Matthew Coburn

Matthew Coburn, son of Fleet Admiral Coburn, was a High-Guard cadet assigned to the highly-regarded Delta Squadron at High-Guard Academy.

Young Coburn was killed in 2208 during a flight training accident in orbit over Titan. While flying in close formation with four other Nova cadets - team leader Nicholas Locarno, Caitlin Myers, Dion Jenner and Janet Lopez - Cadet Coburn's ship collided with Cadet Lopez's, causing all ships to be destroyed. Coburn was the only one unable to activate his emergency transporter in time.

Matthew Coburn had a crush on medical student, Lillian Crusher. They both once went on a skiing trip in Calgary, where Coburn kissed Lillian's cheek. Coburn was the one who went with Lillian to the Sadie's Hawkins Dance, which Lillian revealed that to her friend and former Victory crewmate, Lt. Cmdr S.E.G.A.

An inquiry into the accident presided by Admiral Grant and Captain Satelk pointed to pilot error on Coburn's part, much to the dismay of his father and which surprised Lillian.

In reality, Cadet Locarno had convinced the remaining cadets to provide false testimony and falsified flight plans during the inquiry, also to drag Lillian involve in it, in which Lillian Crusher had eavesdropped on the conversation and decided to report it. The crew of the USS Enterprise-D discovered this and correctly surmised that the five cadets were attempting to pull off a prohibited maneuver known as the Kolvoord Starburst at the time of the collision and that Lillian knew of this, which she denied and led to tension between her and her father.

On the final day of the inquiry, after Lillian barged in a conference between Nicholas and Caitlin, she revealed that she had a  confrontation with her father about her being involved in the prohibited maneuver, which she denies, Cadet Myers came forward and admitted that the true cause of the accident was that she and the other cadets pressured Coburn in helping them attempt the Kolvoord maneuver - partly vindicating Cadet Coburn and giving his father some closure. Myers also admitted that Lillian wasn't involved in the maneuver and that her team was trying to save their future in High-Guard, by ruining her future. She apologized to Lillian for her actions, but she doesn't forgive her and their friendship is dissolved. Lillian manages to accept her father's apology for not beliving her and that he let her down.

For the duration of the investigation, which lasted several days, the High-Guard Academy flag was lowered to half-staff. ( RES : "The First Duty ")