Sea-Blue eyes never blinked as they slithered closer to me, rearing up until their rge, yellow, triangur head was just inches from my own. Their eyes scanned me up and down, spotting my invisible body.

  “Ghost.” My body materialized for the doctor to see.

  Their tongue tickling my chin. “Looksss like you’ve ssseen sssome action? Do you need medical attention?”

  Blood was dripping down the Anthro-Snake’s scaly body, while a crimson trail was smeared beneath it. If I didn’t know any better, I would think Slizz was smiling at the chance to get me naked, strapped down to her operation table so she could poke around in my insides.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, taking a step back, “No, I’m fine. There’s more Gellys on board, though. We’ve got to be quiet and careful not to alert anymore, unless they swarm the ship and gun us all down.”

  Slizz just stared at me for a moment more. I’d hoped that anything I said would stick with them, but they just tilted their head to the side like they couldn’t understand a word I just said.

  “Where’s Redwood and Sucker?” I hadn’t seen any of them on the ship since I boarded. I was worried about them. The two weren’t exactly the combat type. Sure, they’ve seen action, but they weren’t the ones you wanted watching your back when you were cornered by a Gelly ptoon.

  Slizz looked behind their self, sizing up the destruction and loose limbs lying in the pool of blood. They looked back at me, “I will sssy any invadersss who have sssteped foot in my ir, asss for the sssmall onesss, I bet they have shacked up in the contraband hold.” Slizz began to weave back and forth in the corridor, “Let’sss finish off thessse disssgusssting morssselsss.”

  I checked my HUD for my power levels. I had enough juice to finish off the rest of the Gellys, or so I hoped. “Ghost.” I dipped back into camoufge and followed Slizz back to the cargo hold. They were fast too. I was amazed at the speed that massive, interminable body could carry. By the time I could see the cargo hold doors, the st inches of their tail disappeared around the corner and vanished into the darkness of the cargo hold.

  I slowed down to a crawl and crept back into the bay. Deacons were ripping apart crates and thrashing about inside, tossing random goods to the floor without a care. Several were over at the weapon station, rifling through our lockers, pulling out weapons and tossing them to the floor.

  I winced as Echo’s small arsenal was casual desecrated by greasy hands. The man would be irate and ready to blow their whole Ascension ship into atoms. If this went well, he’d get his chance.

  “Brother, we’ve found weapons, high caliber machines of death.” One of the Deacons gnced back at the officer, holding up one of Mama’s slug rifles. He staggered back as he lifted it with both hands, grunting under the weight.

  The officer fshed back at Walter, “A strange weapon for a cargo freighter to hold. It would seem that there is something more dubious at hand, no?”

  Walter shrugged, still not saying a word.

  This was getting bad. I needed to act now. I spotted a lone Deacon pulling some fabrics out of a crate, one with a secret compartment at the bottom, no doubt. What was inside? I haven’t a clue what type of weapons, but there was no need for either of us to find out.

  I rolled past the walkway between crates and closed the gap on the Deacon. I tapped my gauntlets together as quietly as I could. The hum whined up, catching the attention of the Deacon. He reeled up out of the crate and looked back, not knowing what was behind him. I smmed my fists on each side of his throat, crushing his spine and airway with one jab. The Deacon crumpled to the floor, twitching about as his body tried to come to terms with it’s imminent death.

  I took a deep breath in, my lungs filled with air as I looked for my next target. Only nine more to go. There were two more coming my way. If they saw the body, they would raise the arm and our cover would be blown.

  I readied my gauntlets for another round of fisticuffs when I heard more footsteps from behind. I gnced back to see two more Deacons rounding a crate and headed my way. I was pinched between four goons with no where to go. My heart began to race. I couldn’t let my crew down now, I couldn’t let Uwu down. If the arm was raised, It’d all be my fault. We’d be bsted to dust from orbit.

  A fsh of yellow and purple raced down to one of the fnking Deacons, wrapping around his throat and ripping him upwards. Before the second one could react, a rge scalpel pierced his visor, cracking out with a sharp snap before his body crumpled down.

  Unfortunately, this was a little loud.

  I turned back to the other two Deacons, internally thanking Slizz for the assistance. They snapped around the corner to see what made the noise. I jabbed the left one in the throat, crushing his windpipe with ease, using my right arm to grab the Deacon’s helmet, ramming him face first into the corner of the crate, crushing his face into a pulp of blood and bone.

  Unfortunately, this was even louder.

  The officer looked over to the sound. He waved two more Deacons over before speaking into his coms, “Squad two, report! Anything unusual?”

  The Deacons at the weapon lockers perked up and brought their guns to bear, gncing around for any threats before a rge whoosh coursed through the air. Crashing down on the group was the corpse of their comrade, smming into the men, crushing them into the side of the Yiffin’s wall. Audible cracks and breaks could be heard throughout the cargo bay, causing me to wince at the pain they must have endured.

  The two remaining Deacons let their guard down as they looked to see what happened. I smmed my fingers into their helmets, griping the metal tight, before smming their two heads together, crushing them with the st bit of power my suit could hold. My HUD began to flicker as my battery started running dry.

  The officer Deacon pulled his pistol and aimed it at Walter. His eyes canvased me as I began to flicker in and out of sight. “Take one more step closer and he dies.” His voice monotone even in this intense situation. His eye winced as his offhand shot to his temple impnt. The thing must have been pulling overdrive trying to keep his emotions at bay.

  “You went into the Med Bay, didn’t you?” Walter’s gravely voice brought the officer’s attention. “I told you not to, but you dumbasses can’t help it. Now, you’ve brought the wrath of the devil upon yourselves.” He pointed behind the officer and smiled. “Hail Satan.”

  The officer had just a split second to look back as a massive yellow snake lunged at him, wrapping his body up into a coil and squeezing tight. His pistol cttered to the floor. The officer looked up in horror, his face red with pressure, as the Viper’s head was opened wide, pink, wet flesh was bare for all to see. He tired to scream, but it was ineffective as Slizz bit down on his head, rose him into the air and slowly pushed him down their throat.

  I looked away a bit disgusted, letting Slizz do what they do best. I joined Walter’s side.

  The cargo master picked up the gun, examining the metal, “Crafty for a bunch of religious nuts.” He tossed the gun aside while staring down the Anthro-Snake. “Hmm, anyone else hungry for dinner?” He chuckled and nudged me shortly before lights from outside the cargo bay lit up the room, blinding us inside.

  I reached out for my pistols, not knowing if they’d be any good. Every moment was up in the air tely. I needed some stress relief, badly, and hopefully before I was dead.