“Dick head,” Rojex said, using a word he had heard his old friend, Tommy Two Fingers, use time and time again. Disappointed with himself, Rojex sat in place. He tried to use his left right arm to assist himself up, but found it to be non-functional. Rojex realized that he would have to come up with a better strategy if he wanted to kill the…almost indestructible White Skull. The tall robot was impressed that Jesse had lasted as long as he had. It was the first time Rojex had met his match.
The metal robot disappeared again, but for over ten minutes. Rojex surmised that Jesse must be using the scanner on his ship, and knew he wouldn’t be able to sneak around. A handful of Renex guards entered the hanger bay, and began to shoot at Jesse’s ship. Jesse simply grinned, and cut them down with his ship’s guns. Rojex, who was still close by, heard the gunfire, and momentarily disappeared off of Jesse’s scanner. It took him a little while, but Jesse located the robot on the outside of the Horizon’s hanger bay. Jesse wasn’t sure what Rojex was planning. t took several minutes, but Rojex ripped a large hole in the thick hanger bay door, with his good arm, and peeked through. All of the air in the hanger bay was sucked out, as well as tools, crates, and whatever else that wasn’t heavy enough to stay grounded. Since there were two large holes in the walls that led to the adjacent deck of the Horizon, Jesse was worried someone would get hurt.
The space pirate noticed that one of Rojex’s arms was limp, and was grateful to the Universe. Although Jesse still felt as if he was indestructible, he still used his common sense. He knew Rojex would not be easy to get rid of, and began to fire at him again. This time, the tall robot dodged the weapons fire using his good arm and the claws on his feet. The White Skull decided to blow out parts of the hanger bay door. He figured that if he could hit Rojex, then he could blow him out into space, and then, he would be an easy target. Jesse was only able to blast three large holes in the door. The robot laughed at Jesse’s failed attempt to get him. Rojex figured that Jesse was desperate, and he was right. Jesse watched Rojex on his scanner, and when the robot was far enough away, Jesse flew the Black Ice out of one of the large holes.
As soon as Jesse was outside, he spotted Rojex, and began to fire. Jesse clipped the quick robot’s right shoulder, almost separating the robot from the Horizon. The young space pirate knew that it wasn’t too wise to shoot at the starship, but he also knew that the only way the Horizon would be safe, would be to destroy Rojex. Jesse fired at him again, and cursed when he missed. Luckily, he didn’t do too much damage to the ship. Then, Rojex did the unexpected. He crawled back into the hanger bay, and entered one of the Renex vessels. Jesse had heard that Rojex was a skilled pilot, so he wasn’t looking forward to the outcome. Jesse began to sweat, as the ship that Rojex was in, began to hover, and then exit out of the same hole. The White Skull began to fire immediately at the Renex ship. Jesse was only able to clip one of its wings as it came straight for him.
Everyone on the Horizon, including the Renexobious, watched, as the two ace pilots battled it out. Jesse’s ship, which had Renex technology, was strong and fast, but so was the ship Rojex was in. The space pirate and the robot played cat and mouse, taking turns chasing and firing at one another. The battle had come down to a matter of who lasted the longest, as they continued to chip away, piece by piece, of each other’s vessels. Eronica, Cinnamon, and Pong watched from a window where they had found a hiding place. Pong quietly cheered Jesse on, as Eronica clutched her hand over her heart, praying to her gods that he wouldn’t be harmed. This wasn’t how her vision had come out, and for the first time, she didn’t know what was going to happen. She greatly feared for his life, now, more than ever.
“He’ll be okay, Eronica, don’t worry, hun,” Pong said to Eronica. Pong had confidence in Jesse’s abilities.
“I would die if anything happened to him,” Eronica paused. “I love him deeply, Pong.” Pong was surprised to hear her say that, and actually believed that she was sincere by the tone of her voice.
Both spacecrafts’ hulls were wearing thin, and losing chunks of their vessels, as well as some of their ships functions. At this point, Jesse decided it would be probably better if he scarified his life in order to take out Rojex once and for all, to save the lives of the Horizon settlers. He figured Captain Moore and his companions would be able to retake the ship without him, and would continue on their voyage for a new home. The White Skull swallowed hard and took a deep breath. He headed straight for Rojex, and was planning on ramming him. Rojex was impressed with Jesse’s bravery, and accelerated his ship to ram into the space pirate.
“What is he doing?” Eronica panicked, as she clutched on to Pong’s shirtsleeve.
“He’s going to...ram him,” Pong said, startled.
“Well, this is it, baby. I hope you have what it takes,” Jesse said, as he patted the console of his ship, home, and friend. He figured that if he were to die, he wouldn’t mind it so much, as long as he died in his ship, and in the blackness of space. They were his greatest loves. Jesse thought that since Jaime, Monica, and Luis were all dead, that maybe it wasn’t such a bad time to leave this existence. He loved the three of them in different ways, and felt emptier than he already felt.
The two alien ships fired upon each other, as they came in closer and closer. They blew out chunks of each other’s vessels, until finally they collided, forming a terrible explosion of light, sparks, and green fire. Eronica passed out when she saw the two ships explode. No one on the Horizon was sure of the outcome, or if it were possible that the White Skull had survived. They watched, as both ships had now merged into one, and no one moved for several minutes on the Horizon. The only life that seemed to remain was the green fire, which quickly burnt out, since it didn’t have the oxygen to keep it alive. Both vessels drifted lifelessly in space. Moved by the White Skull’s heroics and sacrifice, the crew, led by Captain Moore, Commander Jain, and assisted by Jesse’s friends, re-took the ship. They slaughtered the Renexobious, who were defeated after several hours. The death of their ruler was a blow to them, which helped benefit the crew of the Horizon. The bodies of the aliens were jettisoned out into space, as well as their ships, save two. They decided to keep the two ships in the hanger bay for further study.
When she had finally come to, Eronica begged that someone go see if Jesse were still alive. Eric happily agreed, and piloted a ship himself. When he finally reached the ships, he attached to the Black Ice, and cut a hole just big enough for him, which was connecting into Jesse’s flight room. Eric first searched Jesse’s flight room, but couldn’t find him through all of the debris. Wires and sections of ceiling were hanging down, as sparks flared from wires coming into contact with each other. The Black Ice was full of smoke. Several minutes later, Eric finally found the space pirate, who had been blown back into the hallway, which lead to his cargo bay. He was astonished when he saw what had happened to Jesse. After Eric had removed some pieces of metal off of Jesse, he saw that the White Skull had completely lost his left arm. Eric checked for a pulse, and he could feel that it was very faint.
Captain Moore rushed Jesse back to the Horizon to get medical attention from the doctor. They had to put him on a life support system in the hospital aboard the colossal starship. Dr. Petrouski wasn’t sure if Jesse was going to make it. Eronica sat by his side in tears, and tried her best to heal him, through mediation, song, and through her energy. She had no idea if what she was doing had helped at all, since he was just barely holding on. Captain Moore, accompanied by a group of his security personnel, went back to check on Rojex. Originally, Eric wanted to just blow the two connected ships up, but Professor Howard suggested they wait until they heard from the UPG. Eric, and his officers, were astonished to find Rojex, who had a surprised look on his face. As if he were saying, “Holy shit.” He was badly damaged, and Eric almost stopped breathing when he saw that Rojex’s off switch was pushed in. The captain figured that he must have been hit with chunks of debris.
“Jesse, you’re one lucky bastard,”
Eric said, while shaking his head. He was right, for Jesse was lucky, because unknown to him, Rojex was hit with a large piece of metal from the ship’s ceiling, pushing in his off switch. Rojex had been standing on top of a large section of metal deck, which he had clawed his feet into upon his collision with the White Skull. Eric had to cut out a large section of deck to get the robot out. They hauled the frozen robot back to the Horizon, and placed him in a highly secured holding facility. Several guards were posted inside and outside of the room that Rojex was in, just in case.
After two weeks, Jesse slowly recovered, and was able to talk. Everyone on board the Horizon wanted to meet him, when they heard he had awakened from his long sleep. The doctor slowly allowed people to visit him, one by one, upon Jesse’s approval. Jesse liked that people wanted to meet him, instead of fearing him. Of course, everyone was still intimidated by his legendary status, but he was someone who wasn’t just a pirate, but a man who sacrificed his life for the human species. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to shake anyone’s hand. Eronica had helped cover his missing arm with his blanket. Eronica was proud of Jesse for being so strong. It was almost unbearable to see him in so much pain. She was just overjoyed that she was able to help him recover, and be by his side, where she felt she belonged. To everyone’s surprise, one of the Renex ships had a handful of Pulse male and females, who were locked in cages for food. Frank, who was Luis’ lover, was also found in one of the cages. Once the Pulse had been freed, many of them volunteered to be a part of the Horizon crew. Jesse was relieved, due to the fact that it was after Mr. Toad had around twenty thousand civilians and crewmembers killed.
The Pulse men and women had also requested to help Jesse recover, since because of him, they were saved in the end. He had also become a legend in their hearts. Jesse and Eronica had come to know the doctor and professor extremely well, and had found that they had a lot to talk about. One night, Jesse requested that the doctor and professor come see him so that he could ask them for a favor. They happily obliged, and met with him and Eronica. Jesse made a very odd request, he asked if he could have Rojex’s left arm. To his surprise, they agreed with some excitement. They said that they would first have to study the robot’s circuitry, and then they would have to shorten the ligaments in order to fit the White Skull. Jesse was grateful to be alive, but didn’t want to be without an arm. He didn’t feel like a whole man. Eronica, on the other hand, didn’t really care if he was missing an arm. A month had passed, and there was still no word from the UPG after they had repeatedly sent messages with their probes.
Dr. Petrouski, Professor Howard, and a team of technicians and scientists intensely studied Rojex’s inner workings. It had been an additional month before the doctor was able to attach Rojex’s arm to Jesse. They had to reduce the robot arms to Jesse’s size, and cover the metal ligament with synthetic skin. When they were finished, it was impossible to tell that the arm wasn’t his. Jesse had to undergo many hours of physical therapy to get used to his new metallic arm. Jesse felt extremely strong with Rojex’s body part. His strength had now surpassed that of any other man. He was able to crush metal objects in his hand. The space pirate kept it to himself, but it was his way of getting back at Rojex, and he felt a strange satisfaction because of it.
After Jesse got what he wanted from the robot, he, and his group of friends, took Rojex to the spatial anomaly, and jettisoned him into it, while he was still connected to the large section of deck. Upon Eric’s request, Tony also jettisoned a large amount of explosives, so that the man-made anomaly would be destroyed. Jesse saluted and grinned at Rojex, as the robot passed through the anomaly, sending him to his complete destruction, or so they thought. Jesse felt pride, since he had defeated the almost indestructible metal beast. A few days passed with still no word from the UPG. The entire ship unanimously elected Jesse Kincaid as the new admiral of the Horizon. He had no choice, but to accept the new position, since he was virtually forced into it. The crew and civilians of the Horizon were thinking of becoming independent from the UPG, since they weren’t even supposed to be alive now. The Horizon was nothing more than a peace offering to an alien species, and no one was happy about that. Captain Moore would have been the first in line to become the new admiral, since he was the highest ranking officer, but he was happy that Jesse was elected. There was no way he would want the position, not yet at least. He ended up resigning after the announcement of Jesse becoming the admiral. Nilay was made the new captain of the Horizon. The crew was overjoyed to have Nilay as their captain, since everyone had admired his heroics. Nilay tried to convince Eric to reconsider, but he couldn’t help but feel like everything was his fault, since he had allowed Dorothy to seduce him.
Jesse had the ability to pick some of his own staff, and he decided that he would ask his friends if they wanted positions. The new Admiral Kincaid had fought his attraction to Eronica. He had really grown to like her, since she had done so much for him, and they had spent so much time together. He was amazed by what a sweet and giving woman she was. He didn’t want to disrespect Jaime, or Monica’s memory, by jumping into anything new with any female. A depression came over him when he began to think of the twenty thousand people who were killed, and his dear, close friend that he cared about. He was also upset that he wasn’t able to give Jaime and Monica a proper funeral, since both of their bodies were missing. Jesse wondered if the bitch, Silvana, had anything to do with that. Jesse was given painkillers from the doctor to help him with pain that he had been feeling when he was in the hospital. His battle with drugs continued, and he fought as hard as he could. He wanted to stop, but knew he couldn’t fight it alone, but he wasn’t sure who he could talk to about it. Jesse avoided running into Eronica as much as possible, especially since she had repeatedly said that they were destined to be married. In the end, he consulted Dr. Petrouski, and they discussed his problem.
In memory of Luis, Jesse began to wear a blue T-shirt, instead of just boring black. Jesse smiled, as he remembered how his friend told him he needed more color in his life. As admiral, Jesse didn’t wear any uniform as of yet, due to the strange transition of whether they should be affiliated with the UPG or not. All they had to do now was sit and wait.
Chapter 19
“From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend on reading it."
Groucho Marx
Jesse decided to keep a audio journal to help cope with everything that had taken place:
“Today, I feel the loneliness more than ever. Losing Jaime was hard, but losing Monica was ten times harder. Maybe I am destined to travel through space alone. Space has become my permanent home. Eronica has vowed her love to me, which seems a little strange. She is a breathtakingly sweet woman, yet I feel guilty finding myself attracted to her. I have no idea how to handle this situation. Maybe she can teach me how to love again, which, at this point, seems impossible. Eronica told me we would be together whether I thought so or not. We’ll just have to wait and see. Although I have become the admiral of the Horizon, and the new president of the UPG has pardoned me of every crime I have committed, I still feel empty inside. I still can’t believe what happened back on Earth when the truth about the president and the UPG Council member had come out. A civil war almost broke out, and the people demanded a new government. I was glad to hear that the UPG, for the first time, was actually afraid of the people, instead of vice versa. It is very possible that a new government may have to be constructed. I personally don’t think the UPG will last very long, since they had been supplying human lives to the Renexobious. Earth, the other planets, and space stations have become pretty chaotic with all of the new knowledge.
“The new president seems to be pretty decent. He had no choice but to pardon me, when the people of our solar system turned me into a hero. I don’t feel like a hero, not in the least bit. The Horizon settlers have also become known as heroes for everything they had gone through, especially Captain Nilay Jain. The
new UPG Council has said that they erected a monument for those who had lost their lives on the Horizon. I don’t think it makes up for all of the thousands of people who were probably murdered just to become an advanced civilization. If you think about it, it’s pretty creepy that everything we own, including our starships and space stations were all from humans that were slaughtered and eaten. Who knows what is going to happen now. I think the change, and the awakened conscious of the human species, is refreshing. No government should have that much power over the people as previous government had. After the news that the old president was the Archbishop Blackwell, and head of the Red Cardinals, parties were sent out to rid the universe of every last one of them. I don’t think they’ll be showing their faces around here for a very long time.
The first two months, I have stayed in my quarters, keeping to myself. Recently, I started to take walks around the entire ship, making my presence known, which was suggested by Captain Jain. Occasionally, I would force myself to talk to some of the crew members and civilians. I’ve talked to some of the new additions to our ship, the Pulse. They are an extraordinary people, full of love and kindness. When you talk to one of them, they listen to you as if what you are saying was the most important thing in existence. It is quite fascinating. The Horizon is quite an extraordinary starship, and it’s the type of ship that I had always dreamed of being in charge of. I hope I can live up to the dream of what the Horizon represents. I don’t want to fail.” Jesse turned it off.
Voyages of the White Skull Book 1 Page 34