Terribly sorry, school has been catching up, and I'm in exams soon. Which is a good thing and bad. Bad because I won't be able to type every day nor will the chapters proceed this fast (especially because exams are important) but the good news is, is that I have long weekends Thursday till Sunday, so I can use Thursday as my writing day so I won't fall to much behind.

Enjoy!

--

The Robonoids Menace

Since the Robonoids had declared war against Solana and the Galactic Forces, several planets had been brutally massacred. No organic life form had survived the onslaught, even several robots had been destroyed in the progress. As a retaliation the Galactic navy had been set on high alert in order to protect other planets from the same fate as had bestow upon Orxon, and several other planets.

Intel gathered by the Galactic Rangers, indicated that the next planet to be attacked would be Novalis. Immediately several high cruisers had been dispatched to secure the planet before any Robonoid army would gather there.

As several hyper gates opened, three mighty vessels appeared above the planet of Novalis. Almost exactly the same as the Phoenix was, but only smaller in size..

"Hyperspace jump successful sir, all ships have arrived safely." Said a robot towards the captain. "Good prepare the crew and launch the fighters as soon as you can. We need to be ready before the GIRL gets here! We'll show those bastards some thing about waging real war!" said the alien. The captain's name was Alden, a Cazar, one of the best veterans the galactic navy had in there service. It was he who had proposed to sent a small but elite force towards Novalis to set up an ambush at the planet.

"All Interceptors are being launched sir, they will be deployed around the ship in T-minus 8 minutes." "Prepare all onboard weaponry, if even a darn crack is heard I want missiles to those locations. Send some Drop ships with several squads to secure the ground as well." A loud siren began to cry as organics and robots alike began to run, some of them towards the hangar bays, others to there station within the mighty vessels. Huge pods carrying several squads of Galactic Rangers were plunged from the hangar bays into space. As only robots were inside the Drop ships, the loading time was much faster then when organics would also journey alongside with them. As they did not need to worry about life support for them.

Each ship launched several ships into the atmosphere, the heat was immense making the blue plating glow a fiendishly red colour as it descended towards the planet. Some Interceptors had been send along the way to secure the ships when being in such a fragile state. Whilst the mother ships on there turn, were preparing there weaponry. Each ship was dubbed a name after a bird. The most powerful and intimidating one was what the crew called the Falcon, the other two had been dubbed the Eagle and the Sparrow. The Eagle had superior sensors and radar equipment, whilst the Sparrow had been adjusted to take in special weaponry as well as the newest prototype fighters: the F-305.

The Drop ships had no problem landing, as Novalis was equipped to handle large space crafts with ease. Not even letting the ship land properly as the rangers already jumped of securing the area for several other Drop ships to land. "Area secure sir!" said a Galactic Ranger towards anotherone, this bot had several golden insignia's on his shoulder marking him the rank of Sergeant, perhaps Corporal. The veteran bot looked around the area as he gave several orders. The bots spread out as a small communication network was et up and a link towards the Falcon was established. "What's your status Sergeant?" asked the captain on the ship, hoping that everything had gone smooth. "No problems so far sir! We will give the Noids a warm welcome once they arrive… You can can't wait I am getting a… GET DOWN!" screamed the bot as he made his he jumped to the ground, the screen turning into white snow as the communication had been lost. "Sergeant? SERGEANT!! Get me a link up asap! I want to know what the fuck is going on there!" shouted the enraged captain at the crew, which began to work hard.

Whatever had happened on Novalis, it could not be good. Perhaps the Robonoids, well that was the first thing that came into the captains mind as he tried to figure out what had caused the link to fail but he was taken out of his daydream as one of his subordinates began to address him "Sir we got multiple energy signatures coming from the planet…" fear began to strike the captains face as it struck him like a lightning bolt "There already here." He said quietly sweating as he figured out what those energy ratings meant. "Get the shields up NOW!!!" he screamed as some of the bots began to work hastily not knowing what the problem was, but it was to late, several bright flashes came at them at high velocity as the shield began to consume the entire ship the beam already had managed to hit the engine area. A huge shockwave penetrated the ship as crewmembers were sent flying from one part of the room to another, explosions took down several decks as sirens began to make deafening noises indicating breaches in the hull. As the captain regained consciousness after the blast he was stricken with grief, everwhere he looked there was destruction, some parts of the bridge had been completely destroyed whilst other sections barely had power to function straight. As he tried to stand up he noticed his legs would not budge. He was bleeding down his arm as one of them had been broken. "Arrgh… dammit how did we make a mistake like this?!" he crused to himself. The shield had managed to spare the ship from total destruction, but it was heavily damaged. No response came from either the Sparrow or the Eagle. Several bots that survived the initial blast came quickly to the captain's aid, having sustained minor injuries themselves. "Captain are you alright?!" "It's fine G56… Just try and get us out of here quickly!" "What of the men on the planet?" asked the bot confused not wanting to leave several hundred of them on the planet.

Unbeknownst to the Galactic navy however was the fact that the Intel that was given to them had been send to them deliberately luring the entire fleet into a trap. The GIRL had already invaded the planet and were just waiting for the Galactic Navy to send in there ships.

"Darn it bot, this is an order!!! The GIRL knew we would arrive here it was a trap for US. Now unless you want this ship to be destroyed with the next attack I suggest you get the darn hyper drive online again!" said the captain to the bots.

Meanwhile on the planet, the Galactic Rangers were being overwhelmed. "Where did those damm Noids get from? P98 get your can over here and give backup to squad Delta!" The Robonoids knew perfectly what to do, they had been waiting for the arrival of the Ranger for some time and had taken up key positions. The Rangers were not only outnumbered and outgunned, but they were cornered. "Get this ship back to into space we might escape just yet!" as several missiles were fired from the hills at the ascending ship. Destroying it within an instant. Cries could be heard over the communication network as flames and explosions killed of everything on the vessel. Every once in a while the rangers got lucky and were able to fend of some of two eyed Robonoids as they came in charging with there guns. But it was to no avail, screatching could be heard in the sky as bombers made there way towards the landing site. "Bombers? Noids don't have that tech! Rangers shoot them down!" anarchy settled over the remaining survivors as they began to run for there lives, some get impaled by friendly fire even trying to flee. Others then again got shot by lasers or fell into the water.

The interceptors had problems of there own, almost all but one had been taken down when the initial attack had been launched at them. "We can't hold them off! There gaining on us…" said a voice covered in fear and despair. "God dam it I know, trying to outmanoeuvre them. We need to get back to the mother ship!!" Another voice said, trying to hide has anger. It did not take long before a beeping sound was heard as both of them watched on the monitor, seeing a small dot gaining on them and gaining fast. "FUCK they locked on to us, hold on tight!" as the interceptor accelerated to top speed, trying to shake off the missile that had been fired at them. "Come on only a few fore kilocubits!! Don't let down lass…" said the robotic pilot as he turned his ship around trying to avoid the incoming danger. His organic partner wasn't so sure if they would succeed. "This is Red Beaver calling mother ship. We need IMMEDIATE assistance!!!" said the organic one trough the mike but only static could be heard. "Where are those darn reinforcements?! We need them those darn Robonoids are gaining on us." Said the robotic pilot as he saw the that the beeping had stopped, this spooked him a bit as normally the missile would have gained on them. Looking trough the window he saw a small object falling to the ground. "SWEET! Darn thing fell outta juice! Damm Noids won't get me!" growled the bot as he dived towards the ground.

Back on the Falcon bots were busy trying to get the hyper drive back online. What was left of it anyway, as the energy beams had cut straight trough it. Several engineer bots had been completely vaporised when the beam had struck there section, making it all the harder for the other ones to fix the engine. But for once luck was on there side as the lights sprung back on indicating the engine was back online. Captain Alden was informed as he ordered an immediate evacuation towards the nearest rendezvous point. As the engine propelled the ship towards hyperspace they barely escaped a second attack from the planet. Alden fell to the ground sick as to what he had just ordered but was at the same time relieved as he began to think of what he had just survived trough and not to mention the lives he had saved.

8 Hours ago

The day had started great for Ratchet, Al informed him that the ship was almost completely checked and could be ready for battle in no time. Clank had done a great job replacing him as everything was done as he would have done it himself. And the best part of all, he was allowed to get back to work this afternoon!

"Life feels good doesn't it Clank?" asked the Lombax to his metal friend. "Even tough I do not feel Ratchet, I sympathise with you over the fact that it is indeed a nice day!" said the robot in his usual monotone voice. "Very funny Clank" said Ratchet in a sarcastic voice. It surprised him that he had not seen Abel yet! And Qwark was also to quiet this time of the day. "Maybe I'll check it out." He said as Clank had no idea what his furry friend was talking about. Ratchet grabbed his stick to support him and went out to search for Abel. It was a hard burden on us body to try and stand up, but Ratchet was already very happy that he did not need to depend on anyone as much as he had the last days.

First up was there own quarters right after he entered the main hall via the bridge. If Abel would not be there then there could only be a few more places he could be. As he entered the room the door closing behind him he saw the room empty. Except for a very large cage at the left side of Abel's bed, Bolt's place, Ratchet went up towards the unusually large, well it was almost as large as the place they had constructed for Qwark when he was a monkey, contraption. He began spotting the entire terrain searching for the pet. "Bolt? Are you in here… I'm looking for Abel!" asked Ratchet hoping Bolt would show himself. No response followed much to his concern, but he was hearing something a sort of snoring. "Aah he's sleeping. Better not disturb the little fella then." As he saw the tip of a Lombax tail hanging out one of the many sleeping places Abel had created for the creature. Ratchet searched everywhere from that point on, the mess hall, the bathing area's, every place he knew Abel could be hanging around. All of them had been checked except for the hangar bay. "Offcourse! He must have gone for a ride… Mhhhh he should have told me that before he went out! Darn Lombax is so careless!" he growled softly as he began to make his way to the control tower of the Phoenix. The door to the room opened as several bots of various size saluted the captain coming in on his stick.

Some of the robots got confused as to why the captain was here, normally he did not bother coming towards the tower less something had happened. "Has any ship left the hangar yet?!" he asked, he got a firm nod from several bots. They explained that Qwark wanted to have some flying lessons from Abel and since Qwark was a "high officer" none bothered with the order that he Abel would take a small joy ride. At this he let oh a sigh he knew Abel did not like many rules, but atleast he was with Qwark so he was more worried they he would do something stupid then Abel! The robots began to scan for there frequencies, it only took them about a min or so before they had established a connection towards the two ships. "Abel…Qwark. Care to explain this?" a small oh ooh was heard from the ship Qwark was piloting, making Ratchet chuckle a bit to which the bots just gave a strange glare towards the Lombax. "Ratchet buddy, funny thing hehe, I was teaching Abel how to fly Captain QWAAAARK style." "Is that so Qwark? Then care to explain why the control tower crew told me you asked Abel for fly lessons?" Ratchet would have paid some bolts to see the expression one the alien his face, as it would have been priceless. "Uurrmmm… You would not understand it Ratchet, these are euuh Captain Qwark related things. You would not understand it even if I explained it… Is that not right Abel?" at this Abel's voice began to speak, showing the blue eyed Lombax in the cockpit, his hair now under a pilot's cap like with Ratchet. It seemed to be showing his more feminine side, as he almost seemed to be a female Lombax. "Well Qwark that is not entie…" "See he fully agrees. But we will be turning back towards your locatioaaaAAAH! What in MY name is that?!" Qwark screamed as the crew in the control room began to receive weird readings. "QWARK? ABEL!!!!" Ratchet yelled as he saw how the screen went a white snow like. "We lost there signal sir, something is interfering with our broadcast!" said one of the bots searching desperate for an answer. "Ratchet? We got a situation here on the bridge!" Clank had been able to find out where the Lombax. "Affirmative Clank, I'll be there as soon as I can… You keep searching for that signal. I want to know what the hell is going on here!" as he was saluted with several sir's as he left the control room, the green eyed Lombax made his was as quickly as he could towards the bridge. Clank was already waiting for him as he urged the captain to kick up the pace. Much to Ratchet's irritation! The door opened to the bridge showing anarchy inside, bots and organics had been busy to try and fix the white hazel that had even reached the bridge room. It was like something had taken over the ship.

It took Al some minutes alongside with Clank to reroute and start the system up again. At the same time the main monitor jumped on, showing a Cazar of some sorts. "Sasha?" asked Ratchet not capable of recognizing anyone in it cause of the interference "This….Alden…he.p!" "It sounds like that man is in trouble Ratchet! We need to go and help him." Said Clank to his friend who seemed to have been dazing into a day dream. "Clank can you get there location?... You four start up the engines… Al? Try and get contact with that person!" everyone began to do as ordered, Clank had easily found the coordinates but as soon as ratchet heard what they were his eyes widened as if he had seen a horrible image. "Abel and Qwark!" "Did you say something, ratchet?" asked the metallic robot. "I want this ship over at those coordinates NOW!" he yelled much to everyone's surprise.

Not far from the Phoenix Abel and Qwark had been gasping at the sight. Just as ratchet had laid contact with them, a hole opened in space and a giant ship came flying straight trough. All beaten up and almost on the brink of destruction! Abel tried to contact the Phoenix but for some odd reason he was not capable of making a good signal with it. "Darn it! Qwark are you alright?!" he asked as he saw that the vital signs of Qwark ship were intact. "What is THAT thing?" Qwark had never seen a ship like this before. It was not as large as the phoenix but it sure looked like a copy of it! He made his way towards the ship overcoming his fear by pure curiosity. Indeed the ship bared a lot of resemblance towards the Phoenix, from the layout towards where the bridge was and hangar bays. Abel on the other hand scanned the ship, and gasped as his monitor gave life signs still coming from within. "Qwark there are people inside!... Attention vessel, this is Abel from the Phoenix, come in please. Over." Silence overwhelmed the cockpit as Abel listened carefully to any sound. "This is captain Alden of the Falcon we need help! Over." Said the man over the communication. "What is your status Falcon? Over." Abel gave out a sign of relief once the captain told him that they were safe at the moment. And was very glad to hear that the Phoenix was in the vicinity.

"Engines are coming online in 5…4…3…2…1… we have ignition sir!" Ratchet was glad to hear this as the mighty Phoenix began to move. Inside the ship one would not notice it moving at great speed, but then again it was the most modern ship in the entire fleet! Her mighty engines roared as it began to push the ship towards its new location. Ratchet hoped in the bottom of his soul that Abel and Qwark were alright. He felt kind of guilty not paying attention to what was going on, on his ship!!! Ratchet gazed into the cold deep space of the universe, passing the same ice field he and Abel had used several days ago for the small fly contest. It send shivers down his spin as he recalled what had happened that faithful day.

"We have a large unidentified vessel in front of us sir… We also picked up two signals of our on interceptors!" "Are they alright? Can you establish a link?!" Ratchet gazed at the robot as it began to type on it's keyboard trying to open up a link to the ships. But they were to late as a familiar face began to show on screen. "ABEL!!!" Ratchet screeched with joy as he saw the blue eyed Lombax. "This is Abel for the Phoenix, we found something, a ship and it has survivors on it! Send aid. Over…" Clank tugged at ratchet's pants to get his attention even pulling the poor Lombax to the ground cause of the force he applied. "I can confirm it ratchet! There are indeed life forms on that ship I suggest we send a few ships to pick them up!" ratchet began to think, the ship was badly damaged and he could not risk it that these were pirates. But then again the ship looked very familiar! "Send out Drop ship 3G and 8H. Each with a squadron of Galactic Ranger I don't want to be surprised by anything.

Afterwards Abel informed ratchet that he and Qwark would get back the hangar bay as the Drop ships would need time to take of and land and they wished to help in supplying them.

Several moments later two ships were deployed from the belly of the Phoenix making there way towards the large ship. "This is Drop ship 3G and 8H calling vessel. Over." This time the signal came true clearly for both the Phoenix and the Drop ships. "This is captain Alden of the Falcon, we need assistance as we are heavily damaged. Over." Ratchet was surprised, this was a Galactic Navy ship?! No way it could have been this badly damaged. Reports showed that the shield had been drained towards 5% capacity and the hull had been breached on several places, if they hadn't been completely vaporised! "Clank are you sure this is correct?" asked the Lombax "I would not say so if I was not sure." Clank said annoyed at the fact his friend still something thought that he could make mistakes. He was besides a robot! And robots don't say anything unless they are right. Ratchet immediately ordered for the Drop ships to board with the Falcon. "Falcon this is captain ratchet of the Phoenix, we are sending aid! Over."

It was complete anarchy over at the Falcon, the initial burst to get into hyperspace had resulted in several compartments to be completely destroyed by the immense heat that was generated, as the shields were not able to withstand the force anymore. Crew of all kinds was already trying to extinguish fires near the more important places of the ship. But as soon as they had received the news of the Phoenix being near they immediately tried sending signals in hopes of getting contact with the ship. And for there luck they had succeeded! Even if it was via Abel and Qwark first. "This is Drop ship 3G and 8H we are about to dock at gates seven and nine. Please instruct further orders."

The ships were given instructions to dock as wounded and personal got on the ships. They had been fortunate to not have been whipped out. But ratchet was wondering how this could have happened! No ship of the navy was weak by far. And even the most strongest of weaponry had trouble shooting trough the shields let alone dent the hull. "I'm going towards the hangar bay I want to find out what the hell is going on here!" Ratchet said furious walking away. He knew that it could have been the GIRL once again… And if they are the cause then by God he would strike back even if meant disobeying orders from the President himself! He rushed towards the hangar as fast as he could with his walking stick. Even almost breaking a leg by doing so!

Meanwhile at the hangar itself, 3G was putting of the first of the survivors, wounded were taken into care by the doctors and the others just stood in awe as they admired the Phoenix. Some had seen it, but others knew it only trough tales. It was a sight to behold indeed! "Why is Drop ship 8H not back yet?" demanded one of the officers of the Falcon, as he snorted towards one of the lower ranking crew members. "Sir I…I…well we don't know yet! There taking a bit more time then usual perhaps something is amiss?" the poor chap was sweating like an ox in summer. The officer decided to drop the matter as soon as he saw Ratchet, demanding what had happened. His answer was short and simple, he did not know. But after an hour of bickering, the ship returned with the last of the passengers and the captain ratchet wished to speak with!

Captain Alden was glad to be of service to ratchet and that the phoenix had received there signal, which made the Lombax chuckle a bit as it was by pure luck. "So what happened then? Because such a heavy beating on your ship?" ratchet wondered what could have done such devastation, especially to a cruiser of the Galactic navy. "It where the Robonoids! Darn bastards had been waiting for us!" as the Cazar slammed his fists on the table creating a small dent. "So it's true! I was correct… But how?" "I…I don't know, we had been informed that they would attack Novalis so we had our orders to take off with several ships towa…" "What several ships? There is only ship here." Ratchet's eyes went wider as he figured what must have happened. "All those men…GONE!" cried the captain as he began to remember what happened. "We had arrived at the planet, the Falcon alongside with the Sparrow and Eagle… The mission was simple, secure the planet and set up an ambush for the GIRL." His gaze diverted towards the window, looking outside at the ship that was once his own.

Abel along with Qwark, Skidd and Al listened to the story that captain Alden was telling them. Well it wasn't like anything needed to be done, the wounded were taken care of, all missions had been cancelled and the ship was almost ready. And they too wanted to know what had happened!

"I still can't believe it, how on Solana did they get that much firepower? It's true that the Robonoids have more strength the average Ranger but this was insane!" he stopped as ratchet palced a hand on his shoulder urging him to go on. They would soon have the logs of the computer but they wanted to know it and the captain wanted nothing less then to tell the story. "Once we arrived we began sending out some recon ships, the landed without any resistance… Hell! We even believed the planet to be empty, no signs of struggle anywhere so we sended in more ships. But then, ooooh the massacre that began then. The computers registered several energy signatures coming from the surface, before we even knew what was going on the beams had already been fired at us. The Eagle and the Sparrow failed to raise there shields up in time as they were vaporised in front of our very own eyes! We had the more luck then they as our hull could withstand the initial impact for a few seconds, then the shield took the hit… On the planet the same thing must have happened as we lost connection right after we had been struck." Clank stepped into the room holding a black box, at which Ratchet nodded… The small robot came towards the two captains as he gave his friend the black device. "How did you escape then?" "We were able to fix our own engines right before there second attack commenced. If we had waited only by milicubit we would have been destroyed as well… But please I wish to get some rest now." Asked Alden as he began to go towards the door. Once he had left ratchet began to get furious, something Abel had never seen tough not like this.

"prepare this ship! We are going on a hunt!" he said almost yelling it out. "Those menacing robots will not get away with this!... I swear it!!"