The Spider Queen

"Karla did I ever tell you about the religion of the Naobolla race?" Rokan casually asked as he leaned back against the captain's chair and put his feet up on the desk.

[No commander you have not]

A cold metallic voice replied to his words.

The voice came from the starship's onboard artificial intelligence unit which Rokan had affectionately nicknamed 'Karla'.

She was his only companion over the last few days.

"Well, its quite a strange belief… so members of the Naobolla race believe that the universe, life and everything was created by a group of god-like beings," Rokan continued to chat while raising up his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn.

"These beings formed a sort of 'Council' so basically, they created the universe, set the motions in place, and then did nothing. The Naobolla believe that their gods are completely and utterly indifferent."

"Their religion does not require believers to worship, they give out no offerings and as far as I am aware they do not pray to their deities."

[That religion sounds most illogical. The entire purpose of faith in certain primitive cultures is to provide a spiritual and emotional center point.]

[Why would they create deities that do not care about their creations?] 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

"I had the chance to ask one of their priests that same question," Rokan replied as he fiddled with the command console in front of him.

"The answer was quite surprising… he said humility."

"Their gods are incomprehensible cosmic beings with powers far beyond what they could ever hope to understand. They recognise their limitations and view the gods' indifference as a natural consequence."

[That answer only reinforces my assumption that the species that you mentioned are primitive lifeforms. There are no higher powers or so-called 'cosmic beings'.]

"I don't know Karla… after what I've seen over my many years of travelling across the universe… I would not be surprised," Rokan said with a small smile.

He shook his head and ended the small talk. Rokan got up from the chair and walked over to a nearby window to stare outside at the scenery.

His entire field of view was blocked by massive chunks of metals and other pieces of debris. Yet another group of pursuers had attempted to shoot down his starship and failed.

But… there had been some heavy damages.

The defense barrier systems were only at forty percent effectiveness and several areas of the hull had experienced some light damage during the fight. Fortunately for now there did not appear to be any damage to the critical areas of the starship.

However…

How many more fights could the starship endure before it gave out?

Rokan furrowed his brows as he tapped a button on the screen in front of him. A large holographic map was projected upwards in the air with all the major star systems within one hundred light years.

He had the sneaking suspicion that he was slowly being corned. There was no proof for his assumption, but years of experience meant that his instincts were usually correct.

But how could he avoid the trap?

"Karla search for any nearby black holes, asteroid field and disruptive electromagnetic zones," Rokan ordered calmly as he browsed the map looking for possible routes to take.

He had a vague idea of how to get back to the Earth Federation but without the help of Captain Mordred and his crew it would be a far more difficult process.

[Commander there is one nearby blackhole however the entire system where it is located is in the middle of a civil war between two rising factions.]

[The government has tried to maintain order but has only managed to put down rebellions in the outer regions]

"Perfect. Set a course for the system and in the meanwhile I want you to send me a list of all possible routes into the Earth Federation and their probability of success," Rokan replied softly.

He received a hum of acknowledgement from the AI unit.

The starship's warp core began to hum violently, and crackles of electricity danced along the edges of the spacefaring vessel. It took a few seconds but eventually the starship shot forward and entered into hyperdrive.

The universe outside the windows of the starship rapidly shifted until the planets that came into view became nothing more than fast moving blurs.

Rokan sat back down and the chair and casually rested his hand on his knee. It was not a mystery how the government forces kept tracking him down.

Although he had used Karla's help to get rid of all the onboard tracking devices, Rokan was pretty certain that the government still had something in place to make sure that they knew the location of their vessels.

This starship used to belong to an Inquisitor after all…

It made complete sense that it was connected to an internal network or some form of link between itself and a command center or station.

He would need to ditch this starship eventually.

Rokan wandered towards the back of the command center and then walked through the open door that was barely attached to the metal hinges.

The entire starship was eerily silent.

Rokan was not a fan of killing but he would do what needed to be done. The entire crew onboard this vessel was now nothing more than floating corpses drifting through the vast empty vacuum of space.

Just another bunch of lives that he had taken.

All that talk of religion brought back some unpleasant memories.

Rokan walked through the long and winding corridors stopping only to peer inside the rooms that were now devoid of life. Filled with electronics, wires, and machines.

If there was an afterlife… well, he would not be going to the good place.

Duke Peterlor entered one of the rooms and sat down on a bench that was in the corner. At moments like this when he was alone, it was hard not to think about his family.

How was his little girl doing?

Was she okay?

There was a robust system and a chain of command in place with contingency plans if something were to happen to him but even the best laid plans could go awry.

The hardest factor to predict was the human heart.

Would his subordinates still remain loyal to his last wishes? Would they serve his daughter faithfully? It was impossible to get the answers to those questions and it was eating him up inside.

There were any number of horrible outcomes that could happen and Rokan did not even dare to dwell on the more unpleasant possibilities.

Life was really unfair.

He had lost his daughter for close to an entire year and then he had been the one who was teleported off to some far-flung region of space in the middle of enemy territory.

If there were meddling gods out there, then he really must have pissed some of them off.

Rokan let out a heavy sigh as he leaned against the back of the bench and stared at a wall with a melancholic expression on his face.

BOOM!

A loud explosion rocked the entire starship and Rokan nearly fell out of the bench as alarm bells began to blare out incessantly.

The starship was under attack!