S.P.E.C.T.O.R
Chapter 117: Brood Feeding

"During this time a woman arose from the brood race by the name of Kavita whose power and capability were nothing like what people had seen before, coincidentally she is also the ancestor of Diva Rowena and by her our Stacey here and is one of the reasons their family still holds so much power in the brood race." Susan began to explain.

"Kavita travelled the then known universe for many years, and during that time gained twelve companions both male and female from several powerful races such as the Deverinian's and Solarian's who fell in love with her and followed her. Eventually, after seeing the state that the universe was in Kavita and her companions came to a decision to change it for the better by bringing law and order to the universe."

"Many of those who became Kavita's lovers were already powerful in their own races, and those that were not quickly became so because of the backing they had from Kavita and her other lovers. Eventually, when they all held powerful positions in their respective races they made their move and formed the universal senate."

"They each became the senator for their respective race while Kavita became both the senator for the Brood and the first ever supreme speaker who leads the senate. These days a supreme speaker can't be their race's senator because of fear of favouritism to their own race, but back then this rule did not exist yet."

"They quickly passed laws which they enacted in their own races, thanks to the power they wielded there. Over time, as other races saw how better off the founding twelve were with these new laws they approached with the request to join the universal senate. Kavita accepted them gladly as long as the race they were representing enacted the laws decided upon by the senate."

"As the universal senate grew and more and more races and species joined it soon became apparent that one senate could not govern every planet in the universe directly. Because of this the galactic senates were created."

"So your ancestor is like some super powerful big shot?" Adam asked while looking at Stacey who was still snuggling up to him.

"Apparently." Stacey replied with disinterest before continuing, "I have never met her since I ran away from home when I was so young. Many of the Brood, including some in my own family, are prejudiced against those who are not 'pure'."

"What I overheard when I was still there however is that apparently she entered eternal slumber many centuries ago because the universe got boring for her and she lost all interest in it."

"Eternal slumber?" Adam asked.

"It's where a Brood sleeps for an extended period of time, dozens, hundreds of years,  maybe even millennia without waking up. Apparently every race that can live indefinitely has their own version as living for too long without taking a break can damage the mind."

"Can you live indefinitely since you're only part Brood?" Adam asked.

"I don't know. It differs for each individual who is not pure Brood. Some have the ability to, while others don't. Some have the ability to but lack the means to feed directly so they have to feed in other ways."

"I am only a quarter brood and as far as I know I lack the ability to feed, that is I have never been able to make my fangs grow into what is needed for me to feed off someone's blood."

"Have you tried?"

"She has." Susan answered, "When we were young and she first told me about her heritage I offered to let her feed off me in the hopes that she could become stronger which would benefit us both. Unfortunately, it turned into a bloody mess."

"When she bit into my wrist, blood gushed out uncontrollably and would not stop until I applied a med pack and sealed the wound. Supposedly, when a brood feeds their fangs release some sort of saliva that not only grants an enjoyable sensation to the one being bitten but stops the wound from gushing out uncontrollable amounts of blood before sealing after the Brood finishes feeding."

"If we hadn't been lucky enough to get a med pack in time Susan could have died because of me." Stacey said as she buried her face in Adam's chest.

"How many times do I have to tell you it was my idea and I don't blame you, besides I'm fine aren't I." Susan said before turning back to Adam and saying, "Needless to say, Stace refused to try again after what happened."

"You must have drank some of the blood when it first started bleeding? Did anything happen?" Adam asked.

"Nothing." Stacey replied in a quiet voice before adding, "It didn't even taste nice like it was apparently supposed to."

Adam and the girls kept talking while occasionally watching the Large holographic display and after a few hours Joe approached them with new drinks before saying.

"I hate to interrupt your romantic moment but Max just left."

"Did you manage to put what I asked for in his drink?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, what was that powder? You said it wasn't a drug when I asked before."

"It's a colourless, tasteless and odourless powder that releases a weak radioactive signature."

"So you poisoned him?" Stacey asked.

"No, it won't do him any harm and it would leave his system naturally given enough time, however my ship is able to trace the radioactive signature since it's scanning for it."

A couple of days earlier after eliminating Nelly he had asked Spector to send back his hoverbike along with a set of the clothes Spector had originally provided him along with something to track Max.

"Well, I suppose I should spoil Max's meeting, if you ladies will excuse me." Adam said as he carefully pried himself free from the two women.

"Did you find anything out about the supplier?" Adam asked Joe.

"We suspect he's being supplied by the Skull Rose gang in sector eight six eight, our informant in the gang reports that someone from the Sky Towers buys drugs from them regularly." Joe replied.

"Only two sectors over, well I suppose he needs somewhere close to Becky's so he doesn't have to travel far." Adam mussed before he nodded at Joe and set out.

"Hmph, why can't I go with him." Stacey pointed as she watched Adam leave.

"You know why Stace, once Max is discovered dead sky tower security will be all over this place. Adam is not from Trillion, so while they may suspect him they won't be able to dig anything out when they do a background check and with the cover story we have in place he should be fine, unlike if you go. You grew up here and you have a criminal record." Susan replied before continuing.

Also Adam has a ship, so if shit does go wrong he can at least attempt to flee off-world, something you and the rest of us are incapable of doing."

As Adam left Becky's he climbed on his hoverbike and set off in the direction his minimap was showing Max was heading in. While traveling he decided to ask Spector something that he had been curious about.

"Spector you're an experimental prototype right?"

[[Affirmative.]]

"Then why do you already possess all this equipment? All you were doing when you found yourself near Earth was testing the new experimental drive right?"

[[That's correct. However because of the nature of the experimental drive it was necessary to know how its use would affect items stored on the ship. Because of this everything you would normally find on a military vessel besides the crew was placed aboard me prior to the test.]]

"Ok, then what about the hot water me and Stacey were using for showers, we spent a week in FTL to get here and yet we never ran out of water, how big are your water tanks and when will I need to refill them?"

[[It doesn't work like that. Every shower on board has a miniaturized replicator built into the shower head. When the shower is used the replicator creates water at the required temperature. However, because they are a miniaturized version they are limited by what they can produce.]]

"Can we replicate anything on the ship such as more weapons if we ever need them?"

[[That depends on the weapon in question. I am incapable of replicating certain components such as energy cores since I can't replicate energy in that fashion. However I can replicate other components. If you acquire the necessary components I can't self replicate in the future then it is indeed possible to produce more weapons as needed.]]

"So that's why you had me collect those counter measures before."

[[Correct. While I can produce the shell and internal workings of countermeasures, I am incapable of replicating the power source.]]

"Speaking of the experimental drive, is there sufficient dark matter to be able to use it?"