452 Caskets

Posted on 19 Jan 2025 @ 8:24pm by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Commander Stovek & Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Lieutenant Commander Raviran Dattek-Winters & Lieutenant JG Delenna Morak

1,799 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Shoreleave and Reassignment
Location: Starbase 375
Timeline: One week after arrival

The crew of the USS Cygnus had assembled in one of the largest cargo bays of Starbase 375, converted into a memorial hall for the occasion. Dress uniforms had been called for, and everyone filed solemnly into place along the sides of the room, for there was no room in the center. Some crewmembers walked with the aid of crutches, some were limping, some had their arm in a sling.

The center aisles of the cargo bay were occupied by row upon row of photon torpedo casings, which had been emptied of their warheads. Most contained the bodies of their fallen comrades, whose mangled bodies had been recovered from the wreck of the USS Cygnus, or whose frozen corpses had been recovered from the void of space. A few were empty, for those who were still missing, but had been declared dead. Each casket was covered with the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and the name of the fallen comrade had been etched into the side of the casing.

Captain Bane, dressed in his Dress Uniform, complete with medals, strolled through the caskets, looking at the names. So many of them he recognized. Roberts. T'Nish. al'Torbin. May. Purnell. Quintin. Others, he did not. However, each name he read felt like a knife through the gut. He had already sent a message, both written and recorded, to each of their families. He had gotten few replies back, ranging from gratitude and thanks to blame for not bringing back their loved ones alive and well.

Although he was one of the newer members of the Cygnus crew, the Vulcan Operations manager and Second Officer still felt the loss of his cremates keenly. Yes, the Vulcan felt it; despite the reputation of his species for being cold and unfeeling, Stovek experienced the loss keenly. Their absence was perhaps magnified by the fact that Vulcans were touch telepaths...meaning that each person's katra left an unmistakable imprint in his mind. Dressed in his finest dress ensemble, Stovek steeled himself for the inspirational words of others; words that, despite their inherent necessity, the Vulcan was not prepared to hear.

Temerant Bast walked slowly down the aisles, leaning on a cane to take some of the strain off his still sore leg. The broken femur had been fused, but the muscles around it were still healing. He read the names on the caskets, and tried his best to remember each crewmember. Some faces sprang to mind immediately, but others took longer.

Delenna hobbled into the Cargo Bay in her dress uniform but it was crinkled at the bottom of one leg because she hadn't been able to straighten the cuff so it went over the foot cast.

She stood at the back so she wasn't noticed for this mis-prestinement. She didn't really know what she felt. It was a battle inside her head of feelings and emotions, all negative and the only thing she could notice that she felt was Numb.

Maralen had arrived precisely on time, not because it was the requirement of both Starfleet protocol and his training, but because he owed it to those who had fallen. As Security Chief, those lives had been his responsibility, and he had failed them. Oh, he knew, intellectually, that what had happened was not anything he could have prevented; but that did not stop him from feeling it.

Once the list had come in, he had committed every name, every dossier, every recorded image of them he could find to memory. He had not been here long enough to know any of them well enough to properly remember them, but he would do what he could. No one is truly gone unless they are forgotten. The Ledaran belief slid through his mind unbidden. As long as even one person remembers them, they live on in some form. And so he would remember what he could of them, as meager as it was.

Kaelyth entered silently and stood toward the rear of the room, not wanting to be observed. He saw Delenna enter and gave her a silent nod but said nothing. The situation laid heavy on his heart. He did not know these people -- he had come on board just before this mission -- but that did not mean that he valued their lives or sacrifices any less.

The sadness, loss, and pain in the room resonated through his mind like energy through the Shaelyth. Part of him wanted to retreat from it, but he could not abandon his new crew, this family, to their sadness and loss. No, he needed to stay, help them if he could. At the very least, he needed to stand with them through this.

Bast finished his walk through the dead, and made his way to the front row, where he took a seat at the Captain's right.

Ravi was also feeling the weight of the occasion. There were SO many names that were familiar to the CMO on the hundreds of caskets and the loss of so much life in such a short time was overwhelming. She knew they all felt the same as each of the surviving officers and crew all assembled silently and with their heads filled with memories of each of the people they had known.

On the dais at the front of the room, Commodore Thompson, head of personnel for the sector, was waiting. He rose to his feet, his uniform crisp and his demeanor solemn. The silence in the makeshift memorial hall was palpable, broken only by the soft hum of the station's life support systems. Before him, a sea of faces, each etched with grief and loss.

"Today, we gather to honor the brave crewmembers of the USS Cygnus," he began, his voice steady. "Four hundred and fifty-two souls, each a unique star in our Federation's galaxy, have been extinguished too soon. Their loss is a profound wound to our hearts and a testament to the inherent risks of our mission."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the crowd. Muffled sobs and sniffles broke the silence. "The Cygnus was more than just a ship. It was a home, a family. Its crew, a tapestry woven from the diverse threads of countless worlds, united by a common purpose: to explore the unknown, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

His voice grew stronger. "In the face of this tragedy, let us not succumb to despair. Instead, let us honor their memory by embracing the values they embodied: courage, compassion, and the unwavering pursuit of knowledge. Their legacy will continue to inspire future generations of Starfleet officers."

"As we mourn our fallen comrades, let us also find solace in the knowledge that they died doing what they loved. They were pioneers, explorers, and heroes. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. So say we all."

"So say we all," responded the assembled crowd, in somewhat hushed tones.

Commodore Thompson concluded his speech with a moment of silence, a tribute to the fallen. As the silence filled the room, a single voice, a lone piper, began to play a mournful tune, a haunting melody that echoed through the hall, a fitting tribute to the lost souls of the USS Cygnus.

The Captain stood out of respect for the fallen, and remained standing.

As the tune played, a swarm of emotions hit Delenna with force that she started to sob.

As the song played, Maralen stood and remained so. It was, again, a show of respect to the fallen for him more than merely protocol. His calm shell was cracking, though. Guilt poked through, shifted through his eyes, and then was banished, with brutal force, to that dark place in his mind where even he could not see it... for now.

Kaelyth felt the emotions in the room ratchet up several notches as the song played. The tension in the room rose like ambient energy before a storm. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as a single shudder twisted up his spine then down again.

Bast stood with his eyes closed, listening to the soft and mournful notes. It was a tune he remembered well. Lamorra had played it several times under similar circumstances. Captain Bane put his arm around his Executive Officers shoulders, and both mourned those that they honored this day.

The sight of even the CO and XO struggling to contain their grief and supporting one another gave Ravi a further surge of emotion herself but her training to "keep a straight face" in a situation of delivering bad news did help her not to break openly but her heart lurched. It really was a huge loss in all senses of the phrase.

One by one, the four hundred and fifty-two caskets were beamed to the torpedo bays of Starbase 375. Each was loaded into a torpedo tube, and over the next eight hours, every minute, a torpedo was launched out into deep space, each carrying the body of a fallen comrade.

She tried to keep her sobbing quiet but she couldn't as the whole situation hit Delenna like a Pakled Destroying Ship with multiple weapons systems. She bawled out loud eventually and didn't care.

Kaelyth moved silently to stand beside the Counselor. His own psionic senses, though not as sensitive as hers, were becoming overwhelmed by the emotions in the room, and he understood her reaction. Reaching out, he placed a hand on her shoulder, a gentle offer of support in this moment of sadness.

Maralen tensed. As each casket was launched, he felt a stab through his heart. Each represented someone he had failed to protect. Tears slid silently down his cheeks, dampening his fur and whiskers, but he did not care.

Bane Plase stepped forward and turned to the remnants of his crew, and to the few that attended from the starbase staff. "If anyone needs or wants it, counselors are on standby on the starbase to talk to. Grief is a cruel mistress, and will not easily let go, and will come in waves. There is nothing shameful or derogatory about attending and discussing and working through what you are thinking, feeling and wanting. Please take every opportunity you can with this. Similarly, I am here for you to talk to, if you wish. My door is open to everyone, no matter your rank, position or tenure."

Ravi felt a surge of comfort at the reassurances from the Captain and felt certain that his words and actions would also have offered support to all those here.

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A mission post by

The surviving crew of the USS Cygnus

 

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