Peter Joseph

Peter "Pug" Joseph was a starfleet officer who served as Chief of security aboard the USS Stargazer under Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and the USS Lexington under Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma.

Pug served as Picards chief of security on the Stargazer for 22 years, until the vessel was lost at the Battle of Maxia Zeta.

In 2354, the Stargazer encountered what would later be called the Nensi Phenomenon, a ball of matter and energy that was believed to have its origin in a special category of supernova.

The encounter left the ship powerless with her starboard nacelle about to explode. With no other options, Picard ordered Joseph and Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher to sever the nacelle before it destroyed the ship.

Joseph, who had suffered from a lack of self confidence earlier in his career, lost his nerve during the assignment and abandoned Crusher at the nacelle. Crusher continued with their task and saved the ship, but at the cost of his life.

When Captain Picard donned a EV suit and went out to investigate, he found Joseph floating and assumed that he had lost consciousness. Joseph said nothing to correct that assumption.

Joseph lived with the guilt of Crushers death for 12 years, throughout his stint as security chief of the USS Lexington. During this time, Joseph developed a drinking problem.

In 2367, Joseph was part of a contingent of Stargazer survivors that were traveling on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) with former shipmate Morgen of Daa'v, who was the hereditary leader of that world, to his coronation as king.

During the voyage to Daa'v, Joseph was convined by the Enterprise lounge host, Guinan, to confess what had happened all of those years ago to Jack Crusher's widow, Beverly.

Much to Joseph's surprise, Beverly forgave him. In the years that followed, Beverly kept in contact with Joseph, even conecting him with an alcohol rehabilitation program.

Joseph eventually left Starfleet to become a civilian captain of the vessel Annabel Lee. In 2379, Joseph assisted Picard in a rescue effort when Beverly Crusher was listed as "Missing: presumed dead" in Romulan space.

(:Special thanks to Michael Schuster, who provided the drawing and maintains an informative and detailed Stargazer website. Michael is also co-author of the SCE e-book, The Future Begins''.)