Page 16 of My Alien Bughead (Supernova Casanovas #4)

Chapter 16

Lucía

Furious, I storm out of the Supernova and then out of the docks. I’m grateful I don’t run into any of the ship’s crew because I’d probably give them a piece of my mind just for being on the same ship as that fucking idiot, and it’s not really their fault that their crewmate is an incompetent jerk.

My comm chimes with an incoming message to meet Arnik in his office just as I’m about to enter my room. Instead of opening the stupid door in front of me, I kick it hard before turning on my stupid heels to go meet with my stupid boss! Damn, that bughead really got on my nerves!

Actually accusing me of his own fuck up? Seriously? How dare he?! He nearly kills me, then has the audacity to blame me for it? I should have thrown something bigger than just an oxl wrench at his stupid bug head.

Sliding my hand down to my tool belt, I feel the gap between the tools where my beloved oxl wrench should be like a missing tooth. Dammit. Now I’ll have to buy a new wrench because there’s no way I’m returning to retrieve it from that flying trashcan they call a ship. No way, no how!

Stomping into Arnik’s office, I’m ready to wage war if he even dares to order me back to the Supernova.

His face is drawn tight as he looks up from his datapad. “Lucía,” he greets me. “It’s good that you’re here. You’re not going back to that ship—”

“I’m not going back to that ship!” I snap at the same time.

We both pause, giving the other a suspicious look. “Wait, what?” I ask. “I thought you were going to order me to go back.”

“Actually, I was going to order you to stay away from that crew. Wait, why don’t you want to go back? What happened? Did anyone hurt you?”

His concern soothes some of my rage. “No, not really. But their technician is a world-class jerk whose ego is too big to fit in that damned ship. Plus, he’s dealing with some shit and it’s making him careless.”

I could forgive D’Aakh for being a jerk and lashing out against me. Clearly, he’s grieving. He must have lost someone close to him and recently, by the looks of it.

I can deal with him making me the enemy and insulting me, I’m used to it. And, while it’s infuriating, I can chalk it up to him being hurt and grieving. However, what I can’t ignore is him making mistakes that put people in danger and worse, not owning up to those mistakes.

“He just…” I huff out a sigh. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I won’t work with him anymore. Please don’t send Toli over there, either. Not if you want him back in one piece, that is. Now, what made you change your mind? A few days ago, you practically begged me to help the Supernova crew and now you don’t want me helping them anymore? What’s going on?”

His expression tightens, his brows furrowing as he offers me his datapad. “Furnace 2 is out again.”

I frown at the screen, my eyes sliding over the error messages. “Did Xilee drop a wrench into it again? I’ll kill that fucker.”

“No.” Arnik’s voice is serious. “This was no accident. Furnaces 1 and 4 have already faced the exact same issue. Furnace 3 is out of cycle at the moment but I have no doubt that if we restart it, it will malfunction in the same way.”

“Impossible.” Even if the malfunction was caused by a faulty component batch, there was no way all four furnaces would drop dead at the same time. Unless… “Sabotage?”

Arnik nods solemnly. “That’s the current theory.”

My mind quickly puts the pieces together. “And you think the Supernova crew is behind it.”

“They have to be. No other ships arrived in the past week.”

“Except for the cargo hauler bringing in supplies,” I object instinctively, my mind reeling over the accusation. Sure, I just stormed off the Supernova, swearing to never go back there, but that was because D’Aakh is an idiot. Sure, I haven’t met every member of the crew yet but those I did meet were amazing people. Not one of them stood out as being undercover agents sent here to sabotage our production line.

“The cargo hauler brought no passengers,” Arnik replies. “They just unloaded supplies and left. That leaves the Supernova crew as the only strangers moving around the station. They must be the ones behind this.”

I shake my head. “But why? It makes no sense.”

“I wish I knew.” Arnik sighs. “I truly believed that a crew with a Lakhartan in charge couldn’t be up to anything nefarious but apparently, I was wrong.. Please, tell me their reactor and engines are fixed so that I can kick them off the station without violating the Universal Assistance Protocol.”

“They should have the basic maneuverability back in a day or two.” Provided D’Aakh doesn’t fuck up anything else. “It won’t be perfect but it should get them to another station but… This is not some random mercenary crew, Arnik. They have a bunch of non-combatants aboard and a child. I can’t see why they’d want to sabotage our furnaces. What would they even gain from that? That’s just us getting in trouble for not meeting our production quota. How does that help anyone?”

“I don’t know, Lucía. I hate to do this but I’m responsible for the safety of the inhabitants of the Alevvo station first and foremost. A rogue saboteur on the station puts us all at risk.”

Rubbing a hand over my face, I scowl at the smell of smoke permeating from my skin. Don Idiotez is certainly apt at sabotaging stuff. Still, I don’t think he did it on purpose and I certainly don’t believe he’d sneak into the smelter just to take out our furnaces. There is something we’re not seeing, a piece of a puzzle we’re missing.

I toss the datapad on Arnik’s desk. “I’ll go look at the furnaces. Perhaps I’ll figure out what happened. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime, Arnik. I mean it. Do NOT pick a fight with the Supernova crew. They’re former Voidstalkers. If they wanted to, they could kill everyone on the station without breaking a sweat.”

Arnik rubs at the base of his broken horn. “I have to do something, Lucía. I can’t just let them walk around the station! The people here are already getting suspicious. There are whispers and rumors. If they think the crew is threatening our production line or even trying to take over the station…”

Desperate people do desperate things. But we have little to no weapons and even fewer people who know how to wield them. The crew has highly trained killers. I don’t believe for a second they’d attack first but if a crazed crowd tries to take over the ship? “It’s going to be a bloodbath,” I finish my thoughts out loud. “ ?Dios mío! You have to keep people calm, Arnik. The Supernova crew is NOT behind this and I’ll prove it. I just need some time.”

“I’ll try.” Arnik laughs dryly. “I’m not thrilled to take on a Voidstalker squad either. Dammit! This is not the calm and peaceful job I signed up for when I agreed to come to this backwater station!”

“Yeah. You and me both, amigo . Talk to Zarkan. Calm everyone down. Nothing terrible is happening. Nothing terrible is going to happen. Everything will be fine.”

I wholeheartedly believe this and let the hope fuel my steps as I rush to catch the next train to the smelter. I’ll go there and get to the bottom of things. Perhaps there was no sabotage. Perhaps it was just some stupid prank or some drunken late shift idiot threw stuff into the engines on purpose for whatever fucked-up reason. Arnik might be just jumping to the worst possible conclusion.

Two workers board the otherwise empty train with me. One I recognize and exchange nods with. The other one turns his back and huddles in a corner, staring at his comm. Probably one of the miners, although I can’t be sure since he’s wearing a hood that covers most of his face. I shrug it off and ignore him. He probably has his own set of troubles to deal with.

As the train slowly accelerates, taking us through the tunnel to the part of the asteroid where the smelter and the crylonite storages are, my thoughts drift to a certain technician. I pull them back quickly. I have bigger problems to deal with than figuring out why some entitled asshole acts the way he acts, and yet…

Despite all of his misgivings, I believe D’Aakh has a good heart. Of course, that heart is carefully hidden under layers of misguided rage, distrust, and general asshole-ism, but I believe it exists.

Anyone can see that he’s hurting, badly. It’s also plain to see that he has no idea how to deal with said pain other than to dish it back out to others.

There’s also his amazing bod— Um. His mind. His brilliant mind. I am NOT thinking about his body. He’s smart, that’s what I meant to say. The only reason he makes mistakes is because he seems perpetually exhausted. It’s no wonder, since I haven’t seen him sleep. Like, at all.

He’s always present, no matter the time of day or night. Always awake, always doing something. As far as I know, he doesn’t sleep or eat or drink or anything else organic beings need to do in order to survive. He acts like a fucking robot, perhaps in the hope that it will help him ignore his pain. But it won’t. It only makes him sloppy and cranky. Well, crankier.

I wonder what he was like before all of this anger. Before he lost that mysterious person and became a walking ball of rage. Did he use to smile? Laugh? I’d love to hear him laugh but all I get is the occasional scoff and smirk.

Why am I even thinking about D’Aakh? Didn’t I just tell myself I had bigger issues?

No matter how hard I try, my mind keeps drifting back to him. An echo of his scent reaching my nose as if he was right here with me. Which is ridiculous.

Or is it?

My eyes find the bundled up worker in the corner again. I know everyone on the station. Some people I consider friends, some are just fleeting acquaintances, but I know every single person here.

I stride over to the stranger, my hand balling into a fist even as I reach for his shoulder. I am so fucking going to punch him this time!

The male looks up at me, the motion causing his hood to slip. Sure enough, two antennae peek out from beneath the hood, framing D’Aakh’s irritated expression.

“WHAT THE F—”

I don’t get to finish the sentence. Or punch him.

A deafening explosion shakes the tunnel. The train lurches, sending me flying into the nearest wall. Landing with a thud, the tools on my belt clanking against the metal, but while I feel pain just about everywhere, there’s no sharp crack to signal any bones breaking.

Before picking myself up, everything shakes again and then we’re falling, the whole train diving down into the darkness. Darkness that swallows everything.