The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Frontier Region)

(Spatial Battlefield Above Oreciuam Prime)

Katarina leaned back against the captain's chair with several hologram windows projected in front of her body.

Her hands moved like a blur as she continued to input various commands while checking out the current state of the war that was happening outside.

So far the war was going in the favour of the Federation but Katarina had been to enough battlefields to know that a desperate enemy was the most dangerous.

Even a cornered mouse would dare to bite a lion.

The members of the Nephilim Church were at this time sitting down at the back of the command room and praying.

With the exception of the saintess whose attention was drawn to the scenes displayed outside the windows.

The loud explosions, the intense sight of multiple plasma cannons firing at the same time and the occasional enemy starship that was captured and boarded.

Most cultivators who saw a spatial battlefield for the first time usually had a similar reaction.

Bleep! Bleep!

The communicator on Katarina's wrist buzzed softly which caused her to look down and see an urgent message incoming.

It was from Sophie!

Katarina quickly tapped her finger on the screen to open the contents of the message. It was a broadcast of her young lady's spatial coordinates using the virtual net connection.

A brief smile flashed across the scarred woman's face as she quickly placed the spatial coordinates into the navigation system.

Wait…

This didn't make any sense.

Sophie's current location was relatively far away from the final position written on the piece of paper.

Katarina turned her head around and directed a question towards the back of the room, "Hey… how accurate is this prophecy of yours?"

Bishop Walsh slowly opened his eyes and rose up from the ground. His muscular body rippled and pulsated with wriggling veins that squirmed against his pale flesh.

"No one can truly predict with certainty what will happen in the future," Bishop Walsh explained in a low tone.

"Those blessed with the gift of foresight whether acquired naturally or given by those of a higher power merely see the most likely thread that will be woven in the fabric of time."

Katarina nodded slowly and played with the sharp blade that was lazily held in her hands. She sent a quick message to the duke and explained the situation.

Sophie's current location was around twenty minutes from where their starship was positioned but the final destination on the paper would take around one day to reach if the route was followed exactly.

Katarina couldn't decide if she should trust the prophecy to hold true or follow her instincts and just head towards Sophie's location directly.

Bleep! Bleep!

Her wrist communicator buzzed twice as she instantly received an incoming message from Duke Peterlor.

The reply was short and simple.

[Proceed as originally planned.]

Another message came after the first but this time the information that was given made the doubts in Katarina's mind disappear.

Apparently the prophecies issued by the Temple of The Fallen had never been wrong. However, most people did not want to pay the heavy cost for such knowledge.

It may look as though the only price that Bishop Walsh paid were the wounds on his palms but…

Duke Peterlor suspected that there was another fatal side effect that the religious guardian had concealed.

Katarina carefully placed her blade on the side of the chair and went back to monitoring the situation outside with a careful eye.

The only difference was that there was now an extra holographic window that displayed the positional broadcast of Sophie's location.

"Don't worry milord. We will rescue the young miss," Katarina muttered softly.

However, only a few minutes later…

The broadcast was mysteriously cut short.

(Unknown Spatial Zone- The Bloody Krena Warship)

"Perspherene! Where are you?" Sophie called out as she dug through the metalloid rubble that was blocking the way.

Fifteen minutes has passed since the starship had crashed in the middle of an asteroid field and Sophie was forced to handle the rescue effort by herself.

Captain Hessan was sitting quietly in his chair with his head buried tightly in his furry arms after reading the damage report.

The other mercenaries in the room were either too badly injured or uninterested in looking for their temporary companions.

Large sections of the command room had collapsed and there were a few warriors still trapped underneath the rubble.

Sophie had already dragged four bodies out but only one was still breathing. Unfortunately, Perspherene was still nowhere to be seen.

The hybrid girl scowled as she continued to push aside the mess of metals and wires until she saw a familiar patch of purplish-grey scales.

"I got you!" Sophie exclaimed as she used her enhanced strength to easily shove aside the chunk of metal in front of her.

Perspherene's slender but lifeless body came into view. If it wasn't for the slow rise and fall of her chest, Sophie would have been convinced that her friend was already dead.

Sophie reached into her storage bag and pulled out a vial of healing serum which she then attached to an injector device.

The cold needle sunk into Perspherene's scaly flesh and caused the lizard-like alien to furrow her brows uncomfortably.

Sophie bent down and picked up Perspherene before heading towards the area of the command center designated for the injured.

"What's the point of saving them?" a hoarse voice echoed through the room. Sophie turned around to see Captain Hessan staring at her with his beady eyes.

"Life support will run out in two days and the floor with the escape vessels has been destroyed so there is no way to leave," he explained dryly.

"We are all going to die."

Sophie scowled as she reached into her storage bag and pulled out some bandages.

She carefully wrapped the fabric over the wounds on Perspherene's body before continuing her search for more survivors.

Truthfully Sophie didn't know why she was doing this. Perspherene was really the only person she was concerned about and she didn't even know the other warriors onboard the vessel.

But maybe… a small part of her was just tired of death.