The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Frontier Region)

(Unknown Spatial Zone- The Bloody Krena Warship)

Sophie frowned slightly as she glanced at Perspherene's unconscious body that was still being held safely in the arms of her mirror copy.

It would be easy to just abandon her.

In fact, there was a small part of Sophie that only wanted to leave since the reality was that she had only known the alien mercenary for a few days.

But… if it wasn't for Perspherene's help… then there really was nowhere that she could have turned to after escaping the planned ambush.

Sophie was not an ungrateful person and it wasn't right to leave someone to die who had helped her out.

Debts must be repaid.

"When will the head commander of the Imperial Army expect your starship to return?" Sophie asked softly.

The hybrid girl's right hand trembled slightly as her fingers discretely formed certain hand signals that only Katarina could understand.

Katarina raised an eyebrow and replied using her left hand that was still playing with a sharp blade between her fingertips.

The verbal conversation between the pair proceeded as usual with no one in the command room any wiser to the fact that another secret conversation was taking place.

"The Nephilim Church is allowed to conduct short term exercises on certain battlefields which roughly occur over the course of a few days," Katarina explained seriously.

The red-haired death guard's tone appeared solemn and her hand movements gradually got faster as the conversation continued.

A few minutes passed uneventfully until a smile flashed across Sophie's face when she finally reached a deal with her father's loyal guard.

Katarina would use the Imperial Army starship to scan their spacecraft and search the floor where the escape vessels were located.

If any vessels were in working condition then it would be a simple matter to use a tractor beam to pull them out.

Perspherene, Captain Hessan and a handful of mercenaries would then be able to escape.

This was the only compromise that Sophie could reach with Katarina since she insisted that it was too dangerous to accept any extra passengers onboard the Imperial Army starship.

Lily and Sophie's return to the Earth Federation had to be kept as a careful secret to ensure that they would not be in any danger from her father's enemies.

Sophie turned around and begun to talk using the standard Unovan tongue, "Captain… you need to lower the shields so that our starship can be scanned for teleportation."

"I will have to request that everyone please remain in one spot and do not move."

Captain Hessan nodded slowly and pressed his wrist communicator device using his furry paws.

Several holographic windows were projected into the air with lines of text and symbols that Sophie could not read.

The captain pressed a series of buttons on his communicator and soon a red flashing light filled the room.

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]

A loud alarm blared from the overhead speakers as a robotic voice filled the room.

[Shielding Systems…. Online… Shielding Systems… Deactivated…]

Captain Hessan hurriedly pressed another button and the piercing alarm noise turned off just as quickly as it appeared.

The loud ringing noise woke up Lily who squirmed uncomfortably in Sophie's arms.

There was no point in hiding their identities anymore so Sophie chuckled softly and rubbed Lily's soft hair.

"Lily! We're saved!" Sophie whispered excitedly.

Lily yawned sleepily as she was clearly still feeling a bit drowsy but Sophie's words eventually registered in her mind.

"What? Big sister are we going home?" Lily yelled happily without a care in the world. She quickly froze since she realised that she had spoken out loud but Sophie just laughed.

"Don't worry you don't need to hide anymore," Sophie assured the little girl and planted a small kiss on the top of her head.

She pointed at the holographic projection in the middle of the room and Katarina gave a friendly wave from the other side.

Lily cheerfully returned the wave with excitement clearly visible in her eyes.

Sophie's couldn't see her facial expression since it was hidden behind the mask but she got the impression that Lily was grinning from ear to ear.

Of course, after months of being on the run, Sophie did not let her guard down in these final moments.

She leaked out a trace of bloodlust to deter any unpleasant ideas from the mercenaries in the room and remained in a state of high alert.

Not that anything should happen since as far as these warriors knew, Sophie was the only hope they had of escaping death.

"Milady the scan will commence shortly," Katarina tilted her head as then turned around to yell an order at someone offscreen.

Sophie waited patiently with Lily held tightly in her arms.

After months of being constantly in danger and trapped in a foreign territory, she was relieved to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A beam of purplish green light was emitted from a device located on the underside of the Imperial Army starship.

This ray of light penetrated the now defenseless mercenary starship with its shielding systems turned off and swept through every floor methodically.

Eventually the beam reached the command room and Sophie experienced a mild tingling sensation when the light hit the surface of her body.

Here we go again…

Instantaneous teleportation was undoubtedly a fantastic marvel of technological innovation but Sophie could not say that she was the biggest fan.

"Locking on your current location… please be prepared for teleportation milady," Katarina's voice echoed through the command room.

The purplish-green light focused on her location and Sophie observed the tips of her fingernails slowly begin to disintegrate.

The last thing she saw as she vanished from the room was Captain Hessan's betrayed expression and the rage and shock on the mercenaries' faces.

(Imperial Army Starship- Mark112 Volatean Series)

Blerghh!

Sophie knelt down and vomited on the floor. She managed to put Lily down from her arms just before the nauseous feeling hit her with full force.

Lily gave her back a few gentle pats as Sophie hurled another round of vomit onto the clean white floor of the teleportation room.

The hybrid girl rose unsteadily to her feet as vision blurred and the world seemed to shake and tremble.

"Okay… I'm good.." Sophie groaned as she wiped the corner of her mouth.

She was just about to reach into her storage bag to pull out some tissues when a loud shriek came from the entrance.

"Sophie! I can't believe that we finally found you!" Rachel yelled happily.

Two angelic white wings fluttered in excitement as Rachel ran into the room and jumped into Sophie's arms.

A harsh angelic light filled the room as Rachel's holy powers ran amuck as her emotions fluctuated wildly.

"Good to see you as well," Sophie whispered gently as she returned the firm embrace. Despite her best efforts, a few tears ran down the sides of her cheeks.

"I see you got a new avatar… it looks quite beautiful."

"Milady, it is truly an honour to see you again," Katarina entered the room with slow purposeful steps.

The scarred red-haired death guard approached her young miss and tilted her head downwards as a show of respect.

"Forget the etiquette… that's an order," Sophie smiled as she left Rachel's embrace and gave her old teacher a firm hug.

The only thing that slightly spoiled the warm reunion was the unpleasant smell of vomit in the room but everyone tactfully did not mention it.

There was a great deal of laughing and crying as Katarina led the three girls out of the teleportation room and towards the command center.

Sophie held Lily's hand firmly since the little girl insisted on walking on her own.

Rachel in the meantime was filling Sophie in on all the scandalous gossip that she had missed while being stuck in the Unovan Syndicate.

Although she also promised to inform Sophie of her wild college stories once they were alone later.

As they passed through the endless labyrinth of metalloid corridors and side passages, Sophie asked a question that was on her mind.

"Did you manage to find any escape spacecrafts onboard the mercenary starship?" Sophie asked curiously.

Katarina explained in a soft tone, "The starship's scanner revealed that the floor where the escape spacecrafts were stored experienced a partial collapse and hence most of the vessels were buried by debris."

"It may take us a few hours but the scanner identified two working spacecrafts that are possible to salvage."

"Are you sure that you want to do this milady?"

"Yes… I owe the captain and a friend the opportunity to escape the asteroid field," Sophie firmly replied.

Katarina nodded and used her wrist communicator to send out an order to the team in the command center.

Sophie closed her eyes and accessed to the mental network that was a connection between herself and the mirror copy.

[Maintain order and let the mercenaries know that we will supply them with two escape spacecrafts.]

[If there isn't enough space for everyone…. then make sure that both Perspherene and Captain Hessan are guaranteed a spot.]

[Use violent means if necessary.]