The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Frontier Region)

(Unknown Spatial Zone- The Bloody Krena Warship)

Sophie drifted in and out of consciousness as her vision blurred. The blinding white light that filled the room made it impossible to see anything.

There was also a pounding sensation in her head that made it difficult to gather her thoughts.

She had to rely on her other senses to navigate the command room that was now in complete disarray.

Sophie closed her eyes and focused as her pointed ears flickered constantly back and forth in search of any sudden sounds or movements.

Screams and groans of pain could be heard coming from different parts of the room along with the faint hum of an electric buzzing noise.

"Lily… keep your eyes closed and don't leave my arms," Sophie whispered gently. She received a soft mummer from the little girl in her arms as a reply.

Sophie quickly moved her hands up and down Lily's body to make sure that she wasn't injured during the attack.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no problems as far as Sophie could tell. She didn't feel any broken bones or open wounds.

Thankfully Lily had been safely protected in her arms since it was her body that bore the brunt of the impacts when the shockwaves slammed into the starship.

Where the hell were they? And what happened?

Sophie vaguely remembered Captain Hessan ordering the two pilots to jump to hyperspace but then…come on… think…

There were three Imperial Army fighter starships heading towards their position with plasma cannons charging and ready to fire.

Sophie gritted her teeth and slowly opened one eye to check the condition of the command room.

The harsh glare nearly blinded her but she was able to briefly glimpse the surrounding area and observe the scenery outside.

It was not good.

Sophie closed her eyes once more and relied on her enhanced memory to recall what she had just seen.

A deep frown flashed across her face as she mentally reviewed the images and scenes.

Several bodies lay helplessly on the ground and some were covered in blood with their limbs bent and twisted in unnatural positions.

Captain Hessan was still sitting down in his chair thanks to the metalloid bindings that were securely wrapped around his body.

However, he seemed to be unconscious and it was only the subtle rise and fall of his furry chest that gave any indication that he was still alive.

Outside the window displayed a picturesque sight unlike anything that Sophie had ever seen before.

There were hundreds of dull grey rocks floating lazily outside the starship but some of the asteroids were pulsating with bluish energy.

This familiar energy was something that Sophie easily recognised. It was clearly warp core energy.

The only thing that she couldn't figure out was how was it possible for this energy to appear on the asteroids outside their starship.

Oh no…shit…shit… there was only one possibility.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

Right at that very moment a harsh alarm blared out from the speaker system and a mechanical voice echoed through the command room.

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[MULTIPLE BREACHES DETECTED!]

"Fuck… fuck… FUCK!" Sophie loudly cursed as she slammed her right fist against the floor in frustration.

A thunderous boom could be heard as several large cracks appeared in the area where her palm landed.

Okay.. now wasn't the time to panic.

Sophie took a few deep breaths and gently exhaled in order to calm herself down.

She sensed that the harsh white light that was filling the command room slowly begin to dissipate.

Sophie wasn't sure where this light had come from but frankly at this time there were more pressing concerns to worry about.

The order to jump to hyper space was both suicidal and reckless but Sophie wasn't going to judge Captain Hessan because at that point there really was no other choice.

Sophie figured that at least they should be thankful that their section of the starship didn't collide with any celestial bodies during the rapid acceleration.

Just the fact that they were still alive meant that there was hope.

Sophie relied on her natural instincts and tentatively opened her eyes when she sensed that the white light was finally gone.

The hybrid girl groaned as she got up from the floor with shaky and uneven steps. There was no time to waste.

Rsychosis!

Sophie's figure blurred and then split into two identical copies that were indistinguishable from one another.

She gently placed Lily in the hands of her mirror image and then headed towards the captain's chair.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

The harsh noise of the alarms caused the other mercenaries in the room that were still alive and had uninjured limbs to groggily move about as well.

Sophie stumbled slightly as she made her way to the captain's chair so she was forced to use her bladed appendages.

She stabbed the tip of her bladed appendages into the metalloid flooring in order to stabilise her posture.

It took two tense minutes for Sophie to finally make her way to where Captain Hessan was located.

The furry mouse-like alien still had his eyes closed but at this time Sophie couldn't afford to wake him up gently.

"Hey… HEY! Wake up before we all die!" Sophie cried out as she used her fingers to shake the captain's body back and forth like a ragdoll.

There was no reaction. Sophie reached into her storage bag and pulled out a vial of nutrient solution that was half filled.

She unscrewed the top of the tube and poured the contents straight onto the face and body of the captain.

"Wha… What?" Captain Hessan sputtered as he woke up with a strange liquid covering his entire body.

The furry alien glared at Sophie in rage with his tiny beady eyes staring at the hybrid girl with an expression of extreme grumpiness.

Sophie quickly began to explain the severity of the current situation before the captain had the chance to complain.

"The starship has been severely damaged and multiple breaches have been detected," Sophie spoke solemnly.

You need to pull up a damage report and activate the inner shielding devices to block off the damaged sections."

Captain Hessan's eyes immediately widened and he hurriedly reached for the communicator that was wrapped around his wrist.

A holographic window was projected from the center of his device that displayed several lines of text that Sophie could not understand.

She did notice that a few sections were highlighted in an ominous dark red colour and the captain's eyes seemed to linger on those parts.

Captain Hessan's furry paws seemed to blur as he rapidly typed out a series of commands to the onboard AI unit.

"This is far worse than I expected," Captain Hessan suddenly spoke in a grim tone.

"Over half of the spacecraft's floors have been severely damaged and that includes several key areas such as the engine room which is leaking warp core energy outside and the life support system."

"Right now, I managed to access the backup unit for life support but it will only last for about two days at most…"