Broodkeeper Thal

Thal is a broodkeeper, a caste that exists to grow ships, not ordinarily to fight them. The Chrysalis is the reason they are in a fight at all. Its hull regenerates from stored biomass fast enough to outpace most guns. Thal took it because nobody else could keep it alive. The ship is too particular for a captain who does not speak its language.

In combat they close on purpose. They let the hits land. They let the wounds knit while the other ship watches. Every scar is a lesson they want seen: this is what your weapons cannot do. By the time most opponents understand that the Chrysalis is not going to stop closing itself, they have already been boarded.