The Spider Queen

(Unknown Starship- Seventh Floor)

(Starship Hangar)

It had been easy for Sophie to punch open the blast-resistant doors that blocked the way to the hangar.

Walking slowly inside the room with Lily in her arms brought a small smile to the hybrid girl's face.

The little girl had been overjoyed to see her big sister when she woke up and had spent the morning glued to Sophie's side.

Truthfully, Sophie was equally happy to spend time with the energetic Lily as her cheerful attitude really helped to brighten her mood.

The pair soon arrived in a vast open hall that was filled with futuristic spacecrafts that were designed in the typical Unovan style.

Some of the noticeable traits were a slender, sleek design, mounted plasma cannons on the undersides of the vessels and a barrier device placed on the front-end of the starship.

Lily had stars in her eyes as she gazed at the shiny starships so Sophie gently placed her on the ground.

"Wow!" Lily yelled happily as she ran towards one of spacecrafts lining the sides of the room that had caught her eye.

Sophie watched from the distance while taking a glance at the different models.

The spacefaring vessel controlled by the Sun's Glory was a medium-class starship hence it was logical to house smaller escape starships in case of emergencies.

Of course, there would be differences in the models to fit different situations. Some starships in the hangar were meant for short-range explorations and hence did not have warp cores.

Others could travel vast distances but typically did not have the strongest offensive or defensive capabilities.

Sophie was not an expert so it was impossible for her untrained eye to tell from the outside which starship was suitable for the week-long journey to the border region.

That would have to be done by the two prisoners that were currently being led to the hangar room by her clones.

"Thank goodness there were actually two of them," Sophie muttered quietly as she closed her eyes.

She connected to the mental network and sent her consciousness into the minds of her copies to review the memories of what had happened in the holding room.

Penshese and Lt. Shirren were the names of the two survivors.

Now how could she control them?

Sophie disconnected from the mental network and opened her eyes with a pensive expression on her face.

She reached into her storage bag and quietly checked for a couple items for an idea that flashed across her mind.

Sophie frowned as she realised a not insignificant problem as she checked through her storage bag.

The supplies inside the space were limited and after months of being stuck in the Unovan Syndicate…

Certain items were beginning to run low.

There were now only a handful of weapons left and most of her poison vials had been used up in the fight with the captain.

At least there was still sufficient food left since Duke Peterlor had made sure that his daughter had a year supply of nutrient vials before leaving for university.

Clothes on the other hand…

Well, it was only a week so worst case scenario, she would just wash the clothes in the cleaning liquid available on the spacecraft.

Or… just have to wear the same clothes for the week…

"Big sister come look at this!" a loud voice snapped Sophie out of her musing.

She glanced towards the direction of the noise only to see Lily excitedly pointing at one of the starships.

Sophie lazily walked over and picked up the little girl in her arms with smooth familiar movements.

"What's so exciting?" Sophie teased as she tickled Lily's stomach. Lily's soft giggles filled the hangar and made the atmosphere feel warm.

"Big.. sister… stop… look at the writing," Lily gasped as she grabbed Sophie's hand and looked up at her tormentor with tears in her eyes.

Sophie took a casual glance at the sides of the starship and saw something interesting.

There were several lines of text engraved on the metalloid exterior of this particular vessel.

The text was in a language that Sophie recognised as standard Unovan but since she could not understand the writing…

There was no way to tell what these lines of text meant.

Sophie held Lily in her arms and walked up and down the length of the hangar while inspecting the other starships curiously.

To her surprise, she found that not all the vessels had text engraved on their metalloid exterior.

In fact, she only counted around four starships in total.

What was the significance of these vessels compared to the rest?

Sophie could not tell since outwardly there appeared to be no major difference between them and any other starship in the hangar.

Well, this seems like a mystery that would remain unsolved so Sophie tossed this detail to the back of her mind.

Sophie turned her attention back to the little girl in her arms and asked a question,

"Do you like starships Lily?"

Lily stayed silent for a moment and then talked about the dream in her heart that she had never shared with anyone before.

"I want to be a commander like my mom when I grow up," Lily softly whispered.

"She took me to visit her starship for my birthday last year and I saw how all the aunts and uncles looked at her."

"They… loved her… I want to be just like her."

Even with a childish voice, the determination hidden in Lily's soft-spoken words was impossible to deny.

Sophie could not help but think about her own life after they both returned to the Earth Federation.

What did she want to be?

Join the military to be like her father?

That was the plan but secretly Sophie had another important reason for joining the Imperial Army.

She would be able to apply for the legion situated at the border of the Insectoid Empire and then hopefully from there she could begin to look for her mom.

"I'm sure you will be the greatest commander ever," Sophie whispered before leaning in and planting a gentle kiss on Lily's forehead.

There was a comfortable silence between the pair as they inspected the last couple of starships and then walked towards the center of the room.

Sophie's movements slowed down as she received a message through the mental network from one of her clones.

[We just met up with the other two of us in the cafeteria level and are now only ten minutes away from the hangar]

[The prisoners are cooperative so far]