Not too much

“Well, I’ve never met Sasha and I don’t know what she looks like, but a friend of mine fits the description of her, so naturally I got a little worried when Davy told me someone was looking for her, and figured it might be her…” Here, Brenan took a pause and stifled a smile at how the two young men reacted to his mentioning of Davy’s name. It was a good thing that he kept his friendship with Davy to himself earlier on, as he could now use that information in an attempt to distract the two brothers from asking too much about his past and his attitude towards the Veer.

“You know uncle Davy?” Julien was quicker in asking the obvious question than his brother.

“Yes,” Brenan admitted, “I’ve known him since before that shrapnel went and improved his looks. I didn’t mention it earlier though because I didn’t want to get sidetracked.”

“And you’ve seen him recently?” James asked.

“He helped me outfit my ship, so yes. He even pestered me about these two inexperienced young friends of the family who wanted to find a ship to serve on, eager and hungry and about as smart as you can get and still want a career as a sailor,” Brenan was pleased to find that neither of the brothers was prideful enough to protest his characterization of them.

“Look, about Sasha,” Brenan changed the suspect back to the mysterious redhead again, not feeling particularly proud about his attempt to distract the two young men but satisfied that it seemed to have worked, “I might never have talked to her or even seen her, but I know enough about Veertor to know that no good’s ever come to anyone that its agents have gotten their hands on, and if I can help keep her away from them, then so much the better.”

“But you don’t know her,” Julien objected.

“And neither do you. That didn’t stop you from nearly getting into a fight to protect her, did it?”

“Guess not…”

“Besides, all I need to know in order for to want to help her is that she’s hunted by the bottom-feeding agents of the most despicable reign to ever blight this planet. Veertor’s the absence of decency and humanity, and anyone who claims otherwise is either a damned fool or would like to do to you what that twisted empire has been doing to people ever since it was founded by that low-life son of a puss-ridden whore,” Brenan was all too aware of the rich irony of him accidentally making it sound as though he was one to act in defence of human decency. As always when he got angry, his voice had changed to become calmer and icier, to the point where it was both emotionless and filled with hate all at the same time, and one look at Julien and James told him that they had sensed the terrible anger behind his words.

“Look, I’m going to try and find this woman, and I’d appreciate it if you helped me, but otherwise you can feel free to head over to my ship and wait for me there,” Brenan rushed to add.

“We’ll help you,” James decided, and Julien had the same grim look on his face as his brother as he nodded his head in agreement.

“You’re sure about that?” Brenan asked, trying to gauge how prepared they were for what was to come if they helped him take on the Veer agents.

“Uh-huh,” Julien nodded his head again.

“Ever seen anyone die?” Brenan continued, “And I don’t mean of old age, in bed, surrounded by loved ones, but as in screaming out at the heavens while trying to keep your guts from spilling out on the ground or people jerking and twitching as you **** every last breath from right out of them.”

They were good boys, Brenan was sure of it, and as such they deserved to know what was coming if they followed him on his search for Sasha, especially after he had come dangerously close to sounding like a crusading son of a bitch earlier on.

“No,” James replied, suddenly looking a little paler.

“Well, you’re going to,” Brenan promised them as he rose to his feet, “one way or another, you’re going to…”