Pirate Mishaps - Prologue

Deep inside a cave, inside an asteroid, there is a “small” ship. A leftover from the galactic civil war. This ship is home to a (comparatively) small hive of the spider like Unfrlk and their servitor Roaches. The ship is a disaster waiting to happen, reactors venting waste heat and radiation, thrusters barely holding together, hyperdrive so bad it can barely make one more jump. And yet it is coming alive.

“My queen, we have all heard the call of the new Nest Queen, and are making what repairs we can before we head, once again, into the stars.” A Roach was saying, crouched so low that its carapace was scraping the ancient deck plates. “We of the servitors just have one question before we depart.”

“Speak your mind, Servitor . You always have permission.” The queen said with a sigh. She was old now, so very old. It had been since her hatching, and she wanted to fulfill her final role: to find a new queen for her people. Not a pretender, not a jumped up hive queen with delusions of grandeur, a real Nest Queen. And then, three weeks ago, she heard it. It came as swift and clear as a storm on the plains of their first world, a world barely there in the genetic memory of her people, but it came. And it was strong. She had actually fallen off of her web when it hit her. The clear words “Why am I in a tube?”

Then the images and feelings had hit her, the cryo-stasis tube, the cold, the needle sting, the view of two Gurgmisk and a Gorak, and the feeling of panic. She had known then that this was, indeed, a true sending from the new Nest Queen, the first true Nest Queen since the civil war, and she shuddered in pleasure. She had called her people and servitors, to tell them what had happened, but they had heard it too. Thus the ship was repaired, and the old queen was ready to give her final sacrifice for her people.

“My queen, are you absolutely sure about this course of action? You will not survive the trip.” The servitor asked, antenna twitching.

“For these last of my people, who have adhered to the teachings, followed the rules, and led the best lives they could in this barren place? Yes. Yes, I am certain.” The old queen sighed, “We depart tomorrow. I wish for us, and not the tainted ones, to be the first to serve her, and help her in her rule as the new High Nest Queen of the galaxy.”

Several days later, after the ship had maneuvered out of the asteroid field and surrounding detritus, the old queen, using the last of her life's energy to force the hyperdrive to fire one last time, died.