The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Sector Alpha- 099)

Two uneventful but peaceful weeks had passed since Sophie and Lily had boarded the spaceship.

Sophie sincerely hoped that the journey would continue to be boring.

It would take at least one month before the mercenary fighters would reach the frontier region and join the government-backed forces.

This was actually quite good as the usual journey from planet Xerciam Prime to the frontier region would take one year.

The war with the Earth Federation had forced the Unova Syndicate government to build temporary warp gates to boost the travel speed of vessels going to and from the border.

Of course, these military controlled warp gates were not for the public to enjoy and a special pass was issued to all organizations approved to travel through them.

It was highly unusual for an average sized mercenary organization to have one of these passes, but Sophie did not want to explore that mystery.

As far as she was concerned, it was enough to reach the border as soon as possible.

There was no doubt in Sophie's mind that her friends and family would be worried sick.

And… she didn't even want to think about how far behind she must have fallen in classes.

Honestly, it would come as a shock to Sophie if she didn't have to repeat first year considering the months of school she had missed.

"Big sister can you tell that scary-looking bad guy to stop snoring," Lily whined cutely into Sophie's ears.

"Shh… don't make trouble," Sophie smiled gently and reached into her storage bag to pull out a small helmet with noise cancelling capabilities.

The helmet was made from a memory foam material that could shift and warp into the shape of the user's head.

Lily frowned as Sophie placed the device over her head, but the lack of noise soon caused the little girl to fall back asleep.

Lily hated to wear the helmet, so Sophie only took it out if the situation called for it.

Sophie stroked Lily's soft hair and planted a gentle kiss on the forehead of the little girl.

She could not help but feel sad that there would be no rest for herself tonight.

Cultivators in the qi tide stage would only require sleep at least once per week so Sophie had spent all of her available time cultivating nonstop.

There was an invisible sense of pressure with every passing day of peace.

The image of Lily's torn up corpse and her eventual defeat to an unknown enemy had Sophie constantly on edge.

Hour after hour….

Day after day….

The qi in Sophie's meridians would follow the same unceasing pattern and strengthen the liquid ocean in her dantian.

Ever since advancing in cultivation stages, the Spider Whisper Art could be practiced at any time of the day.

It was just that the qi gathering effect was strongest when Sophie was surrounded by total darkness.

Sophie's efforts had not gone in vain and there were some noticeable improvements in her strength.

She could feel that it would not be long until she touched the middle stages of the qi tide level.

The problem was that cultivation was a slow and steady effort so it was highly unlikely that she would receive a drastic boost of force within the span of a year.

"I'll cut you up…. you…. filthy scum!" a deafening roar snapped Sophie out of her concentration.

One of the mercenaries in the room shouted furiously as he found a strange creature with a soft belly slowly covering his body with green ooze.

He reached for a small plasma pistol and fired two shots into the jelly-like body of his attacker.

Bang! Bang!

The noise of the shots echoed around the room and caused several warriors to open up their eyes angrily.

"Big man if you don't shut up, I swear to god I'll slit open that throat of yours," a voice yelled from the back of the room.

The unhappy mercenary threw off the corpse of the creature and replied,

"Lawrence is that you talking all that rubbish? Don't let me cut off that other arm."

"You think I'm scared of a warrior who can't even afford a regen chamber for treatment?"

Sophie frowned slightly and mentally sighed as another night would pass filled with arguing or fighting among her new roommates.

The conditions on the space vessel were not ideal to put it mildly.

To put it more honestly….

It sucked.

It was pretty obvious that the 'Sun's Glory' was merely interested in collecting a flat fee for bringing people over to fight.

Although it was questionable how much they really wanted to maximize the profits as several warriors had died already.

Apart from settling in the mercenaries and leading to their rooms, the crewmen on the spaceship did not nothing else but occasionally come to clean every couple of days.

There were no meals or rations provided but most mercenaries had supplies on hand that could last for a few months.

As for those who didn't have….

They either starved or took what they needed from weaker opponents.

Each room was roughly the size of a two-bedroom apartment with thirty beds lined next to one another.

The beds themselves were nothing more than cheap metalloid frames with a tough as nails mattress on top.

Sleeping on these uncomfortable sheets was next to impossible during the first couple of nights.

There was only one bathroom in the corner of the room which smelt awful as people would go in the dark without turning the lights on.

Piss stains on the floor had turned the once white tiles of the washroom into a filthy colour and the general lack of hygiene had forced Sophie to hold Lily in the air above the toiler when the little girl wanted to go.

Not a pleasant situation for either of them.

But perhaps the biggest issue was boredom.

Put thirty battle-hardened warriors in a confined space with nothing to do for weeks on end and well….

That's a recipe for disaster.

Sophie had already witnessed two life or death fights, an uncountable number of brawls and for some reason a particularly adventurous trio of warriors decided to have an impromptu orgy.

Actually, Sophie's wasn't sure if it was an orgy as all three of the warriors involved did not seem to have visible genitals.

But judging by the loud cheers and sexual remarks made by the other mercenaries in the room, she still covered Lily's eyes.