Cutlass Sharpened (54 page)

“
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.”

“
Why would you help me?
You’ve yet to say.” Davan finally found his voice, though it still
shook noticeably.

“
Because I’ve had me
suspicions for some time after hearing a similar incident over two
centuries ago in the same field of research ye unknowingly thought
up again.”

“
What do you mean, Papa?”
Renee shook her head to clear the memories not hers.

“
Back then the study was
simply called the vacuum-propulsion theory and like Took here, the
head researcher murdered his assistants and was hung two days later
when the proof was incontrovertible. Davan, tell me I’m wrong in
thinking yer Time-space Energy and Warp Technology involves the
idea of traveling through a level above even subspace in which ye
can match the human wavelength with that of a psionic bridge
between the person and a designated point, systems away, can travel
there instantly with the requirement being someone of class four
and above achieving the physical endurance to survive the warp.
Furthermore ye concluded the vibrations our body feels when
gathering can be intensified to the point we become out of sync
with this universe for less than a millionth or so of a single
millisecond to be on the other side of the anchor point, thus
eliminating the dependence on FTL travel as well as Inferno Fruit
that is expensive.”

“
H… How did…”

“
Thought so.” Jake nodded
sagely. “I may look like a barbarian, but ye are not the only
genius here. Your IQ is actually sixteen points below mine and a
point above me sister Jessica.” He took a breath that made his
chest swell more than usual. Davan was speechless. “But I do hate
to inform ye of this undeniable truth…”

“
Just tell me to the point.
Don’t dance around it.”

Jake leveled an
indescribable look to the short man. “I got the original footage
from me source and can say without a doubt the assistants were all
murdered by
yer
hand.”

Davan’s blue skin paled as he shook his head.
“I didn’t. I couldn’t… you must have been fooled.”

“
No one would dare live if
they fooled me. On that, Lad, ye can have me word as king.” Jake’s
vein showed up again. “Next time, do not think me one. Now keep yer
loose lips closed before they and me fist get intimate.” Said fist
popped as sausage thick fingers clenched. “They did die by yer
hands, but not by yer will.”