Back in the Command Room, crew members nervously attended to their stations. The alien ships had only been attacking for a little while, and they order the Horizon to cease firing on them, and to halt its course.
“Admiral! You’re not going to believe this, but we have more incoming ships from the wormhole,” Lieutenant Commander Holland reported.
“Have you identified them, Lieutenant?” the admiral asked, while sitting in his command chair.
“Not yet, sir. Wait…they’re human, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Holland paused and feared the worst, for himself.
“You’re not going to believe this, sir, but one of the ships is the Black Ice,” Lieutenant Commander Holland reported. The entire Command Room seemed to have stopped breathing, when they heard the name the Black Ice. They weren’t sure if they should be happy, or very afraid. One of the male crew members passed out when they heard the name of the White Skull’s ship.
“Are you sure?” the admiral asked.
“Yes, sir. He’s trying to contact us. What should I do, sir?” Lieutenant Commander Holland asked.
The admiral paused. He wasn’t sure if he should trust the notorious White Skull. “Put him through,” the admiral ordered, as he repositioned himself in his command chair. There was a moment of silence and static.
“Horizon, this is the White Skull. The ship’s that are attacking you were sent by our president, who is also known as Archbishop Blackwell. We have found out that he is actually the leader of the Red Cardinals, and he has been selling human lives for the technology integrated in your ship, along with every fucking thing else that has helped us to advance for the last few hundred years. Your ship, the Horizon, is promised to the aliens known as the Renexobious…as food,” Jesse said. The space pirate rolled his eyes, and looked at Don, Tony, and Eronica, as if what he was saying sounded ridiculous. Before the Horizon could respond, Jesse momentarily cut the transmission.
“They’re not going to buy it. I sound like jackass,” Jesse said, as he put his hands on his console, lowered and shook his head, and smiled to himself. Jesse re-opened up the communication line.
“The Renexobious what? The president is a Red Cardinal…are you kidding me? Listen, pirate, this is Admiral Scanlon of the Horizon. Don’t think for a second I will fall for your diversions. I know you are with these attacking ships. Do you think I was born yesterday?” the admiral scoffed at the space pirate. Then the admiral cut the transmission.
“I told you,” Jesse said, as he looked at his passengers.
“You tried, Jesse, which is all that matters,” Eronica voiced. Jesse felt strangely positive about Eronica’s response.
“Don’t believe him, Admiral, it has to be a trap,” Lieutenant Commander Holland said to his superior. He wanted his mission to succeed so that he would be able to escape to collect his money.
The admiral thought for a minute, and stated, “Don’t worry, son, I would never trust that pirate.”
Jesse reestablished communications with the Horizon, “Admiral Scanlon, I understand your skepticism, but I will prove my actions by helping you anyway. Be aware that these aliens do mean to come aboard without your permission. I recommend that you get your men and women ready for an invasion, and just to warn you in advance, they eat humans. White Skull out,” Jesse said, and then cut the transmission.
Jesse called all of his fighters, and told them to begin to attack the alien ships. The Horizon was able to take out one of the Renex ships with its powerful turrets. The alien ship exploded with a massive white light. Led by Jesse, the Black Ice, and his band of pirates, cut into the alien raiders, doing what damage they could. The Renexobious moved away from the Horizon, and fought back against Jesse’s team. In the black of space, surrounding the Horizon, it had become a war zone. Each ship was equipped with an arsenal of guns. Some ships had rockets, others machine guns attached to their hulls, while others had large cannons, which shot white flaming beams of light.
Monica followed Jesse, as they ganged up on one of the large alien ships, and began to pommel it with relentless malice. They followed the alien vessel as it tried to get away, but they were too quick for the Renex ship. Within minutes, the alien ship exploded, as pieces of alien remains drifted in space.
“Pirates one!” Jesse yelled over the Comm system.
“Aliens zero!” Monica answered. With Jesse by her side, Monica felt as if there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do. They spoke too soon, for some of Jesse’s comrades weren’t as lucky, as they were destroyed by the aliens’ advanced weaponry.
Jesse called to the other ships in his group and instructed them to fight together as a team. They followed his instructions, and his pirates were able to take out another Renex ship. The battlefield looked more like a dazzling light show, with all of the bright beams of lights and lasers from the warring ship’s guns. Jesse looked over at the Horizon, and couldn’t believe his eyes. The Horizon’s hanger bay began to open, and three of the Renex ships turned, and flew toward it.
“Follow me, if you can…White Skull,” Mr. Toad called over to Jesse on his communication system, and laughed.
“That bastard!” Jesse yelled, as he slammed a fist on his console.
To the admiral’s surprise, hanger bay thirteen opened and three Renex ships entered the Horizon, one of them being Mr. Toad. “Lieutenant Page, how the hell did that hanger open?” the admiral yelled.
Lieutenant Page panicked, as she looked for the answer on her console, “I don’t know, sir. Someone has overridden my command codes.”
“Who overrode your codes?” the admiral asked. Lieutenant Page frantically searched the database. “Oh, my God, it is Lieutenant…” the Lieutenant was cut off by a laser blast puncturing the admiral’s chest. Lieutenant Commander Holland had a crazed look on his face as his pistol was still pointing at Admiral Scanlon, who was now on the floor clutching at his chest.
“Why?” the admiral asked, as blood gargled from his mouth.
“Because I can.” Lieutenant Commander Holland then shot the admiral in the head. The admiral’s head smacked against the deck, as chunks of his brain sprayed to the floor. While in shock, the entire command crew raised out of their seats. Lieutenant Commander Holland backed out of the room, with his gun pointing at the rest of the crew. Someone took a shot at him, and he ran on his way to meet with Dorothy. Just before the lieutenant commander shot the admiral, he had closed the hanger bay, locking in the aliens.
As Jesse was battling two Renex ships, he tried to contact the Horizon to see why they willingly let the enemy into their ship. Lieutenant Page, who had temporarily taken command of the Horizon, contacted Jesse, explaining to him what had just happened, and begged for his assistance. Jesse swooped his ship around, and came up behind one of the ship’s that was attacking him. With Monica’s help, they fired their gun turrets, and blew the Renex ship into space junk. Eronica had the look of a scared rabbit, as she desperately held onto her seat.
“I’m going to the Horizon to go after the Toad. Watch my back, Monica,” Jesse said to her.
“Be careful, love.”
“You too, love.”
Monica smiled, as her crew looked at her as if she were insane. Monica, and the other ships, helped to keep as much enemy fire off of Jesse’s ship as possible, but as he flew toward the Horizon, every Renex ship seemed to fire at him. His ship was taking on heavy fire, as hanger bay thirteen of the Horizon opened up once again. Jesse was barely able to clear the hanger doors as they closed behind him. One of the Renex assault ship’s, which was chasing him, collided with the Horizon, exploding against its hull, creating a large dent in the hanger bay wall. Jesse’s ship caught fire, as he, Eronica, and his friends, quickly got out. Jesse ran over to a console on the wall of the hanger, and hit a large round button, which activated an extinguishing system located over his ship. They extinguishers quickly put out the fire. Jesse looked at the Black Ice, as if it were a best friend who was wounded.
Tony walked over
to him, and said, “Don’t worry, Don and I will patch her up as soon as all of this is over.” Jesse simply nodded.
In the midst of the excitement aboard the Horizon, Dr. Petrouski and Commander Jain attempted to wake Captain Moore from his drug-induced sleep.
“Who the hell would cut his eye out?” Commander Jain asked in disgust.
“I believe it was that blonde he was with, Dorothy,” the doctor stated.
“But why?” Commander Jain couldn’t understand why anyone would want to cut someone’s eye out.
“I don’t know, Commander, but we better get him to the hospital, immediately,” Dr. Petrouski advised.
“All right, I’ll carry him over my shoulder.” Commander Jain effortlessly placed the captain over his shoulder, and the doctor escorted him to Horizon’s hospital. Luckily, for them, there weren’t any Renex guards on the hospital level.
While in space, Monica, and the others, continued to fight off the other Renex ships. The alien ship’s hulls were extremely tough, and they were able to take on a lot of weapons fire. To Monica’s surprise, another ship had come out of the spatial anomaly, and crept behind Jesse’s small band of pirates. Silvana waited a distance away from them, until she felt that it was the perfect time to strike. She wanted to cripple them when they would least expected it. Silvana was angry when she couldn’t spot Jesse’s ship. Rojex scanned the area for the White Skull, and informed the American Indian half-breed that Jesse was aboard the Horizon with her father. Rojex impatiently nagged Silvana about going after Jesse, and that he didn’t want to wait any longer, but Silvana insisted they hold their course.
Jesse, Eronica, Tony, and Don decided to split up so that they could kill the Renexobious who were loose on the Horizon. Eronica went with Jesse, while Don and Tony said that they would head up to the Command Room. Jesse knew that Mr. Toad was on the ship somewhere. He didn’t think that Mr. Toad would give up the Horizon, which was his chance to repopulate his species. Jesse was still feeling a little weak, and Eronica had to steady his balance a couple of times. Even though she was scared, Eronica couldn’t stand to be away from his side. Crowds of civilians, and crew members of the Horizon, fled in all directions. Many of the civilians ran to their apartments, while crew members had become so fearful, that they forgot where their duty stations were. It didn’t take long for the Horizon to look as if it had become deserted.
Jesse found a white phone on the wall, and called up to the Command Room. Lieutenant Page, who had taken command, updated Jesse on what was happening outside. The lieutenant told him that she had been informed that Mr. Toad was on his way to the Command Room. The lieutenant explained to Jesse that they were equipped with firearms, and would hold the aliens off for as long as possible. Jesse grabbed Eronica by the hand, and headed to the nearest elevator. Jesse pressed the button, waited for it to get to them, and then the unexpected happened. The power throughout the Horizon began to shut off in sections, until finally, all lights were off. The Horizon became a defenseless target, as it floated in space. After three minutes, the auxiliary power came online, and the ship’s secondary lights activated. Since the secondary lights were dimly lit, the Horizon was still pretty dark. The civilians stayed in their rooms, still too terrified to see what was going on. Jesse looked for the nearest stairwell and proceeded to run with Eronica to the Command Room. Jesse was beginning to feel weak, as they ascended up the stairwell, but he reached deep inside of himself and pushed on.
Jesse had left Monica in charge of the team, which seemed to have slowed down the Renexobious. Jesse’s team was now down to four ships. Crazy Renzo had managed to take out one of the alien ships, and loved every minute of the dangerous, exhilarating battle. Pong and Cinnamon, who were still with Renzo, did what they could to assist him.
Monica watched in amazement, as the Horizon became lifeless. The Renex ships that Monica and Renzo were fighting, quickly turned around, and headed toward the Horizon with great speed. They quickly attached their ships to the Horizon’s hull, and entered the colossal starship. As Monica and Crazy Renzo advanced towards the Horizon, Silvana attacked the Huntington from behind. Now that some of the Renexobious ships had been destroyed, Silvana decided that now was the best time to strike. Rojex grew anxious for destruction.
As Monica yelled curses, a voice came over her communication system, “Good evening, Monica, I’ll have to ask you to stay away from the Horizon,” Silvana said, as she grinned
“Who is this?” Monica asked.
“Silvana…a fan, actually. I’ve followed your work for years, and I have to say that I’m impressed.”
Monica cut her off, “Oh yeah, are you the spoiled bitch Jesse told me about?”
“Yes…I’ve been called worse. Did Jesse tell you that we’ve slept together? Ohhhhhh, that’s right, he doesn’t remember, because he was unconscious. He was pretty good; I can’t imagine what he’s like when he’s awake. Maybe I’ll find out before we kill him. You know, Monica, I wouldn’t mind sampling you either,” Silvana said, trying to hold in her laughter.
“WHAT?” Monica took over Janet’s piloting controls, and swung her ship around, trying to ram into Silvana. Silvana quickly maneuvered away as Monica chased and fired at her. Monica herself was a skilled pilot, and Silvana found it difficult to get away from her. Both ships dodged and weaved around the debris of the other ships, which had been destroyed. Monica felt as if her blood were boiling.
“Oh, I see that you’re upset. No need to fret, my dear, I’m through with him. Well, except for the fact that I must see that he dies. Oh Monica, is that a birthmark on his penis?” Silvana laughed.
“What? You won’t harm him, bitch, because I’m going to kill you personally.” Monica had Natalie continue firing on the Renexobious half-breed. Silvana maneuvered her ship just in time to miss being hit by the Huntington’s guns. Monica was able to hit Silvana’s ship a few times, but didn’t cause any serious damage.
***
The president, and a handful of his crooked Council members, disguised themselves as regular civilians to blend in with the crowds of people who were running around the Horizon in a panic. The president, and his colleagues, had gotten off onto Mr. Toad’s ship when it had docked. The president wasn’t too far behind Mr. Toad, and he was also headed for the Command Room. He planned on taking the ship for himself. At this point, he figured that if he could save the Horizon, kill Jesse, and anyone else who knew that he was the Bishop. The president planned on being the hero. He had a feeling that Mr. Toad may fail, and in that event, he wasn’t planning on going down with him.
The president had finally made it up to the Command Room, and could hear screaming from the inside. As he went through the glass double doors, which lead to the Command Room, he was astonished to see Mr. Toad, and about five of his guards with him. Some of the guards had already begun to eat the command staff. Mr. Toad himself had started to eat Lieutenant Page, whose command career had been cut short after being ripped in half.
“Ah, Mr. President, it’s about time you showed up to help us. Well, most of our mission is complete,” Mr. Toad stated, with a ring of satisfaction in his voice.
“Yes, I’ve come to help you. How is the battle outside going?” the president nervously asked, pretending to be winded from running up the stairs. He was trying to hide his fear and disappointment of seeing Mr. Toad, who had beat him to the Command Room.
“The battle is beginning to even out. My daughter has brought the Rojex to rip the White Skull apart…after he finishes taking care of the remaining ships outside. This shouldn’t take long. Let’s watch,” Mr. Toad said. Mr. Toad pressed a button on the late admiral’s command chair, bringing up one of the view screens. Mr. Toad blurted something out to his guards in their alien dialect, making them laugh deeply.
There was just enough auxiliary power to supply the Horizon’s Command Room with basic ship systems. The president watched on, as Monica’s ship was chasing Silvana. A bay door opened up on the side of Silvana’s
ship. Rojex momentarily held onto the sides of the bay door, and looked back at Monica.
Monica saw Rojex and feared the worst. The robot was wearing the long, black leather trench coat that he had given to her, and she wondered how in the hell he had gotten it back. She stood straight up, and had Janet fly the Huntington in the opposite direction. Monica wanted to get as far away as possible. She knew she couldn’t win, as her heart began to pound. Monica was a lot like Jesse, and wasn’t afraid of very much, but she had seen the unbelievable destruction Rojex had done. The Huntington was too late, for Rojex hurled his metallic body at them, just making it onto the side of the ship’s engine. He waited until another ship was close enough, and then began to rip away at the Huntington’s thrusters. Rojex threw large chunks of metal from Monica’s hull into space. Mr. Toad laughed, as he watched the display screen, as if he were watching a movie, and continued to munch on the Lieutenant’s body, as if it were a snack. The president tried not to vomit, as he watched Mr. Toad eat his fellow human. Instead, he also chuckled as he watched, but was mentally planning his next move against his alien ally.
Monica’s engines cut out, and the Huntington began to drift in space. Rojex didn’t want to get left behind with the disabled ship, so he gutted out a large section of Monica’s hull, and a few of her crew were sucked out. Rojex jumped onto another ship of Jesse’s band of smugglers, and tore that ship apart as well.
The Huntington’s engines caught fire, and began to explode in sections. A large portion of Monica’s crew had died, by either burning to death, or being sucked out of the torn sections of hull. Monica cried, as she sealed the hatch of her flight room. There was nothing she could do about the rest of her crew, since air was beginning to drain from a nearby section. She managed to get a couple of her girls into the flight room before sealing the hatch.
Voyages of the White Skull Book 1 Page 31
