Cutlass Sharpened (52 page)

“
Happy to see you unharmed
too.” Stone returned the sarcasm.

Oliver cut them a
path
through
the
disabled door like during the prison escape.

“
Any news from Renee?”
Satellite clicked his beak as the door was kicked in.

“
Coms are jammed…” Oliver
said, looking inside a massive space of the final stage of the
starship assembly line. Inside was a huge spacecraft hovering on
its own, but many windows had yet to be fitted to the sleek design.
The ship was a good five kilometers long and a half wide with
retracted wings like an old world jet. “but judging from the
explosion a few minutes ago Renee’s doing just fine.”

“
That female sure loves
making thing go boom.”

“
About
half
as much as Steven does.” Stone
smirked. “What is it like in here?”

“
Not good. It’s too quiet. I
can see construction bots idling when they should be fitting clear
gemstone windows for the ship’s integration systems. Also I’ll need
to get up on the catwalk to reach the door we need to get to, but
if the doors are like the main elevators you can bet they are
disabled too.”

“
Construction bots are slow.
Rather than drop me a line you can take mine.” He pulled the small
grappling hook from his waistline and handed it over. “Don’t bother
with the construction or cleaners. Your speed can outmaneuver them
no problem. Did you find any more drones in the area? They can be
outfitted like the last set I shot down.”

“
I don’t see any, but I’ll
trust you to do like before.”

Oliver got a good grip on the hook and sped
across the ground. The bots all had their lights brighten in their
eyes as they reacted to his presence. Just as Stone said, he
slipped by them without issue and jumped three stories to the
catwalk and grabbed the railing to wrap the grappling hook secure.
His head jerked to a small explosion and found a drone with a set
of quadruple blasters falling to the ground and Stone’s hand
dropping as he ran through the three dozen slow robots designed
mostly for heavy lifting. Stone kicked off the ground as his
harness reeled him up quickly. A large right hand helped him over
and Satellite drew the attention of a rapid firing drone which
Stone held out a hand to ready another kinetic blast. The falcon
was a superior flyer and lured the machine directly into Stone’s
sights and a ball of plasma fired. The second drone fell in a
smoking heap of sparking steel.

As they cut though another door a rumble far
away shook the building to its foundation and Oliver grinned,
having a good idea Renee was likely melting down the vault as the
building shakes were constant for over a good minute.

More and more Davan Took began to sweat in a
cold room as he watched the progress of the two teams unravel his
plans. Two individuals stood out. Renee on the screen stood in
front of the vault he had everyone contained in, but she stood in
front, legs spread and both hands aimed at a three meter thick
titanium vault door, but from her hands came a massive discharge of
psionic energy so bright, he could barely make out her silhouette
and that of the Drake. Never had he seen outside of movies someone
sustain that level of power and be able to melt through the door so
fast it would not be able to cook those inside alive. Not even
sprinkler systems could slow her down. Then there was the acrobatic
giant with a sword that cut things as if everything was able to
part as easy as air. He obviously didn’t have the tremendous class
as Renee, but his physical prowess was just as unstoppable.

Steam blocked Renee’s vision, but then
through the film covering her face the scene altered and suddenly
she could see through the superheated water from the sprinklers
trying to cool the vault door from her unleashed power. Sparky had
already made sure his mind reached inside the vault and everyone
was far away as possible as her blasting beam punched through the
door and into the wall behind it. She only stopped when she heard
her partner tell her she was through. Her armor protected her feet
from molten metal being quenched as she climbed in and readied her
injector to yell “Stay calm everyone! Who’s the most injured?”

“
Over here. Her hands are
badly burned from being too close to the furnace when the drones
forced us in here.” Said someone.

Renee went to a woman with massive third
degree burns on skin already melted. From the lump on the side of
her head, someone knocked her out, for her own well being. Renee
injected her with a powerful sedative and a regenerative solution
made specifically for burns. She met the squinting eyes of a woman
to say “Take off yours and her bra to cover her hands. She won’t
wake up, but a soft bra will prevent her skin from cracking and
bleeding too much as she heals.” The woman didn’t question a
medic’s orders even though it was unorthodox. Off came a bra to be
wrapped.

Outside the factory Rose
turned her head to say
“Captain, my mate
and his rider have located the hostages. Renee is treating and
holding up a barrier nothing can get through.”

It was all Captain Stav needed. He tapped his
com and ordered “GO! GO! GO! Hostages are secure. Shoot everything
in your way except the Hunters.”

Hundreds of elite marines readied guns and
blades as they charged in through the gaping opening the Hunters
left behind.

Inside, Satellite paused and
landed on a shelf without making a sound to think
telepathically
“Stone, I found the missing
scientist. He’s outside where we believe the terrorist is, but is
working with a tablet as if he’s trying to override the bulkhead
doors. He’s in a camera blind spot.”

“
Keep watching and make sure
he’s a friendly. We are five minutes out.”
Stone replied as they were blocked by worker robots, but they
only served to slow progress.

Two minutes earlier than expected Oliver and
Stone arrived under Satellite who hadn’t moved from the very high
shelf. Oliver’s deep voice would never reach a normal whisper and
it made the hiding man jump. “Friend or foe? Your answer better be
real.”

The man looking in his thirties put a hand
over his heart to say “Friend. I’m Professor Nathaniel, lead
starship programmer here at the factory.”

“
His face matches the
personnel records I downloaded from the terminal.” Oliver said and
came around with Stone following, walking backwards to make sure
nothing came from behind. “Any luck, Professor?” Oliver gestured to
the screen in front of him.

“
None I’m afraid. Whatever
program the madman is using keeps evolving to keep me from opening
the door. None of my algorithms are working and I’m trying to find
the backdoor, but that could take weeks. I’ve been trying to shut
down the security systems instead and keep getting kicked
out.”

“
How thick is that
door?”

The man in a white lab coat glanced to the
dark brown door. “I think about ten meters thick.”

“
Too thick to cut normally
and too heavy too… hmm.”

“
I have an idea.” Stone
said. “Mr. Nathaniel, instead of disabling the whole system, can
you disengage just
one
worker robot from the system and control it
manually?”

“
Just one? Not a problem.
It’ll need more than my touch to make it operate if I sever it from
the power network.”

“
I’ll watch over you both.”
Said Oliver.

The professor and Stone ran back to the
blockade and the much smaller man pulled a tool out of his belt,
used it to unscrew a panel in the back of a large constructer,
pulled a small knife from his pocket to cut out the automatic and
remote controlling properties. The man grabbed a dim fiber optic
wire and split it down the middle. He handed one to Stone then
plugged the other into a small section to solder the cable to a
certain facet of the power crystal. “Give it power and I’ll operate
it to move.”

Stone’s fist surrounded the cable and it lit
right up like the fiber optic cables illuminating the whole
factory. He then looked over his shoulder. “Brother, cut out a
square like I did to gain entry. We’ll be there in roughly two
minutes.”

Oliver didn’t like leaving, but he didn’t
sense anything else nearby as the robot booted up and began turning
around on a set of tank treads.

He returned to the thick bulkhead and closed
his eyes to feel the sword start taking his energy in preparation
to let loose a wave of ultimate sharpness. The edge gleamed during
the slice before releasing a blue-white wave in which left a
vertical line deep within. The waves each took a great toll of
stamina, but he managed three more before catching his breath as
the two men came around the corner.

The professor activated an arc welder which
created a downward hole in which a huge hook slid in. Using the
might of a sturdy machine, the cut out began gradually sliding.
Oliver had angled the bottom horizontal wave slightly upwards to
make use of gravity, even just a little would help. Metal grinded
on metal as the machine was in its lowest setting for pulling
massive loads crept forward.

Ten meters later the floor buckled under the
full weight of the extracted door. Oliver yelled down the short
tunnel “It’s over Took!”

“
Come get me if you can.”
The man with a blue face and two running lines taunted.

Stone threw up a barrier around Oliver just
incase as he climbed inside. The wave’s power dissipated after so
far, but nothing behind was cut. Oliver entered a room with
hundreds of sparkling gems in perfect cubes each near as tall as
himself. The room was cooler than normal, but Oliver’s gaze fell
upon Davan Took sitting on the ground with his legs crossed in the
back of the room.

Outside there came a ruckus and he heard
climbing behind to find Captain Stav coming in, gun ready. A dozen
more soldiers in tactical black armor made them all look like
beetles followed. “Surrender!” the captain ordered as Oliver let
him get closer to himself.

“
I’ll never surrender till I
clear my good name.”

“
Your choice.”

Something’s wrong.
Oliver thought.
It’s clear
he isn’t in this for credits. What…
he took
a deep sniff and put a hand on top of the captain’s pistol. Stav
glared, but lowered the weapon and signaled his men to keep theirs
trained on the target. He could not disobey a man as fierce looking
as the elder, especially with that helmet on. “Davan, where are
you?”

The man’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.
“I’m right here of course.”

“
You were here a day ago at
the least. Your scent is old and I don’t smell your sweat or fear
as you would if you had been in here. Plus I didn’t hear your heart
beat when I came in.”

Davan glared. “Bye.” Is all he said as he hit
a button and his holographic image warped before vanishing.

Captain Stav yelled “He can’t be far! Sweep
the area!”

Davan Took grimaced as he shut down his
station and covered himself in a suit that works like Phantom
Invisibility as well as being used on the sentry bots. He opened a
door and took just one step out.

Before he could get away there dropped a
meaty hand and everything went dark.

“
Systems are all back online
and fully functional, Captain.” Saluted a soldier.

“
And it’s all thanks to your
efforts.” Captain Stav said before he had to go speak with the
reporters yelling behind the barricade. It had turned to mid
afternoon as they left the factory. “I wish I could reward you, but
all I’m capable of is recommending you to the system of trust and
honor. I’ll send it to all commanders if you ever need help in the
future. Wish I could do more.”

“
You can.” Renee was back in
her medic flight suit as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on
the handle of Sparky’s armor. “I need a thousand fresh lab rats
shipped to the Dorgenox addressed to me.”

“
Lab rats?”

“
Did I stutter?”

“
No, Ma’am.” He nodded.
“I’ll do it. One thousand mice won’t be difficult to procure for a
reward.”

“
Well? How about we go get
my aunts and I can finally leave this pain in the ass place?” Renee
questioned and before long they all got on her shuttle, Sparky had
removed his armor.

Back at Galicom Stephanie and Jessica were
eagerly awaiting their arrival after being contacted that it was
all over.

“
Figures!” Renee rolled her
eyes as they arrived back to her most hated room to find it packed
with people. “We clean up their mess and everyone beats us
here.”

“
This’ll give us time to
hear every little detail of what happened.” Jessica threw an arm
around Renee’s shoulder as they got in line.

The story was told and Renee finished by
saying “No one could find a trace of the weasel. He vanished into
thin air it seemed. But when other medics arrived we got the three
badly injured people out. The rest weren’t overly traumatized, but
the girl with burnt hands will be kept asleep for a week as her
hands will regenerate. Till then it’ll itch horribly. That’s about
it. What did you two do?”

“
We saw two steamy movies?”
Jessica giggled.

“
We
tried
seeing them till my horny wife
mauled me. Good thing we got a private viewing or other people
would have really had a show to fest their eyes on.”