The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Interplanetary Space Station)

(Cargo Bay – Unnamed Side Room)

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Qiana leaned against a nearby wall and held her breath as she heard the sounds of heavy plasma fire echoing through the corridor.

This attack had been well planned and executed.

A series of loud explosions caused a large amount of damage to the space station as well as panic among the people inside.

Hundreds of black cloaked figures were now roaming the station looking for survivors to execute or take hostage.

What was their goal?

Qiana had no idea but did not intend to find out. This was not the first time that a deal with the black-market forces had gone sour.

The young woman adjusted her glasses and glanced at the four crates neatly stacked up in front of her.

It was impossible to grab all of the crates but in the chaos… who would be able to tell how a few went missing?

A satisfied smirk spread across Qiana's face as she reached into her pocket and took out a small metalloid device shaped like a remote.

She pointed the device in the direction of the crates and pressed the small, raised button on the side.

A beam of purple light was emitted from the device and Qiana used it to carefully scan each crate for any trackers or bugs.

Ding!

There was a tiny tracking device located at the bottom of each crate just as she suspected. Qiana kneeled down and used her fingers to pry off the trackers before crushing them under her boot.

Once the tracking devices had all been destroyed, Qiana waved her hands and placed the four crates in her storage bag.

Good… now she needed to get out of here.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

BOOM!

Qiana darted into the shadows just as the door to the side room where she was hiding in was blown off its hinges by a fiery explosion.

Two figures slowly walked into the room.

Each held a plasma rifle in their hands and the black cloaks that they wore concealed their facial features.

"Are you sure that you heard something?" one of them muttered quietly as his eyes scanned the room and found nothing suspicious.

"The boss said to check all the rooms… don't be lazy…" his companion replied as she kicked over a nearby table to see if anyone was hiding behind it.

"And who is your boss?" a voice suddenly whispered.

Qiana stepped out of the shadows with blood slowly dripping from the knife that was held tightly in her palm.

"Holy shit! There's one of them… Theresa we have to… huh?" the black cloaked man reeled back in shock as he saw his companion clutching her throat in pain.

When? When was she attacked?

The man tried to raise up his plasma rifle to shoot at the mysterious girl but felt a sudden stinging sensation of pain.

He looked down and saw that his right hand had been neatly severed from the base and was now little more than a stump.

"Argghhhh!" the man screamed in pain as his brain finally registered what had been done to him.

His companion crashed to the ground and began to spasm as blood slowly leaked out of the wound across her throat.

She desperately flailed around but eventually the life slowly faded from her eyes.

Qiana walked forward slowly and the dark markings along her body shifted with every step that she took.

Her eyes were hidden behind her glasses, but one could feel a cold calculating gaze behind those thick lenses.

What made Qiana so terrifying was the fact that she did not give off even a single trace of bloodlust.

It was like what she had done did not even register as killing a fellow human being… in her eyes this was like how one would feel about stepping on an ant.

"Tell me…." Qiana whispered softly as she used her knife to brush against the man's cheek. She carefully sliced upwards and removed the hood that was covering his face.

The man had a hooked nose, beady eyes and several hideous scars that would scare any ordinary girl.

But Qiana felt nothing.

"Who is your boss? What is your objective?" Qiana repeated her precious question.

"I'll… I'll never talk…" the man defiantly replied as he clutched his injured hand and glared at Qiana with an expression of hatred.

Qiana merely raised an eyebrow and reached into her storage bag for a vial. Inside the vial was a dark purplish liquid that bubbled and hissed.

She kicked the man in his chest, and he crashed to the ground with a painful thud. The young noble then casually threw the vial which then landed right on the man's chest.

The vial shattered and the purplish liquid stained his clothes. The man looked at Qiana with confusion evident in his gaze, but Qiana merely walked away.

A horrific screech of pain left the man's mouth as he felt as though his body was burning up from the inside.

Three minutes at most and then she would have all she needed to know. Qiana left the room and checked both sides of the corridor.

The man's loud screams would certainly draw the attention of any invaders patrolling nearby but that was exactly what Qiana was hoping for.

She powered on her wrist communicator and tried to send a message but discovered that her connection to the virtual net had been cut off.

Clever bastards…

Whoever was the leader of this operation had really covered all of their bases. A null field was probably responsible for killing all communications to the outside world.

Qiana wouldn't be surprised if the cameras and security devices on the space station were all out of commission or destroyed.

To do that meant that the leader of the operation must have had an agent working inside the space station.

This was a plan that required months if not years of meticulous planning.

Qiana walked back into the room and stepped past the man who was now thrashing on the ground.

She stopped in front of his female companion and began to remove the clothes from her still warm corpse.

Qiana's facial expression did not change even as she stripped the dead woman and then flung her cloak around her body.

The safest place to hide was in plain sight.

"Please… please… no… more…" the man groaned as he raised his head with great difficulty and stared at Qiana.

Only two minutes? What a pitiful amount of endurance…

"Are you ready to talk?" Qiana softly whispered as she adjusted the hood so that it covered her face.

"Yes… I… we… are members of 'The Black Order'. Our leader he told us… we would be rich if we… we… robbed this station…" the man painfully stuttered.

"And what's your leader's name?" Qiana asked coldly.

"Don't know… he… he… never told… us… please… help… me…" the man replied as he crawled on the ground towards Qiana.

He stretched out his injured hand for assistance and saw the mysterious girl tilt her knife. That was the last image that the invader saw before his head was neatly sliced off his body.

Qiana let out a heavy sigh as she casually flicked her knife and the droplets of blood fell on the ground.

The Black Order….

Where had she heard that name before?