“Freedom is not free. We stand here today because others do not. Our colleagues, our friends, and our family who gave their lives to protect all we hold dear. The heroes who, when they heard the call, rose to answer.”

As Fleet Admiral Reyes spoke, her words echoed not just across Archanis Station’s observation deck where two thousand officers stood at attention, but through the halls and promenades of the station, and the corridors and labs of the ships assembled in the Gorion system.

Everyone, from the tailor in his shop, altering a fine Algolian robe, to the engineer toiling away in the Diligent‘s engine bay, no matter who they were, and no matter what they were doing, they took a pause from what they were doing as her voice came over the PA. 

They were only here, all of them, because of these brave men and women, officers and civilians alike, who had risen against the night. After all that had been sacrificed, they could dedicate a moment for those lost in the fight.

“We grieve today for those who have passed, but so too must we celebrate that they lived. They were the best of us, and they gave their all to bring light to the darkness. They were heroes, each and every one of them, and our lives are testament to their sacrifice.”

Fleet Admiral Reyes paused, offering a moment to reflect as her mind went to those who had paid the ultimate price… to those who had perished on the Diligent when they threw themselves into the maw over K’t’inga… to those on Eidran’s hazard team that caught an unlucky grenade as they fought for the array… to those under Lewis’ command who’d detonated the Serenity to ensure a fatal blow would be dealt to the enemy… to those on Archanis Station who fought valiantly to defend the station, and who answered Grayson’s call when he asked them to rise… and to the others too, all of those who’d lost their lives due to an errant torpedo, a stray polaron blast, or any of the dozens of other ways one could die in the heat of battle.

“With the utmost respect for their sacrifice, we commit these souls to the deep. May we remember, for today and for the rest of the days that we do live, the courage and dedication our comrades showed in the face of an enemy who sought to end all that we hold dear.”

The admiral spun on her heels to face the wide sweeping window of the observation deck. She stared out at the starscape, the infinite and endless darkness that lay beyond, and she snapped to a crisp salute, the tip of her index finger grazing the edge of her right eyebrow as she held her arm motionless in a solemn gesture.

“Present arms!” 

Two thousand right arms came up in unison behind the admiral, and thousands more at every window and viewport across every ship in the system, and the station itself, all those present to pay their final respects to the brave souls who’d given their lives to take back the galaxy from the Vaadwaur Supremacy.

A bagpipe began to play as a lone torpedo shot from the station. 

That torpedo carried not a warhead, but the mortal shell of a goodhearted officer who had breathed her last breath in the defense of the station.

Standing somberly beside the admiral, Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Salazar, the station’s command master chief, read the first name from the list.

“Elsie Olivia Drake, Fleet Captain, Archanis Station.”

In the front row of the convocation stood father and son, Ambassador Michael Drake and Commander Robert Drake. 

As the torpedo raced off into the darkness, a tear ran down Michael’s face. There went what was left of his daughter. His sweet, beautiful and vibrant little Elsie. The girl he’d taught to ride a bike and fix an impulse drive. The young woman he’d watched blossom into an officer that made him so proud to be her father. 

No father should have to bury a child, but today he was burying his.

“Jacob Daniel Lewis, Captain, USS Serenity.”

Chief Petty Officer Ayala Shafir and Dr. Tom Brooks stood at the back alongside the civilians Grok and T’Aer, their hands raised in a final salute to the captain. Their captain. He had guided them through the darkest of times. Each had their own history with the old spook, but it was the same between all of them. Always forward, no fear, doing what needed to be done. Even in his final breaths, he had lived that truth.

They all knew the galaxy would be a different place without him.

Ensign Elyssia Rel, for her part, hadn’t been able to rally the strength to put on a face and join the others on Archanis. Instead, she stood at the window in her darkened quarters, listening from afar. Captain Lewis, she knew, wasn’t even in that torpedo. His body had been lost in a conflagration of deuterium and antideuterium. But it didn’t make it any less hard. Any less heartbreaking. 

Captain Lewis was her love. He would always be her love. Elyssia had promised him that she would follow him through fire and through darkness, but she couldn’t follow him here. She just stared at the spot where the torpedo had vanished into the abyss.

And then she collapsed onto the floor and cried.

“Michael John Owens III, Commander, Archanis Station.” 

The young man had always reminded them to keep it playful, but Vice Admiral Alex Grayson didn’t feel playful now. Not at all. In his refusal to bow before the Vaadwaur, he had killed Mike. Mike and Elsie both. They had executed them both because of his stubbornness. And for what? In the end, they had taken the station anyway. 

How many more times would others have to die because of him?

“Sherrod Jeremiah Allen, Lieutenant Commander, USS Ingenuity.”

Commander Cora Lee had known hearing Captain Lewis’ name would hit her hard, but what she wasn’t prepared for was the emotion that washed over her as she heard her executive officer’s name. Sherrod had been the most cautious of them all, and they’d given him so much shit for it. But he’d been right, and yet, while she was still standing here, he was not. As her eyes welled, she couldn’t even see through the tears as his torpedo faded away.

He had died because they had charged forward. 

“William James Sharpe, Lieutenant Commander, USS Serenity.”

And the names, they just kept coming. And coming. And coming. 

So many names. Sons and daughters that would never return home. Mother and fathers. Aunts and uncles. Friends and colleagues, lovers even. All gone, in sacrifice for something greater.

As the chief continued to read, Fleet Admiral Reyes’ posture never waned, and her hand never fell. Each name was a life cut short, a future never to be seen, one of the heroes who gave their lives in the service of others.

It took an hour and thirty minutes to get through them all, but at last, the final torpedo launched away, carrying the last of the one thousand one hundred and forty seven souls to depart from the station on their final voyage.

“Li Min-Suk, Crewman Recruit, Archanis Station.”

Lieutenant Commander Kehlani Koh said a silent prayer for the kid. She hadn’t even known his name when she’d handed him a phaser during the fight for Archanis, but he’d saved her life at the expense of his own. He was a young recruit only a week into the job when the Blackout came for them. 

That was the hardest part about all of this. These people, they weren’t all soldiers. They hadn’t set out with a rifle in their hand and armor on their chest. They were just people who found it in their heart to rise to the call when the galaxy needed them the most.

As the final torpedo vanished off into the starscape, Fleet Admiral Reyes closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

The admiral stood there for a moment with the sound of silence, and then she reached deep into herself to find the strength to utter the pained words every captain dreaded, the words said far too many times over far too many generations, words she wished with all her heart she’d never have to say again.

“From the stars we came, and to the stars we shall return.”

Fleet Admiral Reyes let her hand fall, one final salute to the heroes of the night.