Requiem Mass For The Dead

Posted on 09/02/2020 @ 6:10pm by Captain Cian D'Anvers

Mission: S2E1: The Skunil Incident
Location: Skunil Colony
Timeline: Day 41 at 0500

The settlement had its own cemetery and it was there that the more than two hundred men who had lost their lives would be interred. It was set a bit away from the rest of the settlement, in a meadow, where boxes, planted and near to overflowing with wild flowers, had been built into the hand-made headstones already there. For Mia, the girl who had figured prominently in the settlement leader's logs, the colors were pinks and purples though there were others, reds and yellows and one that was all white. Cian D'Anvers, standing back from the group, acknowledged to himself that he didn't know the names ... not of the flowers ... and not of the dead. He would have to rectify that; not because he feared dishonoring those who had been killed but because it seemed right to do so. He had taken on their cause. Had committed himself and his ship to finding their killers, finding those who were taken.

Tahlin, in dress uniform, stood in the early dawn light with a group of officers from the Crazy Horse. Wooden boxes--replicated, of course--held remains of the colonists for burial. One, engraved with markings by the Bajoran crewmembers onboard, held Bajoran remains, and what earrings there were had been embedded in the lid.

The Bajoran turned to the human First Lieutenant beside her. "Shall we begin?" she asked.

Kieran looked to the security officer briefly, then cast his vision over to the boxes with a bowed head. "I spoke briefly with the doc. He brought up a good point. These people came here to start a life together, and build a new community. We agreed it would be best to honour that spirit and their origins, by uniting them as a people. They may be from different worlds, but they all had a common goal." Silently observing the delicate intricacies offered through the replicated service, he knelt against the nearest coffin. "Still. The personal touch is appreciated. We may not be able to afford everyone it, but I'm certain it doesn't go unappreciated."

"Indeed... Would you like me to speak first, or you?"

The diplomatic officer looked to the security specialist curiously. "If you have something you'd like to say, by all means. Don't let me stop you."

Tahlin nodded, then turned to the gathered crowd. Raising her arms, she then said, "If you will turn to the east?"

Once they had, she began, "We stand at the transition point--from night to day, darkness to light, moon and stars to the heat of the sun... In the same way, we honor the dead gathered here. They forged a transition from their individual selves into a greater, unified whole. Their struggles, their sacrifices--even their deaths--symbolize what this colony is, and was, about. Gathered purpose, equal partnership, the settling of a new world. The meeting of people, the coming together of families, the formation of a new society... May we remember them as the passionate, confident, brave people they were, boldly stepping into a new frontier, going where none had gone before."

Cian facing east reflected in the privacy of his thoughts on what it would take to leave everything and start over on a new world. It had been done to him as a young child and he in turn had done the same. Left the ruins of his home world, locked in its death spiral, to start over somewhere else. Not a new world, virgin and untamed, just new to him. He had been too young to make the choice these people did. I hope, he thought, that some of you survived. That you have a chance to live your dream somewhere else.

"They can no longer speak," continued the Bajoran, "But still, their story will live on. Let our hearts not take in this story, write it well there, and tell of it to others." She turned to the wooden boxes. "We will find your kin, those that are still living... They shall not be forgotten."

She bowed her head, then motioned to the officers gathered. "Does anyone else wish to speak?"

Lieutenant Jodon Joral wanted to be present on Skunil to pay his respect to those who had been killed. He had chosen to leave a little something behind on Skunil before joining the others. He watched the Captain with admiration, listened to Lae'Or, and took a deep breath as he reflected on everything from the past several days.

Performing an autopsy allowed the doctor an intimacy with the patient like no other procedure did, and since Chet had performed so many of the autopsies on so many of the dead in question, he felt the need to attend the ceremony. He felt like he knew them, high blood pressure, arthritis and all. It would have been unseemly- at least in his own mind- if he was not here.

Having remained silent throughout the brief eulogy offered by the security officer, Kieran bowed his head in solemn respect. The death tally was high for a colony of this size, and yet somewhere he hoped someone still managed to survive. Perhaps even prosper.

Stepping forward as Tahlin finished, he let out a deep breath. "Let us all offer a moment of silence for the brave souls gathered here before us today. Remember they are not lost, but guided forth and bound together as one." Looking to the meadow, he paid his respects with closed eyes.

Moments passed as he withdrew a small bowl, lighting it aflame by means of a pocket device. He gathered a bit of dirt into a small mound, placing the bowl atop as a symbol of everlasting purpose. "Before us we have seen Andorians, Bajorans, Betazoids, Humans, and Trill alike. Each with their own origins and histories behind them, brought together in the beat of one heart. So too were these souls watched over by the Prophets, just as they commune honestly with their ancestors from Betazed. May the blood of our stalwart brothers and sisters be raised in great honour, as we carry a drop of their blood back to the ices of Andor. Whether by struggle, or emerging from the flames anew each brings a new piece of identity and message -- although they may not longer walk amongst us, bravery and goodwill still exist in this age."

Kneeling, the diplomat placed a fresh lily in front of the mound, accompanied by a bundle of uttaleaves and a small lustrous ceremonial blade bearing the symbol of the high guard. Piece said he looked to the doctor, giving him a brief nod before turning his attention to the commander. "Sir? It is tradition for the senior-most officer to honour those among us with a brief closing word. If you would be willing."

Cian who had stood with his eyes downcast, in silent remembrance of so many lives lost, stepped forward. His voice, soft and deep, carried easily across the cemetery as he spoke. "I think Henry Van Dyke said it best.

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship, at my side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying..."

He stood for a moment longer in silence, the ghosts of the dead from his own world pressed about his mind, joining those who lingered here, before he spoke again. "Rest easy" he said his voice roughened with emotion. "We have the watch."

A Post by:

Captain Cian D'Anvers
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant Jodan Joral
Executive Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

1LT Kieran Nachtgeist
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Dr. Chester "Chet" O'Hamlin
Chief Medical Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant JG Lae'Or Tahlin
Chief of Security
USS Crazy Horse