97603.4
LTJG Eno, Kai
On Call Response
LOCATION Deep Space 13
MISSION Investigate officer conduct during mission to Gartan II as referred by Fleet Admiralty.
OUTCOME Investigation completed. See recommendations below.
NARRATIVE This report will address the specific proposed infractions from the original allegation.
General Order One
On the proposed violation of General Order One, this investigation has found no grounds for charges. While the prime directive prohibits interference in in the development of alien cultures, there are two conditions outlined in General Order One that allow such interference:
Prior to the Brush Island’s arrival to the Gartan system, a probe belonging to the Federation Observation Team experienced a thruster malfunction. This malfunction caused an orbital impact with a Gartan satellite, the resulting debris impacted a populated area. Probe debris were recovered, and the native species were alerted to our presence.
When Brush Island arrived in the system, the Gartans had unified against an alien threat and were broadcasting messages to that effect. The probe malfunction qualifies as an accidental contamination, and as such Starfleet personnel were acting within the scope of the general order.
General Order Two
On the proposed violation of General Order Two, this investigation has found potential grounds for charges against Captain Ayesha Mirazuni and no grounds for charges against all other officers present.
Captains Skye and Tungsten, Commander Verlin, and Ensigns Thyzee and Sovum are protected from any charges under General Order 26. Had the situation outlined below escalated to action, the above officers could be held accountable for failing to prevent such an action. However, that scenario did not occur.
General Order Two states that no unnecessary force may be levied against members of the United Federation of Planets:
In order for an officer to violate this general order, both the use of force and that lack of necessity must be proven. Security logs from the Brush Island and testimony from Captain Mirazuni confirm that a verbal threat was issued. Portions of these logs are quoted below. The full deposition and security logs can be found in this series of reports. For the purposes of this general order, the threat of force is equivalent to the use of force.
Having established the use of force above, attention must be devoted to determining the necessity. When asked to state her justifications, Captain Mirazuni stated the following:
The reporting officer found this justification highly suspect. Present in the shuttle were three Starfleet captains, one commander, and two ensigns. All officers present would have completed basic self defense courses at the academy, held an intimate knowledge of the shuttle’s layout, and possessed a familiarity with the shuttle’s systems. Captain Mirazuni refused to elaborate further.
TRANSCRIPTS
Deposition: Captain Mirazuni, A.
Recording Begins
Eno Lieutenant Junior Grade Eno, JAG Corps, interviewing Captain Mirazuni. Represented by Lieutenant Stray, JAG Corps. Captain, this deposition is an official record, and can be used as evidence in a resulting trial. You are required to answer truthfully, to the best of your ability, under penalty of perjury. Do you understand?
Mirazuni I do, yes.
Stray Captain Mirazuni would like to begin by raising an objection to the suspension of herself and the other involved officers from active duty. None of Command’s alleged grievances paint them as unable to perform their duties while the investigation is ongoing.
Eno Objection is noted and will be relayed to fleet command. Captain, do you have any other statements you’d like to make on the record before I begin with questions?
Mirazuni No, I do not,
Eno You filed an after action report on Stardate 97576.5. Do you stand by the accuracy of that report as it relates to the events of the day?
Mirazuni Yes.
Eno That report states you immediately picked up a transmission from the surface, indicating the planet was under attack. Was that being broadcast system wide?
Mirazuni Captain Tungsten was on sensors, he stated that he was receiving broadcasts from their satellites.
Eno How would you rate your knowledge of the native species on Gartan II prior to your arrival?
Mirazuni I read the reports that were given to me.
Eno With the exception of the Endeavour’s crew compliment, had you worked with any of the officers present prior to this mission?
Mirazuni I had worked with all but one officer, at least once, before this mission.
Eno Please name the officers you worked with prior, for the recording.
Mirazuni Captain Tungsten, Captain Skye, Ensign Sovum, Ensign Thyzee.
Eno Which means Commander Verlin was the only officer you had no prior experience with?
Mirazuni Yes.
Eno Right. Please confirm for me that you held overall command of the mission.
Mirazuni Yes.
Eno What can you tell me about the civilian researchers that were aboard the Brush Island?
Stray The Captain had not met them or received any particular information about them prior to the mission. Correct?
Mirazuni Correct.
Eno Did your fellow officers provide alternatives to first contact?
Mirazuni Yes
Eno It seems they conducted themselves well after their suggestions were overridden. I feel no need to rehash your reasoning, as it’s outlined in the report. There is one area I would like to focus on however, and that is the civilian reaction to the situation. When reviewing a report conducted by the Office of the Admiralty, it was revealed that researchers were threatened with sedation. Seeing no mention of this in your report, I requested a copy of the Brush Island’s security logs and obtained this…
Captain Skye, tell them to shut up or I will sedate the entire team.
Eno That is you, correct?
Mirazuni That is my voice, yes.
Eno This incident was omitted from your report. Why?
Stray It wasn’t relevant to the outcome of the mission. The feedback of the scientists, such as it was, was included in the section reading… ‘members of the team formulated various plans…’ etcetera
Eno The feedback of the scientists is not the focus of my question. However, a direct threat against Federation citizens by a Starfleet Captain is relevant to any mission. We are not investigating outcomes, we are investigating conduct. Please answer the question, Captain. Why was this omitted?
Stray The point, Lieutenant, is that an AAR need not list every single detail of a mission that is not relevant. Generalizations and summaries are commonplace. The report doesn’t include direct quotes of the conversations with the natives, and no one would reasonably question the Captain’s motives for not including those. Her reasoning for including or not including one of a thousand different potential minor details in her report isn’t something we’re going to get into tonight.
Eno With respect, Lieutenant, you are not the authority on determining the relevance of a question. That is for a judge to decide. If the Captain refuses to answer, I will take this to a judge, and an answer may be compelled. As this investigation relates directly to General Order Two, and the Captain is on record threating Federation citizens with force, it would be wise to answer now so we can determine if the action was reasonable.
Stray We’ve already answered. The detail in question was not specifically omitted, nor was it considered on a separate level from any other fine details that did not make it into the report individually.
Eno Am I to understand, Captain, that you consider threating civilians as just another fine detail?
Stray The topic of the report was the encounter with the inhabitants of Gartan II, Lieutenant. Like it or not, the specific details of interactions among the crew are not directly relevant to that topic. There aren’t any dots to connect, here, and the absence of that level of detail in the report does not reflect the relative overall importance of events. Only their relevance to the stated topic.
Eno Very well, let’s remove the report from the equation. We have the statement on record. Can you explain your reasoning behind the statement, Captain. What actions by Starfleet and the civilians led to you feeling such a step was necessary?
Mirazuni I believed them to be an imminent threat to me and my team, and feared that they were going to attempt to take control of the shuttle by force.
Eno An imminent…physical threat? Three civilians against three Starfleet captains, one commander, and two ensigns, all with at least basic academy self defense skills? Can you elaborate?
Mirazuni I believe my statement was elaboration enough. I do not know their methodology, only that I felt it was a sufficient threat to make the situation worse.
Eno "Right, okay. You have nothing else to add on the matter?
Mirazuni I do not.
Eno Okay, I believe that’s all. Would you like to make any other statements for the record?
Mirazuni I do not.
Recording Ends
RECOMMENDATION Investigating officer has several recommendations:
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Restore any officers currently suspended from duty to active duty status. The objection submitted by Lieutenant Stray during deposition was warranted. Bringing JAG into the picture earlier will allow us to prevent unnecessary service disruptions in the future.
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Do not proceed to court martial. Command lacks sufficient burden of proof to fully prosecute any of the officers named in the report. A court martial at this stage would only serve to damage the reputation of Command, the JAG Corps, and Starfleet’s legal system as a whole.
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Consider any non-judicial punishment against Captain Mirazuni carefully. This officer believes there are grounds for charges, but legal proceedings are not the only method of recourse available. Should Captain Mirazuni dispute the charges and proceed to court martial there is a fair chance charges are dismissed and the reputation of command is irrevocably damaged.
In a more general sense, this officer would like to make several procedural recommendations to the admiralty. JAG is most effective when brought into the process early. Often, we are able to quickly determine if an investigation is necessary with the initial after action reports alone.
Further, any investigation into officer misconduct should be conducted solely by JAG. In this instance, senior officers were interviewed by the fleet’s executive officer and junior officers by an admiralty adjutant. These investigations were conducted before officers requested legal representation, meaning any testimony would be inadmissible as evidence. These investigations also serve to erode the critical concept of an impartial command. Charges brought against specific officers after such an informal investigation open the admiralty to accusations of bias.
Moving forward, this officer suggests JAG be contacted immediately upon suspicions of officer misconduct so that proper procedures can be followed and the legal process is not compromised.
OOC The report is concluded! As always, feel free to send me any questions!