The Spider Queen

"The existing contracts between House Peterlor and the arms dealers of the Alpha Star System will be maintained," Sophie calmly replied.

"Our discussion has nothing to do with unrelated third parties."

"Unrelated third parties? Phew… that\'s a heavy phrase…" Zylara muttered playfully as her forked tongue slowly flicked in and out of her mouth.

Her serpent-like tail swayed gently from side to side as her vertical pupils remained locked on Sophie\'s body.

The mesmerising alien hummed softly under her breath and then pressed a button on the underside of the table.

A gap opened up in the middle of its metalloid surface and something slowly rose upwards. Sophie frowned slightly as she recognised the item.

A chessboard.

But not just any chessboard.

It was one that had been built to mimic the style of the boards used during the ancient Earth era of human civilisation.

Each side had eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. Clearly Zylara was a fan of the old school rules of chess.

The game had evolved quite substantially over the millennia and most people played a version known as fourth dimensional chess which included time travel mechanics and shifting boards.

Still… there was a certain charm to the simplicity of the classical game.

"Do you play?" Zylara asked casually as her scaled fingers reached for a white pawn and slowly moved it one space forward.

"Of course… I am not particularly good at the game, but I do have the fundamental knowledge," Sophie replied as she reached for the black knight.

"So, tell me…" Zylara spoke softly as she moved another pawn.

"What do you want from me? Keep it plain and simple. I detest how you nobles make everything complicated by saying far too many words."

"I would like you to join House Peterlor as one of our exclusive merchants," Sophie replied in a confident manner as she picked up another piece and moved in on the board.

Zylara froze for a moment and then laughed.

The sounds that came from her mouth were guttural and hoarse as if someone had put a grater inside of her throat.

"Oh… Duchess Peterlor… how do I say this politely? Hmm… I will have to kindly decline your offer because I don\'t do business with just one person," Zylara replied with a small smile.

"It gets too boring…"

Sophie furrowed her brows slightly as she lost a bishop due to a careless mistake on her part.

The smile on the female alien\'s face got even wider as she pressed her advantage on the board.

There was a brief moment of silence, and one could only hear the sounds of breathing and the clattering of chess pieces as they began to line both sides of the board.

"Do not dismiss my offer so easily," Sophie finally broke the silence as she handed over the heavy envelope that she had been carrying in her storage bag.

Zylara reached out with her claws and grabbed the envelope. She used her sharpened nails to easily rip apart the top of the paper.

Inside the envelope was a purplish-black rock that glowed ever so slightly. Zylara\'s vertical pupils trembled violently as she saw the priceless item inside the envelope.

"Hyperionite. Where did you get this?" Zylara hissed with all traces of humor gone from her mouth.

Sophie smirked as she realised that for the first time the arms dealer in front of her had been thrown off of her game.

She picked up her surviving knight and moved it to check Zylara\'s seemingly defenseless king.

"Check," Sophie softly whispered before answering the female alien\'s question.

"One of my resource extraction organisations discovered a mine on a certain lunar colony under my family\'s control."

"A rough estimation predicts that there are at least four hundred pounds worth of raw material hidden inside."

"Four hundred pounds? You…" Zylara\'s jaw hung open as she quickly placed the mineral in her storage bag.

Hyperionite was an incredibly rare mineral that was used to enhance the power of interstellar mounted plasma cannons.

Its value was priceless.

The last mine that had been discovered in Federation controlled territory had made its owner into a trillionaire.

"Now let\'s have a different conversation," Sophie smiled gently as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin stack of papers.

"This is contract that will bind your services to House Peterlor for the next five hundred years. Of course… you will also be rewarded for your work."

Zylara reached for the contract and quickly scanned its contents. The binding agreement was quite harsh, but the benefits were nothing to scoff at.

And there was one line that stood out to her in particular.

\'Party A agrees to supply Party B with ten lbs of high grade Hyperionite at the beginning of the partnership and thirty lbs of high grade Hyperionite once the contract has expired\'.

That was a generous offer.

A very… very generous offer.

Honestly Zylara had expected maybe ten lbs in the total but here written down plainly in black and white was an offer that included forty lbs.

The kinds of weapons that she could make with those raw materials…

The very thought alone was enough to cause her mouth to salivate in anticipation.

Zylara enjoyed creating weapons as much as she experienced euphoria every time her bank account increased by a couple hundred million Enas.

The female alien read over the contract one more time to make sure that there were no clauses that she had missed and then rested the papers face down on the table.

It all looked good.

She reached for the chessboard and moved her king one square to the right. Sophie responded by moving her bishop to block off his retreat.

One more move and she would be able to checkmate the female alien.

Zylara smiled as she moved her knight four squares upwards and checkmated the young noble who looked at the board in shock.

She had been so preoccupied with chasing down the opponent\'s king that she had left her own unguarded.

"It was a good game," Zylara replied softly as she used her claws to scratch the underside of her palm.

A dark purple liquid slowly leaked out from the wound which she then used to sign her signature at the bottom of the contract.

"I look forward to working with you in the future… boss," Zylara spoke seriously. The snake-like alien bowed her head in a show of deference.

"There is no need for such formalities," Sophie replied lightly as she accepted the signed contract and placed it in her storage bag.

"I am sure that this will be a meaningful partnership."