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CAPT Meadows, Rebecca
LOCATION Shinarechi
MISSION To determine who poisoned a Terran Empire prisoner in Federation custody while being held on behalf of the Shinari
OUTCOME The perpetrator was apprehended.
KEY PERSONNEL
- CAPT Dubois, Christian
- CAPT Meadows, Rebecca
- CAPT Mirazuni, Ayesha
- CAPT Tungsten, Drake
NARRATIVE A Terran prisoner, being held by Starfleet on behalf of the Shinari, was admitted to sickbay after a suspected poisoning. Captain Dubois tasked us with identifying the culprit behind the poisoning.
I understood the Captain’s determination, given the attack took place on his own ship. I felt some measure of responsibility for this, as it was my suggestion that led to us holding the Shinari’s prisoners for them in the first place. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. Under Shinari custody, after all, those prisoners would likely have experienced a less-than-optimal level of care. As it turns out, though, it didn’t matter who housed them.
The substance used to poison the prisoner in question was a common Earth fungus - Clitocybe Nebularis, and it was introduced to the victim via their food. Captain Dubois and his crew could find no evidence of replicator tampering.
The primary suspects, per Dubois’ preliminary investigations, were Admiral Driga, and Director Tridi. These individuals were both members of the Shinari Restoration Council - a body of ambiguous-legality, yet one which we nevertheless must placate in order to maintain relations with the Shinari people.
We first questioned Admiral Driga. Through that line of questioning, it was determined that Admiral Driga knew of the prisoner as being the first officer of the Terran Lexington-class Dreadnought that the Shinari are currently attempting to reverse engineer. The Admiral indicated, somewhat cryptically, that they sought to extract technical information from the prisoner - and that they had achieved as much.
Captain Tungsten and I found the Admiral’s callous nature towards the prisoner to be suspicious at first, but more information was forthcoming from Director Tridi.
Captain Tungsten led the Director’s questions. To begin with, the Director answered as we might expect - a representative of a people harmed, showing little empathy toward their abusers. But as the interview progressed, we all noted some heightened emotions.
The Director began to grow agitated during this line of questioning. She began to accusatorially ask us what the Admiral had told us, why we were asking certain questions, and what our motives were. Thanks to Captain Mirazuni’s interventions, we were able to steer the Admiral into an admission of guilt.
A combination of deep personal loss, and deeply-held Shinari spiritual convictions, had led Director Tridi to take matters into her own hands, in an effort to sabotage relations between the Shinari and the Federation. Shinari beliefs, it transpires, favour isolationism.
Our very offer of help, after so much suffering, had been taken as a cue that something was wrong with the universe.
Fortunately, her efforts were thwarted.
There were, and remain, cultural concerns that we may not be able to understand at present without a broader frame of reference, regarding both the Shinari people’s experiences before and during the Terran invasion, and how their culture adapts to these outside influences in the future. Director Tridi, driven by deep, personal loss and deep, and a personal adherence to a philosophy we are yet to properly understand, sought to act upon those concerns to protect her people.
She was prepared to take her own life, and our lives, to protect her people. She was unsuccessful, but she nearly took three Starfleet captains out with her efforts.
Admiral Driga, for her part, has at least acknowledged that a reluctance to trust Starfleet has been repeatedly demonstrated to be a poor decision. Admiral Driga will doubtlessly be an important contact with, and ally within, the Shinari people moving forward. But Admiral Driga is just one individual.
The Shinari people have experienced great hardship. They have been forced to come to terms with a universe that their culture is not yet necessarily prepared to deal with, followed shortly afterwards by an enemy that sought to obliterate them. I continue to recommend a ‘soft-touch’ when dealing with them.
But before that, we must, absolutely, invest some additional time into understanding who they are, what some of them believe, and why they believe it.
RECOMMENDATION
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We must learn more about the Shinari belief systems. A full diplomatic team should be assigned to learn all that we can about their unusual, balance-orientated belief system. Our lack of knowledge in this regard nearly resulted in the deaths of multiple Starfleet officers and a break-down of diplomatic relations.
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Restricted access to Terran prisoners by Shinari officers and staff for the time being. Until we understand more about Shinari beliefs, Shinari motivations, and how they might react to our own presence - much less Terran prisoners - we should monitor precisely who has access to their prisoners for the time being.
RECOGNITION CAPT Mirazuni, Ayesha - Her insight proved invaluable to determining the true culprit.
OOC 5th August | The Shinari Conspiracy
11th August | The Shinari Conspiracy, Part 2
The delay here is explainable by… hey wait, look over there! Points behind you and runs away
