53 A perfect pair

Archer watched Ava as she was led away by Fable. Five years had passed but the connection between them hadn't disappeared. He knew Ava had felt it too. They were like the opposite poles of a magnet, forever fated to pull each other in whenever their orbits overlapped.

He wasn't the same young man who had needed Ava so desperately. Archer had struggled and adjusted his psych to let in other sentinels that he'd matched with. But now that Ava had returned, the desire to have her inside his mind resurged like a bad addiction. And this time, there was no Camilla to get between them.

____

"Engine status?" Ilya asked as he strode onto the bridge.

"Engines are hot at a hundred per cent, sir!"

"Ensign Robinson, give me the astrogation map of the Tao Quadrant system."

"Yes, sir."