[Avia]

Zach's face paled, and he pleaded for my life, "Damon, don't do this..."

"Oh, I won't," Damon responded with a twisted smile. He turned and sauntered to a gray cabinet, sliding open a drawer and extracting a long, bloodied knife. "This is the knife that Avia used to kill your uncle. And now it will kill Avia. An irony of sorts, don't you think?"

Damon took two steps toward Lael and held out the knife handle. "Take the knife," he commanded. Again, she hesitated. "Take it, dear," he repeated. "This is a test of your obedience."

Lael grasped the knife handle. "Yes, Damon."

Damon led Lael by the arm toward me. Left standing by herself, Nyx's eyes widened as she trembled. Anger rose within me. At least couldn't he spare a little girl from witnessing this?

"Avia betrayed us," Damon said in Lael's ear. "And the price of betrayal is death. Kill her."

When Lael stood motionless and unresponsive, the knife in her hand, Damon repeated in a louder voice. "I said kill Avia! Don't you betray me, too."

"Yes, Damon."

My heart pounded as Lael turned toward me, expression blank, the shiny knife firm in her hand. I jerked against the metal hands restraining me, but the android held firm. I knew well the power of the nano-bots and how they stole away freewill — this was not the real Lael. Facing death with as much dignity as possible, I firmed my expression and stood tall.

I sent a com message directly to Lael's cybernetics. "Lael, remember who you really are."

Zach bucked against the androids holding him, but could not free himself any more than I could. "Stop!" he yelled at Damon. "Spare her. Please..."

Damon ignored Zach, but the outburst caught Lael's attention and she froze, the knife trembling slightly in her hand. Damon narrowed his eyes and came up behind Lael, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "You belong to me, Lael," he hissed. "Do as you're told!"

Turning back to me, Lael touched the blade tip against my chest, preparing for the thrust. But almost unperceptively, her breath quickened and eyes widened. A hint of emotion appeared on her face.

"Lael, my dear friend, remember!"

A deafening screech blasted across every com-band. Anyone with cybernetics — Damon, Lael, and me — cringed at the mental onslaught. But not Nyx. A single tear traced the little girl's cheek and her lower lip quivered. Had she done this?

But the screech did more than just cause anguish. It also disrupted the nano-bot network.

Lael's eyes widened, and she sucked in a breath. In quick motion, she spun around and plunged the blade into Damon's gut. With a gasp, Lael released the knife handle and staggered backward, eyes wide and fingers to her mouth.

Damon grunted, his jaw dropping in surprise. Blood gurgled from the wound, wetting his shirt in red. "How could you, Lael," he wheezed, face twisting in rage.

With a strained cry, Damon yanked the knife from his gut, splashing crimson on the deck. Baring teeth, he rage-thrust four times at Lael in quick succession, cutting into her torso. Eyes wide and unfocused, she stumbled back, holding her stomach as blood leaked between fingers. An airy breath escaped her lips as, eyes rolling up, she collapsed to the deck, trembling.

"Lael, no..." I burbled as moisture blurred my vision.

Damon took a hesitant step toward me with the dripping knife in hand. "I suppose in the end, you can only rely on yourself," he rationalized. The sharp knife tip pressed against my throat, pricking my skin and drawing out a single drop of blood. "A shame I must do this, Avia, but I am left with no other choice."

I firmed myself for the fatal thrust. Even now facing death, I regretted nothing of the decisions that led me here — not my life on the run, not to destroying Omni-Corp's research data, and certainly not for loving Zach. I only wished I had more time.

Zach's eyes watered, and he again bucked, making a final airy plea, "Please, no..."

Turning my head toward him, I mouthed the words, 'I love you.'

I jerked as a sharp crack echoed through the galley. Orange sparks burst from Damon's back, momentarily silhouetting him in the brightness. His body convulsed, eyes losing focus, and the knife dropped from his hand, clattering to the deck. When Damon's limp body sloughed to deck, it revealed Flint laying prone, eyes narrowed, and aiming a plasma rifle. I let out a held breath and smiled at the man I would call father, to which he replied with a nod.

Without Damon's control, the androids stilled and released their grips on Zach and me. Rushing into welcoming arms, I nestled my head under Zach's chin, and my heart soared. No words were spoken, but volumes of emotion passed between us.

A grunting cry reached my ears. Lael crawled towards Damon's limp body, smearing fresh blood across the deck. She grimaced as I sat down and lifted her torso, leaning her head against my chest. The gut wounds dripped red. Zach kneeled down and offered cloth napkins from the table, and I pressed them against the wounds as best I could, but that did not stem the life that drained from her.

"Hang in there, okay?" I whispered to Lael. Her face had paled to almost white, and I feared the worst.

Her eyes drifted to Damon. "You know, he wasn't always like that."

"I know," I replied with a weak smile. "I remember."

Lael beckoned to Nyx, who stood trembling with arms wrapped around herself. "Come here, my little girl."

My heart went out to Nyx. She had witnessed so many horrible things that no child should ever see — something else we had in common.

Nyx trudged over, taking small, measured steps. Lael grimaced as she reached up to stroke Nyx's arm. "Hey, little one," Lael said with a faultering smile. "I want you to go with Avia. She will look after you, so mind her well. Okay?"

Tears streaming, Nyx nodded.

Lael placed Nyx's hand within mine, her last act. Slumping, Lael's head tilted back, her hand fell away, and her breath halted.

I added my tears to Nyx's. Grieving sobs broke from my lips as I drew the little girl tightly against me. Zach surrounded us both with strong arms, and I took comfort from that.

After a few moments, I stood while holding Nyx's hand. Zach released us to assist Flint, helping him stand and limp to a chair beside the table. Flint grimaced as he sat.

"Are you hurt badly?" I asked, noticing the charred wound to hip, likely caused by a plasma bolt graze.

"I've had worse," Flint replied, waving a hand as if dismissing any concern. "Buff it out and I'll be as good as new." He rose from the chair, and when he faltered, both Zach and I helped him stand upright. With caring eyes, he put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry about your friends, kiddo."

I leaned into Flint's arms and the tears renewed as I basked in fatherly warmth.

The deck shook as if an earthquake, interrupting the hug, and thunder rolled through the asteroid. Then again, but harder. I would have toppled over if not for Flint's hold. Nyx wrapped arms around my hips.

Zach threw his head back, yelling, "Now what?"

Closing my eyes and touching my forehead, I accessed the station AI. Without Damon's presence, it took only a few seconds to bypass the firewalls and assume override control. The external sensors showed a massive starship firing on us. The asteroid shook again. With a directed thought, a wall mounted view-screen displayed the starship, which appeared like a massive wedge bristling with attachments and weapon placements, including a long tube-like railgun.

"A Federation heavy cruiser," Flint remarked flatly, as if it wasn't trying to kill us.

"Why is it shooting at us?" Zach asked.

Flint shrugged. "Don't know. But we need to get out of here. Eventually, that railgun will turn this asteroid into rubble."

I took Nyx's hand while Flint accepted Zach's shoulder, and we walked along the passageway as fast as Flint could limp. Flint tried to hide the pain, but I noticed the way his teeth clenched with each step. By the time we reached the Freebird, he was nearly worn out.

Along the way, I connected to the Freebird AI and directed it to power up the fusion reactors, readying it for immediate departure. After depositing Flint in a seat on the bridge, Zach jumped into the pilot's seat and activated the control panel with a finger swipe. I folded down the jump seat behind them and gathered Nyx in my lap, hugging her closely. The little girl had clung closely to my side all the way here, but I was good with that.

"What the hell?" Zach muttered. "Another ship is clearing dock now." With a touch of a button, the forward viewscreen showed a sleek, black ship directly across from us, firing maneuvering thrusters and moving away.

"A Vega-class stealth assault ship," Flint said. "Probably what your uncle came in on. Someone else is still alive."

"This could work for us. I'm going to let them go first so they distract the Fed cruiser," Zach said. "Then we'll sneak away."

"Good plan," Flint noted with a nod.

True to Zach's strategy, the cruiser adjusted course and gave chase to the stealth ship. Then, he deftly maneuvered the Freebird across the asteroid surface to the opposite side and whisked us away. Once we cleared the system gravity well, he engaged the stardrive. Leaning back and flopping his arms down, Zach let out a deep, cleansing breath.

When he turned to me, I put a finger to my lips, then pointed down to the little girl sleeping on my lap. Zach rose, took Nyx from my lap, then cuddled her in his arms. Tip-toeing quietly, we took her to our cabin and gently laid her on our bed.

Silently, we watched the little girl sleep, her chest gently rising and falling. When Zach pulled me into his arms, all the fear and grief I had held back gushed out, and I sobbed against his strong chest.

"I'm sorry about your friends," he whispered, holding me tightly.

Wiping moisture from my cheeks, I turned again toward Nyx's snoozing form. So innocent. I knew there will be dark times ahead for her as she adjusted to the cyber implants and recovered from the trauma.

"Do you think I could raise Nyx, Zach?" I burbled as doubt clouded my mind. "I don't know..."

"She needs you, Avia. And there is no one better in the entire galaxy for her than you." He gently kissed my forehead. "You wanted a family, and here it is — you, me, Nyx, and Flint, too."

Warmth washed over me like a summer breeze and I snuggled my head against this man that dared to love me. Zach was right.

"Where shall we go now?" I asked.

"I know a place."