The Black Aegis shuddered slightly as it prepared to enter warpspace. Keera's hands moved deftly over the ship's controls, her eyes flicking between various displays. The hum of the engines deepened into a resonant thrum as the ship's warp drives powered up, ready to tear through space and time. Outside the viewport, stars began to stretch into long lines of light, warping and distorting as the vessel prepared to punch through into the higher dimensions.

"Warp in three, two…," Keera counted down, her voice steady and calm. "And… jump."

The Black Aegis surged forward, and suddenly the stars disappeared, replaced by the surreal, shifting colors of warpspace. The endless black of normal space gave way to a swirling kaleidoscope of iridescent hues, like a cosmic ocean of liquid light. This was warpspace—a dimension where physics bent and time seemed to stretch or compress, depending on the whims of the unseen forces that governed this strange place.

Vargas leaned back in his seat, watching the colors dance outside the ship's viewports. "Always found warpspace beautiful," he said absently, glancing over at Vesik, who was still fiddling with his weapons.

"Beautiful?" Vesik grunted. "More like nauseating. I can't look at it too long without feeling like my brain's melting."

Keera chuckled from the pilot's seat. "It's not for everyone, Vesik. That's why we're in here and not down in the mess hall drinking."

Ralo didn't even glance up from his datapad, too engrossed in cracking some encrypted data to care about the wonders of warpspace. Nera was quietly typing up her report, but Vargas could tell from the way she kept glancing out the window that she wasn't immune to the beauty of the warp, either.

As Vargas began to relax, his intercom beeped, snapping him out of his thoughts. A message incoming—priority code from another investigator.

He frowned and tapped his wrist unit, bringing up the transmission. The face of Investigator Khalis appeared on the holo-screen—a woman with piercing green eyes and a stern expression. Her face was lit by the faint glow of her ship's interior.

"Khalis. Didn't expect a call from you," Vargas greeted, leaning forward.

"Vargas, I need reinforcements," Khalis said, her voice tight with urgency. "I'm investigating a derelict ship near the MACS01-IY Nebula, in the Horseshoe system. It's an old wreck, from the Dark Age. It's old…probably even older than the War of Heaven."

Vargas sat up straighter. "An old derelict? Sounds interesting. Why the urgency?"

Khalis's face darkened. "I think it's more than just a derelict. We detected traces of what might be brood hive activity near the wreck. You know what that means."

Vargas felt a chill run down his spine. Brood hives were notorious—alien infestations that devoured entire civilizations from the inside. They were parasitic, spreading like wildfire through organic matter, converting living beings into part of their hive. And they were incredibly difficult to kill.

"How sure are you?" Vargas asked, his voice low.

"Not sure enough to make a report yet," Khalis said. "But we've lost contact with two scout teams, and the wreck itself is… strange. It came out of the divine realms almost a decade ago, but its energy signatures are unstable. We're picking up interference that's blocking some of our scans."

Nera glanced over at Vargas, her eyes widening as she heard the conversation. She knew what this could mean.

"How far are you from us?" Vargas asked, doing the mental calculations.

"About a thousand light years, give or take," Khalis responded. "But I need you here yesterday, Vargas. If this is a brood hive, we're in deep trouble. My team's not equipped to deal with it alone, we are in the Department of magic. We are not specialized in hostile alien life forms"

Vargas weighed the situation. They were en route to Triton I to deal with Investigator Beirut's case, but brood hives weren't something you ignored. And if Khalis was right, this could be a threat.

Vesik, having overheard the conversation, grinned. "Now this sounds like a real fight."

Keera raised an eyebrow. "Thousand light years out? That's not too bad."

Nera sighed, closing her report. "Brood hives… just what we needed."

Vargas turned back to the hologram of Khalis. "Alright, Khalis. We're on our way. Hold tight until we get there."

"Thanks, Vargas," Khalis said, her face showing a flicker of relief. "I'll send you the coordinates. Be careful—there's something off about this whole thing. And don't underestimate that wreck. There's something alive in there."

The transmission cut out, leaving Vargas and his crew in silence.

"Change of plans, people," Vargas announced, standing up. "We're diverting to the MACS01-IY Nebula. Possible brood hive activity on a derelict ship from the Age of Divinity."

Keera cracked her knuckles, already adjusting the ship's navigation. "I'm on it. We'll reach the nebula in no time."

Vesik's grin widened, his excitement palpable. "Finally, something worth shooting."

Vargas smirked. "Everyone gear up. This might get ugly. And remember—brood hives don't mess around. We're not dealing with amateurs this time."

As the Black Aegis adjusted its course, speeding through the surreal landscapes of warpspace,

The Black Aegis dropped out of warp with a low, vibrating hum, the swirling colors of warpspace giving way to the cold blackness of real space. Ahead of them, hanging in the starry void, was the derelict ship—or what was left of it.

Vargas stared at the monstrosity through the viewport, his brow furrowing as the sheer scale of the thing sank in. It wasn't a ship in the traditional sense. It was a twisted, malformed structure—thousands of ships mangled, crushed, and welded together over the centuries into a grotesque mass of metal, debris, and forgotten technology. It stretched across space like a metallic abomination, its surface bristling with jagged edges, broken hulls, and half-formed shapes that once resembled spaceships. There were no running lights, no sign of energy; only darkness and silence.

Keera whistled, leaning back in her chair. "That… that's no ship. That's a graveyard."

Vesik, standing by the viewport, stared in awe. "It's massive. How is it even holding together?"

"Barely," Nera muttered, scanning the readouts on her console. "There's no structural integrity to half of that thing. It's like someone took a scrapyard and fused it into… whatever that is."

Ralo glanced up from his terminal, the usual boredom gone from his expression. "Sensors aren't picking up any comms signals, but the energy readings… they're unstable. There's something alive in there. Something big."

"Could it be demonic activity. I mean the thing came out of the Divine realm?", asked Vesik.

"No it can't be ever since the Old Gods were kicked from this dimension during the War of Heaven, there has been barely any demonic activity for the past 8 millennium.", answered Nera.

Vargas didn't need the sensors to confirm what he felt in his gut. There was an oppressive weight in the air, a dark presence emanating from the derelict. This wasn't just a derelict ship—it was a tomb, corrupted by whatever brood hive had infested it.

"Zoom in on that section there," Vargas instructed, pointing toward the center of the mass. Keera tapped a few keys, and the view on the main screen magnified, revealing more of the twisted surface of the structure. A faded marking caught Vargas's eye—barely legible beneath centuries of corrosion and damage. It was worn, almost scrubbed away by time, but a faint, blurred-out line of text remained.

"United…" Vargas read aloud, his voice trailing off. The rest of the word was lost, and the insignia was nothing he recognized. It must have been ancient—older than the Federation, older than the Empire that came before it.

Nera shook her head. "United what? I've never seen that symbol before."

"Neither have I," Vargas replied. "But it doesn't matter. This ship's history is irrelevant right now. What matters is the brood hive."

He turned to the rest of the crew, his expression hardening. "We don't have time to play archaeologists. Our priority is to locate and eliminate the hive. This derelict's too old to carry any useful data, but if a brood hive's made a nest in there, we need to act fast before it spreads."

Keera nodded. "Alright, boss. We're equipped for extraterrestrial infestations, but this thing's giving off serious bad vibes. You want me to keep the ship ready for a quick exit?"

"Absolutely," Vargas said. "This could turn south fast. Ralo, stay on the ship and monitor our vitals. You see anything strange, anything that looks like it's moving toward us, you let us know immediately."

Ralo gave a mock salute from his seat. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. Just don't die in there. I hate filling out death reports."

Vargas gave him a smirk before turning back to the others. "Keera, Vesik, Nera—you're with me. We're going in hot, so make sure your gear's ready. This isn't a scouting mission. We're expecting hostile lifeforms."

The crew moved with practiced efficiency, preparing their advanced weaponry and equipment. The Bureau had given them access to some of the most sophisticated technology still operational from the Dark Age, a time when humanity had battled forces beyond its understanding.

Keera strapped on a sleek, black exo-suit with shimmering armor plates that adjusted to her body as she moved. She slung an experimental plasma rifle over her shoulder, the kind that could melt through nearly any known alien hide. Her visor flickered to life, scanning the environment and feeding tactical data directly to her HUD.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Vesik, grinning like a kid about to open presents, hefted a massive, dark-hole cannon—a brutal weapon that fired concentrated blasts of gravity wells that dragged and twisted whatever were in their way. His cybernetic arms whirred and clicked as he loaded it, the weight of the cannon no issue for his enhanced limbs.

Nera, ever methodical, checked her equipment with precision. She carried a modified gauss rifle—a ballistic weapon that fired heavy gravity projectiles at hyper-accelerated speeds, ideal for piercing heavy armor or thick alien carapace. She also carried a suite of sensors and scanning tools, capable of detecting even the slightest shifts in the environment or energy fields. Her role was to be their eyes and ears in the field.

Vargas himself grabbed his signature weapons: a high-powered kinetic pistol, modified with anti-brood rounds designed to disrupt alien biology, and a phase-blade—a short, sleek sword that crackled with energy, able to cut through almost any material.

"Let's move," Vargas said, his tone sharp and decisive. "The longer we wait, the more time the hive has to spread. And if we're lucky, we might be able to figure out what the hell that derelict is before we blow it to bits."

The Black Aegis docked with the derelict, its magnetic clamps securing it to the twisted, rusted hull of the massive structure. The crew gathered near the airlock, the faint hiss of atmosphere sealing around them as they prepared to breach the ancient ship.

Vargas' hand hovered over the airlock control. "Remember, this is a brood hive infestation. Stay sharp, stay alive, and watch each other's backs."

The team flickered their HUD, shifting to night vision in order to get a better glimpse of their surroundings.

The airlock hissed shut behind them as Vargas and his crew stepped into the ancient, darkened corridors of the derelict ship. The stale atmosphere hit them immediately, a thick, metallic smell that clung to the inside of their helmets. The ship groaned around them as if even the slightest movement disturbed the long-forgotten structure. There were no lights, save for the faint glow of the Black Aegis docked behind them, casting shadows that seemed to dance along the twisted walls.

The interior of the ship was as nightmarish as the exterior—an amalgamation of technology from countless different ships. Mangled hulls, rusted metal, and broken consoles were haphazardly fused together into a grotesque labyrinth. The remnants of once-functional ships hung like broken bones from the ceiling. Vargas felt the weight of time pressing down on them—the ship had been adrift for millennia.

"There's no organic matter," Nera said, her voice crackling through the comms. "No bodies, no signs of life. This place is a tomb, but it's empty."

"Empty, but not dead," Vargas replied. He activated the aura in his eyes, scanning the corridor ahead, the violet-black aura still faintly lingering in his vision. Dark figures shifted across the corridors, beckoning him to come follow.

Keera kicked a piece of debris out of her path, her plasma rifle humming softly as it powered up. "Creepy. How is there nothing left after all this time?"

"The hive would have consumed whatever it could," Nera answered, her voice calm but tense. "It's not unusual for them to strip everything down to the bone."

"Or worse," Vesik added, his deep voice echoing in the hollow silence. He scanned the walls, his dark-hole cannon resting heavily in his hands. "This place is wrong. Everything about it feels… off."

Vargas nodded, feeling the same unease. The ship was ancient, yet something about it felt alive, as if the metal itself had absorbed the madness of whatever had taken place here. The Divine realm always had such…properties. It always creeped him out which is why he refused to deal in magical investigations even though he was awakened.

"Alright," Vargas said, pulling the team's attention back to the mission. "We'll split into pairs. Nera, you're with me. Vesik, take Keera and sweep the lower decks. Keep your scanners running and watch for any anomalies. We meet back here in twenty minutes."

Vesik gave a curt nod, motioning for Keera to follow. The two moved swiftly, their footsteps echoing in the dim corridors as they vanished into the maze of twisted metal.

Vargas and Nera moved in the opposite direction, their weapons drawn and ready. The further they went, the more distorted the ship became. Walls bent in ways that shouldn't have been possible, corridors twisted into impossible angles, and the remnants of long-dead consoles sparked occasionally with brief flashes of light. Time had not been kind to this place.

They passed what looked like an ancient cryo chamber, long since gutted. Vargas' eyes narrowed as he noticed faint markings on the wall—a language he didn't recognize. "Looks like they had some tech from the old age. Khalis was right." he muttered.

Nera grunted. "Whatever it was, it's been scavenged by pirates. Nothing left for us to find."

Just as they were about to move on, Vargas caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. A flicker of movement, faint and quick, disappearing around a corner. His heart rate spiked slightly, his senses on high alert.

"I saw something," Vargas said, motioning for Nera to stay sharp.

They followed the corridor around a bend, and that's when Vargas saw it.

Sticking to the wall like some grotesque parody of life was a mass of fleshy, pulsing substance. It wasn't just a part of the wall—it was integrated into it, organic matter fused with metal in a way that turned his stomach. The flesh writhed and squirmed as though it were alive, patches of skin stretching and contracting, muscles twitching underneath the surface.

Vargas leaned in closer, his breath caught in his throat. It wasn't alien flesh. It was human. He could see patches of hair, hands, and faces—half-formed and distorted, like they had been ripped apart and fused back together in some horrific, unnatural process. The flesh pulsed with life, even as it decayed. Eyes twitched in sockets, and mouths opened in silent, agonized screams. Torn pieces of fabric were strewn around the flesh, strewn with signs of valor and honor from ages long past.

Vargas tapped his comm. "Keera, come in. I need you to check something."

Her voice crackled through the static. "What is it?"

"I found… something. Something organic. It's human, or what used to be human. You'll want to see this."

There was a brief pause before Nera responded. "We're on our way."

Nera's face twisted in disgust as he took in the sight. "This… this is wrong. I've seen a lot of twisted things in my time, but this? It's like they're still alive."

"They probably are," Vargas said quietly, his eyes never leaving the mass of flesh. "Its probably a mutation from the Divine Realm, fusing them to their own ship. Look at the uniforms its not anything I recognize "

Nera's grip tightened on her rifle. "We need to burn this whole place down."

"We will," Vargas said, stepping back from the grotesque sight. "But first, we need to find the source."

Vesik and Keera arrived moments later, their expressions shifting from curiosity to horror as they saw the abomination on the wall. Keera immediately scanned the mass with her equipment, her face grim as the readings came back.

"It's alive," she confirmed, her voice cold. "Barely, but alive. They've been… merged into the ship itself. Their biological signatures are erratic. Some parts are millenia old, others centuries."

Keera, for once, was silent, her usually snarky demeanor replaced by a look of pure revulsion.

"What the hell kind of ship is this?" she muttered, taking a step back from the grotesque scene. "Are you sure it is only a Brood Hive we are dealing with?"

Vargas' face darkened. "One that's been here far too long."

Nera's scanner beeped, drawing her attention. "I'm detecting more of these… things. They're scattered throughout the ship. We're at the heart of it now."

Vargas flared his aura, without the inhibition of a planetary atmosphere, his aura was unrelenting and powerful, startling his other crew members.

"Then we move fast," Vargas said, his voice steady but tense. "We take out the source and get the hell out of here before this place wakes up."

The crew made their way deeper into the derelict ship, the air growing heavier with each step. The metallic walls had become more organic, patches of flesh fused with steel, pulsating and twitching as if the ship itself were alive. The low hum of the ship's power systems had faded, replaced by an unsettling silence, broken only by the occasional groan of the twisted metal.

Vargas led the way, his steps purposeful, his senses alert. Nera walked close behind, her scanner held tightly in her hands, the readings flickering erratically as they ventured further. Vesik, his massive dark-hole cannon at the ready, scanned their flanks, his eyes cold and focused. Keera brought up the rear, her plasma rifle charged and humming, her usual cocky attitude gone in the face of the growing dread around them.

The air felt different here. Heavy. Tainted.

Vargas stopped suddenly, holding up a hand. "We're close. Can you feel that?"

Nera nodded, her voice hushed. "The readings are off the charts. This isn't just a hive… we're dealing with something far worse."

Vargas took a deep breath, his violet-black aura flickering briefly around him. "Stay sharp. We don't know what's waiting for us."

They moved forward slowly, rounding a corner into what looked like a vast chamber. The walls here were entirely overtaken by the organic infestation, tendrils of flesh weaving through the metal like roots, converging toward the center of the room. The chamber was dimly lit, the only light coming from bioluminescent patches of the fleshy substance that coated the walls. The air was thick with a foul, pungent odor—decay and rot mixed with something far more sinister.

And then, they saw it.

In the center of the chamber, nestled among the writhing tendrils, was the Brood Queen.

The creature was massive, at least twenty feet tall, pale white with a sickly, translucent sheen. Its body was a horrifying amalgamation of tentacles, claws, and eyes—hundreds of eyes, blinking in unison across its grotesque form. Long, spindly limbs stretched from its torso, some ending in sharp claws, others writhing as they twisted and curled around the organic mass that encased the chamber.

Its head was vaguely humanoid, with a mouth full of needle-like teeth that gnashed together in a constant, mindless motion. A crown of writhing tendrils extended from the top of its head, each one pulsating with a dark, malevolent energy. The Brood Queen's chest was an open cavity, revealing a pulsating core of flesh and bone, the remnants of those it had consumed to fuel its twisted existence.

It has been feeding on the human flesh that lay on the ship's walls, growing out its exoskeleton into a vaguely human form.

"By the stars…" Keera whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of her own rapid breathing.

Nera's hands tightened around her scanner, her face pale. "This is a Brood Queen. It's been feeding for decades. We have to kill it. Now."

The creature hadn't noticed them yet, its many eyes slowly scanning the room as it fed on the life force of the ship, drawing energy from the twisted mass of flesh that surrounded it. But Vargas knew they had only moments before it sensed their presence.

"Weapons ready," Vargas ordered, his voice low but firm. "This thing is old, powerful, and very, very dangerous."

Vesik grinned, the barrel of his dark-hole cannon humming as it charged up. "About time we found something worth shooting."

The Brood Queen let out a low, guttural growl, its eyes snapping toward them as it sensed the threat. The air around it crackled with energy, the tendrils on its body writhing faster, growing longer as the creature reared up to its full height. It was preparing to attack.

"Open fire!" Vargas shouted.

Vargas unleashed a barrage of energy bolts from his modified gauss pistol, the projectiles crackling through the air and slamming into the Brood Queen's fleshy mass. Vesik followed suit, his dark-hole cannon roaring to life as a beam of dark energy shot forward, tearing into the creature's torso. Keera's plasma rifle joined the fray, sending out rapid bursts of high-energy plasma that seared into the Brood Queen's twisted form.

The creature screeched, a deafening, otherworldly sound that reverberated through the chamber. Its tentacles lashed out, whipping through the air with deadly speed. One of the tendrils slammed into the ground in front of them, missing Vargas by mere inches. Another lashed out toward Nera, but she dodged it with practiced ease, her lithe form moving gracefully as she fired off rounds from her rifle.

The Brood Queen roared, its body shifting as it adapted to the onslaught, its flesh hardening as it began to absorb the damage. The creature was changing, evolving in real time, its biology reacting to the energy weapons.

"It's adapting!" Nera shouted over the chaos. "We need more firepower!"

Vargas gritted his teeth, unleashing another volley of energy blasts. "Hit it with everything we've got!"

Keera switched her plasma rifle to overload, sending out a powerful burst of energy that slammed into the Brood Queen's chest, causing it to stagger backward. Vesik's cannon roared again, tearing into the creature's midsection with devastating force. The room shook with the impact.

But the Brood Queen wasn't going down easily.

It let out a furious screech, its tentacles lashing out wildly. One caught Vesik in the chest, sending him flying into the wall with a sickening thud. Keera barely managed to avoid another as she rolled out of the way, her plasma rifle overheating from the sustained fire.

Vargas took a deep breath, his aura flaring as he prepared for the next assault. He could feel the power of the Brood Queen pressing down on them, its malevolent presence almost suffocating. But he wasn't going to back down. Not now.

He raised his hand, channeling the energy within him, and unleashed a bolt of lightning that crackled through the air, slamming into the Brood Queen's core. The creature let out a final, ear-piercing scream as the lightning coursed through its body, sending arcs of energy dancing across its twisted form.

For a moment, the Brood Queen froze, its many eyes wide with shock and pain.

And then, with a sickening shudder, the creature collapsed to the ground, its body twitching as the last remnants of life drained from it.

The chamber fell silent.

SCREEE!

The silence was pierced by the sound of thousands of shrill cries. The other members of the brood were approaching rapidly with the death of their Queen.