"Eulogy" by LtJBP
email: LtJBP@aol.com
Synopsis: PG, short story. Set, oh, Voyager fourth season. Doesn't 
matter, really. Synopsis: Someone on Voyager has died...
     
     "...the lieutenant was a fine crew member and a wonderful pilot, 
and he will be deeply missed by all." Kathryn Janeway finished her 
speech and stepped down from the platform where she had been 
addressing the assembled Voyager crew. She despised performing 
funerals under any circumstances, but the flying accident the 
lieutenant had been involved in was so *pointless*. It had been a 
simple test of an improved shuttlecraft design and they had scanned 
for any nearby ships before testing the shuttle. Little did they know 
that their new design so closely resembled the spacecraft belonging 
to the Nahari, the enemy of a race they'd just befriended, the L'Ishay. 
The shuttle, Odyssey, had been shot down on sight and had burned up 
in the atmosphere of the planet it had been preparing to land on prior 
to additional atmospheric tests. It was all so *stupid*. If they had 
only...
     "I know what you're thinking, Captain. It wasn't your fault. If it 
anyone is to blame, it's me. I *had* the specs for all kinds of craft 
the L'Ishay sent us to help us identify the spacecraft of the region. If 
I'd only looked at them before..." a saddened B'Elanna Torres broke 
off. 
     Just then, Lieutenant Tom Paris stood up. "Captain, I'd like to 
say something before everyone leaves."
     "Go ahead, Tom." Janeway told him, knowing he'd  been good 
friends with Lieutenant James Monroe. 
     "Lieutenant Monroe was a great person, as the captain has said. 
As a fellow pilot, I would like to share a poem about flying to 
remind us all that Jimmy died doing what he loved best. It's by a 
twentieth century Earth World War Two pilot, John Gillespie Magee, 
Jr. It was fairly famous in the late twentieth century and was read 
at the memorial service for the astronauts who died in the explosion 
of the space shuttle Challenger." Tom paused to clear his throat and 
then read in a voice that carried to the back of the room:

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of -- Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind  I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

     Paris stepped down from the podium and then headed over to 
where B'Elanna Torres was standing. 
     "That was a beautiful poem, Tom." she told him.
     "I've always loved it, ever since I was little. Even if the 
religious part isn't such a big deal to people these days, the words 
are lovely and it still means a lot. It may not give Jimmy's death any 
meaning, but I hope it will comfort those that are still here." he 
replied. 
Author's note: "High Flight" is a real poem and everything I said 
about it was true. The author, John Gillespie  Magee was a Canadian 
Air Force officer in WWII, he was killed in a dogfight at age 19. It 
was read at the Challenger memorial service. I first heard the poem 
in an episode of a television show called "The Cape", which is about 
astronauts. Sadly, it is no longer on the air. But I digress. Anyway, 
now it's time for the legal crud. Ahem: Star Trek Voyager belongs to 
Paramount. Paramount belongs to Viacom. This story, however, 
belongs to me, but you can pass it around to people as long as you 
keep my name and this disclaimer attached. A note to Paris fans: 
Sorry about all that angst I caused you. I just couldn't resist... <g> :-) 
This is my first attempt at fanfic, or at least fanfic I'm posting. 
Anyway, I just couldn't get the idea that I needed to write a story 
using "High Flight" out of my head, and well, this is the result. Hope 
you enjoyed. Feedback/constructive critiscism appreciated. :-)