On the eve of battle, on a cold and windless night, an old general turned to a young soldier. 

“Tomorrow,” said the master, “you will know fear.” 

The young soldier — who had not yet experienced the agony of war — looked at the general with quizzical eyes, “How will I know fear if I do not know what it looks like?” 

The general replied, “You will know fear because it speaks very fast and it speaks very loud…”

 “If that is how fear acts, recognizing it is easy.” But as the young soldier considered the general’s advice, she asked the question facing us now, “Once I know Fear, how do I defeat it?”

Even so, I come to ask myself the same question that young soldier asked that general all those years ago: “How do I defeat fear?”

The general’s answer: “the only way to defeat fear is to tell it ‘No’.” 

No. We will not take shortcuts on the path to righteousness. 

No. We will not break the rules that protect us from our basest instincts. 

No. We will not allow desperation to destroy moral authority. 

I am guilty of all these things. 

Some say that in life there are no second chances; experience tells me that this is true. 

We can only look forward. We have to be torch-bearers: casting the light so we may see our path to lasting peace. We will continue exploring, discovering new worlds, new civilisations. 

Yes. That is the United Federation of Planets. 

Yes. That is Starfleet

Yes. That is who we are

And who we will always be.