Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace Read Online Free PDF Page B

eagerly looked forward to updating her other children with the welcome news, and she pondered fleetingly what the matriarch meant by her cryptic comments on Deshinal.
    The life chapter matriarch watched the Quixxe leave with satisfaction, for centuries of patient waiting had finally borne fruit. The younger female was not only a fertile variform, she was also markedly different in genetics from the variform Quixxe that the matriarch had established in a remote colony many centuries earlier. Also the scout ship finding its way into her possession was an un-expected bonus, she just had to reverse engineer the ship and then discretely get rid of it later. The male drones detected the matriarch’s happiness on the winds and began to play a series of chimes as they sang for her enjoyment.
     
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    Maveen probe three again reviewed the damage to the sled that Altarebe had used to get to Earth. The lower rear section of the sled was a buckled ruin and he knew that only the power conduit fail safes had prevented the miniature anti matter reactor from exploding with extreme force. Probe three isolated the power conduit problems and performed another diagnostic on the remaining sections of the sled. At least the rest of the sled, the reactor itself, and the shields and weapons remained intact.
    Seliandre had moved away from her mother and Altarebe as the queen had pointedly requested a private audience. She knew that her prospective mate’s future was being discussed and she felt no unease, as her mother had often commented in the past on the dire situation of their once glorious race.
    Seliandre now remembered another earlier time when Gementer was still active and very much her older sister, and the memory came back to her as she then turned to study the industrious Maveen probe nearby.
    ‘Now listen carefully my daughters, traditionally you all have first mates and by mutual agreement they came become your life mates. However you must have two additional mates at a later stage before you select your life mate. This is to both preserve genetic diversity and to ensure your own survival, as our bodies are designed for more than one mate to breed correctly. Fortunately I was able to mate with three different partners before my exile on this world otherwise I would already be long dead.’
    Seliandre and Gementer had felt scandalized by learning this information, and they were both thankful that their younger sisters had been sent elsewhere earlier by their mother. Gementer had laughed at Seliandre’s more obvious discomfort as she had moved closer to her mother by instinct. Angwene had issued an unusually stern rebuke to Gementer, usually Seliandre’s confidante and her mother’s faithful lieutenant.
    ‘Gementer, do not put down your sister in such a manner, for you are not a child of a lesser race to use such cruelty. Please apologize and make amends in acceptable manner!’
    Seliandre remembered that her older sister had borne the rebuke with no ill ease as her gracious reply had indicated.
    ‘Sorry mother and dear sister, I meant no ill will at all in my humor. Mother, I understand you were younger than me when you took a series of mates. If it is any comfort to Seliandre I offer to allow her first choice with a prospective mate after we leave this world. I just find the discussion of a mate to be so surreal with all the other potential issues facing us.’
    Angwene had fallen silent for many moments after Gementer’s apology before she spoke again.
    ‘Well you have made a gracious offer, and I only speak of this as there may not be much time when we eventually leave this world.’
    Seliandre then remembered that the conversation between the three of them had then shifted to advice on choosing a nursery world. She remembered with sadness that this was one of the last normal