Review – In Memory of Kelsey Haber

Memory matters.

Background

For a monthly prompt about remembering, I decided to go with the story of the death of a crewman who nobody really remembered that clearly. After all, this could very well be a common occurrence on a large ship. It’s much like a large school or a large company. There is no way you can possibly know everyone. As a result, some people are just “that guy”.

Plot

Chris Hemsworth as Kelsey Haber

It’s the post-Fortune time period, on acting Captain Malcolm Reed‘s ship, the Zefram Cochrane. Chip comes over to Deb and tells her that Kelsey killed himself. Shocked, Deb and Chip realize that she knew Kelsey better than anyone, even the man’s new boss, Aidan. As Malcolm confers with Dr. Morgan about Haber’s death (he swallowed a tricoulamine capsule, same as the future Melissa Madden), Deb recalls an incident with Kelsey, where he ended up revealing something rather private to her.

Story Postings

• In Memory of Kelsey Haber as originally written
• also, In Memory of Kelsey Haber on Fanfiction.net
• In Memory of Kelsey Haber on Fictionpad
• In Memory of Kelsey Haber on Wattpad

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot

I have no reason to believe that suicide will go away in the future; instead, people will just find different ways to do the deed.  Further, I’ve always been troubled by Star Trek not giving below decks characters their due. While I understand the constraints of a one-hour-long television format, it still feels wrong for seven or so characters to be the only people who anyone really knows. This was touched upon a bit in the Star Trek: Enterprise canon episode, The Forgotten. I just wanted to be sure that no one would forget Kelsey, either.

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