Colonel Stephen Richey

forensic-catalyst preserved (posthumous) military-associated pioneering authoritative absent (deceased) anonymous

Colonel Stephen Richey — an American military officer found as a long‑decayed skeleton aboard a derelict; identified when Data reads remains dated ~283 years dead and discovers a pale‑blue spacesuit embroidered 'Colonel S. Richey' with a 52‑star flag. His ruined body provides forensic confirmation that people were preserved and abandoned and catalyzes the away team's moral and investigative urgency.

4 appearances

Space Exploration Operations

Also known as: Stephen Richey, commanding officer of the Charybdis, Colonel Richey, Colonel S. Richey, COLONEL STEPHEN RICHEY, Stephen Richey, Richey, S. Richey, Colonel Stephen Richey

Colonel Stephen …'s Journey

A timeline through the narrative

4 moments

S2E12 · The Royale

Static and the Charybdis: Bridge Communications Collapse

Deceased — serves as a narrative ghost whose implied history introduces moral complexity and historical weight to current decisions.

Stephen Richey is not active in the scene but is identified via computer records as the deceased commanding officer of the Charybdis; his presence functions as a narrative anchor that …

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S2E12 · The Royale

Richey Revelation and Severed Comms

Deceased / historical presence — not emotionally active, but his status as a lost commander colors the bridge’s reaction and decision-making.

Referenced in an archival readout and by Riker’s request: Colonel Stephen Richey is identified as the commanding officer of the lost explorer ship Charybdis; he is present only as the …

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S2E12 · The Royale

Diagnosis: The Royale as Bad Fiction

Melancholic and exhausted, expressing deep, weary despair and a longing for release.

Not physically present but present through first-person diary text read aloud by Riker; his account recounts contamination of the exploratory shuttle, decades of solitary survival inside the constructed hotel, and …

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S2E12 · The Royale

Richey’s Diary — The Hotel as Misplaced Mercy

Anguished and fatalistic as conveyed in his writing; the diary voice is weary, betrayed, and longing for human connection.

Not physically present but functionally present through his diary's text; his thirty-eight years of entries provide the primary witness testimony explaining the hotel's origin and his slow resignation to the …

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