ITPM: What DID Sisko tell Starfleet?

[Hofner]

Here's somthing I've wondered about. In "In The Pale Moonlight" Sisko says Starfleet gave the go-ahead for his plan to fake the data rod and trick the Romulans into the war. I assume they did not approve Garak's contingency plan. At the end after telling all Sisko erases the log.

But what DID he report to Starfleet? It's not like they'll just forget the plan and not ask him how it went and think the Romulans suddenly joining the war is pure coincidence.

So what did Sisko tell them?

Robert

 

[AdmiralGarak]

On tv, he said nothing. We're left to assume that he never said a word to anyone when he deleted the log. The sequel book Hollow Men had Sisko come clean to his superiors, though.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

He didn't have to tell them anything. Don't the Feds have any intelligence capabilities (no comedians, please )? They must have known an obnoxious pro-Dominion Senator suddenly vanished and then the Romulans join the fight against the Dominion. How hard is it to be to figure out who benefits from this scenario, and therefore who is most likely to be responsible?

I think everyone knew everything. Starfleet knew, Vreenak's enemies in the Senate knew, his allies knew but were outnumbered and outmaneuvered in the Senate. Sisko & Garak's crimes were the galaxy's worst kept secret. Just observing things from the "outside," reasonably savvy types would have deduced the truth. It would have been almost insulting for Sisko to "confess" - he would have to have a very low estimation of his superiors' intelligence and political savvy. Couldn't they see what was in front of their frakkin' faces?

In light of that, Sisko's sangfroid is perfectly reasonable. He wasn't keeping a guilty secret; if anyone in power wanted to punish him, they could have. The fact that he got away with it made everyone as guilty as he was. Then again, Starfleet can be remarkably obtuse. Or they might pretend to be obtuse when it suits their purposes.

 

[nx1701g]

^ Starfleet knew of the explosion aboard the Senator's shuttle because Worf informed Sisko of it.

I think, in the long run, they didn't tell Starfleet about the explosion because Sisko didn't know about it in the planning phase. It was always Garak's intention to kill the Senator - he says so in the episode - but Sisko didn't know this until after the fact. It was in the end the only way the rod would pass inspection.

I think Starfleet didn't know but Sisko would eventually come clean about it. That, or the Romulans would figure it out.

 

[flandry84]

Maybe he only informed Admiral Ross who seems to be Sisko's sector commander.We know that Ross himself is morally questionable,as he is in cahoots with section 31.

 

[NathanielM]

He really is Carl Spock of Vulcan, hes a gigalo and seduced the romulans with promise of real vulcan pot...

Who knows... Like Starfleet would believe him anyway and he had any say. Cisco's credibility in starfleet got shot to hell when Picard was captured by the Borg... And I think Cisco leading the fleet let it get shot to hell... (i don't remember exactly)

The only reason Cisco would have got sent to a ground assignment on a starbase... Keep him out of Starfleet's hair and out of trouble for a while.



Just my two cents.

 

[sbk1234]

Why should Starfleet investigate it further? They're in a dire situation, and desperately need the Romulans' assistance. The situation worked out too well for them. It comes under the "Don't look a gift horse" addage. They were probably savvy enough to realize that they would be working against their own best interests if they investigated it further. Sisko knew nothing about Garak setting up the explosion until after the fact. If they did investigate, it would have implicated Garak, not Sisko.

 

[Hofner]

I posed my original question because I wanted to see what people would say. I agree with Temis, Starfleet Command doesn't have to ask what happened because they already know. I can't understand why people would think they don't. They approve Sisko's plan to give Vreenak fake evidence and soon after, Vreenak is killed 'apparently' by the Dominion thus precipitating the Romulans into the war. Of couse they know. Starfleet Command and Sisko were in on it together.

Vreenak's death in the shuttle explosion is not a secret, Worf told Sisko about it out in the open in front of Dax and Bashir. Hardly a top-secret intelligence breifing. Starfleet Command probably knew before Sisko did and like him would immediately know what really happened.

And this is Starfleet Command who authorized Sisko's original plan, not Admiral Ross.

Robert

 

[the_wildcard]

Sisko got the job done. That' all Starfleet *offically* knew, lol.

 

[Harry Palmer]

hofner said:
Here's somthing I've wondered about. In "In The Pale Moonlight" Sisko says Starfleet gave the go-ahead for his plan to fake the data rod and trick the Romulans into the war. I assume they did not approve Garak's contingency plan. At the end after telling all Sisko erases the log.

But what DID he report to Starfleet? It's not like they'll just forget the plan and not ask him how it went and think the Romulans suddenly joining the war is pure coincidence.

So what did Sisko tell them?

Robert

Mission accomplished.


Seriously though I think he informed them of Garak's role in destroying the Senator's vessel, and eliminating the forger. ITPM has always made me wonder though could The Sisko have been an Section 31 Operator or at least an ally in the vein of Adm. Ross? Did he really contact Star Fleet about Bashir's run in with them at the end of Inquisition?

 

[Grandpa]

PrinceAlbert said:

hofner said:
Here's somthing I've wondered about. In "In The Pale Moonlight" Sisko says Starfleet gave the go-ahead for his plan to fake the data rod and trick the Romulans into the war. I assume they did not approve Garak's contingency plan. At the end after telling all Sisko erases the log.

But what DID he report to Starfleet? It's not like they'll just forget the plan and not ask him how it went and think the Romulans suddenly joining the war is pure coincidence.

So what did Sisko tell them?

Robert

Mission accomplished.


Seriously though I think he informed them of Garak's role in destroying the Senator's vessel, and eliminating the forger. ITPM has always made me wonder though could The Sisko have been an Section 31 Operator or at least an ally in the vein of Adm. Ross? Did he really contact Star Fleet about Bashir's run in with them at the end of Inquisition?

I've wondered the same thing. There's a lot of tantalizing tidbits which suggest Sisko might have been a pragmatic and reluctant Section 31 cohort himself. He might also have been an unwilling pawn.

ITPML aired the following week after Inquisition. Section 31 could have kidnapped Sisko along with Bashir and brainwashed him. Garak could have been recruited for the ITPML mission at the same time.

Drawing the Romulans into the war is EXACTLY the kind of thing Section 31 was designed for. They almost HAD yo be involved.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I really don't think that Section 31 was involved. While it would have been interesting had it been done, I think it would be a disservice to the episode. Plus Sisko was way too beat up about it during his log to have been a Section 31 cohort.

Well until he deleted the log that is...

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

It was rather obvious that Starfleet condoned genocide against the Founders, though they may not have instigated the creation of the virus. Why would this be such an egregious means to such a desperately needed outcome? War is a dirty business, as someone said.

(Back to the Potter book. )

 

[Hofner]

nx1701g said:
^ I really don't think that Section 31 was involved. While it would have been interesting had it been done, I think it would be a disservice to the episode. Plus Sisko was way too beat up about it during his log to have been a Section 31 cohort.

Well until he deleted the log that is...

(If it isn't already painfully obvious, I recently watched the ep.)

The interesting thing about that log entry is that he was not even supposed to be making one. He had said the operation was off the record meaning no log entries. Apparently he did it as a coping mechanism for his guilt knowing it would never see the light of day so to speak.

Robert

 

[nx1701g]

^ I don't know about that. I do agree that by talking about it through the log entry he had the advantage of working through his problems and understanding why he did what he did and (as you said) coping with it.

However, I think that his deleting it was intended to be part of his revelation that he could live with what he'd done. To think that he was going to cancel the log all along lessens the impact I think.

 

[Hofner]

Like I said I watched the episode recently and something struck me that I hadn't noticed before. When Tolar first meets Sisko he said he'd never worked for Starfleet before and Sisko says he's not; the operation is off the record. That's when I thought "Hey, he's not even supposed to be making that log entry."

I don't know if the writer meant it to be connected or not; just something that had escaped me before.

Robert

 

[Harry Palmer]

Grandpa said:

PrinceAlbert said:

hofner said:
Here's somthing I've wondered about. In "In The Pale Moonlight" Sisko says Starfleet gave the go-ahead for his plan to fake the data rod and trick the Romulans into the war. I assume they did not approve Garak's contingency plan. At the end after telling all Sisko erases the log.

But what DID he report to Starfleet? It's not like they'll just forget the plan and not ask him how it went and think the Romulans suddenly joining the war is pure coincidence.

So what did Sisko tell them?

Robert

Mission accomplished.


Seriously though I think he informed them of Garak's role in destroying the Senator's vessel, and eliminating the forger. ITPM has always made me wonder though could The Sisko have been an Section 31 Operator or at least an ally in the vein of Adm. Ross? Did he really contact Star Fleet about Bashir's run in with them at the end of Inquisition?

I've wondered the same thing. There's a lot of tantalizing tidbits which suggest Sisko might have been a pragmatic and reluctant Section 31 cohort himself. He might also have been an unwilling pawn.

ITPML aired the following week after Inquisition. Section 31 could have kidnapped Sisko along with Bashir and brainwashed him. Garak could have been recruited for the ITPML mission at the same time.

Drawing the Romulans into the war is EXACTLY the kind of thing Section 31 was designed for. They almost HAD yo be involved.

I don't think Sisko required any brainwashing. That's what makes the episode one of the absolute best of modern Trek.

 

[new_mercury]

I'm sure this is mentioned in one of the novels but I can't remember which one.

 

[NathanielM]

I hate to say it, I did not like Sisko much... I find he was not a very strong character... He let things slide a few times too often...

After what he did in NG series in the two parter where Picard becomes Locutus, I felt he a bit wishy washy and too easily to give up..

He reminds me too much of GW Bush... Our current lying warmonger... er President.

Sorry...

 

[Sec31Mike]

NathanielM said:
I hate to say it, I did not like Cisco much... I find he was not a very strong character... He let things slide a few times too often...

After what he did in NG series in the two parter where Picard becomes Locutus, I felt he a bit wishy washy and too easily to give up..

He reminds me too much of GW Bush... Our current lying warmonger... er President.

Sorry...

WTF?????

First off spell Sisko right.

Second, he had NOTHING to do with TNG,

Third, He was a strong character

Fourth, keep the political crap out of here.