The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate -Frontier Region)

(Oreciuam Prime- The Bloody Krena Warship)

Ring! Ring!

Alarms started to blare out as an incoming message arrived from the supervising officers in charge of monitoring the mercenary organizations.

Sophie watched outside the window and saw a swarm of Imperial Army starships rapidly approaching the planet.

There were large destroyers, medium sized space shuttles and an uncountable number of lightweight raid starships.

She was currently sitting down on a chair in the back of the command center with Lily held firmly in her arms.

There were other warriors scattered throughout the room in various states of readiness.

The atmosphere was grim at the prospect of facing such formidable enemies and one could sense the noticeable tension in the room.

Most warriors were from the same race as Perspherene with long slender bodies and snake-like features but there were a few notable exceptions.

Sophie had managed to join Perspherene's crew without raising the suspicions of Finch who was still under the impression that both noble heirs were on the starship with him.

More details had been sent to the Servie's communicator about the upcoming operation but Sophie's mirror copy in charge of monitoring Finch suspected that he was intentionally concealing some details.

Well… that was no longer Sophie's concern.

Unfortunately, her clones and the two prisoners onboard the stolen starship would have to serve as sacrifices for the ambush.

Just in case, Sophie did offer her copies the last remaining explosives in her storage bag so that they would not be captured alive to be tortured.

Hopefully this time they would use it because she really didn't want painful memories entering her mind.

The copies created by the Rsychosis technique were approximately equal to Sophie in strength but they were far less durable and more prone to injuries.

This flaw would gradually disappear as Sophie got stronger but for now it was a side effect that was impossible to avoid.

"So… you think we're all going to die?" a gruff voice came from the side.

Sophie glanced in the direction of the sound and saw a fiery creature wrapped tightly in black bandages and carrying what appeared to be a giant lamp in his palm.

"Ishasa right?" Don't you know it's bad luck to talk about death before a battle?" Sophie responded curtly.

"Nah. In my culture we believe that death is only the beginning," the warrior replied casually.

He reached into his lamp and pulled out a small blue book. He then opened it to show Sophie the contents inside.

There were pictures of alien creatures in a place similar to hell and surrounded by what could only be described as a wanton display of sin and debauchery.

Sophie frowned slightly and tilted Lily's head so that the little girl wouldn't see the nasty images inside the book.

Ishasa clearly seemed not to pick up on her subtle signals of disapproval and begun to preach in a calm tone,

"Now… let me that from the first book. It is said that in death, the warriors of the Ctiena race will dine in the halls of Voltanera. When the great B'alle created the…."

Fortunately, his pious sermon was cut short by a holographic projection that filled up the center of the room.

The image was incredibly blurry and even Sophie's enhanced vision could not make out who or rather what was shown in the center of the screen.

"Enhance the image and the quality of the audio," Captain Hessan ordered as he rubbed his two furry paws together.

"You got it boss!" Perspherene replied swiftly as she headed towards a console to press a series of buttons.

The image instantly became clearer and Sophie could now see a brutish officer sitting down behind a wooden desk.

He was a hulking monstrosity with multiple heads and arms that seemed artificially grafted onto his body.

Oddly enough, each pair of eyes were covered in thick glasses that made it impossible to see what the colour of his pupils was.

The officer cleared his throat twice and then picked up a piece of paper. He begun the slow process of adjusted his glasses on multiple heads and then begun to read the script.

[Attention all mercenary teams in the immediate vicinity. Please join the formation and prepare your vessel's defenses for the incoming attack.]

[This mission cannot afford to fail. Should our enemies gain access to the warp gate then the invasion of the inner regions will be imminent.]

[The crime of desertion will be punishable by death. No exceptions will be made.]

[I will remind all mercenary teams that it was clearly stated in the contract that failure to follow military orders will result in no payment as well as severe penalties.]

"Big sister… what is he saying?" Lily whispered softly. Sophie tilted her head down and made a shushing motion with her finger.

She didn't want Lily's identity to be exposed and speaking the language of the Federation could be a give away.

Sophie pressed a button on her wrist communicator and started to write a translation of the speech that the officer presented.

When the translation was finished, she handed her communicator over to Lily and adjusted her cloak to make sure that no one else could see what was displayed on the screen.

The little girl's face was hidden behind a mask so it was impossible to tell how she was feeling as she read the message.

Sophie did notice that she was trembling slightly so she placed a hand on her back and began to stroke her gently.

Sui Meng's memories contained songs that were popular with children during the ancient Earth era so Sophie began to softly hum 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.'

A few minutes passed peacefully as Sophie continued to soothe and placate the nervous child on her lap.

"What a lovely song!" Perspherene approached the pair and passed Sophie a glass filled with a greenish liquid.

"Drinking before battle?" Sophie grinned as she sniffed the liquid. It was a foul-smelling concoction and she could spot tiny fleshy chunks of meat floating inside the liquid.

"I think I will have to pass. Don't want to die from getting drunk!" Sophie refused politely.

Perspherene chuckled merrily as her scaly tail swayed from side to side lazily. She took the glass from Sophie's hand and drank the contents in one gulp.

"Well… more for me then!" Perspherene teased as her forked tongue flickered out.

The snake-like alien slithered away towards the captain who was currently browsing a star map that displayed the nearby planets.

Captain Hessan may be a greedy man but he wasn't foolish since he understood the simple truth.

All the wealth in the universe was completely worthless if you were dead.

Ring! Ring!

Another holographic projection appeared in the center of the command deck but this time it was a series of coordinates.

The assigned area to their crew was on the opposite side of the artificially constructed planet and away from the main fighting zone.

Their task was to prevent the enemy from flanking around and trying to breach the Unovan military's spatial defenses from the back.

An expression of relief flashed across Captain Hessan's furry face as he realised that this assignment was perfect.

There was an asteroid belt a mere three hundred kilometers away from their assignment point.

This would make fleeing the battlefield far easier than what he had originally anticipated but grasping the correct timing was critical.

Leave too early and their starship would be shot down by the Unovan military vessels guarding the perimeter but flee too late and well…

They would never have a chance to leave.

"Kiamueko! Redirect all available power to the sensors and make sure that the weapons and defense systems are working properly," Captain Hessan ordered.

"Yes boss!" a snake-like alien responded confidently.

Unlike Perspherene, this alien was dressed in a heavy set of armour and covered with small robotic creations that crawled around his suit.

Captain Hessan signalled to the pilots and pointed towards the holographic projection still floating in the middle of the room.

The line of text with the assigned coordinates hung ominously like a grim reminder of what was to come.

Sophie could hear the faint hum of the warp core engine as the starship begun to move towards a certain direction.

It was time for war.