hair away from her face, and she extended her hand to Marcus. "Thank you for rescuing us."

Marcus accepted her hand and nodded. As Marie shook hands with Sarah, Hardigan introduced the second member of the team. "This is Dr. Alex Chevalier, our leading engineer."

Marcus shook hands with the doctor. "I'm sure you're eager to see the ship's engineering core, doctor."

Alex's eyes seemed to light up. "That is where I would like to start Mr. Lincoln. Tell me...you said the alien engineers are assisting us in escaping?"

"That's right. If it wasn't for them we never would have made it this far."

Alex seemed puzzled. "But...how can you communicate with them?"

Marcus took a deep breath. "We'll get to that once we're back in engineering."

Next Hardigan introduced the lone Japanese member of the team. "This is Captain Akira Nakamura of the Japanese self-defense force."

The Captain presented a curt bow...and was then fixated on the Samuria warrior standing before him. Akira began nervously speaking in his native language. "Are you...Samuria?"

Kago nodded. "I served under Lord Toranaga of the Nankaido province." The Samuria looked the Captian over. "If you are a warrior, where is your sword?"

"I...I do not have a sword."

Kago seemed to regard him with disgust. "A japanese warrior without a sword is nothing!"

Akira seemed to want to respond, but hung his head instead. Even after hundreds of years the Samuria were reveared in Japanese society, and to have an actual member of the sacred order call you nothing was a blow to Akira's morale.

Hardigan cleared his throat, and proceded to introduce the last two members of his team. "And finally this is Lietenant Rebekah Levy, Israeli Air Force, and Commander Salem Naser of the Palestinian Air Defense Wing."

Marcus shook hands with both fighter pilots, and he immediatly noticed how close they were standing next to each other, as well as the wedding bands on their hands. "You two are...married?"

Rebekah and Salem looked at each other and grinned. "Yes we are." Salem answered.

Marcus had to keep his mouth from hanging open. "I'm sorry it's just that...I remember from history class that your two countries hated each other."

Both pilots let out a sigh, and Salem placed his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Yes. Our people fought each other for decades. Even after the peace accords of 2054 there was still...tension between our countries."

Rebekah placed her hand on Salem's chest and smiled. "But Salem and I didn't care about such things. We fell in love. That was one of the reasons why we were chosen for the Mars mission. Our governments believed it would be an example that even with our history, our people could corroperate - start over on a new world." Rebekah had to swallow the lump forming in her throat. "But it was too late."

All of the humans returned to engineering, where Elliot had set up a small infirmery in the room they were held up in. Adams was lying on the deck with her leg heavily bandaged, and Elliot was tending to her. Marcus made his way over to the medic. "So how's our patient, Doc?"

Elliot glanced over his shoulder. "Well we managed to stop the bleeding though...I can't take much of the credit. I didn't have any stimpaks so Bob gave me what he calls biogel that his people use for healing. Normally I wouldn't use something like that because of potential side effects but...we had no choice."

Marcus looked back down at Adams. She was awake, but her puplis seemed...dialated. "Were there any side effects?"

Elliot cringed. "Yeah...one."

Adams suddenly started staring at her hands. "Woooowww, I had no idea I had soooo many fingers!" She then began waving her arms. "I can flyyyyy like a bird!"

As Elliot tried to keep the Corporal from moving, Bob appeared from behind them. "It appears the biogel has made her intoxicated."

Somah snorted. "Oh yeah...she's higher then a Raider on jet!"

As Elliot continued to hold Adams down, the woman stopped moving and instead tried to remove the breast plate of her armor. "Hey Sergeant...I'll do anything for that promotion!"

Having had enough, Elliot looked over at Mary and gave her a nod. She injected Adams with a shot of Med-X, and the Corporal soon fell into a deep sleep. The medic stood up. "Thank you, Mary." He turned to Marcus. "Mary here's been a great help."

Mary blushed. "I did two years of nursing school before..." She let the sentence trail off. "I think we might be able to adapt the biogel so that it will work on humans without making us loopy."

Elliot nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Maybe...we can work on it together?"

Mary's cheeks became flushed again. "Yeah...of course."

"Okay," Marcus said, "you two work on that. We may need that adapted biogel when we launch our assualt on the bridge." Marcus made his way over to Private Beckett, who's head was bandaged. "How are you feeling, Beckett?"

The Private groaned. "Doc says I got a mild concussion...but I can still fight."

Marcus nodded and made his way over to Sarah, Hardigan and Bob. "Are your people ready to take the hanger, Colonel?"

Sarah looked over at Bob. "Actually, Bob here has an idea about that."

Bob stepped forward. "After discussing it with my fellow engineers, we have determined that venting the hanger into space is the fastest way to clear it of all hostiles."

Everyone who was within ear shot stood in utter shock of what the alien had proposed. "You'd do that to your own people?" Lietenant Johnson asked.

"While it is regretable, it is the only way to ensure the hanger is cleared of hostiles without suffering any casualties of our own."

McGregor nodded. "I agree; let's space the bastards!"

Everyone looked to Marcus. "Okay Bob, do what you have to do. Colonel, as soon as the hanger is cleared you and your pilots get down there and start learning how to fly those ships. The rest of us are going to get ready to storm the bridge."

Dr. Chevalier stepped forward. "I will help you to over-ride the alien transporter."

Marcus thanked the doctor and turned to Sarah. "Moira and I are going to try and upgrade our suits to fit those alien shields."

Karen raised her hand. "I can help you with that, Marcus."

Somah removed a tube filled with a strange apoxy. "While you're all doing that I'm going to be doing some maintence on our weapons. This alien apoxy is pretty amazing stuff. When it dries it's as hard as steel."

"I'll keep looking around for more guns and ammo!" Sally chimed in.

"Hold on there, little missy!" Paulson said. "You're not going anywhere alone." The cowboy picked up his Winchester. "Lead the way."

90 minutes later...

Never in his wildest dreams did Dr. Chevalier ever think he would be doing a space walk on an alien vessel. As he completed the final sequence to manually override the bridge's transporter, he vowed that if he survived this, he would come out here and actually enjoy the experiance. "Okay...that's the last one. I'm heading back to the airlock."

Marcus locked and loaded his desintagrator. "Good work, doctor. Once you're inside, head back to engineering with Karen."

With all preperations made, Marcus and his diverse group of humans and alien rebels were as ready as they could be. Both he and Sarah's power armor were upgraded with the alien shields, so they would be the first ones to storm the bridge. Backing them up would be Elliot, Beckett, Paulson, Adams (whose leg had healed in record time thanks to the biogel), Somah and Kago. Karen and Dr. Chevalier would be in engineering assisting the aliens. Hardigan and the nine other human fighter pilots had familiarized themselves with the alien ships, and were sitting in the fighters ready to launch. Doctor's Taylor and Weinstein were in the hanger, assisting the rest of the rebel aliens with flight control. Once the bridge was secure, Bob would arrive and take down the main computer's defenses, which would allow Moira to take control of the entire ship.

Marcus took a deep breath and turned to Sarah. "So...you ready to save the world?"

Sarah snorted. "Again?"

A nervous chuckle escaped from the Lone Wanderer. "Do you think anybody's going to believe this story when we get back?"

Sarah grinned. "They will when we show up with all of this tech."

Marcus' grin suddenly vanished from his face, and he stared down at the deck. "Yeah." he whispered.

Sarah tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

Marcus' eyes met hers, and he quickly changed the subject. "Nothing. Is everybody ready?" He asked the rest of the group.

They responded with a chorus of nods and yes'. Marcus glanced at Sarah one more time before stepping onto the tele porter.

The alien captain and his bridge crew scrambled to take whatever cover they could find. Thanks to the traitors in the worker class, the primatives had over ridden the teleporter, and now even the electronic locks to the bridge doors were offline. The captain readied his alien blaster, and took cover behind the main console. He was not going to loose this ship to these hairless apes! In a few minutes the mothership would be arriving. He just had to holdout until...

The doors to the bridge slide open, and the two primatives clad in grey armor stormed inside, blasting away with disentragtor rifles. The captain watched in horror as three of his men were reduced to ash in the first two seconds. He raised his alien blaster and opened fire, scoring a direct hit on one of the primatives. He expected the attacker to be reduced to ashes, but instead his shot harmlessly bounced off. Fear now gripped the captain as he realized the humans had managed to use his people's own shielding technology against them.

More of the humans stormed inside, firing a mixture of zetian and primative weapons. (The captain even spotted one with a sword, cutting a path through his crewmembers). The close-quarteres fire fight was intense, and though the aliens were dug in, the humans were surprisingly well organized, and soon the alien captain was the last one standing.

"It's over, captain!" He heard one of the female's yell. "Surrender and we'll let you live!"

The captain stood up and opened fire. "NEVER!"

The shock blade entered the captain's back and came out his chest. For a moment he stood there dumbfounded as green fluid poured onto the deck at his feet. The cloaked figure standing behind him removed the blade, and the captain's body crumbled to the ground.

Silence now filled the once choatic bridge, and it was littered with the bodies of dead aliens and piles of ash. Paulson walked over to the dead alien captain and spit on his corps. "Now who's the higher species you sonofabitch!"

Marcus uncloaked and spoke into his ear piece. "Everyone, we've taken the bridge! Bob, we need you up here."

About a minute later Bob appeared on the bridge, along with Mary and Sally. Mary noticed that Kago had recieved a laser burn to his left shoulder, and she quickly began treating the Samuria's wound. Bob made his way over the main computer and began typing. "There, the computer is ready to recieve your AI, Mr. Lincoln. Please sit down in the captain's chair, and plug your devise into the panel."

Marcus did as he was instructed. As they waited for Moira to interface with the massive system, an alarm suddenly went off. Everyone looked out the bridge's main observation window...and what they saw sent a chill up their spines. A massive alien ship, that was a least twice the size of their own, flew over the top of them and took up position directly in front.

"Whoa!" Somah yelled. "Now where did that come from?"

"It is the mothership." Bob said. "They know that we have taken the ship, and are preparing to engage us." He turned to Marcus. "Mr. Lincoln, until your AI completes it's interface, we must use manuel control to defend ourselves."

Marcus' throat went dry as he felt the full weight of the situation now in front of him. It was one thing to lead this group of people in fighting their alien captors, but now they regarded him as the captain of this ship...a ship he knew close to nothing about. "Okay...um...Bob, have your people power up the death ray and show Sarah how to operate it."

Sarah rushed over to the fire control station, and once Bob notified engineering, he quickly showed the Sentinel the manuel controls.

Marcus was doing his best to control his breathing as he wondered what to do next. "Okay ah...shields! We need to make sure our shields are up, right?"

Bob made his way over to the shield control console. "Correct. They can be manuel directed from this station. I recommend putting them at full front."

Sally ran over to the alien. "Ow, I can operate it!"

Before anyone could protest, Bob was showing Sally the controls. Another alarm sounded, startling everyone. "The mothership is locked on us and is preparing to fire." Bob said.

Everyone watched in horror as a giant green beam of energy shot out of the mothership's main cannon and headed straight towards them. Sally had managed to get the shields up just as it hit, and the impact shook the entire ship.

"Whoa!" Sally yelled. "Our sheilds are down to 87%!"

Marcus turned to Sarah. "Sarah, let'em have it!"

Sarah fired the main cannon, and scored a direct hit on the mothership. "They're shields are down to 94%! Main cannon is charging!"

Marcus spoke into his ear piece. "Colonel, time to show these bastards the ace up our sleeve!"

Colonel Hardigan grinned. "With pleasure. Okay everyone, let's show'em what we got!"

The ten fighters flew out of the ship's hanger and converged on the mothership. They stayed in a perfect diamond shaped formation as they approached. As soon as they were in range, Hardigan gave the order. "Launch missles!"

All ten fighters each fired one of the eight missles they were carring, and the human pilots watched as they streaked towards their target. One by one the missles struck, and the humans watching on the bridge let out a cheer.

"That brought their shields down to 82%!" Sarah shouted.

Hardigan and the rest of the fighters began swarming the alien mothership like angry wasps; strafing the hull with laser fire or pummeling them with missles. But just when they began to think it was too easy, several smaller laser turrets suddenly appeared on the ship's hull, and began spitting laser fire at the fighters.

"They've got anti-aircraft guns!" Marie shouted.

"Bloody hell!" McGregor grumbled.

"Evasive manuvers now!" Hardigan ordered. "Don't let them get a beed on you!"

A moment later, the mothership's main cannon had recharged and fired, and the impact nearly knocked everyone off thier feet. "Shields are down to 69%!" Sally stated.

Without having to be ordered, Sarah gritted her teeth and fired their main cannon, scoring another hit. "Their shields are down to 74%!"

Outside in the vacuum of space, Lietenant Johnson had finished her second strafing run when she spotted her worst nightmare. "We've got boggies coming out of this big bastard! Looks like at least two dozen of'em!"

Hardigan let out a curse, and soon the human pilots were engaged in the most intense dogfight of their lives. Lietenant McGregor managed to get behind one of the alien fighters and took it out with a missle shot. "Paybacks a bitch, ain't it!"

Captain Mosconi managed to take down an alien fighter with laser fire...but then he realized his wingman was in trouble. "Ortiz you've got two fighters dive'n on ya, roll out of there!"

Ortiz spotted the two fightes just as they peppered him with laser fire. His space craft disentagrated in a fireball, and Mosconi let out a scream. "ORTIZZZZ! YOU MOTHER..." He quickly manuvered his fighter behind the two enemies who had just killed his friend, and yelled every obscenty he knew as he blew them both to pieces.

Major Lewis managed to take down a fighter that had been chasing Captain Akira, when he spotted Commander Naser's fighter in trouble. "Salem, you've got two boggys on your six!"

Salem was sweating and breathing heavily as he tried desperatly to shake the two attackers, who were spitting a relentless barrage of laser fire at him. "I can't shake'm!" He yelled into his mike as he felt his space craft jolt from a glancing blow on his right wing. 'This is it,' he thought. 'This is how I'm going to die!'

One of the attackers was suddenly consumed by a fireball, and Salem heard the most beautiful voice in the galaxy on his radio. "Salem! Roll right, now!"

Salem did as he was told and banked right. As predicted, the alien craft turned to follow him...and passed right into the sights of a waiting Lietanant Levy. She pulled the trigger on her stick and peppered the enemy fighter with laser fire, blowing it to pieces.

With the enemy fighters keeping Hardigan's squadron busy, the mothership could now focus all of it's attention on the human-controled ship. Another blast from it's main cannon knocked their shields down to 51%. Karen made a frantic call up the bridge. "The engine core can't take much more of this! Whatever you're gonna do, you'd better do it fast!"

Marcus practically smashed his fist into the main computer. "MOIRA!"

The avatar suddenly appeared on every computer screen on the bridge. "Relax, I'm here!"

Marcus let out the breath he was holding. "Are you in control of the ship?"

Moira smiled. "You bet!"

Another blast hit the ship, and this time sparks flew out of several of the bridge's consoles. "Take over fire control and re-route as much power as you can to the shields. And find me a weakness on that damn mothership!"

"I'm on it." Moira fired the ship's main cannon, knocking the mothership's sheilds down to 62%, but even though she had managed to re-route all non-esential power to their shields, they were still down to 44%.

'That's still not enough', Marcus thought. "Moira, give me something!"

"Hold on, I'm going throught the files now. Okay it's the Overlord class of motherships and um...oh wow they actually have a shopping mall on that thing..."

Another blast from the mothership knocked several of their companions off thier feet, and Marcus held onto the captain's chair for dear life. "MOIRA..."

"Okay, okay! I've found it!" The image on the screen changed to a layout of the mothership, and a small area underneath of it was highlighted in red. "This is the exhaust to the main engine core. It's the weakest part of the shield, and a direct hit will destroy the engine and take down the shields."

Marcus let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me: the target area is only two meters wide, right?"

"Of course not, silly. It's actually only one and a half."

Another blast shook the ship, and Marcus spoke into his ear piece. "Colonel, did you get all of that?"

"I heard it...and it sounds like we're all out of options. Akira you're with me, the rest of you keep those bastards off our ass!"

Colonel Hardigan and Akira broke off from the rest of the squadron, and swooped down beneath the massive alien mothership. They were both met with anti-aircraft fire, and Hardigan struggled to keep the small target in sight. "I'm in range!"

Just as the Colonel was about to fire, Akira's fighter was hit by laser fire, and jolted violently. He struggled to maintain control, and nearly collided with Hardigan's fighter. Akira broke away; his fighter was damaged but still able to fly. Hardigan maintained his course and fired his last missle, then quickly broke off. The missle struck the ship's hull, but it failed to breach the engine shaft.

"Damn it!" Hardigan cursed. "I'm out of missles! Lewis, you'll have to make the run!"

"Roger that, sir!"

The mothership fired again, striking the human's ship. Several conductors in the engineroom blew out, and two of the rebel alien engineers were killed by shrapnel. Moira then made a grim announcement. "Our shields are down to 19%. One more hit and they will penetrate the hull."

Akira heard the AI's announcement...and knew what he had to do. There was not enough time for Major Lewis to get into position and make that impossible shot. Without saying a word, the Captain banked his wounded craft towards the mothership, and gunned the throttle.

Hardigan saw Akira's fighter heading towards the target. "Akira what he hell are you doing? Get out of there!"

Akira did not respond. He remained focused on the small target as if it was the only thing in the entire galaxy. He pulled back on the stick with all his might, praying that his wounded fighter had enough power left to do what had to be done. He let out a defiant scream as his space craft slammed into the engine shaft.

The entire mothership seemed to shutter as Akira's fighter disentagrated in a fire ball. Moira could not contain the excitment on her face. "Their shields are down!"

Marcus' jaw hardened. "Hit'em with everything we've got!"

Moira obeyed, and a green laser blast slammed into the mothership, only this time, it penetrated the front of the hull and appeared to come out of the other end.

"Again!" Marcus shouted.

Once the cannon was recharged, Moira fired again, and the mothership's own deathray was blown to pieces. Hardigan screamed for the remainder of his squadron to get clear, and Moira fired a third blast.

It seemed as though the entire galaxy had lite up, and everyone on the bridge had to sheild their eyes from the blinding white light. When they were finally able to, the humans looked out the observation window and watched as the massive mothership broke up.

Elliot jumped for joy. "YOU GOT'EM SIR, YOU GOT'EM!"

Pandamonium erupted all over the ship as human and rebel alien alike began to cheer.

Twenty-four hours later...

The day after stopping the zetian threat, the group of humans decided to go their seperate ways. Somah and Paulson decided to go back to Earth and head out west to start over. Hardigan and his people chose to stay and use the captured ship as a staging area to re-establish the Maritian coloney. Elliot, Mary, Sally and Kago decided to remain as well, saying that there was nothing left on Earth for them to go back to.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Elliot?" Marcus asked.

The army medic shook his head. "I'm sure. Like I said, there's nothing for me there now. Besides, somebody's going to have to stay up here and make sure these guys don't try to come back."

Marcus could not help but agree. "Well in that case I'm leaving you in charge of this ship."

Elliot's jaw dropped open. "Me? Well...why me? Why not Colonel Hardigan?"

"Because Hardigan and the rest of the colonist will be spending most of their time on Mars. I need somebody I can trust who will be here all the time."

Elliot rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't...I don't know..."

A bubbly Sally ran up to him. "It's okay! Me, Mary and Bob will be here to help you."

Elliot looked at Mary, and a slight grin appeared on his face. Mary also grinned as her cheeks began turning red. Elliot turned back to Marcus. "Well when you put it that way...alright, I'll do it."

Marcus shook his hand, and then gave both Mary and Sally a hug. Kago slowly approached the Lone Wanderer and bowed. "Lincoln-san. Akira...he died a noble death. A death worthy of a Samuria."

Marcus responded with a sad nod. "He would be honored to hear you say that."

Karen translated for him, and the ancient warrior suddenly got down on his knees. "Lincoln-san...I am a warrior with no Lord, no Shogun to serve. I will stay here until I discover what my purpose in this world is. But until that time, know that I pledge my loyalty to you. If ever you should call upon me, my sword will be yours. Your enemies shall be my enemies. And if you require me life, you only have to ask."

Marcus was so overwhelmed he wasn't sure what to say. All he managed was to place his hand on the warrior's shoulder and thank him.

Marcus stood at the observation window, looking down at the planet he called home. Foot steps to his right caught his attention, and when he raised his head his eyes fell on Sarah, his love, caring enough alien weapons to start a galatic war. "We're ready when you are."

Marcus didn't say anything. He just continued to stare out of the observation window. Sarah took a few more steps towards him. "What's wrong?"

Marcus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Sarah...I know what I said when we first found that alien ship but..." he turned and faced her. "...but I don't think we should tell anyone about this."

If it had been physically possible, Sarah's eyes would have burst from their sockets. "W...what are you talking about?"

"I'm saying I don't think anyone is ready for this kind of knowledge, or these kinds of weapons."

Sarah could not believe what she was hearing. "Are you insane! This is the tech find of a century, you said so yourself!"

Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know, I know..."

"So why are you changing your mind?"

Marcus tilted his head towards the observation window. "Look at that. Marcella once told me that evil and corrupt men destroyed the world. But I don't think they were evil...I think they were just scared. They weren't ready for the power that they had created. Do you honestly think that we're anymore prepared to handle technology like this?"

Sarah's jaw hardened. She was determined to hold her ground. "That is why we are keeping it within the Brotherhood. No one else will ever know."

Marcus shook his head. "Do you really think that will be enough, Sarah? The Brotherhood has been trying to keep technology out of the wrong hands for two centuries...but it sure as hell couldn't stop the Enclave from getting their hands on it. And who knows who else is out there. Can you imagine if this got into the wrong hands? And all it will take is one Brotherhood recruit getting drunk in a bar, and soon everyone would know about this ship and the aliens on board. Can you imagine the panic? It's not worth the risk, Sarah. You know I'm right."

For the first time during the argument, Sarah seemed to falter. She turned and stared out the observation window. "You're asking me to go against everything I stand for. You're asking me to lie to my father!"

"We'll bring back the personnel shields, adapted biogel and the repair epoxy. We'll tell your father they were secret Vault-Tec prototypes. That will satisfy him and still give the Brotherhood an edge over it's enemies. But the weapons...knowledge of this ship...I think we should keep that to ourselves."

Sarah continued to look out the window, her fist clenched as she struggled with the choice Marcus was asking her to make. To not tell her father about this would be a betral to him and the Brotherhood. But at the same time...she knew Marcus was right. No one, not even the Brotherhood, was ready for tech like this. The safest way to ensure it would never fall into the wrong hands, which was the Brotherhood's mission, was to keep it a secret. Reluctanly, Sarah sighed and nodded her head. "You know...my life was so much simplier before I met you."

Marcus grinned and slowly approached her. "True but...it wasn't as exciting, was it?"

Sarah turned, and as mad as she was, she couldn't help but grin. "No...I guess it wasn't. Alright. I'm not happy about it but...we'll keep it a secret."

The two lovers sealed the agreement with a kiss.

Marcus, Sarah, Adams, Beckett and Karen were teleported back to the Capital at the exact spot where Marcus and Sarah had been abducted.

Adams took a look around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Man, I never thought I'd be happy to see this place."

Marcus began looking around. "Where is..."

He was cut off by a familiar bark, and soon he was practically tackled to the ground by a very happy Austrialian Cattle Dog. "Dogmeat! How you doing, boy? You okay?"

Dogmeat barked and licked his cheek. Karen gave Sarah a puzzled look. "Dogmeat?"

Sarah just shook his head. "Don't even bother."

The five companions headed out towards Megaton, where Adams and Beckett would be able to catch a trade caravan back to Rivet City. Both of them and Karen had agreed to keep the entire ordeal a secret.

"So what are your plans once we get to Megaton?" Marcus asked Karen.

The Vaultee shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure as hell not going back to that Vault, even if Gomez is running it."

Moira suddenly appeared on the PIPBOY's screen. "You know, my store Crater Side Supply has been closed since...well...since I died. And well...all it needs is a tech savy person to run it."

Karen's eyes lite up. "Are you...are you saying that you want me to run your store?"

"No...I'm going to give it to you. I really don't need it anymore, and the people of Megaton really need it back up and running again."

Karen was at a loss for words. "I...thank you. Thank you so much!"

Marcus smiled as he handed the store's key to Karen, and she responded by giving him a hug.

All in all, not a bad ending to crazy week.