Maquis

For the alternate mirror universe counterpart see Maquis (AMU).

ARMED FORCE

Maquis

"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 the Federation approval or not."

— Commander Benjamin Sisko, 2370

The Maquis were a paramilitary group that were formed in 2370 as a result of resistance to the new treaty between the United Federation of Planets and Cardassian Union, which ordered the resettlement of millions all over the newly formed Demilitarized Zone.

History

Origins

The Maquis came from populations who lived on planets under Cardassian control that were constantly abused and were subjected to hate crimes and attacks on their families, businesses and property without protection from the Federation.

Matters further escalated when it was discovered that Cardassian Legate Parn was responsible for shipping weapons into the DMZ on small freighters. The Maquis finally mobilized and smuggled in weapons of their own into the DMZ. After their demolitions expert William Patrick Samuels was captured on Deep Space 9 and executed by agents loyal to Cardassian Gul Aman Evek, the Federation got involved and a skirmish war began. The first interplanetary attack by Maquis forces was made by former Starfleet officer, Cal Hudson, who led two raiders to attack a hidden Cardassian weapons cache on Bryma. The attack was turned back, but it exposed the truth about the Cardassians colonists' secret military build-up.

The Maquis themselves consisted primarily of former citizens of the Federation whose homeworlds were ceded to the Cardassians by the treaty. Their roster soon expanded to included ex-Starfleet officers and soldiers (such as Cal Hudson, Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris and Thomas Riker) who had become disillusioned with living in the "paradise" of Federation space while thousands suffered and died in the DMZ. They often supplied weapons (such as Quark), information (such as Razka Karn) and supplies (such as Kasidy Yates) to the Maquis. At its height, the movement was comprised of some 250,000 active members and un-told thousands of sympathizers and an assortmant of 390 ships, each in a varied class or type.

The Maquis also had an extensive network of spies throughout the Federation, DMZ and Cardassian space (of which Kasidy Yates was one). Starfleet Intelligence tried infiltrating the network and gaining names, but was mostly unsuccessful.

The Maquis were also infiltrated by spies from different powers (such as Seska from the Cardassians and Tuvok from the Federation) although on occasion spies deserted their ranks and joined permanently (an infamous case involving Ro Laren).

Resistance and aggression

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

The "war" continued, as the Maquis's strength grew and Cardassian casualties grew higher, the Cardassian Central Command grew increasingly violent and demanded to be allowed into the DMZ with a fleet to "disarm" (exterminate) every colony in the DMZ, but the Federation protected the Maquis from the Cardassians behind the shield of diplomacy and allowed them a free reign.

The Vetar attacked by the Maquis

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

The Maquis knew about reprisals against their friends and families, who (for the most part) lived in the DMZ. To this end, a Bajoran cell leader named Arak Katal rallied separate Maquis factions and established a base on Tevlik's Moon. This provided the Maquis with not only a stable powerbase, but a safe haven to hide their families from reprisals and allow them to continue the war without personal feelings imposing on their separate missions (the base was named Tevlik's Moonbase). Other important bases were the Terikof Belt outposts that served as an attack staging ground against Cardassian space, and an emergency outpost that was built on the remote Badlands planet of Athos IV. The Maquis established at least 61 bases in the Badlands, a section of the DMZ covered in plasma storms, and provided ideal hiding places.

One of the most infamous attacks on Cardassian space was made by cell leader Thomas Riker in 2371, when he stole the USS Defiant and launched a hit-and-run attack on the Union. Though it nearly brought the Cardassian fleet to the DMZ and the mission's objective failed, it set the scene for the destruction of the Obsidian Order and convinced more Starfleet personnel of their good intentions, yet not their superiors who still regarded the Maquis as a "band of traitors and criminals".

However, several members of the Maquis grew frustrated at the limits the Maquis leaders were willing to go to achieve victory, and sought out more powerful ways to inflict damage on the Cardassian Union. Such cases included the Andorian Maquis member Tharia ch'Ren using a Malkus artifact to inflict catastrophic environmental damage on planets of the Cardassian Union, another was when Ro Laren/Codename "Architect" was dispatched to stop a Maquis extremist named Aela from assassinating Gul Engor and destroying Deep Space 9. Ro also delivered crucial food and medical supplies during the affliction of the "Wrath of the Prophets" disease that threatened the populations of Bajor and Deep Space 9. The longest reaching event was when a fanatical Maquis, Vedek Teero Anaydis, was expelled from the organization for experimenting in mind-control to recruit agents, he vowed revenge on his former comrades. He tracked down Starfleet spy Lieutenant Tuvok on a planet in the Badlands and placed a mind-control message in his subconscious that would be activated several years later. These incidents were put down by their fellow Maquis and sympathetic Starfleet officers, helping cement the ideal of peaceful coexistence between the Maquis and Federation.

During the Klingon-Cardassian War, the Cardassians devastated industry sought aid from the Federation, who arranged to provide them with 12 industrial replicators. The Maquis learned of this and, seeking to keep the Cardassians crippled, arranged to have their agent aboard Deep Space 9, Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington, capture the replicators and deliver them to a Vulcan freighter under their control. Captain Benjamin Sisko eventually learned of this and rushed to stop him, but Eddington escaped on the freighter with the replicators into the DMZ. Not only did this keep the Cardassians weak and provide immense engineering support to the Maquis, but it also propelled Eddington into the supreme leadership position of the entire Maquis movement.

Eddington re-surfaced at the command of eight raiders and, after stealing chemicals and equipment for biogenic weapons from Bolian and Breen freighters along the border of the DMZ, planned to sterilize every DMZ colony occupied by the Cardassians, which would put the entire zone under their control. Eddington began his attack and sterilized three Cardassian colonies before being forced to surrender himself and the remainder of the weapons to Captain Benjamin Sisko when he was faced by a similar Federation attack on the Maquis colonies.

Despite the capture of their leader Eddington, the rest of the movement went on, this time having individual "cell" leaders that commanded them. One such case was Chakotay, who commanded his crew aboard the Val Jean on several missions on Cardassian space, one such attack, in which a Cardassian station was destroyed, forced the Val Jean into the Badlands under pursuit from Gul Evek and led him and his cell to be propelled into the Delta Quadrant.

Chakotay's cell and the USS Voyager

Chakotay aboard his Maquis raider Val Jean in 2371

Seska, a Cardassian infiltrator to the Maquis

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. The Cardassians were also interested in Chakotay, and placed one of their own operatives, Seska, with Chakotay's crew around the same time. 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 Vulcan 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.

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 Ocampa 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 Ocampa 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.

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.

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. 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. Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay became close friends and confidantes; by 2373, she felt he was the most invaluable member of her crew. 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.

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 graviton 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.

Collapse

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

With the Cardassians weakened even further by internal problems, the Maquis realized they were winning, and with a free hand in the DMZ, planned to declare their independence from both superpowers. All this was undone, however, when rogue Gul Skrain Dukat arranged for the remnants of the Cardassian Union to join the Dominion, the Gamma Quadrant superpower that was able to provide overwhelming military and economic support to the Union. Dukat, now Cardassia's new leader, promised that the new Dominion-Cardassian alliance would not only drive the Klingons out of Cardassian space, but also wipe out every Maquis in the DMZ within five days. Dukat would keep his promise.

On stardate 50953.4 in 2373, the combined Dominion-Cardassian fleet launched and overran the DMZ within the space of three days (later known as the Three-Day-Massacre). With only small fighters, freighters, courier ships and raiders to fight with, the Maquis were no match and their guerrilla tactics failed against overwhelming waves of cloned Jem'Hadar soldiers. The Dominion took no prisoners.

Every single Maquis base was exposed, especially Tevlik's Moonbase, and destroyed when Arak Katal, now revealed to be a Changeling infiltrator, supplied the Female Changeling with the locations of the Maquis hiding places.

The surviving Maquis members halted their combined retreat to make their final stand at their emergency outpost on Athos IV. Unfortunately, the Jem'Hadar landed on the planet and killed the majority of the surviving members within one day of the attack being launched. After two days of imprisonment, the surviving Maquis were freed from captivity in their own base by Captain Benjamin Sisko and newly-released Michael Eddington and fled the planet to safety, although Eddington himself died getting the others out.

Only several hundred Maquis remained, whether in scattered groups, Chakotay's cell, or in prison. All of them were pardoned and joined Starfleet's efforts to fight the Dominion later that year.

Known cells who survived were Chakotay's (60 members), Eddington's (13 members), Hudson's (5 members), Kaz's (17 members), Riker's (6 members), Ro's and Sveta's.

Maquis crewmembers of USS Voyager

The only large group of Maquis remaining were aboard Voyager. They learned that the Maquis had been massacred when Seven of Nine learned how to use an ancient Hirogen communications network to contact the Alpha Quadrant in 2374. One of Chakotay's old friends, Sveta, wrote him a letter from prison explaining the situation. 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 multispatial probe aboard the newly-built Delta Flyer.

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.

Ships used by the Maquis

• Bajoran raider
• Bajoran interceptor
• Federation fighter
• Maquis freighter
• Maquis raider (Also known as Condor class or Ju'day class)
• Maquis fighter
• Peregrine class

Maquis worlds

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