Monica, and everyone in her flight room, had been knocked onto the deck, as the Huntington collided into another ship, which also had lost power. Silvana turned back around, and began to fire on the Huntington, hoping to finish the ship off. A piece of metal had been blown away from inside the flight room’s console, and jabbed deep into Monica’s side. She screamed in pain, as blood began to flow onto the deck. Natalie ran to her rescue, pulled the chunk of metal out of Monica, and quickly patched her up. Monica wasn’t able to get back to her feet. Out of nowhere, Crazy Renzo began to fire on Silvana’s ship, cutting deep into the side of its hull, forcing her to retreat.
Rojex was playing leapfrog, as he quickly made his way over to the Horizon. He had completely destroyed every ship that had come with Jesse. Crazy Renzo and the Huntington were the only ships left still intact. Rojex’s mission was to find and slowly kill Jesse. Crazy Renzo was able to attach to what was left of the Huntington, and had to cut a hole leading into Monica’s flight room. Pong and Cinnamon helped Monica, and the rest of her crew, safely board Renzo’s ship. Monica insisted that they head to the Horizon to help Jesse and the others. Since she was still in charge, that is exactly what they did. With caution, Renzo flew and attached his ship to a spot on the Horizon that didn’t have any Renex ships nearby. Since the Horizon was so incredibly massive, it was to their advantage. But, unknown to them, Silvana followed closely behind, and brought her Renex guards aboard the Horizon as well. Once Monica, Pong, Renzo, Cinnamon, and the rest of the girls boarded the Horizon, Silvana detached Crazy Renzo’s ship, and had one of her guards blow it up.
During all of the excitement, Mr. Toad turned to the president to make a comment, but noticed that he was gone. Mr. Toad yelled out in his alien tongue. Now that the Horizon had been taken over, Mr. Toad called down to Dorothy, who was in control of the engine room, and told her to power the Horizon back up. Fear flew through the hearts of everyone on board the Horizon. No one knew what to expect when the power came back on. Mr. Toad gave the order to begin the harvesting of the humans by speaking his alien tongue over the Horizon’s PA system. He also decided that he would eat the president later for dinner. He thought that all of his evil blood would taste sweet. Mr. Toad began to smile and salivate at the thought of sucking on the president’s bones.
“Bring me the president,” Mr. Toad ordered over the PA system.
Mr. Toad received word that his daughter had arrived on the Horizon, and decided to meet his last loving heir to his legacy. He truly loved his daughter, and didn’t want anything to happen to her. He thought that now was the time to tell Silvana about her other brother, who he had kept secret from everyone. Mr. Toad, who was accompanied by one of his guards, took the elevator to the level where his daughter was located. Jesse had no idea that he had just missed the Renexobious ruler, and continued his way up to the Command Room. Once he had finally reached the Command Room, he ran into Don and Tony. With only three Renex guards left in the room, they snuck in, and took them out with their laser pistols. After rescuing what was left of the Command Staff, one of the gunners told them that the lieutenant commander, who had sabotaged the ship, was down in the main engine room, controlling the power to the Horizon. Jesse thought that if he could gain control of the engine room, he could lure Mr. Toad and his guards there.
Cinnamon, who was with Pong, Monica, and Renzo, sees the president trying to slither away down the hall with his Council members. Cinnamon left her group without saying anything to them, but Pong ran after her to ask her what was going on. Cinnamon told her, and Pong offered to go with her, but she told Pong that this was something she had to do alone. Pong understood, and went back to Monica. Monica was being taken care of by her female crew, but Pong felt the need to help her as well. They were looking for a doctor to give her medical attention. Cinnamon followed the president, and his crooked Cardinals, as they cowardly tried to sneak to one of the Horizon’s hanger bays. The president realized that he wasn’t going to take over the ship, and had a strange premonition that Mr. Toad was going to have him killed.
Cinnamon waited until the president was about to open the hatch to one of the UPG science vessels, when she said, “Leaving so soon, Mr. President, and when the people need your support now more than ever. You know that if you stayed, you could have been a hero. A fake hero, but nonetheless a hero. But, of course, that doesn’t matter, because I’m going to kill you now for the death of my parents and my sister.” She raised her laser pistol. She wanted to pistol whip him a while before she killed him.
The president wondered how the hell he was going to get out of this one. He slowly turned around. “My darling girl, I promise you that I didn’t kill your parents. It was one of my Cardinals, who is no longer with me. I had him killed for his misconduct. I don’t believe in violence.” he said, trying his best to sweet talk her.
“You killed my sister!” Cinnamon screamed. Her scream was so loud, that it sent chills up their crooked little spines. “And I know you killed my parents, so don’t try to weasel out of it, asshole,” Cinnamon said with an evil grin stretched across her face.
The president took his nearest Cardinal, and threw him at her, knocking her down. He quickly tried to enter the ship, but he was too late. Cinnamon got back to her feet, and shot him in the back of his leg. He fell to the ground, trying to cradle his wound. She wanted to savor the moment, and shot each of the president’s Council members, who were really no more than corrupt Red Cardinals. Before she killed them, each man begged for his own life. She kicked the president, and didn’t even give him the chance to plead for his life. Cinnamon shot the president in the face, splattering his brains on the science vessels’ landing pad. Although he was dead, she continued to shoot him, causing blood to splatter on her face and clothes. The blood was warm against her face, and for brief second, felt satisfying, but then, she felt regret. She had never killed in cold blood before, and didn’t much care for it.
She looked at her gun for a moment, and then tossed it on the president’s chest. Her whole life had been ripped away from her, and in a brief moment, her longing for revenge had been satisfied. Cinnamon walked out of the hanger bay. As she walked, she wondered what she was going to do next. Her thoughts drifted to Pong, the delightful Chinese girl who had been so nice to her and claimed her as her sister. She missed Heather more than words could express. They had been so close, for so very long, and wanted to tell her that their parent’s death had finally been avenged. She knew Monica would take care of her, but she had Jesse. Since Pong had experienced the same life and tragedies, she would cling to her for the support she felt she would need. Cinnamon took one last look at the president, and said, “Asshole.”
The beautiful new Cinnamon ran to find her friends, who needed her help, and it didn’t take her long to find them. Monica was back on her feet. Dr. Petrouski’s, Captain Moore, and Commander Jain were with her. The doctor had patched her up, as he done with the captain. He had given them both a shot of a stimulant, which gave them a little boost, so they could get around the ship. Even though Eric now had a black eye patch over his eye, Cinnamon took an instant liking to him.
The last thing on Eric’s mind was women. He couldn’t wait to get his hands around Dorothy’s neck. As Jesse was on his way down to the engine room, he called Monica, and told her where he was heading. Monica didn’t want to worry Jesse, so she didn’t tell him what had happened to her. Instead, she told him that she would meet him down at the engine room with the others. Monica was worried, however, as blood seeped through the bandage at her side. She could feel herself growing weaker and weaker. Commander Jain grew angrier and angrier, as he thought of his crew being harmed. He asked for permission from his captain to venture forward to purge the ship of alien scum. Captain Moore agreed, and wished his longtime friend luck.
Nilay Jain made a quick stop to his room to grab his favorite laser pistol and placed it in his belt. He looked over at his wall, and saw his winning tournament cricket bat. Commander
Jain picked it up and grinned, “So invaders, you want to come on my ship and play? All right…let’s play,” then he slapped the long end of the cricket bat in his hand, because the Renexobious had no idea what was in store for them.
Chapter 18
“And the blood of brave men was shed like unto the shedding of rain from a black cloud.”
Ferdowsi
The Horizon became a mad house, as Renex guards stormed around the entire ship, trying to collect as many humans as possible. They rounded up the scared passengers into large groups, pushing them as far as they could into whatever large rooms they could find. When a civilian tried to escape, they would either snap their neck, or bite their head off. It was a scare tactic which did not fail. In the beginning of the alien invasion, some of the crew members had tried to fight back, but only managed to take out a few Renexobious. The Renexobious decided to use the humans as shields, and the Horizon crew members had no choice but to stop firing. They prayed to the White Skull for answers. News had traveled fast that the White Skull was on board and he was there to help them against the aliens.
The hopes of the Horizon’s crew and civilians were lifted when they heard the news. Stories had already been generated that the White Skull had killed twenty aliens with his bare hands. When Mr. Toad heard that rumor, he had placed twenty thousand innocent humans in one of the hanger bays and opened the bay doors. Many of the Horizons civilians were made to watch as a lesson, as twenty thousand men, women, and children, were sucked out into space, and then died from lack of oxygen. It was a devastating sight. Many of the civilians cried as they watched their fellow men and women die in such a terrible way. They were silenced when the Renexobious told them they would do the same to them if they didn’t keep quiet. Many of the Renex guards disagreed with their ruler’s decision to waste twenty thousand humans, who they could have eaten instead, but none of them had the backbone to argue with Mr. Toad. Jesse and his party caught up with Monica and her group.
“It’s just around the corner,” Captain Moore said, as he led his group to the entrance of the engine room. Mr. Toad had just arrived at the entrance, seconds before them, and immediately fired his weapon when he saw Jesse. Mr. Toad missed, and hit Monica instead in the very same spot in which she had been wounded earlier. Jesse caught Monica before she hit the deck. Mr. Toad laughed, and Jesse began to shoot at him like a mad man. He tried to run after him, but Pong, Tony, and Don held him back.
Jesse leaned over Monica, and lifted her up into his arms, “How bad is it?” Jesse nervously asked.
“Pretty bad. Go on without me, Jesse, I’ll wait here. You have to get that bastard and retake the ship. The only way to save the rest of the people on board is by killing the Toad first. Then, we’ll be able to flush out the rest of the aliens. Go ahead…”
Jesse cut her off, “There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you behind, woman.”
“You don’t have a choice; I’m not going to make it.” Monica’s eyes began to roll into the back of her head, but Jesse shook her a little.
“Monica, stay with me. Monica…” Jesse said, trying to wake her. Monica’s head fell back, and she took her last breath. Jesse put his head back, and screamed, “FUCK!”
Jesse was unaware that Monica only pretended to die, so Jesse would leave to kill Mr. Toad. She knew that if he worried about her, then he wouldn’t be able to concentrate. It was also her chance to get back at him for pretending to die that time he entered the wormhole. Jesse held her tightly and kissed her lips. Monica did her best not to kiss him back. It wasn’t easy for her since she was dying to kiss him. Although her wound wasn’t terminal, she still passed out from the shock of her injury. Jesse was pissed off, and looked forward to killing the Renexobious ruler. He held her for a while, as the others looked on in sadness. Jesse had Renzo help him take Monica to a secluded room so that the Renexobious wouldn’t be able to touch her body. He ordered Renzo to protect her body until after they had saved the ship. He happily agreed, hiding his disappointment of not getting into the action. Renzo figured that after Jesse did what he had to do, he would be able to help with getting rid of the rest of the aliens. Silvana, who was watching from a distance, saw Jesse and Renzo carrying Monica. She also saw Monica’s lips part and saw her tongue slightly move. She smiled to herself, knew Monica wasn’t dead, and figured she would wait and come for her later. When Jesse, Captain Moore, and the others reached the engine room entrance, they found it to be ripped to shreds.
“Rojex must have been here,” Cinnamon commented, who had already seen the malicious robot in action. Jesse was not in a rush to meet the infamous robot who could destroy ships with his metal hands. He hadn’t actually seen him yet, but had been updated on what he was capable of.
“Great, it just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” Jesse asked, wryly.
Jesse entered first with both of his guns drawn. He personally wanted to run in and gun down the Renexobious leader like a mad man, but held off, because he didn’t want anyone on his team to get hurt. He didn’t really care if he were shot. Jesse felt an almost uncontrollable rage inside of him over Monica’s death. He was still too shocked to believe that she was dead. Jesse knew it would hit him later, but right now, all he cared about was making sure that Mr. Toad died for all of his horrible crimes, and the lives he had ruined. Especially for shooting Monica, the very same woman who had risked her own life time and time again just to save his ass. Jesse felt that even by killing Mr. Toad, it could never make up for all of the things that she had done for him.
Captain Moore said that he knew of a shortcut down to the main power core room one the first floor. Eric Moore wanted to get down there to take care of Dorothy, and that traitor, Lieutenant Commander Holland. As Jesse looked around, he could see what was left of the crew members who used to attend to the different areas of the engine room. The young space pirate also noticed some of Rojex’s handiwork, as he saw that some of the metal decking was torn apart. Although the engine room consisted of five levels, the first level being the main power core, Jesse took note to how far down the levels were. He guessed it would take a little time to get down to the first level.
“Shit, the lifts that go down have all been disabled, looks like we’ll have to take the stairs,” Eric stated.
“Figures,” Jesse said.
“Tony, Don, why don’t you go with the captain to help. I’ll be fine,” Jesse instructed. Don and Tony loyally obeyed, and went with Eric, which left Cinnamon, Pong, and Eronica with Jesse. Jesse wasn’t worried about Pong or Cinnamon, as much as he was about Eronica, since she wasn’t a warrior like the other two ladies. He tried his best to find a safe spot for her to hide until everything was over, but she insisted on going with him. Eronica kept saying that it was so that she could help energize him just in case he needed it. Jesse wondered what the hell she meant, and told her to follow him. The three women followed closely behind Jesse, as they quietly walked down a flight of metal stairs. Eronica was practically on his back as they ventured down. Although she was scared, Eronica loved just being able to touch his hard muscles. She had noticed that he had been working out. Jesse thought that maybe the Pulse females had weird customs, because he could swear that she was sniffing at his hair and shirt. Little did he know that she was captivated by his scent. Although Jesse’s mind was set on revenge, and helping the Horizon, he had noticed that she had a wonderful fragrance of fresh cut flowers and berries.
In another section of the Horizon, crew members looked and cheered on as the crazed Commander Nilay Jain had taken matters into his own hands. Nilay Jain was devoted to his crew, and didn’t want anything to happen to them. Commander Jain had earned the respect of the crewmen and women over the last few years with his incredible hard work, and through his leadership. Commander Jain was unafraid of the large aliens, and had managed to put fear into them instead. With a look of rage on his face, Nilay strutted down the corridors looking for fight after fight. Being so quick and athletic, he would run aft
er the Renex guards, jump in the air, yell, and then bring down his cricket bat, smashing their heads. His cricket bat was now covered in alien blood, which was a darker thick red color than humans’ blood. He had managed to take out a handful of Renex guards before coming across his most difficult obstacle. After running down a long hallway, he had made a right, and what was waiting for him, were three smaller Renexobious, who had purple runic letters tattooed on the side of their faces, indicating that they were elite warriors of the Renexobious Brotherhood. The aliens, who were shorter than the other Renex guards, were also thinner, and more tone. Nilay pulled out his laser pistol, shooting the closest alien to him in the head. The alien immediately went down, as the other two attacked. As Commander Jain attempted to fire again, the Renex warrior to his right knocked Nilay’s laser pistol out of his hand. The Renex warrior to Nilay’s right, attempted to kick the commander in the face. Nilay quickly backed up, and brought his cricket bat on the alien’s knee. The alien went down, holding its knee in pain, as the other alien warrior moved in. Commander Jain spun around to gain extra force, and swung his cricket bat as hard as he could at the alien’s throat, killing it instantly. Nilay walked up to the other Renex warrior, who was holding its knee, and struck it on the head. Nilay didn’t particularly like killing, but knew it was necessary, otherwise, the Renexobious would eat everyone on the Horizon, and he was not going to let that happen.
Nilay looked at the aliens who lay dead on the floor, and said, “You’re on the wrong ship.” He wiped his cricket bat on one of the aliens, and then continued on his mission.
***
Mr. Toad and four of his guards were patiently waiting for Jesse, Cinnamon, Pong, and Eronica. Jesse was curious as to why they didn’t have any guns drawn. Mr. Toad was eating one of the crew members and had an evil grin on his face. Jesse knew at that point that he was walking into a trap.
Voyages of the White Skull Book 1 Page 32
