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thefirstfleet — The enemy of my enemy - is my enemy
#battle #cardassian #maquis #nebula #spaceship #star #starship #trek #war
Published: 2018-04-06 16:58:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 5689; Favourites: 170; Downloads: 166
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"I demand you release my ship!", the Maquis captain shouted, not even trying to hide her anger."I'm sorry, Captain, I cannot do that", Suliko said, trying to look compassionate at the same time, "I have my orders. I'll have to escort your ship to Federation space, out of the DMZ."
"This isn't Federation space. Starfleet has no authority here!", the Maquis woman spat. She was young and firence, reminding Suliko of a certain young Captain that used to command a small Centaur class frigate all those years ago.
"We're patrolling the DMZ together with the Cardassians, to maintain the status quo", Suliko said, "You are Federation citizens, and the Treaty says Starfleet is to ensure that no Federation citizens could disrupt the peace of '67."
"Treaties... Starfleet was always busy hiding behind treaties and directives", the Maquis captain said, her face contorted in disgust, "Where was Starfleet when the Cardassians overran our colonies? Where were you, when the Cardassians massacred everybody at Birilla Outpost? Where were you, Captain?"
A chill ran down Suliko's spine, memories she tried to suppress but again and again, they came back to haunt her. The rattling of old joints as her beloved Sieglinde tumbled through the atmosphere. The isolation box which nearly broke her. The blazing, insane eyes of a young girl from that wretched planet of Bajor she swore she'd never visit again.
"I was a POW", Suliko finally said, with all the calm dignity of a veteran, "I was captured, tortured, but I've escaped. Till the day of the Armistice, I made sure I hurt the Cardassians back as best I could. We both've suffered from the Cardassians, Captain. Please don't make me an enemy of yours. We are both wounded..."
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Comments: 49
And i who thought my enemy's enemy was my friend?
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Yeow, that hit me in the core hard. Still, the DMZ, Maquis, and other problems thereof are definitely in part the Federation's own fault. The Cardassians saw the Federation's passive, reactive nature, combined with its disbelief in purpose built warships or a true purpose built military in general as a weakness, making them prey. The Federation was caught with its pants down, ended up suing for peace, and had to make give many of its colonies to the Cardassians. True Cardassia lost colonies to the Federation too, but the Federation got the raw end of the deal, and its people that would come to be known as Maquis got the worst end of it. Sure the colonists could have easily chosen to take the Federation up on its offer to relocate to new colonies, but the Federation was partly responsible for that outcome. Then another challenge comes, the Borg, and the Defiant project begins, only to get mothballed, because the Borg didn't return for a long while. Then the Dominion showed up and really caught the Federation with its pants down and I would have rather seen a Post Dominion War Star Trek Series instead of what's come since, just to see if the Federation finally learned a valuable lesson that it should have remembered to keep to in the first place from its inception. That lesson is the old adage, "Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum," Latin for "If you want peace, prepare for war."
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The Federation became overtly complacent. They've paid the price in dear blood.
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They sure did, so I hope the hard lessons learned stuck that time around.
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I've long thought that the Federation's 'peace' with the Cardassians was an act of cowardice on the Federation Council's part. Starfleet could have fought and won a prolonged war with the Cardassians but the Council's politicians considered themselves too morally refined and feared the economic damage to the Core Sectors too much to pursue that option. So, instead, it chose to surrender whole sectors to the Cardassians and call it 'peace'.
It is arguable that this mistake was one of the major contributive factors to the Dominion War being as destructive as it was. If the Maquis hadn't been able to ultimately undermine and cause the fall of the Cardassian military junta, then the Klingons wouldn't have had a cause to attack them, the Cardassians wouldn't have been radicalised and Dukat wouldn't have had a cause celebré to persuade his countrymen to embrace the Dominion, giving the Changelings a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. The Dominion would probably have never dared to go to war so soon and with such devastating advantage in technology if they knew they'd have had to fight their way through the bottleneck of the Wormhole.
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The enemy of your enemy is just your enemy's enemy
Nothing more
Never was
AND, one thing that always bugged the shit out of me, aside from ONLY the Feds would show their belly in a war they WON.... but under the terms of the ''treaty'' those people gave up their Federation citizenship. So Starfleet really DOES NOT have any goddamned jurisdiction. I always thought that entire bullshit was done to make The Sisko's penis not feel bruised....
Good shot though. Terrible mismatch of a Nebula, my favourite ship
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Well, those were complicated times. And the Starfleet of that time (in most of the TNG era, mind you) was a total mess.
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nice. The federation is very hypocritical about the Maquis. If they were completely overrun by their enemies, they would fight tooth and nail to survive, yet they condemn the Maquis for doing the same things.
And like the Maquis said, where was the Federation when everything went to hell?
The Federation deserves to be destroyed for such arrogance.
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Well, as mentioned, Starfleet had other things to do when the Borg came.
And let's not forget about the Tzenkethi War, which, in my stories, is the Federation's Iraq War: Starfleet invaded the Tzenkethi based on false claims, which had dire consequences in the future.
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Love Maquis stories, a shame they were killed off in Ds9.
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Indeed. Yet, it had that great VOY episode with B'Elanna struggling with grief.
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True that, would've been great if some survived to continue the fight after the war. 
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That's one way for a Starfleet Captain to try and get through to a Maquis.
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Well, she's Suliko Metlesits, not some ordinary Starfleet lapdog
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*Looks down into the abyss* Wow, that's deep.
Great picture paired with an impressive story.
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Thank you very much!
You can read the "prequel" to this story here:
Trafalgar, pt. 1Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Suliko Metlesits scolded herself mentally as the world burst open in flames around her. She didn't know if she was shaking or the ship or both. But what caused it was clearly visible on the main viewscreen.
Three Cardassaian warships closed in, their spiral-wave phasers never ceasing to emit lethal rays of phased energy. Each salvo that hit rattled the Sieglinde, each hit eating away the shields. This went on for more than fifteen minutes now, and Suliko knew that this won't end well.
Their mission was simple: escorting the Ural, an Ambassador class cruiser during a hit-and-run mission against the military presence at a Cardassian colony world. The Cardassians are amassing their navy at the Federation border, they said, they won't waste too much resources in a backwater world. These presumptions all turned out false as the Ural and the Sieglinde Warped into the Bajor system.
Before the Ural could begin the mission, she was struck by five Galor class crui
Trafalgar, pt. 2They spent the night trying to figure out their next steps. They had to find out where the rest of the crew of the Sieglinde were taken, and they devised a simple plan for that: asking it. So as the first rays of morning illuminated the POW camp, Suliko, followed by Bez, Putilov and Dr. Hanzo, stepped outside. The camp was empty, a small gust was throwing sand into the air, and all was silent. But the instant they stepped out onto the open field, three Cardassian guard appeared, training their rifles on them.
- Back to the barrack! – one of them shouted.
- No. – Suliko said firmly – I demand to speak with Glinn Tetemeh.
- Why?
- That's none of your business, soldier! – Suliko hissed – My dealings with your commander is beyond your authority!
- You come with us. – the Cardassian pointed at Suliko – The others return to the barrack.
- No. – Suliko said again – Or do you want to explain your Glinn why didn't you allow my senior officers to meet
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Thanks for the heads up.
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Bravo for creating this picture and the story behind it.
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Thank you very much!
I built it for the Star Trek Adventures tabletop game illustrations.
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The Maquis may have a point at times (mostly when they aren't committing war crimes themselves) but they really aren't looking at the bigger picture.
Mostly the timing of the treaty. Why would the Federation sign a treaty that like that with a nation that at the time had objectively inferior ships?
Because there was a bigger fish.
The treaty was signed in 2367, less than a year after Wolf 359. I surmise that the Federation signed that less than ideal treaty so they could focus on the much bigger threat that managed to get through the the defenses and all the way to Earth. They wanted to dedicate all the resources they could into programs like the Defiant class.
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Defiant though was moth balled. it wasn't until after 2371 that Defiant was allowed to enter limited service and then until 2372 that we can confirm any production and being blunt Defiant was a small enough ship that the resources to build her class in mass production shouldn't have caused that big a deal.
Really it was the Federation politics, The Council wanted peace and was willing to sacrifice for it, when the colonists weren't willing to play ball The Federation council pass the buck to Starfleet, who themselves were so pushing to maintain peace that they would self edit reports and give the Cardassians a Slap on the Wrist rather then start an Interstellar incident for the sake of maintaining order.
Because reality is the Cardassians are on a tight rope. And the Marquis are perfect for cutting the Rope. Of course The Klingons smell blood and happily jump in with a Changling and a batleth to finish the job leading to the Dominion war.
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I think you misinterpreted quite a few things.
First off, my statement was only about the initial reason for the treaty. Sisko explained himself that the Defiant program was shelved after a time because the fear of a follow-up attack faded and the Defiant prototype herself still having severe issues.
There's no evidence of "pushing the buck" to Starfleet by the Federation nor anything else you've talked about.
And the Cardassians did not get a slap on the wrist, they lost a good amount of territory too.
And as for the Klingons, that was after years of Changeling manipulation of the Klingon Empire which put them at war with the Cardassian Union.
The Federation-Klingon War only occurred because the Federation refused to be involved with a War of Aggression and because Sisko rescued the Depta Council from a Klingon attack while they were on their way to DS9.
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Indeed, but this was all hush-hush back then.
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Well the reason for the treaty, yes. I doubt you could hide a Borg cube exploding over Earth.
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Oh, it was simply a "weather balloon"
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That's a MAQUIS SHIP! Release my Maquis ship immediately, Starfleet! *shake fist*
Great art, BTW! *favorited!*
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Thank you very much
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I fuckin love Maquis stories. Makes me question alot of things.
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Yupp, this is what the Maquis are for!
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