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A burial was one of the final stages of a death ritual where the deceased's remains were put in the final resting place.

Officers in Starfleet often decided to have a traditional Earth "burial at sea", changed for starships to a burial in space. The deceased was put in a photon torpedo casing, with the flag of the Federation (or, in some cases, the flag of Starfleet Command) draped across it. A senior officer or someone close to the deceased usually said a eulogy, after which another officer blew a boatswain's whistle as those gathered for the funeral stood at attention. The torpedo casket was then launched or beamed into open space. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; DS9: "Tears of the Prophets"; VOY: "Alliances", "Coda", "One Small Step", "Ashes to Ashes"; ENT: "Similitude") Civilians were known, according to their wishes, to receive a similar burial, except they were placed inside a different kind of container and beamed into space. (TNG: "The Schizoid Man")

In 2267, after the shuttlecraft Galileo crash landed on Taurus II and Lieutenant Latimer was murdered by an anthropoid living there, Lieutenant Boma helped prepare a burial service for Latimer and hoped Spock, who was in command of the Galileo's stranded crew, would say a few words in order to give Latimer "a decent burial." Due to extreme time constraints, however, Spock declined, much to Boma's frustration. Spock and another of the stranded crew, Doctor Leonard McCoy, debated which of they themselves should preside over the ceremony, Spock believing that McCoy should because he possibly knew "the correct words for such an occasion." After Lieutenant Gaetano was also killed by an anthropoid, Boma insisted that he be given a burial, but since the anthropoids were in the area, Spock was anxious to allow that. He eventually relented, though, granting Gaetano's funeral as long as the anthropoids permitted it. (TOS: "The Galileo Seven")

Latimer's burial isn't shown in the final version of "The Galileo Seven" but was scripted. In the episode's final draft script, an initial stage direction for that scene described the ceremony thus; "McCoy, Mears, Boma and Gaetano are gathered around a small mound of earth a few feet away from Galileo. McCoy throws a handful of dirt on the mound." The script proceeded with him announcing, "Dust thou art, and to dust shall thou return. Amen." This was followed by Boma, Gaetano, and Yeoman Mears replying, "Amen." However, the burial was then interrupted by a strange, mysterious grating noise, actually created by one of the anthropoids, which can be heard in the episode.

In 2269, Janice Lester (as "James T. Kirk") ordered Spock to be executed, with his interment to take place on Benecia. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")

Later that year, Spock confirmed with a tricorder that a corpse was indeed interred near the site of the Keeper's tombstone. (TAS: "Once Upon a Planet")

In 2373, Kira Nerys buried Tekeny Ghemor next to her father on Bajor. (DS9: "Ties of Blood and Water")

In 2376, the Starfleet practice of burial in space directly conflicted with the Kobali practice of salvaging corpses for reanimation as a means of procreation. The body of the late Ensign Lyndsay Ballard of the USS Voyager, who died and was buried in space in 2374, was reanimated to become Jhet'leya. (VOY: "Ashes to Ashes")

Metaphor[]

The Novan Jamin used the expression "Bury your drawings" to tell Captain Jonathan Archer to end and close the photographs of the SS Conestoga colonists. (ENT: "Terra Nova")

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