Admiral, Having completed my initial interviews and collecting statements from the crew I have arrived at several conclusions at this time.
Lieutenant Commander Ansha Wind-People stated in their After-Action Report that they believe the loss of the Ecstasea was due to the exploitation of a weakness built into the design of their vessel. At this time acceptance of this conclusion could lead to potential charges of neglect as the Commander and the Captain both have stated their awareness and did not take measures to prevent this from being exploited. I do not advise acceptance of this conclusion on the base of several reasons, first and foremost, the Miranda class has served Starfleet reliably for over a hundred years, while the design has been upgraded and newer variants have been deployed in recent years, there is little evidence to support the idea that the design is any less safe then other modern class starships in active service, nor is there supporting information that suggests the attack that delt the fatal blow to the Ecstasea was any more or less effective if it had hit any other location onboard the vessel.
My secondary reasoning for not accepting this explanation is the Commander’s own testimony stating that the Ecstasea had been engaged with three heavy Klingon Battlecruisers just weeks prior to the loss of the vessel, if this was indeed the fault of a fatal design flaw, even if the claimed vessels were crewed by inexperienced pirates, the Ecstasea would have likely experienced similar issues leading to the loss of their vessel sooner, not to mention other prior engagements that the Ecstasea has been involved with since it was commissioned for active service in 2367.
For my secondary conclusion, it is hard to ignore the fact that Lieutenant Commander Wind-People was assigned to the Ecstasea six months before it was lost in action, six months on her first assignment as First Officer, and for four of those months she was acting as Captain due to Captain Sn’ow taking two extended leaves of absent. It is hard to also ignore that Captain Sn’ow herself had taken command of the Ecstasea, her first command, just a year and half before. However there is no reason find that Lieutenant Commander Wind-People’s relative inexperience played any meaningful role in the loss of the Ecstasea given the nature of the surprise attack. The actions of Commander Wind-People during the period of time between the opening attack and the evacuation order were nearly textbook in terms of what Starfleet expects from its commanding officers during a crisis.
It is also hard to find any fault in the events leading to the actual incident in question, while the Ecstasea was conducting scans with Gravitic sensors which historically have been used as a method of detecting cloaked vessels, even the Romulan Star Empire has been aware that this method is less then perfect for detecting cloaked vessels, hence why Starfleet did swap to using tachyon scanners during the Klingon Civil War of 2367-2368.
During my process of investigation it did come out that the crew of the Ecstasea were informed about their vessel being slated for decommissioning, this information was not found in any 38th Command communications that I am currently aware of, but it does raise the potential to question if there was any relaxation of protocol onboard the vessel due to the extended absent of their Captain and knowing that it was nearly time to end their tour of duty. There is no evidence to support this line of thought however, At this time there is no need to continue this line of questioning.
In my current conclusion, I find little to no evidence that is suitable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the loss of the Ecstasea was due to any failure of the crew. However, during the course of my investigation I found that Captain Sh’ow was unusually hostile and unwilling to accept personal responsibility for her posting as a Captain. The Captain seemed to have been acting under the impression that I had some sort of personal vendetta against herself and her husband Captain Sh’ow, and was going so far to pin the loss of her vessel upon her as some sort of scapegoat. While this was not the subject of the investigation, I still find this a concerning behavior from a Captain entrusted with command of a Starfleet vessel. That stated, it should also be noted that Captain Sh’ow is under a great deal of stress at this time due to the nature of being recalled from her leave of absent due to her husband’s medical emergency as well as being separated from her children that she only recently gave birth to. In conclusion, while I found her troubling behavior to be a concern, I would also be doing her a disservice by not allowing for some grace at this time.
At this time, there are still several unanswered questions to look into with more depth, such as the activities of the Hirogen to find more questions and answers on why this incident occurred.
At this time, my official recommendation is not to move forward with a Court Martial on the actions and decisions of Captain Sh’ow Sejea, and Lieutenant Commander Ansha Wind-People. I have attached the files including my interview recordings with the crew of the Ecstasea and communications for review by the Admiralty and the Judge Advocate General.
//SIGNED//
Alistair H. Nimitz
Strategic Operations Officer
38th Fleet
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//ATTACHMENT// RecallExchange.ext
//ATTACHMENT// InterviewR’Nol.ext
//ATTACHMENT// InterviewOneSh’owSejea.ext
//ATTACHMENT// InterviewWind-people.ext
//ATTACHMENT// InterviewTwoSh’owSejea.ext
OOC: Totally submitted before the 14 day deadline
