[Zach]

The Freebird mastered deep space, but not the tropical storms of Panchaia.

The tempest threw the ship around like an angry sea-god's toy. Strobing lightning bolts revealed roiling clouds within the deep darkness, giving them a frightening surreal quality. Violent motions, in any direction by whims of the storm, churned my stomach. Gritting teeth, I manipulated the joystick controls back and forth, struggling to keep some semblance of level flight. The ship AI was not trained for turbulent atmospheric flight, so it was not much help, but Avia was. Utilizing her advanced cybernetics, she strategically fired the maneuvering thrusters, buffering the worst turbulence. As I glanced at her, sitting in the engineer's seat beside me, her lips turned up and she winked, projecting a quiet confidence that calmed my anxieties and firmed my resolve.

"Is that shuttle still following us?" I asked.

"Can't tell," Avia answered. "Too much electrical interference."

"Good. Then they can't track us either."

Abruptly changing course westward, I hoped that the shuttle, if it was still out there, would believe we continued south. After a gut-wrenching hour, we emerged from the cyclonic beast, leaving its fury thankfully behind. Then angling up, I broke through the atmosphere and reached for the stars. Once far enough away from the planet's gravity-well, I engaged the star-drive and the characteristic starlight tunnel appeared as we fled away at hyper-light relative velocity.

Throwing off my seat restraints, I leaned back with eyes closed, blowing out a long breath. I turned as Flint's large, rough hand appeared on my shoulder.

"Impressive flying, son," he said with a half-grin.

My mouth formed a grin semblance, and I nodded. But within, a satisfying calm settled into my core. Perhaps I had won over Avia's intimidating father figure.

"I'm hungry," Avia announced as she stood, smiling broadly. "Let's get something to eat."

As we stepped past the bridge hatch, Avia turned toward Flint with a grin. "So, what's up between you and Amber? That was some goodbye kiss she gave you."

"Just — how do you say it? Friends with benefits?"

Avia's eyes widened. "Does she know that? It seemed to mean more to her."

"I guess so?" Flint answered with a shrug. "Sometimes, it's hard to tell." Then, Flint shifted into overly-protective-father mode, and his steel-blue shot a penetrating glare at me, tingling my gut, but asked Avia, "What about between you and Zach?"

Gulping, I silently wished for a cloak of invisibility.

Avia winked back at me as she grasped my arm. "More than friends with benefits."

Entering the galley brought dismay, but also a welcomed distraction from any awkward follow-up questions. Anything not fastened down — utensils, condiments, food, or whatever — was strewn about the small room in chaotic disarray, unintended consequences of our previous atmospheric barrel roll. While fortunately unopened, the transparent doors on the chiller and storage cabinets revealed jumbled messes inside. No doubt our cabin was in a similar mess.

"Oh, no," I sighed, dropping my shoulders.

Avia giggled as she tilted her head. "Come on, I'll help you clean up."

*****

That night, Avia appeared beside our bed wearing my favorite outfit, which was nothing at all. While leaning up on elbows, my eyes feasted on her willowy form. By the stars, was she irresistibly sexy, and had grown more so with every passing day. 

Rounding her lips, she slid under the blanket and snuggled up beside me, crossing a leg over my legs and laying her head on my shoulder. A contented warmth flushed through my entire being as I wrapped an arm around her.

I could get used to this.

Leaning up, she placed a soft but lingering kiss on my lips. Meanwhile, her finger gently traced patterns on my thigh, leaving little sparks behind.

"You were my hero today, Zach," she whispered.

"Hmm," I answered with a half grin. "Then, does the hero get the girl in the end?"

"Maybe," Avia cooed, "if you're good."

The Freebird sailed across interstellar space, seeking Avia's fellow cyber enhanced friends to fulfill my promised, a twelve-day journey at maximum relative velocity. All seemed well, yet a worry hovered in my mind like a distant black cloud. "Avia, what happens after you meet up with you friends?"

After a moment's hesitation, she replied, "I don't know. I've been on the run so long that I hadn't thought that far ahead. I suppose they--"

"I mean with us?"

"Oh..." Another tense moment passed. "Zach, there is something you have to understand..." Her voice fell off, and she shuddered in my arms.

Sour dread settled into my gut, but I needed to know. "What?"

Her voice fractured. "If we... I can't give you children, Zach. When they installed my cybernetics, they--"

"I know. I read the files. Damn them for taking that choice from you." Tightening my hold, I drew this wonderful woman firmly against me. "If we want a family, there are other ways. The thing is, I've fallen deeply in love with you, and I want us to be together, regardless."

Avia nuzzled her head under my cheek. "Mmm, I want that, too."

Butterflies took flight in my gut as the words fully registered in my mind. "Umm, did we just make long-term commitments?"

"Yeah. I'm good with that. You?"

Unfulfilling short-term flings with various women marked my past, but Avia... As a bounty hunter, I originally captured her, but then she so completely captured my heart. A smile came to my face. "I'm good with that, too."

"Okay, then."

For several precious moments, we basked in each other's closeness.

I broke the silence, saying, "You know, it's kind of awkward now with Flint on board."

Avia giggled. "Well, we shouldn't make-out naked on the bridge anymore, but here..." She continued her finger trace, moving up my thigh and circling tantalizingly close to where I most wanted her to touch. But not quite...

"Stars, Avia, you're teasing me," I said in an airy voice as a lump appeared in the blanket.

A sly grin rose on her lips and her eyes sparkled. "What should we do about that?"

*****

Flint mostly kept to himself during our journey, spending much of his free time reading. To my surprise, he selected mainly classic literature and philosophy from the Freebird electronic library. This tough as nails ex-marine had a hidden intellectual side.

But over meals and what remained of my ale stock, we shared stories of our adventures while gaining a comfortable mutual respect. Flint had a good laugh about the 'pink Avia' event. But more sobering, I had not realized how harrowing Avia's experiences were as a child soldier.

Avia... I leaned back in the pilot's seat, fingers interlocked behind my neck, and grinned as my mind drifted back to our last erotic encounter.

"What are you thinking about?" Avia's voice said. I spun around to see her at the bridge hatch.

"Oh, that thing you did last night when--"

"Shh," she whispered, a finger to her lips, then pointed a thumb backward as Flint appeared beside her, eyes narrowed.

I clamped my lips closed. Flint accepted our relationship, but there were limits to shared details. His protective nature remained prominent, though, and an unspoken threat simmered beneath the surface if I ever hurt Avia. But I respected that.

"What's our ETA?" Flint asked, bringing me back to the present.

I turned back around and touched icons on the slanted control panel. A holographic representation of an unnamed solar system appeared before us. Four planets circled an unstable red dwarf star prone to plasma ejections. The inner two rocky planets were too hot for settlement and the outer two gaseous planets were too cold. Between them was a wide asteroid field that was rich enough in valuable metals to support a few mining outposts decades ago, now long since abandoned.

"About two hours," I answered. "No sign of activity."

Avia sat in the other bridge chair, scooting forward to the edge, and gazed at the solar system map. Her fingers fluttered on the chair arm, something she did when anxious. And why not? She was soon to meet friends she hadn't seen for years.

To shift her focus, I asked, "What have you determined about the nano-bots?" Avia had spent many hours seemingly meditating with her eyes closed, but actually working on ways to counter the bots' mind control application.

Avia slid back in the chair. "The bots' health functionality is mostly complete, but control coding for the mind control potential is only partially developed. They haven't figured out how to map a brain to alter mental associations for true population mind control. Not yet, anyway. About all the bots can do now is temporarily dull general emotional and cognitive responses, but that's bad enough. With the proper instructions, they can freeze someone with fear or make them susceptible to suggestion."

"That's not good."

"There's more. The nano-bots can be a weapon, and made to cause harm, anything from a stomachache to a lethal heart attack."

"Damn..." A shudder spread through my body. If Omni-Corp had this kind of power, or any entity for that matter — well, that would be terrible. The bots were already out for public trials. "Please tell me you have a solution."

"Yes, maybe?" Avia responded, tightening her lips. "I've found a vulnerability in the bot control code. For the nano-bots to work properly, they are coordinated through an external AI. I built a simple code virus that breaks the bots' networking capability, essentially cutting them off from the AI. But it's untested."

Standing beside Avia, Flint asked, "But would that also negate the health benefits?"

Avia nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

Flint shook his head. "Omni-Corp promised a more fulfilling and longer life with the nano-bots. Most people won't want your fix."

Flint made a good point. Who doesn't want to live longer and healthier? It's enough of a carrot that the public would ignore the stick. Mankind's history is filled with such tradeoffs.

Avia let out a breath. "With more time, maybe I can figure a better way?"

"You bought us that time when you set back the research," I said. "And there might be enough political fallout from the incriminating documents to end the threat. But for now, let's go find your friends."

A wide smile burst upon Avia's face. "Okay."

Arrival at the designated coordinates brought only disappointment. Vast empty space surrounded the Freebird within a sparse section of the asteroid belt, the nearest significant rock over two-million kilometers away. 

"There's nothing here." Turning toward Avia, I wrinkled my forehead. "Are we at the right place?"

Avia glanced up at the 3D solar system map, down at the control panel, then back up again. "This is where Lael said to go."

"Not unexpected," Flint said, coming up beside us and placing hands on our seat backs. "Someone with a secret hideout wouldn't lead us directly there. They are probably scanning us now for potential threats. Keep the com channels open."

Flint's assessment made sense. "So, we wait for a message?" I asked.

"We wait."

But we didn't have to wait long. Within a minute, a ding from the control panel and a flashing green icon announced a hail request. For a brief moment, I stared at the icon with finger poised. After a nod from Avia, who held a breath as her eyes widened, I touched the icon to accept.