Simulants

'Simulants' are bio-mechanical organisms that were created by Humans for an Intergalactic War that never took place. The entire race, nearly 5 million simulants, was deployed and ready for action against one of Humanity's greatest foes - the Cybermen. However, the war was called off when the Cyber-command cancelled the proposed invasion of the Human colony world of Arcadia. The Simulants were then rendered useless, and thousands were recalled and destroyed. However, some managed to escape, and they stole weapons, ammunition and spaceships from the factories in which they were made and then headed for the stars.

The Simulants now control random areas of deep space, called their 'hunting grounds', which they patrol constantly. The Simulants attack and destroy any craft that come through their zones, however, some of the more powerful Simulant hunting vessels actually capture and upgrade the crafts of their victims (whilst holding them unconscious) so that they can be more sport. One particular Simulant Ship ran afoul of Starbug and its crew and, after spending two weeks upgrading their craft to give it weapons and shields, were then ironically destroyed by Starbug and their ship was blasted in half.

Other Simulants find other livelihoods in the Galaxy as well, some are traders, some are scavengers and some even form rudimentary fleets of annihilators and roam outside their hunting grounds, destroying ships that stray too close. Overall, the Simulants just aren't that nice.