Cutlass Sharpened

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

  He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her lower back to stare longingly into her bottomless green pools. “I’ll promise if you do the same.”

  “Deal.” She rose to the balls of her feet to press her wet lips to his and swooned as her passion was stoked into a roaring blaze again. She broke it off and smirked. “I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or aroused you can smell my pussy getting wet every time we get this close.”

  “I find it makes me proud you respond so strongly to me as I do you.”

  “Good answer. Who taught you how to charm the ladies?”

  “I’ve read thousands of romance and erotic data files, but none can apply to you. You want honesty in a relationship, not cheap one liners. I’m just being careful.”

  “What for?” she said as they were halfway circled to the destination.

  “I know a few things which would make you angry, such as stupid questions when what I would rather want to have your legs wrapped around me as I fill you to make those loud moans. I want to do that and walk in front of every male to show them once and for all you are mine.”

  One strawberry eyebrow lifted. “Kinky. Your right, that would make it a ball kicking suggestion. I might be obnoxious and outspoken, but I’m still a girl who wants private intimacy. I’m not into being an exhibitionist. And don’t worry, the men on this ship are all afraid of me and especially Papa. I want a strong man worthy of his liking and approval. You’re one of the rare few either too stupid to know when to give up or one who is sure in his skin. Now remember what I told you. Let me talk to Papa mostly.”

  “Alright. I trust you.”

  Those last three words deeply touched Renee and as a reward she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “That means a lot for all I’ve done to you since discovering you. And I trust you too. Just don’t fuck my trust up.”

  He showed off those dimples that had her rubbing her thighs together.

  The elevator chimed as they reached the bridge.

  A spacious design could allow a good hundred in and still be comfortable to walk around. It was mostly empty, but a few personnel sat at stations watching holo-screens for mostly entertainment. A massive gilded throne sat dead center on the bridge. Gold, silver, platinum and natural precious gemstones covered most of the frame of the throne in artful designs. The gems were cut so tiny that they were used more like paint to make the throne a true work of art. The wide back alone tricked the eye into believing the rendition of a galaxy disc swirled. It was both overly ostentatious and pleasing at the same time. From the seat one could see a hundred and eight degrees as the bridge windshield was curved in a half circle. From the bridge you can see the entire deck of the Dorgenox and beyond was the empty star port, the curved edge of Verard, one of its two moons and the sprawling view of space further out.

  Five meters in front of the throne was an antique steering wheel as tall as a man and Abdul stood behind it. One arm on one of the eight handle grips and another sipping on a steaming mug of coffee. Beside the steering wheel was a small screen which would allow the driver to speed up and move the ship as needed. Right now it was shut down while docked.

  The bridge had steps to a lower level just enough to let the driver and captain see over anyone’s heads. A dozen stations were evenly spread around the lower section and only two people were kicked back watching some program. And like much of the starship, the floorboards were planked with planks, rustic wood to remember a long past civilization’s ultimate means of travel over great distances.

  Abdul’s feline and furry jaguar ears perked as the elevator hissed open quietly and turned. Filed teeth showed off as he smiled. “Ah, good to see you again, Oliver. I see our little girl has been pulling you into another escapade of trouble.”

  He chuckled. “She has made my life rather exciting though… much better than the more timid women I’ve met.”

  The first mate shook his furry head. “You’ll learn one day there is no such thing as a timid woman. Ask my mate. Those who do not advertize as Renee does are simply more devious, tactful and cunning. They can tell us something so kind and later we discover they told us to go fuck ourselves. Believe me, my mate of thirty six years is like that. You need to be certain you are not caught in a woman’s trap. Men may be stronger, but on average a woman’s reasoning skills surpass ours. We are all at their mercy.”

  “Ha! That is because ye need a woman who won’t hide who she is and can fight with the best of us, Lad.”

  Heads snapped to a booming voice that shook the very air itself as well as a person’s breast. In walked a true giant of a man two hundred and thirty centimeters tall and proportioned thickly with corded muscle and a healthy amount of fat. A thick rusty beard lay perfectly brushed over a barreled chest covered in a plaid shirt of red, green and yellow. Covering from the waist to below the knees were a dark green kilt with a tasseled sporran over the groin area. Calf high boots were matched by leggings that disappeared under the kilt. Hung from his hip was a hatchet that made Stone’s seem miniature and pitiful. And on a baldric slung across the redheaded man’s back was a claymore more than two meters long with a hilt long enough for two hands or one if necessary. The man’s hair was long and braided down to the middle of his spine. Then there were the eyes of a forest after a rain. Eyes more clear and harder than Renee’s. Ageless eyes that have seen centuries blink by.

  “Papa!” Renee shouted and jumped right at him.

  Lesser men would have been tackled to the floor, but Jake Dorgen spread his long arms and crushed her to his breast. “Ah, me darling daughter. It is good to see ye cheery again, Lass.” His accent was Scottish brogue. Beneath the beard showed bright teeth.

  “Papa, there is someone I want you to officially meet if you let me down.” Even though Renee was far from tiny, she was in comparison to her father.

  “Aye, Lass.” Jake’s ageless gage narrowed and Oliver felt completely exposed, but he didn’t cower slightly. He held the stare.

  Jake sat his only child down and Renee took his hand and waved her man over. “Papa, I’d like to officially introduce you to Oliver Void. The man we rescued from that planet you led us to.”

  “Greetings, Laddie.” Jake stiffly held his other free hand out.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Captain Dorgen.” Oliver clasped his hand and bit back a yelp as Jake intentionally squeezed too hard, but didn’t let go. Oliver returned the favor after remembering how some fathers test the right to be with their daughters by seeing how strong a handshake he could give.

  There was a loud crack and it wasn’t from Oliver. “Damn, Lad, quite a grip ye have there.” Jake grabbed his finger and barely winced as he popped the bone back in place. “Now let’s get it out there. What are yer intentions with me daughter?”

  “Papa!” Renee’s voice jumped a dozen octaves till it was more a squeaking screech. Behind them Abdul hid a laugh in a cough. The other two down below turned from their screens to watch the more interesting show.

  “It’s quite alright.” Oliver said. “My intentions are for Renee the same as yours were for her late mother.”

  The vein Stone warned about showed itself and the three onlookers all decided to get back and out of dodge. In a severely cold voice Jake asked “And what do ye mean by that, Lad?”

  “You may intimidate others, but not me concerning my woman. She is mine and mine alone. I am hers. She is mine to love and defend, even if it mean my death at even your hands. And she knows she is mine and is aroused by no other.”

  “Papa…” Renee said low and fearful as Jake leaned down, near nose to nose with Oliver.

  “Lad, be careful who ye speak to. If ye don’t show me manners I’ll throw ye out the airlock.”

  “You can keep testing me, Captain, but it will not change the fact Renee is my woman and one day it will be me who fathers your grandchildren. No one is strong enough for her just as no woman other than her is strong enough for me. We’re bonded by more than tradition so get used to the absolute
fact that I’m her one male that will fight for her even if you come to do her harm.”

  Renee and everyone else in the room shut their eyes as Jake’s face went as fury red as his hair, imagining pink mist being all that remained of Oliver.

  None expected Jake to throw his had back and let loose a deep belly laugh that shook the entire bridge. It was so loud and unexpected everyone, including Oliver jumped a little. The captain of the ship kept chuckling as he looked down and patted his daughter’s back rather roughly. “Lass, ye finally found a good pairing. He might resemble the little bastard who hurt ye a little, but he didn’t have half the balls this boy’s got on him. Ye can keep him.”

  Renee jaw worked and moved like a fish, but no words came out.

  “He he… Lass, I’m yer father first. None of the boys ye let into yer bed could look me in the eye and tell me anything without pissing themselves when I got hold of them. Ye got yourself a keeper. I’m still mad with ye though.” His smile faded.

  “Why, Papa?” she stepped back.

  “Because I told me sister to get yer little arse back on this ship and keep ye safe and out of trouble. Next I know is Abdul contacts me saying ye went back to Galicom before heading to the starship factory. Aye, I know ye blatantly made Jessica disobey me direct order.”

  Renee looked down in embarrassment.

  Jake used a knuckle larger than her chin to lift it back up. “But I’m glad ye did. Ye and Sparky helped save those scientists. It’s the only thing that kept ye from me throwing ye in the brig for two months to reflect on what ye did. Now, before we waste any more time, give me the visa.” His paw of a hand opened.

  Renee pulled it out of a pocket and passed it over.

  The burly giant then walked over towards the steering wheel and Abdul who stepped aside to give the man room he so clearly required. Stony green eyes unfocused and through the chip in his own brain, down dropped a flexible quartz cable which he stuck the gem in. A large screen counting down nineteen hours and three minutes zeroed out and turned to green lettering. ‘Galactic Visa updated and good through 17D/3M/3227Y’ Jake scratched his chest. “A decade eh? Abdul, make a note we need to stop procrastinating, getting it done a year earlier. We can’t have those salivatin’ lubbers getting me ship. No need to pay extra credits if we don’t need ta’.” The visa disappeared back in the ceiling.

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” Abdul went to a screen and made a note for a 3226 year to remind them.

  “Oh, and before I forget, please escort our new crewman in here.”

  “Right away.” The feline man crossed the room and entered the only door in the back of the bridge which is the captain’s quarters.

  Jake smiled as he saw and heard his daughter quietly chastising her boyfriend. “I told you to let me do all the talking, Idiot.”

  “Like you were much help! Besides, your father would have no respect for me if I didn’t tell him what I did. I’ve never seen you cower before anyone, but it was interesting to see if you give me too much trouble I can speak with him.”

  “You wouldn’t.” Oliver rubbed his jaw and glanced up. Renee made a fist and went to punch him right in the nose, but his hand suddenly appeared, caught mid throw it and kissed her knuckles. “Damn it, Olly, don’t do that! You know what it does to me.”

  “Why do you think I do it then.”

  Jake burst out laughing again. “Moments like this makes me really miss yer mother, Renee.” Their little spat ended as they turned. “Ye are so like her in spirit only she would crack me over the head with a skillet or wait till I was about ready to orgasm and up and leave.”

  “I didn’t need to hear that last part, Papa, but you gave me an idea.”

  “Lad, I’m sorry for whatever awaits after that grin.” He pointed to the wolfish expression and quick glances. “But it is not my problem. She’s yers, Lad.”

  “Thanks.” Oliver said dryly and couldn’t keep the shiver from running down his spine. “Do you need us for anything else?”

  “Two more matters actually. First, we’re pulling out at eleven hundred tomorrow and I want ye both on deck by thirteen hundred so whatever ye’re planning, Lass had better not last long.” He warned and she promised it wasn’t. “Second is not to kill who Abdul is bringing here.”

  “Who…?” Renee started to ask and turned as the captain’s door opened. “NO!”

  In an instant Oliver already drew his sword and stood in front of Renee, but didn’t move further.

  Escorted out by Abdul was Davan Took wearing a pair of blue pants and a striped t-shirt which showed off arms the same color as his face. The moment he saw the armored acrobat from the factory and the helmet covering his face Davan backtracked quickly, the whites of his eyes practically popping out from his skull. “Don’t kill me!” he stumbled and cracked his head into the wall enough to hurt, but not bleed.

  Oliver didn’t so much as twitch and Renee’s eyes flashed as she rounded on her father. “Papa! What have you done?!”

  “Change that tone right now, Lass.” Jake said sternly and leveled his gaze on her, but didn’t need to compare levels of power. Renee knew that look and it always accompanied an ass spanking as a child. Spanking being a common punishment when it was discovered parents who didn’t spank had unlawful and lazy adults seventy nine percent of the time. It wasn’t uncommon to see a child disciplined in public when they back-talked their parent or another adult. Negative reinforcement coupled with positive produced more productive adults and is what saved civilization as a whole in the late twenty first century. The saying spare the rod spoil the child was proven true and is what lowered the need for prison and abolished juvenile prisons altogether when parents and other qualified adults could spank children up to the age of seventeen. Public whippings were for adults followed by retraining and for the worst offenders there were public executions to make examples out of those who would threaten the unity of human civilization. And Renee had been one difficult child to raise.

  She let go of the power sizzling around her to clear her throat and struggle to keep it conversational. “Papa, why is that blue bastard here? He’s wanted something badly. And for what he did to that woman’s hands I should do to him.”

  “Yet ye aren’t going to touch him unless it is to keep to the medic’s oath for the innocent. He was desperate and before ye make a judgment to deny him medical aid ye should read him.” Jake came over and laid a meaty hand on her shoulder and turned to the cowering man. “Took, get off yer arse and come over here. Lad, sheathe that blade.”

  Oliver spoke through the helmet. “If he threatens her his head will roll.”

  “We’ll see who kills him first if he does anything inappropriate.” Jake rumbled seriously and watched the Star-saber return home.

  Davan Took swallowed several times as he shook in fear and peed a little because of it. Out of all people to see again, those two were not even close to imagining. When he was too afraid to do more than breathe, rough furry hands fisted his shirt and hauled him up to his feet. Abdul gave him a much needed slap to bring him back around, a slap that made the ears ring. “The captain gave you an order, Took. Beware though, do not endanger Renee or any of the three of them will kill you before I can.” Abdul showed his feline claws that were retracted like most cats.

  “I’ll do anything. I don’t want to die.”

  “Then don’t try to block her.”

  “I can’t after I saw what she did to the vault. I’m just a Two.” He shook as he approached.

  Renee willed her glove to let her hand go free and made her eyes glow nearly too bright as she grabbed his face painfully. She closed her eyes and through touch she began reading his mind with much more clarity. She felt his sheer terror of her and the two men behind, but dove deeper. She felt who he was as a person. He was clearly proud he was in the two percent of all human geniuses. He hates being alone, reminding him of being abandoned as a child and being shunned by children because of his vastly superior intellect to the common
adult at the tender age of seven. He liked people and discovering difficult things. He hated confrontation and hurting anyone so he was a vegan as he didn’t wish to harm so much as a bug.

  Renee saw him waking three days ago and found himself covered in blood. He found those he thought of as family dead all around and hid in a vent as soldiers came to find out what happened. During that time he had cried as family was taken and was surprised no one found him. He thought of showing himself till seeing the recording if him holding a blaster and killing everyone in cold blood.

  Eventually he snuck out and planned for a way to clear his name in such a dramatic way no one could cover it up. So he infiltrated the factory and hacked into the servers to give his message straight to GNN and made a ridiculous demand that would give time for others to clear his name. He rounded up those working the late shift, but he was sickened when the woman tripped onto a red hot hull plating of another ship being constructed. He did the only thing he could do and knocked her out with a sentry bot and stunned here every time she started regaining conscious. The other two hurt were merely upsetting the others and he decided to make them compliant. He made sure food and water was provided for the captives as well as some comfort.

  Not one robot was set to kill, merely to stun. The military made several pushes, but he made it so they fell into a trap in which he made them go naked and walk out unharmed. He didn’t change the stun settings even as their own arrival ruined it all.

  Renee stepped back showing genuine confusion as her power dissipated again and showed in her gaze. “So you only demanded the billions of credits because you knew it would take weeks to scrape together? You did it to stall so people had time to uncover the truth?” Davan nodded vigorously as he recovered from the massive intrusion into his own personality.

  “Aye, Lass.” Jake spoke with conviction. “When one of me sources told me of the strange situation, I originally took Stone and Steven with me to discover for meself what occurred. Then went alone to grab hold.”