Maquis

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Maquis
Founded:	2370
Dissolved:	2373
Location:	Alpha Quadrant
Major Species:	Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Bajorans, Betazoids, Bolians, others
Intelligence Service:	Maquis Intelligence
Currency:	Latinum

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For the leader of a Cairn delegation aboard the USS Enterprise-D, please see Maques.

"On Earth there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window at Starfleet Headquarters and you see paradise. Well, it's easy to be a saint in paradise. But the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there, in the Demilitarized Zone, all problems have not been solved yet. There are no saints, just people; angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not!"

– Commander Benjamin Sisko, 2370 ("The Maquis, Part II")

The Maquis (mah-KEE), otherwise known as the Maquis Resistance, were a resistance group that consisted of Federation-born colonists and discontented Starfleet officers who organized against the Cardassian occupation of their homes in the Demilitarized Zone after their colonies were ceded to the Cardassian Union by Federation Cardassian Treaties in the late 2360s and early 2370s. Starfleet Command considered members of the Maquis to be traitors, while Cardassia considered the Maquis to be terrorists. The Maquis wished to formally declare their secession from the Federation as an independent state, but they were defeated by Cardassia's new overlord, Dukat, the Dominion and its powerful army of Jem'Hadar, before their plans materialized. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory"; VOY: "Hunters")

History

Origins

The roots of the Maquis insurrection can be traced back to the 2350s during the Cardassian wars. The Federation and the Cardassians settled a large number of class M planets in close proximity to each other, and the issue of ownership of these colonies – as well as their security – became the causes of war. Although the Federation relinquished claims to all planets occupied by Cardassian colonies, the Cardassians sought to annex several crucial worlds along the border, including Minos Korva and Setlik III. (TNG: "The Wounded", "Chain Of Command, Part I")

Despite the risks of settling on worlds close to the Cardassian border, many Federation citizens, especially Humans, chose to settle on the fertile worlds in the region. (TNG: "Journey's End", "Preemptive Strike"; DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II"; VOY: "Caretaker", "Tattoo", "Dreadnought") Colonies including Volan II, Volan III, Soltok IV, Umoth VIII, and others became thriving outposts of Federation civilization, but also became targets for the Cardassian military. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I")

By the mid-2360s, the wars had settled into an effective stalemate, with neither side gaining advantage in terms of firepower or territory. Finally, in 2366, a ceasefire ended the long conflict between the Federation and Cardassia. This truce enforced an end to active hostilities but left unresolved many of the major questions of the conflict, such as the fate of both colonies and colonists along the Cardassian border and Demilitarized Zone. (TNG: "The Wounded")

Seeds of resistance

USS Phoenix's action against the Cardassians

In 2367, the USS Phoenix, a Starfleet ship captained by Benjamin Maxwell attacked and destroyed an allegedly unarmed Cardassian science station in the Cuellar system. Maxwell explained to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who was sent to put a stop to Maxwell's actions, that the Cardassians were in fact arming again and that the so-called science station was actually a military supply port. Even though he could not prove it, Maxwell knew of the strategic importance of a military transport station in an area of space where Cardassians essentially had a jumping off point into three Federation sectors. Maxwell expressed his frustration with Federation bureaucrats who, had he notified them, would have just sat around for six months, reading reports trying to figure out what to do, all while Cardassians were arming up against the Federation. He considered the peace treaty a ruse to give the Cardassians room to regroup. Determined to preserve the peace no matter what the cost, Picard insisted that what the Cardassians did was irrelevant.

After Maxwell was apprehended, it turned out that he was right all along: Cardassians were carrying weapons to the science station and cargo ships were running with high energy subspace fields that jammed sensors. Picard confronted Gul Macet with the evidence, telling him that while he did not allow Maxwell to board a Cardassian cargo ship in the interest of preserving the peace, "We'll be watching." (TNG: "The Wounded")

The Demilitarized Zone in relation to other Alpha Quadrant landmarks

It took another three years for a final peace treaty to be negotiated, and although the questions of territory were finally settled, neither side was entirely happy with the solution. The Treaty of 2370 established a new Demilitarized Zone (also known as the DMZ), from which all large warships belonging to either side were excluded.

Much more controversial, however, was the exchange of colonies which was to take place. The treaty stipulated that each side would transfer ownership of certain worlds. The inhabitants of those worlds would be resettled elsewhere beforehand. Despite the vehement protests of many colony leaders, the Federation Council signed the treaty. Starfleet was given the task of evacuating the colonists from their homes and transporting them to other worlds.

Cardassian and Federation representatives discuss the fate of colonies on the wrong sides of the border

One of the first worlds slated to be evacuated was Dorvan V, a colony settled in 2350 by a group of Native American colonists. The Native Americans claimed that they had a special, spiritual connection to their world, and refused to be evacuated. USS Enterprise-D captain Jean-Luc Picard attempted to negotiate an agreement with the settlers, but they steadfastly refused to leave. Violence nearly broke out when Picard attempted to evacuate the settlers by force.

Ultimately, an agreement was reached whereby the Dorvan colonists were permitted to remain in their colony under Cardassian jurisdiction. The arrangement was approved by Gul Evek, the Cardassian official in charge of affairs in the Demilitarized Zone. (TNG: "Journey's End")

Following the Dorvan agreement, colonists on many other worlds also refused to abandon their homes and demanded to be permitted to stay on their colonies. Both the Federation Council and the Cardassian Central Command acquiesced for the time being.

Civil unrest

Calvin "Cal" Hudson, the first of many Starfleet officers to lead the Maquis

Despite success on the surface, the reality of the situation proved rather different. Although Starfleet assigned an attaché, Lieutenant Commander Calvin Hudson, to the Demilitarized Zone to help the colonists function under the terms of the new Treaty, resentments began to fester as hardships mounted. People who had worked all their lives to build these colonies were suddenly asked to either leave or stay behind under the rule of an uncertain and unscrupulous military power. Although the Cardassian government had officially pledged to leave the Federation colonists alone, a wide campaign of oppression began at practically the same time. Food replicators were poisoned, mobs were organized, and general harassment of the Federation colonists made life difficult at best. It was clear, to Hudson and the colonists, that the Cardassians had no intention of allowing the colonists to stay: they were either going to force them out or kill them. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II")

During a visit to Deep Space 9, Hudson expressed his frustration with the treaty between the Federation and Cardassia to Benjamin Sisko. He pointed out that the Treaty was essentially imbalanced in favor of Cardassia, as it had thrown the colonists, who had not really been given a choice, into the hands of the Cardassians who had all but good intentions with them. He considered what the Federation had done to the colonies abandonment and was angered about the many concessions that were made for the sake of peace; a peace that came at the expense and livelihood of the colonists who had worked hard to make a new life for themselves. He suspected the Cardassian High Command had armed their own colonists to the teeth with the intention to harass the Federation colonies until retreat and surrender. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I")

Resistance builds

Hudson's suspicions proved to be true: by shipping the weapons through intermediaries such as the Lissepians, they managed to avoid the attention of Starfleet. The Cardassian colonists mounted the weapons – including Galor-class phaser banks – onto shuttlecraft-sized vessels and used them to attack Federation interests.

The Federation colonists did not accept these attacks passively. While Starfleet conducted "official" investigations into the situation, the colonists decided to take matters into their own hands and banded together into underground paramilitary cells, acquiring weapons of their own through the black market. These weapons were mounted on Federation-designed shuttles and couriers and used to defend against the Cardassian colonists' attacks. The Demilitarized Zone was becoming very militarized.

Hudson, who was one of the first Starfleet officers to turn away from Starfleet and lead the Maquis, justified his decision by stating that maybe the Federation could turn its back on the colonies, but that he and the colonists could not. For them, out on the frontier, without the power of the Federation to back them up, a treaty was only a piece of paper that ultimately failed to solve the plight they were facing. He insisted that nobody wanted peace more than the Maquis, but that it could not be achieved with the Cardassians secretly supplying their colonies with weapons while the Federation felt obligated to stand by and watch without taking action out of fear that it might compromise a peace, which – as far as the Maquis were concerned – was based on an unjust and inequitable basis. In the eyes of the colonists and the Maquis, the Federation had abandoned them, expecting that they take care of themselves; which was exactly what they were doing by standing up to the Cardassians. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part II")

Open conflict

The first official strike by the Maquis, the bombing of the Bok'Nor

The first open attack by the Maquis, as the Federation guerrilla groups came to be known, was against the Cardassian freighter Bok'Nor at outpost Deep Space 9. The Bok'Nor was suspected of running weapons to the Cardassian colonists in the DMZ. Maquis member William Samuels planted an implosive protomatter device on the Bok'Nor's hull, causing a catastrophic overload in the fusion reactor, destroying the ship.

Barely a week later, Gul Dukat was abducted from Deep Space 9 by Maquis operatives, and taken to a class-M asteroid in the Badlands. DS9 commander Benjamin Sisko pursued, and discovered that the Maquis cell involved was led by Calvin Hudson, the Starfleet attaché and a personal friend. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I") Sisko was eventually successful in rescuing Dukat from the Maquis.

Sisko attempted to dialogue with the Maquis, suggesting that, now the Cardassian Central Command had been implicated in arming Cardassian colonists, political pressure could be used to deescalate the tensions in the DMZ and a better peace treaty could be made. Hudson, speaking for the Maquis, said it was too late for that, that they considered themselves already in a war, and that they had to finish what they had started.

The Maquis engages Starfleet

Based on intelligence obtained from Sakonna, a Maquis member who had been influential in purchasing many of the group's ships and weapons, Sisko determined that the Maquis were planning to attack a suspected weapons depot on Bryma, a former Cardassian colony. In order to prevent the possible outbreak of a new full-scale war, Sisko intercepted the Maquis attack (which was led by his friend Hudson) and forced them to retreat.

Meanwhile, after the shipments of weapons to the Cardassian colonies were exposed, the Central Command officially denied all involvement in the matter. Legate Parn placed the blame on Dukat (who was in the custody of the Maquis at the time) and a small cadre of "misguided" officials. Dukat later observed that he was simply used as a scapegoat to deflect the blame for the violation of the treaty away from the Central Command. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part II")

At this point, Starfleet's leadership underestimated the seriousness of the Maquis - they were considered a nuisance, "a bunch of irresponsible hotheads", in Admiral Nechayev's words, who could be corrected with a simple reminder that they were Federation citizens. However, although full-scale war was avoided thanks to Sisko and Dukat, the Demilitarized Zone was quickly becoming a hotbed of conflict – something which Sisko, with more experience on the ground, worried was inevitable. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part II") Now that both sides' civilian colonists possessed advanced weaponry, an underground war broke out without any direct involvement from either the Cardassian or the Federation fleets.

Growing problem

Late in 2370, the Cardassians launched an elaborate scheme to attempt to discredit the Federation's policies and to establish grounds to invade the DMZ to eliminate the Maquis. They attempted to portray the Maquis as "savage, Federation-born killers" who were operating with secret but official sanction from Starfleet Command. Using an undercover operative who had assumed the guise of former Starfleet officer Raymond Boone, the Cardassians planted a cache of photon torpedo warheads stolen from Deep Space 9 aboard a runabout piloted by Miles O'Brien, DS9's chief of operations. When the runabout was subsequently intercepted by a Cardassian patrol ship, the photon warheads provided sufficient grounds to arrest O'Brien and charge him with attempting to smuggle weapons to the Maquis. The Cardassians staged an elaborate trial under their traditional laws, loudly proclaiming O'Brien guilty of anti-Cardassian crimes and sentencing him to death. However, this ruse was ultimately discredited when the operative disguised as Boone was discovered on DS9 and taken to Cardassia Prime, and O'Brien was released. (DS9: "Tribunal")

The Vetar attacked by the Maquis

By the end of the year, a precarious stalemate had developed inside the Demilitarized Zone. However, the Maquis continued to gain strength, and continued to launch attacks against Cardassian and neutral shipping in the region. In one of their boldest offensives, a Maquis cell launched a massive attack against Gul Evek's flagship, the Vetar, crippling it before being driven off by the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike")

As critical as the Maquis' offensives were, even more embarrassing were the continued stream of Starfleet officers who resigned their commissions in the Federation to join the Maquis in their fight against the Cardassians. The Maquis saw themselves as victims, betrayed, abandoned, carelessly given away by the Federation authorities to the Cardassians in the name of peace; a peace they and their families never experienced. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II") Those who did not have any personal stakes in this insurgence, did it because they could no longer reconcile their conscience with the atrocities they were witnessing. Thomas Riker, who was one of the Starfleet officers to resign, told Major Kira Nerys that he had joined the group because people were dying in the Demilitarized Zone and Starfleet wasn't doing anything about it. (DS9: "Defiant") In addition to Riker, other Starfleet officers such as Calvin Hudson, Ro Laren and Chakotay resigned or deserted their posts to fight "the good fight". (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I", "The Maquis, Part II"; TNG: "Preemptive Strike"; VOY: "Caretaker", "Tattoo", "In the Flesh")

Starfleet officer Ro Laren joins the Maquis

The advanced tactical knowledge of those officers often gave the Maquis a distinct advantage in combat against Starfleet opponents. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike"; VOY: "Ex Post Facto"; DS9: "For the Uniform") The Maquis also served as a haven for those disgraced and outcast from Starfleet and the Federation, such as Admiral Owen Paris' son Tom Paris (VOY: "Caretaker") and B'Elanna Torres. (VOY: "Parallax", "One") Others were simply seeking an outlet for violent tendencies, like Lon Suder, while yet there were those, such as Kenneth Dalby, who sought revenge and wanted to kill as many Cardassians as possible after they saw loved ones brutally murdered by them. (VOY: "Learning Curve", "Meld") Eventually, the Maquis included members of the Human, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, and Klingon species.

ATR-4107, later renamed "Dreadnought"

However, the Maquis were not satisfied with the delicate and armed stalemate that had developed. Thanks to the influx of personnel and unofficial support, the Maquis began expanding their operations to include larger targets. Thanks to sympathizers, they also managed to evade almost every trap that Starfleet laid for them outside the Demilitarized Zone. And also thanks to the treaty, both Starfleet and the Cardassians were unable to send in sufficient armaments to eradicate them. They developed new techniques and tactics to evade pursuit, such as using thoron particles to render tricorders useless. (VOY: "Basics, Part II") Another advantage was their familiarity with the Badlands, which was used to contain munition bases and to outrun enemy vessels. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Dreadnought") In 2370, they captured a defective Cardassian weapon called Dreadnought, then reprogrammed it to attack the Cardassian fuel depot on Aschelan V, although Dreadnought disappeared in the Badlands under mysterious circumstances before it reached its target. (VOY: "Dreadnought")

By 2371, there were thousands of Maquis. (VOY: "Hunters")

The Orias assault

Thomas Riker on the bridge of the USS Defiant during the Orias Assault in 2371

One of the Maquis' most daring assaults occurred in early 2371. Former Starfleet officer Thomas Riker posed as his doppelgänger William T. Riker and boarded Deep Space 9. Using his counterpart's passwords and access codes, Riker gained access to the USS Defiant, one of Starfleet's most powerful warships, then assigned to DS9. Using a fake warp core breach as a diversion, Riker beamed aboard several Maquis personnel from the station, hijacking the ship.

Once the Defiant escaped into the Demilitarized Zone, the Maquis launched an elaborate offensive against Cardassian military outposts along the border. However, the purpose of the attacks was simply as a diversion – using the Defiant's cloaking device, Riker piloted the ship past the border patrols and launched a series of random attacks against the interior of Cardassian space.

The Maquis' true objective was as surprising as it was unconventional. Riker's cell had received intelligence reports that a faction of the Cardassian government was secretly building a fleet in the Orias system, outside of the authority of the Central Command. Believing the force to be intended for an "unofficial" assault against the DMZ, the Maquis sought to destroy this new force before it could be used against them.

However, Riker had not anticipated the presence of warships to be actively operating out of Orias. As the Defiant approached Orias, pursued by ten Galor-class warships, it was confronted by six Keldon-class heavy cruisers emerging from the system. With both his advance and retreat blocked, Riker opted to surrender. In a deal brokered by Commander Sisko and Gul Dukat, Riker agreed to stand trial on Cardassia, while the remainder of the Maquis were turned over to Federation authorities, and the Defiant returned to Starfleet control. (DS9: "Defiant")

However, the secret fleet in the Orias System – which was being built by the Cardassian Obsidian Order – was not intended to fight the Maquis at all, but rather was aimed at launching a surprise attack against the Dominion. (DS9: "Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast")

Chakotay's cell and the USS Voyager

Chakotay aboard his Maquis raider Val Jean in 2371

Former Starfleet officer Chakotay was one of the Maquis' most valued leaders, and it was for this reason Starfleet attempted to capture him in 2371. They installed an undercover operative, Tuvok, aboard Chakotay's ship, the Val Jean. (VOY: "Caretaker") The Cardassians were also interested in Chakotay, and placed one of their own operatives, Seska, with Chakotay's crew around the same time. (VOY: "State of Flux") Unknown at the time, a Bajoran vedek named Teero Anaydis, ejected from the Maquis for his controversial experiments with mind control, knew of Tuvok's real loyalties, and used a surgical technique based around a mind meld to implant subconscious instructions in his mind. If necessary, Teero could transmit a message to Tuvok which would have him attack the Maquis crew members, mind-meld with them, and bring them under Teero's control. Teero was not able to implement his plan at the time, since Chakotay's raider was lost in the Badlands shortly thereafter. (VOY: "Repression")

Voyager and the Val Jean in the Delta Quadrant

Following a battle with the Cardassian warship Vetar, the Val Jean was pulled to the Delta Quadrant by the entity known as the Caretaker. The Caretaker wanted to examine the Maquis to determine whether or not they were sporocystian lifeforms as he was, since he was dying and needed a lifeform similar to himself to care for the Ocampan people. Just one week later, the Intrepid-class USS Voyager, under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway, left Deep Space 9 to pursue Chakotay's ship. It was also transported to the Delta Quadrant, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Captain Janeway invited Chakotay aboard; although he was angered to learn that Tuvok was really Janeway's security officer, he cooperated with Voyager to search for B'Elanna Torres, his Maquis engineer, and Harry Kim, the Starfleet ensign assigned to operations aboard Voyager. The two crewmembers were found, but Voyager and the Val Jean were attacked by the Kazon-Ogla, a sect of the Kazon race which claimed the Ocampan homeworld as its territory. Outgunned, Chakotay decided to transport his crew to Voyager and ram one of the Kazon carrier vessel with the Val Jean, inflicting serious damage and tipping the battle in favor of Voyager. The Caretaker died around the same time, leaving his array open to plunder by the Kazon. Rather than use the array to transport Voyager home, Captain Janeway ordered it destroyed in order to protect the Ocampa, which Chakotay agreed with. (VOY: "Caretaker")

B'Elanna Torres aboard the Val Jean

Because of this decision, she offered the Maquis provisional Starfleet commissions. She and Chakotay agreed the two crews would need to cooperate and learn to trust one another in order to return to the Alpha Quadrant. Chakotay became her first officer, as Voyager's original first officer had been killed, and Chakotay already had Starfleet and command experience. However, Janeway was hesitant to assign senior positions to any of the other Maquis, especially those who had not previously completed Starfleet training. The first conflict was seen when Chakotay recommended the ill-tempered B'Elanna Torres, a Starfleet Academy dropout, to replace the deceased chief engineer over Lieutenant Joe Carey, who was the assistant engineer and next in line for promotion. Janeway balked, believing that Torres was too untrained and hostile for the position. Some of the Maquis indicated a willingness to rebel against Janeway and take over the ship, although Chakotay immediately chastised them. However, Chakotay challenged Janeway's authority by calling for Torres in engineering during a crisis. Later, Torres showed her great skill after working with Janeway to develop a resolution to the crisis, and Janeway decided that promoting Torres over Carey was an important sign of trust. Carey grudgingly accepted Torres as the new chief engineer, but he was gracious, congratulated her and pledged the entirety of his skill under her direction, which was an important early step in the Starfleet-Maquis cooperation aboard the ship. (VOY: "Parallax")

The "holonovel" Insurrection Alpha

Any residual hostility between the two crews quickly vanished, and confrontations were isolated. Tuvok began development of a holodeck training simulation called Insurrection Alpha, which would train his Starfleet security officers to deal with a possible Maquis mutiny, but he abandoned work on the holoprogram only a few weeks after Voyager became stranded in the Delta Quadrant; the crews were integrating so well together that he feared his program would spark off the very mutiny he was trying to prevent. (VOY: "Worst Case Scenario") Some Maquis crewmembers were still unused to working in a Starfleet environment, and with Chakotay's support, Tuvok designed a training regimen to make them accustomed to Starfleet protocol, although it took a near-death experience to encourage them to work together properly. (VOY: "Learning Curve") Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay became close friends and confidantes; by 2373, she felt he was the most invaluable member of her crew. (VOY: "Scorpion") Despite the cooperation, Starfleet still believed that the Maquis were a liability, and requested their "status" once Voyager began receiving and transmitting data streams to the Alpha Quadrant thanks to the Pathfinder Project. Janeway was stunned and felt a little insulted on behalf of the Maquis part of her crew, as she considered them full members of her crew rather than untrustworthy passengers, although Chakotay assured her these attitudes would be common and an issue that Voyager would eventually need to confront. (VOY: "Life Line")

Seska, a Cardassian infiltrator to the Maquis

Their trust in one another was not without its tests; in 2376, Voyager crewmember and former Borg drone Seven of Nine began experimenting with a cortical processing subunit to increase her efficiency in processing information. The device malfunctioned, and Seven began to link random events together into an extravagant conspiracy theory. One theory, revealed to Chakotay, involved the Federation and the Cardassians cooperating to establish a military presence in the Delta Quadrant, using a tetryon reactor taken from the Caretaker's array and a catapult designed by an alien named Tash. Another theory, told to Janeway, implicated Chakotay as the leader of a resurrected Maquis rebellion which would use the catapult to strike Federation and Cardassian targets. Janeway and Chakotay began to regard one another with suspicion, but after examining Seven's alcove and her data, they realized that her claims were far-fetched. They mutually decided not to make mention of their temporary paranoia in their logs. (VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy")

Consolidating strength

Back in the Alpha Quadrant, the Maquis managed to not only survive, but to expand their influence and consolidate their position inside the Demilitarized Zone in the two years following the Orias incident. The Maquis' good fortune came in large part thanks to massive upheavals inside the Cardassian Union. Following the destruction of the Obsidian Order the previous year (DS9: "The Die is Cast"), the Cardassian dissident movement managed to overthrow the Central Command and place power in the civilian Detapa Council.

The situation in the Demilitarized Zone changed drastically with the sudden onset of the Klingon-Cardassian War in early 2372. The Klingon Empire launched a major assault against the Cardassian Union, acting under the belief that the recent revolution had been engineered by the Dominion. The Klingon invasion led to the occupation of more than a dozen outlying colonies, the destruction of a large portion of the Cardassian fleet, and massive damage to the Union's industrial infrastructure. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Rules of Engagement")

With the Cardassians' eye turned inward and their military reduced to a third-rate power, the Maquis had nearly free rein in the DMZ. Additionally, the Klingons formed a secret, informal alliance with the Maquis. Aside from providing material assistance, the Klingons also provided the Maquis with thirty class-4 cloaking devices to mount on their ships. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory")

Leadership of Michael Eddington

Michael Eddington, after his defection to the Maquis in 2372

"I know you. I was like you once, but then I opened my eyes. Open your eyes, captain. Why is the Federation so obsessed with the Maquis? We've never harmed you. And yet we're constantly arrested and charged with terrorism. Starships chase us through the Badlands and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. Why? Because we've left the Federation, and that's the one thing you can't accept. Nobody leaves paradise. Everyone should want to be in the Federation. Hell, you even want the Cardassians to join. You're only sending them replicators because one day they can take their rightful place on the Federation Council. You know, in some ways, you're even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious. You assimilate people and they don't even know it."

– Michael Eddington monologue to Captain Sisko, 2372 ("For the Cause")

The Maquis' greatest victories came under the leadership of Michael Eddington. Eddington was a former Starfleet officer, a lieutenant commander assigned to command the Starfleet security detachment stationed on DS9. In late 2372, Eddington defected to the Maquis, taking with him a shipment of 12 industrial replicators that were part of a Federation relief shipment bound for Cardassia Prime. In executing his plan, Eddington exploited the pro-Maquis sympathies of the crew of the freighter Xhosa under the command of Kasidy Yates, using a smuggling run that the Xhosa was engaged in to distract Starfleet from Eddington's true purpose. (DS9: "For the Cause")

With Cardassia reduced to a third-rate power after the Klingon invasion, combined with the able leadership of Eddington, by early 2373 the Maquis were actively planning to openly declare their colonies an independent nation within the territory of the DMZ. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory")

In 2373, the Maquis attacked two Bolian freighters carrying selenium and rhodium nitrite. Using the materials from those captured cargos, the Maquis created a large cache of cobalt diselenide – a biogenic agent deadly to Cardassians. Eddington attacked the Cardassian colonies on Veloz Prime and Quatal Prime, poisoning the biospheres and making the planets uninhabitable for Cardassians. The Maquis announced their intention to "reclaim" those planets for themselves, and to launch similar attacks against all other Cardassian colonies inside the Demilitarized Zone.

Solosos III poisoned by the USS Defiant

At the same time, Starfleet was vigilantly but fruitlessly pursuing Eddington, seeking to bring him to justice for his treason. Eddington attacked and disabled both the USS Defiant and the USS Malinche in separate engagements. Thus provoked, Captain Sisko launched his own offensive inside the DMZ, in an attempt to capture Eddington. Sisko attacked the Maquis colony on Solosos III, using trilithium resin to poison the planet's atmosphere and make it uninhabitable for Humans for the next fifty years. Sisko then announced his intention to poison every single Maquis colony in order to end the Maquis threat. Horrified, Eddington turned over the remaining biogenic weapons and surrendered himself to Starfleet in order to prevent such an attack. (DS9: "For the Uniform")

Sudden death

Captain Sisko and Michael Eddington survey the aftermath of a massacre of the Maquis by the Jem'Hadar

Barely a month later, Gul Dukat made the startling announcement that the Cardassian Union had agreed to become a part of the Dominion. The Cardassian military was immediately augmented by a large fleet of Jem'Hadar warships that entered the Alpha Quadrant through the Bajoran wormhole.

Dukat, as the new leader of Cardassia, announced a grand offensive against all of Cardassia's enemies, primarily the Klingons and the Maquis. Dukat vowed not only to kill every Klingon in Cardassian territory, but also to eliminate every last Maquis colony inside Cardassian territory within the space of three days. With the Jem'Hadar as allies, the Cardassians made good on that threat. Ignoring the treaty's restrictions, they launched a massive invasion of the Demilitarized Zone, rapidly and efficiently wiping out every Maquis colony. The Maquis attempted to put up a valiant fight, but the small raiders and fighters they possessed were hardly a match for the fearsome Jem'Hadar attack ships. (DS9: "By Inferno's Light")

In the aftermath of the Cardassian and Dominion offensive, only small pockets of Maquis remained, isolated and completely impotent. Aside from those Maquis who had been captured by the Federation and imprisoned, the largest group of survivors were from Eddington's former cell on Athos IV – and even then, only a few dozen members managed to survive, usually ending up in Federation prisons. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory"; VOY: "Hunters")

Maquis crewmembers of USS Voyager

The only large group of (former) Maquis remaining were aboard Voyager. When Seven of Nine learned how to use an ancient Hirogen communications network to contact the Alpha Quadrant in 2374, they learned that all the Maquis had been slaughtered, and that they and a few in Federation prisons were the only remaining former Maquis who survived. One of Chakotay's old friends, Sveta, wrote him a letter from prison explaining the situation. (VOY: "Hunters") The news was met with mixed emotions. Engineer B'Elanna Torres discovered that she felt no overwhelming pain over the death of some of her closest friends, and began running dangerous holodeck programs without the safety protocols in order to inflict physical pain on herself in order to assuage her feelings of guilt. She eventually dealt with the feelings by helping the Voyager crew on a daring mission to rescue a multi-spatial probe aboard the newly-built Delta Flyer. (VOY: "Extreme Risk")

The Maquis in control of Voyager

Some former rebels in the Alpha Quadrant escaped capture, including Teero Anaydis. Teero refused to let the idea of the Maquis die, and discovery of Voyager safe in the Delta Quadrant gave him an opportunity to try and resurrect the rebellion through his mind control plan from six years prior. In 2377, Teero intercepted a message from Tuvok's son, Sek, and implanted a subliminal message which forced Tuvok to recall Teero's experiments. Tuvok began attacking the Maquis crewmembers and gave them subconscious instructions from Teero through a mind meld. The Maquis eventually took control of Voyager and nearly stranded its Starfleet crew on a planet in the Delta Quadrant. However, Tuvok was able to regain mental control and use another mind meld to remove Teero's influence from the Maquis crew. (VOY: "Repression")

In 2381, upon learning that a group of ensigns from Delta shift sought to alter the USS Cerritos's computer in order to gain a prestigious room, Ensign Beckett Mariner complained, wishing they would "go join the Maquis," suggesting that they should go die horribly. (LD: "Room for Growth") Later that year, following Nick Locarno's introduction of Nova Fleet as "the first totally independent unaligned fleet in the Alpha Quadrant!," Brad Boimler muttered, "Um, the Maquis would like a word." (LD: "Old Friends, New Planets")

In 2382, the crew of the USS Reseda were all reformed Maquis. (LD: "Of Gods and Angles")

In 2384, Chakotay told Dal R'El about his service with the Maquis while comforting the young Starfleet hopeful who was worried about finding his purpose. Chakotay revealed that he'd joined the Maquis in an attempt to find his purpose after losing it along with his father, and his heritage. However, Chakotay never truly belonged until he became the first officer of Voyager. (PRO: "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II")

Maneuvers and tactics

With inferior ships and technology compared to the Cardassian Union and Starfleet, the Maquis frequently had to devise creative workarounds with limited resources.

While Chakotay considered feigning damage to draw an enemy in an "old Maquis trick," Captain Janeway acknowledged it as "a very old trick" that wouldn't have fooled her in a similar situation. In the Maquis, Chakotay and Torres lured two runabouts near Teluridian IV, blowing out their dorsal phase emitters and cutting engines to simulate damage before attacking and jumping to impulse. They used this trick again on Voyager in battle with the Numiri in 2371, noting that "out here in the Delta Quadrant, every old trick is new again." (VOY: "Ex Post Facto")

Lon Suder noted that using a portable thoron generator to neutralize tricorder sensors was an old Maquis trick, which he also used against the Kazon in 2372. (VOY: "Basics, Part II")

Looking for a way to mask their warp signature and fool Borg sensors in 2375, B'Elanna Torres volunteered "a few Maquis tricks up [her] sleeve," including remodulating their shields. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") Chakotay would later use this aboard the USS Protostar in 2385 during the Battle of Solum to fool the Vau N'Akat sensors, a tactic Hologram Janeway identified as an old Maquis trick. It allowed the ship to get close enough to Solum to beam an away team through the planet-wide transporter scramblers, but Hologram Janeway warned Chakotay that his old Maquis tricks wouldn't work for very long against the Vau N'Akat. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part I")

Members

• See: List of Maquis personnel

Ship classes used by the Maquis

• Apollo-class (stolen)
• Bajoran interceptor
• Bajoran raider
• Defiant-class (stolen)
• Federation attack fighter
• Galador freighter
• Maquis fighter
• Maquis freighter
• Maquis raider
• Peregrine-class

Ships used by the Maquis

• Alpha Seven
• Alpha Nine
• Val Jean
• Unnamed Maquis ships

Maquis worlds

• Marva IV
• Quatal Prime
• Veloz Prime
• Tracken II

Appendices

References

A list of all references to the Maquis (excluding the regular appearances of former Maquis on Voyager):

• TNG: "Preemptive Strike"
• DS9:
  • "The Maquis, Part I" (season two)
  • "The Maquis, Part II"
  • "Tribunal"
  • "The Jem'Hadar"
  • "Second Skin" (season three)
  • "Defiant"
  • "Heart of Stone"
  • "Explorers"
  • "Indiscretion" (season four)
  • "Accession"
  • "For the Cause"
  • "Rapture" (season five)
  • "For the Uniform"
  • "By Inferno's Light"
  • "Blaze of Glory"
• VOY:
  • "Caretaker" (season one)
  • "Parallax"
  • "Eye of the Needle"
  • "Ex Post Facto"
  • "State of Flux"
  • "Learning Curve"
  • "The 37's" (season two)
  • "Projections"
  • "Non Sequitur"
  • "Maneuvers"
  • "Prototype"
  • "Alliances"
  • "Threshold"
  • "Meld"
  • "Dreadnought"
  • "Investigations"
  • "Resolutions"
  • "Basics, Part I"
  • "Basics, Part II" (season three)
  • "Worst Case Scenario"
  • "Year of Hell" (season four)
  • "Hunters"
  • "One"
  • "Hope and Fear"
  • "Extreme Risk" (season five)
  • "In the Flesh"
  • "Nothing Human"
  • "Bliss"
  • "Dark Frontier"
  • "The Fight"
  • "Equinox"
  • "Barge of the Dead" (season six)
  • "One Small Step"
  • "The Voyager Conspiracy"
  • "Pathfinder"
  • "Fury"
  • "Life Line"
  • "The Haunting of Deck Twelve"
  • "Repression" (season seven)
  • "Flesh and Blood"
  • "Shattered"
• PIC: "Imposters"
• LD:
  • "Room for Growth"
  • "Old Friends, New Planets"
• PRO:
  • "Masquerade" (insignia)
  • "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II" (mention)

Background information

The notion of the Maquis was conceived by the end of July 1993. They were originally imagined as rebellious "misfits" who partly made up the crew complement of the (not yet named) USS Voyager and were "stuck with" the Starfleet officers on board. (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, pp. 174-175) Ronald D. Moore noted, "The Maquis were definitely created for Voyager." (AOL chat, 1997) Jeri Taylor offered, "We knew that we wanted to include a renegade element in Voyager, and that the show would involve [...] these idealistic freedom fighters that the Federation felt were outlaws." Hence, the creation of the Maquis proceeded from the Voyager creators' goal "to have some people who are quite different from the Starfleet Human types we see all the time," in the words of Michael Piller. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 134) In fact, Moore said, "The initial idea for Voyager was that the Maquis who joined the crew would not put on the Starfleet uniforms. Michael lost that fight." (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 352) Additionally, Moore clarified, "The whole premise of the Maquis was that it was attracting legitimate, upstanding officers." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 28, p. 14)

The Maquis were named after the French resistance group during World War II. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 290; Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 18; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 134) Their insignia was designed by Jim Magdaleno. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine issue 1, p. 67) Incidentally, some of Voyager's Maquis crew were later forced into a Hirogen holodeck simulation of the resistance.

The decision to establish the Maquis in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was soon made. "In order to avoid having some burdensome backstory and exposition in Voyager's pilot, we decided we could plant the idea of the Maquis in the shows that were already on the air," related Jeri Taylor. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 134)

The origins of the Maquis can be traced to TNG: "Journey's End". (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 28, p. 12) That episode was originally to have included TNG's first reference to the Maquis by name. Eventually, however, the group became a colony of American Indians, with the idea of including the direct reference to the Maquis being dropped. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 3rd ed., p. 290) Ronald D. Moore commented, "When I was working on 'Journey's End', Michael [Piller] told me quite explicitly about their plans for the role of the Maquis on Voyager and that he wanted 'Journey' to show the roots of the Maquis even though they would later be named on DS9." (AOL chat, 1997)

The process of installing the Maquis into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was initiated by Michael Piller. "Michael said do the Maquis [on DS9], and we started doing them," recalled writing staffer Ira Steven Behr. Shortly thereafter, establishing the Maquis became the inspiration for the writing of a Deep Space Nine two-parter. Piller himself commented, "This turned out to provide a wealth of story material for us on DS9 in the second half of the second season." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 72) The group made its bona fide on-screen debut in the first half of the two-parter, the eponymous DS9 episode "The Maquis, Part I".

Upon devising the DS9 Season 3 installment "Defiant", the DS9 writing staff was inspired by the notion of the Maquis becoming somewhat improved. "Early on [in the year] we had played with the idea [...] that we would suddenly notice that the Maquis was getting a lot better out there and kicking some serious butt," explained Ronald D. Moore, who wrote "Defiant". (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 87) He also said, "The initial notion was that the Maquis were getting tougher, but we didn't know why." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 190) The answer was that the Maquis were being led and tactically bettered by recently defected former Starfleet officer Thomas Riker, who was their general. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 98; Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 87) After Ira Behr suggested an addition to the story might involve Tom Riker visiting Deep Space 9, Moore asked himself what the Maquis might want there, quickly deciding on them stealing the starship Defiant. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 190)

In "Caretaker", the Maquis aboard the USS Voyager donned Starfleet uniforms, due to Michael Piller having lost the debate over whether they should do so. "Depending on your point of view," Ronald D. Moore pointed out, "[that] was or wasn't a huge mistake." (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 352) It was clear that, in Moore's opinion, the rapid assimilation of the Maquis into the USS Voyager's crew started the vessel seeming to become essentially identical to any other ship in Starfleet. "By the end of the pilot, you have the Maquis in those Starfleet uniforms, and – boom – we've begun the grand homogenization," he critiqued. [1]

Aside from the Maquis on Voyager being personified in the main characters of Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres, the Star Trek: Voyager Bible proclaimed, "We assume that some twenty more have come on board and can be used from time to time in stories." [2] Although Star Trek: Voyager initially featured tensions motivated by the Maquis on board the ship, no long-term plans were made for developing the Maquis on the series, with each of their appearances instead dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Also, the Maquis were soon written in such a way as to no longer cause friction or question the authority aboard the ship. "The people who were doing that began to sound like whiners," complained Jeri Taylor. Ultimately, the potential conflict posed by the Maquis on Voyager wasn't made a vital part of the series. "When we couldn't find a fresh way to develop it," Taylor remembered, "then we decided it was time for it to go away." Piller added, "Personally I would have liked to use it for longer, but it seemed pretty clear from the get-go that Rick (Berman) and the studio felt that the fans were unhappy with the amount of conflict on Deep Space Nine, and they would be more welcoming into their homes of crew members who got along rather than were in constant conflict." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 28, pp. 15 & 16) Regarding Berman, Ron Moore reflected, "He really thought that Gene (Roddenberry) wouldn't have liked the whole Maquis story line. I know that Michael and Rick had a lot of arguments about that – the whole thing with the rebellion against what the Federation was doing with the Bajorans and the colonists and the Cardassians. Michael really liked it." (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 352) In addition, Moore observed, "From the get-go they (the Maquis) are supposed to be the anti-Starfleet people. They behave exactly like the Starfleet people with the occasional nod towards B'Elanna (Roxann Dawson) making a snide remark about Starfleet protocols, or Chakotay (Robert Beltran) getting a little quasi-spiritual." Moore even imagined that, if the starship Voyager returned to Earth prior to the conclusion of the series, "All the Maquis people [would] take regular commissions in Starfleet." [3]

Arguably, the Maquis were focused on more in Deep Space Nine than in Voyager, despite having been conceived for the latter series. Michael Piller said, "DS9 is the true inheritor of the Maquis since there is no long-term benefit to them on Voyager." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 72)

In DS9 Season 4 offering "For the Cause", the Maquis were further developed, revealing that recurring characters Michael Eddington and Kasidy Yates were members of the group. "We wanted to remind people that the Maquis are still around, because they're part of our franchise," explained Robert Hewitt Wolfe. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 119) Mark Gehred-O'Connell, who devised the story of "For the Cause", elaborated, "The series hadn't done anything with the Maquis all season, and the producers wanted to reintroduce them. This seemed like a good episode for that." During the episode's development, Ronald D. Moore wanted to reveal that the Maquis were now in cahoots with the Klingon Empire, though this subplot was later dropped. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 340) Moore, who wrote the script of "For the Cause", counted the fact that the installment simply "brought the Maquis back into the show" as one of the episode's merits. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 62) Similarly, Ira Steven Behr commented, "I thought it made the Maquis interesting." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 119)

Ira Behr chose to bring an end to the Maquis because he felt there were too many open story threads leading into Deep Space Nine's sixth season. In hindsight, he explained, "We were just desperate to finish something off. We had to finish a threat. It was necessary. So I told the writers, 'We are going to end something and not hear about it again.'" Behr actually wanted to officially kill off every single member of the Maquis, apart from those aboard Voyager, in DS9's fifth season with "Blaze of Glory". Rick Berman disallowed their complete decimation in case the creative staff of Star Trek: Voyager wanted to use them again later. Nonetheless, as far as the DS9 writers were concerned, the Maquis story arc was finished. (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 28, p. 17) "'Blaze of Glory' is [...] although they don't want us to say this on Voyager, the death knell of the Maquis [....] [The VOY writing staff] don't want us to say that the Maquis are utterly and completely destroyed," commented Robert Wolfe. "The only Maquis left by the end of this show are basically the ones who are off in the Delta Quadrant. We put in a little line at the end saying that there might be more Maquis out there, who knows? They just didn't want us to say that the Maquis had been wiped out to the last man. I can understand that they have characters who are Maquis who believe in something, and that they don't want to say that they have nothing left at home. Part of it is that they're trying to get back to fight for their cause." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 51) Ultimately, almost a year after "Blaze of Glory", the Voyager writers acknowledged the death of nearly all the Maquis in the episode "Hunters" with Chakotay's letter from the Alpha Quadrant, which reveals that only a handful of the Maquis are still alive and the few survivors are in prison.

Concerning Federation policy with regard to the Maquis, Ronald D. Moore explained:

"All Human colonists were supposed to evacuate certain worlds in the DMZ as part of the treaty between the [Federation] and the Cardassians. Some colonists not only elected to remain behind, but also began a terrorist campaign against the Cardassians, which then prompted retaliatory strikes from Cardassia which in turn threatened to ignite a new war between Cardassia and the [Federation]. The Cardassian strikes were hitting innocent Human settlements in addition to Maquis military camps, which forced the Fed to intercede. While not all the Maquis were living in Cardassian space, (some were in the DMZ and some were even on Federation worlds) the Cardassians certainly blamed the [Federation] for the Maquis raids just as the Feds blamed the Cardassian government for attacks perpetrated by Cardassian colonists.

"That's the official rationale for the Fed campaign against the Maquis, but Eddington's statement that the real problem is that the Maquis have left the Federation and that no one leaves the Federation, has more than a kernel of truth in it. There's a sense of betrayal associated with the Maquis in the minds of the people in the Federation, regardless of whether that's an irrational feeling or not. Add to that sense of betrayal the fact that the Maquis have harassed and attacked several Federation targets over the years and you begin to see why the Feds refuse to turn a blind eye to this group." (AOL chat, 1997)

"I know you. I was like you once, but then I opened my eyes. Open your eyes, captain. Why is the Federation so obsessed with the Maquis? We've never harmed you. And yet we're constantly arrested and charged with terrorism. Starships chase us through the Badlands and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. Why? Because we've left the Federation, and that's the one thing you can't accept. Nobody leaves paradise. Everyone should want to be in the Federation. Hell, you even want the Cardassians to join. You're only sending them replicators because one day they can take their 'rightful place' on the Federation Council. You know, in some ways you're even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious. You assimilate people and they don't even know it."

- Michael Eddington – "For the Cause" – Listen to this quote ^{file info}

Journalist Lou Anders described the Maquis as "one of the most ambiguous, uncomfortable, and interesting elements Star Trek has ever produced" as well as "a bold choice that paid off big." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Official Poster Magazine, issue 0, "Across Four Seasons")

Apocrypha

In the "Voyager relaunch" novels Homecoming and The Farther Shore, it was revealed that most of the Maquis contingent on the ship had accepted a Federation offer of full amnesty, and had opted to rejoin Starfleet and assist in the massive recovery operations needed after the war against the Dominion. Further, Admiral Paris mentions that during the Dominion War ; the surviving resistance members of the Maquis were offered and accepted amnesty due to the shortage of experienced officers because of causalities suffered during the war. Consequently, these individuals were accepted back into Starfleet.

External link

• Maquis at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works