Fiction:Captain of Space and War/One page

Even harder than expected
The USS Luna was travelling at warp 5 according to scheduele. They could trap the Lizardian destroyer and subdue it... Or so they hoped. Everything seemed normal, and on the bridge only the com officer and pilot were present, with a pair of soldiers guarding the captain's ready room. Captain Rambam was in there at that moment, revising the plan of attack: The risky strategy had to be executed perfectly if the USS Luna had even a slight chance against a destroyer in open combat.

Suddenly his first officer - the tactical officer of the ship named Ramiron - entered the room, "You wanted to see me sir?" said the officer standing firm in front of the captain. Rambam remained in his chair, still looking at the panel. Seeing that he did not respond the officer turned his head toward him and said "Sir?"

Rambam looked at him indifferently, "Yes, sub-commander?" said the captain, he had completely forgotten that he had ordered the tactical officer to report to him just fifteen minutes ago.

"You wanted to see me?" repeated the officer.

"Oh yes sorry, I completely forgot! At ease officer." exclaimed Rambam, suddenly recovering his thoughts. He apologized, explaining that he was studying the strategy and tactics against the Laberynth, "I called for you because I wanted to talk about the battle preparations. Lets see, are the security and boarding parties ready?"

"Yes sir!" said Ramiron.

"Hmmm, is all our weaponry ready and optimized, because I don't want to find a stuck torpedo in our tubes!" he said half-jokingly.

"Everything is in order, trust me" said the first officer.

Rambam kept quiet for a short while, then his expression changed, "This is an exploration ship, and we are sent to deal with a much stronger vessel... No fleet, just a platoon commanded by a Judge Magister. What do they expect from us?!"

The tactical officer took a seat next to him, "They trust their captain, they know you are a legend across sector 82, people admire you..." he said earnestly. "...Sir." He added hastily.

Rambam relaxed a lot with these words, and the tactical officer could see he was visibly moved. Rambam looked towards him, but seemed to be staring right through him, absorbed in his introspection. He raised his hand in dismissal and managed to form the words "Thank you sub-commander." After dismissing his tactical officer he regained his composure and continued to scrutinize the battleplan. But suddenly he stopped, "Wait a minute!" he turned off the screen and stood up, "This is a strategy of a cruiser against a Lizardian destroyer!" He exclaimed angrily.

On the bridge Kerika, the COM officer had detected something, and the pilot as well. Sensors and audio seemed to have found the destroyer, the COM officer reported to the captain, and Rambam arrived on the bridge within moments.

"Report!" said Rambam, "Is this our prey?"

"Yes captain, it seems so." said the pilot, and gestured towards a highlighted area on his map. "Sensors show the Labyrinth has made a full engine stop nearby this nebulae"

"Take us there ensign!" yelled Rambam sharply, "Maximum warp, it seems the fight is closer than I thought..."

The USS Luna accelerated, but suddenly the ship trembled... They were being shot!

The captain demanded a visual of the attacker, and to the surprise of everyone it was the Labyrinth. "Raise shields!" yelled the captain, "Continue our course, mark 345, lead us into the nebulae ensign!"

"Aye Captain!" agreed the pilot.

The Rambo ship was suddenly being pursued by the same ship they were ordered to destroy. The Labyrinth continued firing at the Luna, it was easily matching the speed of the Rambo ship.

The USS Luna arrived at the nebulae, the Labyrinth was following, all the while gaining ground on the ship, Rambam then ordered they return fire. The two ships began firing at each other, but the Lizardian destroyer was far superior and the Rambo were being massacred, Rambam then ordered them to enter the nebulae, which was barely granted. The Lizardian ship entered too, but followed another path.

"We were certainly being defeated." said a Rambo ensign, Rambam glared at him, and the Rambo decided to keep his mouth shut instead.

"Full stop." said Rambam, "Tell the officer back on engineering that we need repairs, give him a full report of damages." The ensign acknowledged this, moved swiftly toward the turbolift and ran to the engineering deck.

"Damage report!!"
After the Luna stopped, the Labyrinth made some trips in circles searching for the Rambo ship, and then it left by going to warp. The USS Luna was safe... for now. Still, a mission was needed to be fulfilled if Rambam wanted to return the Capitol with his honor and dignity intact. At that moment everyone on the bridge was making no sound at all, and the red alert light was moving left and right, illuminating half the bridge in an evil cascade of red hue.

Rambam was sitting in his chair thinking, while the crew was still shocked by the power of the star destroyer, "Sub-commander Ramiron, change our current status to yellow alert." said Rambam after a few moments of silence.

"Yes sir. Report damage; tubes 45, 17 and 23 received heavy damage during combat, our phasers are still online and working well, our shields are totally gone, but i'm restarting the regeneration protocols, the hull received a hell of impacts, but nothing that our engineers can't fix."

"What about our long range sensors?" asked the captain to Kerika, he was thinking and making questions. That cruiser was strangely designed, he had never seen such a well distributed combat against a Lizardian heavy star destroyer, those ships were supposed to be heavy and slow, though with considerable armament and shielding, but this one managed to reach the USS Luna in warp.

"Sensors are working well commander." answered the COM officer, a beautiful Pantorilisea that decided to join the Rambo armada, believing that this would certainly help her species reputation. Indeed, her beauty was undeniable, and many Rambo officers fell in love with her barely the moment she boarded the USS Luna 4 years ago.

The tactical officer was a Judge Magister, what could be said about one? He was stronger than other members of the crew, even moreso than the soldiers. Rambam was a skillful combatant when needed, but he would never fight the tactical officer in single combat, the Judge Magister was sent aboard to fight the Lizardians in case of combat, though he would prefer boarding the Labyrinth and not vice-versa.

"Royal Guard Ramiron, Lieutenant Kerika" said Rambam, "May I see you in my ready room?"

The two stood up from their posts and moved to the ready room, Rambam moved toward a communication panel, "Engineer officer, report to my ready room" said Rambam, then moved to the room as well, when he entered the two officers were stood in front of his desk waiting for him.

"Well, I just wanted to remark that we are facing a truly formidable opponent here, he gave us a kick in the back. It was a surprise, no one saw that coming. But we need to be prepared before the next engagement, we will move to the 347 planet in this area, and start repairs, there is small colony there, but we can supply ourselves with spice and other items." said Rambam decisively, pointing to a holographic panel that appeared, "The warp engines are online, and have not suffered any damage at all. We are lucky, but if we are to destroy or capture this enemy vessel, our weaponry won't be sufficient..."

The engineer officer entered the room as Rambam finished explaining the orders, he was a small fat Rambo with a mask on his head, he was dirty and Rambam instantly presumed he was busy when he called him.

"Lieutenant, I was telling my first officer and sub-commander what we are facing here." he repeated all the data he made during combat, "You must understand men that I will not disengage from combat for a quick kick in the ass! You have your orders..."

The three moved towards the door and returned to their posts. The engineer explained the situation to his men, so the workers focused on fortifying the shields, because everybody knew what a Lizardian was capable of.

The USS Luna entered warp once again, in the hopes of intercepting the Labyrinth and destroying it. The crew's morale waned in spite of what they had just witnessed; a massacre by all accounts. Luckily, only four were wounded.

INTEL
The USS Luna moved away from the nebula following the captain's orders, Rambam was a bitter after the last encounter with the Labyrinth, he was decided to be martyr in the next engagement, but first they needed to resupply.

Proceeding at warp 5 the Luna really was hurrying. Finally they arrived at the Rambo post, luckily for the Luna and its crew's morale another ship was stationed there, named the USS 'Kroc' in honor of the Civatron leader. A new ship with a rookie crew thought Rambam. However, the captain was also an old veteran with a special mission like himself. The Kroc was an Akira class, and everyone knew it was a newly designed ship for combat in the devastated times of the Tigris War sector, a Lizardian cruiser has seen the seemingly limitless capabilities of the Akira ships on numerous occasions. Being a lethal combination of the Cianju Warp ray phasers and Rambo shielding and posessing similar armor to that of the Congregation Destructors, this was a suitably powerful ship designed for prolonged and fierce battles.

Rambam and the captain of the Kroc discussed the Labyrinth, indeed the Kroc sensors had detected the Labyrinth's presence momentarily, though it had disappeared soon after. Although the crew were exchanging trivial information with the Kroc crew and the colonists present at the space colony, the two captains shared tactical information. The captain of the Kroc imparted some very helpful information to Rambam regarding the weaknesses of the Labyrinth that their sensors had noticed, this turned out to be extremely beneficial for the USS Luna captain. There was little time left to discuss other matters as the two ships had their own separate missions, the two ships soon departed, heading in different directions, and the colony was left alone.

The Luna entered warp 4 and then accelerated to 5. With repairs completed, the ship was ready to once again face their mortal enemy. Suddenly, only moments after they departed, the sensors detected a ship behind them on an intercept course. When they confirmed the class of ship, to the horror of everyone it was the Labyrinth.

The Captain was called for and quickly informed, "How long do we have before they catch us?" he asked as he looked at the screen showing the Lizardian ship.

"It's matching our speed and advancing steadily, it's catching us captain!" said the helm.

Rambam opened a channel to speak with the engineer officer, "Chief we're gonna have to push those engines a little more!" he then turned to the helm, "Go to maximum warp ensign, we don't want that blasted battlecruiser on our tail in a matter of minutes."

Everyone was asking themselves how in the Hell of the Xhodocto could that Lizardian cruiser have caught them up and suddenly appeared on their tail, This is the second time you've got me... thought Rambam, There won't be a third.

The Luna accelerated and, so it seemed, did the Labyrinth too. Everyone was praying to the Ultimate God to save them in some kind of a miracle, Rambam went to his ready room for the schematics the captain of the USS Kroc gave him and returned to the bridge. He began wondering, scanning the data for any mortal weakness that the Labyrinth had, and then there was one, "Go to impulse" yelled Rambam, the ensign hesitated for a long moment, causing Rambam to restate himself "Do what I say helm!!"

The Luna dropped out of warp, raised shields and prepared for combat, the Labyrinth entered the area soon after. The two ships stood without moving for approximately ten minutes, in which Rambam explained his plan to the helm and the tactical officer, the Judge Magister prepared his Rambo soldiers, then suddenly...

"Sir, he is targeting us!" said the helm.

"Evasive maneuvers ensign, go to full impulse, all energy to forward and right shields, Helm take us into his left flank and put us on his tail!" ordered Rambam

The Luna moved while being fired at by the Labyrinth, the Rambo ship got hit numerous times but its shields were holding. The Rambo maneuvered behind the Lizardian's rear, "All cannons fire at will, target the main engine. We've only got one chance, we've got to damage its warp coil!"

The Luna fired with all she had, hundreds of torpedos and phasers were launched into the Labyrinth's rear, which had little in the way of offensive weaponry, but was still strong. If the Lizardian ship was being hit hard, the Luna was getting hit worse.

Suddenly the warp coil exploded in a cloud of colorful and superheated gasses, thanks to a direct hit from a torpedo. The Labyrinth was disabled... "Attention Judge Magister, prepare boarding pods to capture the ship. This is gonna be a hell of a fight!"

The pods were launched, and penetrated the Lizardian hull, Rambam had also entered one of the pods. They landed in the shuttle bay of the Labyrinth, soldiers clambered out of the pods screaming and yelling, expecting to meet their deaths. But then everybody went silent, as there was no welcome party.

Abordage
"Maybe we got them..." said one of the soldiers, but Rambam could smell something in the dust of the hangar, he felt uneasy at the eerie silence that greeted them. Suddenly a huge door opened, and a troop of Lizardians was there...

"Labyrinth!!" yelled the Lizardian officer, all the troopers began firing. The battle had commenced, the two groups of soldiers charged at each other, clashing in a brutal display of power, Rambam could hear the screams of death and hate fill the air. The Judge Magister was making light work of the Lizardians, as he was killing everybody he found... including the Rambo. The casualties were great on both sides, but the experienced crew of the Luna eventually prevailed. Outside the battle continued, and the two ships were still firing each other, so the battle in the shuttle bay was often interrupted by brief pauses when violent tremors shook the floor as the combatants struggled to maintain their footing and defend themselves.

Finally the Lizardians began to retreat, and the Rambo started to push forward into the depths of the hangar, reaching the engineering bay, then the sick bay, the huge lab, and finally the bridge. Rambam hurried to meet his rival, the captain who had somehow appeared twice at the Luna's tail, he checked the ready room, investigating everything and searching for him, the only thing he found was a Lizardian that tried to shoot him, but ultimately missed. Rambam pointed the tip of his sword at him, "The Captain?" he asked.

"In sick bay..." answered the Lizardian nervously, Rambam left him where he found him and ran into the sick bay.

He found a Lizardian doctor, with a captain uniformed dead, "I did all I could for him." said the doctor dejectedly, Rambam looked at him, the Doctor seemed friendly, but he was still his enemy. Rambam distrusted him, but the doctor continued, "Before he died, he asked me to give you this..." he grabbed a Lizardian shield and handed it to Rambam, meaning that the captain was surrendering his ship. Rambam looked at the object held before him and finally took it from the doctor, gazing intensely at it.

Rambam left the room, a little dissapointed at not being able to exact revenge upon his rival. He returned to the Luna, the Lizardian was completely taken by the Rambo forces. He then called the Judge Magister, also his first officer and tactical officer, to meet him at his ready room.

"Take a seat sub-commander." said Rambam, "so... How was everything for you?"

"It was far too easy sir, the Lizardians are certainly losing their combat ability. " said the Magister wiping some Lizardian blood from his face and drinking some Swedion drink the captain offered him.

Rambam laughed, "Yeah, I mean I only participated in one battle side by side with the famous Civatrons, did you know?" asked Rambam, the Judge shook his head before taking a sip of his drink, "Well lets just say that the Lizardians are just too far behind those splendid warriors. But I had numerous battles in this war against the Lizardians, normally with a fleet. But you are right, it seemed they lost their temper, maybe these Lizardians were not soldiers at all, and only disguised to look like them."

He drank and gave a toast with him to their victory. "Yet this is not my point... What I mean is that you are going to take the Labyrinth's command and take it to Station 82. A captain has the authority to give a ship away if he has another apart from his own..." he laughed, the tactical officer felt like he could not breathe, "Could you do that for me son?"

"Sure sir." said the Judge Magister holding his breath.

"Well then, you are dismissed." said Rambam smiling, the Judge Magister left the ready room a little shocked, but happy, a ship of his own... the only thing that he despised is that it was a Lizardian destroyer.

The two ships separated, the two now under the Rambo Nation flag. Captain Rambam reported to command a minimal of casualties for the Rambo, and was congratulated for his impossible accomplishments.

Surprise
Some hours passed, and Rambam was in his quarters reading about the captain that had Congregation technology on him in order to use his both arms again; captain Ramosky. Suddenly the COM officer entered, the beautiful Pantorilisea sat down and started to talk, they were very close friends.

"Can you believe this?" asked Rambam, "That blasted ship caught us two times!" he paused, "I think that's called pawnage..." said Rambam, the COM officer asked what this meant, and the Rambo captain could only explain to her that he had heard it from a Grox criminal long ago.

"Well" said the woman, "That Captain fights like you then..."

Rambam thought about that, and it was right. He was like that and was tricky when fighting, setting traps for his enemies, he then agreed, "If only I could have known him, that Lizardian gave a hell of a fight."

"Why didn't you?" asked the Pantorilisea surprised.

"He was dead..." replied Rambam.

"Dead? How...?" asked Kerika.

"I don't know." said the captain, "He was dead when I arrived at the sick bay, the medical officer surrendered the vessel instead of him."

"But the Doctor of the ship got killed in battle!" said his friend.

"Of course not!" yelled Rambam, "Then why was he there?"

"Rambam, the doctor died when the warp coil ignited, I saw him, he was the doctor." answered the COM officer calmly.

Rambam stayed paralyzed for a moment, organizing his thoughts. "Damn that Lizardian!" He suddenly thought He was the doctor, how could I be so naive? He moved to the com device at the door's wall, and talked to the helm.

"Rambam to bridge, Helm, take us in direct pursuit of the Labyrinth, maximum warp!" he said.

He returned to his seat, and watched how his friend was looking at him with a surprised expression, "I'm not going to let him win darling." said Rambam, and changed the subject. The USS Luna changed its direction, its warp engines started, and then BAM! There it went, the USS Luna once again to fulfill its mission, with no exceptions.

In search of Honor
Far from the last fight, but close to the borders, an enormous ship entered some security passes. As the Labyrinth moved toward the border shipyard two Rambulan ships appeared from warp. Captain Lizrawn was extremely disturbed, mentally altered, and upset over the past battle results. It was assumed that his powerful ship and his admirable mind for war would lead them to an easy victory, but Lizrawn was reckless, proud and had little confidence in his firepower. This Rambam was a menace to his career and if he did not act quickly he would have perished with most of his crew. Still, he was relieved as well, he managed to take control of the ship again, but his crew had acted without permission and launched them into an old colony just before reaching the neutral zone.

The Ship was in the parking zone, Lizrawn was finishing his report to send to the Lizardian Commander, shame and sweat covered his Lizardian head while he decided to send it or wait until he had thought of a better way to explain the situation. Though he then - filled with some courage that appeared from nowhere - clicked firmly and sent the report. Almost 14 pages of sorrow, apologies and demands of another opportunity. He then calmed a little bit, and lifted his head. The second in command was also there, with the same expression of shame and fear, Lizrawn soon recovered, he stood up and ordered his first officer to arrange the download of the crew into the station.

Moments passed, and Lizrawn was pacing up and down fervently, each time faster than before. Thinking, smiling in the air at the rage of his superior commander, if the Lizardian Commander was not happy, the Emperor would be even less pleased, By all the dogs of war! he thought, what would his commanding officer think?!

Then suddenly, the communicator panel opened, a message was entering his inbox. He turned to the panel, looked at it, "So fast?!"He moved toward it, sat down, got comfortable in his desk chair, and opened his computer data again. There was a message of high priority in it, he pointed to it with his finger... though for a second, he wondered if he truly wanted to read that message, which was probably from Lizardian Commander.

He clicked and the message flicked up. It was brief enough, but radical. Lizrawn felt relieved, and a lot happier after reading it.

Lizrawn

''If you're so sorry, get your honor back and hunt those responsible! Don't come to me with you cowardly apologies. If this happens again, I will remove your Lizardian soul myself, so you'd better start looking for that ship... Or the consequences will be substancially worse!''

Lizardian commander.

An hour later, Lizrawn was with his crew aboard the Labyrinth, now repaired and moved to warp. The eyes of Lizrawn were fuelled with a new fire, with anger, and the will of revenge that pushed him towards his ultimate goal. Nothing would stop that Lizardian battlecruiser again, not Rambam, not the USS Luna, and not the Rambo Nation.

The entire station could hardly avoid the warp engines of the Labyrinth powering up, a powerful flash that left them temporarily blind, and a booming, resonating sound from the power core left their ears ringing. Rambulan ships nearby trembled under the force exerted from the great vessel, on its way to achieve vengeance on the Rambo, the crew began singing in a pure rage for combat, the warriors were hungry for battle, this could certainly mean the future destruction of USS Luna.

Lost Track
Rambam was sitting in his captain's chair looking at the screen and tiny lights that became longer and then eventually disappeared above or below the screen. Still, those stars weren't Rambam's focus, not the controls, not the sounds of the ships, scanning procedures, people talking, nothing could distract him from his fearful thoughts: What happened to his subordinates aboard the Labyrinth? Unfortunately for the Luna, the Labyrinth was too far and reached Imperial space in no time at all. He could smell the worst, all this because of his naive overconfidence and proud selfishness. At least all the Rambo soldiers were there, as Rambam thought that he will no longer need them. But now, if they wanted to board the star destroyer again and rescue its prisoners they needed equpiment and manpower. He thought for a moment about the allies of the Rambo Nation, he could certainly not return to any Rambo station without informing Rambo Command and Empress Ramashe, he needed soldiers... and good ones. Rambam thought of one possibility, he remembered his past experiences with the Civatrons. Unfortunately, they were gone. At that moment the COM officer entered the bridge, she couldn't ignore her friend's pensive expression. The Pantorilisea officer understood that Rambam was emotionally disturbed, he repeated several times his incompetence of protecting his crew by leaving those soldiers - including the Judge Magister - in a future revolt which would make them prisoners. Kerika sat down at her work desk and began short range scans, long range scans, Rambo life signatures, scanning planets, and even wished to hack an Imperial computer to access its data. Unless, you soon have to wake up from a dream. And as she was finishing her work, she noticed that Rambam walked to the turbolift and left the bridge.

"Poor..." whispered Kerika, "...hope he can find something, a way out of this..."

The captain was submerged into his thoughts, thinking, wondering, searching for ideas, and even praying to the Ultimate God for revelation. Still, somewhere, Dinoman82 had other plans for this particular son. He entered his room, accessed the computer data, checked from some news from the battlefield, which did not mention the Labyrinth, but instead the allies that joined Rambo. He did not pay too much attention to that, he scrolled past the data quickly, when suddenly he saw a flash of text that caught his eye, the termination -on he returned to it and investigated, the word said Nigtrion. He studied the name, he did not remember any member of Rambo Nation or Noble Alliance called that, Could be a nickname, but I will never know, unless... he prepared his voice to talk to the Computer:

"Computer, show data of Nigtrion." he said sedately.

"Specify data." said the computer.

"Holographic physiology." replied Rambam, and turned his head to look at some galactic charts, he waited until the computer finished downloading data from the network. As a holographic bar appeared in the center of the room, he had not used the device in a very long time. Many Rambo used it for 'secret' purposes... Though the Pantorilisea people never fascinated him to such a perverse extent, other Rambo however liked to see Pantorilisea posing in holographic devices. Rambam could never do that to his friend.

The Downloading finished, and the voice of the computer was heard again, "Download successful..." Rambam looked at the holographic body, and he was shocked; A purple Civatron was standing there, in his room!!! The computer started physical analysis of the psionic being:

"Nigtrion: Genetic Composition; unknown, previously known as Civatron. A species estimated to be ten times stronger that the mightiest Rambo. Their main race known as Civatrons. Disappeared after an engagement with the evil Xhodocto. Would you like to see more details about this confrontation?

Rambam was paralyzed, he never thought that a Civatron could have joined the Rambo. As he could remember, they were so intently focused on battling the Xhodocto that they could not even see Rambo problems. He thought, and then saw that the computer was waiting for answer, he chose his reply carefully, "Computer, what is their current population?"

"Current population; 6 million in Tigris Sector" answered the computer.

"Suggestions for finding them?" asked Rambam again.

"Nigtrion participation in Rambo wars is poor, though they have allegiance to the Empress, and they win victories easily when Rambo superiors ask. Population in Quadrant 82 is five hundred thousand individuals, all species members are well distributed across the Rambo fleets, it will be hard to find one."

"Can you show me their combat power?" asked the captain, he expected a video recording, and thats what he got, in some way.

The computer gave him a video-book recording of the Rambo studies and observations so far of the Nigtrions. Then Rambam focused and became excited, thinking that they could be the solution to his infantry problems.

He spent about four hours reading and watching the video-book, studying the Nigtrions, and knowing them in a matter that he never imagined. He then ordered the ship to head for the nearest star system colony, and the USS Luna moved from its position over the border of the Neutral zone, to the nearest Rambo outpost, though they were few since the Imperial invasion, and the Tralor as well.

Distress call
Kerika suddenly picked up something on the communications panel, Rambam was still reading the downloaded documents, the Pantorilisea checked the origin of the call, and was surprisingly shocked.

"Bridge to Captain Rambam" said the COM.

"Go ahead?" answered Rambam.

"We've received a transmission from the colony we are heading for, they are engaging the Imperial Alliance." replied.

Rambam's eyes widened in an instant. He moved toward the COM panel, "This is the captain... Red alert, all hands ready to battle stations!" he left his quarters, everybody was running to take up their positions. Tactical, the few soldiers that remained, the doctors, the entire crew leaving their quarters to prepare for the red alert just announced by the Captain.

He arrived at the Bridge, "Report." he said to Kerika.

"Everything is online, weapons full at maximum." said the tactical substitute, since the first officer was gone.

"Change energy to warp engines ensign, then change it back when we arrive at the colony." ordered Rambam

"As the report says," said the COM, "three Imperial ships arrived, one Lizardian and two Rambulan, they arrived without shields, I think they didn't expect there to be a colony, two Rambo ships were close by; the USS Kroc and the USS Humble. They warped instantly and caught one without shields and destroyed it. But the Humble was disabled and the Kroc launched a distress signal, I'm receiving video logs, the Kroc launched troops to defend the colony from the invaders."

"I want those logs on screen now!" shouted Rambam.

Suddenly an image of an orange sky appeared, the camera was looking up, explosions were seen, the Lizardians were progressing forward in the video, suddenly the Lizardian was hit, the bridge of the USS Luna yelled happily as a purple Civatron emerged onto the screen and finished off the Lizardian, as the Nigtrion waved his arm ordering to move forward, more purple shapes began appearing moving fast.

"All right people, the Nigtrions have got everything under control down there, lets show them that we are the masters of space combat." said Rambam satisfied, he wanted proof, there they were, all the bridge concentrated on their posts.

"We are entering planet orbit now captain." said the Helm, suddenly the screen showed the USS Kroc fighting against two Imperial Vessels, pushing forwards through the incoming fire, avoiding torpedoes, firing phasers, Rambam ordered then to support the Kroc.

The USS Luna was in battle again, this time with help of the USS Kroc, the enemy ships didn't expect the USS Luna, and the phasers of Rambam's ship fired at the Rambulan's bridge, leaving it completely disabled.

The Lizardian ship was more of a challenge. The Kroc made a swift movement, causing the Lizardian destroyer to fire against it in order to stop the Kroc from flanking it. The Luna fired its torpedoes, destroying frontal shielding and Lizardian cannon ports, the Lizardian had to turn and move swiftly against the two. Suddenly the backward cannons of the destroyer reached the Kroc, disabling the hull, fortunately, it didn't hit the bridge. this left the USS Luna alone, against the Lizardian ship, the Luna didn't waste a second and attacked the front, where the Lizardian ship was weaker, the Lizardian got hammered by the Luna, the precise maneuverability gave the Luna a great advantage.

Soon the Lizardian went into warp, leaving the disabled Rambulan vessels, one destroyed completely, and the battle was over.

Reencounter
Rambam asked for a full report on the land battle, for several hours the conflict on the fields outside the colony continued. Still, the reports were full of good news, as the Nigtrions had apparently taken control of the situation. Rambam was anxious to coerce some Nigtrions aboard for his mission, fortunately the Imperial Ships didn't even penetrate the Luna's hull, so no repairs would be needed, just medical supplies for the injured crew members.

"Sir, the Captain of the USS Kroc wants to speak to you" said the COM through the speaker, "Should I tell him to wait?"

"No, put him through to my quarters" said Rambam hurriedly, the holographic form of the USS Kroc captain appeared, "Captain Ramburgo!" said Rambam happily, "It's nice too see you again, and in a battle." added the captain smiling.

Ramburgo smiled as well, the old Rambo showed a little scar on his face when he did that, then it disappeared when he stopped smiling, "Captain Rambam, an honor and a joy to find you in this place, who could have thought the USS Luna would be around to help us?"

Rambam kept smiling, "Well the truth is we were heading towards here, when suddenly our ship picked up your 'stress signal."

"We were too passing by, this colony is lucky, those Imperial ships weren't aware of this colony's existence." said the old Rambo.

The two stayed looking each other with no words to add, Rambam could not see an opportunity of asking Ramburgo about the Nigtrions, finally Ramburgo got tired and prepared to leave.

"Well it is good to see you captain, thank you for the backup, if there is anything you need let me know." said Ramburgo.

"Um," said Rambam, "Well I think you could indeed help me with a question..."

The old Rambo captain looked puzzled, his facial expression changed as if he was wondering what it could be, "Go ahead?"

"Well I've seen a video log of a Rambo soldier's helmet camera, and what I saw was really..." he paused, trying to think of the correct word, "... disturbing."

"Disturbing in what way Captain?" asked Ramburgo.

"What I saw were the Nigtrions, I didn't know you had a regiment with you aboard the USS Kroc"

"Yeah well remember that time we met at the outlying colony? I told you we were on a special mission..." he grabbed his throat, and continued, "... the mission was a test, to become the first ship carrying a Nigtrion platoon. You see, this is the first time since the Rambo met these wonderful warriors, that they were humble enough to travel on one of our ships."

"I see," said Rambam satisfied, "then how could we not see them at the colony when we were trading?"

"Well they are extremely reserved, they keep their matters to themselves, our attempts to talk to them during lunch failed, but I managed to talk with the leader of the platoon, and he is very friendly and talkative..."

"Well captain Ramburgo, I asked you this because we might need the help of the Nigtrions..." he paused, waiting for the reaction of Ramburgo to be severe, but the old captain just limited his expression to a smile again.

"Problems chasing the Labyrinth, Rambam?" said Ramburgo.

"Yes, see that ship has a skillful captain, like no one I have ever seen, the Labyrinth is a battle cruiser, and the USS Luna was designed for exploration and for supportive combat. I have no more soldiers to board it again, they stayed aboard the Labyrinth when we took the ship, along with my first officer, I have few soldiers Ramburgo, and if you are not in a more serious situation, could you spare the Nigtrion platoon and transfer it to the USS Luna?"

"It is not my responsibility Captain..." said Ramburgo, but then he was interrupted by Rambam.

"I know that a skillful captain could manage command's retaliation of this..."

"It's not the problem captain..." said the old Rambo a little angry, "...the problem lies in that I have no authority over the Nigtrions, they are aboard the Kroc of their own free will, and I think they have chosen this ship just because of its name."

Rambam took a long breath, "you gotta be kidding me!" though the Civatrons were just as stubborn as the Xhodocto were, probably moreso, still he had to try...

"Captain, it is possible that I could speak to their Leader?"

The old captain opened his eyes "Master Leezard?" said Ramburgo surprised, "What is your point Rambam, you really need these warriors?"

"Yes, I do." repeated the USS Luna captain.

The old Rambo now was the one of the long breath, he changed his expression, a more thoughtful one, Rambam began sweating, will he say yes? or definitely no? Rambam could not imagine what the battle sould be like without the soldiers, assaulting an Imperial prison was really hard work to do!

Suddenly, the eyes of Ramburgo looked again Rambam, and said "Okay Rambam, I could arrange a meeting for you two..."

Rambam could barely hide his enthusiasm before the experienced captain of the Kroc, "T-thank you captain, I really appreciate this, when can we meet?"

"Come to my office in three hours, Master Leezard will be returning from surface at that time" confirmed Ramburgo.

"Thank you captain, until then..." said Rambam, and the hologram disappeared.

At that moment the COM officer entered Rambam's quarters, he was so happy that almost grabbed the Pantorilisea's hand and danced with her, but he did not, he just limited to say with enthusiasm the whole thing, her friend wanted to share his same happiness, but she was thinking of the consequences of this act, will she have the opportunity of seeing a Civatron, or now called Nigtrions?

The Meeting
Rambam walked across to the Luna teleporter's desk. He was anxious, but nervous as well. Talk with a Civatron? He had never done such a thing in the past! He had fought at their side however, but only that. He never had the chance to even talk with a Civatron captain, he stepped onto the teleporter platform, an ensign clicked on several buttons, and the molecules of Rambam began separating, the captain didn't feel anything at all.

Suddenly the molecules joined again, everything in its place, he was now on the Kroc's deck.

The Deck of the Akira class was entirely different from the Luna's, much more modern and organised. Rambam was surprised how the crew members of the ship were so adept at using this kind of technology, putting his crew in one of these will result in complete chaos for the Luna crew. Rambam was received by the personal ensign of Captain Ramburgo, a young Rambo female; pretty, but not as the beautiful Pantorilisea.

"Welcome to the Kroc's deck sir." said the ensign, "The captain says excuse the mess around here, we are repairing the damage the ship took in the battle."

"That's all right, it looks pretty good right now." said a truthful Rambam, the ensign just limited to a smile.

"Could you come with me sir, the captain is waiting for you in his office." said the Rambo female.

Rambam agreed by moving his head, and two walked across the deck, all around there were engineers fixing panels, checking control systems, watching their writing devices. The two entered a turbo lifter, and then they were at the bridge, this looked better, pretty advanced, everything seemed more holographic than anything else, The new improvements of technology... thought Rambam, they walked a few meters from the elevator into another door, the ready room of the Captain Ramburgo.

This office was a lot bigger than the Luna's, it also had a desk for officer meetings. In the room there were two shapes, one blue, and one purple, one Rambo, one Nigtrion. Ramburgo and Leezard were talking, but the two stopped after seeing Rambam enter the office.

"Ensign you are dismissed. Please, join us captain." said Ramburgo, the Nigtrion did not say a word, "Captain Rambam, may I introduce Master Leezard, former leader of our Nigtrion platoon. Master Leezard, this is Captain Rambam of the USS Luna"

"Master, an honor to meet you." He tried to remember the word "hello" in Krassio, but for as long as he tried he could not remember it. Suddenly his long-term memory banks found the old information and relayed it to his vocal chords, "Thorbilojaritakai" he said slowly and awkwardly.

The purple Civatron smiled  he replied,  asked Leezard.

"Just that phrase, no more, I was told that you were a honorable warrior Master, so I made my best effort." answered Rambam breathing calmly now, his best impression will open possibilities.

< I see > said the Nigtrion quietly.

"How was the battle?" asked Rambam.

 said Leezard almost screaming, Ramburgo had to close his eyes before that magnificent yell,  the Nigtrion punched his armored chest, 

Rambam looked to Ramburgo, who whispered: "Just ignore him" Rambam then looked at the Nigtrion and smiled, "Is that so? So do you want a real battle Master Leezard?"



Rambam saw this as an opportunity to convince him, "Well let's get to the point sir, I have come here to offer you this chance, what you saw down there was merely militia of the Lizardian's capabilities, you cannot possibly see a worthy opponent here. My mission, master, is to chase an Elite Lizardian destroyer, full of elite soldiers now, they became stronger since our last engagement. If you are so mighty as you say, then these Lizardians would not be such a problem, though they may be..."

The Nigtrion's eyes glowed icy purple, angrily  his voice made the room tremble, suddenly he had turned from a friendly, purple Civatron into an outraging psionic being capable of anything, Ramburgo began sweating and remained sat down, the two speakers stood up of their chairs, the Nigtrion was far bigger than Rambam, even a tall Rambo. The USS Luna captain had the result he expected.

"Maybe I have my doubts if you are afraid of facing these Lizardian elite." said Rambam seriously.

The Nigtrion then showed his psionic-knuckled blade; green like a Rambula phaser and dangerous as a Rambo warp core's radiation. Ramburgo felt like he was tied to his office chair, he could smell a short fight was coming. Rambam otherwise didn't had any intentions of showing any fear to the Nigtrion, he hadn't showed any before in the Tigris War, neither against the Labyrinth, and he will never back up this time, he showed his blade in a quick move.

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, suddenly the Nigtrion moved his head upwards, Rambam feared that he would go that far, risking breaking the treaty and the allegiance? He prepared by flexing his legs, but then the Nigtrion did an unexpected thing, he was laughing.

 screamed Leezard, Rambam shook his head towards Ramburgo, he could only look surprised for the both of them. Smiling, what could this probably mean? 

He looked to the Kroc captain, and then again to Rambam, 

He turned down his blade. Rambam smiled, fortunately, he had success and his plan worked. Ramburgo smiled, happy of not seeing Rambo blood on his hands and a huge problem here.

"Captain Ramburgo..." said Master Leezard by turning to the Kroc's captain, 

"All right." said Ramburgo breathing for the first time in minutes. He turned to his holographic computer and did the transfer, he wrote a letter to Rambo command informing the compliments of Master Leezard, and their transfer documents, keeping a copy for himself, he turned to the Nigtrion, giving him the copy of the transfer.

"Done," said Ramburgo, "You will now be onboard the Luna. Captain Rambam, I think I could take some of your crew members in exchange, they will do normal work on our trip back to Rambo capitol, the Empress says this war is about to be finish in our favor, so we could take these crew members on shore leave to the Capitol."

"Sounds good, I will create a list of people suited for the job." said Rambam happily.

< I shall inform my superiors of this transfer, as well as my warriors. But for the record, we are with you Captain > said Leezard.

Rambam and Master Leezard left the ready room and separated, Rambam moved toward the teleporter again, happy to see as everything looked promising. If the boarding procedure was too easy, now they had the best boarding party of the galaxy.

Welcome party
Rambam was once again on his ship, the USS Luna, it was a relief to be on his ship again, all those emotions he experienced on the Kroc were enough for the rest of the month. However, he had a mission to complete, and part of it was easy to fulfill now the Nigtrions were behind him. He was now on the Hangar deck, many shuttles and fighters were there, but many places were also empty, already abandoned by crew members that left the Luna in fighters, Master Leezard said he would bring his own fighters, so Rambam agreed to Nigtrion terms.

He was with his COM officer who was nervous, as long as Rambam would tell her to calm down, she would not. All because memories of the Civatrons, but what memories? Had she met the Civatrons before? Rambam knew why she was worried, and knew her past...

All happened two years ago, before the Pantorilisea could travel with her old friend Rambam aboard the ship, the two knew each other for 20 years though. When the final battle ended, she was presumed dead by Rambo Nation, including Rambam, but the truth was she remained on Tigris sector and was protected by Rambo Gods, this was a sort of a miracle, she lay in a city burnt to ashes for three months - alive. Hiding from the Xhodocto warriors that passed patrolling the area.

One day, she was trapped, the Xhodocto were just staring at her, deciding who was going to be the first striker, who would be the lucky one to kill her. Suddenly one of them was caught, the Xhodocto fell to the ground and vanished in creepy dust. The others prepared, as the Civatrons arrived with swift elegance, her last memories before she lost consciousness were the shapes of the two species fighting, then suddenly one Civatron running towards her, grabbing her with one arm, and running while the others remained fighting.

Now she would once again meet a Civatron; her saviors, the ones that rescued her and sent her back to Rambo command. She could understand how to say thanks, but still she would be talking to another Civatron, not the one from that place, at that moment.

Fighters then arrived on the USS Luna, with remarkable performance the landed on the mechanical grabbers. Those fighters were not Rambo, but Civatron, Colored green, one by one the Nigtrions began landing in the Hangar, Rambam counted 20 in total, the Nigtrions formed a line, they were all looking too big, the Rambo looked small in comparison. Finally the last aboard was Leezard himself, who arrived in his fighter. He walked across the hangar to meet with the Rambo captain, marching seriously, the COM felt like her heart stopped.

"Captain Rambam, we Nigtrions are reporting to infantry duty on the USS Luna, and request permission granted." said the Nigtrion.

"All right." said Rambam, then turned to the COM, "This is Kerika my COM officer."

The Pantorilisea smiled and bowed her head.

"Lieutenant, this is Master Leezard, former leader of this Civatron platoon."

Kerika lifted her head and looked at him, the Nigtrion was already looking to the engineer officer, the Pantorilisea looked at the Nigtrion, he was exactly like the Civatrons that had rescued her, just purple.

After introducing all the officers to Leezard, Rambam ordered Kerika to lead the Nigtrions to the Luna's barracks, where the rooms of the Rambo soldiers were before they went missing. Kerika asked them to follow, and they did, as they walked across the deck all the crew watched how the Nigtrions walked uniformly into the barracks, not saying a word, not mentioning anything. Finally they arrived at the barracks, the Nigtrions broke lines and entered their designated quarters. Kerika and Leezard remained alone, Leezard began examining the place, Kerika then said:

"We hope you get comfortable in this place"

"We will, as long as the battle looks as promising as your captain foretold." said the Civatron Master.

"Don't worry, when my captain promises action, we always have some." answered Kerika.

"Yeah..." said the Nigtrion.

Kerika abandoned the barracks and headed to the bridge. She wasn't nervous any more, she could only think about the mission, the tactical officer went missing, and now they were ready to face the Imperial Alliance.

Resistance
In another part of the galaxy, on a planet near to the neutral zone, the tactical officer of the USS Luna, Ramiron, was in a hell of a battle. The Lizardian cruiser Labyrinth didn't take them to a prison, but left them on a deserted planet. In the beginning it was easy for the royal guard and his marines to establish a rudimentary camp near a cave, but the problems didn't end there. Suddenly five ships of the Rambulan arrived in orbit to rest, picking up Rambo signatures. Ramiron had an entire army, well supplied and with heavy weaponry and air support hammering them, he and his troops were the best of the best, but this was craziness.

As he and several of his Rambo marines were firing at the incoming waves of the Rambulan, their long cousins, Ramiron was waiting for one of them to amplify their COM signature in order to literally scream for help, the royal guard was tired, still he had to continue firing at those blasted Rambulans.

As he sniped one, a platoon of them passed the Rambo wall on the left flank, the camp had a breach, he turned his plasma weapon into the Rambulans, vaporizing them into dust. Still suddenly from the front two Rambulans jumped to attack the royal guard, causing him to lose his balance, but he quickly recovered and grabbed his electrical sword. Fighting with the Rambulans in melee combat, too easy this way, but the Rambulan kept coming... there was no hope, the Rambulan artillery was firing at the cave with plasma discharges, Ramiron ordered a trooper to take his place, and ran into the cave. Inside, there were many troopers, some injured, others resting, the whole regiment was there, the Lizardians left them all to perish there.

He arrived with a marine, the one with the communicator, he was happy, the distress signal was sent. Now Ramiron and his Rambo had to wait until someone picked up the signal, if there was anyone out there.

Kerika was doing her routine job of hearing command transmissions from other ships in order to get some news from the front, the news was all the same, victory over the Imperial Alliance in a battle, the Judge Magisters were incredibly smart and were able to surprise the Imperial fleet.

Then Suddenly, something interrupted her normal routine:

''This is Rambo royal guard Ramiron, we are on a deserted planet we believe is located near the neutral zone, if any Rambo ships are close, we require assistance, we were discovered by a Rambulan fleet and they are constantly attacking us, we don't know how much we can take... Kcchkkkjs''

Kerika's eyes opened, staring for a moment, surprised, that she forgot to immediately inform the captain, still she locked the signal, located in sector 567, she called the captain:

"Bridge to captain Rambam, you'd better come here sir." she said hurried.

Minutes after the Captain and Leezard were at the bridge, the Nigtrion remained at his post, "Report"

"Sir, I just received a distress signal..."

"Another one?" interrupted Rambam, "These Imperial guys really never give up finding colonies."

"Captain, the distress signal is from Ramiron, our tactical officer" continued Kerika.

"What?" yelled Rambam almost surprised and angry, "Do you have the coordinates?"

"I have triangulated the signal." answered Kerika.

"Helm, take us to these coordinates, maximum warp, now!"

The USS Luna entered warp once again, leaving the colony behind, the USS Kroc and the Humble, Rambam was anxious to meet with his first officer, he asked Kerika to put the transmission through, the COM obeyed.

''This is Rambo royal guard Ramiron, we are on a deserted planet we believe is located near the neutral zone, if any Rambo ships are close, we require assistance, we were discovered by a Rambulan fleet and they are constantly attacking us, we don't know how much we can take... Kcchkkkjs''

After the transmission trailed off into static, Rambam looked at Master Leezard, still serious and showing no emotion at all, "It's time to prove your skills Nigtrion" he said suddenly, he forgot moods, policy, he was desperate to get onto that planet and rescue his first officer. The Nigtrion looked and smiled, Leezard and his warriors would have a battle sooner than expected. He left the bridge, Rambam turned to his friend, "Red alert... All hands to battle stations!"

The Bridge turned red, the activity began again on the ship, there will be no rest for the Luna, not until they had completed this mission.

Rescue
Ramiron was back in the fight. The Rambulans were getting hard to defeat, as they didn't rely on sheer numbers any more and instead focused on exchanging fire. However, the Rambo marines were tired of defending themselves, Ramiron was losing hope of a rescue party. Explosions everywhere blinded the marines view, causing their fire to become increasingly inaccurate.

Ramiron prepared his electrical sword, this was the final stand. The artillery was getting too close, in his thoughts he began saying goodbye to everyone he knew; Rambam, Kerika, his family, all his friends. The marines would follow him everywhere, it was time to demonstrate their loyalty, he closed his eyes, and as he did everything seemed to slow in a moment. The place was being torn apart by explosions, plasma being fired, marines dying one by one, he had to order an attack now before was too late.

He gathered all the Rambo marines. They formed a line, all looked towards the army that was mustering the final attack, a massacre could be seen, could be smelt. Ramiron opened his eyes, and opened his mouth to order what could be his final command.

"Charge!" he yelled, all the Rambo marines drew their blades and ran towards the enemy, the Rambulan began firing, the marines started to fall and stumble over the ground as more explosions shook the battlefield, some falling into craters that would become their graves. Ramiron wasn't hit... not yet, and there were still many marines to continue the attack, they moved forward, more, more and more.

The two races clashed, at the beginning the Rambulans panicked and retreated, but then they retaliated, surrounding the Rambo marines along with the royal guard. Ramiron then concentrated on the fight, he saw three Rambulans running to kill him, but then two Marines attacked them from both sides and killed them, still the enemy was everywhere, they would need a miracle.

The USS Luna arrived at the coordinates, watching five Rambulan ships orbiting, two moved to intercept the Rambo vessel. Rambam was hurried, and did not want to fight the Rambulans yet, "Move us into low orbit, let's help our soldiers on the ground." he said instantly.

"Aye!" said the Helm.

The Luna moved avoiding the two enemy vessels, navigating past the small blockade. The two pursued and the Luna moved to full impulse. They descended, faster and faster, the circled plate hull of the Luna became red as the ship entered the atmosphere, they were falling now. However, the Helm's plan had the expected effect, the Rambulans had not followed and maintained a slower speed. The Helm started leveling the ship, still it was too fast, he applied the breaks, everyone was pushed forward due the quick stop, the Luna began slowing down, and the Helm could level the ship.

"Well done Ensign." said Rambam crawling with sweat, as well as Kerika, who almost had a heart attack because of the risky maneuvering.

The ship got close to the battlefield, and saw the Rambo through the screen, fighting until the last breath, Rambam panicked.

"Charge Phasers ensign, fire at will." he said, then he remembered his ace card "COM, inform Master Leezard that he now may descend to reinforce their position over there."

The Luna opened fire, causing a straight line of explosions and fire on the artillery lines, these vehicles turned to attack the Luna, but their projectiles were too slow and the defense cannons of the hull destroyed them, the two groups down there seemed distracted by the intervention of the Rambo ship, but then continued the fight. The Rambo were still hammered, and the Luna then began to take fire from the two Rambulan ships that were chasing them.

"This is all we can do for them, we have to deal with these freighters, take us into the same orbit as them, and let's destroy them." said Rambam to the helm, the ship moved upwards, defending itself from the fire of those freighters.

"Come on!" screamed Ramiron "Help is here, our ship has come to rescue us, keep them at bay!"

The Rambo charged, pushing the lines of the Rambulans meters backwards, but the inertia was bigger and they began retreating, they were surrounded. Suddenly, a plasma pulser from the Rambulans smashed against the royal guard's head, falling. Ramiron opened his eyes trying to recover, he saw the Rambulan preparing to finish him off, but suddenly a bigger arm stopped, him, something purple...

A Nigtrion warrior had saved Ramiron, lifting high the Rambulan and finishing off with a stab of his psionic blade, more Nigtirons arrived, being teleported from a shuttle, the ship could be seen flying across the battlefield and landing just on a hill behind the Rambulan army, the twenty Nigtrions were there.

 said Master Leezard, 

Ramiron regained his senses, his strength was pushed to the limit, but after few minutes he was standing on his feet. Soon he was ready for the battle again.

 said Leezard, 

The Rambo marines agreed, the Nigtrions turned, facing the enemy, the Rambulans were recovering from the first Nigtrion charge, they didn't know a Civatron, so they didn't fear them. The warriors flexed their legs, turned on their blades, their eyes turned icy purple, glowing psionic energy. The Nigtrions charged making a Delta formation, breaking a point in a matter of minutes. The Rambo were behind supporting with cover fire but still making it to the shuttle.

The Rambulans were panicking as there was nothing they could do against the Nigtrions, they could not penetrate that defense-offensive strategy, it was unique, and had never been employed in such an elegant way.

The Rambo made it to the shuttle, the Nigtrions stayed, as all looked to the sky, covering themselves from the fire of the Rambulans. Their fighters were moving in the battle to their pilots, the fighters arrived, the Nigtrions got on them, and escaped the cross fire, but they returned and bombarded the Rambulans with their psionic phasers. The Rambulans began retreating, there was nothing else on the planet.

The fighters returned escorting the shuttle, when they reached space, the fighters joined the Luna in the fighting, which was winning, since the Rambulans were freighters only.

The Rambulans were forced to retreat, and the shuttle made it back home. Ramiron was back along with his marines, now he could finally rest in his quarters. The battle was over now, but he was wondering if the USS Luna was aware of the Labyrinth recover. If not they would have a big surprise.

Already at the hangar, Rambam ordered maximum warp to the colony again, in order to heal the injured. Kerika was waiting for the marines to come out, and see Ramiron, her friend again. She saw the Nigtrions come out of their fighters first, she was the twice thankful for their help, maybe some day she could thank them in a way they could understand.

Sick bay
After finishing his report of the situation to Rambo command Rambam left his "homework" and ran to sick bay. On the way Leezard met him, he was just returning from a meal with his brethren.

 asked the Nigtrion a little amused from his meal.

"I'm going to see my tactical officer, if you don't mind..." answered Rambam anxious to get to sick bay.

<Can I go with you, after all, I only serve for combat in this ship.> said Leezard complaining.

"Have you been drinking Master Leezard?" asked Rambam.

<Not at all!> said Leezard < I'm just happy, a warrior over there told me a Xhodocto joke, do you want to hear it? >

"I'd rather not, see I do not know the Xhodocto as you do." said Rambam, the only thing he wanted now was to see his first officer.

< Ok, that is a good point, you've got to know the Xhodocto and their doings if you want to understand a joke about them. > said Leezard disappointed.

The two continued walking across the many decks of the ship, with no conversation following it, the crew was still a little set back because of the big psionic beings walking across the ship, now they had to get familiar with it. After all, there were Captain's orders, though the Nigtrions preferred to keep their business to their own, eat with same species, live with same species, and even talk to the same species.

When they arrived at the sick bay Kerika was already there. Ramiron was lying on a bed, he was heavily smashed on the head, and needed to recover, Ramiron still had all his thoughts in order, and could sense the Nigtrion also in the room. As the Nigtrion approached with Rambam, Ramiron tried to stand up, everyone tried to stop him, but he set them backwards. Rambam was just about to explode in rage, he was supposed to rest for few days, not to make some heroic act in front of that Nigtrion.

Leezard just looked at Ramiron with remarkable interest, but he tried nothing to make him stay at the bed, Rambam was furious from the inside, "Why this purple Civatron does not help us?" he was about to intervene, when Ramiron was already in front of the Nigtrion.

"You... you saved me..." said Ramiron slowly "You saved my men also..."

The Nigtrion remained silent, watching the Rambo falling apart through pain, the Nigtrions were Civatrons, the Civatrons were humble, as their laws commanded them to be like that, and agreeing with Ramiron will open any possibility of pride in the Nigtrion.

"Thank you." said Ramiron and returned to bed.

Kerika was surprised, more than just surprised, she was amazed, his friend and colleague had the courage to tell the Civatrons his gratitude, something she couldn't, and probably never could do.

Rambam calmed, Ramiron was back in bed, the Nigtrion remained silent and then left the room, feeling as he wasn't welcome in that moment, after he left, Rambam turned a little angry to Ramiron.

"Ramiron, this is no time to express gratitude in that way, you were smashed gravely on your head, and you've got to recover, such a moment can wait for other occasions." said the captain, the tactical officer was satisfied.

"Sir, I had to do that, what if I didn't make it?" he said, his wounds were severe too, but he added: "What if my wounds are too severe?"

Rambam just ignored him, someone smashed his head. He was deliberating, nothing more, Kerika was more guided by the effect of that moment, after all, something that she wanted to do just happened.

Rambam checked with the medical officer. Everything was normal, the wounds on Ramiron's head were not severe. Rambam calmed down even more, his rescue was successful. He left the sick bay, Ramiron was already asleep. He walked towards the elevator, and raised to the deck where his quarters were. At last, he was in his quarters, everything on the ship was back to normal, the only thing not common were those Nigtrions aboard the ship.

Start of the Cold War
The Lizardian Commander sat at his quarters onboard the Chimera, his flagship. When the Emperor ordered the retreat from the Dissia System and the signing of the peace treaty the Commander has been bored. He hated the new peace, which was more starting to begin to turn into a cold war. The Emperor - as the Commander knew - only signed the peace to rebuild his armies and find a new way to strike at Rambo Nation.

Although he had to find powerful allies, as some Civatrons, now purple, joined Rambo Nation, a ridculous choice in his opinion. Then the Emperor left to meet his new powerful entities to let them join the Imperial Alliance. But if that is going to work has to be seen. Now Aur'Lodin was in command of the Imperial Alliance, he hated her and did not like her at all. He was ordered by her to deal with Lizrawn, the Captain of the Laberynth. As he sighted, he sent Lizrawn's new orders.

Lizrawn stood at the bridge of the Laberynth and he was pleased with the events. He was now back in command of the Laberynth and was heading towards Imperial Space with the newly arrived Lizardian Elites onboard. "Sir, we have an encrypted message from the Commander" the communication officer said. Lizrawn looked surprise, and feared he had to lay down command of his prized warship. Lizrawn opened the file, and read that the war was over. He was shocked, the Emperor has signed a peace treaty. But the Imperial Alliance and Rambo Nation were now involved in a cold war. He read that the Commander was informed that the USS Luna under command of Rambam, his rival was in pursuit. As he read further, he was ordered to evade the captain and head towards the remains of Deep Space Colonie 02. He had to rendevous with Captain Lizvear, captain of the Star Destroyer Allecto.

"Darn" Lizrawn said. He knew this Lizvear, a ruthless Captain who leaves no witnesses and would burn entire colonies down just for his own fun. Lizrawn turned to the internal communication and said: "All crew members. Attention, we have a new order, all stations be alert, we will leave within 50 minutes." The crew members looked at each other, the ship was still partially damaged, and not yet fully repaired. "Engines are fully operational within 35 minutes sir." a tactical officer said. Lizrawn smiled, as the tactical officer continued the status report. "New weapons and turbo blasters will be operational within 20 minutes and the newly installed ion cannons shall be operational within 40 minutes, warp engines and hyperspace engine are already at one hundred percent." "Thank you officer, inform the Elites that Captain Rambam is in pursuit, and that they should be ready for boarding parties any time."

And as such, the Laberynth, which seemed too heavily damaged was in fact not, it was a ruse to escape from Rambam and now it would prepare for a new mission, which would turn the table in this cold war.

As the Labyrinth headed towards the wormhole that lead them to Colonie 02, Lizrawn was still concerned over the fact that that old Rambo colony was overrun with Xhodocto, or even worse by both Civatrons and Xhodocto. Lizrawn questioned the purpose of the Lizardian commander's orders, Tigris Sector was devastated, and that wormhole leading to it was useless.

Wormhole
"Sir, we are arriving at the Tigris Wormhole" said the helmsman, Lizrawn remained sat in his captain chair the whole trip, thinking in a plan from the coming events, his reptilian expression reflected preoccupation for it.

"Are sensors showing anything else?" asked the captain, the Com Officer checked the sensors.

"No sir, just the wormhole, and some installation debris near it, as they look in the panels, they have long time here without any important presence, neither Imperial or Rambo" as the Com said that he turned to his other duties, Lizrawn became more thoughtful, the current retreat of the imperial Alliance could not now be the reason of these deserted place, this area was now on control of Imperials, but why they could not secure it?

"Tell me COM, is this the way this Nigtrions pass to quadrant 82?" asked Lizrawn, this could be a possibility, and Tigris Galaxy was considered and declared "Devastated" no profit could possible come from that sector, it was overrun by Xhodocto, and by Nigtrions as well, what could possibly Imperial Alliance do with that place, they were right to abandon this place, nothing good could possibly came from there.

Anyway, those thoughts were not wise for Lizrawn moral, this only could get worse his "fear" for that place.

"No Sir, Nigtrion main activity does not come from this Wormhole, Nigtrions use Psionic Portals to travel across systems, galaxies and some say even between Universes" said the COM, but his voice meant that he didn't believe does speculations.

"Could you say what is in the other side of the wormhole?" asked Lizrawn.

"No sir, for a decisive confirmation of the other side of this wormhole's activity can be done in a Worm hole installation."

"Such as that near it?"

"Affirmative"

"But that place is destroyed, even if its enormous, I can only see big fragments floating the Wormhole at safe distance"

"That is not entirely true sir, my scans just detected a fragment with balance and atmosphere good enough to support some of our specialists"

"Nice to hear it" he turned to his Corporal, Lizbirg, the chief of the Lizardian elites aboard the Labyrinth, "Corporal, I want you and a group of your specialized soldiers to enter that fragment and retrieve all data to be scanned and decoded"

As the Corporal was about to enter a door, the COM officer added "Corporal, you will have 45 sectons to retrieve the data and get our of there, the fragment will enter the wormhole in that space of time, attracted by its gravitational force"

The Corporal disappeared from the bridge, and the Captain Lizrawn merged again in his thoughts.

Wormhole Installation
The Shuttle landed, the Lizardian elites descended running down across a metallic plate of the space fragment, the Elites secured the place, and the Corporal Lizbirg came down as well, "Lieutenant, we are in the space fragment, indicate us where is this computer, we will proceed according to plan!"

The Shuttle moved out, turned off his engines and began as well floating in the space, maintaining close distance with the Fragment. The atmosphere was not as pleasant as the COM said, the Lizardians had to place masks on their faces in order to not suffer any inconvenient.

"A Computer Panel is just thirty meters from your position in the same area" the lizardians started looking everywhere.

Suddenly a sound interrupted the Imperial operation, the elites turned their weapons to upwards, the sound came from there, something was moving, the Corporal ordered to quickly finish the operation, the Sound was bigger and bigger, one of the Elites that had a portable sensor panicked suddenly by the sensor readings.

"Sir, many lifeforms coming towards our position, FAST!" yelled, the corporal, ordered the placement of the defensive turret, "draw swords" said calmly to his Lizardians.

The sound began to be heard across all the roof, the Elites prepared, there were at least thirty Elites.

The roof exploded, the place suddenly was crawling with space creatures, travelers of the void of space and eaters of space debris, they were hungry and they could smell the metal from Lizardians armor, a battle started, those creatures were to many, but weak, the Corporal was suddenly surrounded, that defensive turret was making a mountain of those critters.

"This place is infested sir!" yelled an Elite, "there is a hive of this critters in here!"

"Fulfill the mission, retrieve the data and let's get out of here!" yelled Lizbirg as he finished two critters with his plasma blaster and his metallic sword.

The Elite moved toward the panel, as his way was infested with creatures falling like a heavy rain, the Elites, as they tried to keep formation, these critters were separating them, these elites were tough, they killed all alien that wanted them as their meal.

"Tranfer finished!" said the Elite, but went distracted by three creatures that attacked him.

Lizbirg turned his communicator, "Lizbirg to shuttle, we are ready, we are being attacked by critters, we request immediate evac!"

"Copy that Corporal" said the shuttle through the communicator.

"All right Elites move to retrieval position!"

All the Elites then moved across the Hive of critters that kept falling, the shuttle arrived sooner, the Elites came in as they were covered by shuttle inferior turrets, which killed many critters.

The time they were moving toward the Labyrinth, the Elites were resting, these critters simply were claustrophobic in any ways possible, and felt like they were just sinking in a boat in a middle of an cold ocean, Lizbirg moved toward the com panel of the shuttle, transfered all data and said:

"Corporal Lizbirg to Labyrinth, we have completed our mission, I'm transferring data to your computer now..."

Into the Hell
Lizrawn watched through the screen the wormhole, there wasn't much time as wanted, Rambo forces were winning the war and surely will detect the presence of the Labyrinth on the abandoned Tigris Wormhole sector, still he felt like it was absurd to go into Tigris, the "Hell-fight" for almost nothing.

Orders were orders still.

"Helm, takes into the Wormhole" said the captain finally, the pilot managed the controls and switched speed, the ship started to move slowly into it, the instruments were online 100% functioning.

The shape of the Labyrinth enlarged as it entered the wormhole, it felt as if the that phenomenon created by the Rambo sucked in the ship, Lizrawn felt eternally as the ship passed through the space warp tunnel in a matter of seconds, suddenly, stars again.

"Sir, we are now on Tigris Sector, initiating scans of hostiles... no one in range." said the COM.

The captain could breath for the first time in minutes.

"Head us to the rendevouz point helm, quickly, I want to get out of this very, VERY hostile place!"

"Aye sir!"

The Labyrinth quickly entered warp, and were on the most dangerous phase of the mission.

Space Colonie 02
The Labyrinth warped into the Space Colonie 02 Rambo destroyed perimeter, as the ship avoided some debris of battle, decomposed bodies of numerous species floating in there, some of them even crashed against the screen. shields were holding, still hits of debris hurt a lot.

"Entering orbit distance with the colony sir, no signs of the Allecto" said the Helm.

"Any signs in surface?" asked Lizrawn.

"Checking..." said the COM, as he moved to his control panels.

"Tactical Officer, I want a full scan on colony structure."

"Aye sir"

"Sir I'm picking numerous heat lifeforms in surface, and other many I cannot decipher in its composition but..." he paused, examined closer the report, "I think few are Lizardian"

"For the Emperor..." said Lizrawn, he feared and saw this, and now it was fortold, those Lizardians were survivors of the Allecto, if the Allecto was destroyed, "COM start full and long range scans across the old Rambo system, maybe the Allecto is nearby, and those Lizardians are not what I suspect they may be."

"Yes sir"

"Lizbirg, get to the bridge now!"

Everyone was on high, red alerted across the ship, the only conversation they could make was that of the two terrors in the Tigris Sector they could encounter, getting so far they even described what these beings could possibly do to them.

"Sir another ship is in the system, I guess is the Allecto, but they do not seem to move towards us, they are just trying to download troopers in the colony!"

"What?" asked Lizrawn surprised.

"WHAT?" yelled Lizbirg who was arriving at bridge.

"Things changed Lizbirg, get down there with some of your troopers and retrieve all Lizardians you can get, you have 48 hours, if you need evac before, we'll grant it so don't worry."

"Aye, sir" said the Elite and left the bridge as he was just arriving.

"COM, program rendevouz with Allecto in 48 hours starting from Lizbirg's arrival to surface"

"Yes sir"

"Keep the Red Alert, shields and weapons online in case of a hostile welcome party."

The Labyrinth made a strategic formation in order to support either that of the old Congregation or the Nigtrions, a shuttle moved down to the planet, as this one entered atmosphere, there it was, Lizbirg, with some of his most loyal and strong elites, going to certain death once again, maybe this time fate will not be so merciful, and they had the days counted.

02 surface
"I don't like this place" said a Lizardian elite by viewing a very devastated panoramic of what was once a great colony, the buildings, skeletons and even dry blood was everywhere, a disgusting place for even a Lizardian, "It gives me a bad feeling"

"Why you say that?" asked another one.

"Well" added the first, "Considering that Tigris has been really hostile since the great war began, and you and me know that both protagonists of such war did not died entirely."

"Good point."

"I don't think we will find hostile people like in that station" intervened a third one, "those Nigtrions wouldn't come so far in south"

"Quiet!" said Lizbirg, walking towards them, "Don't forget that this is still enemy ground, so let's not take out conclusions please."

"Aye sir" said the three.

Lizbirg turned himself back to the top of the group of Elites and ordered to walk, all followed, a little scared, some heretical and demonic tracks were found marked in the buildings and roads, even some of the elites sworn to see something moving in the dark of wide streets. Lizbirg himself was a little bit disturbed.

Suddenly, something was heard near of what was the center of that suburb, Lizbirg ordered defensive formation and then ordered a forward charge, the Elites started moving closely towards the location, all nervous, but ready.

Silence, only the steps of the Lizardians could be heard.

"Be ready" said Lizbirg.

The group found a small mountain of debris in front of them, they decided to climb over it, the sound was on the other side, and it was growing.

"Do you hear that?" asked an elite to another.

"Are those screams of a Lizardian?"

Lizbirg opened his eyes, terrorized, in an act of desperation, he ordered charge.

All the elites moved forward, running and hoping it wasn't to late.

In front of them, it was what it was called after the first encounter, a group of eight Xhodocto, who watched the enormous group of Lizardians appearing and launched a terrorizing roar that caught the hearts of every Lizardian, tension was so high, the Lizardians retreated, the Xhodocto charged.

A small battle, or I would say slaughter was happening in that moment, as the Lizardians fired as defended themselves against that tiny group of Xhodocto, those gigantic demons were to powerful.

Lizbirg himself was fighting, or better saying, avoiding a Xhodocto that got interested in him, as his battalion of elites was retreating and being pursued by the rest of the Xhodocto, he remained all alone with one, he hoped this was just a bad dream, a nightmare including.

The Xhodocto passed his crypt-ionic blade across the air, leaving a wave of fire, the Lizardian could barely avoid it, another one, again, but this time the arm of that Xhodocto crashed against Lizbirg's chest, he went flying against a building wall.

The giant Ayrai Shikua approached closely, moving his feet and making tremble the earth, he lifted his blade, Lizbirg was singing good-byes to everyone he knew, SSSSHZZZZZ CLANK! the blade hit something, but it wasn't him.

He opened his eyes and saw a purple shape holding the Xhodocto blade with an energy blade, what a strength someone had to have in order to hold that amount of time.

"R-run!" said the shape, shocking his face towards Lizbirg, the lightning of those two blades was getting bigger, transforming into a blind light, Lizbirg reacted and ran towards a hiding, when he knew he was safe, he checked that place again.

Know he could see his savior, a Nigtrion, how lucky he was, the Purple civatron was still holding the blade, but after a few moments the Xhodocto used his other arm and grabbed him, the Nigtrion then got out of somewhere electricity that made the Xhodocto release him. Clash of swords and strength was seen in that singular battle, the Nigtrion proved to be more skillful than the Xhodocto, but the Xhodocto proved to be stronger, more Nigtrions appeared, leaving the Xhodocto outnumbered, but the only thing they did was to do one or two hits before leaving again the Nigtrion alone against the Monstrous Xhodocto.

Lizbirg knew that more Xhodocto and more Nigtrions were near, he worried about his elites, but he soon started to though on actually getting out of there.

"Over here" said a voice, it sounded familiar.

"Who's there?"

"Get in here before those titans see you!" said the voice again.

Lizbirg didn't hesitated and moved towards the voice, he soon discovered an entrance.

"You there?"

"Yes, are you armed?"

"No I lost my weapons fighting a Xhodocto"

"*** thing!" said the voice. "Get in"

The door opened.

Lizbirg got paralyzed when he saw his contact, it was a Rambo.

Opportunity not taken
The two looked at each other scared, the two were surrounded by hostile creatures and now the two found to be in front of each other's worst nightmares, two enemies actually were trying to survive in front of two more violent foes.

"Forget it!" said Lizbirg angered, the Rambo seemed to agree, and closed the door, "You will be killed and slaughtered to death!" screamed.

"Sure! I just have to wait for the Nigtrions to come after me, they sense everything." answered the Rambo, "Don't dare to enter here or I will shoot you with my last ammunition!"

Lizbirg was angered as hell, he wanted to kill that Rambo for actually being a Rambo and not other species, he wished that the Rambo was a survivor of his men rather than that, just a Rambo.

His mind turned to be concerned about the battle near him, as screams and clashes of swords were heard across all ways, there was no escape at all.

"Lizbirg to Laberynth!" said to his communicator, "Lizbirg to Laberynth, I'm alone here!"

Shocking Discovery
As Captain Lizrawn was awaiting the arrival of the Allecto under command of Captain Lizvear whom would rendevouz with him, Lizrawn got angry. The Allecto was already 5 hours over time, and still his orders hadn't changed and he had to hold his position. Things got worse as Lizbirg, one of his best officers got trapped on the planet which was under attack by the Xhodocto and the Civatron.

Lizrawn was reading his status reports which brought a Vierian slave, as he was reading he took a nap of his coffee, disatisfied he stood up and walked up to his window. He looked ouside, the Laberynth was hiding in a debry field nearby but Xhodocto appearances were increasing. He then turned around and slapped the Vierian slave in the face, "You stupid slave, get out of my office". The Vierian, shocked crawled out of the room.

Then suddenly there was red alert and Lizrawn ran to the bridge, but strampled over the Vierian who had lost uncouncios due to his hit. Angry he crawled back up and looked at the slave, he turned and appointed two Lizardian soldiers to bring her to the sickbay.

Upon arriving at the bridge Lizrawn asked in anger "What is going on, status report". The communications officer replied and gave him a report. Lizrawn red it and was surprised, it was from the Lizardian Commander himself. His orders had changed, the Allecto would not come again and Lizrawn had to get his ship out of the Tigris Galaxy, back to Quadrant 82 to particiapate in recently started Second Galactic War.

Lizrawn was surprised, he then ordered a few drop ships to pick up Lizbirg as he would prepare the ship for Warp and a course safely out of the Tigris Galaxy.

The Battle of Tuacio
As the travel back to Imperial Space took a while due to the evading of Xhodocto ships and space events, the Laberynth dropped out of Warp near the planet Tuactio, a Mortalitas planet. Lizrawn was surprised, his orders was to form an alliance with the Mortalitas and as such he aided the Mortalitas.

"Raise shields" Lizrawn ordered, as Capricorn and Mortalitas ships had already engaged eachother and the battle became even more fierce. As the Laberynth approached the battle a small fleet of Imperial fleets joined the Laberynth, including another Imperial Super Star Destroyer. Now Lizrawn was sure the blockade of Tuacio would not be broken.

"Fire all cannons" Lizrawn ordered the Laberynth cannons broke the first line of the allied fleet, now he was pleased. He returned from the Tigris Galaxy and would not be involved into war again. Something which he really wanted. Now as Mortalitas ships backed the Imperials up the Imperials hold there stand.

However, due to a CSA Admiral, which Lizrawn did not remember his name off managed to land troops on the planet and things got worse. "How is that possible, one puny little reptile like a Capricorn cannot defeat us Lizardians" Lizrawn yelled at his Tactical Officer. However the report he showed the captain was not lying, the Allied Fleet had taken advantage and the Imperial and Mortalitas fleet was breaking apart. "Impossible" Lizrawn wispered.

Then a massive explosion rocked the Laberynth and Lizrawn lost his footing and fell to the ground. As he looked up electric cables and hull plating were haning loose and small explosion and screams were heard everywhere. "Damage report" Lizrawn asked the computer as he regained his footing. The ship was damaged and a large section had been blown up due to an Excelsior Class had rammed the ships and managed to collapse the shields with it. "We have to retreat Sir" an officer said. Lizrawn turned and hit the Lizardian officer straight in the face. "Why would I retreat? I am Lizrawn, Captain of the Laberynth and I do not retreat". The Officer looked in anger at the vicious Captain, but showed recent events. The Imperial forces were leaving and the ship was taking the brunt of the attack. Lizrawn shook his head, he had to follow them in order to survive. As he sat heavily in his Captains chair he gave the order to retreat.

Rambam Returns
Rambam sat in his ready room, looking heavily on Kerika and Ramiron and both looked surprised as he explained his actions. "But Sir, we break protocols by doing this" Kerika said in feared. Ramiron just smiled, and approved Rambam new action. "Well my friends, this is it, you know what to do".

Rambam then left to the bridge, together with his Tactical and Com officers. Upon arriving at the bridge he ordered his men for battle ready and gave a red alert. He then took the internal comm channel and spoke to his crew: "My friends, we have a new course of action to make. We have been out here for to long, hunting this blasted Super Star Destroyer, now it is time to return home and aid our friend".

He then gave the sign and the USS Luna went into Warp and headed for the ongoing battle.

"We have arrived Sir" Kerika said as she put on the screen. The entire bridge crew looked surprised. CSA and Rambo forces were locked into battle with the Imperial Alliance and a new race, which Rambam was not familiar with. He then looked around and holded his eyesight on Ramiron, "Raise the shields, forward phasers at maximum and fire at my command". Ramiron did as he was orderd and nodded, the USS Luna was now battle ready.

He then went to the Helm and gave the new and inexperient Helm officer instructions, but upon evading the first Imperial ship he hit her and scrathed the hull plating. Rambam looked angry, and the Helm officer just raised his shoulder. He then smiled they had approaced the Lusankya, another Imperial Star Destroyer. "Fire" Rambam yelled and the USS Luna fired her torpedo's at the Lusankya's bridge.

Rambam had returned and was solved to stay and defend his home!!!!!

Collaborators

 * The Valader -- Main Author of the Story
 * Dinoman82 -- Creator of the Story's Universe
 * ViceMan -- The Grammar Hammer of the Story