| SUBMITTED: Stardate 95149.2 | FILED BY: CAPT L Omar | SECURITY: Security Level 1 - Open |
LOCATION: Deep Space 13; USS Endeavour
MISSION: Discern the reason for Ensign Aruyo's delayed recovery and those responsible for her capture.
OUTCOME: All accounts indicate that the reason for Ensign Aruyo and Crewman Adonis' delayed recovery following the Battle of DS13 is due to being taken prisoner by slavers who potentially possesses ties to a organization called the 'Trans-Sector Trading Triskaidecarch.' However, critical differences are present between the two victims' accounts that suggests one or both may be withholding some information.
KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT Omar
CAPT Nimitz
LT Akavik
ENS Aruyo
CRW Adonis
CAPT Nimitz
LT Akavik
ENS Aruyo
CRW Adonis
NARRATIVE: Ensign Aruyo Lara was on board Deep Space 13 during the Azedi attack on the station and listed as MIA in its aftermath, later changed to KIA. On Stardate 95102.7, Ensign Aruyo was found alive by personnel from the USS Zulu and USS Akagi alongside one Crewman Jack Adonis. This report details the accounts given by both personnel surrounding the events of their captivity.
Crewman Adonis' account states that he and Ensign Aruyo escaped from DS13 on a shuttlecraft with two other Starfleet officers, a human holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander and a human holding the rank of Ensign, as well as two Trill civilians. The slavers attacked the shuttle and captured all the passengers. They were subsequently maltreated in captivity and Crewman Adonis believes the others to be deceased, though he did not personally see their bodies. During this period, Crewman Adonis claims he heard his captors speaking of an auction, suggesting that they are involved in a slave trade.
After an unknown period of time as prisoners, Crewman Adonis managed to attack and kill one of the guards, taking his rifle and orchestrating their escape. According to the Crewman, Ensign Aruyo was in poor condition at the time, due to either injuries sustained in captivity or during the escape attempt, or perhaps both. The two struggled to survive in the wilderness of the planet for a time. At one point, they were fleeing from a group of hostiles, presumably their captors, and came across a facility where they were found and rescued by Zulu and Akagi personnel.
Ensign Aruyo's account is largely identical concerning their capture and recovery. She goes into further detail on how they came to encounter the slavers. Ensign Aruyo was the pilot of the shuttle, which was somehow damaged in the evacuation, causing the stabilizers to explode and knocking everyone unconscious. When she regained consciousness, Ensign Aruyo tried to steer the craft to safety, but the damage eventually made the shuttle lose warp capability. She made for the nearest traveled path at impulse, the Aldebaran-Tiqchirgh trade route, where she hoped help would find them.
It was on a point in this route in the Risa Sector where the shuttle was attacked by the slavers. Here, the Ensign's account begins to differ. According to her, the Lieutenant Commander was killed during the boarding action, and the remainder of the passengers taken prisoner. They were not treated well during captivity, but not maltreated to the point of death either. All surviving passengers of the shuttle managed to escape in a manner that aligns with Crewman Adonis' description; however, the male Trill civilian, who she named as Kanaar, died of his injuries shortly afterwards. Ensign Aruyo claims that her injuries were not sustained during captivity or escape but over the course of their attempts to survive in the wilderness.
The human Ensign sacrificed himself while dismantling a bridge, ensuring that Ensign Aruyo and Crewman Adonis could not be followed by their captors. The death of the female Trill civilian, named Leena, is the most troubling. Ensign Aruyo claims that they were being pursued by a targ send out by their captors to hunt them. The targ managed to seize Leena's leg and Crewman Adonis fired the weapon he had taken from the guard during their escape, killing the civilian. When asked whether or not this was simply accidental friendly fire, Ensign Aruyo states that she remembers the Crewman saying Leena would have only slowed them down were she alive.
Captain Nimitz was also investigating a group known as the Trans-Sector Trading Triskaidecarch (TSTT) who he suspects had connections with the slavers. Crewman Adonis does not recall hearing the name, but Ensign Aruyo claims that she heard the word 'Triskaidecarch' from one of her captors, a Ferengi female named Henareya, and suggests the group would pay the slavers after the captives were sold. The Ensign also identified two other captors as a Ferengi male and a Klingon male.
RECOMMENDATION: Further investigation into TSTT is necessary, as they may be involved in the attack on a Starfleet shuttle, murder of a Starfleet officer, kidnapping of Federation citizens and operation of an illegal slave trade. Investigation into records of a Ferengi individual named 'Henareya' may also be prudent.
Ensign Aruyo's account implicates Crewman Adonis with intentional murder of a Federation civilian. The drastic variation between the two accounts of their captivity and escape suggests that one or both of them are attempting to hide something that transpired during this period, as the details are too different to be explained by a relapse in memory. However, even if Ensign Aruyo is correct, Crewman Adonis killed the civilian out of a selfish desire to survive rather than any ill-intention towards other sentient life, and he likely does not pose a danger at the present time.
The JAG department may wish to investigate Crewman Adonis, at their discretion. All evidence that can validate either account of events will likely not be recoverable at this point. The only course of investigation I can see is by examining medical records of Ensign Aruyo's injuries, as the two accounts differ in how they were sustained, but this is at best circumstantial evidence.
OOC: Sorry for the delay in writing this report! I haven't had a chance to sit down and post on forums this week until now.