Being a Starfleet family member can be hazardous to your health.
If you’re a family member to someone in Starfleet, you’re likely going to suffer a bitter end. That’s just the way it goes usually. There are a lot of traumatic moments that belong solely to those related to the main characters. If you were a character related to a member of the main crew of a Star Trek, you were likely going to bite it in a dramatic fashion.
Especially the original series crew. Geeze, the writers really didn’t like them having happy families that they could spend time with, did they?
So we’re looking at five times it didn’t pay to be a relative to some Starfleet legend. Well, four times, and one time that person was related to Kes.
Five times it didn’t pay to be a Starfleet legend’s relative in Star Trek.
Elizabeth Tucker (Charles ‘Trip’Tucker’s Sister)
The only person on this list we don’t actually see is Elizabeth Tucker, the sister of Charles “Trip” Tucker of the USS Enterprise. She was beloved by her brother, and you could logically conclude that she was his favorite person. She was killed when the Xindi attacked, carrying on the long legacy of killing off Starfleet members’ families for no good reason.
Peter Preston (Scotty’s Nephew)
Peter Preston wanted to make his uncle, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott proud. That’s all he wanted to do. So when Khan Noonien Singh attacked the Enterprise, Peter refused to leave his post, and because of that, he was mortally wounded and eventually died while the ship tried to hunt Khan down. He was introduced just to die, but the character being held by his distraught uncle on the bridge of the Enterprise remains one of the most powerful images ever seen in Trek.
David Marcus (Kirk’s son)
Scotty wasn’t the only person to lose their kin unnecessarily in a Star Trek movie, but the captain himself, James T. Kirk had his own son David Marcus needlessly slaughtered at the hands of a Klingon under the command of Kruge. It seemed so needless at the time and was one of those moments that little sense. Unlike the death of Scotty’s nephew, David Marcus’ death didn’t have the same impact and isn’t seen in the same light by the fans as Peter Prestons’.
Commander Sela (Tasha Yar’s Daughter)
Now you may think Commander Sela shouldn’t qualify for this list, but keep in mind that her mother, Tasha Yar, was a prisoner at the hands of the Romulans. She was a consort under the penalty of death to a Romulan General, not exactly a willing partner and due to that, Sela was conceived through this deadly pact. Sela also was the reason her mother was finally executed, at just four years old she betrayed her mother and got her killed. Yeah, Sela had a traumatic childhood.
Linnis Paris (Tom Paris and Kes’s Daughter)
What’s worse, getting your own mother killed, or never existing because your mother decided she didn’t want to marry your future father? That’s Linnis Paris’ existence. She was the daughter of Kes and Tom Paris of the starship Voyager and was only ever conceived in a future that will never actually happen. Paris and Kes were supposed to get together according to this timeline but Kes ended up leaving the ship in season four after her actress, Jennifer Lien, was written off the show. If being written out of time was bad enough, in the timeline she did exist in, she was married to Harry Kim. She can’t catch a break.