The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Hidden Location- Secret Laboratory)

Dr. Valenna leaned back in her chair and placed her hand under her chin. She hummed softly as she looked through several files on her desk.

There was a sense of tension in her shoulders as she flipped through the scanned pages on her tablet device.

No… no… not enough progress…

Dr. Valenna clicked an icon on the tablet and a series of videos were downloaded to her device from a secure cloud- based storage network.

She began to watch the videos with a cold glint in her eyes. The first video showed the scene of a naked man being infused with Tarkkakans DNA.

This process had the second highest success rate of all the fusion experiments in the program at a rate of about 44%.

The man screamed loudly as his flesh began to morph and change after repeated rounds of experimentation.

His dark brown skin turned into an ashy grey colour.

Weird and twisted appendages grew out of his body orifices and his expression morphed into one of pain.

His body length expanded significantly and his physique now began to resemble a worm-like creature.

Dr. Valenna narrowed her eyes and swiped to the next video.

Another scene began to play and this time it showed humans with greenish-black skin and razor-sharp claws where their hands should be.

The video cut to a new location where several heavily armoured guards rushed towards the Insectoid hybrids.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The guards used blaster pistols, psionic shields, and other high-tech equipment in order to deal with the monsters.

The reason why they were allowed to use such devices was that in a real-world situation these hybrids would be forced to face off against human or alien technology.

Unfortunately, the results were not good.

Dr. Valenna raised up her hands and slowly rubbed her temples as she watched the guards annihilate the hybrids in a matter of minutes.

The new investors in Project Rhat'ets were not as impatient as the older nobles who invested several years ago but still…

There was always a constant pressure to show results.

Scientists who received funding had to show their investors that their work would provide tangible results.

Dr. Valenna knew that so far… she had failed.

It was not a total failure, but she might as well have.

She had managed to create Insectoid- Human hybrids and had learned more about Insectoid DNA and physiologies but that was not the main purpose of this project.

The main purpose of this project was to create living weapons.

The female scientist let out a heavy sigh under her breath and swiped her fingers across the screen one more time.

This was the final video and the biggest source of her headache.

This time the subject was one that she was familiar with.

A woman was strapped to a table and next to her was an alien creature who was heavily restrained by thick metalloid chains and bindings.

The alien's appearance was vaguely humanoid with elastic and stretchy skin that was almost rubber-like in texture.

Yellowish scales covered certain parts of its skin and tiny green spikes jutted out of its shoulder blades.

Three bright pink eyes were located along its torso and there was a mysterious orifice near its posterior region.

A Serpentinea.

An alien who belonged to a higher order of Insectoid species.

Dr. Valenna watched absentmindedly as the alien's DNA was extracted and then injected into the woman strapped down next to him.

The process took a few hours in total, so she sped up the footage.

By the end of it the young woman now still looked like a normal human, but multiple pink eyes could be seen across different parts of her body.

Her mouth had been transformed into a massive gaping maw with dozens of razor- sharp teeth that glowed slightly under the harsh artificial lighting.

Human DNA was compatible with most biological lifeforms across the galaxy due to an odd mutation in their genetic makeup that occurred during the era of enslavement under the Draxi Empire.

Dr. Valenna theorised that it still be difficult to fuse higher order Insectoid DNA with that of a human, but she had been proven wrong.

The fusion success rate for the Serpentinea alien and humans was a shockingly high 100%.

With a number like that Dr. Valenna should have been very excited since this represented a breakthrough in the project.

Instead, it turned out to be a false hope.

The hybrids produced from the fusion were impressive looking but lacked strength.

The strongest among them only managed to reach a level of power similar to a cultivator in the qi body stage.

On the battlefield they could easily be wiped out and the Imperial Army had no lack of cannon fodder to throw in wars.

More importantly… they did not survive for long.

Dr. Valenna and her team of scientists had not discovered the reason why just yet but somehow all Serpentinea- Human hybrids died after roughly a week.

Their DNA would break down, their organs would fail and no matter what medical technology they tried… the test subjects would still expire.

Dr. Valenna tapped on the side of her tablet a few times. Her fingers made a light knocking sound that echoed through her private study room.

If that was the case, then… was Sophie Peterlor really an Insectoid- Hybrid?

No… perhaps the other higher order Insectoid Species could produce stable offsprings with humans.

If only she could experiment on the hybrid girl!

There was just such a wealth of information to be extracted out of her DNA.

If she could get a chance to dissect her… what secrets would she be able to uncover?

Dr. Valenna lost herself in fantasy and delusion as she imagined using sterile tools to carefully dissect the hybrid girl and analyse her genetic makeup.

But they would remain fantasies.

The female scientist allowed herself to daydream one more time and then snapped herself out of her thoughts.

Sophie Peterlor was now the Duchess of House Peterlor.

She was a upper class noble and wielded more influence and power than most of the major investors in Project Rhat'ets.

It was no longer possible to kidnap her or persuade her to willingly become a test subject for a series of experiments.

Maybe if they appealed to her sense of patriotism for the Earth Federation? Her father was a commander of the Imperial Army after all…

Suddenly Dr. Valenna's wrist communicator buzzed slightly, and she saw a couple of messages enter her inbox.

Each message was tagged as a high priority, so she quickly opened them to see what was written down inside.

The messages were sent from the crown prince. Dr. Valenna scanned through the words on the screen and a small smile began to spread across her face.

Maybe her fantasy would come through…