The Spider Queen

"Come on! Pick up the pace or I will cut off those useless legs," Sophie growled as she turned around to shoot a dirty look at the survivors.

She was currently dragging thirty crates of dried food stock as well as nutrient solutions that were hidden in the storeroom of the cafeteria.

Fortunately, the crates had tiny hooks along their edges, so Sophie was able to link them together with metalloid rope.

Pirene and Eovoby struggled to keep up with the relentless pace of their captor.

The forced marching helped to distract them from the unpleasant revelation that the interrogations had uncovered.

The monster only needed a handful of survivors to pilot a spacecraft while the rest of the crew were just expendable.

The odds of being killed or eaten had just risen quite substantially.

Eovoby scowled at his dim-witted companion who gave away the information but didn't dare to whisper a word of complaint.

The pointed ears of the beast seemed to catch even the faintest of noises.

It was for this reason that both men did not even bother to attempt to escape.

It was pointless since the monster would just instantly teleport to their location and slice off their heads.

Maybe she would spare Pirene since he was an engineer but who could say for sure.

A tense atmosphere had formed as the two men silently prayed to the Sun God that they would survive this ordeal.

Sophie on the other hand was in a great mood.

She still outwardly projected a short tempered and unpredictable personality but internally she felt like whistling a happy tune.

There was a chance to reach the border region!

With any luck by the time the higher ups in the Sun's Glory realised that something was wrong, she would be long gone.

Now the only pressing concern was dealing with Captain Dawn. Sophie's cheerful mood soured as the memory of Lily's death flashed across her mind.

That future may never come to pass but the threat posed by the captain of the Hyperion Knights was still present.

Beating him in a fair fight was going to be impossible. Which is exactly why Sophie had no intentions of fighting him openly or fairly.

Duke Peterlor had continually preached to his daughter that honour meant nothing to a man six feet in the ground.

Honour was important… but nothing was more important than staying alive.

If she was destined to face a more powerful opponent then using cheap tricks and tactics would be the only way to survive.

Sophie already had a few plans in mind.

She would go all out using every single weapon in her storage bag along with all the high-class poisons stored in her vials.

Summoning clones using the 'Rsychosis' technique would also be key in dealing with any other knights that survived.

The explosive device should have taken out a good portion of their numbers, but Sophie would be a fool to underestimate the combat ability of those that remained.

The hybrid girl walked through the endless labyrinth of corridors and passages in complete silence.

It didn't take long to reach the familiar metalloid door that led to the holding room.

Sophie kneeled down and ripped off another finger from the corpse laying by the entrance before placing the severed appendage on the scanner.

This time it took a few minutes for the door to open as the flesh on the thumb was beginning to slightly decompose.

Of course, Sophie planned on making this her last trip to the room so it wouldn't be a problem.

There was a hissing noise as the metalloid door swung open to reveal Sophie's dangerous appearance to the terrified survivors.

Why was the monster back so soon?

Was it not satisfied with the sacrifices?

Did more people need to die?

Sophie raised up her hand and signalled Pirene and Eovoby to stay out of sight.

For added measure, she also released a faint trace of killing intent and spiritual pressure that caused both men to pass out.

A dull thump echoed through the corridor when their unconscious bodies fell to the ground but the survivors inside the room were too distracted to notice.

Sophie walked with slow steady steps. Her bladed appendages swayed gently from side to side with motions that were oddly hypnotic.

The golden eyes of the hybrid girl seemed to darken under the faint light and her fangs lengthened into pointed ends.

Sophie opened her mouth to begin her recruitment speech, but a sudden thought forced her to change the words that she was about to say.

"I am satisfied with the sacrifices that were offered," Sophie chuckled darkly and grinned with a twisted expression.

"Their flesh was most… delicious…. to hear their screams and cries…. and curses."

"They cursed you all. You sentenced them to die in order to survive and I believe that deserves a special reward."

Sophie left the room and then untied one of the thirty crates from the rope. She returned and dropped the crate by the left side of the entrance.

"I will be back in a few days for the next pair," Sophie muttered. Her harsh voice lingered in the ears of the survivors long after she closed the door.

Sophie left the crates outside the room and scooped up the Eovoby and Pirene with relative ease.

Why had she not just gotten the pilots?

It was too soon.

Sophie didn't plan on killing the remaining survivors, but she needed to maintain the impression in their minds that they were only one mistake away from death.

Bringing Eovoby and Pirene back unharmed would reduce her fearsome image slightly and the fact that she needed the pilots was another weakness.

The thought that had surfaced before she had begun the recruitment speech was that there was no way of knowing if the pilots were obeying her orders when she commanded the spacecraft.

Sophie could speak the common trade language of the Unova Syndicate but her reading ability could only be described as barely literate.

Plus, her communicator from the Earth Federation was not linked to the virtual network here so there was no way to track her current location.

Hence she had to maintain her image as a monster in order to prevent any rebellious thoughts.

A three-day buffer period was just a random time frame that Sophie tossed out since she had no idea how long the fight with the captain would last.

Unfortunately for these two sacrifices, Sophie planned on tying them up in a random room and leaving a crate of food.

Sophie found a room that was relatively clean on the seventh floor and tossed both men on the mattress before connecting their ankles to the frame of the bed using a metalloid chain.

She returned to the holding room to pick up a crate but could hear loud argumentative voices through the wall.

The survivors had now fractured into smaller groups that were hostile to each other. There were no unifying voices calling for peace.

"Good…" Sophie whispered as her pointed ears flicked slightly to the left.

It was time to prepare for her most dangerous hunt.