The Menelaus Commission Report
The Menelaus Commission Report (MCR) was the official report into the events leading up to, and occurring during, Operation Menelaus. The report detailed the successes and failings of the mission, including an analysis of the first joint CSN-UNF engagement with the Pandoran forces.
Further Details
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Report Details
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The Commission interview several hundred military personnel, including Elliott Parks, David Turner, Amanda Jenkins, Aiden Meyers, Sima Mandeep, Estelle de Winter, Simon Dodds, Enrique Todd, Kelly Taylor and Chaz Koonan.
Camera feed footage from Griffin, Leviathan and Grendel's Mother was reviewed and added as evidence. Additionally, the black boxes from all surviving craft were reviewed, collated and cross-referenced. Camera feed footage from Ifrit was unavailable, having apparently been destroyed by the carrier's hijackers. No evidence from Grendel was available.
Of the operation's major failings, the Commission found that:
- Not enough time (less than seventy-two hours) had been given over to fully prepare for the operation.
- The strength of forces taken to the Aster system was inadequate to handle a direct confrontation with an equally sized Enemy force.
- Commodore Anthony Hawke should not have been involved in the operation.
- With the exception of Commodore Elliott Parks, Commodore Sima Mandeep, Captain Edward Silverthorne and Captain Aiden Meyers, an inadequate level of briefing had been provided.
- The reliance on a successful remote deactivation of CSN Dragon was far too presumptuous.
The Commission concluded that:
- An alleged conspiracy to weaken the UNF and secure a post-war supremacy by the CSN was completely without merit.
- Both the Confederation and CSN's actions were motivated with the best interests of the galaxy and survival of the human race at heart.
- Neither Commodore Elliott Parks nor Fleet Admiral David Turner were totally to blame for the mission failure. However, neither were they entirely blameless.
- Participating members of the UNF were all volunteers. No one was forced into duty.
- As of mid-June 2617, the Pandoran army was certainly considering making moves into Independent space.