There they were. Just the two of them. Sitting on the edge of the planet debris. And he wouldn't say it aloud, but there was no one he'd rather have at his side.
They'd known each other for many years now and had known each other as intimately as two people could. And to say that this was still new to him was an understatement. He had never experienced anything like this until he had come aboard the Enterprise; he had never experienced anything like this until meeting James Kirk.
The escape pod's fluorescent light cast long shadows on the captain's face as he looked dismally at the scene splayed before them: a planet in ruins, with only a third of its surface intact.
The First Officer could see the sorrow reach his Captain's eyes. He could hear the self-loathing in the silence of the pod.