Gatherers

Far further from humans on the evolutionary spectrum, the liquid shapeshifters known as Gatherers come from an alien ecosystem nearly devoid of carbon, oxygen, and the other building blocks of organic life. The curious thing is that their technology is carbon-based. Their starships are made of living flesh and controlled by neural networks that closely resemble the human brain!

The unfortunate result of this resemblance is that the Gatherers view humans as a convenient source of spare parts! Our nerves are their wiring. Our muscles are their motors. Our eyes are their lenses. Gatherers have been known to hijack human ships and drag them along like livestock pens, but most of the time they just sneak onboard, harvest what they need, and move on. Few such crews are ever heard from again.

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The scene of exploration that follows is filled with frightful revelations. First, the only way to get around most of the vessel is to squeeze through a network of fleshy tubes. It's not a big ship, so they won't have to go very far, but it is seriously disgusting. Next, they come across bits of organic machinery and spare parts that, upon close inspection, look like they might be human! Finally, in the control room, they notice that the ship is watching them... through human eyes!

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The Gatherer is a fearsome enemy: lightning quick, immensely strong, and immune to most conventional weapons (bullets, grenades, etc). It spends most of its time in the form of a large, fluid tendril. It can deliver enough force to crush a skull, envelope the face to smother or drown, and thicken into scalpel-sharp blades for quick dissections. It's only real vulnerability is to extremes of temperature. Liquid nitrogen will freeze it solid, at which point it can be shattered and spaced, while just about any kind of fire will cause it to boil... and die.