The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Irene Asteroid Cluster)

(Spatial Coordinates 034 054 134)

"Alright… just a few more minutes," a young woman muttered to herself as she navigated around a large rock that was on route to crashing into her spacecraft.

She had piercing green eyes, long wavy black hair and beautiful facial features that made her resemble a goddess.

She wore a plain black uniform, and several plasma guns were strapped to the side of her hips.

Sophie's clone sighed heavily as she pressed a few buttons on the navigation console and the spacecraft stopped moving.

Now her starship was drifting aimlessly through space.

The clone closed her eyes and accessed the mental network that connected her to the original Sophie.

[This is so boring… nothing has happened yet]

[Did Cleo really get the coordinates right?]

The clone's eyes snapped open when she felt a heavy object latch on to the spaceship. The entire structure began to shake violently.

Another much larger starship appeared from behind the shadows of a nearby asteroid and fired several long-range claw-like devices that dug into the side of the clone's starship.

"Hmm… well this is a bit of a rude start to our meeting," the clone whispered indifferently as her eyes glanced towards the communicator on her wrist.

Several messages appeared on the screen from the unknown number telling her not to panic and that her spacecraft would be escorted to their meeting point.

Well, there was nothing she could do now except relax.

The clone leaned back on the chair in the center of the command deck and tightly gripped its sides so that she wasn't thrown off by the violent shaking.

Geez… couldn't they be a bit gentler?

Several of the claw-like devices were attached to the hull of her starship and the larger spacecraft began to move towards the deeper parts of the asteroid field.

Now she was just along for the ride.

"Okay… let me check to see if this thing works…" the clone continued to speak to herself as she tapped the side of her throat.

"I'm Cleo. I'm Cleo… I'm Cleo… eh… good enough."

There was a tiny metalloid device implanted in her neck that modified her vocal cords so that she sounded identical to the princess.

'Cleo' smiled as her voice morphed slightly until it matched the familiar pitch of the woman in her memories.

The journey through the asteroid field was honestly… quite boring. It took around seven hours until a planet could be seen in the distance.

Orbiting the planet was a moon whose surface was entirely covered by a thin sheet of ice from one pole to the other.

Volcanic eruptions could be seen occurring along the equator of the moon and instead of hot lava, massive shards of ice erupted from the moon's core.

'Cleo's' piercing green eyes narrowed as the larger spacecraft began its descent and dragged her along for the ride.

She pressed a few buttons on the console in front of her to reroute additional power to the starship's barrier systems.

It was not a moment too soon as her spacecraft entered the atmosphere and began to burst into flames.

'Cleo' remained calm and waited as her starship landed on the ground with a heavy thump that shook the entire room.

She was prepared.

In her storage bag were a variety of dangerous toxins, high grade explosives and other nasty surprises for the blackmailers.

Her appearance was now identical to the princess in everything from her looks to even her voice and mannerisms.

And finally… she had made sure that Sophie implanted an explosive device in her brain just in case she was captured and about to be tortured.

The larger spacecraft had landed next to her spacefaring vehicle and a hole opened up in its side.

A metalloid staircase descended from the gap in its hull and several humanoid figures wearing heavy black robes walked down the stairs.

'Cleo' connected to the mental network and sensed that Sophie was watching the events that were unfolding from her perspective.

[Alright… let's go rescue Cleo's mom]

'Cleo' stretched out her arms lazily before a serious expression flashed across her face.

She walked through a long winding corridor until she arrived at the exit door.

The fake princess opened the door and then jumped outside without even waiting for the metalloid staircase to deploy.

She landed on the snowy ground gracefully and then stared at the mysterious figures with clear anger visible on her face.

"Where is my mother? Bring me to her now!" 'Cleo' demanded with barely contained fury in her voice.

"Right this way…" one of the hooded figures calmly spoke as he gestured with his arm towards a mountain in the distance.

'Cleo' scowled angrily and then walked behind the hooded figures as they headed for the mountain.

There was great reluctance in her steps, and it was clear that she was keeping a wary distance between herself and the strangers.

'Cleo' hoped that her attitude would fool the blackmailers into believing that she was in fact that real princess.

She needed to utilise all the acting talent that she had in order to sell this role.

"Why don't you show your faces?" 'Cleo' asked suspiciously as her footsteps slowed down.

"Princess, we mean you no disrespect… however we cannot reveal our true identities until you have heard our offer," one of the figures gently spoke.

"Offer? I'm just here for my mother… as soon as you bring her to me then I will be leaving this place immediately," 'Cleo' remarked with a sneer.

Her body was surrounded by an aura of regality and nobility that overflowed with every graceful step that she took.

It took all of the clone's efforts not to trip and fall on the ice as she tried her best to mimic Cleo's walking gait.

It didn't help that her body was not used to moving about with the additional weight of four blade-like appendages behind her back.

If the hooded figures were annoyed by the fake princess' attitude, then they did not show it as they continued to walk without saying a word.

'Cleo' continued to probe and try to get some more information out of them but only received short answers in response.

Or just a flat-out refusal to answer her questions until she heard more about their so-called 'offer'.

The mountain was only a short distance away from her starship so after forty minutes the group finally arrived.

'Cleo' had to tilt her head upwards to see the top of the mountain whose peak seemed to stretch out towards the heavens.

The hooded figures walked into the mountain and then… disappeared.

"Huh?!" 'Cleo' exclaimed with clear confusion in her gaze. The hooded figures had just… walked into a mountain and then vanished like ghosts.

She curiously looked around to see if there was anyone nearby but there was nothing.

Light drizzles of snow gently landed on her body as she continued to wait around to see if anything was going to happen.

The fake princess curiously stepped forward and stretched out her hands once she reached the mountain.

Her hand disappeared and she felt as though it was now in an area that was incredibly warm.

'Cleo' hesitantly brought the rest of her body into the mountain and her vision turned to darkness.

When she reopened her eyes, she found herself standing in a narrow passageway with torches hanging from the walls at regular intervals.

The passageway was made out of stone and dirt, and it bore a striking resemblance to an ancient dungeon.

There was a handsome young man at the end of the corridor who had similar facial features to Cleo.

He had a soft and delicate build with muscles that were clearly undeveloped. He was good looking, but it was a decadent beauty that 'Cleo' found oddly unsettling.

"My dear little sister… I do not believe that we have had the pleasure of meeting before," Prince Luke smiled as he saw the young woman.

His younger sister had fallen right into his trap.