The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Zrudread University Starship- Main Hangar)

A battered mech crashed onto the floor with a dull thump. It was missing one arm and the plasma cannons mounted on the top of its shoulders were badly damaged.

The cockpit in the center of the mech slowly opened and a furry paw could be seen slowly reaching out from inside the space.

Elenora let out a sigh of relief as she summoned the last of her strength to crawl out of the cockpit and used her claws to scale down the machine.

She had barely made it.

Elenora had been lucky enough not to encounter any of the destroyer class space vessels, but she had been attacked several times by the pirates.

The Mendolesa girl had tried her best to fight them off, but she had been greatly outnumbered and forced to retreat.

Ironically enough, she was saved by stumbling onto the hidden base of the androids that were the original objective of the exam.

The androids engaged with the incoming fleet of fighter class spaceships, so Elenora had been able to slip away during the heated battle.

The Mendolesa girl felt her feet touch the solid ground and at that moment there was no better feeling in the world.

This was the first time that she had been in a life and death situation and Elenora could not stop her paws from trembling.

Every warrior assumed that they would rise to the challenge when faced with a powerful foe but when actually faced with the possibility of death…

There were few who would be able to maintain their composure.

Elenora powered on her communicator and checked the unread messages in her inbox.

She was not surprised to see a few messages from the professor since he was probably alerted to her return thanks to the starship's AI unit.

Instructor Barrett: [Stay where you are… I will send a droid to meet you.]

Instructor Barrett: [Do you require any immediate medical attention?]

Elenora: [No… I'm just feeling the strain of mental overexertion.]

Instructor Barrett: [That's good to hear… Cleo is with me, but Drew is still missing.]

The Mendolesa girl turned off her communicator and sat on the ground with no regard for her image.

Elenora felt a bit worried as the professor's last message flashed across her mind.

She was relived that Cleo was also safe, but she had seen firsthand just how dangerous the situation was inside the asteroid field.

Drew could be in a perilous situation and there would be no one to help him.

It was not as though Elenora was particularly close to the arrogant Quafes youth, but it was hard not be concerned about her fellow classmate.

Elenora was suddenly struck by a wave of exhaustion as she felt her eyes slowly begin to close.

Her vision gradually turned dark, and she fell to the ground in an unconscious state.

Two robot androids walked into the hangar room and with a series of smooth motions, they picked up the fallen Mendolesa girl and carefully carried her to the medical bay.

They placed her on a table and a small floating metalloid cube hovered over her body. The cube was dull purplish colour with several buttons scattered across its exterior.

Multiple beams of green light swept over Elenora's body a few times and a set of data began to appear on a nearby screen.

A transparent tube rose up from beneath the table and dug itself into the girl's arm. Nutrients and healing serum flowed through the tube and entered Elenora's veins.

The Mendolesa girl sighed comfortably and shifted her body into a more relaxed position as she begun to heal.

Professor Barrett spread his consciousness throughout the starship, so he was able to constantly monitor the situation.

Elenora was fine and just needed some rest after using too much of her mental force in a short period of time.

In ordinary circumstances, this would be seen as a reckless move, but Instructor Barrett knew that what happened over the last several hours was an emergency.

Cleo sat in the corner of the warp engine room and watched her professor as he closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing.

She was too weak to detect what her professor was currently doing but could somehow sense a thick mental fog flowing out of his mind.

The princess turned her attention back to her communicator and continued to message Sophie and her other friends.

Qiana and Astrid were both equally shocked by her news of the attack.

Qiana in particular wanted to know more details about the destroyer class vessels.

Those kinds of starships were heavily regulated in the Earth Federation and even high noble families had a limit on the number of vessels that they were allowed to own.

Thinking back on their designs… Cleo could not recall ever seeing those particular models before.

The technology that the mysterious spacecrafts used was similar to Federation starships but there was a subtle difference that she just could not put her finger on.

"Cleo you should also go down to the med bay and get a general checkup," Instructor Barrett suddenly spoke.

"Yes sir," Cleo replied respectfully as she nodded at her professor.

She walked out of the room and checked her communicator for a map of the starship's interior.

The med bay was located on the floor above her current position so it would only be a short five-to-ten-minute walk to get there.

Cleo wandered through the metalloid corridors and halls while quietly observing the destruction that had taken place.

Blood stains were splattered across the floor and the ceiling, shards of the robot androids lay on the ground and several thick metalloid barriers had been blasted into pieces.

The intruder had been a powerful foe.

Cleo knelt down and touched one of the robot androids that had been neatly cut in half.

Its once shining metalloid eyes were now lifeless and its mechanical body was now nothing more than scrap junk.

One did not need an active imagination to know what the outcome would have been if Cleo had come face to face with the intruder.

She would have been killed.

That thought alone made the princess furrow her brows as a frown appeared on her face.

She needed to get stronger…