AAR: A Smile From A Veil

Subspace Network Reports
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1
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 94842.3
FILED BY:
RDML. Konieczko, D.
SECURITY:
Level 2 - Confidential
​
LOCATION: Deep Space 13, Aldebaran sector.
​
MISSION: Engage in a diplomatic conference with the Azed Confederacy, attain a ceasefire, border control and assorted other diplomatic goals.
​
OUTCOME: Conference sabotaged, mission failure. Diplomatic outcome abysmal. Deep Space 13 lost.
​
KEY PERSONNEL:
​
Federation Attache Lev bim Bozgid
Rear Admiral, Lower Half Dmitri Konieczko
Captain Emery Quint
Captain Sara Desimone
Captain Tau Thiessen
Captain Samuel Bishop
Captain Minabi Derix
Captain Benjamin Rosewood
Commander Alistair Nimitz
Centurion Tylen tr'Valex

Arch Guide Aci
Commandant Ma'lo Cofreun (Viggo Representative)
Sage Fern Tsholofelo (Ikmore Representative)
​
NARRATIVE: As beta shift rolled around those assigned to diplomatic duties assembled in the assigned conference hall. I laid out our goals for those in the room and informed those assigned the importance of success in these talks.

Approximately 30 minutes into Beta Shift radiation alarms triggered and the Azed delegation arrived via wormhole. Arch-Guide Aci was the prominant figurehead and hew as joined by Commandant Ma'lo Cofreum the Viggo representative, as well as Sage Fern Tsholofelo the Ikmore representative. Introductions were made, and they were invited to sit. The Arch-Guide elected to remain standing, the Commandant took a seat opposite Captain Desimone and Sage Fern Tsholofelo took many seats possibly attempting to determine what she could get away with with us. As they all seemed very uncomfortable around chairs I elected not to think too much of it at the time.

Soft talks began, before we could get to the agenda prepared focusing primarily on the deals Captain Timoreev brokered during the previous talks. I believe it was at this point that the station lighting shifted to yellow alert and Captain Thiessen excused himself to station Operations. The talks continued through our prearranged conditions and my badge chirruped. I was about to excuse myself from the conversation momentarily when the conversation shifted towards the outpost in their space. The Azed representatives focused on Attache Bozgid for their answer. Unaware of if the attache was aware of the Tower Keep outpost I elected to remain at the table as to not reveal the location of Talos Junction. We informed them our intent to close down our outpost, though the location was not revealed with intent of providing that later. This seemed to set the talks in the right direction as things seemed to begin going in a relatively positive direction. We were able to get the Azed to agree to a buffer zone on their border of 50 kilometers for civilian traffic and to cease firing any probes into our space. We in turn promised the same conditions.

As things continued looking more and more positive in our talks I took the first opening I determined was appropriate to step away and see to my commbadge. As I was speaking with Captain Thiessen and he was informing me of the 11 unidentified ships on a direct course for DS13 out of the Itrin Sector the Azed delegation became increasingly panicked believing the conference was a trap. The room had gone to red alert and the representatives opened another remote wormhole and stepped through vanishing. The Itrin ships arrived in system and the battle outside began.

Deep Space 13 was caught in cross fire and I failed to give immediate orders aside from defensive ones. When we had been caught again I gave updated orders to defend the Azedi which would stand until the point of evacuation, if we had any hope of salvaging any future dialogue they would need to see that we were not aggressive towards them. The officers in the room took bracing positions around the table and bar, the attache of note elected to have a drink. As I did not have a clear picture of what was happening outside my orders could not be specific, and that is the reason they remained unchanged with the diplomatic goal of salvaging relations in mind. Operation of the starbase fell to it's Commanding Officer with the orders I had provided. Operation of fleet vessels fell to their (acting) commanding officers with the orders I had provided.

As the battle outside continued Deep Space 13 was caught with several more hits, the deck we were on was no longer safe as several conduits erupted and flames broke out. I ordered the evacuation of the conference room we had been held up in. As we moved towards a shelter we received word that the deck below us had been entirely destroyed and was just open space. I contacted Captain Thiessen for an update and he informed us of his intent to order for an evacuation. The group of officers previously in the diplomatic conference moved towards evacuation services at this point and managed to make it off of the station.
​
RECOMMENDATION: Destroy Tower Keep base and provide coordinates or simply provide coordinates to the Azed Confederacy. Continue to rally 38th assets at Deep Space K-7 and determine needs and solutions to those needs. Coordinate with Deep Space K-7 and it's standing fleet to relieve 38th assets from the Azed Confederacy frontlines. Relocate and transfer displaced civilians to an alternative location.
​
​

OOC: If I'm forgetting you let me know. This report documents information from the conference.
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2
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 94842.4
FILED BY:
CAPTAIN Thiessen, T.
SECURITY:
Level 2 - Confidential
​
LOCATION: DS13, Aldebaran Sector
​
MISSION: Diplomatic conference with the Azed confederacy to lead to a ceasefire, several other concessions.

OUTCOME: DS13 uninhabitable. 15,000 confirmed dead at last count, numbers expected to continue to rise.
​
KEY PERSONNEL:
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Captain Tau Thiessen
Commander Caspius (MIA)
Commander Rose Hanson (WIA)
Commander Dactylus
LCDR James Kermit (MIA)
LCDR Keri Verlin (WIA)
​
NARRATIVE:

PLEASE NOTE: Discrepancies in time may occur later in this report. I did sustain a injury to the back of my skull from the Azedi beam attacks and as such toward the end of this report the order in which certain things happened are vague. Please do not take this as purposely misconstruing or misreporting. This is to the best of my recollection.



During negotiations, DS13 was called to yellow alert. I abandoned the embassy to return to Ops where I was informed by Commander Caspius that 11 ships of unknown origin were inbound for fleetspace(later we determined from the Itrin sector). An attempt was made on my part to contact Rear Admiral Konieczko to inform him of this, so that the Azedi could be made aware of a potential conflict occurring and we could prepare without compromising the talks.


A response was not received for several minutes. During this time, we discovered that the incoming ships had weapons ready and shields up. Due to this, as they closed into short sensor range I made the call to bring the station to red alert. It was at this time the Admiral returned his comm to me. I was able to inform him of what was happening, but communication was once more sporadic.


Azedi ships began to organize and fire on the unknown vessels. The unknown vessels returned fire on the Azedi, but did not fire on the station. The Azedi, however, did not hesitate to fire one of their beam weapons through the station shields, causing immediate damage. A communication did come through from the Admiral informing all vessels and starbase to defend the Azedi vessels.


I disagreed with this course of action, as DS13 was taking damage from the Azedi vessels directly by this point already, but had no course of action with which to protest. DS13's weapons remained held for defensive measures as we scrambled to repairs damages caused by beam weapons. As more Azedi dreadnoughts arrived, the Azedi ships began to maneuver around DS13 and utilized our starbase as a sort of cover. They fired their beams directly through the station and in short order, we were taking structural damage from their attacks on the unknown vessels.


Discussions on potential evacuation had already begun, I believe, when Captain Desimone came over communications requesting the Azedi stop firing on our structures lest we consider them hostile. Containment on our cores had been close to giving out for a while from the Azedi beam attacks.


The Azedi turned fire more directly on us, but this only hastened the end of things - the Azedi had been causing massive structural damage and death most of the battle, in my estimations. Caspius and I had been considering utilizing Commander Davin's wormhole exploit on the Azedi ships. Previous orders to defend them had left us unable to do so without violating orders, despite the Azedi causing the destruction of DS13.


We attempted to cause a cascade failure and were successful, I believe - the displays in Ops were beginning to fail at this point but Caspius reported as such. Shields were gone on starbase and I remember hull was at approximately 50% when I hesitated to call for a second cascade. Commander Caspius committed to a second attempt. Captain Desimone had made her way from the Embassy to assist us, helping me to my feet and left - at my order trying to bring the injured LCDR Verlin with her to the Axiom via transport. However Verlin escaped her grip.


By this point we had to abandon the starbase ourselves - Ops lost power, and Commander Caspius led us to a shaft to take us to Auxiliary Ops with the hopes of keeping things running a while longer. Caspius was lost to the vacuum of space when we found this hatch to be exposed - Dactylus was able to seal the breach before any other losses occurred.


At this point I told them all to head up, as there was a juncture nearby with escape pods. The plating in the shaft was proving too thick for transporter beams, so we moved onward. Somewhere on the climb I came to the realization that LCDR Kermit had not joined us in the shaft - but in the state the station was in and with officers behind and before me, we could not return. We had to move forward.


On reaching the floor that was our destination, the USS Axiom transported all remaining members of the Ops bridge crew to safety. LCDR James Kermit and CMDR Caspius were not recovered.

​
RECOMMENDATION: The Azedi should not be treated as potential allies at this point in time. War is not desired but they made no efforts not to kill thousands of people aboard a starbase filled with civilians. Continue to relocate displaced civilians and see to further SAR efforts as soon as is possible. All efforts to locate dead and missing officers should take priority.


Additionally I am placing in this report my official complaint at the handling of our response to the Azedi aggression. Their ships were tearing beams through DS13 and we were attempting to defend them while my civilians were being slaughtered for lack of any better term. I can speak for several members of my Operations crew who spoke up at the time of the order that this was seen as a very poor decision. There was an extreme lack of communication from fleet command as to how to proceed and when it did occur it led to us assisting the people who cause death among our own people on a massive scale. A protest did not occur only because I was unable to formally do so given the situation - this is my official protest to the order given to defend to Azedi after they had fired through DS13's shields.


​

OOC: Please let me know if I missed anyone!
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3
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 94845.6
FILED BY:
CAPT S. Bishop
SECURITY:
Level 2 - Confidential

LOCATION: Deep Space 13, Aldebaran Sector

MISSION: Engage in a diplomatic conference with the Azed Confederacy, attain a ceasefire, border control and assorted other diplomatic goals.

OUTCOME: Conference sabotaged, mission failure. Diplomatic outcome abysmal. Deep Space 13 lost.

KEY PERSONNEL:
Federation Attache Lev bim Bozgid
Rear Admiral, Lower Half Dmitri Konieczko
Captain Emery Quint
Captain Sara Desimone
Captain Tau Thiessen
Captain Samuel Bishop
Captain Minabi Derix
Captain Benjamin Rosewood
Captain Isadora Lyn
Commander Alistair Nimitz

Captain Sadia Cynis
Centurion Tylen tr'Valex

Arch Guide Aci
Commandant Ma'lo Cofreun (Viggo Representative)
Sage Fern Tsholofelo (Ikmore Representative)

Commander Natasha Larson (USS Endeavour)
USS Akagi
USS Asimov
USS Atlantis
USS Avalon
USS Axiom
USS Eminence
USS Kassandra
USS MacAlpine
USS Polaris
USS Victory
USS William Ockham

IKS Daramar

<NOTE: The intended is a version of events, previously outlined by Rear Admiral Konieczko, from the point of the individual who filed the report.>

NARRATIVE:

As previously stated by Rear Admiral Konieczko, the peace talks started well. The Endeavour, which was currently under the command of Commander Natasha Larson, was then sent a message from DS13 Ops to begin emergency undocking, as a number of unidentified ships were en route to DS13. The Endeavour elected to stay near the station, as other ships were already moving to yellow alert and in the nearby space, ready to engage the enemy if needed.

When the station moved to red alert, the Azedi delegates panicked and withdrew. This lead to flared emotions from some of the officers in the conference room since there was a lot that was at stake on this conference. Arguments were interrupted as DS13 was caught in a crossfire from the battle that was raging outside.

Reports from the Endeavour show that the unidentified ships (henceforth referred to as UFOs), had begun to open fire on the Azedi ships in orbit. Both the MacAlpine and the Victory tried to establish contact with the UFOs but were met with radio silence. When the UFOs began to fire on the Azedi ships, some of the Starfleet ships began to fire back at the UFOs, to protect the Azedi ships, as per RADM Konieczko's orders to maintain good relations with the Azedi. The Endeavour elected to not fire, instead, she put herself between the ships and the starbase with the intention of blocking any crossfire from the battle. The Azedi ships responded by attacking the UFOs. However, they did not care at all for the assistance we were providing them; their beams travelled through both Starfleet ships and starbase as they attacked. The Endeavour attempted to block these beams that were headed for the base, but they travelled straight through her shield and hull. At his provocation from the Azedi, the Endeavour perceived them as a threat and began firing on them too, in an attempt to disable the ships and prevent the base from destruction. The report is not clear when other ships followed suite.

Within the starbase conference room, the hits on the base had caused several injuries; Attache Bozgid and Centurian tr'Valex were amongst those injured. Captains Lynn, Cynis, and I cleared an area for emergency triage and began to treat the injured. As the previous report shows several more beams to the starbase had caused the conference room to no longer be safe, and so we were given the order to evacuate. It was at this point that I received a head injury and was assisted out by Captain Lynn. All members of the conference room were able to evacuate safely.

Since defending the starbase was ineffective due to the beams merely travelling through the ship, the Endeavour moved to actively engage the UFOs and Azedi ships, treating all as hostiles. She received a direct hit to her impulse section and ended up dead in the water, with little thruster control. The Akagi moved to assist, whilst the Endeavour separated her saucer and stardrive section, as well as deploying the USS Bark. The Endeavour's saucer and the USS Bark carried on to harry the enemy vessels whilst the impulse drive was repaired when the Endeavour's stardrive was safely out of the way. As the battle was reaching an end, the impulse drive was able to be restarted and the Endeavour reformed to assist in the final moments of the battle. Once the battle was over, the Endeavour picked up a number of survivors before warping to Deep Space K-7.

RECOMMENDATION:
It is not my place at present to question the orders that were given, as I still have not got a full idea of what transpired, even though I strongly believe that we should have opened fire on the Azedi as soon as it was clear they did not care for Federation lives when they fired through the station. It was a highly chaotic time and I do not believe Admiral Konieczko's orders were misplaced, given that we had no idea of what was happening outside the base.

Instead, I would like to commend both Captains Lyn and Cynis, for their quick work on aiding the injured. At a time where it was easy to focus on what we couldn't do, stranded away from our ships, Captains Lyn and Cynis both focused on what they could do, that is, assist the wounded who were on the ground. Captain Lynn's medical knowledge most likely helped to save a few lives that day.

I would also like to commend Commander Larson, for her quick thinking and actions on board the Endeavour. I fully agree and support the actions she took, as she was able to better assist the situation and act to preserve Federation lives.

I would like to end by mentioning that I did not agree with the fact that this diplomatic mission was being undertaken on DS13. Whilst this is easy to say with hindsight, and not having known the full information in the leadup to the decision being made, it still remains that to have such an important and volatile conference on the base was not a wise decision. We could not have known that this would be the outcome, but this is exactly what we should have prepared for. Thus, please consider this a formal record of my protest.



OOC: If I have missed anyone out, please let me know!
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4
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 94845.6
FILED BY:
CAPT M. Derix
SECURITY:
Level 2 - Confidential

LOCATION: Deep Space 13, Aldebaran Sector

MISSION: Engage in a diplomatic conference with the Azed Confederacy, attain a ceasefire, border control and assorted other diplomatic goals.

OUTCOME: Conference sabotaged, mission failure. Diplomatic outcome abysmal. Deep Space 13 lost.

KEY PERSONNEL:
Federation Attache Lev bim Bozgid
Rear Admiral, Lower Half Dmitri Konieczko
Captain Emery Quint
Captain Sara Desimone
Captain Tau Thiessen
Captain Samuel Bishop
Captain Minabi Derix
Captain Benjamin Rosewood
Commander Alistair Nimitz

Captain Sadia Cynis
Centurion Tylen tr'Valex

Arch Guide Aci
Commandant Ma'lo Cofreun (Viggo Representative)
Sage Fern Tsholofelo (Ikmore Representative)

Commander Natasha Larson (USS Endeavour)
USS Akagi
USS Asimov
USS Atlantis
USS Avalon
USS Axiom
USS Eminence
USS Kassandra
USS MacAlpine
USS Polaris
USS Victory
USS William Ockham

IKS Daramar

<NOTE: The intended is a version of events, previously outlined by Rear Admiral Konieczko, from the point of the individual who filed the report.>

NARRATIVE:

The reporting Captain would like to note that the Peace Talks did indeed begin quite well, though I feel it is imperative to note that the different attitudes among the representatives of the Azedi were indicative of how highly fractured they appear to be. While the Arch Guide seemed willing and friendly, the Commandant was clearly distrustful and hostile from the getgo.

When the first communications from OPS came in, I was alerted to the detected incoming ships via my XO, who proceeded to move the Kassandra into a defensive position. Though I was confused about why the talks in the room continued without an official word being given by the Admiral.

As soon as Red Alert happened and the fighting began, CMDR Six of Nine ordered Kassandra to attempt to take fire from both the UFOs and Azedi to protect the station. Since the Azedi seemed intent on ignoring civilian lives, the decision to not engage and treat Azedi ships as hostile led to serious confusion amongst the crew. CMDR Six of Nine then decided to follow CAPT Desimone's example to open fire on Azedi ships, using the full strength of the Kassandra's Spinal Phaser Lance for a direct attack.

For the remainder of the engagement, Kassandra maneuvered into the frontlines to attempt to discourage further attacks on Starfleet assets while shielding evacuation efforts. When CAPT Derix returned to the ship, she proceeded with the same course of action, guarding the retreat as best as possible while picking up only a few stragglers before retreating to K-7.

RECOMMENDATION:
The reporting Captain believes that the first mistake in this situation was to not heed a call from OPS during a highly volatile diplomatic situation. We had Diplomatic personnel present, they should have carried the talks while the ranking Starfleet Officer should have -immediately- responded to the call from OPS. This would have given us time to inform the Azedi of the imminent danger, possibly preventing them from considering it a trap.

With all that in mind, the reporting Captain also believes that it was an error in judgment to treat Azedi forces as friendly even after they showed a blatant disregard for Federation lives and continued, even intensified their attacks on Federation Civilians when asked to stop. Consider this my formal protest against the order to treat Azedi forces as allied for the entirety of the engagement. I fully support my XO's decision to follow CAPT Desimone's lead.

Further I would like to commend my XO for her actions during the battle. Since the reporting Captain could not be on the bridge until close to the end of the engagement, she played the vital role in the Kassandra's efforts to defend and evacuation effort to the best of her abilities.

While I still hope a peaceful solution can be found, there needs to be a different approach to any possible talks with the Confederacy, one that takes into account their volatile nature and their apparent disregard for any lives but their own. A peace can only be built with a measure of respect from both sides and the Azedi have shown a complete lack of that respect in this encounter.



OOC: Small report due to me having to jet halfway through!!
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5
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 94849.1
FILED BY:
CAPT F. Skye
SECURITY:
Level 2 - Confidential
LOCATION: Deep Space 13, Alderbaran Sector

MISSION: Provide security for the diplomatic meeting with the Azed Confederacy.

OUTCOME: Civilian disturbance pacified prior to battle breaking out about Deep Space 13

KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT F. Skye
LT F. Jetaal
LTJG E. Beles
CPO L. Nazair
CADT R. Tierno

CIV Mana

U.S.S. MacAlpine

<NB> This report is intended to provide an overview of the security details actions and the events surrounding Cadet R. Tierno being taken into custody.


NARRATIVE:
I was with the security detail during the diplomatic event to make sure it ran as smooth as it took from internal security threats. During the course of security action, there was increased civilian disturbance with a group of civilians attempting to enter the area we were tasked with securing. The CPO attempted to disperse them when the began to throw PADDs and other small objects when I stepped in to attempt to diffuse the rising tension before it got of hand. I believed at the time that I was making progress with the civilians when the CPO opened fire, on stun, on the civilians and the cadet followed suit until they were all stunned, we were able to halt the second group by raising a forcefield blocking their path into the room.

It was at this point we received a message from operations that they had detected an unauthorised signal from the deck we were on, we were able to identify the console it was coming from. So upon investigation of the room with the console, we discovered CADT R. Tierno was the one sending the message, the LT Jetall then proceed to take the cadet into custody. It was at this time that the battle in the space around the station had begun, with the station being rocked by an impact. Using my ship, the USS MacAlpine, we were able to trace the warp signal of the eleven unidentified vessels that had entered local space and cross-reference it with the message being sent it and the termination and origin point both matched. Using this information, we concluded that the cadet had called these ships for some reason, so we moved to question them in an attempt to gain a method to communicate with them as they had not fired upon the station when the order came from fleet command to fire on them.

Mana and I arrived at the cell that the cadet was being held, where we attempted to gain a method to communicate with them, the cadet provided us with a communication channel to use to try and hail them upon trying this channel we received no response and shortly after the order to evacuate was given.

The cadet appeared to be trying to be helpful during the battle and kept saying 'the creators' as she called the unidentified aliens where here to help us by fighting the Azedi with us.

With the evacuation order was given myself, Mana and the Cadet got to one of the nearby escape pods and were picked up by the USS Cochrane and taken back to the USS MacAlpine, where I resumed command for the final stage of the battle and the evacuation.


RECOMMENDATION:
Please consider this my formal notice of complaint against the handling of the orders given by fleet command in regards to when we were to consider the Azedi hostile despite them firing on us and using our ships and starbase as a shield.

In regards to the Cadet, they are currently in the brig of the MacAlpine under guard.

OOC: If I have forgotten you sorry, just message me, and I will correct that.
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