The Last Dinner Before the Stars

Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2026 @ 2:05pm by Lieutenant Tyler Hunt
Edited on on Sat Jul 18th, 2026 @ 2:06pm

1,104 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Escape Velocity
Location: San Francisco, Earth

Tyler Hunt had spent the last two weeks on Earth on shoreleave. It was rare for him to get back home to see family. Especially at the same time as his father Commodore Andre Hunt. At the family home also was his stepmother, Emily Douglasdale who was assigned to Starfleet Academy. And at home as well was his six-year-old sister Kendra, who had been on his heels since arrival. Several years ago, his father got remarried, and not too long afterward, his sister came along. The age gap was huge, but they were close as could be considering that most of the time he was away from Earth.

"So, the assignment to the Eventide has been officially confirmed?" his father questioned.

Turning his attention to the older man, he rolled his eyes. "As if you didn't know the answer to that already."

Andre Hunt smiled. "A friend of a friend may have given me a heads-up." Noticing that Emily was staring at him from the kitchen, he simply shrugged. "Being a Commodore has its privileges.

"A privilege that needs to be redirected out of your son's business," Emily responded. "When you get reassigned and your actually back home full time with us. I'll keep you distracted."

Laughing at his father, who seemed to always be under some retort from his step mother, Tyler remembered that after all these years on the USS Meridian. His father would finally be stepping down and moving on to something new. "Dad, how are you feeling about this last mission?"

Andre thought about the question carefully. The Meridian was now 28 years old and about to embark on one last mission before officially being decommissioned. Prior to him, the Meridian had been commanded by three others. Though he had been the one to remain in the captain's chair the longest. Some upgrades and a refit later, she continued on for over two decades, marking her place in the history books. "I had a good run on that ship. But I am looking forward to spending some time here on Earth at Starfleet Headquarters."

"Really now?"

"Spent the majority of your childhood out there in the stars," the Commodore replied with a sigh. "Looking back on things, I wish I could have spent time being closer to home. Seeing you as much as possible. Before I knew it, you were on your way to the Academy with a life of your own. Sorry for waiting so long to do things differently."

Sitting back, he thought about his father's revelation. There were times that he missed the man he looked up to his entire life. A man whose shadow he still found himself in. But he understood the importance of what he was doing for the good of the Federation. It was nice to hear that he would be more involved with Kendra. "I always understood what you had to do. But learning from you, I will likely hold out on starting a family until my career in Starfleet is over."

Walking out of the kitchen, Emily placed the food on the table. "There are other options instead of prolonging a family until retirement. Spend your early years on ship duty and then spend the later years of your career accepting family-friendly postings."

"Family friendly?"

"Like serving aboard space stations, outposts, colonies, Starfleet Headquarters, or, like myself, Starfleet Academy," Emily suggested. "These embassies are looking for good officers to serve as well."

"She has a point there," Andre spoke up. "There's more than one way to serve. You've been adamant over the years, that you didn't want your career to resemble mine."

"When I told you that back a few years back, I didn't mean..."

The older Hunt quickly interrupted his son. "There's no need to explain Ty. You're a second-generation, Starfleet Officer. Understand that there is a bit of pressure that comes from that."

"Tell me about it," Douglasdale chimed in. "There are a bunch of you all showing up to the Academy in recent years. Thinking they know everything and getting a rude awakening."

"I would like to think that I wasn't that bad," Tyler joked. Deciding to change the subject, the young man moved on with his latest assignment. "The Eventide is almost complete at Cochrane Shipyards. I intend to arrive a little early and get a layout on everything."

Looking over at his wife, Andre simply smiled. "We assumed as much. The Meridian will be passing by Alpha Centauri on our way to the Kaleb Sector. I'll drop you off."

"Anything hectic that way, Dad?"

"Just rumors of Romulans." The Commodore began loading food onto a smaller plate. "Every couple of years the worlds and outposts near the neutral zone get spooked and rumors begin spreading of them making an appearance. But it always turns out to be nothing. Kendra come to the table."

The little girl entered the dining room and sat at her usual spot at the table where her father placed her plate. Picking up her fork, she began playing around with the Spaghetti.

"Eat and stop playing with your food," the mother instructed.

Tyler looked over at his smiling sister and nodded to her he began fixing his own plate. Looking and smiling back at her brother. She winked at him, then started eating her food. "Thinking about seeing mom before heading out."

Andre simply raised a concerned eyebrow. "Not to be negative. But your mother didn't take the news of you accepting this assignment well. Perhaps you should just leave and call her at another time when things settle down. Due to personal experience, I can assure you that her mind is nowhere near changing just yet."

Nodding in agreement, Ty had to accept that his father was mostly likely right. His mother never was entirely supportive of his decision to join Starfleet. Had this fear that something would happen, and she would never see him again. They would see each other when he visited, but the conversations involving his work was kept at a bare minimum. A few days back, he informed her of his assignment aboard the Eventide, which would likely have him exploring farther from Earth. Needless to say, she didn't take the news well. "Due to the fact that you're likely right, I'll leave it be. So, when does the Meridian ship off?"

"We'll leave to get you to Alpha Centauri in two days. In the meantime, let's enjoy our time together as a family and eat"

=================
Lieutenant Tyler Hunt
Chief Operations Officer
USS Eventide

Commodore Andre Hunt
Commanding Officer
USS Meridian

Lieutenant Emily Douglasdale-Hunt
Helm Instructor
Starfleet Academy

 

RSS Feed