Page 6 of My Alien Bughead (Supernova Casanovas #4)

Chapter 6

D’Aakh

Running my fingers over the tools on my belt, I hesitate before readjusting the strap of my laser rifle on my shoulder. To the casual observer, it might seem like I’m merely making sure everything is in its rightful place but the truth is, I’m too restless to stand still. My hands are jittering again, my fingers twitching, and even the slightest sound jars my agitated mind.

I might have taken a little too much of the stimulant but since I’m about to spend several hours in the company of other people and don’t know how much privacy I’ll get, it had seemed like a prudent choice at the time.

My shaking hands don’t matter. As soon as I grab a weapon or a tool, the shaking will stop and I’ll be able to focus again. It’s the waiting that’s difficult to withstand. I should be down in engineering already, fixing things and making sure nobody will be in danger ever again. But no, I have to wait for the others to get their lazy asses down here before I’m allowed to enter that section of the ship. Not to mention waiting for the human technician.

I let out a derisive snort. A human technician. Even just saying the words together sounds ridiculous. As if a mere human could possibly know anything about spaceships. I’ll have to keep a close eye on this female to make sure she doesn’t touch anything or make things worse than they already are.

Finally, footsteps approach. Tareq arrives, wearing his combat uniform but instead of his usual rifle, he only has a pistol tucked in a holster strapped to his thigh. His annoying human mate, Astra, is trailing after him.

“I’m telling you, you won’t need weapons,” she scowls at Tareq, then at me. “You look like you’re about to march in there and shoot them all!”

“We are!” I growl, my fingers caressing the cool metal of my rifle. “Those stupid bugs nearly killed us all. The bugs have gotta go!”

Instead of agreeing with me like the intelligent creature she’s supposed to be, Astra simply glares at me like I’m the primitive barbarian here. “Captain Zarkan said no killing, so cool your gunslinging hormones. We’re just supposed to locate the mantises and talk to them.”

“We? What do you mean, ‘we’? This is a potentially dangerous mission. You’re not coming with us.” I cast a look at Tareq, who just shrugs. Astra has him wrapped around her clawless little finger, it seems. “Unbelievable,” I huff out in frustration. “When the fighting starts, we’ll have the added worry of protecting reckless civilians.”

Astra crosses her arms in front of her chest and continues to glare at me. “You won’t have to worry about me because there will be no fighting.”

I want to protest, but Zarkan’s voice cuts me off. “That is correct,” he says. “This is a diplomatic mission, not a combative one. That is why I have ordered the rest of the team to stay behind. It will be just the five of us.”

A diplomatic mission! My ahni twitch in irritation. Those creatures damaged our ship, causing us all to nearly die. Why we are even bothering to talk to them is beyond me.

A strange thought occurs to me.

A few months ago, I would have been ecstatic to find a new alien species. To communicate with them and find out why they are gathering all of those cables, pipes and machine parts. Are they building something? The rest of the crew is convinced of it.

Now all I have for them is hatred. They put us all at risk. I might not love the rest of the crew the way I loved Mzr, I’ll never love anyone that deeply again, but I still care about them. They’re my family and those wretched bugs nearly caused me to lose them. I’m not sure my shattered heart could survive it.

“Fine,” I grumble. “But when those stupid bugs end up eating us all, I get to be the one to tell you ‘I told you so’. Wait, did you say five of us?” Tareq, Astra, Zarkan, and I are only four.

Then I see her. The “technician”.

She’s taller than Astra, almost as tall as me. The thick soles of her work boots give her an extra inch, but even without them, her height is impressive. For a puny human, that is. Then again, Nala is tall as well, so this female is nothing special.

She’s wearing coveralls with a FrenCorp insignia on the right side of her chest and a familiar stain on the left side. Coolant paste. No amount of industrial cleanser ever washes that crap out.

Her boots are high quality and the numerous scratches and stains suggest they’re well worn and used often. The tool belt circling her waist is the same as mine, with similar tools. However, I know how to use every single one of mine. I doubt this female would know what half of them are even called.

“Hi, guys,” she greets Astra and Tareq as if they are old friends. Judging by their smiles as they greet her back, they’ve already met and I’m the odd one out. Not that I care. She turns to me. “Hi, I’m Lucía.”

She smiles as if we were old friends too. I respond with a snort. “Good for you.” Done with her, I turn to Zarkan. “Can we go now? There’s work to be done.”

Lucía doesn’t take the hint. She’s grinning at me. Grinning! “The guys warned me that you’re a bit of a jerk. It’s a good thing I’m used to proving myself to bigots who think that just because I’m from Earth, I can’t possibly know how to reconfigure a wavelength capacitor to harmonize the reactor’s containment field for the fluctuations during a hyperdrive jump.”

I blink back my surprise. Not only did everything she just said make sense, but most technicians wouldn’t be able to do what she just claimed she can. She must be lying.

“Girl.” Astra whistles, the sharp sound making my ahni jerk. “Could you repeat that in English?”

Lucía chuckles. “I can do it in Spanish, if it helps.”

“I am not a bigot,” I say, needing to refute that absurd claim. I’ve never had a problem with other species. As long as they stay out of my way.

“Perfect!” Lucía’s smile is more of a smirk. “Then we’ll get along just fine.”

I’m about to satisfy my rather childish urge to say something just so I can have the last word but Zarkan’s warning glare shuts me up. It seems like I’m in for another deep, soul searching conversation later.

Well, fuck him. Once the bugs are dealt with, I don’t plan on leaving engineering until everything is fixed. Which will be days. Or weeks.

It would be an enticing prospect if it weren’t for Lucía’s presence. Without meaning to, I find myself casting her another stealthy side look. For some reason, I’ve been unable to stop looking at her. I’d blame it on the novelty of watching a human but I’ve been around humans for weeks now and Lucía is no different from those I have already met. Yet, she is different.

Her skin is darker than Astra’s, but lighter than Nala’s. In fact, her skin tone is close to my own, which I find oddly titillating, like it brings us closer together. I don’t want to be closer to her. In fact, I’d be happiest if there were light years between us.

Her somewhat wavy brown mane is cut short, reaching only to the underside of her ears. It’s a wise choice for someone working around heavy machinery on a daily basis but I doubt that’s the reason she chose the haircut. She probably had some stupid fashion reason to cut her hair that short.

The muscles on her arms and legs can be seen through the form-fitting coveralls, hinting at her physical prowess, and the steely glint in her dark brown eyes suggests she’s mentally tough as well. If I didn’t have to hate her, I’d…admire her?

No, not that. I’m not about to admire a primate who stole someone’s tool belt to make herself look competent.

Still, Lucía isn’t totally unappealing to look at. I kind of like her muscular body, which is ridiculous. I’ve only ever been attracted to Mzr, who was a wisp of a female. It must be the stimulants in my system. I’ve overdosed and now my hormones are acting up. There’s absolutely no way I’d ever be attracted to a human, let alone this particular human. No way at all.