The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System – Polaris Asteroid Cluster)

(Stolen Spacecraft- Main Bedroom)

Qiana let out a light sigh as she stood over the edge of the bed and looked at all the garbage that was piled up on the floor.

Whoever was the previous owner of this starship was an absolute pig. Pieces of trash, filth and other unmentionable items were scattered everywhere.

Along with stains from liquids that Qiana hoped were beverages.

Honestly at first, she thought that at least the bed was relatively clean but after shining a black light on the mattress…

Let's just say that Qiana did not plan to lie down on the bed for the night. The young woman took off her glasses and gave them a quick rub to remove the stains.

She moved away from the bed and walked back to the driver's room. Outside of the windows, one could see the vast and lonely expanse of space.

Countless number of stars and planets blinked and winked out of existence. A few starships zipped by while others cruised along at a much leisurely pace.

Qiana checked her communicator and saw a few missed messages from her friends but not a single one from her family.

Well… it would seem that the news about what had happened in the space station had yet to leak to the outside world.

The black order…

Qiana furrowed her brows as she carefully recalled everything that had just happened a few hours prior.

A rival organisation had decided to invade the space station, but the strange thing was that they did not seem to be interested in the goods or valuables onboard.

Instead, they caused as much destruction as possible with loud explosives.

But if they simply wanted to destroy the station then why would they not use the mounted plasma cannons on the colossal starship.

Something wasn't right…

Qiana rubbed her fingers together as she gave the matter some more thought. It was a habit that she had picked up after spending so much time with Astrid.

No… there was no use dwelling on it now… she simply needed to compile a report to the family elders…

Now how should she explain the death of her female guard?

A light smile flashed across Qiana's face as she typed in her communicator that her guard had bravely sacrificed herself to ensure that she escaped.

Her uncle would be furious that his right-hand agent had disappeared but officially he would be unable to say anything.

Noble family politics were quite tiring…

Honestly there was a part of Qiana that envied the fact that her friend Sophie only had one member of her family.

She was the default heir and there was no one else with a claim to House Peterlor and their estates.

Qiana finished compiling the report and gave it a quick look over before saving it as a draft. She would need to flesh it out with some more details later.

Qiana's hand drifted over to her storage bag, and she took out the four metalloid crates. She needed to check the goods.

The young woman took out a knife from her pocket and carefully pried the top of each crate open to reveal what was inside.

Three of the crates had small greyish- black bars of a mysterious metal stacked one on top of each other.

Noxien… this was the real deal.

Qiana closed the lids and turned to the last crate that from the outside seemed identical to the ones before it.

She opened the crate and peered inside. A confused expression surfaced on Qiana's face as she could not make out what she was seeing.

There appeared to be a ring…. Wait… what?

The inside of the crate was completely empty except for a small golden ring with peculiar black markings running down its sides.

The markings were clearly written in a language and had meaning but Qiana was unable to decipher them since she had never seen that language before.

Did she pick up the wrong crate by accident?

No… she definitely got the crates from the same spot which meant that the black-market organisation had not been entirely truthful.

Not all the crates contained Noxien.

Or perhaps someone had swapped out the goods inside the crate before the auction had even begun.

That was also a possibility…

Qiana reached inside the crate and picked up the ring. It felt strangely warm and comfortable to the touch.

It was almost as though the material that the ring was made out of was plastic-like in nature because it changed shape quite easily as Qiana pulled and pinched it.

She played with the ring for a few moments and the black markings seemed to shift slightly every time she held the ring up to the light.

Quite odd…

There was a hypnotic attraction that the ring held that made it almost impossible to look away from it.

Qiana had heard of such artifacts before and most of the time it did not end well for the person who picked them up.

With a great amount of effort, she tore her eyes away from the ring and reached for the storage bag attached to her hip.

Qiana placed the ring in her storage bag and turned her attention to the three crates that she knew had the material that she desired.

Only three crates of Noxien were not exactly a success but it would be enough to get the family elders off her back.

Especially considering that all the other customers in the space station were mostly likely dead or kidnapped by now.

Qiana's wrist communicator buzzed slightly, and she saw an incoming message from one of her family members.

Alayna: [Has the auction finished yet? I trust that Victoria has been doing her job and ensuring your safety.]

Qiana: [I will be returning home in a few hours with a complete report of the auction. Do not worry because I have secured the materials.]

Alayna: [Wonderful I will inform the head immediately. This has been quite an… unexpected success but I suppose it is to be expected of the heir.]

Qiana frowned slightly as she sensed the sarcasm on the other end of the message. Alayna was one of her cousins and a particularly vicious woman.

Mentioning Victoria in her first message, clearly meant that her cousin knew that her female guard's real task was to sabotage her bidding during the auction.

Qiana didn't want to deal with any more hidden barbs, so she simply powered off her communicator.

This was going to be a very long couple of months…

The spacecraft continued to move forward as Qiana inputted a series of commands which included a flight path to Planet Rexone.

The planet controlled by House Abazin.

Her home.