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Tarsus IV: Appendix Of Redacted Files (StarfleetLogs)
There are a number of misconceptions about the Tarsus IV Massacre.
Misconception 1: "The children were the first to go."
This is greatly exaggerated. Of the 4,000+ colonists who died, only 40% of them were children- approximately 1600; which, while a tragedy, was not an act of genocide, but of famine. When the time came, only 162 children were chosen by Kodos to die.
This was the one constant; the one thing that was sacred. All those with parents willing to die for them were safe. And, die they did, when Kodos declared that something must be done.
That is when the rest were killed. There were more than four thousand deaths on Tarsus, of course, but not as many as four thousand disintegrations. However, when they compiled the lists of the dead, they attributed all those unknown deaths to Kodos The Executioner. The true number of victims died with him.
Misconception 2: "It was a natural disaster which came on without warning."
This assumption is perhaps the most understandable. Firstly, because the destruction of the grains was indeed the work of a strange fungus. Second, because it did, indeed appear to be an accident.
Officially, the same fungus that destroyed the crops (and, therefore, the colony) of Epsilon Sorona II also destroyed the crops of Tarsus IV. It was theorised, but never proven, that the Epsilon refugees brought the spores with them by mistake- tramped in on the bottom of boots. Whether intentional or not, the incident was treated as hostile by Kodos and his followers.
The fungus spread fast.
Misconception 3: "There are only nine survivors who can positively I.D Governor Kodos."
There are ten. Two of them currently dwell on the USS Enterprise. Seven are spread across the galaxy. Their names are [REDACTED].
The tenth is a man named Anton Karidian, a man with no history, a man with no past, and a bone structure that no amount of surgery can disguise. Sometimes he looks in the mirror and sees an actor. The rest of the time, he avoids mirrors.
[Flourish. Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and attendants.]
It is curious that he does not avoid the limelight.
KING: Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending...
There are a number of horrors surrounding the events of Tarsus IV which people are quick to minimise. These are all truths, ones which get lost in the mythologising of The Tarsus VI Massacre. For, surely, in the 23rd century, humanity has moved past such petty things as racism, eugenics and misogyny? However, no matter how often people gloss over it, the wording remains the same:
Misconception 4: "Governor Kodos decided who would die based on his own personal theories of Eugenics."
'Personal theories of Eugenics' is a quaint way to describe fascism. Perhaps Governor Kodos was not always a fascist, but he was certainly not always Governor. A military coup, on a colony that was first settled by war veterans, is not at all hard.
Misconception 5: "The body of Kodos was too charred to be identified. His face, burned. His fingertips, burned. However, dental records suggest that this was, indeed, his body, as does the DNA we could gather- blood tests were sufficient. We believe that the warehouse was set on fire by a small group of rebels, once Kodos and his security detail were trapped inside. Governor Kodos is dead, and we regret we could not bring him to justice."
- Source: Kit Ashingtower, Chief Medical Examiner.
There is one final truth; for those in Starfleet who have the clearance to learn it. Within the Federation, details of the massacre will remain confidential for another fifty years before the details are released to the public, but, occasionally, a footnote slips through. Sometimes attached to a personnel file, sometimes a medical file, and, in this case- attached to both.
Misconception 6: "Despite being a direct eyewitness to the events of Tarsus IV, James T. Kirk appears to have no lasting trauma associated with the event, and has passed his psych eval.
He has been declared fit for command."
