Edge of the Abyss

Posted on Sun Sep 27th, 2026 @ 5:07pm by Lieutenant Commander Maximo (Max) Vero & Captain Marc Steyn & Lieutenant Vireya Talvaren & Lieutenant Syvar MD & Lieutenant Reruk & Ensign Sok’i T’Luz & Lieutenant JG Luke Beaumont

3,860 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Season 1 Episode 2: The Garden at the Edge of Night
Location: Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 23
Tags: Vero

ON:

Marc emerged from Engineering with his jaw set and his patience wearing dangerously thin.

The conversation with his Chief Engineer had gone nowhere near as well as he had hoped. He had walked into Engineering expecting to find someone who understood the gravity of the situation, someone ready to take ownership of the crisis and throw herself into getting the ship back into working order.

Instead, he had been met with what he could only interpret as a continued disregard for the responsibilities of her position.

His temper had flared.

He had managed to keep it under control, but only barely.

The conversation in Sickbay the previous day had been intended to be a turning point. Marc had deliberately given her an opportunity to recover, to take stock, and to understand precisely what was expected of her. He had hoped—perhaps foolishly—that it would be enough to bring her back into the fight.

Now, walking away from Engineering, he was no longer certain.

For the first time since taking command of the Genesis, Marc found himself seriously considering whether he would have to replace his Chief Engineer.

The thought sat heavily with him.

It wasn't a decision he wanted to make. The ship was already damaged, her crew exhausted and her engineering teams stretched to their limits. Removing another senior officer from the equation would only make an already desperate situation worse.

But command wasn't about making the decisions he wanted to make.

It was about making the decisions the situation demanded.

The turbolift doors opened, and Marc stepped inside. Thankfully, the system had been restored overnight, sparing him another trek through the Jefferies tubes. The lift carried him swiftly towards the shuttlebay, and within moments the doors opened onto the corridor beyond.

He barely slowed his pace.

The runabout came into view shortly afterwards, its familiar silhouette offering a welcome reminder that, despite everything, there was still a mission to complete.

Marc crossed the short distance and boarded.

The interior was quiet, the hum of the runabout's systems a welcome contrast to the chaos he had just left behind. He glanced towards the cockpit, then towards the aft compartment, unsure where his First Officer had positioned himself.

"Commander?" the Captain called, his voice carrying through the small vessel.

He waited a moment.

"Vero, are you in the cockpit or back here?"

Max's head appeared from the cockpit doorframe. “Up here Captain. I am afraid I have no had the chance to be re certified on my flight qualification just yet. Weapons,” he patted the phaser on his hip as the rest of his body walked out, “the security chief did a very thorough job . I will have to have another of the team drive today. It is scheduled sir.”

Marc drew a slow, deliberate breath, forcing himself to release the last of the anger and frustration that had been building since he had once again found Charlie absent when she was needed in Engineering.

He was furious. There was no point pretending otherwise.

But anger had no place in the decisions he needed to make now, and certainly not in front of his First Officer. He only hoped the tension hadn't been as visible as it felt.

"We can sort that out once we're back together, Commander," Marc began.

He inhaled again, then slowly exhaled, deliberately loosening his shoulders as some of the tension finally left him.

"We may have a personnel issue on our hands, but that can go on the back burner for now. Whatever happens with Lieutenant Johnson, we have a mission to complete."

His expression settled into one of quiet determination.

"And I want that mission to succeed, regardless of the condition the Genesis is in."

Marc gestured towards the runabout.

"I want you to put a team together. Go heavily equipped and, if anything, over-manned. Take whatever personnel and equipment you believe you'll need, because once you leave this ship, you're going to be on your own."

He paused, his gaze briefly drifting towards the Genesis beyond the runabout.

"I'll stay here. I'll oversee the repairs and get this ship back into a condition where she can actually fly again."

A faint sigh escaped him before he continued.

"Lieutenant Johnson will remain aboard as well."

Marc looked back to his First Officer.

"Right now, Commander, the Genesis needs fixing and our mission needs completing. Those are the two things we can control."

He offered a small, tired nod.

"So let's concentrate on those."

Max listened intently. He didn’t need to read between any lines that the talk with the Chief Engineer had gone not the way the Captain wanted. He was also beginning to gauge his new CO enough to recognise when the man was pissed. But he was doing an excellent job of containing it. He had to seriously respect his superiors calm exterior right now.

The captain was of course right on the money, as humans used to say when they still used money. “Si Captain,” he nodded. He felt just as tired as the man in front of him looked. It dawned on Max that his breakfast that had attacked him many hours ago was all he had eaten today and he had climbed many ladders, crawled through many jefferies tubes. If he kept this up he would have a physique like Lt. Beaumont.

“I assemble the away team immediately and we will concentrate.”

He pressed his comm badge.

<^> Lieutenants Reruk, Telvaren, Syvar and Beaumont, report immediately to Shuttle bay 2 for an away team. Ensure you have a phaser, medical kits, whatever science instruments you deem necessary Reruk. I also need two of you to do the flying. Vero out.<^>

“Beaumont impressed me earlier when we worked together to get out of the malfunctioning turbo lift and who knows what we are facing. Brute strength might be a benefit too,” Max stated.

"Take whoever you need, Commander. We have no idea what we're going to find out there, and I don't intend to send you into the unknown undermanned."

Marc paused, his expression becoming more serious.

"Every member of the away team is to be armed. Standard sidearms at a minimum, but I want Vireya and Beaumont carrying the heavier equipment."

His gaze settled on his First Officer.

"Phaser rifles may come in handy."

There was no mistaking the intent behind the order. Whatever awaited them, Marc wanted his away team prepared for the possibility that exploration might quickly turn into something far more dangerous.

Max was not finished. <^>Vero to Ops. I’m sending you a list of items I would like to take on our away mission. I realise everyone’s busy but I need things at a priority please. Can someone comply? <^>

He was already typing out an engineering kit for himself, along with additional tricorders for all specialities. He assumed the shuttles replicator was working but added field provisions as a back-up. Everything else seemed to have broken today.

<^> Ops, list received. I will deliver it.<^>

The requested items were easy enough to acquire, though there were no other available hands to deliver the materials to the shuttlebay. T’Luz quickly assembled everything on the list, along with adequate substitutions for the few materials currently in limited supply. She paused before leaving to add several things that had not been requested but had the potential to be useful.

When she arrived at the appointed bay, T’Luz took in the runabout and its rather refreshing lack of phaser burns, exposed conduits or hastily repaired panels.

It was possibly the most functional thing she had seen all day.

Rather than continue wasting time admiring a shuttle for the simple accomplishment of being intact, she approached the open hatch.

“Lieutenant Commander Vero,” she did not bellow, that would be rude, but she spoke loudly enough to be heard in the back of the shuttle. “Your requested supplies.”

“Thank you Ensign,” Max said walking towards her and taking the engineering kit. “And some I didn’t request” he said looking through the selection…”but probably useful. Thank you.”

Marc gave his First Officer a final nod before turning away. He slipped through the open hatch of the shuttle and stepped back onto the deck, leaving Vero and the away team to make their final preparations.

He paused only long enough to glance back through the hatch.

Vero had everything in hand.

Whatever they were about to find out there, his First Officer was more than capable of handling it. Marc had other, more pressing matters demanding his attention aboard the Genesis.

With that thought, he turned and walked away, leaving the away team to their mission as he returned to the problems that still awaited him aboard ship.

He was impressed at her for showing some nouse. An idea and feeling on it hit him.

“Tell me Ensign can you fly a shuttle? And sorry but what is your name?”

“Ensign T’Luz.” She straightens into parade rest. Regarding the interior of the shuttle for a long moment, she nods. “Yes, sir. I can fly this.”

Vi arrived a few minutes later with a field kit slung over one shoulder and a phaser secured at her hip, moving with the purposeful pace of someone who had already spent most of the day being redirected from one problem to another.

The shuttlebay was busier than usual, but the runabout itself looked almost offensively intact compared with the rest of Genesis. That alone earned a brief glance as she approached. After the last several hours, seeing something with all its panels attached felt almost luxurious.

She spotted Max near the hatch with an ensign she didn’t immediately recognise and slowed as she came alongside them. “Commander.” Her eyes moved over the collection of supplies, then briefly towards the cockpit. “I’m guessing we’re still going.”

There was no real surprise in it. Marc had made his priorities clear, and Vi had never expected the mission to disappear simply because Genesis had tried to shake herself apart around them. Still, leaving the ship in its current condition sat awkwardly with her. Eight hours until shields and weapons, twenty days of repair work if Engineering’s estimate held, and now part of the senior staff was preparing to leave aboard one of the few things still capable of independent flight.

Her attention returned to Max. “What are we walking into, and how much of it do we actually know?” she asked, already stepping towards the open hatch. “Because after today, I’d quite like to avoid any more surprises.”

"Lieutenant Talveren, Ensign T'Luz," Max said simply.

T’Luz snapped a respectful nod toward Lieutenant Talvaren. “Sir.”

Vi returned the nod, taking in the ensign’s compact, solid build and unmistakably Vulcan features before offering an easy smile. “Ensign T’Luz. Good to meet you.” Her gaze flicked towards the cockpit, then back to Max. “Looks like we’ve found one of our pilots, then.”

"Ensign go get yourself in the cockpit and start pre-flight checks please. Welcome to your first away mission on Genesis." Max informed her.

T’Luz’s eyes moved briefly from Vero to the runabout. Apparently, she was not merely delivering supplies.

“Yes, sir.” She gave him the same respectful nod before unfolding her arms and stepping through the hatch without further comment.

Her first away mission.

She had been aboard Genesis for a remarkably short period of time and had already survived a near-catastrophic systems failure, reorganized the contents of a storage compartment across several decks, and somehow acquired responsibility for flying a collection of senior officers toward an astronomical phenomenon that, according to everything she understood about astrophysics, should not exist.

Starfleet was proving considerably more efficient at providing novel experiences than advertised.

T’Luz leaned over the pilot’s seat and brought the pre-flight systems online before moving across to complete the checks at the copilot’s console. At least the runabout worked, and considerably better than any of the shuttles she had flown before the Academy.

Max turned back to Vi. "Si we still go. We know nothing more than what we think we know but is impossible. We are to go properly survey the area along the Federation frontier which looks from the long range stellar survey to have an Earth like planet but orbiting a black hole not a star. We go find out what is real. What is possible."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes hoping to convey some confidence and some calm. "It could be anything Vi. I no can promise you there will not be any surprises but you and Lieutenant Beaumont are both coming so I have no concerns about on the fly security assessments," he smiled at her then moved his hand back. "I need you to focus on this and not worry about when will shields and weapons be back on Genesis. That's someone else's headache from this point forward okay."

"Now more importantly can you fly this shuttle?" he asked. "Our Ensign in there needs a flight partner and I am not yet accredited. Still working on the big list," he shrugged. Seemed to Max the list just kept growing but again that was not a problem for now.

Vi’s expression softened at the reassurance, though there was a trace of amusement in it too. “Max, I am focused. I know standing over Engineering and glaring at the repairs won’t make them happen any faster.” Her eyes flicked towards Genesis beyond the runabout before returning to him. “They know what they’re doing. Right now my job is this mission and the people going on it, so that’s where my head is.”

At his question, she nodded towards the cockpit. “I can fly her. T’Luz got there first, so she can have the exciting seat and I’ll take co-pilot.” Vi adjusted the field kit on her shoulder and started towards the hatch, giving Max a faint smile as she passed. “Besides, somebody should probably make sure our new ensign’s first away mission doesn’t end with us orbiting the wrong impossible planet.”

She stepped aboard and headed forward towards the cockpit, already shifting from damaged ship and delayed repairs to the considerably more immediate problem waiting beyond the shuttlebay doors.

Luke strode into the shuttlebay, his imposing figure bringing him to an abrupt halt as he caught sight of the Captain. The Captain had clearly been waiting for him, gesturing toward the runabout as he issued his instructions. Luke listened intently, then gave a firm nod to show he understood before the Captain turned and finally exited the bay.

Luke immediately moved with purpose toward the nearby weapons locker. He snapped it open and reached inside, retrieving two heavier weapons before securing the locker once more. Without wasting another moment, he turned and resumed his approach toward the waiting runabout.

"Sorry I'm late!" A very flushed and flustered young looking Vulcan darted into the shuttle, a medical kit slung haphazardly across his shoulder. "I can co-pilot if there's absolute need. I'm certified but I haven't flown anything since the academy."

“Where is your phaser doctor? You need one. We could be facing anything out there,” Max said.

The young doctor froze, casting an anxious and desperate look towards the chief of security. "In the medkit," he answered in a bare whisper.

“You need to holster it correctly on your hip, not keep it inside the medikit,” Max said calmly although he was completely perplexed as to why anyone would put a phaser inside a medikit.

The look the doctor shared with Vi concerned him, however he was sure his Chief security officer would fill him in on anything he needed to know. “Correctly holster your weapon doctor and then proceed inside the shuttle and introduce yourself to Ensign T’Luz. She will be joining us.”

"I..." Colour drained from the Vulcan's face as he shook his head, "I can't. I'm..." He faltered, breathing hard as he cast Vi another desperate look, hoping she would come to his aid. How was he going to do this, when he was terrified to even touch one?

Max stayed calm. “Clearly there is problem here doctor as you look to be starting to have some sort of panic attack but I do not have the luxury of time to unpick it.

I sympathise, clearly you are in some distress and I wish that on no one but I need everyone on this team to be armed so if not capable you’re not going to be part of the team. I can’t have someone panicking at the idea of holstering a routine weapon.”

"If...if someone can do it..." Syvar drew a few deep and shuddering breaths, "you need me..." The poor man looked as if he was about to faint. "I don't know why... I... " He faltered again, offering his medkit. "Someone do it for me." He swallowed, still looking beyond scared.

“No doctor,” Max said. “If you cannot holster it yourself I have serious misgivings about you being able to fire it and be in a situation where it’s needed. We need a medic but it doesn’t have to be you on this occasion. You can still be needed on the ship, after you have checked yourself out, you don’t look well. So it’s not going to be you.

Whatever this issue is you need to resolve it. I do understand that not everyone likes handling these devices. But it’s cross we have to bare. I’m half Argelian, a pacifist. I don’t enjoy it but it’s necessary. Go back to sickbay and send down another doctor who can perform these current duties. When I get back we will talk further on this issue and unpick the situation properly,” Max told him.

The sense of intense fear and anxiety was quickly replaced by another strong emotion: shame. Still looking faint and pale, Syvar gave a single nod and hurried out of the shuttle.

Luke ducked his head and turned his broad frame sideways as he stepped into the runabout, offering the Doctor a brief smile as the man appeared to be making his way out. Luke paused when he caught sight of the Commander and Lieutenant, straightening as he acknowledged them.

“Sir.” He gave Max a respectful nod before turning his attention to his direct superior officer.

“The Captain wanted me to bring these.” Luke held out one of the standard-issue rifles, offering it to her. “He thought they might come in handy."

Vi took the rifle from him and weighed it briefly in her hands, her expression suggesting she was rather less enthusiastic about the addition than Marc had apparently been. “Useful, yes. Subtle, not so much.” She glanced towards the runabout’s equipment storage before looking back at Luke. “We’ll take them, but I don’t want us stepping onto an unknown world looking as though we’ve arrived expecting a firefight. Sidearms stay standard unless something gives us a reason to change that.”

She moved to secure the rifle aboard rather than sling it across her shoulder. “If things turn ugly, we’ll be glad they’re here. Until then, they stay within reach and out of sight.” A faint smile touched her mouth as she looked up at him. “You can take the Captain’s enthusiasm as a compliment. Apparently between the two of us, he’s decided we’re responsible for making sure everyone else comes back in one piece.”

Vi nodded towards the interior of the runabout. “Get yourself settled. We’ll go over anything specific once Reruk gets here and we know exactly what Science wants to poke.”

Another young woman entered the shuttle, her long black hair pulled back in a loose braid to reveal delicately pointed ears. The hue of her skin betrayed she wasn't just Vulcan and her piercing eyes scanned the occupants of the shuttle. She has her predecessor's medkit slung across her shoulder and a phaser strapped to her right side. "Doctor T'Chiara reporting as requested," she announced. "I apologise for the delay but I had to see to Syvar first. He was... upset."

Max kept his face as neutral as the Vulcan in front of him. He thought to himself that was stating the obvious and certainly one word he would be using in his report. There were a few more for sure, disappointed the doctor had not been able to carry out his duties, confused as to why, perplexed as to keeping a phaser in a medikit, concerned as to his state of mind and health. Curious as to what the actual problem was. He needed a conversation with Vi that was also obvious. She clearly knew more.

However one thing was clear, the young doctor did not have the monopoly on being upset as far as to recent events.

"Noted," he decided was all he would publicly comment on that, "and thank you for coming doctor. If you would proceed to take a seat in the shuttle please. I believe we are just awaiting Lieutenant Reruk now."

Reruk strode into Shuttlebay 2 with a heavily modified sensor array slung over his left shoulder and a hard-cased field kit gripped firmly in his right hand. His dark eyes swept the interior of the runabout, taking in the assembled away team—Vero, Talvaren, Beaumont, Doctor T'Chiara, and Ensign T'Luz at the flight controls. He barely offered a nod, his demeanor as aloof and uncompromising as ever.

"I see we’ve gathered a full expeditionary force to inspect an impossible gravity well," Reruk remarked, his voice dripping with his signature dry, biting wit as he stepped through the hatch. He set the heavy sensor kit down onto a secondary equipment rack with deliberate care, securing it into place before slinging a standard tricorder onto his belt beside his holstered phaser.

He turned toward Max and Vi, crossing his arms over his chest. "The preliminary long-range scans from the Genesis defy standard orbital mechanics. A Class-M planetary body maintaining stable equilibrium within the event horizon or accretion radius of a black hole shouldn't exist without an immense, artificial energy grid or localized subspace distortion holding it together. My primary objective once we enter proximity will be mapping the graviton density and analyzing the upper atmosphere for artificial field emitters."

Reruk glanced toward the cockpit, where Ensign T'Luz was conducting pre-flight checks alongside Vi. "If everyone is adequately armed and adjusted to our swift medical rotation," he added, casting a brief, pragmatic look toward Doctor T'Chiara, "we ought to depart before the time-dilation variables near that anomaly start shifting on us. Shuttlebay controls are clear, Commander. Whenever you give the word."

"Agreed I really don't want any further time shenanigans," Max commented dryly. He hut the doors behind Reruk and took his seat. Once the other man was seated, he nodded to Ensign T'Luz. "Notify the bridge and take us out."

OFF:

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