The Syreen are Star Control's take on the archetypal space vixen. Purple or blue women with glowing eyes and little clothing, they are very similar to humans -- eerily so. They developed idyllically on their home planet, Syra. Decades ago, the planet was abruptly subject to a massive tectonic outbreak which ended life on the planet - only the few who worked in space survived, and almost all of them were female. In the decades since, the gender gap not closing may be the result of a very long reproductive cycle, an alien gender determination system, that most reproduction was via cloning, or a gaping plot hole.
The Syreen's starship is named the Penetrator, and is the most glaringly phallic of all Star Control ships (even more than the Druuge, which is basically a cannon with a cockpit).
The Penetrator's strength lies in their song. It need not be aimed, so against ships which rely on dodging (Pkunk Fury, Zoq-Fot-Pik Stinger, Arilou Skiff, etc.), the song bypasses their defense. Against ships which deal small amounts of damage at once (Earthling Cruiser), the Penetrator can charge in, take the hits, then drain away more crew than it just lost. This does not work once the victim's crew is so low that the song's effectiveness diminishes.
The Syreen are most notably Mycon killers, due to the Podship's low fire rate (causing an inability to keep the Penetrator at range) and high crew capacity (causing the ship to drop lots of crew for the Penetrator to pick up). Beginners may get in trouble, though, by chasing the Podship and having two plasmoids dropped on them before they can even get in song range. A wise captain will get a Mycon to run away and gain high velocity in one direction, then wrap around and catch the hapless fungus from the other side. Mycon who have executed a gravity whip are especially vulnerable since it takes longer for them to slow down or change direction.
Even against ships that can keep it at bay, the Penetrator's missile can do some serious damage. It deals 2 damage per hit, is fast and medium-ranged, with a decent firing rate, and will not run the battery down. Given the Penetrator's good speed and excellent turning, it can play a solid standoff game against some pillboxers.
The Penetrator is a ship for which flying it takes great skill (akin to the Umgah Drone and the Zoq-fot-pik Stinger), since this dancing at the edge of range is difficult.