Into the Wild Black Yonder

Posted on 06 Mar 2015 @ 11:48pm by

574 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: M13-A: From the Old to the New
Location: Deep Space Nine - Quark's Bar

[ON]

The rhythm of life coursed through the station as it made its slow arc around Bajor. A pair of hazel eyes watched the continuation of life’s tireless march forward from a corner table. The eyes were encased in dark circles, framed by a round, solemn face, and capped with unkempt black hair. The scene was unremarkable to the man, yet he studied every minute detail as though searching for anything that might separate the routine setting from any number of other similar station promenades he experienced. His eyes, both sharp yet tired from years of dancing on the fragile horizon that separated ingenuity from a truly chaotic intellect, hungered for any telltale signs that would define this one singular moment in his life as the unmistakable present.
A warm, soft sensation on his hand drew his eyes to a female trill. The sight of his wife elicited a genuine smile from his hirsute lips. “Everything alright, Zachary?”

“Of course, dear.” He took the hand she placed upon his and kissed it. “Just watching the people come and go.”
His wife smiled poignantly, all too aware of the nature of her husband’s demons. Upon look at him, his unblinking eyes and solemn visage, the average observer may assume he was not entirely stable. She knew very well her husband’s mind functioned as well as any other. She liked to think of his tendency to swear to the extent that his universal translator actually bleeped the expletives out in real time as a personal quirk, not to mention an impressive feat of engineering, rather than any reflection of his character.

“You’re sure about this?” he said, looking into her soft brown eyes. “It’s not as if we can turn around when we get homesick.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she replied. “I think Varinia and Dave will enjoy exploring space and it will be a good experience for them.”

“They’ll miss some of their classmates.” Zack said, thinking of how his children would settle in to a new way of life for only the thousandth time. “They made some good friends on the Adamant.”

“They’ll make new friends.”

“Doubt there’ll be much chance of you becoming joined out there,” he remarked. Zack knew becoming a joined Trill was one of his wife’s ambitions. He wasn’t comfortable with her giving that up for his post.

“Then I guess I’ll have to settle for being plain old Jeyna Hind,” She consoled. “I won’t lie: hosting a symbiont is one of the highest honors a Trill can receive. But this mission is a chance for us to make history and see things never seen before.” Jeyna gave a mild shrug. “I’d say I’m trading one once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for another.”

“It’s a shame you aren’t joined. This would be an invaluable experience for any symbiont.”

“Zack, don’t worry about it.” She gave him a comforting smile. “I’m fine with this, I promise you.”

“Alright.” Zack began to rise from his seat. “How about we get the kids and take them on a trip to Bajor? These are going to our last few days in known space, after all. Might as well make what memories we can.”

Jeyna stood up and stretched. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

[OFF]
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Lt. Commander Zachary Hind
Wing Commander - CAG
USS Achilles

 

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