The Solar Flare

by Laura E. Collins

  “What? . . . When?” Andre interjected, unable to hide the shock in the expression on his face at hearing this news.

  “A little more than a week after we left Kyanos. You see Wesley, James was going to bring me back to you. He was going to right his wrong. We thought you were in the Andromeda and that you were out looking for me. That’s when we located it on Earth. They took me down there so that I could come back to you only to find the ship in ruins.” Ava choked up at the recollection of the emotional event.

  Wesley looked from Ava to James. It was he who continued the story, out loud so Naomi and Andre could hear. “They had it in that old hangar in the southwest desert. It was in pieces and severely damaged. From what I could tell they were in the process of re-building it. When I realized you were nowhere to be found, two of your enemies stepped out and threatened to take Ava’s life. I dealt with the crazy lunatic that could hear our thoughts easily enough. The woman with the short dark hair tried to kill Ava after she told us you were dead. I didn’t let her live much longer after that.”

  “That would have been Draves and Cassidy,” Andre said looking from Wesley to Naomi. Wesley continued to stare at Ava with a sad look in his eyes.

  “It seemed that there were other Asterions nearby and I couldn’t risk Ava’s safety or put my own family and ship in further danger so we left. I brought Ava here so that she could live a normal life without being tangled up in your rather unfortunate war.”

  “I’m sorry Wesley, we all thought you really were dead. I’m so sorry,” Ava said softly.

  “You saw that they were re-building my starship and you didn’t destroy it on your way out? That was months ago! Kaden could be anywhere now!” Wesley shouted at James.

  “Since when are your enemies my problem?” James said incredulously back at him. “Besides, we had a situation with Ava that was occupying my attention.”

  “What situation? Were you hurt?” Wesley turned to Ava with concern.

  “I don’t know what happened to be honest. It’s just that I started feeling all of the energy from those other Asterions and from James and his family. It began to make me sick because I wasn’t used to feeling it. You and everyone else kept it muted from me so that I never really experienced the full brunt of it. But . . . I’ve since gotten used to it, so I am much better now.” Ava smiled weakly.

  “She’s very sensitive to us. I don’t find it hard to believe since she is my match,” James said evenly.

  “Ava belongs to me, not you!” Wesley replied back darkly.

  “Enough! I don’t belong to anyone. I’m not a possession, I’m a human being!” Ava yelled out of frustration.

  “This is true. Ava is not one of us Robinson. She has free will, and she will choose whom she wants to be with. You and I will accept her decision, no matter what,” James said solemnly and resolutely. Wesley stared at him.

  “I’m going back to the house, and the two of you will not fight any more. Do you understand?” Ava said dropping James’ hand so that she could rub her arms. It was getting colder and she wanted to change into something warmer. She didn’t wait for either one of them to respond before she started trudging in the sand back up towards the house.

  Everyone turned and followed her lead. James and Wesley eyed each other cautiously as they followed behind Ava.

  Chapter 27: The Decision

  Wesley followed James right into his house, not caring whether or not he was intruding, as he was not willing to let Ava out of his sight, in case James decided to flee with her.

  “Oh do come in,” James said with mock sincerity as Wesley, Andre, and Naomi walked right through his door in front of his own family. The two of them watched as Ava walked up the stairs towards her room. Wesley began to follow her, but was stopped by James’ comment.

  “Ava likes her privacy Robinson. I’m surprised you don’t know that,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

  “I know a lot more about her than you do, I assure you,” he replied angrily.

  “Of course you do,” James said laughing softly as if he did not believe it. He walked into the family room, followed by everyone else, and poured himself a glass of whiskey out of a decanter. “Like a drink?” He offered Robinson before he tossed back his entire half glass, walking over towards the couch, sitting down.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Wesley said in an exhausted tone as he poured himself one.

  “Why don’t I get you something to drink?” Melanie said to her family as well as Naomi and Andre, who were almost in a stupor watching the events that were unfolding this evening. So far, nothing had gone according to plan.

  “Thank you, may we have some water?” Naomi responded. Melanie nodded and left for the kitchen, returning in a few minutes with a tray holding a pitcher and several glasses.

  Several minutes later Ava came back downstairs dressed in white cargo capris and a plain black V-necked t-shirt. Both James and Wesley stood as she entered the room. Everyone else remained sitting. Ava walked over to James.

  “James, may I please have a few moments alone with Wesley? I need to talk to him. I promise I won’t leave this room.”

  “As you wish,” James said smoothly to Ava while shooting Wesley a “don’t try anything” look, “I need to change too,” he said gesturing to his clothes, that were now filthy, bloody, and torn in various places from the fight. He glanced again at Wesley before leaving the room and walking up the stairs. The others stood up and obediently filed out after him.

  Ava waited a few seconds for the room to clear before she hurried over to Wesley and threw her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her and twirled her around, like he had done in the past, after first seeing her upon a return from a long mission. They kissed several times passionately, their energy connecting, thrilling them just as it had been in the past. He set her down and she started to cry. “I thought you were dead!”

  “That’s all over now sweetheart. I’m here, and we’re going to be fine. I missed you so much!” He said tenderly into her ear. He let them drift slightly apart, keeping his hands on her, so that he could get a good look at her. “Ava, you look so beautiful . . . and healthy.”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of training and working out and stuff,” she said proudly.

  “What kind of training, for what?” Wesley sounded amused.

  “I asked them to teach me things, to keep me occupied so that I wouldn’t go crazy over losing you. I’ve learned how to fight, to shoot, to drive, to dance, . . . and to swim.” Ava hesitated over that last part.

  Wesley sighed. “I wanted to be the one to teach you all of those things.” There was an edge of jealously in his voice. “And I thought you didn’t like to dance?”

  Ava shrugged her shoulders and gave him a sheepish smile.

  “So this is where you’ve lived for the past several months . . . have they taken good care of you?” He asked, his voice full of concern as he glanced at the surroundings.

  “Yes, they are all wonderful. They have been so kind to me . . . just the way you and your family have been.”

  “Ava I want you to be honest with me. You know you can tell me anything. Did they hurt you? Or force you to do anything you did not want to do?” He was practically holding his breath.

  “Of course not Wesley!” Ava was almost outraged at the idea. “James is not evil . . . he wouldn’t do that. You and he . . . are like the same person in two different bodies. Your energy is the same, but each with its own slightly different edge. I’m different now Wesley, I’m stronger and I have a better understanding of what you both are and why you act the way that you do.”

  “I never painted James as evil Ava. He and I are the same. I can only imagine how confused you must feel. I tried to keep you a secret from him . . . I’m sorry that you crossed paths with him,” he said softly.

  “I’m not,” Ava replied quietly.

  Wesley gave her a pained look. “Ava, please come home with me. I have crossed the entire universe to find you
and I love you more than anything. We can go back to Kyanos, we can be married. It will be like it was before. In time, you will forget him.”

  Ava knew this much was true. In a few months of James’ company, he had taken Wesley’s place in her heart. Now she was torn. What should she do? She loved her new home and her new family, but she also loved Wesley and his family. This was not fair. She couldn’t make herself decide right now so she changed the subject. “What about Kaden and the Andromeda? It’s not over, is it?”

  Wesley looked down. “I will find Kaden and put an end to this for good. I promise you Ava. Then we will have nothing to fear.”

  “How can you be so sure? Who is protecting Kyanos while you are here with me?”

  “Ava, Kyanos is fine. You are more important to me than Kaden is. Mia, Rowan, and Justin are there. Trust me they are all right.”

  “How do you know that? Do they even have a starship to defend themselves? I assume that you came here on the Principia. Even that is a dangerous mission. You told me it takes several years to work the kinks out of a new ship. Wesley, how could you be so careless?”

  “I had to find you Ava. I promised you I would never leave you and I failed to keep you safe. Now that I have you, we can go home. We can leave right now, then we can worry about Kyanos.”

  “James said that turf wars could rage on for years. He seemed to think I was safer here.”

  “He would say that, wouldn’t he?” Wesley said angrily. “He would say anything to you to keep you here longer so that he could find a way to slither into your bed like the snake that he is!”

  Ava’s jaw dropped at Wesley’s sudden outburst.

  “At least she would know what she was getting in to bed with,” James voice carried as he walked into the family room, showered, clean, and looking perfect next to Wesley who was still covered in dirt, sand, and blood.

  “How dare you!” Wesley roared.

  James crossed his arms. “How dare you? You pretended to be human to her for far too long while you took her under your wing. She really had no idea what she was getting into, did she? Even when you finally took her to your little colony, you did nothing to prepare her for what was to come. It’s a miracle she was even alive by the time I found her. She’s a lot stronger and more intelligent than you seem to think she is.”

  “Oh, and you are so smart? Using Bryant as your bloodhound to find her was reckless. He is one of my most bitter enemies. He could have easily killed her to get back at me when you weren’t watching.”

  James gave him a bored look. “I was on to Bryant from the start. We ditched him shortly after we found Ava. He was too afraid of me to even touch her.”

  Ava had enough bickering for one night. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said softly rubbing her temples.

  “You don’t have to decide anything tonight,” James assured her, touching her shoulder.

  “Ava, the sooner we leave, the safer Kyanos will be,” Wesley said with a slightly urgent edge, ignoring James and taking her hand.

  “Enough!” Ava stood between them and placed a palm on each of their chests to push them apart. As she did so, it seemed that all three of them connected, as if she had been a conduit for their energy, which seemed to want to merge together and form a complete circuit. Overall the sensation felt like a powerful electric shock traveling through her. Ava removed her hands immediately and each Asterion stepped back, rubbing their chests where Ava had touched them. They eyed each other warily as Ava rubbed her hands to alleviate the stinging sensation. She hardly knew what to make sense of the situation. “I’m going to bed,” she said sounding exhausted, turning away from both of them and marching out into the hallway. She could feel the anguish building up inside Wesley as she left, feeling slightly guilty over it, but she needed some time alone to think this through. Out in the hallway she was met by a hopeful looking Naomi and Andre, who both hugged her again.

  “We were so worried about you Ava, I am happy to see that you are well,” Naomi said.

  “The boss has been beside himself with grief over you, we’ve never seen anything like it,” Andre added grinning at her.

  “How have you all been? What was the fight with Kaden like?”

  “It was rough. They caused a lot of damage to the city and there were many casualties. We thought we had brought Kaden down when we chased him onto the moon where both the Draconis and the Andromeda crash landed, but when we went back, we found that the ship was missing. Then we hauled what was left of Kaden’s ship back to the city. We’ve been searching for you ever since,” Naomi explained.

  “I’m sorry for what you went through, how awful for you, and for Wesley,” Ava said sadly with tears in her eyes.

  “Ava, please come home with us, Wesley needs you,” she pleaded.

  “I know . . . it’s just that I’m so confused right now. I need some time to process this.” The tears were out in full force again, Ava used the back of her hand to wipe them away. “Please, can’t you all just give me some time?”

  “Of course they can Ava, don’t let either one of them pressure you tonight,” Melanie interrupted authoritatively coming nearer with Lizeth to bid her good evening. “Take all the time that you need. Naomi and I will make sure they behave themselves while you sort things out,” she said glancing at Naomi who nodded slowly, looking somewhat frustrated.

  Ava nodded and proceeded back up the stairs while Wesley and James stepped out into the hallway with the others to watch her go.

  “I’m going back to my ship,” Wesley said. Then he turned to James “I’ll be back in the morning and if you dare try anything . . .”

  James narrowed his eyes at Wesley and interrupted him fiercely. “Hasn’t she been through enough! She needs to rest, though I doubt she will be able to sleep tonight. Go back to your ship Robinson, and keep it invisible if you don’t mind. I don’t need you scaring the locals . . . I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but if you truly cared for Ava’s safety, you’d make the right choice for her and just get back on your ship and leave now that you know she has been safe here.” He turned and marched off into the front music room, leaving the others to see Wesley, Naomi, and Andre out. Wesley watched him go showing no emotion on his face.

  Ava tried to concentrate on doing normal bedtime activities to take her mind off of the situation. She managed to get through brushing her teeth and changing into her pajamas without choking on her tears. She grabbed some tissues and laid down on the bed, trying to stay calm. She could feel the energy flowing around from all of the Asterions downstairs and wondered what they were up to. At least she didn’t hear any shouting and took that as a good sign. She heard a door shut and wondered what was going on. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensation of energy from James and Wesley. They were nearly identical, though Wesley’s seemed to be growing fainter and James’ energy seemed to be staying in one place.

  She had seen movies in her past about love triangles where once person had to choose between two different lovers but this was not the same. What do you do when the two people you have to choose between are the same person? Ava couldn’t bring herself to think about choosing between them tonight, so instead she thought about Kyanos and how it compared to Sphene. They were definitely not on the same level as far as development and technology, but Kyanos could get there in time. She would be needed on Kyanos, she could get back to helping to take care of people. Here, she had pretty much been on vacation with no real purpose. It would be dangerous on Kyanos. With Kaden still out there, there was no telling what could happen. She had to admit, she did feel safer and more secure on Sphene. She went back and forth in her mind thinking about the pros and cons of each until she felt herself becoming tired. She faintly heard the sound of James playing the piano downstairs; the music was slow and peaceful and eventually helped her fall asleep.

  Chapter 28: Departure

  Ava had a tumultuous night sleeping intermittently and ended up oversleeping into the late morning before she
showered and made her way downstairs into the kitchen. Mrs. Maclaren greeted her as usual with her coffee and Ava sat at the breakfast bar wondering if this would be the last time that she did. Mrs. Maclaren patted her shoulder affectionately and tried not to stare at the dark circles under Ava’s puffy eyes. She couldn’t be sure, but somehow Ava knew that someone had briefed her on what was going down at the house right now.

  After not eating much of her late breakfast, she decided to wander down onto the beach for the first time since she almost drowned. No one was around, and no-one disturbed her. She noticed that some of the staff was cleaning up the remains of the party-turned-into-brawl last night in the garden. She meandered down to the water’s edge and slipped off her sandals. She walked up and down the shoreline in front of the property, letting the shallow waves flow and retreat over her feet as she walked.

  After some time, she sensed Wesley coming towards her. She turned and gazed upon him and smiled. He looked refreshed and perfect again, wearing his typical captain’s attire of black boots and pants, a navy blue T-shirt and his utility belt. There was no sign that he had ever been in a vicious fight less than a day ago. She walked further up from the shoreline and into his outreached arms. It felt so good to be with him again, she closed her eyes and leaned into his strong embrace.

  “How are you?” He asked softly.

  “I didn’t sleep much,” she admitted truthfully. “You?”

  “Not at all,” he laughed softly, gazing at her.

  “What are we going to do now?” She asked, letting her thoughts be spoken out loud.

  “Ava, I cannot make this decision for you. Things have changed, but above all else, . . . what it all boils down to, is that I want you to be happy.”

  “I know. Thank you, that is very selfless of you. I don’t know what I did to deserve your love . . . or his. No matter what I choose, I’m going to hurt one of you, and myself in the process. It just isn’t fair.”