Cutlass Sharpened (45 page)

“
Well that was interesting.”
Oliver grinned as he kept his helmet on.

Renee nodded and closed her
eyes as she felt a frantic need not her own suddenly snap and
heard
“Renee! What happened? I thought I
lost you!!!”

“
Oh, Sparky, it’s so good to
hear your voice again.”

Her mental tone and elated
emotions was the balm the Drake sorely needed and his own emotions
slid into her, making her cry in relief.
“I’ve been so worried, My Friend. Tell me what has happened.
I’m boarding your shuttle as we speak and am coming with Jessica
and Stephanie. Tell me as I come.”

“
Um, hold that thought, more
trouble.”

Oliver stood in front of her as nine men with
guns aimed were yelling for them to surrender. He drew his sword
and said “Not this time.”

Two fired collars, but Oliver was ready this
time and he cut them out of the air. To the guards, his arm seemed
to vanish for a moment and the charges went off, but he was well
protected from the small blasts. His helmet protected his sight and
hearing so he was ready for more. When collars failed they fired
stunning balls of plasma, but they hit him harmlessly. They
increased power, but he was not going down this time. Pulling on
the mental lever within negated the muscle seizing shock while the
armor kept burns from getting anywhere near flesh.

Renee was shielded by his body to hear him
say calmly “Red, go to the edge and see if there is a way out of
here. I’ll keep them occupied and not kill them… unless you know
one of them who deserves…”

“
No, they were all just
ordered to recapture us by someone who knows the game’s up, but
can’t realize it yet. These guys are doing as ordered.” She said
after a moment of digging in recent thoughts of the nine
men.

True to his word he went on the attack, but
didn’t kill anyone. He merely chased the scattering men to destroy
their blasters and knock them out with a blow to the head. They
stood no chance to keep up with his physical prowess.

Renee ran to the edge and groaned as she
looked down to see New Wrangler Prison floated directly over a sea
of an active super volcano. Beneath was a molten sea. She was glad
no one cut the power or the entire facility’s last defense was to
plunge and kill everyone in the superheated rock of a super
volcano. It was so big, an entire range of mountains could fit
comfortably. It bubbled and frothed. Now she knew why no one ever
escaped here and that its location was classified. She yelled “We
have nowhere to go!”

“
We don’t have a choice!” He
pointed as an ion cannon turret slowly turned towards them. The
sheer size of the cannon could down enemy ships from space let
alone two people in the landing area.

“
Oh fuck me!” Renee groaned
out as another complication turned up.

“
We’ve got less than a
minute. If that thing fires, we’re goners.”

“
Unless you can suddenly fly
we’re screwed.” She snapped.

“
Can’t you levitate
us?”

“
Not without leaving a
psionic particle trail that will lead that cannon’s energy straight
along the same path. Levitating the two of us won’t dissipate
quickly enough even with all the wind. The charged particles will
be like a cord that will follow our movement. Only sub-light
engines don’t leave an electrical trail. Without a ship we can’t
fly.”

“
Can you blow it
up?”

Renee’s eyes became pure emerald light as her
hands faced each other and a massive blue ball of energy vibrated
the air as she put every iota of her being into it and threw her
arms forward with a yell. A Kinetic explosion able to level the
whole facility condensed to a ball struck something and was
diverted. “Fuck! They have a deflection field! Where did they get
one!?”

Oliver’s mind worked furiously for ten
seconds before he snapped his fingers. “We can fly… or more
accurately glide!”

“
What are you talking
about?” she asked as the cannon was almost upon them. She saw the
barrel’s dark chamber as large as she is tall creeping
closer.

“
Netul, must have planned
this for so long. He gave us both a way out, up and above keeping
you from dying down in Level Four. Think about your bracelet and
imagine your suit altering like you’ve seen mine do often. Absorb
the cape and make a wingsuit. The volcanic heat’s thermals will
keep us well above the lava till we get out of range.”

Renee imagined just that as she watched his
cape make a parachute from wrist to ankle and between the legs too.
She felt her armor adjusting and even added a thin film over her
head to act as a windscreen.

They had no time to spare and flung
themselves off a second before the entire lip of the landing area
blew up. Renee screamed, but then felt Oliver grab and flipped in
such a way that she stopped tumbling and spread her arms and legs.
He was right beneath her as she evened out, gliding upside down,
always there to catch her.

As they glided away Renee began to catch her
breath and activated her chip to mentally design a better gliding
method. Her armor thinned some more, but added a lattice to offer
rigidity and her suit basically became a cockpit. The wings along
her sides hardened and went to become three meters wider while her
legs locked together and made smaller wings she could adjust by
changing the position of her legs. Gliding became infinitely
smoother, faster and easier to control.

Below, Oliver copied her and his wings were
beside hers.

They didn’t hold still as she sent her
telepathy to him and they randomly confused the cannon from getting
a lock. They spread away, but not so far so as to be unable to
react if the other was in need. Renee though was amazed by her
armor, especially able to breathe in a noxious environment where
their sensors were unable to gain a lock on them.

Sparky was always there and informed Jessica
and Stephanie on where to go. They soon found the volcano and Renee
grinned as her shuttle was right where she expected. Jessica was at
the controls and matched the gliding speed while opening the cargo
hold. His body glowed brightly so she could see the hold in the
darkness that surrounded them.

Renee angled herself perfectly and her suit
absorbed back into itself though she tripped and fell to the floor.
Oliver glided in second and his landing was much worse as he
slammed into the ship’s wall with enough force to grunt in pain.
Renee watched as Sparky hit the button to shut the cargo doors and
the howling wind died. She yelled up to the cockpit. “Get us the
hell out of here!”

“
Already on it!” Jessica
said as she hit the throttle and left the area to hold nothing
back.

Sparky practically pounced
on her and reared back on his hind legs to gather her in his
arms.
“Do not ever do this to me
again.”

“
I love you too, Sparky.”
She hugged him for all she was worth, unable to stop the tears of
relief from falling.

Oliver rubbed his throbbing, sore shoulder
which took the brunt from the ungraceful landing and decided she
and Sparky needed alone time. He headed through to the ship’s
multipurpose core room and up into the cockpit to find they already
reached space. “Where are we going?”

“
The Dorgenox. Jake’s
orders.” Stephanie said as she flung her platinum hair over a
shoulder while turning her seat. “Where have the two of you
been?”

“
We just broke out of New
Wrangler Prison.” Even Jessica’s head whipped around at that.
“We’ll tell you everything, but right now I need your skills,
Jessica. Stephanie, can you fly.”

“
I won’t crash into
anything, but I can’t promise more than that.” She
admitted.

“
Good thing we’re hours from
the spaceport and space is rather free of debris. You’ll do fine,
Babe.” Jessica patted Stephanie’s thigh and left the pilots chair
and followed Oliver back. “What do you need?”

“
Get out your data pad while
I make a call. Go see Renee and tell her to download her neural
chip’ recordings to it and wait for my instructions.” She pulled
out a thin handheld crystal and left him as he tapped behind his
ear. “Elder Talon, are you and Claw busy? It’s Oliver.”

“
I’m available. My husband’s
preoccupied at the moment.” Talon’s strong feminine voice came
across loud and clear. “What do you need?”

“
Information. Renee and I
were accused of bombing Galicom and sent to New Wrangler Prison on
Verard within the past twenty four hours. We were innocent.
Wrangler then expunged our existence under his watch and dropped us
down in Level Four where he held a Creelin Zeelin Beyleez warrior
by the name of Netul for sixty four years. I just got us out, but
as we made our escape we discovered Beasts in the prison used to
experiment splicing human and Beast together while using Keptl
infestation spores to combine the two. We just escaped and I’m
afraid time is of the essence. Other parties were aware and we’ve
got documentation to verify my claims. I need a reliable source
here on Verard to give the information before those parties can
escape.” Stephanie was staring at him, completely caught off
guard.

Talon was quiet to process this before saying
“If you have undeniable proof you should contact my daughter
Cassandra Peterson. She is a supreme judge there. Her password is
Donavin three three two. Wait five minutes for me to contact her
first so she’ll be prepared for this massive breach of the laws.
Five minutes.”

“
Not a second longer.
Thanks.”

“
No, thank you. I know
Netul. We go back a few centuries. And he’s the only Beyleez in
Andromeda. I’ll check on him later. His wife Callier will be so
relieved. Good luck straightening this mess out.”

The conversation ended and he sat down on a
nearby comfortable chair to close his eyes. He heard Renee in the
back saying “Yeah, pretty badass huh?”

“
Yeah! Now you and him even
dress alike. So how did you get a suit like this?”

“
I can’t, Jess. I made a
Creelin a promise and I intend to keep it. You mind if I can take a
shower? I’m rather ripe and I desperately need to remove my
makeup.”

“
Sure,
Sweetheart.”

Footsteps alerted their
arrival and Renee went straight for the bathroom door. Sparky’s
long neck stretched out though the hole, not going far from her for
the foreseeable future. Jessica exclaimed “Stars!” as she scanned
the information projected in front of her. “Steph, you
need
to see this!”
Stephanie’s eyes grew.

At five minutes he programmed the judge’s
information and said “Cassandra, it’s Oliver Void.”

Cassandra had a voice just like her mother.
“My mom filled me in. I’m ready for the proof. Send it encrypted at
once so I can sign a warrant for a full inquiry into the maximum
security prison. The channel you need to sent to is…”

Jessica programmed the private fifty three
number link into a data-burst flash, adding her own encryption
program to it and sending it to the judge.

Renee came out of the shower wearing short
shorts that showed off her thighs and a casual shirt. Her eyeliner,
blush and fingernail paint was gone. She made a beeline and plopped
right down in Oliver’s lap, just to be held. Comforted.

Not ten minutes later
Cassandra returned and it was clear she was on a war path. “Elder
Void, I’ve issued the warrant and deployed the Marines to secure
the prison. I personally authenticated the copied codes and even
linked my office with the security system. My husband watched the
recent footage they were trying to scrub and saw you and the
Creelin there killing the warden last. Rest assured, no charges
will be filed for your hand in Wrangler’s justified killing nor
your breaking out of jail. I just personally watched the bombing in
Galicom and checked the scanners and found Ms. Dorgen innocent. A
scan of her body entering nor leaving the building had no trace of
being an accomplice to the detonation. She just looked like her
punching the table set off the explosion. You have my thanks as
well as my
sincerest
apologies. I also promise that all complicit in this
conspiracy will be hung without any plea for retraining to be
granted.”

“
Thank you, Cassandra.” The
call ended. “We’ve been cleared officially.”

“
About damn time.” She let
out a breath she had been holding. “Tomorrow we have unfinished
business. Tonight we’ll be medically checked and get back to some
fun… but first… you need a bath.” She wrinkled her nose.

“
Join me?”

“
Maybe later.” She promised
with a kiss. “Right now I need to shut my eyes and veg now that we
escaped.” Renee got off his lap so he could get up and get
clean.

Chapter 11

“
Okay, we’re docked.”
Jessica called out as she spun in the seat and got up.

Oliver opened the main airlock of the shuttle
and both the inner and outer wooden doors opened wide so he could
disembark and exit the craft inside the private docking bay. Behind
followed Renee, Stephanie and Jessica.

Renee barely made four steps before a scaly
green snout knocked against her shoulder. A soft smile quirked her
expression before she took the hint and climbed aboard Sparky’s
back. Sparky had already thanked Oliver for getting her back to him
and was raised a notch higher in those slit, reptilian eyes.