Cabin Fever

Posted on Fri Jan 12th, 2018 @ 3:55am by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Lieutenant Commander Kazyah Linn
Edited on on Tue Jan 16th, 2018 @ 2:43pm

1,227 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: S1E1: Bynars Be Bygones
Location: Delta Flyer en route to Bynaus
Timeline: MD 5

Akiva closed the subspace channel with a huffing slap. "Why can't anything be easy?"

It had taken some doing to access the various legal materials to cross-reference the records of Hebron Colony's Sanhedrin legislative body and Bynaus' legal network. Days of being cooped up had left him with no answers to the problem of his daughter being detained by the Bynars. After all of his studying, he had little more than a nascent migraine to show for it.

"I'm sorry," he said to Kaz at the helm beside him. "For the outburst."

"I'm not even paying attention to you," Kaz said, his eyes closed as his chest rose and feel with deep breaths.

Akiva scowled at the man. "You're not?! We've got to have a plan for when we get there, Kaz, otherwise this whole escapade will be for nothing."

"I have a plan," Kaz replied, still not opening his eyes.

"Well, that makes one of us." Akiva sighed and threw his head back. "I could make the case that Biynah is a citizen of my home, Hebron Colony, except that androids are considered abominations there. The Bynars have a nearly incomprehensible case law record that would take one of their own to fully decipher. It seems like my only option will be to fall back on Federation jurisprudence, which unfortunately means bringing JAG into the matter." He grit his teeth. "That could take months."

"JAG is already involved." Kaz sighed, opening his eyes, "And you're interrupting my meditation." Standing, the man walked behind the seat he was sitting in and began to go through a regimen of full body stretching. "Unfortunately for you, Mrazak and his tragic looking peon are the representatives of JAG in this matter. I highly doubt they will side with you."

Akiva frowned. "Mrazak the Theta man? If he is the JAG representative, then perhaps we can drive him into the open with an official inquest." Brightening a bit at the thought, Akiva continued. "He would be forced to expose himself and... whatever clandestine operation he's trying to pull with my daughter."

"I would hardly consider that fool's operation to be clandestine. He's a scientist who gathers things and brings them back to Theta." Kaz scoffed, "He's a glorified bellhop."

"Even so," Akiva insisted, "if it came down to being dragged into the spotlight of official record and leaving Biynah alone, maybe that threat could end this entire fiasco."

Kaz slammed his hands down on the console, "Akiva!" he shouted in frustration. He took a deep breath and sighed before he continued. "Threatening to expose Theta is the underhanded ploy of a desperate man. And it's something that I wouldn't allow. The secrecy of Theta is paramount to the protection of the Federation, and as much as you don't want to hear this, your android's life is hardly worth exposing them."

"I beg to differ." Akiva kept his voice low and quiet, but his eyes were penetrating. "If we stand for this, then we are no better than our adversaries."

"Stand for what?" Kaz asked, throwing his hands in the air. "They're doing their job. They're doing exactly what they are trained and mandated to do. Assess a threat to the Federation and archive it. This threat just happens to have sentimental value to you. That's not their problem, or the Federation's problem. At this point, you have to prove that the android isn't a threat. Because if she's determined a threat, they will take her, and I will be required to allow them to do so."

Akiva balked at that. "Wait. Let's back up. You mentioned a plan. Tell me what it is before we continue this argument."

"I can't tell you," was the man's simple response as he returned to his stretching."Cannot or will not?"

"Both."

"Bah!" Akiva balled his hands into fists for a moment before flinging them open again. "Then what are we supposed to do in a few days when we arrive?"

Kaz sighed, walking back to the chair and slumping into it. "Look, I have a plan. But I can't exactly tell you what it is, because I need you to have plausible deniability, so you're just going to have to trust me."

Akiva gave a sigh to match Kaz's. The man was right. It burned Akiva to admit it to himself, but Kaz was right. "All right. If I go to the Federation embassy and try to speak with the ambassadorial staff regarding Biynah's whereabouts, will that interfere with your plan? I won't play the JAG card just yet, but I have to do something."

"Actually, we should be able to find her quite easily." Kaz pulled out a PADD and held it out towards Akiva. "It is standard policy that all androids are tagged for location. This information is shared with Memory Theta and they keep track of all known androids within the Federation. Mrazak will have this information, and should have no trouble finding your creation. But neither will we."

That struck Akiva sideways. "You did what?" He pressed his palms against his face as he absorbed and processed the revelation. "When did this happen? Do you realize that her synthetic flesh is generated by molecular motors governed by her positronic subprocessor? There is no telling what introducing a foreign object into her body could do!" His eyes narrowed to match the chilling tone of his voice. "This entire fiasco could have been your doing, Kazyah."

It was foolish to blame Kazyah for following protocol. Akiva knew that. "The Federation may not be what I thought it was, if this Memory Theta is its secret police."

"You're reading too much into this," Kaz replied. "They are hardly a secret police. They are just in place to observe and maintain possible threats to the Federation. Past experience has proven that androids can pose a major threat, and as such, they are cataloged. They are hardly pulling people from their beds in the middle of the night and making them disappear." A sick smile slowly spread over Kaz's face. "That's my job."

Akiva shook his head in resignation. "As you say. When we reach Bynaus in a few days, I will petition the ambassador to arrange Biynah's release while you scout her holding location. Either way we will rescue her."

"I can do better than that," Kaz said. He pressed a button on the center console and a small red light began to blink. "I've activated her chip, and we're now tracking her. We should be able to land the runabout as close to her location as possible. And with any luck, we'll get here before Mrazak does."

"I'm glad I approved your commandeering of this vessel when it arrived," Akiva said. "I suppose I ought to trust you more."

"Might not be a bad idea," Kaz said, his voice drenched in sarcasm. "Now, can you please calm down. We still have a few days until we get there, and I'd rather not have to sedate you for the rest of the trip."

"You will do not such thing!" Once calm, Akiva had slipped back into his anxious disposition. "I'm serious, Kaz. Don't you try to sedate me or I'll... I'll sedate you right back."

The words fell flat as soon as they were spoken.

"I mean it," he added.

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