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SOL SYSTEM SPACE FORCE
INVESTIGATIVE COMMAND
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FINAL REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO THE LOSS OF BOWYERS' AND FLETCHERS'
COMPANY DELIVERY VESSEL "ARCHER-51"
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: PUBLIC/QEC
B9AF33C9B3DD6070D72A301FAF1119DBF907FEF19BECED6902271A57FEA8B78619777134
75B48973CE3BA68AF9DD5EDCDBF42E6C19492060403E058AE336501A
Lead Investigator: Master Of Laws MAJ Cortland ADAMSON
By Authority Of: Judge Advocate General Of The Space Force LTG WAN Seo Hyun
1. INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to ITTO Regulation 438.7342 ("Engagement Of Civilian Shipping
Companies By The Military") as amended and in force as of
7ca53122e3f02c8f6a10177ea02ad6ada8b7043a694f36caa09b4c1f4cf99bc9f2a5fab3
fd5d3c38a74b1aff63edfd3eb6b1128c8186f1a20e3b21b133832a67, SSSF Investigative
Command was mandated to take authority for the investigation into the loss
of Bowyers' And Fletchers' Company delivery vessel "Archer-51", declared a
total loss at position 60C32C6D-FDE7-44F5-8A8B-5045C558214A on date
e9925b719427a129c21f222a4ee9058f44538813b0bde8115f060b398031f697cbeb322a
9a1963f472d18314f54e3cd758f922cb1ea9c3870270832962e7a4e1 with one soul
aboard.
The investigation intended to determine the following:
- Why the Archer-51 was launched without its full crew, but instead with
only one SPC1 (Matthew STEPHENS, now deceased) on board.
- Why the Archer-51 was launched without its manifested cargo.
- Why SPC1 STEPHENS did not issue a Mayday call when damage to the
Archer-51's hull was detected, per QEC reception of captain's log at
9c7eee4516383eee4dde69d121d1e79abf9231d8873a3bff21948d13d154734458916e
12c4baa5535769e8921c722840d31b472138c31ece9a95b83fbaf22a30.
- What were, and are, the whereabouts of the remainder of Archer-51's crew
on and since launch date.
- The disposition of Archer-51's cargo.
2. BACKGROUND
The Bowyers' And Fletchers' Company ("B&FC") was an accredited delivery
contractor for the SSSF at the time of the launch of Archer-51 at
7ca53122e3f02c8f6a10177ea02ad6ada8b7043a694f36caa09b4c1f4cf99bc9f2a5fab3
fd5d3c38a74b1aff63edfd3eb6b1128c8186f1a20e3b21b133832a67. B&FC was contracted
to deliver five containers of secured cargo from SSSF Base "Tranquility",
Luna, Earth 1, Sol System BF755C96-CA48-428C-8D37-A35D93D572A8 to
SSSF Base "Megaphone", Ganymede, Jupiter 3, Sol System
1CFE05D3-EDD3-4B79-9C1E-B22CF69E4F0D.
Per the contract, B&FC was to supply an Archer-class ship (the Archer-51) on
dry lease, and SSSF was to supply crew. This arrangement was made due to two
factors:
1) the secured nature of the cargo, and
2) unavailability of a suitable SSSF vessel due to mission contention.
SSSF assigned the following crew to this mission, all based at SSSF Base
"Silverlake", Aphrodite Terra, Venus 0, Sol System
9A6EB4CF-CBBC-3CB5-401B-7A6E6493A320:
* LTCOL Gemma COURTENAY, commander.
* MAJ Gerald RICHELIEU
* CAPT WADA Katsuo
* 1LT Angelina BOELENS
* 2LT YAWEN Kyou
* CMSGT Nneka KAMARIA
* SMSGT Gopinath SARVESH
* TSGT Minerva WILLY
* SPC4 Tatiana KAZIMIR
* SPC3 Maksimilian FEDOR
* SPC2 Finley ALEXANDER
* SPC1 Matthew STEPHENS, killed in action.
Of the crew, only 2LT YAWEN and SPC3 FEDOR cooperated with this
investigation. The remaining surviving crew either refused to speak with
invesitgators citing their Civil Rights, or could not be located.
3. LAUNCH WITHOUT FULL CREW
Records of SSSF Personnel Mobility Command show all twelve crew members
boarded a standard short-haul shuttle from Base "Silverlake" at
a2ee890e23d05523aaa2fff522d24a6412e79b57ae486b7c77e1dd29c9cd66784d719d3
a3f0f352496e360c25b92cbffb2043122cd6ddee94e77f333360d311b, and arrived
at Base "Tranquility" on schedule at
c407d0344d06d8e940f09c6d44b18e5d576c6b6c5fafbe0f7808f6f64cde7c303a64364
0d1eaa8dd7962e80f0e2ffe713b0f38fe583f425cf737ca777381c6b2, the night before
the scheduled launch. The crew were then granted shore leave, as is
standard procedure, and ordered to appear the next day for launch.
At 25834f7477b9efd8e98d834a80244dd2587b34feea80298b2a878a6062b974e8488f
f277137745ec8aa9949b2ac2e41a4bd5cc2f5357e9364b29e28682e405a1,
SPC1 STEPHENS checked in to Launch Platform 54, approximately 27 minutes
ahead of schedule. He began pre-launch preparations, and was escorted to
his hibernation pod aboard the Archer-51.
The remainder of the crew mustered within a few minutes of
238aa4c9711c5b9acbe0768a0e499d95354bb59a674cfc00f32712099c68999bd4dfcc5
b5d7be0188949edfb7f990c8cd032448416790f453059190467d16c01 and began pre-
launch preparations; however, CMSGT KAMARIA failed a routine medical, at
which point LTCOL COURTENAY ordered the launch procedure to be halted. This
was registered in the mission log, and Mission Control issued a Full Stop.
At this point, SPC1 STEPHENS should have been awakened and returned to
quarters to rejoin the rest of the crew. However, the AI process overseeing
the Archer-51's life systems did not acknowledge Mission Control's full
stop, and thus did not take corrective action, instead reporting life
systems as Ready For Launch. This error was compounded by a programming
defect in Mission Control's launch systems which resulted in an override of
the Full Stop.
At this time, Mission Control executive officer ADM Sascha VAN AALSBURG
appropriately ordered a General Alert. Ground crews were dispatched to
Launch Platform 54 to disengage the Archer-51 from the platform. However,
at 7ca53122e3f02c8f6a10177ea02ad6ada8b7043a694f36caa09b4c1f4cf99bc9f2a5fa
b3fd5d3c38a74b1aff63edfd3eb6b1128c8186f1a20e3b21b133832a67, Archer-51
onboard computers initiated launch. Seven members of ground crew were
injured by engine discharge.
4. LAUNCH WITHOUT MANIFESTED CARGO
By the time SPC1 STEPHENS boarded the Archer-51, the cargo should have been
secured in the hold. However, the loading of the cargo had been interrupted
due to a malfunction of the portage vehicle before the first container had
been loaded. This was correctly noted in the Logistics Activity's log.
5. FAILURE TO ISSUE A MAYDAY CALL ON HULL DAMAGE
The captain's log of the Archer-51 was not intelligible upon the
vessel being scrapped by B&FC; however, SPC1 STEPHENS submitted
several entries to QEC, from which a partial log was reassembled.
At 9c7eee4516383eee4dde69d121d1e79abf9231d8873a3bff21948d13d154734458916e
12c4baa5535769e8921c722840d31b472138c31ece9a95b83fbaf22a30, SPC1
STEPHENS, from coordinates 60C32C6D-FDE7-44F5-8A8B-5045C558214A,
submitted the following to QEC:
"The journey has been more eventful than hoped. Shortly following the
last log entry, the Archer-51 encountered an asteroid field. With the
assistance of the J3N67, I was able to navigate through this hazardous
situation, but not without a small impact to the hull, which is not
believed to be mission-threatening. Repairs will be necessary once we
reach Ganymede."
While SPC1 STEPHENS' actions to evade the hazard to navigation are to be
commended, the investigation has concluded that he underestimated the
damage to the Archer-51's hull. It is believed that sometime between the
submission of this log and a MAYDAY call by robotic navigator J3N67
later that day, the pressure differential caused by weakening of the ship's
hull caused a breach, which in turn overwhelmed the ship's life systems
and led to the death of SPC1 STEPHENS.
As STEPHENS is deceased, disciplinary matters are moot.
6. WHEREABOUTS OF REMAINDER OF CREW
Very little could be determined of the actions of the remainder of the crew
following the unintended launch. As mentioned previously, only 2LT YAWEN and
SPC3 FEDOR cooperated with this investigation. Furthermore, the movements of
crew other than YAWEN and FEDOR were not recorded in the chaos.
YAWEN's log shows that she attemped to make contact with LTCOL COURTENAY, but
COURTENAY was unreachable. Several minutes later, she encountered FEDOR, whose
log shows a similar attempt to reach COURTENAY. The two crew members then
reported to Base "Tranquility" Military Police, where they were questioned
briefly and then released without charge. Logs indicate both YAWEN and FEDOR
then returned to quarters, and the following day returned to Base "Silverlake"
to resume normal duty.
The actions of the crew upon being contacted by Investigative Command are as
follows:
* LTCOL COURTENAY: Declined to speak to IC citing Civil Rights.
* MAJ RICHELIEU: Declined to speak to IC; no reason given.
* CAPT WADA: Resigned from Space Force shortly after the incident; declined
to speak to IC disputing jurisdiction.
* 1LT BOELENS: Could not be located for questioning.
* 2LT YAWEN: Cooperated with investigation as indicated above.
* CMSGT KAMARIA: Killed in action on
01f4740c0d75645a2dd9d6310131a774618c6438f6689cd4357d9580c29b28fccaba4809783
23f15395c9172d8733b733a5c2eef74e63e0edc701efb38a1865a in an incident
unrelated to this matter.
* SMSGT SARVESH: Declined to speak to IC citing Civil Rights.
* TSGT WILLY: Could not be located for questioning.
* SPC4 KAZIMIR: Could not be located for questioning.
* SPC3 FEDOR: Cooperated with investigation as indicated above.
* SPC2 ALEXANDER: Declined to speak to IC citing Civil Rights.
At this time, BOELENS, WILLY, and KAZIMIR are considered AWOL.
7. DISPOSITION OF CARGO
As detailed in section 4, the cargo was not loaded due to a ground equipment
malfunction. The Logistics Activity logs show that the cargo was dispatched
several days later, on 887e6883cabcf13ddb32975c4aadbf6b2014ca3ac49651bda5d7d
706bbf1471c0528944e0253801b22c701f2172e3dcdb8bc2ec42d8cedccfa7151eaca7387fb,
via PlanEx Courier Service, and delivered to Base "Megaphone" without
incident.
8. FURTHER INVESTIGATION
The unintended launch of Archer-51 is considered accidental due to the
failures of the automated systems responsible for launch preparation.
Ths shipboard systems were the responsibility of B&FC, which cooperated fully
with this investigation. Maintenance logs for the Archer-51 show that all
systems had been inspected within five days of launch, as mandated in the
contract, and had been tested and found Nominal.
The landside systems were the responsibility of Mission Control. Maintenance
logs show these systems to have also been tested and found Nominal as of
three hours before the scheduled launch. This is well within standard
tolerance. Following the failure, landside systems were shut down and
replaced with standby units. The failed systems were inspected by Materiel
Command and determined to have failed due to Indeterminate Cause.
The death of SPC1 STEPHENS is considered accidental due to human error.
Given the circumstances of the improper launch, the investigation believes
that STEPHENS made his best effort to reach Base "Megaphone" as directed.
As such, he has been classified as Killed In Action and received full
honors.
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
Given all of the above, this investigation recommends the following:
- That LTCOL COURTENAY, as commander of the mission, be arrested,
charged with Gross Dereliction Of Duty, and face court-martial.
- That AWOL notices be issued for 1LT BOELENS, TSGT WILLY, and SPC4
KAZIMIR; and when they are located, they be arrested, charged with Absence
Without Leave and Failure To Cooperate With Investigation As Contracted,
and face court-martial.
- That MAJ RICHELIEU, SMSGT SARVESH, and SPC2 ALEXANDER be arrested,
charged with Failure To Cooperate With Investigation As Contracted, and
face court-martial.
- That WADA's discharge be downgraded to Other Than Honorable.
- That 2LT YAWEN and SPC3 FEDOR receive official commendation for
actions following the incident and for their cooperation with this
investigation.
- That the Bowyers' And Fletchers' Company face delisting from the Space
Force's Merchant Marine, due to the failures of the systems aboard the
Archer-51 that led to both the unintended launch and the loss of the
vessel.
Additionally, this investigation has learned that SPC3 FEDOR is currently
in consideration for promotion to SPC2. We found FEDOR to be cooperative
and amicable to this investigation. Accordingly, we will be submitting an
Amicus to the review panel supporting his promotion.
10. ATTESTATION
The preceding is a full and complete report prepared to the best of my
ability, with complete honesty and integrity, and is backed by the full faith
and credit of Investigative Command.
/signed/
5b59dada13f3d54606ea14500f90424e4b6dba2429800e616f56d025dae0653cf30d4bf49f2
e9a117e380718a849f733a39c2d4353038911e212273fb1721448
at SSSF Base "Nova Amstelodamum", Europa, Jupiter 2
E8B2256A-252D-D912-B74C-793B6493B1E8
Master Of Laws Major Cortland Adamson
Sol System Space Force Investigate Command
gemini://cosmic.voyage/Archer-51/13.txt