Cutlass Sharpened (69 page)

“
Then what is the connection
between us and Beasts? Why do they change our DNA?” Renee needed an
answer. It is the number one haunting question in her
life.

“
For my creators they were
the medium in which combines with them to bring forth the
individuals’ full potential. It only works for those who hunger
insatiably for them. Some were weak and some strong. The more you
require in craving simply means you’ve not taken all the essence
your body craves. When the hunger doesn’t distract then ones
potential is achieved. You will still feel hunger, but not the draw
telling you that you
need
more. More essence craved, more potential the
individual. Human DNA is close, but cannot naturally combine with
Beast essence. Until the need is curbed, the individual is as
insatiable as Keptl.”

“
What of the Keptl? Do you
know what controls them like puppets?” Jessica’s curiosity had her
speaking. Renee was too busy relaxing now that the fear was
leaving.
There was a limit after
all
.

“
But of course.” The
construct lifted a hand and suddenly beside her was an eight legged
arachnid-like monster. Sharp black spikes for feet held the body
upright. A torso grew out from the large, black abdomen. It had two
arms with three long triangular claws on each finger. It didn’t
have breasts, but it screamed female. It’s head sloped back like a
Creelin, but flattened upwards like a triceratops without horns.
Instead, sharp spikes made the crown look more like jagged scales
sharper than broken glass. It was twice the size of Alleia and
completely still. “These are Keptl Queens. It is they who guide the
masses, see through the eyes of their minions and use them to fight
or hunt. They rule quite like the queen of a bee nest. They evolved
from a similar creature. Though not bipedal, as you can see the
Queen is situated in an upright position.”

“
Queen? Does she lay
eggs?”

“
Quite so. A queen can lay a
million eggs every day and choose what strain of Keptl minion she
needs for the hives to hatch.”

“
Every
day
?! How long is the incubation
period?” Jessica was flabbergasted and rightly so.

“
Depends on humidity and
heat. More moist and heat make them hatch faster. On average though
for what you call Trackers need about twelve to fifteen hours. The
larger and more complex life forms within the swarm take longer,
are less numerous, but much deadlier. The deadliest are Queens as
they can store extra energy and focus it through their children
without leaving safety of the hives. Yes they breed quickly, but
rely on brute force. They lack forethought as individuals and
therein lays their weakness. One will cannot match with many, even
with endless numbers…” Alleia suddenly jerked stiff, not as a
person, but as a machine. “Alert! Massive energy signature
detected! Alert! Spatial disturbance located at nine, nine, three
two. Distance: three thousand two hundred six kilometers from this
position. Keptl signature detected…”

Aboard the Dorgenox the emergency lighting
turned to red. Jake got out of his throne and moved over. “What is
it?”

“
Captain, FTL disturbance
size indicate a Goliath dropping out of space above the
moon.”

“
Fuck, no wonder they didn’t
react. They were waiting on the damn crab before they knew we were
here.” Abdul cursed and went to turn the ship around till a large
hand gripped the helm.

“
We don’t have time to turn
around and face it. We’re just too big. Activate the rear cannons.”
He turned around and tapped his ear “Lads, get back to yer ships
and reach us! The Goliath is not weighted down and that makes it
faster.”

Jake pulled a screen down as he sat in the
throne and his eyes turned bright green, funneling his great power
through the buffer stores and began firing twelve old fashion
looking cannons, but what left their chambers were hardly iron
balls. Out shot long beams of energy going at the speed of
light.

Oliver and Renee slapped a
hand on the nano-wall just as she heard Sparky’s voice
“Leave!”

“
We are! We know the Goliath
is right over us.”
The door opened and
Jessica flew first.

Oliver turned to say “Alleia, memory wipe!”
He got out just in time as the order would also seal the wall as
all remaining data was lost. He grabbed Jessica and jumped long
distances hearing Deegen say through the coms “Multiple contacts
heading in our general direction. Dragoons. ETA fifteen
minutes.”

Stone calmly said “Fly away from us and stay
under the clouds to draw their fire. We are ten minutes from the
ships.”

“
We’ve got the cargo secured
and are returning to the ship.” Came Steven’s voice. “Two minutes
out.”

Jessica screamed as they were falling eighty
meters straight down and clenched tightly into him, but he wasn’t
concerned. He heavily landed, but absorbed the fall by bending his
knees. Behind fell Renee, also unafraid. He said “We’re here,
Jessica.” She shook in natural fear and he smelled it, but as soon
as her feet hit the ground she opened her eyes. “Go fire up the
shuttle.”

“
Olly, I’m riding with you.
I’ll supply the extra power so you can lay down extra cover for
everyone else.”

“
No, I…”

“
This isn’t a debate.” She
opened the lid and jumped in the back. “Now get your ass in here or
I won’t let you spank mine.”

That mental image had his concern for her
safety change into lust, rather liking the idea. He leapt inside
and the lid closed. At his touch the fighter was awake and opening
the dual sails. Jessica was running inside the shuttle just as
Steven and Stephanie came bursting through the storming woods.
Tucked under the Hunter’s arm was Visor who couldn’t fly well
enough under the conditions.

No sound accompanied Oliver as he took off
straight up and floored the thrusters. Flying up on the screen were
bright red targets that turned the image of Keptl flyers. Dragoons.
Large serpents with leathery wings. Their hard bodies covered in a
bony carapaces were falling in the atmosphere, wings spread to slow
reentry much faster. Oliver locked on after flying in the other
direction of Deegen. Even under the blinding clouds booming with
lightning they were well hidden.

Behind him Renee’s eyes were burning as she
held onto a pair of handles that ejected from the port wall, from
her linking to the fighter. She monitored functions and fueled
extra power.

Oliver knew the cannons fired at the speed of
light and didn’t need to worry about adjusting for light and time
at this close a range. His thumb pressed down on the button and
forefinger pulled on the trigger. From either side drum under the
wings shot a beam of light. He let go a moment later. Aim was for
the wings of the snakes and it hit dead on to fire at another
Dragoon. His mind able to pinpoint their weakness rather than waste
excess power. Almost at the same time, nineteen flyers lost
stability. Without the second wing they tumbled straight to the
ground. Another was shot down and came from Deegen over fifty
kilometers away. Still hundreds of danger targets dropped. Renee
said calmly “Oliver, draw their angle. They are being dropped all
over this area because they didn’t have a better guess. Every one
hear that? We are acting decoy and will catch up once you all are
clear.”

Multiple people confirmed and not needing to
be told the obvious reasons, Oliver shot out of the clouds. As he
kept going higher he kept shooting at ones closer to landing,
making them fall to their deaths or would hurt like hell if
survival was possible.

It worked, as soon as a clear ship was found
the falling Keptl angled for them. Some diving headfirst and others
attempting to go wide to close in from either side as well as back.
A pincer maneuver.

Too bad they had no idea their spacing made
for a perfect spread. Rather than continue pinpoint firing he held
the trigger and made a sharp sweep through the thickest line. The
wide shot dropped several hundred, cutting numbers in half.

Behind he heard “Good shot, Olly. You do
realize I could make plenty of sex puns about shooting white stuff
in the dark at something.” He chuckled and went higher to find out
the Dragoons also could manipulate gravity to some extent and not
need to have atmosphere with which to fly. They weren’t very
maneuverable, but they opened their fanged mouths and fired
powerful kinetic blasts.

They were too easy to dodge and counter with
near perfect accuracy.

A glance above showed the Goliath. It was
shaped like a crab, but with pincers so large that they could cut
the Dorgenox in half. But now the pincers were held forward,
covering its head as twelve individual beams fired accurately. It
made for a serious defense as little pods in the pincers and long
legs returned fire of explosive spines five times as large as a
human, able to grow back once every five minutes to fire again.
Tens of thousands of spines were part of it. The only plus is that
the three flaps of the underbelly were closed and not stretched of
a pliable membrane with millions of Keptl. What had been dropped
were all its remaining flyers.

The remaining numbered eight hundred and six.
Five. Four. The number dropped a dozen per second. He didn’t go for
kill shots as it would take a longer and bigger burst to cut
through their bony exoskeletons. One minute later he said “Job’s
done.”

“
Why didn’t you save any for
me?” playfully whined Steven.

“
Olly, flip around.” Renee
warned and the Flare did a one eighty.

“
If you want to play, the
hive is sending its own Dragoons after me. My counter is finding
three million plus right for us.”

“
Be right there.” In a few
minutes he was and side by side they fired.

In eight minutes the Goliath was continuously
assaulted and could not turn attention down to the moon as Jessica
said “Everyone is in and off the planet. Keep it up for two minutes
till we get clear.”

“
Don’t worry about us! I’ve
never had this much fun!” Steven crowed as he inverted and dropped
another flyer.

“
Clear!” she said too
quickly, but the action made her voice come sooner.

Steven flipped and punched the throttle to
full to go in the opposite direction.

Oliver waited till Steven was out of range
before sending one more steady beam and caught up. They had no more
serious issue and were around the planet in no time as the shuttle
continued accelerating. “Got a visual!” Renee said.

“
Jake told us to keep a wide
berth. He’s shooting down the spines and doesn’t want us anywhere
near. I’m sending the trajectory to you now.”

Oliver touched the file and plotted a course
with an estimated time of ten hours.

The shuttle reached its full speed an hour
later and the four ships coasted to conserve power, going as close
to the speed of light as they could.

About that time Jake Dorgen’s grinning face
appeared on their screens “The bastards nipping at our heels seem
to have had enough. Is everyone safe and uninjured?”

“
Yes, Papa. We got
lucky.”

“
Damn lucky indeed. If it
had a full belly we wouldn’t have been able to keep it distracted.”
When everyone else said they were uninjured he smiled “Did ye find
any loot?”

“
We hit the mother lode!”
said Jacob.

“
Say no more, Old Friend.
Say no more. Wait to tell me under the cloak.”

“
Will do.”

Jake seemed to look at everyone and said
“Relax now and keep coming home, Lads.”

The screen faded and Oliver
turned his chair around. “What
ever
shall we do for the time? Play cards?”

Renee lowered her facemask
and clear visor smirking. “You damn well know I have no patience
for that when I’ve got a nice hard cock to use so close. Besides,
I
did
promise a
spanking and am willing to take my punishment if you turn off the
transmitters to standby.” She leaned forward, manipulating her
armor to show off plenty of cleavage and thinned the material
transparent to show her nipples were already perky.

He swung around to hit the button which
effectively would not let the next few hours of fun be watched or
heard, but could alert them if need be and upon spinning back
lounged a naked beauty on her side with a hand on a milky white hip
and the other holding her head up. The moment she glossed her lips
with that sinful tongue he was done for.

He hit another button and his chair folded
and linked up with Renee’s to make a rather soft and comfortable
bed. He was naked just as fast and using the adrenaline from
earlier he dove right into her silken depths without any foreplay
and gave her the best spanking of her life. She was sent crying.
Crying in feverish orgasm with the ultimate shaft for her was
locked firmly between her sculpted legs. She wasn’t in the mood for
passion. She needed hard and fast relief which she got time and
time again. It also helped ease the fear and anxiety of the
day.

Chapter 15

Going faster meant the four smaller ships had
to slow down as they passed beyond the two stars central to this
system to meet up with the Dorgenox. Effectively they put the stars
between themselves and the Keptl to help disguise and use the
immense gravity as defense against further attacks.