Stewards of Octarma and the Cosmic Realm of the Gas Giants - Polden R.H.

Saving the galaxy is tough...

     Even tougher if you can't be bothered.

Felicity Milarum, the dictator CEO of a galaxy-wide children's entertainment empire, recalls her two most hapless employees - her twin brothers - when the siblings are sent a mysterious package from their missing father. It contains an Amulet, a message of impending doom, and a complaint about a service droid. Jonathan and Nickolas have been given a fool's quest to finish what their father had started.

Together with Xymod, an inscrutable Octarma collector; Prince Techno, a drain on patience and habitual thief; M011y, the ship's computer with a penchant for a punt; and Nerada, their adopted sister of unknown origins; they set out - with various levels of enthusiasm - to find three missing Shards, that, when infused into the Amulet, will create a weapon that just may save the Qurkition galaxy.

But it seems half the galaxy is out to stop them, including an ethically challenged weapons merchant and his family, two law enforcement agents with questionable culinary skills, and a couple of highly trained assassins. And then there is the small matter of an entire city full of foul-smelling giants led by a loopy king.

But all these roadblocks seem trivial compared to the threat posed by the evil and enigmatic Zarnegy, who, legend has it, wield far greater power than anything else in the galaxy.