The Spider Queen

(Nyrean Super Galaxy- Rtern Region)

(Unnamed Trading Post- Landing Port)

"This wasn\'t part of the deal," Rokan quietly spoke as he sat across from the captain who calmly looked at him without saying a word.

The diminutive rat-like creature slowly picked up a cup of tea on the table and blew on the hot liquid.

A thin wisp of whitish smoke rose upwards as the liquid cooled.

"Relax John… one of my long-time business partners has received a rare shipment of goods," Captain Mordred explained with an easygoing expression on his face.

"He simply wishes to drop it off and then we can proceed to the Federation border… we will be here for two days at most."

"I understand but you must know that the security situation at the border has been getting stricter thanks to the new government policies," Rokan gently rebutted.

"We need to leave as soon as possible before additional border guards are deployed to stop any starships from crossing."

Captain Mordred\'s eyebrows furrowed as he stood up from the chair. He placed one of his paws on the table and began to tap its surface using his long fingernails.

He opened his mouth and his tone had now shifted,

"That is no problem… I have men on the inside. Listen… I am explaining myself to you out of respect for Priestess Me\'ryn… but understand one thing…" 

"I. Am. The. Captain."

"My decisions are not to be questioned. Is that clear?"

Rokan was grateful that he was wearing a mask because he could not stop his lips from pursing together in irritation.

He had to resist the urge to reveal his true strength and knock some sense into this arrogant little smuggler who thought that he knew best.

No… calm down…

Rokan took in a few deep breaths and then nodded his head. Captain Mordred\'s face once again returned to a friendly smile, and he walked out of the room.

The duke exhaled sharply and then slowly tilted his wrist upwards. He powered on his communicator and scanned the room for any bugs or listening devices.

His enhanced cultivation senses could detect any living lifeforms nearby, but it did not work particularly well with electronics.

After a few seconds of scanning, the communicator blinked twice, and the results of the scan appeared on the screen.

[No Bugs Detected]

Rokan closed the window and pulled up his photo gallery. He browsed through the pictures and stopped once he reached a certain one.

It was a picture of Sophie when she was a little girl cheerfully climbing up on his back and gnawing at the collar of his shirt.

She was so cute back then.

His little girl…

And she had grown up to be a fine young woman. 

Rokan turned to the next picture and saw Sophie when she had just returned from her second semester at university posing with Cleo by her side.

Rokan looked at the photo for a few more seconds and a small smile flashed across his lips. He needed to return home to his family.

The duke stood up and walked out of the room. 

He waved hello to the crew members that he passed and many of them stopped to exchange a few brief words of conversation.

\'John\' as he was known on the starship was quite popular and Rokan had made many new friends and acquaintances.

It helped that he funded the betting arenas that occurred weekly in the mess hall. Spending this money was an investment in his safety.

"Hey John!" a cheerful voice called out.

Rokan turned to the side and saw Gizmo smiling at him with a toothy grin. The small green alien used his metal exoskeleton to beckon his friend to come over.

"My and some of the lads are going out for a few drinks. Want to come?" Gizmo offered as he looked around shiftily.

"Well… not just drinks…"

Gizmo pressed a button on his metallic suit and a holographic projection floated directly in front of his body.

"This place has the hottest females in the galaxy!" Gizmo\'s grin got even wider, and he pointed at the screen.

Rokan glanced at the projection and had to resist the urge to vomit. What he saw could only be described as horrific.

The images on the screen kept cycling through different pictures of what he assumed were alien prostitutes.

One of the aliens was a jellyfish-like entity with a translucent body and thousands of pink wriggling tendrils jutting out of its posterior region.

Another was a multi-limbed avian creature whose wings were covered in soft downy feathers. This alien wore a tight jumpsuit that bulged in places that really should not be sticking out.

He saw another one of an… wait… was that a giant cockroach?

And those were the ones that looked the most normal!

This was the standard of beauty in the Federines? 

By the gods… Rokan promised that he would never again complain about the ridiculous fashion trends of the upper-class female nobles.

But he wasn\'t really interested in going to a strip club even if its entertainers were attractive. 

"Like what you see?" Gizmo suggestively whispered as he used his robot arm to elbow Rokan in the stomach cheekily.

"Yes… they… all look…err… \'uniquely\' beautiful," Rokan responded while trying his best to be polite.

"I can come with you all for drinks, but I will return to the starship for some early rest."

"Ahh… that\'s a shame… some of these ladies are offering a two for one special! Do you know how good a deal that is?" Gizmo exclaimed in disappointment.

Rokan bit his tongue and swallowed back the words that he was going to say. 

He didn\'t want to hurt Gizmo\'s feeling by letting this goblin-like creature know that he would be the last person in the universe that he would ever want to have a \'two for one special\' with.

The conversation lasted for a few more awkward minutes as Rokan politely declined Gizmo\'s attempts to persuade him to go.

Finally, they managed to organise a time to go outside for drinks and Rokan left the hallway with an icky feeling.

Maybe getting overly friendly with the crew onboard this vessel had been a mistake…

Still, it would be nice to go outside and stretch his legs for a few hours. Space travel was always quite boring when the trips lasted for longer than a couple of weeks.

There was only so much entertainment that one could find by staring out of a window and watching planets and chunks of rock fly by.

Rokan walked through a long and winding corridor until he finally arrived at his private quarters. 

As a guest on the spacecraft, he was entitled to his own cabin, but the space was quite small and only around the size of a large walk-in closet.

There was a bed cramped in the corner of the room, a sink attached to one of the walls and a toilet.

There was no private bathroom to shower or clean his clothes. 

Having to hide his true appearance meant that Rokan was unable to use the communal shower area in fears of someone seeing his body.

As a result.… he was pretty certain that he smelled bad.

He could use his spiritual energy to clean the dust and dirty particles from his skin, but this did not affect the robes that he wore.

Well at least he wouldn\'t be meeting anyone that he knew.