The Heaven's Star floated dead in space, silent save for the distress beacon that beeped softly in the stillness of the ship's bridge. The crumpled form of the ship's captain lay nearby, his arm still resting on the console near the beacon's activation button. Scant hours ago, the ship had been a flurry of activity. A hull breach in the rear cargo bay had sent an engineering team running, only to be slaughtered by a horrible invader. The insect-like monster had moved through the ship systematically, exterminating the crew. Small arms fire and large claw-like gouges now marked the walls here and there, often accompanied by dismembered bodies and pools of blood.

****

The creature code named Alpha Blue still stalked the empty corridors of the derelict ship. Frustration seethed within her - not one female had been aboard. The need to lay had driven her to attack this ship, but not a single useful vessel had been present. Now she would have to find another . . . Unless one would come to her.

Crossing to the console, the Lost Queen pushed the captain's corpse out of the way. The control he had activated just before she had killed him seemed to be working properly. She didn't know what he had been saying, but she knew the tone of desperation that could only have been a distress call that must now be repeating over and over.

****

"This is merchant vessel Heaven's Star. We're under attack by . . . something. Any vessel in range, please resp- aragh!"

****

The Lost Queen skittered down to the main airlock. Once there, she slipped into the maintenance access crawlspace to rest and watch. Careful to close the hatch behind her, the crafty creature was completely hidden from sight, though her own senses easily extended through the thin walls of the crawlspace. There she settled to wait, hoping the captain's last, desperate act would bring her the warm feminine bodies she needed to lay her eggs.

Rei Yamamoto body jerked one direction as her ship took another barrage from the ADD fighter. The platinum blonde’s breasts jiggled for a moment as the outlaw cursed her luck . The ADD fighter may have been ancient but it had it placed itself perfectly behind what looked like an unprotected freighter. The pirate had long given up any hope of capturing the ship and the annoying fighter had yet to stop perusing her.

Rei knew her Cosmo Eagle could not to take another hit. The ship was really meant to be a blockade runner, not to be in an extended dogfight like this. Already the instrumental panel was lit up like a Christmas tree with all sorts of warning lights. If she took another hit like this, the ship would surely fall apart around her. The outlaw was going to have to think of something and something fast if she was going to save her skin.

It was then that a glint of light of an object caught her attention, the platinum blonde looked over to her sensors to confirm what she just saw through the canopy. It was some sort of merchant ship, and it was pretty close. Instantly, Rei began to formulate a plan. If she could just make it close to the merchant ship, then the ADD Fighter probably would not fire on her out of fear of hitting the merchant ship. The pirate turned her ship towards the merchant ship, if her communications had been working she would have heard the distress signal coming from the ship.

Oh come on! Minerva Rocha was disappointed to see the pirate ship turn towards the Heaven’s Star. The agent was sure the pilot must had a death wish or something. The ship had refused to respond to any of calls for surrender, and now the pirate vessel was heading for the merchant ship that in distress. Well one thing was working in the pirate’s favor, Minerva would not be able to fire on it as it approached the Heaven’s Star.

The only up side to all of this was that Minerva was about to end the pursuit anyways. The Heaven’s Star was sending out a distress signal, and the ADD could not ignore it . Not even to catch a pirate. With luck the crew would be able to help her subdue the pirate even as she rendered assistance. However, she would have to be aboard just to make sure the crew was safe and everything went well.

All ready the pirate ship and moved up to dock with the merchant vessel. Even from this distance the agent could see a female form move from the badly damaged blockade runner to an airlock on the larger merchant ship. Minerva flew up alongside the vessel and tried to hail the ship. Unfortunately all the poor woman could hear was same message being repeated over and over again. The agent shook her head, the only way she was going to get anything done was to board the vessel and find out what was going on. The redhead soon began heading to another airlock on the merchant vessel.

On board the Heaven's Star Alpha Blue was alerted by the battle outside. Her sensitive antennae could feel the energy fluctuations in the damaged ship and the weapons fire of its pursuer. Irritated, she hoped the unruly duo would leave soon, assuming neither had actually come to board the ship.

The Queen was about to settle down again when the ship trembled with the impact of a successful docking maneuver. Instantly, she turned her attention to the airlock. Perhaps she would be in luck after all! Anticipation gripped the alien creature as the airlock began to cycle . . .

Rei Yamamoto was the first to make it through her airlock. Rapidly the outlaw checked to see if any alarms or troops were coming down to greet her, but it was eerily silent. Seeing that the coast was clear the female form began to the take off her helmet.

The platinum blonde shook her head , her hair felt a lot better now she was clear of the confining helmet. She knew this wasn’t good if there was no one around, she would not be able use them as hostages or get help from them to escape. All she could do is make her way to the bridge.

Meanwhile, another airlock began to cycle. A woman in a red custom form fitting spacesuit stepped into the ship from the airlock. It soon became clear that it was Minerva Rocha. Once she was sure the ship’s hull had not been compromised the agent removed her helmet.

The beautiful redhead began to wonder why there was no alerts or people scrambling around. If they were sending out a distress signal wouldn’t someone had come down to great her. Was she too late, had they all died or was there something more sinister at work? Either way, the agent knew she had to keep her side arm close.

The first thing each woman would encounter as she moved deeper into the ship was the carnage. Spatters of blood and groups of bodies could be found throughout the derelict vessel amidst signs of close combat. The lack of life made the normal sounds of a startship in operation eerily prominent. The humming of electronics, the hisses of gasses, the faint groans of the hull adjusting to shifting pressures; these were the noises that broke an otherwise oppressive silence.

****

Alpha Blue watched silently as the figure exited the airlock. Her senses easily penetrated the human's space suit and confirmed she was female. Young and fertile, too. It was a waste. With no drones around, the Queens eggs would never be fertilized. Still, she had to lay.

She remained still as the young woman removed her helmet and headed toward the bridge. The creature couldn't make out the human's hair color and really couldn't care less. All she cared about were the [i]holes[/s] she needed to receive her eggs: the stomach, womb and intestines to be filled with her hot, sticky fluids.

Once the soon-to-be host had moved far enough away, Alpha Blue carefully exited the maintenance crawlspace. The slight noises she made were hidden amongst the ships other sounds, unlikely to be recognized as out of place. With a single swipe of one scythe-like claw, the monster destroyed the airlock controls, then quickly scuttled away into the darkness in case her prey heard the screech of shearing metal or the hiss of the accompanying shower of sparks.

The first thing Rei could sense when she took off the helmet was that the sickly smell of blood. Soon the platinum blonde could see splatters of blood everywhere in the corridor and piles of bodies where the crew had been torn apart by some sort of clawed creature. The outlaw had to resist the to vomit, but the realization that whatever did this must have still be on the ship.

Rei reached down and pulled out her side arm as she looked around. She heard no sounds of life either human or alien. Instead the only thing that was present was the sound of the electronics and the hissing of gasses while the hull occasionally groan. The pirate had been a spacer long enough to realize that was not the sounds you wanted to hear from the ship. It was clear that what had killed the crew had horribly damaged the ship as well.

The platinum blonde continued to move carefully down the hallway, all she wanted now was some to fix her fighter and get the hell of this boat before it was too late. She hadn’t made it too far when all of the suddenly she heard the screech of shearing metal as a loud hiss came from behind her. The pirate immediately ran back to the airlock. The controls were still sparking as they dangled by a few wires, there was no way now that she was going back to her ship.

Minerva had to fight it back a little, there was blood and gore everywhere. These few crewmen had chosen to make a stand here and it did not end well. They were simply torn apart by some sort of creature that was simply a fiend in close quarters combat. The agent’s well trained eyes saw that they tried to use small arms to stop the creature but it had done no good. The redhead could not even figure out how many men were trying to defend the path to the bridge.

The agent didn’t want to go any further but she was duty bound to find out what had happened here. Minerva began to make her way to the bridge where she assumed the distress call was sent. She had to confirm that there were no survivors, despite the evidence to contrary. There were no sounds of anything that sounded like a human or an alien on the ship.

The sounds she did hear were not encouraging. She could hear gas escaping from a wrecked hose. The electrical panels were attempting to alert anyone about malfunctions on the vessel. Occasionally, the ship groaned as if it was going to fall it part. This ship had horribly damaged in the fighting with whatever invaded it. And the beautiful redhead did not want to meet whatever was capable of doing this.

From a nearby alcove, Alpha Blue watched as Rei appraised the damage to the airlock controls. The presence of a ripe female body so close made her bulbous abdomen ache. She needed to lay, soon.

The insect Queen was vaguely aware of the other human on the ship, but they were still far away; she should have some time. Easing out into the hallway, she began to sneak toward the platinum blonde pirate, moving with uncanny stealth for something so large. When she got in range, she spit a stream of her sticky green-black resin fluid at the young woman's feet, attempting to keep her from running.

****

Elsewhere, Minerva found her way to the bridge relatively clear, save for the signs of slaughter. On the bridge, the ships captain lay crumpled near the communications console, killed in the midst of sending his distress message. The com. unit beeped softly as it confirmed the message was being sent again, and again, and again . . .

A quick look at the engineering panel would show that, though the ship was heavily damaged, it was not in immediate danger of breaking up. The groaning, while alarming was relatively normal for this type of large transport ship, especially one as old as Heaven's Star.

Rei did not hear anything the creature as it moved down to behind her. Still the platinum blonde felt a cold chill go up her spine. The young woman slowly turned with a sense of dread coming over her.

Suddenly a stream of sticky goo hit her feet, the outlaw immediately tried to pull her feet out of the greenish black fluid that rapidly was hardening but she wasn’t strong enough. As Rei looked up she saw a huge shadow approaching her. The poor female didn’t know what it was but she knew it wasn’t human. All she could do was scream as she went for her gun.

Minerva contined to make her way up to the bridge, all along the way she saw more places where the crew either made their final stands or died while trying to get away. The redhead could see the firefights were becoming less and less organized as she got closer to the bridge. Whatever had done this had tore through the crew like they were nothing.

Eventually the redhead found herself on the bridge. Unlike the rest of the crew, the Captain had been killed rather cleanly with a single strike through his heart. He managed to get off the message barely from where he was killed. The agent turned off the message as she looked around at the other warning lights on the ship.

She was relieved to find that she had mistaken the groans of the ship as its death kneels. Though it was heavily damaged, the Heaven’s Star was in no danger of falling apart.

Rei's scream echoed throughout the nearly silent ship. Muffled only by intervening bulkheads, it might even have reached bridge.

Alpha Blue leapt forward, attempting to swat the gun from Rei's hand as she brought it to bear. Unfortunately, her need to keep the young woman intact hindered her attack, forcing her to hold back her full fury lest she inadvertently damage the host.

****

One other piece of information to be gleaned from the ship's monitors was that one of the secondary cargo holds had been breached. That hold was depressurized, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as it was not opened. Even so, the intervening hallway could be used as a makeshift airlock.

Rei tried to bring her gun up into fire on the creature. Before she really realized what was going on as the something flashed as came down at her. The platinum blonde through up her arms to protect herself. In an instant she felt the gun get knocked from her hand and heard it bounce of the floor as it tumbled away. The poor pirate was now completely defenseless as the creature came into full view from the shadows.

Something else on the monitor’s caught Minerva eye, it appeared that one of the secondary cargo hold’s were breached. It must have been what killed the crew escaped the ship…or the entered the Heaven’s Star. The agent was going to investigate further but she heard a scream from somewhere else on the ship. Instantly the redhead began to move to help.