Galaxy 15: Webs of Sszakhi

On Filandra, the webs stretch between the planets themselves. Threads as thick as cables link the moons to the mountains. The soldier spiders run along them faster than a fighter in flight.

A thread vibrates above you. Then another. They're coming.

Cocoonia is covered in cocoons, some the size of a ship. What is inside is still moving. The galaxy's missing settlers are probably there.

A cocoon opens next to you. It is not a settler that comes out.

The silk of Soiea is finer than a hair and sharper than steel. The weavers draw it out with a flick and lash it like a whip. An arm, a leg, a head: the silk makes no distinction.

A thread glints in front of you. You see it too late.

The air of Venenia is saturated with suspended venom. It eats away at the lungs, then the nerves, then the will. The spiders are at home there.

Your vision blurs. Black legs approach through the fog.

The driders of Dridera are half elf, half spider, and wholly loyal to Sszakhi. They have guarded the entrance to the nest for centuries. No intruder has ever crossed their line.

Eight legs, two arms, one spear. The drider bars your way.

Nidia is the nest: millions of eggs, and millions of red eyes. It is dark there, and everything that lives there sees better than you. The weavers there outnumber the stars.

In the darkness, thousands of red eyes open at the same time.

Araknia is the centre of all the webs, and Sszakhi is their Mother. Every spider in the galaxy is her daughter. She rarely comes down from her web; when she does, it is to kill. She always strikes the weakest first, and she never misses. Her driders protect her, her weavers wrap her in threads. Command wants the webs cut to free the routes. You will have to bring her down, and protect your most fragile heroes.

The web trembles. A huge shadow descends towards you.