A long while back I suggested using electroactive polymers for the Miller ERS. Basically it'd be like a garden hose you could roll off a spool that would be both flexible and well articulated. Like an octopus's tentacle it could reach out and grab things. After watching the gimbals in the SN8 Test flight, it occurred to me that an aliens might design a ship to be more organic looking using that technology. That is to have the thrusters, weapons, tractor beams all on articulated "tentacles". The pilot would steer the ship as any ship, but the computer would re-vector the arms as needed. Such a ship should be very nimble and probably interesting to watch fly around.