One Last Moment - Part 3
Posted on Sat Aug 8th, 2026 @ 5:17pm by Captain Marc Steyn & Lieutenant JG Ikan Seidel & Lieutenant JG Kethyra Vesh & Ensign Kristian Hale & Commodore Charlotte Reyes & Lieutenant Commander Maximo (Max) Vero & Lieutenant Vireya Talvaren & Lieutenant Syvar MD & Lieutenant Reruk & Lieutenant JG Charlie Johnson & Lieutenant S'Kai & Lieutenant JG T'Chiara MD & David Steyn & Leia Beaumont
2,486 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Season 1, Episode 1: Ashes of Wolf 359
Location: Steyn Residence, Cape Town, Earth
ON
The party had continued for several hours, the initial formality of the gathering long since giving way to laughter, conversation and the easy familiarity of people who would soon be spending years together aboard Genesis. The sun had finally disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving behind the deep blues and purples of the evening sky.
From the upper veranda, Marc had a clear view across Table Bay.
The familiar coastline had transformed beneath the darkness, the city lights of Cape Town stretching along the shoreline like a constellation mirrored upon the water. The harbour glowed warmly in the distance, vessels moving slowly through the bay with their navigation lights reflecting across the surface, while the silhouette of Table Mountain stood watch over the city behind them.
For a moment, Marc simply took it in.
This was home.
A sudden burst of colour drew his attention further along the shoreline. Fireworks erupted from the beach below, blooming across the night sky in brilliant flashes that reflected off the calm waters of the bay. The cheers and distant music carried faintly upwards, blending with the sounds of his own gathering behind him.
It was a fitting reminder of what he had fought to preserve—not just exploration, not just diplomacy, but moments like this.
Moments of connection.
Marc lifted the glass Vireya had brought and took another sip of the amber liquid. It had caught him completely by surprise at first, far stronger and more complex than he had expected, but the warmth of it had settled comfortably after a few moments. The afterglow of the alcohol, however, had begun to make its presence known, blooming slowly at the back of his head with considerably more force than anticipated.
He swallowed carefully, a slight cough escaping him as he shook his head with quiet amusement.
"That is definitely not a drink for casual consumption," he muttered to himself.
Before he could take another breath, he felt another presence move to his side.
A small hand touched his arm and drew his attention. "Are you alright dad?" David asked as he stood at his father's side. The teenager had avoided the party but now that he saw his father stand alone, he felt slightly worried. "It's a little overwhelming isn't it, having so many people in the house."
"Just taking a moment to say goodbye," Marc said quietly.
He slipped an arm around his son's shoulders and pulled him close, the gesture instinctive and familiar. For a moment, he wasn't a captain, a Starfleet officer, or the person responsible for an entire star ship and its crew.
He was simply a father.
He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of David's head, holding him there as they both looked out across the bay.
"Your mother loved this view," he said softly, his voice carrying a hint of emotion. "She could sit here for hours just watching the water, the lights, the city coming alive at night."
Marc let the silence sit between them for a moment, allowing the sounds of the celebration behind them and the distant fireworks across the bay to fill the space.
"I just wanted one last image of it in my mind before we leave tomorrow."
His gaze remained fixed on the view ahead—the place that had been home, the place where so many memories had been made.
"Excuse me Captain. I'm sorry to interrupt but is this David?" Leia came over and asked softly.
"I'm David," the boy answered, a little irritated that his private moment with his father has been interrupted" and I'm right here, I can answer for myself."
"David," Marc chided gently, the single word carrying all the quiet authority of a father rather than a captain.
He rested a hand lightly on his son's shoulder before turning back to the woman standing before them.
"This is Miss Beaumont," he said with a warm smile. "She'll soon be your teacher aboard Genesis."
As he made the introduction, he found himself holding her gaze for a fraction longer than propriety probably allowed. There was something about her presence—an easy confidence coupled with a genuine kindness—that momentarily caught him off guard. Realising he'd lingered, Marc offered an almost imperceptible smile before returning to formality, or as much formality as the drinks his Tactical Officer had been handing out would allow, hoping the brief lapse had gone unnoticed.
A teacher, great... David schooled his features into a forced smile as he offered his hand in greeting. "David Steyn," he said, his Afrikaans accent very evident.
Leia was self enough aware to know she had intruded and felt bad for putting the teen in an awkward position. She had also felt the captains eyes on her and was trying not to blush. Being her first ship posting, she didn’t know where starting to develop a crush on a parent let alone the captain sat with things. She knew officers did have relationships. Had heard stories. She felt her cheeks deepen slightly but focused on who was important in this moment.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you David. I really am sorry if I interrupted things. I just wanted to say hello and say I look forward to getting to know you further at school.”
The boy just nodded, irritated that his private time with his fai, which was already scarce, was cut even shorter. "We'll see," he answered shortly, "dad I'm going for a walk, I'll be out on the porch later if you need me."
Leia bit her lip as the teen ran away. She turned back to the Captain. “I apologise. Clearly that was a wrong move on my part. Perhaps you should go after him.”
"No, its fine" Marc said knowing it was just his son being a teenager. Objecting to having to go to school, in combat with his own hormones every moment of the day and knowing that although living with his father from this point it would be in the capacity as the ships captains son, he knew he would always come second to his father position. "He just needs time to adjust... It'll take time".
She nodded. “He’ll get there.’ She said softly.
“What about you?” She asked, “I’m sure it will be an adjustment both ways.”
"It will be," Marc admitted, a genuine smile breaking through. "More than anything, it'll be having my son with me. And then there's the command itself. If I'm honest, it wasn't something I had been pursuing. I certainly hadn't expected it to land in my lap the way it did. But now that it's here, right in front of me..." He paused, glancing towards the gathering beyond them. "I'm excited. Nervous, perhaps, but mostly excited. It feels like an opportunity I can't afford to waste."
He let out a quiet breath, the weight of the admission seeming to lift from his shoulders. Then, with a more familiar grin, he nodded towards the drinks waiting across the room.
"Enough of the serious conversation, though. Come on—let me get you another drink before someone else beats us to the good stuff."
With that, Marc fell into step beside them, the conversation naturally giving way to the easier sounds of the gathering as they made their way towards the drinks and the waiting crowd.
On the lower Veranda by the pool
Charlotte had stepped outside for a few minutes to just try and catch her breath. She'd forgotten how overwhelming social events like this could be, lots of new people as well as reactions to her rank. As the hours had passed, it became harder to pretend.
A slight breeze chilled her arms as darkness had set in, the knee high sundress she wore offering little protection to the cooling temperature.
Starfleet had been on such high alert the last two years with awareness developing around the Borg and the possibility of what they might bring to the front. Captains had been kept on high alert, having to search for signs and almost waiting that around the next corner would be a Borg cube. Or even worse...that what had happened to Picard might happen to them also.
The Commodore's hand tightened on her drink as she tried to push the memories back. In a sick sense; without the Borg she wouldn't be standing here today with her new rank. After Wolf 359, Starfleet panicked with having to rebuild; throwing young people like her to ranks sooner than would otherwise happen. How funny was it though, career advancement on the back of deaths of colleagues and friends.
Walking over to the edge of the pool, the woman looked down at the image staring back at her. The shadows under her eyes showed the days and nights spent trying to help Starfleet regroup, implement new commanding officers and getting ships under their feet. The depth of her eyes showed the exhaustion and loss she felt of so many colleague and friends the Borg.
Today should have been a happy day; a new crew mingling and interacting. Happiness and integration was the priority. But it only offered a brief escape from what would face her tomorrow.
"I was wondering when you might venture close enough." Charlotte didn't see anybody but the presence in the background behind her was one she wouldn't forget, couldn't forget. Still she didn't turn as she continued to focus on her reflection. "I had begun to believe that perhaps it had all been a dream, you disappeared before the sun was even up."
Max was slipping his shoes off thinking he might sit down and soak his feet when his jaw dropped as her familiar silhouette was staring at him in the water. It was her. His hand reached out tentatively as if he needed to touch her the check she was in fact real and this wasn’t some strange alien, alcohol or even heat exhaustion induced trick. That was the wrong move. He slipped, went crashing into the water and clonked his head on the side of the pool for good measure.
‘I …” he started, flapped his arms around trying to get his footing. The cold was suddenly everywhere. “I … did not mean to … ‘ he started. “ I panic … It was too mu …” his feet located the floor and he stood up properly water flowing all down his shirt, his bottom half firmly in the pool. “How …. Why …. Are you?….. here,” he finished shivering suddenly as he turned round and properly faced her.
When she saw his head on the side of the pool, Charlotte had her shoes slipped off ready to jump in before seeing how he'd managed to recollect herself. Instead she just stayed at the edge of the pool, crossing her arms across her chest partly in a vulnerable move and partly as she began to feel the chill in the air.
The woman's lips twitched a little as the took in the entire situation, the feature of water in their meeting not passing by unnoticed. "Seems that the universe has a strange sense of humor...this was the last place I was expecting to see you. If your head ok? And I don't ask that as a rhetorical question Max; it looked like you banged up hard on your way down."
His hand instinctively moved to his head, now she had said that and the shock of the cold was starting to wear off he could feel it throbbing. He waved her off, having no desire to have to go see the doctor right now and pulled himself out of the pool. Luckily he swam a fair bit so pulling oneself out of a pool was not difficult. Although it did feel slower than normal with his head throbbing.
Once he got to his feet, he looked her head on. "I owe you an apology. It was very ... ungentlemanlike of me." his eyes darted round for a towel. Even though they had seen each other naked, he suddenly felt very exposed every part of his shirt and trousers clinging to him leaving very little to the imagination. And he was sure he had the seen science chief somewhere close by in his perifocal vision.
He wondered if she was about to start shouting and make a scene. Or he was about to get slapped?
Yes of psychology allowed Charlotte to pick up the subtle body language and hints that indicated Max wasn't comfortable at all in this situation. Of course, being wet from head to toe might not have completely helped that situation but the apology indicated maybe part of the discomfort was her being here too.
"Ungentlemanly is one way of putting it. After the night that we'd had..." the Commodore stopped herself before she went any further and fell back on those memories. They'd been soured by the empty bed that had greeted her the following morning; the feelings of inadequacy that flooded her in that moment as she wondered what she might have done wrong. The accompanying feelings of why did he run...was it something that she'd said or done.
"It was too much. Your right." A flash of hurt moved across Charlotte's eyes as she caught the outline of a couple walking up to the pool edge; reminding her were they both were at this time. "It was good to see you again Max. Take care of yourself, try to avoid bodies of water though because nothing good seems to come from each time you encounter them."
The Commodore leaned down to pick her shoes up in one hand, giving Max one last smile before turning to move back into the house; acknowledging the couple as she moved passed them.
Max located a towel in a pile next to one of the loungers and wrapped it round him. He couldn't leave things like this. He didn't like any kind of conflict. He set off after her catching her up hoping he wasn't dripping too much water everywhere.
"Ok look lets, just talk about this .... I owe you an explanation .... here look an empty room, " he indicated. Telling him to avoid bodies of water had been a cheap shot but he supposed in the circumstances he deserved that.
Charlotte hesitated for a second trying to figure if it was best to leave the past in the past and move on or weather it was worth hearing Max out. The guy shed met that might had been kind and caring; both in their conversation and after. The guy who'd left in the depths of the night had never married up in her mind which is why she struggled to not believe that she had not been the problem.
Letting out a slow and steady breath, the Commodore lightly nodded her head before moving into the empty room that Max had indicated.
...To Be Continued...
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