Spitting Image

Posted on Sun Sep 27th, 2026 @ 4:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Maximo (Max) Vero & Lieutenant Vireya Talvaren

1,879 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Season 1 Episode 2: The Garden at the Edge of Night
Location: Vero Quarters
Timeline: Pre-day from hell when everything breaks down

ON

Max had spoken to Liam at length the other night trying to unpick why he was so nervous. His counselor had said it was because a proper link to his old life, the idea of loosing it all again was filling him with fear. He needed to look upon this as a gift.

He replicated a Synthehol beer and sat down on his couch waiting. He didn't have to wait long it seemed. "Incoming transmission from Earth," the computer told him.

"Put through," Max said taking a sip of his beer then spitting it out. Looking back at him was his brother. "Luciano," he said his eyes wide.

For perhaps half a second, the man on the screen looked every bit as startled as Max did.

The resemblance was extraordinary. Luciano's dark features had survived the generations with unnerving fidelity, though age had put its own marks around Lorenzo's eyes and threaded a little grey through his hair. Whatever greeting he had prepared seemed to desert him at the sound of that name.

"Luciano..." he repeated quietly, then gave a small shake of his head. "No. Sorry. Lorenzo. Lorenzo Vero."

He hesitated, looking at Max with the strange concentration of someone trying to reconcile a living face with a lifetime of photographs and family recordings.

"I suppose this is going to take a little getting used to."

A faint, uncertain smile finally found him.

"Hello, Max."

Max nodded. ”You look just like him. Did he have a good life?”

Lorenzo’s expression softened.

"He did. Yeah. He really did."

He shifted slightly in his seat, some of the initial awkwardness easing now that Max had given him something familiar to talk about.

"Luciano kept singing for years. Travelled all over with it, apparently, but Bologna was always home. There's a recording of him somewhere complaining for about ten minutes because somebody in Paris put cream in a carbonara, so... some things clearly survived old age."

Lorenzo smiled.

"He married. Had a family. Three children, then grandchildren, great-grandchildren eventually. By the end there were Veros everywhere. Most of them still around Bologna, some scattered halfway across Earth."

His eyes came back to Max.

"He was happy. That's what everyone always said about him, and from the recordings I've seen... yeah. I think he was."

A beat passed before Lorenzo's mouth crooked slightly.

"Maria survived him, incidentally."

He let that sit there for a second.

"The tortoise. Your tortoise, apparently. The family has been very specific about that for nearly a century."

The humour faded gently rather than disappearing.

"Luciano never stopped believing you'd come back, though. None of them really did. That's why there are so many recordings. Birthdays, weddings, Christmases... ordinary stuff. They just kept making them."

Lorenzo gave the smallest shrug.

"I grew up hearing that you weren't dead. You were missing. Apparently the difference mattered."

“He always sang beautifully. Almost as good as papa,” Max said with a smile. “I would like to see the recordings. Well they were right. I’m not dead. I wouldn’t have given up on any of them either. Maria, oh that tortoise. She was a menace. Where is she?”

Lorenzo laughed, properly this time.

"Bologna Zoo."

He watched Max’s face for the reaction, clearly enjoying being the one to deliver that particular piece of family history.

"Apparently there came a point where keeping Maria at home stopped being considered a sensible arrangement. I don't know the whole story, but every version I've heard involves a garden wall, somebody's vegetables and my great-aunt swearing she'd never look after her again."

His grin lingered.

"The zoo took her years ago. She's still there. Still healthy, still apparently determined to outlive the entire Vero family."

Lorenzo eased back again, the humour settling into something warmer.

"And the recordings are yours. All of them. I've got the originals stored safely, along with the rest of your things." He paused. "I wasn't going to send anything until I'd actually spoken to you. Seemed... wrong, somehow. Ninety-seven years of people talking to you deserved more than a courier notification."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," Max said. "And Maria, I will speak to the Captain. I'm not sure how feasible a large tortoise is onboard a star ship but perhaps we can modify the Arboretum. The school kids might enjoy her. I bet she doesn't remember me at all. What about Emilio and Aria? Can you tell me anything there? I looked up my parents but couldn't at that time bring myself to go any further."

Lorenzo’s expression changed slightly at Emilio’s name.

"Emilio's alive."

He let Max have that before continuing.

"He's on Argelius. Very old now, obviously. He keeps mostly to his own side of the family these days. Ours hasn't really spoken to him in years." Lorenzo shifted forward a little. "I can get a message to him, though. His children and grandchildren still have contact. If you want to speak to him, I'll make it happen."

Aria brought a softer smile back.

"She joined Starfleet. Medical. From what I've been told, finding you was a big part of why she signed up in the first place." He gave a small shrug. "She married, divorced, married again, divorced again. Four children somewhere amongst all that. Eventually she left Starfleet and settled on Argelius with your mother."

Lorenzo paused, then added more quietly, "She had a full life too."

Max was still processing. He put the beer on his coffee table and leaned forward. "Emilio's alive. My brother. I can actually speak to my brother.

"Grazie, che Dio ti benedica. Mio splendido fratello. Mi concedi una benedizione nella nuova vita che mi doni," he said fast. Expressively. His hands animated in gestures, his face brightening. Pure elation. One of the few times so far in this century he had fully felt again.

It took a moment for the universal translator to catch up.

"Thank you god bless you. My beautiful brother. You allow me one blessing in the new life you bestow upon me."

"He .... he must be so old ..... how how is he so old and still alive? I don't care. I must ... we must be reconciled. Yes please. If you were in front of me I would kiss you ... please ask his side of the family to connect us ..."

"And my beautiful sister. The sun and also the moon of our family. I feel bad she devoted her life to find me but equally the love my sibling had for me. For her to do that," there were tears forming in his eyes .... this was very emotional ...... " I am glad she found some happiness too.

"Grazie infinite Lorenzo. Mi dai speranza e mi aiuti a trovare un po' di serenità in questo momento particolare che sto vivendo.

"A million thank you's Lorenzo. You give me hope and some closure in this strange time I find myself,"

"Next time I return to Earth I would like to thank you in person, I'm sorry I was not around to be an uncle to you and your kin, to see you grow up - I would have liked that. I would have been your cool Uncle Maximo. Proud to be your uncle. Perhaps I still can in some capacity if you would permit me ..... and I go visit Maria. Rehome her hopefully. Is your great aunt still around. If so I must reimburse her many plants ..... I still grow plants,"

Lorenzo had gone very still while Max spoke. Whatever he had expected from the call, it clearly had not been quite this.

"Max... no. You don't have to thank me like that."

His smile came back, smaller now, touched with something more personal.

"He's your brother. If Emilio wants to speak to you, then the two of you should speak. I'll contact his family as soon as we're finished here and tell them exactly what you've said. After that, I think it's between you and him."

He gave a quiet laugh at the offer of a kiss.

"And I'll consider myself warned."

The mention of being an uncle caught him differently. Lorenzo glanced down for a moment before looking back at the screen.

"You didn't choose to miss any of it. None of us grew up thinking Uncle Max abandoned the family. Quite the opposite." His mouth crooked. "So you're not starting ninety-seven years in debt."

He leaned back slightly.

"And if you want to be Uncle Maximo now, I don't think anybody's going to object. You'll probably regret saying it once you discover how many of us there are."

There was something unmistakably warm in his expression now.

"When you're back on Earth, come to Bologna. We'll do this properly. Food, wine, too many Veros talking at once. You can meet everyone who wants to meet you, and there will be a lot of them."

Lorenzo’s grin widened at the last part.

"And then we'll go and see Maria. I can't promise the zoo will surrender her just because you turn up claiming century-old ownership, but I would very much like to be there when you try."

"If you really have all my things there was a certificate of ownership," Max said. "Of course if that doesn't work, we can try sneak her out. I mean I knew a route into that zoo when I was a teenager. We wanted to go see the giraffes. I wonder if its still there. Lets pin that as plan b, depending on how drunk we get," Max stated. Lorenzo had no clue if he was serious or not. It was rather amusing, his face. He did look so much like his eldest brother.

His memory flashed back to sneaking into that zoo. He and his brothers had managed it a number of times. Luciano had stolen a plush teddy to impress a girl. "I look forward to a big Vero family dinner. Thank you. I can tell you some stories about your great great grandfather," he smiled at him.

Lorenzo looked at him for a second, then started laughing.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

He shook his head.

"Alright. Certificate first. If that fails, apparently we're breaking into Bologna Zoo."

The grin stayed on his face.

"I am not promising I'm helping with that, by the way. I'm just saying I'd like enough warning to decide how stupid I feel like being that day."

At the mention of Luciano, his expression softened again.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

He shifted in his seat.

"I know the family version of him. The recordings, the stories, all of that. But you actually knew him." Lorenzo smiled. "You probably know all the bits everyone conveniently left out."

A small laugh escaped him.

"Especially if stealing things from the zoo was apparently normal behaviour."

He nodded.

"Come back to Bologna when you can. We'll get everyone together. You can tell us what really happened."

Max nodded. "For sure. Thank you for your call Lorenzo. I hope we speak again soon."

Lorenzo smiled.

"We will. And I'll speak to Emilio's family. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything."

He gave Max a small wave.

"Take care, Uncle Maximo."

A moment later, the transmission ended.

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