Cutlass Sharpened (61 page)

“
Warning? What kind?”
someone asked as eyes fell on Oliver as he let his helmet retract.
He didn’t like all the attention, but he endured it to find out
what Jake was up to.

“
That me theory was
right
and the Solarian
people were killed by an enemy, but Oliver was left behind to be
revived should that enemy return. His translation of the Geo Record
called him their greatest warrior and the Creelin would watch over
any species that his people seeded across
fifteen thousand
galaxies. We knew
Solarians were ancient and were spread far and wide, but not by
that much. And I can assure ye his translations in the past four
hours are correct. I found six words and without knowing which
ones, he found them to verify his origins. Aye, he had his memory
wiped completely, but this proves the Solarian written language is
innate to learning without needing to be taught.

“
Ye’ve all seen how fast he
learns and we all know only Creelin can do it that fast. Oliver is
no experiment, nor is he human. He is the last of his people, but
not the last of his kind…” Jake began to choke up.

“
Captain?!” Abdul went to
approach but a hand stopped him.

“
Papa, if you can’t say it I
will.” Renee took charge and rolled her eyes as his emotions were
getting the better of him. “Look everyone, I can validate Oliver is
Solarian. Auntie, turn on your tablet and let me access it.”
Jessica took out the device again and hit a few things to nod.
Renee linked to it via her chip and increased the holographic
display to be twice that of a human’s height. “This was Oliver’s
DNA strand when we first found him and this is what it looks like
as of yesterday morning before we went back to deal with Galicom
and Davan’s mess. As you can see in the comparison, his DNA has
altered… and
this
is my own DNA.” She input the third strand and if eyes could
get any wider, they did. “As you can see, I’m not human either. My
mother was dying from infestation, but she modified her ovum to
that of a Solarian which produced me. Yes, it’s true, I’m a human
born Solarian. And to prove it you need only look at my pointed
ears. If you look up the splicing registry you’ll find I’ve
never
had hearing
augmentation. I’m also a Beast-eater though I’ve never told
anyone.

“
It’s also why Oliver was so
attracted to me. I’m the child of two Class Twelve psiocicist
parents on top of being modified into a Solarian. Vanessa, it’s why
I always liked my meat raw and enjoyed your strong marinades.
Normal food is bland when I crave Beast like you’ve seen Oliver do
after the Stingrays, Salamander and Fire Wyrm
incidents.”

“
You’re not kidding are
you?” Vanessa shifted her baby as she spoke.

“
No. I wish it was all a
trick, but Papa came clean last night. Ma was going to die, but
just in case Papa found the Solarian warrior, she wanted to make
sure he wasn’t alone. And don’t feel bad for me. After I cried my
heart out I saw the logic in it. I’ve known about my DNA for years
and told no one other than Sparky. And Oliver isn’t all that bad. I
may be hurt about all this, but you’ve all seen he is a good man as
well as a pain in the ass. Then again, what man isn’t?” She
chuckled and some other women did the same to release the tension.
“Look, we may have extra DNA strands, but we are still the same as
a person. I’ll still punch you in the throat if you come to me for
a scratch,” said man in the back rubbed his neck in remembering the
incident. “but I’m the same Renee Dorgen who you all love and
respect… or fear if you piss me off.” To increase the point her
clothes transformed to battle readiness and mask over her mouth and
nose. Fierce beauty was revealed.

More chuckled lightened the mood as they
began to realize Renee was still the hellcat they all knew for
years.

“
Aye, it is all true. It is
why I waited so long to divulge me plans.” Jake admitted to the
sobering crew. “From here on out my grandest plans truly begin. For
the safety of me ship, me crew, me daughter and son-in-law we have
gone dark. We go to collect the spoils of knowledge and treasure
and will need them to lead the way.” Jake put a hand on each of
their shoulders. “We all know what would happen if word got out if
Solarians still lived. But more than that we need to find more
about our ancestors.

“
To find it, one of me
earlier exploits discovered a derelict Solarian battle cruiser that
lays deep within Keptl space. I doubt anyone other than I know of
its existence.” This additional information made many begin to
shake in fear. “I never reported its discovery nor has there been
any news of it, but it lays in a dangerous area. Most importantly I
detected faint power coming from said cruiser, but nothing I did
would let me inside. I believe with Oliver’s help, the ship will
recognize him and reveal its secrets.”

“
What shape was the cruiser
in, Captain?” someone asked.

“
Seven centuries ago it
showed signs of age, but also it was in a major fight. Most of the
cruiser is in shambles, but what did remain was still stronger than
any means I threw at her to crack its shell.

“
It shall take a month to
reach the planet the ship is on and it will give each of us time to
recover from this revelation I’ve kept from each of ye. Right now I
need everyone to ready the ship in event we run across the Keptl
when we exit. I’ve already resupplied the ship and Jessica has
installed a few upgrades. Are ye with me?”

“
You’re the captain and
you’ve yet steer us wrong. I’m in.” Someone in the crowd
said.

“
You know if there are
artifacts to find I’ll kiss a rabid Keptl to get it.” Stephanie
said and the image of her kissing a Keptl had more lighthearted
chuckles.

“
Kicking Keptl ass is my
favorite game.” Steven Metts said with a twirl of his lance and
grin on his face. “Next to things going ‘Boom!’ that is.

“
If there is treasure, I
want it. Maybe there are Star-sabers in the armory… if they had an
armory.” Another said.

The crowd quickly got excited at the prospect
despite the real danger they were facing.

“
If we are agreed, Abdul,
plot a course into Keptl controlled space and send us into FTL.
I’ve already uploaded the coordinates. I’ll be busy with Oliver
translating Solarian text so ye have command of the
ship.”

“
Aye aye!” the jaguar
looking second in command accepted responsibility.

“
Lad, let’s go
back.”

“
You idiots go on and don’t
bother me for the rest of the day. Just because everyone is onboard
with your plan, Papa, I’ll need all month to figure out how this
damn thing works.” She flicked her bracelet.

“
If ye need anything, Lass,
let Papa know.”

“
If you’re still in a
generous mood, send me Ma’s data on how she made me and how my DNA
can combine to multiple helixes in a single strand. I take it I had
a basic double when I was born.”

Jake could only nod as he turned around.
Renee then saw an alert through her chip which showed an incoming
encrypted file which opened specifically for her. They walked away
back into the ship and she began a preliminary search through her
own origins. Her logical thinking process was in control rather
than emotion and she was fascinated by how carefully her mother
actually managed to recreate their very ancestors by manipulating
genes so carefully everything fell into place without any variation
of genetic corruption. In the elevator with the two men watching
her like Visor to a mouse she said “I had heard Ma was a splicing
genius, but this is something far beyond anything I’ve ever heard
of.”

Jake smiled with a sad sort of pride. “Yer Ma
wanted her daughter to be the very best ye could be. If only she
could see ye now she would be prouder than I am… if anything of the
sort could be possible.”

Oliver and Jake exited on the bridge and she
remained to go to the lab section of the ship. Level eight. It was
on the same level as her aunts’ room and their labs, but instead of
going left she turned right.

Half a kilometer later she
walked into the spacious testing area where Renee solely had her
own private laboratory she hadn’t been to in close to a year when
she was learning a new medical procedure she was replicating. It
was isolated and quiet. The outer door opened and closed her within
a confined space where organic mist filled and readied her to enter
the clean room. Taking a chance she imagined the facemask and it
flowed right into place. She smiled as the chamber didn’t find her
breath exhaled any foreign particles other than carbon dioxide. At
another thought of going into a vacuum a clear film covered her
head and proved nothing entered or escaped the armor. A viable
space suit. She was
really
starting to like her armor. When cleared that she
was clean of all contaminants, the inner door opened and she
stepped in. This lab was more metallic than wood and had much more
specialized equipment. Surgical instruments, scanners, test tubes,
beakers, labeled solutions, holographic charts and other medical
necessities filled her room. She thought
Wow, everything survived the crash landing. I didn’t even
think this place would be a mess till about now.

Squeaking of mice were
placed in individual acrylic boxes in the far side of the room. All
of the small and furry specimens were ready and the only way they
could be in their boxes is if only one person could enter and only
her father had that access. No one was allowed inside her lab, not
even Sparky. She merely expected to find the shipment in the inner
scrub room.
Papa must have did this in
event I was furious, or to do something with his hands before
talking to my aunts. I’ll forgive him. After all, he did save me a
few hours sorting the mice.

Renee linked to the room’s private systems
and smiled as music that set fire to the soul began to pulse. Her
head began to bob to the rhythm as she plopped her butt in a chair
to start with analyzing just how potent the chemicals she’s made
were. She grabbed a full stack of glass slides. Thin, rectangular,
clear pieces of glass. Renee carefully lined them up in rows of ten
by one hundred.

From there she willed her bracelet into
action while being scanned by two hovering drones for extra
accuracy. A third watched as she placed a single milligram’s worth
of solution her body has stored separately onto each slide as the
rocking music made such tedium more interesting.

Her bracelet’s needle was remarkable to the
fact that each sample was pure in the regard that each droplet
didn’t mix with the previous. It didn’t need to exchange fresh
sample slides with each use. As she worked she multitasked in
reading the potency of each and every chemical composition while
allowing the system to first approximate how much would be needed
for every ailment before working with mice. As of right now each
and every milligram droplet on each slide would outright kill the
mice as well as a human at such unbelievable concentrations a dozen
times over.

As she finished placing the final component
in the last slide covering her entire desk, said through the mask
“I need to find a way to dilute these things or else I’ll do the
opposite of my intentions. Raw is too concentrated and won’t
circulate properly in the patient.”

Renee felt the link with
Sparky widen and comfortably accepted his thoughts.
“Perhaps you have missed a vital step.”

“
I’m drawling a
blank.”
She admitted in silence.

“
You are so fixated on the
potency you forget how it is suspended between your bones. You told
me that the plasma filling your bones are pure and clean. Empty of
your personal genetic makeup. I believe that the plasma is the
dissolving solution that will allow the patient’s body to absorb
the neutral plasma rather than reject it.”

“
So that is what Netul
warned me of. I would run out of plasma before the solutions. With
the endorphins alone I could numb five thousand full grown adults…
Give me a minute to try out your idea.”
Renee’s will stole an endorphin molecule with the thought that
the concentration of it was one thousand and sixteen percent
stronger than normal that the plasma would need to be one thousand
and sixteen parts to the one endorphin and placed the droplet on a
fresh slide.

What she saw had her jaw
drop. The solution of plasma metabolized the concentrated endorphin
like a catalyst and evenly distributed it throughout the
droplet.
“Sparky, you were right. I’ve just
gotten the signal that the droplet is safe to administer and is
comparable to eight hundred milligrams of any common
painkiller.”

Excitement as well as the music gave Renee a
real rush to see just how far she could push things. Hours flew by
like seconds as she analyzed just how it all worked. When her own
bone plasma began to diminish she injected herself with more
synthetic plasma to bolster storage within. Still she was days from
being comfortable with animal testing.

Next thing Renee knew her com relayed a voice
that had her loins ready to be played with. “Red, it’s twenty
hundred hours. Meet me out on the deck.”

She checked the time and realized just how
much of it had passed. “Yikes, I’ve been in here all day!”