Thresholds

Posted on Wed Feb 28th, 2018 @ 7:05am by Lieutenant Commander Kazyah Linn & Captain Akiva ben-Avram

655 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: S1E1: Bynars Be Bygones
Location: Bynaus
Timeline: MD 6

This was it. The Delta Flyer had finally arrived. Running the engines at maximum warp to get them here in record time nearly blew them up on several occasions, but once they arrived at the Beta Magellan system, it was smooth flying to Bynaus. The system was a gravimetric cluster that required a modulated heading to navigate. To Akiva's mind, attempting a manual approach would seem like suicide. And when he assessed the readings of the Dyson swarm of the broken binary stars, Akiva was nothing short of astounded.

"I knew the Bynars were brilliant, but I had no idea," he said in awed wonder as they flew at full impulse toward the planet. "The researchers on my world would salivate over what they have accomplished here."

"Try and keep it in your, pants, ok?" Kaz said, leaning over the console as his hands lightly passed over the glass surface, his fingers reading the raised braille that identified the different keys.

Akiva grimaced toward Kaz. "Must you always be so crass?" He shook his head dismissively. "Never mind. The only thing that matters now is finding Biynah. If your tracking device is still working, it appears she is in the northern hemisphere near the pole."

Kaz resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I've set us into a descending pattern and sent an automated message to the Bynar defense net informing them of our arrival. We should be setting down a few kilometers from the android's position."

"And travel the rest of the way on foot?" Akiva asked. "I've... never infiltrated anything before."

"Well slow down," Kaz said, the side of his mouth curling upward. "I'll be infiltrating," he said. "You will wait for my signal that it is safe."

Akiva nodded. "Honestly, I'm eager to experience the Praxis interface that I've been reading about."

"All in due time, Akiva," Kaz said, "All in good time."

The large delta-flyer type runabout entered the lower atmosphere. As the vessel came close to the surface, the lower feet extended and the ship touched down. Akiva grabbed his slate shoulder bag and made for the door hatch.

"Our transponder codes will need to be updated in a few hours, so I'll be back here then unless I hear from you sooner," Akiva said as he disembarked. "According to the FNN's data entry on Bynaus, there's a commissary outside the public landing platforms where I should be able to do some digging with a glass of slivovitz."

"Just don't go too far, alright?" Kaz asked as he walked behind Akiva. "I'm going to do some recon, check out where they're holding Biynah. If I have the opportunity, I'll see if we can grab her. I'd rather her be in our possession than Mrazak's."

"No worries, my friend," Akiva said, patting Kaz on the shoulder. "I'll never get up from my lounge chair. If I get a handle on the Bynaus global interface, I might even be able to watch you come and go through the computer network."

Kaz grimaced. Slightly from the awkward suggestion Akiva had just made, but more from the personal connection the two of them shared. While it was true, Akiva and Kazyah had become quite close over the past two years, it wasn't exactly something that Kaz enjoyed to admit. He much preferred to keep Akiva at arms length. Without another word, Kaz stepped around the man and disappeared into the concrete jungle beyond.

The twitching grimace from Kaz due to his tactile contact made Akiva withdraw his hand with sudden shame. As agile and capable as the man presented himself, Akiva often forgot Kaz was blind. Physical contact was a threshold best left uncrossed. Akiva did not flatter himself to be a "people person," and so simple avoidance seemed the best path going forward. As he exited the Delta Flyer, he locked it down and departed in the opposite direction.

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