Resolution

Posted on Wed Oct 5, 2022 @ 2:14am by Captain Larisna Koralova

Mission: Mission 2 - A World With A Bluer Sun

"Captain's Log - Supplemental

The Hornet is returning to Deep Space 4 with damage to a number of systems, but no casualties and all injuries sustained are being treated by sickbay with no complications. Our encounter with the unknown race that created the artificial wormhole has left more questions than answers but I suspect all the more we're going to get is how not to create our own. Starfleet Command appears to be interested in this data - with the loss of the Graviton Catapult, I guess it's to make sure that they don't make matters worse trying to get back to the Delta Quadrant.

Of note, however, I must add that I am submitting letters of commendations into the files of Lieutenant Commander Kaedon Draesni and Lieutenant Rei Yamashi. The situation they were forced into was highly unusual and they carried themselves with the values of Starfleet officers. I am also promoting Commander Draesni to First Officer of the Hornet, following along with the departure of Commander Malloy to another posting. I think he will do well in this position and may very well see his own command someday. Lieutenant Yamashi is well on her way to Lieutenant Commander at this point and if her example is anything to go by, I think the Federation should only be so honored as to count the Ts'usugi as friends.

But I have to now speak on the events within the wormhole and the discovery of NX-05 Atlantis. Starfleet Command has approved of the exemptions I recommended for Lieutenants John Kearny and Alejandro Martienez. They have no signs of any wrongdoing in the events that transpired - Mister Kearny was marooned on the planet and Doctor Martienez was focused on keeping the crew alive (even if he chose to take a break from reality that I personally can understand). They will both be rehabilitated to this time and offered the chance to resume their careers with Starfleet if they so choose. Kearny has expressed his desire to do so, but no word yet on what Martienez will do.

However, the same cannot be said for the rest of the crew. It is a black mark on United Earth Starfleet and our Starfleet that they devolved into such violent measures. Fear and distrust of the Romulans may have pushed them to their limits, but they chose to go beyond. Commander Caitlin Mallory is utterly unrepentant for her part, as are some of the other junior personnel. She did request, however, that leniency be shown to the crew of Atlantis in some twisted form of loyalty to them. I have endorsed this to a limited extent - the senior staff failed as leaders entirely. Lieutenant Commander Yumiko Kinoshata (chief engineer), Lieutenant Paul Rowlings (chief science officer), and Lieutenant Ed Parish (assistant chief armory officer) all need to face the fact that while they regret their actions now, they did not stop them while they happened. Everyone except Kearny and Martienez will face some form of punishment and most likely will be barred from Starfleet service. Mallory, Kinoshata, Rowlings and Parish will likely take the brunt of it, being dishonorably discharged retroactively and given the fullest punishment options available. At best, they'll spend the rest of their lives in New Zealand. At worst, it'll be a far more secure penal facility.

It is a haunting reminder that, as Admiral Picard once said, fear makes for an incompetent teacher and an unreliable companion. The crew of Atlantis were involved in one of the least understood but most formative conflicts in our history - without the victory over the Romulans, the United Federation of Planets may not have formed. They fought against an enemy they did not understand and never saw the face of. I know the pain of war and what it can do, but the only way to survive is to endure and to fight even harder to keep true to yourself and your ideals. If you lose yourself, your ideals, the very things that make you who you are - that is the final defeat."