Conduct of Captain Maxwell's Crew in "The Wounded"

[polyharmonic]

In the episode "The Wounded", Capt Benjamin Maxwell, a highly respected starship captain apparently turns renegade and begins destroying Cardassian bases and vessels. He apparently justifies it not because he was attacked first but that he was engaging in preemptive attacks on Cardassia as they are preparing for war and he had to act because no one else would. Also it is clear that part of it was driven by deep anti-Cardassian hostility as they killed his family in the prior Federation-Cardassian War.

This led me to thinking, how is it that the crew would so willingly follow such orders? And shouldn't most of the crew have been court-martialed along with Maxwell?

Imagine Picard decided to go around doing something like this. Its hard to believe that Picard's crew would just blindly follow along. I would think at the very least, Riker would object and contact Starfleet who would then countermand Picard's attempted actions. Why didn't Maxwell's officers do that? Why didn't they mutiny like the crew of Pressman did back then on the Pegasus?

(Also I am wondering if in real life history, has anything like this ever happened? That is a commanding officer of a vessel or a large military contingent just went rogue like this with all his subordinates just following along???)

 

[flandry84]

Following along is a thing these days isn't it?

 

[Mojochi]

It's a valid question, & I'd say the presented outcome would have to be rather rare & unlikely to be able to get to that point, but if I was going to guess why it might have gone as far as it did? It might be a combination of all of these factors.

#1, They had extremely compelling evidence (Which they likely did) that everything Maxwell said was true, that these were military maneuvers in prelude to an invasion, such that not enough time was available to end it diplomatically, (Think of Riker & Crew in Time's Arrow. They were ready to destroy those beings with only a minimal amount of negotiation, because it was an imminent threat)

#2, Either he had commanded this very ship & command crew during the Cardassian War, or filled it with all people who'd easily fall in line with his ideals regarding Cardassians, in such a dire circumstance

#3, Either Maxwell had some kind of special clearance to enact 1st strike action, or he lied to his crew about having gotten such clearance, and no one felt the need to double check, because of #1, #2, and...

#4, They trust what he tells them, his orders, and his motives. Hell, even O'Brien still does, & I have no doubt that if O'Brien had still been his tac officer, he certainly would've backed the man all the way too

#5, The Cardassians weren't entirely truthful about the violent incidents being 100% unprovoked. Would they REALLY get found out by a Federation starship, and NOT try to prevent that from becoming known? You attack. A bunch of Cardassians get killed, & you churn out a cover story about scientific transports getting randomly attacked. It's possible

Even with all this, once the Enterprise came bearing down, it had to start raising questions, & Maxwell almost certainly had to have lied to his crew, when he returned from his meeting with Picard, hence why his last transmission to Picard is in private, & O'Brien probably literally beamed himself right outside that door to his ready room

If anything I've stated was the case, I doubt any of his crew would bear responsibility for the incidents, & even if some of it wasn't, Maxwell would likely say it was, to spare them

 

[Paradise City]

As a decorated Commander in the Cardassian border wars Maxwell got rewarded with a new ship and his pick of the crew. He staffed his crew with fellow veterans of the Cardassian Wars, friends he'd been in action with. They uncovered circumstantial but compelling evidence the Cardassians were militarising their borders as a possibile prelude to invasion. We see in later seasons they did indeed have ambitions in this respect. Maxwell and his team are all wary of the Cardassians and it isn't that big a leap seeing them all exaggerating that threat and getting caught up in the passion of it all as a kind of groupthink thing. Maxwell is a cool guy with an easy everyman manner. He's hard not to like. They see Starfleet's prudence in terms of bureaucratic dithering before an imminent invasion -- so they strike out on their own, try to sow chaos behind Cardassian lines strangling their build up process and to search for evidence to retrospectively justify their solo run and once one goes down that road things snowball further...

 

[flandry84]

Even on the Enterprise,how much does the average crewman know about what is happening on the bridge?You see the ship engaging in combat operations,red alerts go out but really who below decks knows what is going on?
Unless Riker is tweeting from the bridge
Maxwell's bridge crew do have a lot of questions to answer though and probably face charges.

 

[Mojochi]

Even on the Enterprise,how much does the average crewman know about what is happening on the bridge?You see the ship engaging in combat operations,red alerts go out but really who below decks knows what is going on?
Unless Riker is tweeting from the bridge
Maxwell's bridge crew do have a lot of questions to answer though and probably face charges.

That' s why I'd think it might be kind of easy to staff your ship with a hand picked command crew, who'd be like minded about your actions in this scenario. How many people would you really need to have your back... 6 or 7?

 

[polyharmonic]

That' s why I'd think it might be kind of easy to staff your ship with a hand picked command crew, who'd be like minded about your actions in this scenario. How many people would you really need to have your back... 6 or 7?

If Picard went rogue, would only 6 or 7 officers and crew members be enough? If so maybe you could name them and see if it makes sense. I think you'd need more than that because you also need the people directly under the main officers to go along as well.

 

[Paradise City]

Data stitched everyone up in Brothers using his own and Picard's command codes all on his owny-own.

Maybe Maxwell and a few like minded officers just imprisoned the rest of the crew on the lower decks. Or even deposited them on a safe planet with provisions whilst Maxwell and his supporters did a misguided TSFS-esque venture into Cardassian space -- only with better automation than Kirk & co had back in the day.

 

[Mojochi]

If Picard went rogue, would only 6 or 7 officers and crew members be enough? If so maybe you could name them and see if it makes sense. I think you'd need more than that because you also need the people directly under the main officers to go along as well.

Do you really though? I mean... if you have the XO, the Tac Officer/Chief of Security, Chief of Ops, Chief Engineer, a reliable helm officer & maybe the Chief Medical Officer or counselor ALL backing you, even if you had a few odd lower ranked officers voice objections, they'd just get relieved.

In Picard's case, take the neural parasites from Conspiracy. If those came back at a later time, & Picard had intel that no one else had, that they'd taken over whole ships, & maybe Starfleet command didn't believe him, & he knew the only way to stop their spread was to destroy said ships, all he'd need is Riker, Worf, Data, Geordi, Troi, Crusher, & someone like Ro Laren at the helm. If he had ALL their support, that ship & crew would go wherever he wanted it to, & do whatever he asked

 

[Tenacity]

If Picard went rogue, would only 6 or 7 officers and crew members be enough?

Insurrection, Picard did go rogue.

 

[DonIago]

I do think it's a shortcoming of the episode that we never see any of Maxwell's crew. But I think it's been established that in the 24th century you don't need much of an active crew for basic starship functionality either. Keep the ones who will go along with you, lock up everyone else behind forcefields and command authorization lockouts.

 

[Tenacity]

attacks on Cardassia as they are preparing for war

Which they were, Maxwell was right and the information (if presented to his crew) would have shown that. His actions in the grand scheme of things were right, just politically wrong.

I seriously doubt he "locked up" his crew.

I prefer to think that after the outbreak of the Dominion War, Maxwell received another starship command.

 

[DonIago]

How is it right to preemptively launch an attack without any authorization to do so? That's vigilantism.

 

[Paradise City]

The flaw in this episode is that Maxwell with this one ship is able to easily obliterate anything that remotely comes close to him. At one point he even obliterates a ship with his own shields down! Judging solely from this episode an invasion from these Cardassian boyos wouldn't be all that big a deal.

 

[Mojochi]

His actions in the grand scheme of things were right, just politically wrong.

Nah, Maxwell was wrong... He just wasn't ALL wrong, and he wasn't wrong enough that his people could see how wrong it was. A very small window of conditions exist for them to jump straight to executioner like that, in peacetime. When someone says "F### the Bureaucrats" Then they shouldn't be a part of the system, & as a captain, you're a part of the system, and you play by the rules under the vast majority of circumstances, especially before you start leaving a trail of corpses

I prefer to think that after the outbreak of the Dominion War, Maxwell received another starship command.

I actually lean toward thinking that they'd have held a grudge about reinstating him like it had never happened, over the fact that he went around the chain of command, in a very ugly way

However, I CAN wrap my head around the idea that during the Dominion War, they DID put him back in action (Because he's undoubtedly a very valuable war time asset) What I like to think is that he was given command over a rogue vessel of other derelicts like himself... kind of a Starfleet "Dirty Dozen", & they got sent out on the expendable missions

This all presumes that Maxwell didn't go full on mental break, after the whole Wounded debacle. because, he did seem to have himself a pretty serious melt down at the end there

The flaw in this episode is that Maxwell with this one ship is able to easily obliterate anything that remotely comes close to him. At one point he even obliterates a ship with his own shields down! Judging solely from this episode an invasion from these Cardassian boyos wouldn't be all that big a deal.

A bunch of sneak attacks would though, & as it's shown in the episode, The Cardies ain't all that hip on what Starfleet has learned about them in the years since. If they'd never known about the transponder codes being hacked & whatnot, they might have thought they stood a better chance, & now that they do know, they'd be scrambling to rectify that disadvantage

 

[Nebusj]

Which they were, Maxwell was right and the information (if presented to his crew) would have shown that. His actions in the grand scheme of things were right, just politically wrong.

No. If Maxwell had any credible evidence then he would have shown it to Picard when Picard, being open and willing to hear him out, asked for it. Maxwell called Picard a fool for wanting evidence. That's someone who knows he doesn't have anything.

As for how Maxwell convinced his crew to go along? Likely he was able to depend on their natural loyalty, and to infect others with enough of his paranoia that they're willing to trust his judgement, especially if he is able to pull the line about having to keep his sources confidential.

And in the grand scheme of things ... yeah, the Federation kicking Cardassia over and over until the Cardassians quit the alliance and go teaming up with the Dominion was a brilliant grand strategic move, wasn't it?

 

[Paradise City]

Maxwell was a hothead with no game plan on a revenge trip. How did he think his lethal little jaunt was going to wind up even if he did all he wanted to do? Even if he furnished his evidence, the optics of his solo run are still abysmal. The Cardassian authorities would simply deny it or just claim it was for defensive purposes and it was the Feds that were preparing an invasion with Maxwell as the initial scout force sent to test their defenses. And simply put the Federation can't abide Captains simply declaring war unilaterally on a major power without telling them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's not a chance in hell that Starfleet would have let Maxwell go free to fight in the Dominion War. I don't care how badly the war was going, you do NOT want a nutbar like that in command of a starship. At ANY time. If he can't be trusted to follow the law and his orders, how can you trust him in battle? He launched unprovoked attacks against innocent Cardassians. Somebody like that is a powder-keg just waiting to explode, and in any kind of wartime situation would be a very dangerous liability.

I could definitely see the Maquis trying to recruit Maxwell, though. Anyone who kills Cardassians (for whatever reason) was probably OK in their book.

 

[Tenacity]

The flaw in this episode is that Maxwell with this one ship is able to easily obliterate anything that remotely comes close to him.

Other than a single warship, Maxwell was destroying military cargo ships.

 

[Paradise City]

Other than a single warship, Maxwell was destroying military cargo ships.

He had his shields defanged when he was attacking that warship, he wasn't cloaked, where was the rest of the Cardassian fleet to intercept him? And the Galaxy class pretty much humbled the warship at ease at the beginning of the episode.

This is all less than 10 years before the Dominion era where the Cardassians had a very beefy fleet before the founders stitched them up.