As I’d hoped, thisfinallygot the Eki’s collective attention. I smirked as they all began scrambling for cover, althoughwhythey still weren’t engaging in combat remained a mystery, as Leeloo suddenly appeared with a frightened looking Micah in tow.
Appeared out of thin air.
As if they’d star hopped…
“Ziggy, stop!” Micah shouted, his voice muffled between the cockpit dome and his shields. “I’m fine. Leeloo just needed to contain me long enough to talk.”
Contain him?!
All at once, I realized the Eki had turned Micah’s own technology against him, shielding my mate against his will, trapping his powers inside a prison of inorganic material.
No.
They’re trapping the piece ofmein there.
I grabbed the intercom mouthpiece and snarled into it. “Release his shields, Leeloo.”
“No,” the Eki replied defiantly.
Oh, you want to play that game?
I pivoted in my seat, aiming the guns at a row of buildings. While I took no pleasure in killing innocent civilians, if it was between them and my mate, I would destroy this entire planet—blast it into oblivion until no one remembered its name.
“Permission to come aboard,” Leeloo called out, causing me to pause and remove my finger from the trigger.
That was… unexpected.
I grabbed the mouthpiece again. “Only if Micah comes with you.“
The Eki inclined their head. “Of course. We will meet you in the cockpit.”
Wait, what?
Without thinking, I star hopped to the cockpit, hoping to arrive before Leeloo got near Pedro.
Unfortunately, they beat me there.
“Ah, so you figured out star hoppingdoeswork within Nuclei City’s shield.”
“I…” I glanced down at myself in confusion before glaring at the Eki who’d effortlessly infiltrated my ship.
“You assumed we had stifled your powers,” they coolly replied, “instead of considering that the shields over our city might be forourprotection—againstanyspecies capable of star hopping.”
“Only Stellarians can…” I began before Micah gave me alookthat successfully silenced me.
Leeloo chuckled. “So quick to argue when, only moments ago, youwitnessedanother species star hopping…” They made an amused sound. “I know you will not want to hear this, Zig-ee, but the Eki were the first to do it.”
They were?
I opened my mouth to argue—true to form, apparently—but then closed it again as Honnor’s words from days ago flashed in my memory.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t make assumptions, my child. You know better than most that not everything is as it seems when it comes to alien species.”
Siiiiiigh.
“I simply want to talk.” Leeloo’s tone turned gentle—soothing—but I still wasn’t pleased with the terms.
My ship, my rules.
