Kagura started running towards the airlock. Tomo and Osaka did their best to keep up with her. She seemed to be so far ahead of them. Tomo could barely keep up with Osaka, despite all her energy. Tomo couldn't keep up with either one of these two. Each breath was becoming more and more difficult. Tomo wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up. She fell on the floor, gasping for air.

"Come on Tomo," said Osaka, "get up, we have to go!"

"Wait…why am I going? I can't fight, I can't run, I can't even catch my breath! If I go with you two I'll just die…."

"What about Yomi?" said Osaka. "Don't you want to back her up?"

"Uh, Osaka, Yomi's on the bridge…I don't think she needs any back up."

"Yes she does Tomo!" Osaka yelled. "If the marines aboard this ship die no one will be left between her and the android menace!"
Tomo hadn't thought of that before, but what could she do? She wasn't a ground pounder she was from the Navy. Physical fitness wasn't something that had been stressed at Luna Naval Academy.

"Hey!" yelled Kagura, "if you can't keep up meet me in the armory!"
Osaka pulled Tomo off of the floor. Tomo rested her arm around Osaka's shoulders for support. They quickly (not really) made it to the armory. Kagura waited for them, her impatience quite evident.

"Where have you two been?"

"I think Tomo's better now," Osaka said.

"Ye-yeah," Tomo huffed, "I'm fine…really."

"Look you two," said Kagura, "if you can't perform now, then I think we might all die today."

"Not exactly the best pep talk I've ever heard," Tomo replied.

"Shut up," said Kagura her temper was reaching critical levels. "The plan is for the three of us to get onboard the alien space ship. Once we're onboard we'll kill all of the Keronians, deactivate the androids, and destroy the alien warship. Now do either of you have a better plan?"

"No," Tomo and Osaka said in unison.

"Okay," Kagura reached into her holster pulling out her HK pistol. "Osaka or Tomo?" the girl asked.

"I'll take it," said Tomo, "there's no way I'm facing these things unarmed."

"Fine," said Kagura. As Tomo inspected the firearm Kagura went to a wall rack filled with large rifles. "Ah, there it is," said Kagura. Tomo looked up from her handgun to see a four foot long barrel pointing at her face. The rifle Kagura had selected was an AS 50 sniper rifle. The weapon fired the .50BMG round, and weighed about 28 pounds. It had originally been designed for use by the Navy SEALs almost four hundred years ago. "What do you think Takino?" Kagura asked.

"That thing…is huge!" Tomo yelled.

Slick, Tomo turned her head to see Osaka holding a strange rifle in her hands.

"An AA-12?" said Kagura.

"Gotta be CQB."

"I think you might be overdoing it Osaka," Kagura replied.

"I don't take chances," Kasuga responded.

Near the airlock…

Smith turned to see androids rushing towards him. He quickly ducked his head back down. Next to him Nyamo blind fired her SCAR, the sound of glass and metal shattering filled their ears. Quickly popping his head back up Smith discovered that the .30 bullets of the SCAR H had done a lot more damage than the 556mm rounds of his TAR 51. The two machines lay destroyed, bullet holes in their fuel tanks and CPUs.

Nyamo's head popped up beside his. "Not bad for a girl, huh?" she boasted.

"Yeah, don't let it go to your head though."

"Whatever," said Nyamo.

Smith just shrugged, watching Nyamo reload before rising up from the floor. Smith followed her to the corner before raising his TAR 51, switching to M302 grenade launcher. Peeking around the corner Smith saw a group of marines hiding behind crates to keep from getting hit by the androids shotgun arms. Smith fired off two grenades in quick succession. The robot he hit instantly fell down. Smith fired off another two grenades, both missed. At this point the three remaining robots turned in his direction. They moved quickly and Smith was out of grenades. Suddenly gunfire filled Smith's left ear. One by one the three machines were ripped apart by a hail of gunfire from Nyamo and her SCAR. Smith inspected the destroyed machines, some still leaking out oil.

"Like I said, not bad for a girl."

"Whatever," Smith replied.

The airlock…ground zero…

Captain Howard hid with his men behind steel crates. The sound of automatic shotgun fire filled their ears. These machines were immune to the rounds of their TAR 51 assault rifles. Luckily the men with designated marksmen rifles could defeat the androids' armor. Heavy machineguns and rifle grenades also made short work of the robots. But it wasn't enough. Captain Howard wasn't quite sure how much longer they could hold out against these things. All he knew for certain was that to win this battle, they needed a miracle.

En route to the airlock…

BAM! BAM! BAM! Three shots and Kagura's AS 5O destroyed three androids instantly. The power and accuracy of each of her shots was tremendous. Tomo could only stare in wonder at her. Tomo saw some large shapes emerge from the hallway to the left.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Three less androids to worry about.

"Come on!" said Kagura. "We need to get to the ship!"

The three of them hurried towards the airlock. Screams could be heard up ahead. They had to be close.

Near the airlock…

"Damn it!"

Their situation looked pretty dire. Nyamo and Smith had headed towards the airlock in order to help the marines. They weren't afraid of anything, at least that's what they thought. Unfortunately they had run into more of the androids, as well as Kururu.

"What's the matter humans? Afraid of little old me?" Kururu's sinister laugh came through his android exoskeleton.

"We're not scared," said Smith, "just respectful."

"We both know that's a lie," said Kururu. "Why don't you come out from behind those boxes so I can kill you properly?"

"F— you!" yelled Nyamo and Smith together. Kurosawa raised her SCAR and sprayed rounds over the tops of the crates. Glass splintered from the impact of the SCAR's powerful bullets. Nyamo and Smith popped their heads out to see what had happened.

"I'm not very impressed," said Kururu. "All you did was destroy those ones that were on autopilot. I think you'll find me a much greater challenge." The shotgun arms of Kururu's exoskeleton retracted, hands appeared to take their place. "I prefer ripping my prey apart, don't you?"

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Smith was scared. He had run out of rifle grenades, Nyamo was out of ammo. The only option left was to use their fragmentation grenades. But Kururu was only ten feet away from them. Smith could hear himself whimper, so much for being an unstoppable sergeant. Kururu lifted the metal crate the two were hiding behind over his head.

"Any last words? I didn't think so," the evil Keronian laughed at his moment of triumph. "Like shooting monkeys in a barrel."

Smith and Nyamo embraced each other, closing their eyes, knowing that this was the end.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The evil Keronian was crushed under the weight of the heavy steel crate. Smith and Nyamo both opened their eyes up. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Look you two," said Kagura, "you'll have time after the battle."

Nyamo and Smith pulled away from each other. Kagura had a smile on her face, Nyamo and Smith did not. Kagura laughed as Smith and Nyamo seemed to turn red with anger. Kagura looked at them again, a smile still on her face.

"We were not…." Nyamo and Smith stopped. They had both spoken in unison for the second time that day. A slight blush formed on their faces.

"I'm not terribly interested in your relationship," said Kagura, "but it's good to see that Nyamo's finally started dating."

Kurosawa mumbled to herself about how much she hated her friend Kagura. "Just because I haven't told you about dates I've went on…that doesn't mean I haven't gone on any!"

"Might want to work on your lies…and possibly your grammar."

"Look Kagura," said Nyamo, "don't make me bring up Tom…."

"Oh please," said Kagura, "miscarriages and antibiotics. Besides Kasuga and I need to put a stop to this android problem."

"How are you gonna do that?" asked Smith.

"If we disconnect these two ships, most of the androids will be sucked out into space. I've told Kaorin to do that in five minutes, by then I think I'll be onboard the alien's ship." Kagura was determined, and she would not fail.

The airlock…ground zero…

"Johnson, keep up the suppressing fire!" yelled one of the marines.

The androids had been outnumbered from the start, something that was becoming even clearer with each passing second. Over two hundred of the machines lay destroyed, but the marines had suffered even more. Of the 478 marines onboard the Hercules less than half of that number was still alive.

Captain Howard looked at what remained of his proud men and women. There just didn't seem to be any hope of surviving. Oh no, Howard thought to himself, he's here again! There had been about three hundred robots in the beginning, but two of them had contained strange creatures in them. Howard assumed that these were the aliens the ULE team had encountered. The yellow one was pretty dangerous and Howard hadn't seen it in awhile. The most dangerous one however was the green one. Every time it appeared it killed more than twenty marines on its own. It had shown up five times already, and now here it was again.

"AT4, do it!"

Howard raised his head, just in time to see something streak across the room. The AT4's anti-tank round slammed into the largest group of androids, pieces of metal flew in all directions. Howard watched as two more additional rockets ripped through thirty more of the war machines. Howard saw Kasuga loading another round into the missile system. Kagura aimed at another group of robots and fired.

Keroro watched his robots fall by the dozen from the mighty AT4. Keroro saw a group of marines hiding behind a crate. He quickly rushed over to where they were. His exoskeleton's powerful arms crushed the steel crate like tissue paper. He smashed the marines under his heavy metallic feet.

Kagura watched the evil frog slaughter more marines. She saw how their .223 rounds simply bounced off his armored suit. This couldn't go on any longer.

"Alright you guys!" Kagura yelled to Tomo and Osaka, "There's a change of plans. You two will go aboard, I'll stay here."

"What?" yelled Tomo, "why?"

"I have to kill Keroro, no one else here is skilled enough," Kagura answered. "He just wiped out another squad!" Kagura's anger had reached its limit. "You two get on the damn ship already!"

"Okay," said Osaka. "Come on Tomo, we only have thirty seconds left to get onboard!"

"But…," at this point Osaka grabbed Tomo by the arm and dragged her towards the airlock.

"Come on Tomo! We need to move a lot faster if we're gonna get there in time!"

Tomo ran as fast as she could, so did Osaka. They ran past the charred remains of androids, past the bodies of fallen marines. An android's attempt to stop them was short lived, by the virtue of Kagura's AS 50. Osaka and Tomo leaped onto the Keronian ship.

"We need to hold on to get behind something," said Osaka.

"We should use that doorway over there. It's close by and it's facing away from the airlock!"

Tomo and Osaka just managed to brace against the doorway before the ships pulled away from each other. They could hear the rush of air as it was sucked into the vacuum of space. Warning sirens could be heard over the air streaming past. A heavy thud was felt rather than heard. At that point the air stopped streaming past them and everything was quite.

Thirty seconds prior…onboard the Hercules…

Kagura watched the "awesome duo" head towards the airlock. A lone android attempted to stop them. Kagura quickly raised the AS 50 and fired a single round straight through the machine.

"Good luck you two," said Kagura, "you're gonna need it."

Kagura saw Keroro move off. Suddenly the sound of a howling wind filled Kagura's ears. Finally, thought Kagura. The airlock is open. Kagura watched as the androids were sucked out of the spaceship, along with the corpses of the marines, after only a few seconds the airlock doors slammed shut again; separating the humans from the lethal depths of space.

Keroro saw what had happened to his android army. Keroro moved away quickly in his combat suit, but Kagura still managed to catch up with him.

"Aw," said Keroro, "if it isn't Mia Hamm. What brings you here space mo—?"

Keroro was rudely interrupted by a round from Kagura's AS 50 sniper rifle. The android body erupted into a fireball that Keroro leapt out of.

"How rude," said Keroro, "and here I was trying to create small talk."

Kagura wasn't in to talking at the moment since she fired another shot.

"Hey!" yelled Keroro, "if you aren't careful with that thing you're liable to actually hit me!"

God damn it! How the hell does he manage to dodge my shots?

Kagura continued to fire at Keroro. Each time she pulled the trigger the frog would leap away, unfazed.

After firing again Kagura noticed something. Now I see how he dodges my shots, his eyes are fast enough that they can see my finger squeezing the trigger! If I can get him to close his eyes, then I've got him! But how can I get him to do that?

"Heh, I thought you were an elite soldier. I guess I was wrong…."

"Shut up! You stupid toad monkey!"

"I am not a stupid toad monkey!" yelled Keroro, "I eat them!"

For a split second Keroro closed his eyes in anger. Kagura took her chance. The .50BMG round is well noted for its anti-personnel capabilities. Even at a distance of a kilometer it can still penetrate body armor with ease. Victims of the .50BMG round are often nearly decapitated by its sheer kinetic energy. It had a similar effect on the unarmored Keroro, except that this happened to his whole body. The .50BMG round penetrated the frog monster, being held up by fluid filled bladders Keroro had no solid bodily components. The effect was fairly similar to that of a water balloon, at least if water balloons were filled with a green mucus like substance.

"This is Captain Howard of the USMC," Kagura's radio crackled to life. "The hostiles have been neutralized. I repeat the hostiles have been neutralized."

Kagura smiled to herself. It had been just another day at the office.

Aboard the Keronian spaceship…

Kasuga peered around the corner. The hallway was empty. Sighing in relief Osaka waved Tomo over. Takino appeared shortly, both of her hands pointing the HK down the hall.

"How far is the bridge?" asked Tomo.

"I don't know, wait. Do you hear that?"

Osaka and Tomo both listened carefully. Footprints echoed faintly from in front of them. That meant it wasn't an android, it was a frog. Osaka aimed her AA-12 in the direction of the sound. Tomo quickly followed suit. The sound grew louder and louder. Osaka switched her shotgun from safe to fully automatic. Tomo moved her index finger off of the trigger guard.

A red shape sped down the hall. Tomo and Osaka fired off a few shots. The red blur slammed into Takino, knocking her to the floor, her pistol slid behind her.

Osaka slammed the stock of her AA-12 into the assailant. Giroro was thrown back a few feet from the force of the impact. The Keronian Corporal quickly touched the emblem on his head. He instantly disappeared, he had become invisible.

At the moment that Giroro had been knocked off of her, Tomo had reached for her pistol. She stretched her arm out to grab the small weapon. Her hand touched the polymer grip. Quickly her fingers got a hold on it, putting it in both her hands Takino spun around. Just in time to see Osaka bleeding on the floor.

Tomo heard a noise to her left. She didn't hesitate. Three .45ACP rounds tore across the five foot space. Red liquid flowed from the air as if by magic. Tomo squeezed the five remaining shots out of her firearm. Giroro fell to floor, his heart pierced by one of Tomo's first pistol shots.

"You're a natural," said Osaka.

"You really think so?" asked Tomo.

"I sure do," Osaka wiped the blood off of her face. "That one nearly had us. Luckily there's only one left onboard this ship, and it's the little one."

The awesome duo quickly headed down the hall in the direction of the arrows that said Bridge on them. The two quickly arrived. Tamama stood with his back turned towards them, he didn't get the chance to turn around.

"Okay," said Osaka, "now all we have to do is destabilize the engines. That'll destroy the ship."

"Oh I don't think you'll have the chance to do that," said Keroro.

"How did you get off of the Hercules?" Tomo and Osaka asked.

"You honestly thought that was me? And here I thought that you creatures were smart. That was only a clone. I never left this ship." Keroro quickly shot an energy bolt at Kasuga. Her AA-12 took the brunt of the damage. Keroro then slammed into her, they started wrestling. Osaka's back was against one of the ship's control panels. It was clear that Keroro was the stronger of the two.

"Tomo!" yelled Osaka, "fire your pistol at us!"

"But that would kill you—"

"Just do it!" Osaka screamed.

Tomo stared at the two of them fighting each other. Memories of her time with Osaka flowed through her head. She set the pistol down, tears in her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Osaka yelled.

"I can't do it."

"Yes you can! Do it now!"

"NO!" yelled Tomo. "I can't."

"Why not?" Osaka screamed.

"Because you're my friend Osaka. I can't let you go alone." Tomo walked over towards one of the control panels.

"You have to Tomo," said Osaka, "it's the only way!"

"No, no it isn't." Tomo placed her left hand over one of the buttons. "Do you remember what Kagura said, when she came back after she had walked across this ship?"

"No," said Osaka still struggling against Keroro's might. "No I don't."

"She said that if the aliens tried firing their weapons, they would become a lovely ball of plasma."

"What?" yelled Keroro.

"You heard me."

"Argh!" Keroro hit Osaka in the face before leaping towards Tomo. He flew fast. But not fast enough. Tomo managed to hit the button, just as Keroro snapped her neck.

Kagura watched from the bridge as the ship began to evaporate. Hot gas sprayed out in all directions. The center of the swirling vortex was too bright to see. She closed her eyes, tears escaped from them. For the first time in eight years, ever since Tom had broken up with her, Kagura cried.

Kagura followed the chief engineer. She claimed to have found the individual that had disabled their engines. Yomi and Nyamo followed her, tears flowing from their eyes. Kagura was going to kill this bastard.

"Here he is Commander."

"Thank you Miss Mihama," said Kagura, "I won't be long."

Kagura walked into the room, finally able to meet the man who had kept disabled their ship and nearly killed them all. The man's face was nervous. He stroked his hair incessantly. His eyes however were cold, uncaring, cruel. The man in front of Kagura was Captain Franklin P. Howard.

"Why?" asked Kagura.

"Orders."

"Orders from who?"

"OMNI Central Command," Howard responded.

"Figures," said Kagura.

"We knew about the Keronians for quite some time," said Howard. "Unfortunately we'd previously been unable to get a glimpse of them. When we heard that a Keronian ship was to be sent near these coordinates I asked for a Navy vessel to be in the vicinity."

"So, that means you're the reason so many of us died," Kagura responded.

"Like I said I was merely following ord—"

"Yeah, orders that you made yourself!" yelled Kagura. "I am absolutely done with this interrogation." Kagura pulled a SIG 226 out of her hip holster.

"What are you doing?" yelled Howard.

"You were present during our battle against the exoskeletons right? As far as Command will know your death was caused by injuries sustained during the battle."

"You'll never get away with it!"

"Get away with it?" said Kagura, "How am I the bad guy here? You were the one that murdered over four hundred of the soldiers under your command. This is simply justice, plain and simple."

"Yeah well you can go straight to He—"

Captain Howard never finished his sentence. Kagura's weapons had a nasty habit of interrupting people.