There is no sign of the cyborg threat in Slovenia, Admiral,” the away team leader told him from the screen.

“Is it possible that they slipped through the boarder somehow?” Sysko asked.

“It is possible, Admiral, but we could use more men on the ground.”

“I'll do one better than that,” Sysko said. “I will come down there myself.

Sysko's ability to search out cyborgs was legendary. He went to his speeder and climbed inside, hurrying toward the small country where the cyborgs had been spotted. Meeting up with the away team, he got the full details on their search.

He set his scanners for any sign of cyborg activity and began to fly over the country, back and forth until he was convinced there was no activity there. He had learned to suss out even the slightest blip on his monitors over his many years of hunting cyborgs, but there was nothing in the entire country.

He began a wider search across the area after that. When he was convinced there was nothing anywhere near there, he started back to Boston for his date with Freda. He instructed his away team to start on an increased perimeter over Europe and Asia and set several more teams on the mission

Sysko arrived at Freda’s apartment just in time to find half a dozen men in black trench coats busting through her apartment door. He slid his hand over his wrist com, activating his nanotech laser sword, and rushed at the men in trench coats. His cyborg detector was going off like mad. He sliced through the first man, who he’d taken off guard, but the others could not be put off so easily. They were trained operatives and had weapons of their own. Three attacked him as another searched the apartment for whatever they were looking for.

Sysko met their attack with his nanotech sword, deflecting each blow with agility and speed. He glanced over their shoulders to find the third cyborg grabbing Violet and trying to link into her system. Angrily, he gritted his teeth and burst into his thralled dragon form.

His massive dragon body was almost too big to fit inside the apartment, but he clawed at the invaders and slice them apart with ease. He shifted back to bipedal form and jumped on the last cyborg, knocking Violet from its hands.

“Daddy,” the robot wailed.

Sysko sliced his sword through the air, cutting the cyborg’s head off. It rolled across the floor and landed at Violet's feet. The robot screamed and ran under the bed.

“It's okay, Violet,” he said, sitting on the bed and catching his breath. “They're all gone now.”

“What did they want, Daddy?” Violet said, coming out from under the bed.

“I think they wanted you. Your system is highly advanced and uses technology that the Draxos have not even invented yet. If they got a hold of you, they’d have the key to our firewalls. It could have put the entire galaxy at risk.”

“Where's Mommy?”

“I don't know, Violet, but we’re going to find her. Do you know where she kept the files for our firewalls?”

Violet pulled back the area rug in Freda’s room and revealed a secret compartment in the floor.

“Good girl,” he said, pulling the loose board from the floor.

He found the files inside and took them with him downstairs as Violet hurried behind him. They jumped into his speeder and traveled quickly to the school. He left Violet in the speeder while he searched the campus for her. He tried to get a hold of her on his wrist com, but it just kept saying it was off-line. That worried him even more. It was dark and getting later by the minute. Where could she be?

He called her cellphone, but no one answered. Gritting his teeth, he returned to the speeder. Violet was in a frantic state, pacing around the back when he returned.

“Did you find her?”

All he could do was shake his head darkly and get behind the wheel of the vehicle.

“We have to find Mommy!”

“We will find her, little friend. We will find her.”

He rose from the Earth and hovered above the school as his heart pounded and his mind raced. He sensed the most horrific feeling he had ever experienced. His inner dragon’s screams pierced through his ears and echoed across the walls of his mind. Sysko covered his ears against the sound, even though it was coming from within him. In an instant, he knew that something was wrong with his mate. She was hurt or in trouble.

His inner dragon howled and gave him a picture in his mind of a warehouse north of the city. The cyborgs had Freda captive and were going to change her. Without another thought, he accelerated the speeder toward the location and was there in a matter of minutes.

“We have to find Mommy!” Violet continued yelling from the back.

“I will save her,” Sysko said through gritted teeth as he disembarked the ship.

The hatch closed behind him and he left the schematics and Violet inside. He could sense Freda was beyond the closed door of the small warehouse. With all his strength, he kicked the door open and found the room full of newly formed cyborgs in various states of production.

He constructed his nanotech sword as a dozen agents came toward him. Freda was passed out unconscious in a chair. His anger grew to a boiling point inside him. He opened his mouth and breathed out the ether of space. It instantly cooled any cyborgs who came close to him. Their heads burst and shattered into a billion pieces. When they were all dead, he ran to Freda.

Sysko untied her and lifted her limp body into his arms. A red mark shown on her soft flesh where the tip of the drill had grazed her temple. Enraged blood coursed through his veins, and he swore that he would kill every last cyborg in existence for hurting her.

He carried her out of the warehouse and climbed on board his speeder, placing her gently in the backseat. Once back at the Black Phantom, he took her to the medical bay for a full diagnostic. She was okay, but remained unconscious for several hours. He sat by her side, holding her hand. With each moment she remained motionless, he grew more passionate about his mission to eradicate the cyborgs from existence.

Unlike the other intelligent species in the universe, the cyborgs could not live peacefully among them. Their prime directive was to assimilate other races into their own. Because of that, they were a threat to every living creature in the galaxy. They had to be stopped. Violet sat beside Freda, a worried expression on her robotic face.

“Is Mommy going to be okay?” Violet asked.

“She will be, Violet,” Sysko said, petting the robot on the head.

At first, he’d been reluctant to believe the robot was not a threat, but after spending some time with her, and seeing her intense affection for his mate, he no longer believed she was.

Several hours later, Freda's eyes finally fluttered opened and a wave of relief washed over him. She tried to sit up, but he told her to rest still.

“You've had quite a fright,” he said.

“Oh Sysko,” she said. “Thank God you found me and Violet.”

She opened her arms for the robot creature to bounce into her embrace, and it rubbed its head against her cheek.

“I'll never let them hurt you, Mommy,” Violet said. “I want to help you fight them.”

Sysko watched the little creature with his mate and was convinced the artificial intelligence was not only alive but had a heart and soul of its own. It had loyalty to Freda like a child and therefore could be trusted. But he would not dream of letting it fight the cyborg threat. It was too risky.

“Don't worry sweetheart,” Freda said. “The big strong dragons are fighting the cyborgs. You don't have to worry about fighting them.”

“But I want to help,” Violet insisted.

“I'm sure there's something that you can do.”