Page 37 of Space Daddy’s Guide to the Galaxy (Villains in Space #2)

37

MICAH

So… deathponds are apparently a universal Lacertus thing.

When all hell broke loose at the pier, I’d worried I was about to be dragged underwater, never to be heard from again. My shields probably would’ve kept me from drowning, but now I realized I needed to conjure myself a scuba-style breathing apparatus, stat.

For future alien freak-outs.

Luckily, I hadn’t met a watery grave at the hands—claws—of giant lizards. The worst that had happened was being carried off like that damsel in King Kong before ending up in this waterfront cave.

Zion would be way into this.

The space we were in was massive —close in scale to Nuclei City—and while the set up in here was way more primitive than what the Eki had going on, it had a deluxe grotto feel that was homey. Some of the inhabitants lounged on rocks near the mouth of the cave, soaking up the sun, while others milled about, socializing and performing other oddly domestic duties with water at their doorstep.

Extremely deep water.

I’d already turned down several offers to take a dip—not because I had any issue with swimming, but because it didn’t seem like the smartest move to enter a bottomless deathpond with a bunch of unfamiliar, giant reptiles.

I do have some sense of self-preservation.

Although Ziggy would probably disagree…

The only reason I wasn’t freaking out about my Stellarian’s wellbeing was that I could sense he was okay. Physically okay, I should specify, because his emotions were borderline psychotic.

So… the usual, just enhanced for the current shitshow.

I’d momentarily panicked when the one Lacertus crushed his Opertum skinsuit, but then I recalled Zig mentioning Stellarians could quickly exit a compromised vessel—like a fighter pilot ejecting from their aircraft.

It was safe to assume he’d already returned to the Lodger to grab no less than 3000 weapons and come save me, but I was hoping to handle this situation before he tracked me down and showed up.

Hence why my shields are still firmly in place.

On the one hand, the idea of my man busting in with guns blazing—literally—made me swoon, but I also knew there was a long history between these two species. I honestly didn’t know what would happen if a Stellarian showed up at the grotto, and the last thing I wanted was for my pseudo-kidnapping to start a war.

But if anything happens to Zig, I will go full Stellarian on these lizards.

Even though I knew my stellar collision was freaking out, I’d done my best to pump ‘sign of life’ vibes through our bond, determined to stand on business on my own.

Commander Babygirl has the situation under control.

I hope…

Yes, I could have star hopped— particle leaped, whatever —out of here if I’d wanted to, but my ‘captors’ and I had already resolved our differences. With the immediate danger segment out of the way, I could now focus on gathering useful intel for our mission.

Hopefully, before all hell breaks loose all over again.

“You should have better explained what you meant by Uulvin sending you here, little Eki,” my big, purple kidnapper — Krunk, apparently—called out from where they bobbed in the nearby pool. “But you must understand why we cannot risk freeing the Hydrassian in our custody.”

The issue was, I didn’t fully understand why Uuktar ended up here in the first place, even if I had already figured out the Hydrassians were bad news. The larger issue was that I still needed those planetary coordinates to get Pedro home—to Karn—which meant I had to show my hand at least a little bit.

Maybe an intel trade would do the trick?

“I have no intention of freeing Uuktar,” I reassured my scaly host. “Unfortunately, the seer has information I need. Information about the Trols they mentioned…”

So much for self-preservation.

That caught Krunk’s attention. “What do the Eki want with Trols?” they growled.

Weirdly, I didn’t feel threatened by their tone, probably because Zion threatened me with a similar tone on a regular basis.

Middle child problems.

I sighed, knowing Ziggy would never be so honest—especially not with a species he considered an enemy—but we’d already established Space Daddy and I did things differently.

“We have recently encountered multiple Hydrassians searching for both Trols and karnilian as mercenaries for other species.” I blew out a slow breath. “Possibly including yours.”

It was an assumption, and a potentially rude one at that, but I needed to see how Krunk would react to it.

To my relief, the giant lizard seemed more vaguely offended than anything. “You should know the Lacertus would never work with the Hydrassians, especially not to track down the cursed stone that has brought my kind nothing but despair.”

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.

“I must admit,” I slowly began, really playing up my hesitancy for maximum effect. “I don’t personally know all the details about Lacertus history—with Trols or karnilian. If you would feel comfortable explaining it to me, I would appreciate it.”

Krunk’s expression softened—as much as it could, considering they naturally looked like they wanted to chomp on me.

“Of course, little Eki. Although, I must admit, I cannot recall a time when another species has ever asked for our side of the story.”

I wish Zig was here to hear this…

“WHERE IS HE?!!!”

As if on cue.

With a tidal wave-level splash, Krunk spun in the water to face the intruder— Ziggy, obviously —but his big ass lizard head was blocking the action. Scrambling off my rocky perch, I raced along the deathpond’s edge to get a better view.

And to put myself in view.

“WHERE IS MY… WIFE?!”

Wife?!

I assumed Ziggy was so upset, he was struggling to find the correct words in the trade language, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t swooning like a motherfucker.

All my romance novel dreams have come true!

I almost swooned again when I caught sight of him. Not only was my man in full Space Daddy armor, but he was flying, with tendrils unleashed, an enormous gun in each hand, and a fanged, tentacled, battle-mode Trol perched on his shoulder.

Look at him, being a bad bitch space dad.

“Zig—I’m here! I’m okay!” I shouted, pulling off my hood and waving my arms overhead. “It was all a big misunderstanding with the Lacertus, but we’re cool now.”

He landed beside me before loudly stating in his usual stubborn AF way, “I believe you are being held here against your will.”

Sigh.

I couldn’t help noticing every Lacertus in the vicinity had backed away from my lone Stellarian and his hissing sidekick, despite the size difference and how vastly outnumbered he was.

It’s all that big dick energy.

As clan leader, only Krunk remained close, although they eyed my rescue committee warily. “So you do have a Trol in your possession? And this… Stellarian is your companion?” Their horrified gaze drifted to me. “A-are you also a Stellarian like Uuktar claimed, My-kuh?”

“Yes,” Ziggy snapped the same instant I replied, “No!”

Siiiigh.

“I am an Earthling with Eki powers,” I quickly clarified. “Ziggy here is my stellar collision—my fated mate. So, yes, there is a piece of him inside me, but I still have complete control, I swear!”

Most of the time…

But we’re gonna leave the kinky shit out of this.

My confession spilled out in a rush. “Pedro… the Trol came into our possession by accident. The Stellarians were hired by a mysterious client to rescue an egg from the Maroxians, and the egg hatched en route, but when we brought the creature back to Stellaria, the Irathians attacked out of nowhere. There was also a rogue Hydrassian on the planet, claiming they could ‘hear the call’ of the karnilian, which we didn’t realize was inside the Trol at the time. We still suspected Pedro was who everyone was after, so we decided to keep moving until we figured things out.”

Krunk looked a little dazed by the infodump, and rightfully so.

It’s kind of a hot mess.

“Listen…” I took a hesitant step toward the Lacertus, which caused Ziggy to growl low in warning. “The misinformation between your species runs deep, and it goes both ways.” I pointedly looked at each of them in turn. “But I really hope we can talk to each other and set the record straight.”

Please.

An insistent knock on my mental walls had me lowering my inner shields to let my stellar collision back in. I sent him an apologetic grimace, instantly realizing me shutting him out had probably made things worse, despite my good intentions.

“Are you sure you’re okay, sunshine? I was so worried…”

“I am, and I’m sorry, Zig. I just wanted to discuss a few things with the Lacertus before I left… and before you showed up like… Well, like this.”

Like always.

Ziggy removed his helmet, exhaling slowly and facing Krunk before speaking in the trade language again. “Very well. I am willing to listen.” He shot me an apologetic look. “Truly listen this time.”

Thank you.

A moment of awkward silence passed before I took charge again. “So, Krunk here was about to explain why the Lacertus actually have no interest in Trols or karnilian… which will hopefully explain why Uuktar is imprisoned here.”

There’s no point in hiding my cluelessness now.

Krunk chuckled. “Lucky for you, little Earthling , it is all related.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

The Lacertus sighed, as if what they were about to share pained them. “Long ago, we were a warring species, single-mindedly focused on conquering other planets. I believe it was in response to our destructive actions that your recently fallen Astrum Force first came to power.” They nodded at Ziggy before continuing. “It quickly became clear that Stellarians were one of the only species who could challenge us, which meant we needed to find a way to turn the tide in our favor.”

“And that’s where the karnilian came in, hmm?“ Ziggy scoffed, crossing his arms as a deceptively cuddly Pedro draped themselves over his shoulders like a furry danger scarf.

Krunk growled, although I got the sense it wasn’t aimed at anyone present. “My kind still curse the day karnilian was suggested to us by a pair of Hydrassian seers—powerful siblings who claimed the stone ‘showed’ them proof of victory in a great battle against our greatest enemies.”

My heart sank at the clever deception. “Uuktar and Uulvin didn’t specify who would be victorious, did they?”

“No,” the Lacertus huffed. “And we were too blinded by our own sense of superiority to consider we might lose.”

“Well, that sounds familiar doesn’t it, Zig?”

My stellar collision didn’t outwardly react, but I could feel his signature loving exasperation wrap around me, like a warm, starry embrace.

Like Tendril Huggy Time.

I nodded and Krunk continued. “While I do believe Hydrassians are gifted with The Sight, they realized long ago that coin was more plentiful when the fates of entire planets were on the line.”

A chilling thought occurred to me. “Does karnilian even do what they claim it does?”

The Lacertus’ gaze drifted to the purring Trol. “It is difficult to say, but with how skillfully they have twisted the truth about other matters, it would not surprise me to learn they fabricated the story about this supposedly powerful stone to line their own purses.”

Creating supply and demand…

Ziggy piped in, much to my surprise. “I believe it was after that great battle when karnilian was outlawed in many galaxies.” He cocked his head. “But not this one. Why is that?”

Krunk displayed a toothy grin. “Because we decided to lay a trap for those who had deceived us. We knew the Eki had the ability to create impenetrable shields, so we offered to pay them to construct a set of prisons—one here and one on Dionaea.”

“I knew it!” Ziggy hissed, getting Pedro all worked up again. “I knew Leeloo was lying when they said the Eki’s shields weren’t for sale.”

“They are not,” Krunk interrupted. “Once we explained the situation, the Eki offered to help us free of charge—to put a stop to the lies enabling highly destructive interplanetary wars.”

Well, now I know where my insatiable need to fix everyone else’s problems comes from…

Ziggy squinted at the enormous lizard. “Why is Uulvin’s prison unfinished? They seem free to come and go from Dionaea as they please — free to welcome clients more than happy to pay for their false prophecies.”

The Lacertus looked sheepish. “It was to give Uulvin a false sense of security. We had hoped that by allowing the Hydrassians to move freely, they would not only attempt to liberate Uuktar—giving us reason to retaliate—but reveal themselves as the manipulative masterminds they are…”

“They did…” Ziggy muttered, almost to himself. “Unfortunately, they sent us to do their dirty work for them—not just to free Uuktar here on Lacertus, but to Marox to retrieve the Trol egg in the first place.”