Instability Leeches

Dwelling in The Instability, Instability Leeches are creatures that feed off of the energy emitted by sentient lifeforms. They often sneak upon the outside of Spaceships that travel through The Instability, feeding parts of their spores inside of the ship where they latch upon engines, seemingly sucking power from them.

Space Barnacles

The spores of leeches can puncture through the metal of the hull of a Spaceship and begin to create a hard shell which camoflauges to the color of the hull. The shell grows until it's about 2 feet in diameter. The leech inside is reddish-purple in color, with a body resembling that of a snail. It has a single watery eye at one end and a spiked tentacle protruding from just below the eye, which it uses to defend itself.
A mated pair of leeches produces 1-6 spores every month. Some of these spores might join their parents on the hull of the ship, while others float off, waiting to attach themselves to another unwary vessel.

Parasitic Connection

An instability leech damages the hull of the Spaceship to which it is attached and absorbs energy from the ship's Instability Engine. It can discharge this energy from time to time as a defensive measure. If the crew of a ship becomes aware of leeches that have become attached, it's customary for them to try to scrape the leeches off the hull rather than attack them with weapons. Killing a leech while it is attached to the ship is dangerous because it often tries to release all of the ship's energy at once when it feels severly threatened, which can greatly damage the ship and engine.