Cutlass Sharpened

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

  “Please, come in. I’ll make us some coffee. It’s about time to get up anyway. Four sugars and cream right?” He nodded to Jessica and she went to do just that. “Give us a minute or two to change.”

  Soon enough the pair returned to find Oliver already sipping on the drink he had yet to fully enjoy by taste as good as smell. They grabbed their steaming mugs and sat on the sofa with him. “So what do we owe the visit?” Stephanie got the ball rolling.

  “I’ll make this quick. Let’s just say I don’t need the credits like we discussed before the crash.” He balled his fist.

  “They made you an elder?” Jessica breathed as the telltale fang glow was proof.

  “High Elder Void to be precise. I can’t divulge everything, but not even Vanishing Claw knew a thing about me. My being here is for two things. First is, Jessica, can you use your hacking skills to make absolutely sure their work looks legitimate. Second is I want you to patent the coms I made. Use the profits to get the bone, muscle and heart enhancements by the Splicers.” Jessica’s jaw dropped. “And any advanced things my vambrace makes and you can duplicate, I want you to use them in exchange for your programming services at any time I need something.”

  “Deal! Deal! I’d be happy to.” She jumped right on it and turned. “You hear that babe? I can finally afford to go on heavier planets with you now!” she leaned forward and quickly kissed Stephanie who was just as excited.

  “Just keep me informed on anything I may need to know. Tell me any red flags.”

  “Then I better see if their work was done by someone competent. Oliver hold out your hand.” He did as Jessica grabbed her tablet and used it to scan a sub-dermal fang. “It’ll take me a few hours to sift through this. If I find any errors I’ll hack in and fix it.”

  “I’ll be off then. If you need me I’ll be down in the training room.” He downed the hot drink and left two very happy women behind.

  Chapter 9

  The day had finally come as the Dorgenox left the spiraling rainbow tunnel and entered Verard space. Verard being the second most advanced human planet. Earth being first. Unlike the naturally wild Jungle of Zerika, Verard was never truly dark. It shone by a world made by grown gemstones. Billions of ships flew in and out of its space every day. Great holographic highways lit up the sky for proper flying around the whole planet or out to space. Ships as small as a single carrier to the greatest starships even larger than the Dorgenox flew all around. Verard had many rules and one was ships of the Dorgenox size and class had to dock in space and use shuttles to reach the planet. Shuttles would be provided for a reasonable fee if the carriers were incapable. The port was beyond massive, able to comfortably accommodate ten thousand ships of Dorgenox’s mass.

  It took two hours to get docking permission before finally gaining a holographic guide to dock. They were given an empty level all to themselves and was pure coincidence. Many aboard were at other landing bays ready to have some time off and explore the advanced planet’s many entertainment pleasures.

  Jessica had indeed found holes in the information of Oliver becoming elder, but had plugged them without any alarms being tripped. She was that good. Also as promised, he spent these two days easily evading Renee’s attempt to mess with him. He battled with the other Hunters, learned to fly and practiced psionic basics at every available moment.

  Renee found herself actually giddy as she checked the dark blue khol eyeliner and was satisfied how it made her green irises stand out even more and rubbed a thumb through the light peach blush she applied to a check and none came away on her thumb’s pad. Her hair was placed just right and she added the anti-static hairspray to keep it in place just in the event Oliver’s date went sideways and she decided to put him in traction. That put a grin on her face. Besides, if it does go badly, I can always go do what I want for fun.

  She went and grabbed a pair of sexy light red stiletto high heels to go along with her hair and as she put them on she looked down her chest and liked how her dress showed off a classy amount of cleavage without seeming too vulgar. The slit up her thigh though was higher than necessary and would show off her creamy white ass in a simple breeze. Renee would use a little power to keep it from happening. Still, she chose the sexiest, blue ball inducing white dress she owned.

  Last on her checklist were her nails. Perfect shape. Long enough to look good and scratch someone’s eyes out. Sexy light pink nanite polish will keep the paint there till I put it back in the bottle. Boobs holstered and ready to show off. Let’s see how badly he’ll make me look. If anything, I’m eye-candy enough to get man or woman to hook up with tonight at an adult sex center.

  Renee snatched her clutch filled with an emergency medical kit. Holding enough medicine to handle all the basic first aid needs. She’d rather not go anywhere without her synthesizer, but having her small red clutch would feel better than nothing.

  About to leave she paused as the door to her med bay slid open and Abdul Krabble padded in. She smiled at the jaguar spotted man who resembled a sleek feline.

  The first mate came to an abrupt stop and his jaw hit the floor, showing off both top and bottom fangs. “Renee, you are a true vision.”

  “Aren’t I though.” She spun around to show off all her killer attributes.

  “You are as beautiful as your mother ever was. She would be so proud to see you now.”

  “Don’t get all soft on me now, Fur Ball.” She lightly smacked his arm. “You need me to fix something before I go? Check if nanites aren’t malfunctioning again? I told you last time was a coincidence. You should be careful around…”

  “Nothing like that.” He waved her off and shoved a hand down his pocket to extract a topaz, shaped like a clear golden pearl. “I just need a spare hand. Nearly everyone already disembarked. We need our visa renewed to dock at other ports, but the Galicom server is down for maintenance till morning planet-side. The captain has me doing something else all day tomorrow. I figured you’ll be down there already so…”

  “No problem. I can take care of it.” She plucked the pearl and dropped it in her clutch. “How long were we given on an expired visa.”

  “Dockmaster gave us ninety six hours starting as we were locked in place. We can’t leave without it renewed. And every hour we fail after the ninety six will be ten thousand credits.”

  “Plenty of time then. Tell Papa I’m off. You know how he gets when I use my com when he’s cooped up in his study all the time.”

  “You have fun on your date.”

  “What did you bet?” Renee grinned.

  “So you heard about the pool eh?” the animalistic man grinned.

  “Despite the size of the ship, the crew is small and loves scuttlebutt more than treasure hunting. So what’s your bet?”

  “A man must have some secrets, but judging from that dress you’re wearing I’ve lost. Either way, have fun, Kid.”

  Renee kissed him on the fuzzy cheek and punched his arm on the way out.

  High heels clicked and echoed up and down the wooden passageway for several minutes till she reached the elevator. In it she sped all the way across the Dorgenox to reach the private launch bay where the three single mast fighters were already gone along with the Hunters and their companions. Renee spotted a lone figure standing just behind the ship’s shield where a few photons separated Oliver from the uncaring harshness of space. From afar she knew it was him. All she could see was a large black cape surrounding him, but it could not hide the skyscraper frame covered in sculpted muscle.

  In the silence of the launch area her heels were unmistakable and drew him from staring out into space, the busy spaceport and all the lights threading down to Verard like colored ribbons with such intricacy it made the illusion that the tens of thousands of pathways crossed lines.

  He turned and even Renee’s reaction was heart stopping. Renee looked at what his suit of armor is, over what she remembered. Last time she saw it was the day he ran off to hunt down the Fire Wyrm. She knew he could make
it change colors and alter to fit social styles, but it had changed. It was subtle, but a change nonetheless. Rather than it being sleek and form fitting like her flight suit’s second skin that left little to the imagination, his suit’s changes had ridges and lines it never had before.

  Eight pack abs could not be seen anymore as the suit had what did look like armor, not just a skintight suit. A stiff, yet flexible chest plate enhanced his cheat, making a slight upward curve at the base of the sternum. Below it, in the abdominal area, was a curved crescent near twice the size of a similar shape just below. Below the double crescents is an oval piece pinched in the middle that drew the eye to the groin region. Sloping up either side were basically abdominal frames. Beside them were curves that went up and around the hips, accentuating the narrowness men have compared to broad shoulders and backs. Hip plates blended down to the thighs and had joined greaves that slid up from the ankle to the knee. What was most remarkable was the color. The base color was pitch black with overtones of dark silver to show off the plates, no matter how small they were. The coloring had perfect symmetry as well as complemented the sword hung on his right hip.

  “Mere words cannot describe your beauty.” The reverence in his voice was proof it was no lie.

  “Thanks, but what did you do to your armor?”

  “Nothing intentional other than alter the color as Steven told me to do. Ever since the Fire Wyrm and learning how to use psionics, these shapes just started appearing on their own. I merely colored them to show off the shapes. Steven says these colors do more for me than brown and white.”

  “I agree with him. Keep those lighter silver highlights. Has the mask changed too?”

  “Yes. Here.” He willed and around the lines at the base of the throat moved like liquid, covering neck, head of short brown hair and his face before forming solid. No longer was the mask smooth, it was a dark silver helmet. The helmet was one piece, the crown of which smoothly narrowed into a thin line down his face, over the nose, lips and chin. A dark space hid his eyes. Two more holes laid to either side of the eyelets, but neither could figure if they had a purpose other than looking really amazing.

  “Badass!” She laughed as her heart raced. “You look like the anti-hero everyone loves.

  The helmet liquefied and returned around the collar. “You ready?” He raised an arm towards her shuttle.

  “Can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve.” She walked in with extra sway to her hips and smiled inwardly as his eyes glazed over with desire. She took a seat in the passenger’s side as he shut the airlocks and consumed the pilots chair. “Please tell me you can fly my baby and not make us die a painful death.”

  He couldn’t hide a chuckle as he waved a hand over the console and started preflight procedures as if he had done it all his life. “That first day was embarrassing. Steven let me practice on the flight simulator and I crashed about a dozen times before getting the hang of it. Yesterday I flew a level three course and managed to only get a small scratch on a B-442 fighter class ship and survived an asteroid field sprinkled with magnetic mines.”

  “Not bad.” She commented, relaxing a bit.

  “And when we docked I took your shuttle out for about an hour and landed with no issues. I’m glad dampeners are mandatory or it would have made things much more difficult.”

  “I’m glad for them too. You don’t feel anything to know you’re moving, which is good for a medic doing emergency surgery. Last thing we need is the ship to shudder when holding a blade inside a person. One jiggle and we slice open an artery.”

  The green light flicked on and clamps disengaged to let the shuttle lift off and he increased velocity to fly out the shields. He hit a button to close the private docking bay and typed in a destination area. Coordinates computed, compiled and a data-burst sent his needs down to Verard’s traffic mainframe. As soon as it was sent to the traffic terminal, and they flew off the spaceport to aim down, a road made of light appeared below the hull. He followed it and Renee noticed how calmly he flew her shuttle and found his confidence refreshing.

  Like he had flown for years.

  “Oh, just a head’s up. We’ve got business to take care of in the morning.”

  “What kind?” He turned to her after making a slight adjustment.

  “Got to renew our docking visa. We aren’t the only procrastinators in the universe.” She laughed. “We got the standard four days to get our visa updated. We’re about five months late. Without a current visa, we’re unable to dock anywhere in the Empire. I was surprised the Dorgenox could dock in Zerika’s main terminal, but I guess some strings were pulled to let us dock all month. If we don’t get it done we’ll be charged till we can’t pay the ship off and it gets auctioned off to the highest bidder. Many want the Dorgenox and would love to get their grubby little hands on her so tomorrow, no matter what happens, we’ve got to get it renewed.”

  “No problem.” They soon hit atmosphere, but were going the recommended speed so reentry didn’t cause too much friction to make a fireball. As they followed the twisting and turning road of light Oliver’s eyes took in massive gemstone skyscrapers, some grown in conjunction with trees to make massive trees beyond nature’s intent. Since crystalline objects can take information, and used in conjunction with psionic energy as a power source, can grow by taking baser materials from the ground itself or loads of graphite to make homes, building and skyscrapers grow, rather than build. Most dangerous construction is a thing of the past.

  One such building looked like a white tusk standing high above all others. Ice covered the tip it reached so high. Though it looked like an ivory tusk, it was made of ceramic and was truly a massive freestanding structure. Twelve thousand one hundred and thirteen meters from the ground up and had a base of twenty two hundred and nine. Oliver asked “Renee, is that the King’s Tusk Tower?”

  “Better believe it. Largest and most dangerous artifact left behind after the Solarains disappeared. The place is crawling with Beasts. Only an S-Rank quarantine barrier imposed by the emperor keeps that place from setting loose all those Beasts.”

  “I find it hard to imagine anyone could make such a thing… out of ceramic no less.”

  “Hey, don’t ask me. Solarains left the Geo Record behind… not to mention the sword and multi-tool you carry around. They seeded every breathable planet we know of. Hell, we believe they were who seeded Earth when it finally cooled and allowed us to evolve. I just wish to meet one one day. All the stories Papa told me… it would be historic. The few fossils we found show we have an identical skeletal structure… proving convergent evolution, but their DNA strands were exceedingly more intricate. They have a decuple helix. Ten spiraling ladders in a single strand. They are the wet dream of every geneticist I’ve met.”

  “What do you think happened to them?” Oliver asked.

  She shrugged the thin straps on her moonlit dress. “Don’t know. Such an advanced race couldn’t have been wiped completely out. They probably moved to some far away galaxy, still seeding worlds along the way. If my mission was to ensure life continued no matter what, it is what I would do.”

  Oliver gave one final glance to the dark tower and continued on, leaving it far behind.

  Traffic thickened further down the planet they got and soon enough he spotted the nearest landing building. He pulled straight into the predetermined space and set the landing gear. Smoothly they landed. “Not bad for an idiot.”

  “Flatterer.” He quipped and shut down the engines.

  Outside was a terminal, but before Renee could place her palm on the screen to pay for parking, he pressed his. There was a beep followed by a woman’s voice saying ‘Thank you and have a nice day.’

  “And where did you get… oh, never mind. Hunters don’t need to pay to park their vehicles.”

  “Warming up to me yet?”

  “Not till I see where you plan on showing me off in this dress.” She remarked wily.

  He extended his right arm. “Tak
e my arm and the date shall begin.”

  “We’re not a couple yet and don’t think I don’t know you want to feel my breasts brush your arm.”

  “Can’t blame a man for trying.”

  “I’m busting your balls.” She laughed and wove her left arm through his right. “Lead on.” He cleared his throat as she intentionally gave him a clear line of sight down her well developed chest. She laughed harder. “Where did all that confidence go? Huh? If a little cleavage makes you speechless, seeing me naked will make you pass out.”

  “The last thing you have is a little cleavage.”

  “Don’t I know it!” She laughed as he led her to the elevators and soon they reached the bottom floor and stepped out onto a clean pathway where people moved along on personal errands. A nearby man and woman held the hands of a little boy, swinging him through the air between them with a smile on their faces. Different styles of clothes from conservative to provocative clothed everyone. A few Drakes soared around or sat with people by benches. A Hunter or two leisurely walked the streets, talking with military officers who protect and police all of Verard. They were the Marines.

  Few gave a second glance as Oliver and Renee took to the path and walked together, taking in the sights, lights and crowds. He knew the path, mentally rehearsing it several times after bringing up a map back on the ship and learning special events. He was quiet, enjoying the sights and having Renee on his arm. Her annoyance was at an all time low and her excitement at a high. Until they rounded a corner and she noticed the people had gone up in social class to outrageously expensive. As far as she could see were restaurants and he scented her anger. He patted her hand on his arm. “I promise, it’s not what you think.”

  “All I see is five star cuisine down this strip for over a kilometer. I hate stuck up entitled assholes.” A woman fitting that very description heard the remark and spun. Renee’s flashing eyes had the woman back down. “See, they can’t do shit without their credits.”