Captain’s log, stardate 62123.3: Commander K’danz, acting-Commanding Officer, recording;

After an extremely reserved journey, the Dauntless is now approaching Earth. The last week has passed very quietly, as the crew absorbs the shock of the death of our captain.

Understandably taking it the worst is the captain’s fifteen year old daughter, Gem, who has spent the entire voyage back surrounded by supportive friends and, perhaps more importantly, Ship’s Counselor Gera.

“How is she doing?” K’danz asked Counselor Gera as both stood in the corridor outside the captain’s quarters.

“As well as can be expected,” the joined-Trill woman with fire-red hair replied. “She’s been taking it pretty hard. Some of her friends have been staying here with her, including Emma and Lauren. They’re all inside right now, watching some old vid and trying to keep her mind off of things.”

“Well, let me know if there is anything she needs,” K’danz offered before Gera turned back to re-enter the stateroom. K’danz stared at the doors as they swished shut again, looking at the captain’s name printed there and sighing, before heading down the corridor. Her reverie was interrupted by the sound of the intercom.

“Bridge to Commander K’danz,” said the voice of Lt Commander Phillip Winters. “You have a communiqué coming in from Starfleet Command.”

“Thank you, Phillip. I’ll take it in my quarters,” K’danz said, turning around and heading toward the stateroom she shared with her husband, Chief Engineer Dar.

Entering her quarters, K’danz slid into the chair behind the desk just inside and touched the monitor control. The viewer briefly flashed the Federation emblem before the view changed to an office overlooking the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Behind the desk in the office sat a grim-faced Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

“My sincerest condolences, Commander,” Janeway said.

“Thank you, Admiral. I assume you received my message?”

“Yes, I did. Preparations are already underway for a memorial service on the grounds of Starfleet Academy.”

“You were his closest friend in the Admiralty. I can’t think of anyone he would rather have organize his memorial service,” K’danz said.

“There was no way I would let anyone else handle this,” Janeway replied. “You did bring his body back with you, of course?”

“Of course,” K’danz assured.

“Good. The head of Starfleet Medical would like to examine him right after you make orbit. The memorial service is scheduled for 0900 tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll inform the crew. We should be reaching orbit in just a few more hours. I’ll see you shortly, Admiral. Dauntless, out.”

Space, the Final Frontier…

These are the voyages of the starship Dauntless!

Star Trek: Dauntless

“Here in Honored Glory Lies…” by PJK

Several hours later, the Dauntless had entered standard orbit over San Francisco. Less than thirty minutes later, the body of Captain Peter Koester was beamed down to the headquarters of Starfleet Medical, escorted by K’danz, Chief Engineer Dar, Chief Medical Officer MacMillan and the starship’s COB, Chief Pono Kyman. They were greeted by two orderlies with an antigrav gurney and the head of Starfleet Medical, Doctor Beverly Crusher.

“You’ll take good care of him, right?” K’danz asked as she watched the orderlies carefully transfer Koester’s body to the gurney and start to move him through a set of doors toward an autopsy suite.

“I’m going to conduct the autopsy personally,” Crusher assured K’danz. “Starfleet just wants to know for sure what killed him, whether it was just the explosion or something more the Ermans did to him. Then we’ll clean him up as best we can and have him ready for the service tomorrow morning.”

“Would you like some assistance, Doctor?” MacMillan asked.

“No, thank you, Doctor,” Crusher said. “Why don’t you spend time with your crew?” She then turned back to K’danz and said, “Just before you arrived I received a communiqué from Jean-Luc Picard. He pulled the Enterprise away from its current mission to be here for the memorial service tomorrow.”

“It will be good to see Captain Picard again,” K’danz said with a wane smile. “I just wish it were under better circumstances.” She then led her crew out into the city, where they were supposed to meet Counselor Gera, Gem Koester and her friends near Fisherman’s Wharf.

* * * *

“My dad always liked to come here whenever we made a stop at Earth,” Gem Koester said as she and her friends leaned against the pier railing overlooking the five-hundred year old USS Pampanito, the last World War II submarine left in existence. “Especially when we lived in Tycho City and could get here pretty easily.”

As Gem told her friends everything she knew about the ancient submarine her father had taught her, including how the Maritime Museum used a forcefield to protect the old steel hull from coming in contact with the corrosive salt water, Counselor Gera noticed K’danz, Dar, MacMillan and Kyman all walking down the pier toward them. Kyman, who had served in the American submarine force during his time on Earth during the 20^th century, joined the teens, explaining more about the boat that Gem did not know, while the four officers conversed.

“Everything is set,” K’danz told Gera. “The head of Starfleet Medical herself is handling the Captain’s autopsy and has assured me everything will be ready for tomorrow. And Admiral Janeway has invited the entire senior staff to join her for dinner at the Admiralty tonight. Gem and her friends too.”

“I look forward to it,” Gera responded. “And I think it will keep her mind off of things.” She turned to look at Gem before asking, “What’s going to happen to her once this is all over?”

K’danz reacted as if the thought had never occurred to her.

“Well, the Captain’s wife, Michelle, will be here for the memorial. She’s Gem’s step-mother and the only family she has left at this point. I assume Gem will go with her.”

“Commander!” Gem called over from where she and her group stood overlooking the Pampanito. “Can we go aboard?”

K’danz exchanged a look with Gera, Dar and MacMillan before looking over at Gem and her friends and saying, “Sure. I don’t see why not.”

* * * *

That night, the eight members of the USS Dauntless senior staff, K’danz, Wallace, MacMillan, Gera, Dar, Winters, McIntyre and Kyman, along with Federation Ambassador at Large Penji Fil, Gem Koester, Lauren Del Mastro and Emma Foster were gathered in the formal dining room at Starfleet Command Headquarters, the floor to ceiling and wall to wall window overlooking the re-built Golden Gate Bridge and the ancient gun emplacements of the Presidio, the sun setting over the distant Pacific Ocean. There they were joined by Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway, a young female lieutenant who was the admiral’s aide, Starfleet Chief of Operations Vice Admiral Salak and his aide, a male Lt Commander. While the guests conversed as the salads were served, the conversation remained subdued and general. Few seemed to want to be reminded of the circumstances that had brought them all together.

As the salad plates were removed from the table by two stewards, another lieutenant entered the room, rushing over to where Janeway sat and whispering in the admiral’s ear. Janeway looked surprised for a moment before saying, “Yes, of course, show her in immediately.”

The lieutenant rushed back to the door, opening it to admit a female commander wearing a security gold uniform shirt under her duty jacket. K’danz jumped out of her chair and rushed over to Commander Michelle Petersen, Chief of Security of the starship USS McAuliffe and wife of Captain Peter Koester. The two commanders hugged each other for comfort before K’danz escorted Petersen back to the table, where Janeway’s aide was already clearing away her place-setting to make room for the unexpected guest. Meanwhile Janeway rose from her seat and also hugged the new arrival, offering her condolences.

“We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow, Michelle,” K’danz said as everyone took their seats, the stewards placing a new setting in front of Petersen.

“Under the circumstances, Karen broke all previous speed records the McAuliffe has set getting me back here,” Petersen replied, referring to Karen Gehm, commanding officer of the Oberth-class science vessel as she accepted a stemmed glass filled with water from one steward while the second started serving the main course. “She said she couldn’t live with the idea of me missing Peter’s funeral. We hailed the Dauntless as soon as we attained orbit, and Commander T’Ashara informed me all of you were here at HQ.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you back with us,” Dar remarked, raising his own glass to his captain’s wife.

Meanwhile, at Starfleet Medical, Beverly Crusher was looking over the lab results of Koester’s autopsy. She concentrated on the padd in her hand as one of her nurses stepped into the office.

“Captain Koester’s body has been prepared and placed in a casket, Doctor.” When Crusher did not acknowledge the report, the nurse stepped closer to the desk and asked, “Is there something wrong with the test results, Doctor?”

“No,” said Crusher, finally noticing her nurse’s presence. “Everything is just as you would expect from a victim of an explosion. Burns. Contusions. Broken bones. Internal injuries. It’s just…”

Crusher started staring at the lab results again.

“Just what?” the nurse asked.

“Just… I don’t know,” Crusher paused. “There’s just something I can’t put my finger on.” She then looked up at her nurse and asked, “You said everything has been prepared?”

“Yes, Doctor. His casket even has a flag draped over it.”

“Very good. Have a good night, Lisa.”

The nurse offered her own good night to Crusher, then turned to leave as the doctor looked back at the padd once again, trying to figure out what was bothering her about the lab results.

* * * *

The next morning, a crowd started gathering early on the main quad of Starfleet Academy. Many of them were members of the Dauntless crew who had beamed down while it was still dark in order to enjoy the sunrise over San Francisco Bay. As the cloudless morning progressed, more and more people arrived, including many students from the Academy, who set up row upon row of seats, and numerous officers from Starfleet Command. Among the mourners present that morning were Captain Picard and his first officer Martin Madden from the Enterprise, who were soon joined by Beverly Crusher. Also in attendance was Vice Admiral William Ross, who had been Koester’s superior officer during the Dominion War, and Jeff Bloom, the retired former engineer and Chief Science Officer of the Dauntless, who was now a professor of engineering at the Academy.

As the time for the memorial service moved closer, most of the Dauntless crew who were not needed on duty aboard the starship, almost five hundred in total, arrived, everyone wearing full dress uniforms. They were followed shortly after by the senior staff with Michelle Petersen and Gem Koester, who were escorted to their seats by Admiral Janeway. The entire group sat in chairs at the front of the assembly, K’danz sitting between the admiral and her husband Dar, while Petersen and Gem sat closest to the aisle. In the row directly behind them sat Midshipman 2^nd Class Cassie Koester, the woman Captain Koester had rescued from the planet Laxia, the so-called dream world, and sponsored for entrance into Starfleet Academy. She hugged Gem in greeting before introducing herself to the captain’s widow.

“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” Cassie said. “I was sure if anything had happened to him, I would have felt it.” Tears came to her eyes as she tried to express how she felt. “I’m going to miss him.”

As Gem and Cassie consoled each other, Janeway was contacted on her communicator.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Admiral,” said the voice of Janeway’s aide. “We just received word that a scout ship has entered orbit and requests permission to beam two people down to attend Captain Koester’s memorial service.”

“Well of course,” Janeway said, sharing a look with K’danz. “Why would anyone think they needed permission to attend…?”

As Janeway spoke, the green swirl of a Romulan transporter beam materialized close to where she sat. The admiral was surprised to see two Romulan officers suddenly standing before her, but K’danz recognized them immediately.

“Commander T’Lees!” she said in surprise before standing up and introducing the two Romulans to Janeway. “Admiral, this is Commander T’Lees of the Imperial Romulan Warbird Vedrex and her son, Sub-Commander P’Tor.” Janeway looked at the young Romulan man with the unusual name. “The Dauntless has worked closely with the Vedrex on several occasions, including when we visited Khitomer and, most recently, during the Genesis incident with the Duras Faction.”

“I called in number of favors to get permission to travel to Earth, but I had to be here. I had a close relationship with Captain Koester. We both shared the hopes of closer understanding between our two societies. I had to see him off properly,” T’Lees said.

Janeway shook both Romulan’s hands before asking, “And how did you first meet Captain Koester?”

T’Lees shared a knowing look with K’danz before saying to Janeway, “We first met a long time ago.”

Janeway looked back and forth between K’danz and T’Lees before shrugging her shoulders and offering the two Romulan officers seats with the senior staff. T’Lees offered her condolences to Michelle Petersen and Gem before taking her seat. Petersen looked suspiciously at the Romulan commander when her step-daughter called her ‘Aunt T’Lees.’

Moments later, the quad became very quiet, the only sound that of seagulls crying overhead. Everyone gathered turned to see an honor guard of six Starfleet Marines in dress blues, including Lt Colonel Sean McIntyre, Captain April Mendez, Gunnery Sergeant Christopher O’Laughlin and 1^st Lieutenant Michael Drake, still covered in plastiskin, escorting the flag-covered casket of Captain Peter J. Koester to the front of the assembly where it was placed on a platform below the official Starfleet portrait of Captain Koester and a small model of the Dauntless. A moment later a Starfleet chaplain stood up at the podium next to the casket.

“We have all assembled here this beautiful morning to remember and celebrate the life of Captain Peter J. Koester; Starfleet officer, starship captain, explorer, diplomat, warrior, husband, father, friend.” The chaplain began to recite the highlights of Koester’s life, his childhood in New York, his Academy years, his various assignments before becoming captain of the Dauntless. Even his brief retirement from Starfleet five years earlier. Each event sounding sterile, as if read from some history text, coming from someone who had never personally known the captain. After a few minutes, the chaplain finally finished.

“I have been informed a couple of the Captain’s crew wanted to take a moment to speak.” He then gestured toward K’danz, who was once again fighting the tears trying to make their way down her cheeks. She squeezed Dar’s hand before standing up and taking the chaplain’s place behind the podium, taking a moment to pull down on her dress uniform jacket before speaking.

“I’ve known Captain Koester for thirteen years,” K’danz started. “At first simply as my commanding officer. But over time, as he did many of the Dauntless crew, he became my friend and my mentor as well.”

K’danz paused for a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. She then addressed her next comments directly to the casket beside her.

“Peter, next to my husband you are perhaps my most dear and trusted friend. Through our friendship I have learned that character and leadership are not bestowed, but earned through hard work and dedication. You were funny, compassionate, trustworthy, honest, sincere, dedicated and honorable. It has been both an honor and a privilege to not only have been your first officer, but your friend as well. Good-bye, Peter. You will be missed.”

As K’danz returned to her seat, pausing briefly to place her hand atop the casket, many of those present, especially among the Dauntless crew, wiped tears from their eyes. Then Chief Kyman stood up and moved toward the podium. The El-Aurian paused in front of the casket in silence for a moment before moving behind the podium to address the attendees.

“In one respect, I too have known Captain Koester for thirteen years. In another respect, I’ve known him for almost five hundred, when a mission through time allowed us the opportunity to serve briefly together in the US Navy during the late 20^th century. I now reach back to those ancient traditions as I recite the following;”

Kyman lifted a padd he had carried with him and read from it.

“There is a port of no return where ships may ride at anchor for a little space. And then some starless night the cable slips, leaving only an eddy at the mooring place. Gulls veer no longer, Sailor rest your oar. No tangled wreckage will be washed ashore.” He then turned to face the casket and added, “Fair winds and following seas, Skipper.” Kyman then briefly saluted the casket and then stepped over to Michelle Petersen and Gem Koester, offering his condolences to them once again before returning to his seat with the senior staff. A moment later, Admiral Ross stepped up to the podium.

“We thank you all for attending. Later today, Captain Koester’s body will be transported up to the Dauntless for the final time where, in accordance with the Captain’s wishes, his casket will be launched toward the atmosphere where it will burn up upon re-entry, spreading his ashes across the entire world he loved and worked to protect.”

As everyone gathered stood up, the six Marines of the honor guard took their places alongside the casket once again.

“On the right foot… Forward… March,” ordered Colonel McIntyre as the honor guard moved the casket down the aisle and beyond, where a Type-8 shuttlecraft waited with rear hatch open. They carried it inside and placed it on the deck before each turned to face the casket, still covered in a Federation flag, and snapped to attention.

“Hand salute!” McIntyre ordered, prompting all six Marines to snap their hands up to their brows in customary though no longer common salutes. “Ready… Too!” prompted everyone to lower their arms. Then all six Marines turned and exited the shuttlecraft. Almost immediately the ramp started closing and the propulsion systems hummed to life. As the crowd watched, the shuttlecraft lifted off the ground and flew high into the air, disappearing from view after a minute or so. Slowly at first, the gathered crowd started to go their separate ways as Academy cadets returned to the quad to pack up all the chairs. As K’danz, Petersen, Gem and the rest of the command staff started walking toward the Academy administration building, where one of the Dauntless’ shuttlecraft waited to return them to the starship for the next stage of the funeral, Vice Admiral Ross stepped over to the first officer.

“Commander, are you available at 0900 hours tomorrow?” he asked.

“Of course, Admiral,” she responded.

“Good. Please report to Admiral Salak’s office tomorrow morning. We need to discuss the disposition of your ship and crew.”

K’danz exchanged a worried look with her husband as she responded, “Aye, Admiral.”

* * * *

After arriving aboard the Dauntless, the captain’s casket had been set out in one of the forward torpedo bays in order for those crew members who were unable to attend the memorial service to pay their final respects. Now, as the Dauntless was joined in orbit by the Enterprise, McAuliffe and the Romulan scout ship and the two Starfleet vessels that had escorted it through Federation space, the senior staff with Admiral Janeway, Commander Petersen and Gem Koester gathered around the casket. Lt Commander Phillip Winters stepped forward to remove the Federation flag from the sleek, black modified torpedo casing. With the help of Chief Kyman, he folded it into a compact triangle and presented the flag to the captain’s widow as K’danz moved to the head of the casket.

“We now commit the body of Captain Peter J. Koester to the depths of space. Grant him peace and tranquility until that day when he will be raised to the glory of new life.” She then nodded toward Alasdair Wallace, who with a press of a button on the loading control panel caused both the casket to start moving toward the torpedo tube and a recording to start playing, the sounds of a bagpipe playing the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ filling the compartment. The crew watched silently as the casket disappeared into the loading mechanism and the breech door sealed shut. A moment later the deck shuddered as the casing was launched from the torpedo tube, its trajectory programmed to orbit the planet once before entering the atmosphere and burning up. The crew then each took turns hugging and offering their condolences once more to Commander Petersen and Gem.

“Is there anything I can do or get for you?” K’danz asked the captain’s widow when it was just the two of them and Gem left in the torpedo bay.

“No,” Petersen answered. “I just need some time to organize my thoughts. This has all happened so quickly.”

“Of course. The captain’s stateroom is yours for as long as you need it.” K’danz then turned to Gem and asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No,” Gem replied. “I don’t need anything right now. Just some… time too.”

K’danz nodded as the three of them headed toward the corridor.

“Well, if you do need me, I’ll be on the bridge,” she said.

To Be Continued…

Return to 2385.

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