The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Unnamed Asteroid Field)

Cleo turned off the communication network and fell into silent contemplation. The person on the other side was clearly pretending to be Drew.

There was only one of two possibilities. 

The first was that there was a hacker on the enemy side who was capable of infiltrating the neural network.

And the second and far more darker option was that Drew had either been captured and someone was operating the communication systems on his mech or…

He was a traitor. 

Cleo furrowed her brows in confusion as she continued to pilot her mech through the vast expanse of space.

The speed of her mech was not as fast as before since Cleo was now forced to avoid contact with the incoming asteroids.

Only five percent of the shield systems remained. It was undoubtedly a dangerous situation to be in.

A few extra hits and the barrier device would fail and leave Cleo's mech open to attacks that would directly strike the metalloid exterior.

Fortunately, she appeared to have lost the five destroyer class spaceships and none of the smaller fighter spacecrafts could be seen on the radar.

Cleo activated the storage space inside the mech and pulled out a thick energy plasma sword that was around the size of a two-story building.

She swung the blade forward and easily sliced the large incoming asteroid that was heading right towards her mech.

The space rock split into two separate pieces but Cleo was unaware that it was actually a trap.

BOOM!

An explosion erupted from the piece closest to her mech's body and white-hot flames slammed into the exterior of her mech.

[Warning! Warning! Warning!]

[Shield systems… 5% remaining… 2% remaining… 1% remaining…]

"Fuck… fuck… FUCK!" Cleo cursed as red lights continued to flash rapidly inside the cockpit.

The bad situation only got worse as Cleo saw a squad of twenty small spacecrafts emerge from behind a large asteroid in the corner of her vision.

How did they keep finding her? 

"Reroute any available power to the scanner systems and scan the exterior and interior of the mech for any trackers," Cleo roared angrily as she slammed her fist against the wall.

Cleo's left eye glowed pink as numerous thoughts and countermeasures flashed across her mind within the span of a second.

The shield system could not endure another hit. 

There was still a significant distance between herself and the relative safety of the university's spaceship.

Drew and Elenora were missing. 

There were two hostile enemy factions inside the asteroid field and one of them was actively hunting her down for some unknown purpose.

The odds were against her, and a weary smile flashed across Cleo's face. 

The princess leaned back against the cockpit resting chair and allowed her mental force to flow into the inner systems of the mech.

The squad of twenty fighter spacecrafts began to fire upon her position but Cleo never felt so alive in that moment.

The power flowing through her body got even stronger and unbeknownst to Cleo a few hundred light years away, a certain hybrid girl felt her qi being sucked away to an unknown location.

Cleo navigated her mech behind an asteroid and used the robotic legs to kick the asteroid in the direction of the incoming enemy fleet.

She activated the thrusters on the lower half of her mech and the rock hurtled towards the fleet with surprisingly high acceleration.

Three of the spacecrafts could not react in time and the rock tore through their hulls and killed them all.

But Cleo wasn't finished yet.

She ducked and weaved through the asteroid field while avoiding the endless barrage of plasma rounds in her direction.

The princess repeated her strategy and kept using the space rocks as both cover and a devastating attack.

A few spare shots passed perilously close to her mech, but Cleo used her mental force to scan her immediate surroundings.

She had never used so much mental force at once but surprisingly it appeared as though her mental force was bottomless.

The power flowing into her body through the bond constantly replenished and strengthened the mental force inside her mind.

Eventually one by one the enemy starships were destroyed, and the results of the scan was completed.

[Showing Results Of Scan… two unidentified devices found…]

Cleo frowned when she saw the location of the devices. 

They were both embedded deep within the right arm of her mech and would be impossible to delicately remove in her current situation.

But she needed to get rid of them now before more enemies appeared. 

Cleo did not want to take such an extreme measure, but she had no other choice.

The princess overloaded the energy sword and small sparks danced along the edges of her blade. 

With a ruthless glint in her eyes, Cleo used the weapon to slice off the right arm of her mech.

She grabbed the floating mechanical appendage and flung it in the opposite direction of her destination.

Hopefully it would buy her some time. 

Cleo took one final look at the floating arm and then piloted her mech towards the location of the university starship.

[INCOMING EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION!]

A holographic screen popped up in front of Cleo's face which startled the princess. 

She piloted her mech downwards and just narrowly avoided an incoming asteroid headed for her direction.

The screen turned into a video feed and a crazy looking old man appeared in the center of the screen.

He wore a simple pair of overalls and a white shirt that barely covered his extremely muscular chest.

His hair was wild and untamed, and he more resembled a madman than a former mech controller in the Imperial Army.

"Instructor Barrett?" Cleo asked cautiously when she saw the familiar figure.

"Cleo? Thank god you are alright!" Instructor Barrett hurriedly spoke as he wiped beads of sweat from his brow.

"Can you tell me about the situation?"

Cleo froze in place but did not allow the sudden appearance of her instructor to cause her to drop her vigilance.

She needed to test him to make sure that the incoming transmission was not part of the enemies' plan.

"Sir… before I answer… what class of mechs gives me the most difficulty to pilot?" Cleo softly asked.

"Heavy armour class. The last time that you flew an artillery unit… you managed to crash twice and almost blew up a building," Instructor Barrett immediately replied.

He was the real one. 

Cleo put away her suspicions and sorted out the events that had just occurred in her mind.

"I was attacked by a group of small fighter spacecrafts and then a wormhole opened up and five destroyer class vessels appeared," Cleo explained calmly.

"These two unknown factions seem to be hostile towards each other, but I am unsure of any details of their dispute."

"I suspect that Drew's mech has been compromised and I have not heard from Elenora for several hours…"