be her when there were over a hundred Mataras to select from. There were only seven clans serving on the spyship, so there was an embarrassment of options.
We’re third in rank, thanks to me being weapons subcommander. The captain’s clan has chosen. We’ll have to wait for Clan Simdow to make their selection.
Two members of Clan Simdow had assisted with the invasion. Had they noticed the redhead?
He’d sent Nobek Miv and his Imdiko Vadef to transfer Mataras to the various assigned areas. Dramok Simdow, the first officer, was on board the spyship. He wouldn’t be able to come down to the moon as long as Captain Tranis was on site. It might be a while before Osopa and his clanmates could make their choice.
Their choice of a female mate.
Realization hit him like a physical blow. A lifebringer for his clan. For him, Subcommander Osopa, at the mere age of twenty-nine, a warrior just beginning to rise in rank. His clanmates had even less status. There were clans on Kalquor with great prestige and money who had yet to claim a Matara. And here he was, with the opportunity most only dreamed of.
Osopa discovered he was moving, returning to the corridor where his fire woman slept. Reaching the other wing, drawing close to discover she was even more beautiful than he’d initially thought.
Could her personality match her physical perfection? Did he dare to hope?
He stood over her, drinking in her sweet features. Those dark lashes against white skin. Slender oval of a face. Long red hair, spread beneath like a fan. Pretty, pouting lips.
Doubt crept in again. Not about the person she might be, but the people he and his clanmates were.
We’re so young. We don’t dare refuse such a miraculous opportunity, but shouldn’t we?
Osopa’s clan leader Tukui was a Dramok with potential. Smart, capable, charming to a fault—the spyship’s navigator was destined to be the leader Osopa would be proud of. The Nobek had no doubt of that whatsoever. Unfortunately, that was yet to occur. In the present, Tukui’s impulsive actions sometimes bordered on childishness. He had a lot of growing up to do.
Their third, Imdiko Yorso, still hadn’t given up the ego gratification of being flirted with by former rivals. Particularly when it came to that sniveling jerk, Dramok Zevs. Zevs couldn’t be bothered that Yorso had been clanned for over a year now. Osopa wasn’t worried his Imdiko would do anything untoward, but it rankled that he enjoyed all that attention from others.
Yorso was as handsome as the fire woman was beautiful, a magnet for attention. Plenty of their crewmates were already jealous of Tukui and Osopa for managing to clan him. How much worse would it be if they added a Matara? Especially someone as stunning as this.
Osopa wasn’t without his faults either. There were those who’d accused him of running from duty to family. Of being untouched by the emotions of others.
Cold. Unfeeling. His sister’s voice dripped derision in his memories.
Osopa gazed into that slumbering face. No, his clan couldn’t claim her. They had no business claiming any lifebringer. None at all.
* * * *
Dramok Tukui kept his head down at his computer station, trying to look busier than he was. With the spyship locked in orbit, there wasn’t a lot for the navigator to do, however. All the action was on the small moon of Europa.
Even so, he performed an instrument calibration he wasn’t required to run and checked his unchanging readings. With Captain Tranis on the main holo-vid, his bearded face taking up the middle third of the circular bow of the bridge, Tukui didn’t want to attract attention for the wrong reasons. He’d done more than his share of that in his short career on the spyship.
He listened to the conversation between the captain and First Officer Simdow, a Dramok barely older than Tukui. Ever since hearing there were fertile women on the moon, every man on the spyship was eager for information. Like everyone else stuck on the vessel, Tukui wished he had been among those who’d gone to the colony to hunt for General Hamilton. And maybe encounter females.
Lucky Osopa. My Nobek had better be ready with details when he gets back. If Tukui’s taciturn clanmate dared to show up with no more than generalizations, he’d—
Tukui’s head snapped up, cutting his train of thought clean off. Had Captain Tranis just said the three-man clans on board would get their choice of Matara?