Sto-vo-kor

In my tradition, We do not grieve the loss of The Body. 

We celebrate the releasing of The Spirit. 

DATA: 

I believe, sir, that was the first time outsiders have witnessed the Klingon Death Ritual. 

PICARD: 

I can understand them looking at a dying man's eyes, but the howling? 

DATA: 

It was a warning. 

PICARD: 

To whom? 

DATA: 

They are warning The Dead, sir. 

' Beware - a Klingon Warrior is about to arrive.  '

WORF :

You have never seen Death...?

(Their son shakes his head)

Then Look - and Always Remember.

DAX: 

It's called an Irish wake. It's a way to memorialise a death and celebrate life at the same time. 

WORF: 

What are we supposed to do? 

DAX: 

Well, drink, sing songs, laugh, cry, talk about the deceased. 

WORF: 

It sounds almost Klingon. 

[Defiant Cargo bay]

(O'Brien is sitting talking to a torpedo casing.)
O'BRIEN: 
We used a phase-conjugate graviton emitter in the tractor beam. That baby came out of the rock first time. You would've loved it, Quique

WORF: 
did not mean to interrupt.

O'BRIEN: 
It's all right.

WORF: 
You are performing ak'voh for your friend.

O'BRIEN: 
am?

WORF: 
Yes. It's an old Klingon tradition. 
When a warrior dies in battle, his comrades stay with the body to keep away predators. That allows the spirit to leave the body when it is ready for the long journey to Sto'Vo'Kor.

O'BRIEN: 
That's a fine tradition. 
(Worf sits.) 
What are you doing?

WORF: 
We will both keep the predators away.

O'BRIEN: 
I'm sure Quique would like that.

[Enterprise-E crew lounge]

(Picard is handing out glasses of Chateau Picard)

TROI: 

Thank you.

RIKER: 

Thank you, sir.

PICARD: 

To absent friends. ...To family.

TROI: 

Data.

LAFORGE: 

Data.

RIKER: 

The first time I saw Data, he was leaning against a tree in the holodeck ...trying to whistle. ...Funniest thing I ever saw. ...No matter what he did he couldn't get the tune right.

What was that song? 

I can't remember the song.

(The doorbell chimes) 

WORF:

Jeremy Aster? I'm Lieutenant Worf. May I enter? 

JEREMY: 

You were in command of the away team. 

WORF: 

Yes. I was with Lieutenant Aster, your mother, when she died. 

JEREMY: 

You're a Klingon, aren't you. 

WORF: 

Yes. 

JEREMY: 

We studied about Klingons in school. 

WORF: 

What did they teach you about us? 

JEREMY: 

You used to be our enemies.

WORF: 

Did they also teach you that every Klingon hopes to die in the line of duty as your mother did? 

In my tradition, we do not grieve the loss of the body. 

We celebrate the releasing of the spirit. 

JEREMY: 

I understand Death. 

They teach us all about it. 

WORF: 

Jeremy Aster, we may both understand it, but we must bring meaning to your mother's death. 

Perhaps we can do it together.

[Aster home]

MARLA: It is only a matter of time, Captain, before we can power the transporters ourselves 

PICARD: We? For whom else do you speak? 

MARLA: 

The accident on the surface was caused by a remnant of an ancient and tragic era. Two species once shared this world. One of energy and one of matter. 

The physical beings you call the Koinonians destroyed themselves in unending, bitter wars. 

The surviving life forms on this world will not tolerate any further suffering as a result of that dishonourable past. So, they have made this possible. They have made me possible. 

PICARD: 

I appreciate your motives, but his mother is dead. He must learn to live with that. 

MARLA: 

I will be every bit his mother. 

PICARD: But not his mother. Picard to Lieutenant Worf. 

WORF [OC]: 

Go ahead, Captain. 

PICARD: 

Will you escort Ensign Crusher to the Aster quarters? 

WORF [OC]: 

Yes, sir. 

PICARD: 

Picard out. 

MARLA: 

Your philosophy is curious, Captain. 

What is so noble about sorrow? 

I can provide him an existence where he will feel no pain, no anguish. 

PICARD: 

It is at the heart of our nature to feel pain and joy. It is an essential part of what makes us what we are. 

MARLA: He is alone now in your world. A child, alone. How can you know he won't be happier with me? 

PICARD: 

For a brief moment in time, he surely would be. Any of us in his place would be. 

TROI: 

What would Jeremy do for friends in your world? 

MARLA: 

He will have any friends he needs. 

TROI: 

And will you provide for his education, his health, his growth, a career, a wife? 

PICARD: 

Yes, it's quite an undertaking you're proposing, isn't it? 

MARLA: 

It is our duty to make him happy again. 

PICARD:

 Do you honestly believe he would be happy in this total fiction which you wish to create? 

What reason would he have to live? 

What you're offering him is a memory, something to cherish, not to live in. 

It is part of our life cycle that we accept the death of those we love. 

Jeremy must come to terms with his grief. He must not cover it or hide away from it. 

You see, we are mortal. Our time in this universe is finite. 

That is one of the truths that all human must learn. 

WESLEY: 

Acting Ensign Crusher reporting as ordered, sir. 

PICARD: 

Yes. Come in, Wesley. Please stay, Lieutenant. Jeremy, Wesley's father died on a Starfleet mission when he was younger than you are. 

TROI: 

Wes, your mother told me you were finding it difficult to talk to Jeremy. Why is that? 

WESLEY: 

I don't know. I just didn't want to think about it any more. All this has reminded me so much of that day. 

PICARD: 

The day I told you your father had been killed. 

As I recall, Wesley, you took it very well. 

WESLEY: My parents taught me about the dangers of Starfleet missions. I knew what could happen. 

PICARD: 

So you were prepared? 

WESLEY: 

No, I wasn't prepared at all. 

How could anyone be prepared to hear that a parent is never coming home again? 

I tried to be what everybody expected of me. 

Brave and mature. 

PICARD: 

Wesley, are you saying that you didn't want anybody to see what you were really feeling? What were you really feeling? 

WESLEY:

 Like somebody had kicked me in the head. 

PICARD: Somebody? 

TROI: Go on. You've wanted to tell him for a long time. 

WESLEY: 

I was angry at you. 

PICARD: 

Why angry? Why were you angry at me, Wesley? 

Were you angry at me because I was the one who told you your father was dead? 

WESLEY: No. 

PICARD: Then why? 

WESLEY: 

Because you led the mission. 

You came home and my father didn't. 

TROI: 

How long were you angry with the Captain, Wes? 

WESLEY: 

For a long time. But not any more, sir. Not even a little. 

TROI: 

So, Jeremy, you must be very angry at Lieutenant Worf. 

He was in charge of your mother's mission, just as Captain Picard was in command when Wesley's father was killed. 

Isn't that right? 

Worf came back. Your mother didn't. 

(Finally, Jeremy cries) 

JEREMY: 

Why? Why weren't you the one who died? Why did it have to be her? 

TROI: 

He can't answer that. None of us can. 

PICARD: 

Lieutenant Worf also lost his parents. 

WORF: 

They were killed in battle when I was six. 

When I was alone, humans helped me. Let me help you. 

The Marla Aster I knew and honoured is not in this room. 

Nor does she await you on the planet. Now she lives only here 

And here. (in their hearts) 

Join me in the R'uustai, the Bonding. You will become part of my family now and for all time. We will be brothers. 

(Marla goes up to Jeremy, then walks away. She and the house illusion vanish. All is as it should be again)

[Worf's quarters]

(Worf and Jeremy are lighting seriously chunky candles. Then Worf puts a sash across Jeremy's shoulder) 

WORF: 

SoS jIH batlh SoH. 

JEREMY: 

What does that mean? 

WORF: 

It honours the memory of our mothers. 

We have bonded and our families are stronger. 

JEREMY: 

SoS jIH batlh SoH.

(Drink, food, and the host in her flag-draped torpedo case coffin.) 

DAX: 

It's called an Irish wake. It's a way to memorialise a death and celebrate life at the same time. 

WORF: 

What are we supposed to do? 

DAX: 

Well, drink, sing songs, laugh, cry, talk about the deceased. 

WORF: 

It sounds almost Klingon. 

(Kasidy is staring out of the window.) 

SISKO: Hey. 

KASIDY: 

Hey, yourself. 

SISKO: 

When this is over, I want to talk to you about something. 

Something that's been on my mind. 

KASIDY: 

Okay. Is it about me? 

SISKO: 

Well, it's about me, actually. 

KASIDY: 

Ah, that's a relief. 

SISKO: 

I want to try to explain about my behaviour lately. 

KASIDY: 
Sounds good to me. But we'll talk about it over dinner. 
You cook. 

SISKO: 
That's a deal. 

BASHIR: (slightly drunk) 

I just wanted to say that although I only spoke with her for a very short time, I really admired Lisa Cusak. 

I cared about her and I'll miss her.

And another thing. 

Contrary to public opinion, I am not the arrogant, self absorbed, god like doctor that I appear to be on occasion. 

(pause) 

Why don't I hear anybody objecting to that statement? 

O'BRIEN: 

Well, I will if you insist. 

BASHIR: 

I insist. 

O'BRIEN: 

Then I object. 

BASHIR: 

Thank you, Miles Edward O'Brien. No, I have a heart, and I really care about all of you, even if sometimes it would appear that I care more about my work.

To the woman that taught me that it is sometimes necessary to say these things. 

Lisa Cusak. 

ALL: 

To Lisa. 

O'BRIEN: 

I never shook her hand and I never saw her face, but she made me laugh and she made me weep. 

She was all by herself and I was surrounded by my friends, yet I felt more alone than she did. 

We've grown apart, the lot of us. 

We didn't mean for it to happen but it did. 

The war changed us, pulled us apart. 

Lisa Cusak was my friend. 

But you are also my friends, and I want my friends in my life because someday we're going to wake up and we're going to find that someone is missing from this circle, and on that day we're going to mourn, and we shouldn't have to mourn alone. 

To Lisa and the sweet sound of her voice.