Starfleet officer killed during prison breakout

Posted on 239211.23 by Chalan Fuliar in Current Affairs

ELBA II, SECTOR 98 — A Starfleet security officer was killed by a dangerous prisoner who escaped confinement from a maximum security facility.

Lieutenant Joseph Rostenkowski, 24, was stabbed seven times in the heart by Chennel, a Bolian woman arrested earlier this year by the crew of the USS Columbia in the Skalur Expanse on piracy and kidnapping charges. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical officers.

“Joseph Rostenkowski was an outstanding young man who had a very promising career ahead of him”, said Governor Matthias Brunel, head of the correctional facility on Elba II where Rostenkowski served. “His death will not go unanswered or unpunished. We will track down Chennel and bring her to justice.”

However that may be more difficult than it seems as the Federation News Service has learned that Chennel has disappeared and is now believed to be at large. Data obtained from sources at Starfleet Security reveals that the fugitive Bolian was last seen aboard a small civilian corvette on a course that would have taken her to the Black Cluster, an astronomical formation in Sector 97 near the border with the Tzenkethi Coalition. Starfleet Command has refused to state whether they have tasked a vessel to search the region, commenting that they do not discuss ship assignments in strategically important regions.

Chennel was recently sentenced by the Starfleet Judge Advocate General’s Office to life imprisonment without possibility of parole on 79 counts of interstellar piracy, 189 counts of kidnapping and one count of torturing a Starfleet officer. She was also wanted by the Bolian Security Ministry in connection to the deaths of her sister as well as her ex-bondmate. She was arrested by the crew of the USS Columbia who stumbled across her base of operations while on a routine planetary survey.

Prosecutor Lieutenant Commander Claudia-Jean Merriman described Chennel as “a credible and present danger to society” during her trial, which was held aboard Starbase 375 in October of this year, and that Chennel was “the most narcissistic individual I have ever met, which is saying something given I’ve spent most of my career prosecuting Ferengi criminals.”

Another source at Starfleet Security stated that an “urgent security analysis” is tonight underway at Elba II to understand how Chennel circumvented stringent security procedures to prevent tragedies like this from occurring. FNS has reached out to the department for comment but has not received a response as of yet.

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About Chalan Fuliar

Chalan Fuliar is a Bajoran journalist who works for the Federation News Service. Prior to joining the FNS, he was a political commentator for Bajor Now and served as spokesperson for Councillor Krim Aldos, Bajor's representative to the Federation Council. He lives in Paris with his pet Cavalier Spaniel, Wadeen.