The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Living Bio-Starship- Command Deck)

A space vessel sailed silently through a vast asteroid field. Its outer surface was a sickly green colour but that was not the strangest part about this odd starship.

Thick wriggling veins could be seen squirming beneath its sickly green outer surface and an enormous eye on the hull of the starship opened and closed occasionally.

This was a bioship, an extremely rare organism capable of being mechanically spliced and altered to create a starship made from both machines and living matter.

The Earth Federation mainly treated these strange starships as material for scientific research rather than for actual practical use.

There were many reasons for this decision. Bioships were notoriously difficult to create, and their performance was lacking compared to regular spacecrafts.

Only basic weapon systems could be implanted on a bioship and its shield generators were laughably flimsy.

Still these bioships were not without advantages.

For one they did not require fuel as the organism was able to gain energy from absorbing solar radiation.

There was also a low maintenance cost as the bioship would periodically regenerate any damaged areas.

A mouth emerged from a certain section of the bioship and a long purple tongue left the orifice and headed towards a nearby asteroid.

It wrapped around the space rock and quickly pulled it inside its mouth. The asteroid vanished inside the bioship and a satisfied humming noise could be heard.

There was a small command room built inside the front section of the bioship where a team of heavily armored humans stood quietly.

A single chair had been placed in the center of the room where a naked woman sat.

Despite her naked appearance there was not a single gaze in her direction that contained lust.

Instead, the armored individuals in the command room wore expressions that ranged from pity to indifference.

A fleshy tendril rose up from the floor and connected to the base of the woman's skull. She let out a horrifying shriek and thrashed back and forth madly.

The tendril was translucent so one could see greenish fluid travelling up the length of its body and entering the woman's brain.

The woman shuddered and then froze in place almost like a statue. Her skin turned as white as snow, and she sank even deeper into the chair.

One of the armored men approached the frozen woman and placed a metalloid circlet around her head.

"We will need to pick up a next pilot soon," a gruff voice spoke. It belonged to the man wearing the heaviest set of armor in the room.

"Those bastards on planet Calypso… what the hell did they do to provoke Duke Peterlor? Thousands of good slaves and livestock were lost during the battle."

"And now the duke plans to hunt down the remnant criminal organizations. No one is willing to sell slaves in this sector anymore."

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

The man slammed his fist against the wall in rage and a heavy crack appeared. This crack was quickly repaired by the bioship, but an angry humming noise filled the room.

None of the armored warriors inside the command room seemed to care about the bioship's anger and instead directed their attention towards the matter at hand.

Young human females were best suited to serve as pilots for the bioship but after the destruction of the slave trade on planet Calypso it was difficult to find a willing seller.

The leader of the team let out a heavy sigh and stared out of the window. They were the last survivors of a space pirate crew that had disbanded several months ago.

A rising leader in the underworld had set his sights on their crew and swiftly took over the organisation in a single night.

Captain Abrams trembled as he remembered the vicious look in the youth's eyes as he casually slaughtered men, women and children alike.

He thought that in his many years as a pirate he would be used to bloodshed by now but… what he saw that night still kept him awake at night.

That young man was a monster in human skin. A beast that saw human life as nothing more than weeds to be plucked.

Now there were only ten of them left and their only spacecraft was a bioship that was useless in a proper fight.

Captain Abrams briefly considered the option of turning himself and the rest of his crew over to the authorities.

There were enough credits hidden inside the bioship to last them for a lifetime.

Thank goodness one of his men had the foresight to raid the treasure room before everything turned to ash.

Maybe they would even get a reduced sentence.

By paying the right bribe to the right officer it was possible that they could become regular citizens in a few years' time.

Hell… after a lifetime of rape, pillage and slaughter it would be good to happily retire on some remote planet.

Well maybe that would be the thought of most people, but Captain Abrams didn't know if he could forget the thrill of raiding starships and escaping with expensive artifacts and women.

Thievery was in his blood and his blood ran hot as did the other surviving members of his crew.

"Captain… why don't we investigate the rumors about the hidden laboratory?" a voice suddenly interrupted Captain Abrams' musings.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Captain Abrams asked harshly.

"Well, I heard from Old Jack down at the tavern that some shady folks are kidnapping and buying slaves to experiment on," one of the armored pirates explained.

"If we raid their home base then we should get enough women to pilot the bioship! You know those crazy scientist types… they never have proper security."

"We could drop down and kill whoever is in charge."

It was a fair suggestion and a much better plan than turning themselves in.

Captain Abrams listened patiently as his second in command talked about this secret laboratory.

It sounded too good to be true, but Captain Abrams was a man who enjoyed gambling. They were currently at rock bottom so there was nowhere to go but up.

"Do you have any idea where this laboratory is?" Captain Abrams questioned.

His second in command powered on his wrist communicator and pressed a series of buttons. A holographic map was projected into the air that displayed the entire Hydra Star System.

Several areas in the outer region were highlighted in a red colour. Captain Abrams greedily scanned the map and saw that the nearest location was relatively close to their current position.

"Men… we have our next job!" Captain Abrams roared happily.

Loud cheers filled the room as the surviving pirates finally felt hope for the first time. The future was looking bright!