| SUBMITTED: Stardate 95011.0 | FILED BY: CMDR Caspius | SECURITY: Level 2 - Confidential |
LOCATION: Unknown Azedi vessel, presumably located in Azedi territory.
MISSION: No formal mission. General orders required the eight captured personnel to seek their release from captivity by any means consistent with Starfleet's other general and standing orders.
OUTCOME: Partial success. Release via diplomatic means of six personnel. Voluntary death in captivity of one person due to medical trauma. Presumably voluntary remainder in captivity of one person.
KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT Beylara Ailes
CAPT William Levesley
CMDR Caspius
CMDR Charlotte Jarnefelt
LCDR James Kermit
LT Alexander Vangilder
CENT (SCDR) Llaiir
Justine (CIV)
CAPT William Levesley
CMDR Caspius
CMDR Charlotte Jarnefelt
LCDR James Kermit
LT Alexander Vangilder
CENT (SCDR) Llaiir
Justine (CIV)
NARRATIVE: Because of the nature of our confinement in terms of its irregularity, duration, and gaps in memory caused by our treatment at the hands of the Azedi, this report will be thematic rather than strictly chronological in nature.
On approximately Stardate 94841.0, I was descending a jeffries tube from Main Operations aboard Deep Space 13 when I fell through a hull breach into space. I lost consciousness, and when I awoke, I found myself imprisoned aboard a vessel which, in time, I would learn to be Azedi in origin. With me when I first awoke were several, but not all, of the eight personnel indicated above. Throughout my time aboard the Azedi vessel, which appears to have lasted approximately two months, I was always present with some, but seldom all, of the persons listed above. For the sake of ease and of brevity, I will only specifically indicate an absence or presence when sufficiently memorable, and when it seems relevant to this report.
Upon the recovery to consciousness of our group, we discerned that the entire group had signs of tampering: these being the presence of red 'dots' located on our temples, which we later learned to be indicative of attempts by the Azedi to employ their mind-probing device. Thereafter, each time we were rendered unconscious, these dots increased in number on the temples of those people who were subjected to the Azedi efforts to obtain information. The number of these dots ranged from one to two, as in the case of myself and SCDR Llaiir, up to more than five as in the case of CAPT Levesley. From this, we in time derived that the Azedi device was less successful in obtaining information from certain neural patterns, hence their readiness to desist from such efforts. This obvious neural incompatibility likely rendered myself and SCDR Llaiir rather low-value prisoners, although we did not realise this at the time.
Our intial efforts were focused on determining the nature of our location, as it was not immediately clear that we were captives of a hostile force. We were kept in a square cell bordered on two sides by a wall and on two sides by a forcefield. The Azedi avoided speaking with us and did not respond to our requests, whether for dialogue, food, or medical treatment, so we were unaware that we were captives at first, and considered the possibility that we might have been rescued from space. Upon our initial arrival, LCDR Kermit was critically injured, suffering internal bleeding. Without medical technology, we were limited to remedial field medicine. After numerous efforts to attract attention failed, we attempted to open a hatch in our cell. This attempt was successful, but the cell wall was in fact the exterior hull of the vessel (it had no secondary hull), and consequently the entire group of individuals present was blown into space, whereupon we lost consciousness.
When we regained consciousness, we found ourselves in an almost identical situation, although LCDR Kermit's condition had further deteriorated. Doctor Jarnefelt determined that he was likely to die within hours without immediate medical attention. This time, we attracted the attention of a guard and, after a brief fight, we overpowered him and obtained control of his weapon. He escaped our cell and sealed us in. One of our number then fired the weapon through the floor grate in an effort to disable the forcefield around our cell. This resulted in the opening of the aforementioned hatch, with the same result as above. I note that, in each instance in which we were ejected into space, the speed of our exit resulted in additional injuries as members of our group struck the bulkhead or doorframe in the course of their ejection.
We regained consciousness a further time, as described above, and were this time able to speak with an Azedi doctor. The doctor was unconcerned with our well-being in the extreme, and treated the gravity of our situation with whimsical disdain. However, we were able to obtain medical care for LCDR Kermit and, I believe, for Justine who had been injured in the course of events. With regard to the latter person, I am unsure of my recollection. Thereafter, our cell was visited by another armed guard and, in the course of yet another escape attempt, the guard deliberately fired his weapon through the floor, resulting in the same ejection into space as previously mentioned.
When we regained consciousness again, we planned a further escape attempt, led by CAPTs Ailes, Levesley, and myself, and this time ambushed the guard who arrived with his associates. There was not unanimous support for the plan, and it may have been possible that one of our number attempted to sabotage the escape effort. However, in the course of events, we acquired one of the guard's weapons and killed one of the guards. However, another guard succeeded in shooting me during the extended struggle. The weapons use a high volume verteron pulse, and they appear to have a single 'kill' setting. The blast struck me in the center of the upper torso, and I was thereafter unconscious. However, I understand from relation by others in the group that the group surrendered in order to obtain medical care for me. I have also been told, by others in the group and by the Azedi, that SCDR Llaiir volunteered as the only compatible organ donor for the procedure.
In the event, the damage to my lungs, liver, spleen, and heart necessitated their replacement. The medical procedure was a classical surgical transplant without the use of standard Starfleet technology. The organs were taken from SCDR Llaiir, resulting in her death. I do not know whether SCDR Llaiir was aware of the literal and unrestrained understanding the Azedi have of organ 'donorship', but it is my unconfirmed suspicion that she was not fully aware that her volunteering would result in her certain death. It is more likely that she believed that such donorship would be attempted only if her life could be preserved. The Azedi, however, do not share this definition.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a medical laboratory. There were five or six biobeds equipped with neural probes. I was taken by a guard to the cell and reintroduced to my associates. A negotiation was under way to obtain our release in exchange for 'information'. We devised a plan whereby LT Vangilder would provide confusing and circuitous information to the Azedi, who lack expertise with technology. He then went with our captors, who provided us with additional medical care and the promise of eventual release.
Some time later, we were visited again by our captors, evidently in search of still further information. The individual, Hagduin, an Azedi scientist, was difficult to work with. He claimed that we were en route to return us, but wanted still more information. This we were unwilling to provide, so he left us. Thereafter, the ship seemed to engage in battle, which resulted in a weakening of the forcefield. We used the opportunity to overload the forcefield by crossing its polarity using one of our belts. We then escaped the cell and found Hagduin in his office, whereupon we took him prisoner. When his guards returned to his office, we overpowered them and, in a battle, killed or incapacitated them and took their weapons. When Hagduin refused to cooperate with our escape, we set off through the ship in an effort to find escape pods or some means of incapacitating the entire crew (e.g. via life support overrides) or taking command of the vessel (e.g. via storming the bridge).
In due course, we arrived at the medical bay, from which we freed others of our group. At that point, we had recovered the entire group except for Justine, who was residing in the residential area. At several points, guards came to the medical bay as a result of routine patrols or a shift change, resulting in periodic fire fights. In addition to injuries that we sustained, several guards were killed, others were rendered unconscious or taken prisoner, and one doctor was killed. The doctors were restrained in the biobeds, towards which they expressed obvious and extreme terror, demonstrating their full awareness of the nature of the devices they were using upon unwilling victims. For his part, Hagduin steadfastly refused, throughout the entirety of the escape attempt, to assist us. He refused to speak on our behalf. He refused to set us free. He refused to help us gain command of his vessel. No attempt we made, stopping only short of injury, could persuade him to assist us in any least way. He did, however, reveal that the military complement of the ship numbered in the thousands. And, when he became aware, eventually, that we would be willing to 'assist' him with some nominal information (again, contrived, as before), he offered to provide for our immediate and unconditional release following that cooperation. Given the arrival of a large number of troops was imminent, we saw no alternative but to surrender ourselves to him.
Hagduin, for his part, was honest in fulfilling his end of that final bargain. CAPTs Ailes and Leveseley set about misleading him about the nature of a Federation super-weapon, possessed by Admiral Archer, and known only as "The Beagle". They then provided convoluted and unworkable technological information about how such a device would function. This, apparently, satisfied the Azedi because, soon thereafter, they did provide for our release to a diplomatic envoy consisting of CAPTs Timoreev, Thiessen, Nimitz, et al., on or about Stardate 95010. The body of SCDR Llaiir was returned to CAPT Nimitz. However, Justine was not released. It is our conclusion that she was either originally an Azedi plant designed to obtain information from us, or that she was persuaded through the aforementioned torture inflicted upon her into joining the Azedi cause.
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Urgent medical care is required for CMDR Caspius and LCDR J. Kermit to address the shortcomings of Azedi medicine;
2. Full medical examination (and treatment as necessary) should be mandated for the entire group; and,
3. Counseling for trauma should be provided as needed, or mandated where deemed necessary.
However, I respectfully disagree with the other officers who believe that the Azedi neural probe might have led to some kind of surreptitious control of our personnel. If such had been the case, they most certainly would have used it to their advantage during our attempt to seize control of their vessel. Nor would they have continued to seek our cooperation, even up until our eventual release, in voluntarily providing information if they could have obtained it so easily.
Furthermore, I strongly believe that it is neither legally nor ethically appropriate for there to exist a presumption against our recently-released personnel. For, operating under a presumption of guilt, by what means are members of the group to provide evidence to the contrary? The injustice of such a presumption is obvious. Rather, the presumption should be for the total innocence of the involved personnel unless and until evidence to the contrary is discovered, only at which point an investigation of the individual, and increased caution towards the group, would be warranted. The present policy, although rationalised on the grounds of security, is punitive towards a group of individuals who are obviously victims, and contrary to the ideals of the Federation--legal, ethical, and humanitarian.
CMDR Caspius
On enforced medical leave pending transfer to U.S.S. Atlantis
OOC: Because this report covers two months of RP sessions and involves only the events that directly involved Caspius, it is necessarily incomplete. If there are things that Caspius should know which I have reported in error, or which I have omitted, please let me know and I will emend the report accordingly. Any such mistakes are purely accidental and are OOC, not IC, misrepresentations.