Family Dinner
Posted on Mon Sep 29th, 2025 @ 6:35pm by Commander Craig Braxton & Captain Elijah Rutherford & Lieutenant Jasmine Rutherford
1,852 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
A Day In The Life
Location: Captain's quarters
His new Xo had family, and Elijah would like to get to know a bit more of Craig. And why not have a little dinner to welcome the Braxton's to the ship. They weren 't leaving DS9 yet but that was going to change. He sent a message to Craig.
"You and your family are invited to dinner, please come at 1700-Elijah Rutherford."
Craig read the message and sent a return reply. " We would be delighted to attend, we shall be there promptly at 1700. " Craig chimed the door at 1700 with Samuel and Amanda in tow. Craig was carrying a box, Samuel holding a bottle of wine and Amanda carrying a bouquet of flowers. " Good evening Elijah, I trust we're not late? "
"No you are not late, not one whit." Elijah giving a welcoming smile, and stepping back.
Jasmine was there as well to greet Craig, "Oh what pretty flowers, would you like to come with me and we can put them into a vase?" Motioning for Amanda to come with her, "And you can bring the wine as well."
Elijah's twins were already sitting at the table, Priscilla spoke up. "I want the girl to come sit by me."
Matthew piped up, "And I want the boy to sit by me. What's your names?"
Craig gave Samuel the bottle of wine and he and Amanda followed Jasmine into the kitchen briefly and returned back into the dining room area together.
The children introduced themselves after they returned. "I'm Samuel and I'm twelve years old."
"I'm Amanda and I'm eight years old. I am pleased to meet you." She said in a flat almost adult like monotone voice. Her amber eyes in stark contrast to her chestnut hair.
" Thank you for inviting us to dinner tonight Elijah. " Said Craig. "I'm a decent enough cook, but after doing quarterly crew reviews all day, I really didn't feel like cooking. That and the idea of going to the family dining hall for replicated whatever wasn't appealing either."
"There are chefs that you can get some meals from and I can assign you someone who would cook for you." Elijah stated. "Let me know and I can assign someone if you would like."
Craig pondered for a moment or two. " Perhaps part time would be alright, like on days that I'm super busy with paperwork or department reviews might be ok. But at the same time I want to be able to teach my kids cooking skills and other domestic chores so they can be well adjusted as adults. "
"That's a good goal, at times a person can use a little bit of help, especially being an XO. As you have acknowleged."
Dinner was brought over by Jasmine, setting down the kettle which held beef stew, with biscuits and honey, along with a salad. "Hope you like beef stew."
" The stew smells delicious." Said Craig. " And don't worry, myself and the kids love any kind of good beef. My father has a five hundred acre cattle ranch in Montana, And that's where the kids were before they joined me here on the ship."
"Montana? Lovely country, I've been there to visit." Elijah remarked, as he dished up his stew, and did the same for the kids.
Matthew and Priscilla said thank you.
"You're welcome." Elijah responded with a smile.
"I hope you like chocolate cake." Jasmine said to Craig's kids. "And you as well Craig."
Amanda and Samuel looked like hungry wolves once the word chocolate was mentioned and erupted into cheers. " Yay, we get chocolate cake!! "
Craig rolled his eyes. " Yes Chocolate cake will be fine. " He turned his attention to Elijah. Captain I believe that a small tactical error has occurred and request that a small level two force field be placed around the cake until dessert time. At least for the sake of my sanity and my kids trying not to eat to much food and have plenty of room for the expected dessert. "
"Don't worry it is under lock and key, and we'll only open it once dinner is finished. Sound good?"
Both Matthew and Priscilla, quickly set to eating their dinner. They were hungry and also wanted to have the homemade chocolate cake.
Elijah chuckled, and set to eat his stew adding some of the dinner roll into the stew.
Craig took a bite of the stew and savored the flavor. " Just from the taste I can tell that this isn't replicated, My compliments to the chef. I haven't had a really good beef stew like this since I left our family ranch just outside of Billings. There are times I wish I was back on the ranch having coffee on the porch as the sun came up in the morning, or family dinner on a chill fall day having dinner next to the fireplace. It's amazing what type of memories food can trigger when you're enjoying it. "
Elijah nodded towards Jasmine, "She is the one who made the stew,as well as the rest of the meal. Including the dessert."
Jasmine was beaming at the compliment of her cooking.
She gave out a chuckle seeing her kids get to some serious eating. They loved her cooking, especially her desserts.
Elijah had a serious expression in his eyes, "There is something I do need to tell you. I could wait until after dinner while the kids are at play."
Craig nodded. " Sounds serious, at least I got some good food to soften the blow. As long as your not telling me that my Ex is joining the crew I think I can handle it."
A bit of a chuckle, then Elijah replied. "No she isn't joining the crew. Though the news is, we're heading back to Earth, We've been called back. Admiral Adler was rather insistent as to us returning, and we'll be getting a new ship from what else I have found out." his eyes going rather serious.
Craig appeared surprised. " A new ship? And I just got unpacked. I will admit I was looking forward to serving on a Sovereign class to be honest. Did they tell you the ship's name or class? I'm curious and would like to study up on the specs as to be ready for whatever may come. Or does starfleet deem it necessary for us to be surprised? "
"They haven't said what sort of ship but, we will find out. I tried to find out more details, but Admiral Adler was rather insistant, and gave me that look of no asking questions." Elijah closed his eyes and shook his head. "She isn't someone to trifle with at all." Opening his eyes once more.
Craig rolled his eyes. " Admirals. The bane of all explorers doing honest work." Craig shook his head. " I guess I'll start packing and get everything ready to transfer over to the new ship. Are we transferring the entire crew over to the new ship? Or just your standard transfer with some crew rotating out and some new ones in? Either way it's going to be a ton of paperwork."
Elijah looked around at his own quarters. "We've got a bit of packing to do ourselves." giving a deep sigh. "And the whole crew will be transferring. Except for those who may end up being transferred elsewhere."
He picked up his roll, and took a bite of it, chewing before he continued. "You may have liked the Sovereign class, but the USS Majestic and I didn't seem to click. I actually felt like I didn't belong."
Durning the start of this talk, Jasmine had left the table, quietly taking the kids who had finished their food. They were waiting for dessert, the kids went to one of the rooms to where they could eat and have some fun.
Craig smiled as he heard the kids laughing and playing in the next room. " It's good to hear the kids being kids, especially Amanda. She's eight years old and acts more like an adult than some of the Ensigns sent to us from the academy. It does my heart good to hear her acting like a normal child of her age."
Elijah smiled at that. "Jasmine's really good with children, and I am glad that they are responding to her and my kids. Hoepfully your kids will be able to blossom out and enjoy their lives just a little bit."
He ate the last of his stew, sopping up the left overs with his roll. "Are you ready for the chocolate cake?" giving a grin.
Craig smiled. " Am I ready for chocolate cake? I just hope the others get in here before we get to it. " Craig teased. " Out of curiosity Elijah, why do you feel that you never meshed with the Majestic? She's a fine ship and put together right. I've never felt like I didn't belong on any Star Fleet ship that I was assigned to, Then again I always felt that I was born to walk between the stars and this is where I belong."
"I am not certain as to why I didn't feel like the Majestic and I meshed well together, maybe there was a bit more history to the ship that I couldn't connect. Either way, I am hoping that the new ship and I will connect better. Heck Craig, I didn't even truly get to know most of the crew, I just felt that there was a barrier there. Or maybe even it was more on the scale of worry of getting too close to the crew, like I had on my previous ship. The one I had been transferred from. I lost quite a few crew. It wasn't something I did, and we were doing our duty as escort, just the ship was close to being destroyed."
He picked up his drink, to take a sip. "As for the chocolate cake, Jasmine has already given the kids their share already." placing his drink down.
Craig grinned. " Well I guess that's a good thing then. We have a great job and we're able to have our families with us. Our children can get a better education out her amongst the stars then in a classroom on Earth. How many kids get to study a comet up close? Or have the teacher patch in the visuals on a quasar or a black hole with displayed sensor readings."
"This is very true." Elijah gving a smile towards Craig.
He rose from his chair, getting two plates and cut off two large slices of chocolate plus two forks bringing them to the table. He placed one in front of Craig, and one in front of himself. Elijah sliced into the cake, raising his fork in somewhat of a salute towards Craig.
"Here's to a new ship and new adventures." Elijah giving a grin before taking the bite.
Craig laughed. " This is the first time I toasted a new ship with chocolate cake before, Perhaps it should be a new Star Fleet tradition for a sweet send off."
Captain Elijah Rutherford
CO
USS Orcrist
Commander Craig Braxton
XO
USS Orcrist
RSS Feed