Cutlass Sharpened (35 page)

Renee returned to her area, but Oliver took a
detour before heading down to the training room for more practice.
He knocked on a door and it opened to reveal the auburn haired
Jessica in nothing more than a large nightshirt that covered the
vital areas. Her light hazel eyes widened in recognition of the
visitor. “Oliver! You’re back!”

Her surprise brought Stephanie out of the bed
around the corner in night lingerie. “Babe? Why shout? Oh, hello,
Oliver.”

“
Hello. Sorry for waking
you, but may I have a minute of your time privately?”

“
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.