Page 2 of My Alien Bughead (Supernova Casanovas #4)

Chapter 2

Lucía

“Dead, really?” A shudder runs down my spine. “You think pirates would—”

Arnik shakes his head. “This isn’t just about pirates anymore, Lucía. With the money we’re sitting on here, other corporations will come, too.”

“But FrenCorp has mining rights to this asteroid belt granted by the UGC! They can’t just take it.”

“They can and they will. The UGC can threaten to fine them and issue any number of other punishments but the corporations won’t care. They will come and they will take this place. And we’re the only ones standing in their way.”

“ Jesucristo .” Fuck, now I understand the need for secrecy. I don’t want to die in a war between mega-corps. “But FrenCorp is sending people here, right? People with guns who know how to use them?”

We have a total of three “guards” on this station and they mostly deal with petty crimes. I doubt they’ve ever had to use their guns against actual people. Not that we have many guns here.

It’s kind of ironic, since we mine and produce weapons-grade crylonite that’s used to make all kinds of laser weapons, but we don’t keep any arsenal at hand. It’s rare for stations like ours to get attacked. Pirates and mercenaries usually target cargo haulers as they travel through space. Taking over an entire station is too risky and requires more people than their crews tend to have. It’s what made Alevvo station feel safe. Until now.

“I sent a coded message to FrenCorp with the last crylonite shipment,” Arnik says. “I can’t risk contacting them directly and having the message intercepted. They should receive it in a few days. I assume they’ll be quick to send both military personnel and equipment here once they know. We just have to keep things very quiet until then.”

“Right.” I suck in a deep breath to calm myself. I’m not a fearful person but the thought of someone destroying our peaceful little community scares the bejesus out of me. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, don’t worry. But this wasn’t why you called me here, was it?”

Arnik’s expression tightens even further. “No. We have a problem.”

“Oh? Another problem? Perfect.”

“Mmm.” Arnik clearly shares my sentiment. “An unknown ship is arriving at the main dock as we speak. They claim to have engine trouble and have asked for a place to dock while they work on repairs. I’d send them away but without working engines, they’re as good as dead. And according to the Universal Assistance Protocol, we’re obligated to help them.”

I frown. “Isn’t the timing a little suspicious? You find out about this mother lode of all mother lodes and suddenly, a strange ship is requesting to dock?”

“It is suspicious but it could still be coincidental. We scanned their ship and the results confirm what their captain claims—that they’re running on the last embers of a jury-rigged generator that’s about to fall apart. Most of the ship is without power except for the parts where they’ve apparently run electricity through the corridors for whatever reason.”

“Their conduits must be gone,” I muse. “The capacitors, too. If they’re using the ship’s corridors as power conduits, they must be really desperate. There’s going to be massive damage to…well, pretty much everything. Have they been in a fight?” Do we have to worry about whoever attacked them following them here?

Arnik shakes his head. “Not as far as I can tell. The ship looks fine on the outside, no blast marks. It’s a pretty decent cruiser, actually.”

“A cruiser?! Jesus Fucking Christ. Those things are huge! There could be dozens of people aboard that ship.”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s a problem.” Rubbing his horn again, Arnik sighs. “You’re the best technician on the station, Lucía. I want you to go to their ship and help them fix it, fast. I want them out of here.”

Under normal circumstances, I’d bask in the compliment but the rest of Arnik’s words are anything but relaxing. “Me? Seriously? You know what happens to humans in space! Someone puts a collar around our necks and traffics us to god-only-knows where! Avoiding capture by slavers is the whole reason I’m hiding here in the middle of nowhere. Now you want to send me out to a ship full of strangers? Do you really hate me that much?”

My fists clench automatically to hide how much my hands are trembling. I was only a slave for a few short days after being kidnapped from Earth but even that was enough to tell me I can’t go through it again. It’s been four years and even now the nightmares still plague me in my sleep. Vivid memories of cages, auctions and terrifying aliens treating me like a piece of meat tend to resurface at the most inconvenient times. Like right now.

Rubbing my neck to relieve the phantom pains, I remind myself that there is no longer a collar around it. I gulp down a few deep breaths in the vain attempt to calm my racing heart. Intrusive imaginary touches slither over my shoulder, groping my chest and abdomen, reminding me of being bound, naked, and helpless. Just the memory of being touched everywhere tightens my chest until I can scarcely breathe.

When an actual hand touches my shoulder, I scream and jump back. For the second time today, Arnik dodges my fist. It’s a good thing he did because this strike wasn’t playful in the slightest.

“Sorry, Lucía. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Stepping back, Arnik moves to give me more space before sighing. “You know I care about you. I’d never send you to any ship if there was a chance these people are slavers. The captain of the ship is a Lakhartan. You know what that means.”

I scoff. “I know that everyone else in the galaxy believes that there’s no such thing as an evil Lakhartan.” That somehow, an entire race of beings are all just big, not-so-snuggly lizard teddy bears. I’ve always had a hard time believing that. “Surely, an entire species can’t all be good? There must be a rotten apple amongst them somewhere.” And with my luck, I’ll be the one to find them.

Arnik gives the slightest headshake. “Never. Personal freedoms and rights are highly respected in their culture, so much so that even engaging in minor crimes is extremely rare for them. There has never been a Lakhartan pirate, let alone a slaver. You’d be safe on their ship. However, I won’t force you to help them if it makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. I can always send Toli over.”

He’s baiting me. He knows as well as I do that Toli is a lazy piece of shit that knows next to nothing about cruisers. Me, on the other hand…

I love spaceships. They were the main reason I didn’t go back home like the rest of the human slaves after the UGC rescued us. I’d been content working in my uncle’s garage, fixing cars and bikes, but when I got the opportunity to stay in space to work on motherfreaking spaceships, I took it.

Even though it meant I’d had to learn a new language and spend nearly every waking hour of an entire year studying alien mechanics. It also meant I’d never see my family again, or even be allowed to contact them.

I love my family but, for the first time ever, I wanted something more. I wanted an adventure.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess? Being stranded in the middle of a potential corporate war, fixing a ship full of potentially dangerous aliens was not the kind of adventure I’d hoped for.

“Fine then,” I sigh. “I’ll fix their fucking ship. If you let Toli anywhere near it he’ll mess it up so badly they’ll never be able to leave. Don’t let him fix the furnaces either. Or the train. Or…just keep him away from anything mechanical that isn’t a malfunctioning toilet. Seriously, it’s a miracle this station didn’t fall apart with only him maintaining it before I arrived.”

Chuckling, Arnik plops back into his chair. “He’s not that bad. Not as brilliant as you, of course,” he teases, “but he manages. Thank you for doing this, Lucía. The ship is just docking now, so you can go over there whenever you’re ready. Maybe shower first, though?”

And just like that, I want to punch him again. “No, I’ll go there all filthy and sweaty to demonstrate what primitive creatures humans are,” I gripe. “Of course I’ll take a shower first, you big, ugly jerk.”

“Love you too,” he chuckles. “And Lucía? Please, be careful.”

I absolutely plan on being careful. In fact, I won’t even board the ship until I meet some of the crew outside and see what kind of vibe they’re giving off. If they’re creepy in any way, I’ll tell Arnik to stick this assignment up his alien ass.

Hurrying through the marketplace, I’m desperately looking forward to my date with a hot shower.

“Lusssia!” a familiar voice hisses after me excitedly.

Recognizing the owner of the voice, I stop. At least this delay is a welcome one. “Zhuse!” I greet the snake-like female and make way toward her food stall. “You’re back! Does that mean the egg—”

I stifle the urge to shriek when a snake peeks out at me from beneath the stall, its forked tongue darting out to taste the air. Laughing, Zhuse picks up the creature and holds it to her chest. “It hatched, yesss. Meet our firssst youngling.”

“Congratulations!” Though I consider Zhuse a close friend and I’m happy for her, my smile is a little forced. Young Kahzsi are born—or hatched, rather—looking exactly like regular snakes. As they get older, they gain more humanoid features. They grow arms and even learn to stand upright on the bottom coils of their tails. Right now, however, Zhuse’s baby mostly resembles a six foot long black mamba and instinct tells me to stay the hell away from it.

“Thank you, thank you,” Zhuse beams at me, showing off her sharp fangs. “Would you like a ssseka roll?”

My mouth waters at the thought of the delicious pastry. “If I ever say no to that question, strangle me. Are you going to start baking again?”

“Of courssse. Now that I don’t have to sssit on the egg, I’ll open the food ssstall again. I already ssstarted baking. Here.”

I eagerly grab the roll she offers and take a large bite. The moan that escapes me sounds almost erotic. Damn, it’s been too long since I got laid. “Mmm, this is amazing. We’ve missed your baking so much. Don’t have another egg too soon, please. The station can’t survive without your seka rolls or warpberry fritters.”

Zhuse lets out a hissing giggle. “Worry not, Lusssía. I think thisss little one will be enough for now. Essspecialy sssince Sezasar worksss all thossse extra shiftsss,” she sighs. “Ssso much work. FrenCorp paysss well, at leassst.”

Zhuse’s mate, Sezasar, works in the smelter. Most of the workers in there are Kahzsi. Coming from a scalding hot desert planet, the Kahzsi don’t just tolerate the high temperatures around the furnaces; they revel in it. Even now, heat is wafting from Zhuse’s stall, generated by two large ovens she keeps running even when she isn’t baking anything, just to keep herself warm.

“They do pay well,” I agree. “Thank you for the roll, Zhuse, and congratulations on the little one again. I’ll swing by in a bit but I really have to take a shower now.”

“Sure, sure. Now that you aren’t the only human on the ssstation, you have to presssent yourssself better. Perhapsss you’ll find a mate among them, hmm?”

“Yeah, yeah, as if I have time for a relationship.” I turn to leave, then Zhuse’s words fully register in my mind. “Wait, what did you just say? What do you mean ‘not the only human on the station’?!”

The only ship that docked here in the past several days is the new ship I’m supposed to be fixing. But if they have humans aboard…

A block of ice forms in my stomach. They must be slavers, after all. Fuck!

Zhuse waves the tip of her tail down the marketplace. “They were jussst here. I think they’re shopping for clothesss now.”

“Thanks, Zhuse.” I stuff the rest of the roll into my mouth as I sprint down the street, praying I’m wrong and that by some miracle, these humans are as free as I am. Because if they aren’t, I will have to do something stupid to free them and most likely die in the process.

Then I hear it.

English.

A woman is speaking English on the Alevvo station. Not even in my wildest dreams did I ever expect that.

I’m so taken aback by the rare auditory impression that I trip over a cable. I manage to put my hands out in front of me to avoid face planting on the floor but I do bang my knee. And, of course, attract attention.

As a result, my very first time meeting humans after four years, I’m not only sweaty and covered in engine sludge but also on my hands and knees on the floor. Fuck me, right?