Evolution's Essence (29 page)

“
What is your
name?”

“
Kelek, General. It is an
honor to meet you and join your family.” The woman held her hand
out. His own consumed hers, but she was surprised the grip was
gentle. “This here is Luke. I’m from Earth, fifty two years old and
mated to Sammy for the past year and a half.”

“
How did you two meet?”
Renee asked as she eagerly held out her hands and the new mother
passed the chunky babe over and gurgled a laugh as his great
grandmother tossed him in the air.

“
No use romanticizing it, My
Queen. Sammy cast a search and found my blood analysis was perfect
for him. I was curious about the Half’s over here and thought ‘What
the hell.’ And came by. Then all of a sudden as I enter the hall he
stops talking to a group of friends and fucks me on the spot in
front of everyone. I must say that was one of the best romps I ever
had.”

“
You raped her?” Renee
stopped tossing and glared at her grandchild.

“
Hey, back off, Bitch! I
hoped he would.” Kelek defended her blushing man. Renee merely
arched an eyebrow and somehow managed to not crack up.

“
Really?”

“
Well, yeah. I saw the
holo-vids of Queen Isabella crawling all over Davan and knew it was
a possibility knowing I was a genetic match. Like mother like son
and he didn’t
rape
me. He ravished me like no one at a sex center or
ex-boyfriends ever had before. Luckily his sister her sent us to
his room. Stars! We didn’t leave bed for a month and he only calmed
when he found out he got me pregnant.”

“
Stars! I like you already.”
Renee finally smiled and hugged the woman. “Not many have the
vagina able to stand up to me, let alone call me a
bitch.”

“
Solarian women don’t have a
monopoly being outspoken.” Kelek grabbed her son and walked up to a
silent Queen Isabella. “Want to meet Luke?” a throaty growl came
behind. Without looking Kalek said “Knock it off Sammy. She won’t
hurt our son… right?”

“
Of course not. I was just
coming for a closer look. I’m not patient as is well known.”
Isabella smiled slowly as her first grandchild came into her arms.
“He’s perfect.”

“
Izzy,” she turned to her
sisters wanting to come for a look after hugging their own family
to them was gone a few hours. To the others it was a long absence.
“Can we…”

Renee gushed at how much her family changed
while gone and listened to many conversations at once. All her
grandchildren were beautiful, many now fully grown. Their mothers
especially fawned over them.

It lasted a few hours till Renee said “It has
been a long day and I’m going to bed. We’ll catch up more tomorrow.
After we catch up on our absences we’ll head to the gate and open
it soon as everything is prepared.

Chapter 8

“
My Queen, awaken.” Said the
deep voice of the AI for the fifth time and actually penetrated the
fog of sleep. “My Queen…”

“
Shut it, Laxus. I just got
to sleep.” She groaned.

“
It is an emergency.” That
got the redhead’s attention.

She rolled over and couldn’t think straight
when opting for clothes and merely found herself in sturdy armor.
“What kind of emergency is it this time?”

“
My sensors detected a
distress signal five galaxies away from a scouting vessel called
the Raptor Marquis. According to Empire records that ship
disembarked Earth two hundred and forty three years
ago.”

“
Have you pinpointed the
ship?”

“
Of course.” The AI wasn’t
allowed to do more than speak in her bedroom. It never got easier
when the program put a holographic representation next to the bed.
“And I’ve already prepared your morning coffee.”

“
Smartass.” The program
laughed gruffly as she reached beside the bed table and lifted a
fresh steaming cup of java and sipped to find it flavored just the
way she wanted. “What are the details of the ship? Crew count? FTL
drive schematics and where they are in current space. While you
tell me, inform all Med Bays and on duty Medics to expect injured.”
She slimed out of bed, not unsurprised to be alone. Oliver very
likely wasn’t even onboard. He already warned he’d sleep some, but
then rendezvous with the gateway and run diagnostics to find if
there were any errors. A quick casting of telepathy showed neither
he nor his Pride were in the citadel and confirmed the
issue.

“
Personnel are notified.
Shall I initiate a jump to the nearby distressed
vessel?”

“
Not till I know where they
are, what shape they are in and the nature of the old mission. Two
centuries is too long for a scouting mission to be missing without
some form of contact.”

“
I see your perspective. You
suspect it is… as the humans call it, a Trojan horse
scenario?”

“
Are they in Keptl
controlled space?”

“
Thirty light years outside
current Creelin maps of that galaxy.”

“
Only thirty?” She snorted.
“Then ready the cannons too. It is far too fishy. When I give the
go, after jumping over do a scan and if there is any Keptl
signatures you’ll blow it immediately. Now about the
ship?”

As she stepped outside the bedroom Laxus
stood and walked beside her as she tried waking up. “According to
Empire records the Raptor Marquis had a simple mission, locate the
Keptl home world and study if Keptl rapid evolution is any
different than what was found in the Milky Way and Andromeda
galaxies. It was crewed by thirty xeno biologists and a hundred
Marines with two Class One Hunters. The ship had reinforced plating
and onboard weapons capable of planetary penetration despite the
diminutive ship size being a quarter of a kilometer long. The FTL
and subspace drives were, at the time, Galicom’s best. Judging by
my estimates, the ship would have been capable of multiple trips
back and forth from Empire space. A maximum of twenty times. Also
of note, the vessel had excellent hydroponics capable of growing
Inferno trees to harvest and refine Fire Fruit for Booster Oil for
enhanced and smoother FTL capabilities.”

“
So they were hunting Keptl,
stopped communication for over two centuries, were
way
off target since you
already know the home world is fifty eight galaxies away. And now
the distress signal gets picked up. Better inform our warriors to
accompany the medics. Rather than cannons. Spin up pinpoint impact
rounds. We need to recover the ship now that I’m thinking
straighter. Need to make sure if there was tampering, we know what
was compromised. If there is any uninfected Humans aboard, we best
not vaporize the whole ship. Notify me when teams are ready.” She
continued drinking as the AI disappeared.

She was reaching the throne when the quiet
Stone was coming for her. “Mrs. Void, can I be relieved of duty for
a few weeks?”

“
I never appointed you my
guardian, Stone. You, Steven, Visor and Breena didn’t give me an
option when I took my position over the academic area of the
Empire. We both know I’m too cautious and volatile for anyone to
try and kill me. Besides, Laxus was primarily designed to keep the
queen safe as long as she’s in the city and I’m not planning to
leave it anytime soon. But now I’m curious as to why…”

“
Breena and I are going to
have another child again.”

“
Already! I unfroze her
reproductive cycle not even a week ago… well since we were at the
star eruption in my experience that is.” Renee smiled wryly. “Damn,
you’re not trying to compete with my lover are you in
virility?”

“
Maybe a bit.” Stone offered
a ghost of a smile.

Renee softened. “Alright, you’re off the
hook, but I have one condition.” The tall black man cocked his
head. “I miss my friend back on the Dorgenox. It’s been eleven
years and you haven’t changed since you lost Satellite. I’m
ordering you and Breena to go to the Neo predatory farm Isabella
established on Zerika and form a new bond.” His mouth opened. “Un
Ah Ah! I’m talking.” He knew that straightforward tone and closed
his mouth. “Either retire or never come back to my hall. You belong
to Terra anyway. You wouldn’t even get out of bed if you don’t feel
I’m protected. I’m just a distraction from your misery.” She tapped
her head. “Believe me, I know exactly what you feel without your
partner. I’m a powerful telepath if you forget. I feel your
hollowness every time you enter my bubble of influence. Satellite
left you when he protected me before Oliver finished repairing
Laxus’s defensive protocols. You need a new partner because you’ve
lost your edge that day. I hate saying it, but you either heed my
advice or…”

“
We love it here, but we’ll
do it. I’m not going to let him worm his way out of something we
enjoy” Breena had said as she listened to the edict over by the
many tables where people enjoyed each other’s company. Hundreds
quietly conversed in the hall. Stone didn’t know Breena was there
too, but he still grimaced. “With a babe on the way, we’ll have
time to raise a Neo Companion and get back our real
edge.”

“
But…”

Isabella had also been listening way off to
the side with her new grandson, her firstborn son and the new
female to raise her voice “Hmmm, perhaps you two would like to
participate in an experiment I’m conducting. You’d make great
candidates.”

“
Experiment?” Breena
ventured hesitantly.

“
Yes, as you both know
Beasts were engineered by my ancestors as an unequaled source of
concentrated protein our higher functioning brains need to support
our advanced Psionic prowess and physical attributes. Just as my
Ligers were engineered to work like a Keptl Queen who controls the
swarm. I’ve gained approval for a selected group to test modified
Beasts my sister Angie has been working on for me to have higher
reasoning and be able to bond to our primary food source without
them trying to hunt we bipeds. After all, no animal modified from
Earth can compete with any Beast except as a distraction or meal.
Imagine if one of you were bonded to a Tortoise. Its shell alone
when it throws itself is highly durable. Or maybe even use a
Salamander? Thunder Lizard? Fire Wyrm? Angie is certain Beasts will
replace my Neo Predatory farms in five years. With a Beast, the two
of you have a less likely chance of losing a companion as easily
again. Since you both belong to me anyway and are among the few on
loan to important government protection detail, why not join the
test group since you’ll be on leave for a time? I can fit two more
of your caliber into the test group easily. Just decide what Beast
you want, steal an egg and have it modified before it
hatches.”

Laxus appeared and Renee said “You discuss
logistics elsewhere. I’m busy… Are teams in position?” The
realistic program nodded. “Teleport fifty kilometers away and do as
discussed.”

In an instant the battleship-city vanished
from its current point in space and appeared three galaxies nearby
where the distress signal originated. Renee watched the screen
shift and rolled her eyes as bright red dots appeared packed inside
the scout ship. Close to five hundred signatures were detected and
counted. But oddly a lone blue signal pulsed before her visual
erupted in hundreds of bright, pinpoint condensed psionic lasers
that punctured through the erected shield, hull and passed right on
through the other side to dissipate harmlessly after a thousand
kilometers in empty space.

“
All Keptl life signs
neutralized. As you suspected, My Queen.”

“
Good, you avoided ship
systems so the shield is preventing the atmosphere from venting…
and the Human signature remains alive. Pull the ship into docking
and have all on alert. We don’t want the Keptl to revive as they’ve
been doing lately. That secondary brain has been rather
burdensome.”

“
Yet an ingenious
evolutionary advancement in design. If the brain ceases to function
the secondary affects cellular repairs and basically revives the
creature. Quite an evolutionary leap indeed.”

“
You sound like your
grandfather, Sammy.” Renee winked as her grandson piped up. “I want
you personally to check up on the human and figure out how the hell
he survived with a ship full of Keptl aboard. From where I last
saw, he’d have to be in stasis somewhere in the cargo area. Do a
thorough mental scan and report to me your findings. If he sold out
his crew send him to Vikki for judgment and public execution if you
find an inkling. Also find if he has any living
relatives.”

“
She. My scans indicate the
individual is female.” Laxus corrected. “And she is in stasis,
buried under much debris and excrement. When I fired on the ship
her readings didn’t fluctuate. No spike in her pulse or adrenal
secretions. All readings remain steady.” Samuel nodded before
kissing his beloved and vanishing from the room.

“
When the mess is cleaned
up, use Olly’s nanite material to patch the ship and send in a
science team to retrieve any viable data. We lost over a hundred
crew and didn’t know till today. Figure out her identity and
contact next of kin for everyone else, Laxus. Best to give closure
even after so long.”

“
The scout ship will dock in
two minutes. Living relatives compiled and contacted, My Queen.
Accessing the ship manifest was rather simple. The distress signal
was simple to attach to and enter the rudimentary computer systems
aboard.”