It has been a busy time since she arrived at Eos Station. The condition of the station is not the best. The personnel is hanging with a thin gray thread, and being unable to provide proper care to everyone without burning herself out was almost impossible. Arwa sighs as she leans on the wall for a moment, closing her eyes and letting it all sink in. This was a moment she needed to gather whatever courage she had to face the task ahead. She was by far ready for whatever was waiting for her right there.

The JAG court testimony was about to begin against the Victus that was accused of transporting people under poor and illegal conditions. Arwa was one of the away team members that had to endure the horrors on that ship. It took months of therapy to get all the crew of the Kennedy back to normal. Now she had to face the music again and relieve the horror she had endured years ago. Arwa opened her eyes and walked into the holodeck that closed its door, “Computer secure the room Arwa-414-Alpha. Connect to JAG per the invitation they sent to me” 

[Acknowledged room is secure. Connection is being established right now]

The room started reshaping into a waiting room as Arwa walked to a Lieutenant that appeared in front of her, “Lieutenant el-Imam, glad you can make time. The judges are interviewing another crew member right now. They will be done soon,” The man spoke formally.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I shall wait for my turn. Did many of my former crew go into that chamber?” Arwa was curious as to how far this court had gone already. She was not given any specific information on dates or hours. There were no messages from the Kennedy crew or any way involved in that operation. 

The man looked at her. “Not that I can specifically tell you who went in and when they went in or how long they were inside. But I can say that it has been an ongoing investigation against the crew of the Victus. Your contribution will help to get justice for those victims of their savage ways”  The man kept it vague, but enough for her to understand the situation. 

People would pry for more information, but Arwa just nodded and knew when to keep specific questions to herself as the door opened, and the man stepped aside, waving to the door to enter. Arwa nodded to him and just walked into the room. It looked very formal, yet smaller than she is used to. This was, after all, a classified investigation. Arwa halted before the judges and stood at attention, “Lieutenant Junior Grade Arwa el-Imam. Head Counselor of Eos Station reporting per request”

Three judges were sitting at the table. An older Bolian man spoke, “Welcome, Lieutenant el-Imam. Thank you for making time for this investigation. My name is Captain Thend Sann. I am joined in this session with Commander Gozoni” He points at a Saurian male that sat next to him and then pointed at a female Betazoid. “And Commander Nenne Vosi. They will be part of this hearing. In this session, we will ask you questions related to the events of the Victus incident.. We expect you to speak truly and directly”

Arwa nodded to them, “I will speak nothing but the truth sir” 

“Good, I will begin then. In 2398 the USS Kennedy responded to an SOS signal from the transport vessel the Victus. Is this correct?” Thend spoke.

“This is true. We were informed that the ship was potentially attacked by a Cardassian ship. However, when arriving, there was no ship to be found” Arwa kept her answers as short as possible.

Nenne continued, “The Kennedy, after arriving at the given location, launched an away team to verify the damage to the Victus. You were part of this away team, correct?” 

Nodding towards the Commander, “This is true. I was given the task within the away team to check the crew’s health and potential passengers. Initial scans indicated that there were more lives on the ship than was reported to us” Arwa tried to stay calm. She didn’t know why she got nervous. 

“Then, when you arrived at the ship, what did you see, Lieutenant?” Gozoni asked.

Arwa shrugged as this was the part she was trying to forget and nodded slowly, “We arrived at the transport room and were welcomed by a nervous engineer who required help directly with the engines. Our team lead already noticed something off; we were asked to stick close and not to go anywhere else but to follow him. However, because of the attack, some ship’s doors were malfunctioning, and thus, we found out after a door opened that there was a bunch of people hiding in the cargo area, sir” 

Gozoni looked at Arwa. “What was the condition of these people, and how could they avoid the Kennedy initial scans?” 

“It was a classic masking trick, sir. The cargo hull was given a coating that could scramble scans from penetrating its hull. The conditions…” Arwa had difficulty stating the details of what she saw and kept quiet for a second or two. “The people in there were in their feces. They were in poor health condition. Some were already ill as a few fell to these conditions,” Hoping that was enough explanation.

Thend nodded, “What happened after this discovery?” 

Arwa took a deep breath, “The away team changed their objective to assist this ship in assisting these people and arresting the ship’s crew. Security members arrested the engineer and quickly also other crew. I started with medical assistance to help people. Our lead informed the Kennedy of the situation. Reinforcement quickly came after that. The whole situation was under control within five to ten minutes” 

“What was the after-effect of those involved in this rescue operation, Lieutenant?” Nenne asked.

“From what they had seen, from what they had to perform and witness. The crew of the Kennedy was taken a blow. It took months to get their mental health back in order. I could only provide basic mental health support for those victims on that ship, but some would carry this for the rest of their lives. This ship should have been stopped much sooner” Arwa became more emotional than she had hoped.

The people at the table looked at each other as Thend gave her a nod. “Thank you, Lieutenant, I know this was quite difficult for you, and we appreciate your contribution. You are dismissed and if we require any more information from you, then please stand by to answer if requested” 

Arwa grabbed her emotions together and nodded, “Yes sir, I stand ready if you require more from me” The three nodded to her as the connection broke off and changed the room back to the holodeck. Arwa took a deep breath, “I need a drink…”She rubbed her eyes and walked out of the holodeck, knowing she had survived something she didn’t want to witness anytime soon.