Should Sisco have been demoted in Rank?

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In the Ep "For the Uniform" should the solution that Benjamine came up with for stopping Mr. Eddington
terror campaign cost him his rank or command or anything.
He tells Jadzia that he forgot to tell Starfleet of what he did, hey, it's not everyday that you poison a couple of planets.

One would also think that even if Sisco did not tell Starfleet, they would have found out anyway. If they did know and chose to look the other way, what does that tell you about Starfleet, that the ends justifiy the means. This ep was great because it shows Benjamine to be a flawed human being just like the rest of us, along with "In the pale Moonlight" this is one of my favorite Sisco episodes...

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

There should have been consequences, no doubt.

And one question I have...I know there were Maquis/Federation settlers on the planet in question, but what I want to know is this: were they on the Cardassian Union's side of the DMZ or not?

 

[Danny99]

Sisko! Sisko! Not Sisco, that was and/or still is a company!

 

[Myasishchev]

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is an information technology company...

Anyway, a demotion in rank is a half-measure. Either Starfleet approved, in which case no punishment is justified, or they didn't, in which case Sisko should've been thrown in rehab.

For what it's worth, he might not have done anything technically illegal. He was clearly permitted to use force to stop the Maquis, so I don't see why the non-lethal results of his actions would be considered worse than the lethal collateral damage that would have probably resulted from any course of action but complete withdrawal. It's just some crappy colony planet, which the Federation appears to have tons of. It's more like the equivalent of relocating people from an apartment complex, not blowing up Earth.

I think there ought to have been consequences for Sisko's reputation, though, particularly from an open pro-Maquis political movement that surely existed in the democratic Federation.

 

[-Brett-]

In another intellectual property, maybe.

Kirk had to nearly start a war before he got a slap on the wrist.

Picard should have been considered compromised after "Best of Both Worlds" and lost his command.

Janeway should have been serving serious prison time for some of her actions.

Archer ... need I say more?

Anyway, it's implied that Starfleet captains are on a very long leash and as long as they get results, their bosses don't much care what they do.

 

[Myasishchev]

^I dunno. Kirk was/should have been punished for stealing Federation property, etc., but he by no means almost started a war, and it's insane that the Klingon ambassador in TVH wasn't laughed out of the Federation Council.

A Klingon aggressor invades Federation space, blows up an unarmed science vessel, takes Federation citizens hostage, knifes one of them, steals Federation military secrets and seeks to steal more, and winds up responsible for the destruction of a Federation heavy cruiser...

...And when they wind up killed by Starfleet officers, this is somehow Kirk's fault?

Kirk's mutiny and Kirk's actions viz. the Klingons were really completely unrelated. In the former action, he was in total violation of the law. In the latter action, however, he was actually doing precisely what any responsible decisionmaker with a Captain's authority (which he still had) would have done, acting in defense of himself, his crew and his country, and totally legally. Personally, I'm surprised Starfleet didn't glass Kronos in retaliation between TSFS and TVH.

 

[TeutonicNights]

Why should he be?
Didn't they say or at least imply The Federation was behind what Sisko did, just not the whole "I'll destroy all those colonies"threat.
In any case, we can assume Sisko checked with them, or was certain that his actions were ok with the council or whoever.

The Federation was long past the "talk to them" stage from "The Maquis". They were threatening the peace in their view, even more with those replicators they stole and a weaker Cardassia.

I am sure the special regulations for those ex-Fed colonies included a clause that the Feds might dissolve them at any time. Sisko may also have chosen a colony that was "notorious" and long "overdue" for evacuation (like the planet Ro was hired).
Imo, it was pretty clear that the colonists were given enough time to evacuate. Remember they were going to be translocated anyway, and that was okay with Federation law.

But if there were any deaths due to the hasty evacuation, Sisko should have gotten into trouble. But there was no indication of that.

 

[Nightdiamond]

It's interesting that in the beginning of the episode, Starfleet Command took Sisko off the mission, because he couldn't get the job done, and possibly because he was in a compromised situation, being his former C.O., it was too personal.

And then ironically, when he takes over the mission again, he does something very extreme, which gets the job done, but shows Starfleet was right; he was too emotionally involved.

The issue then becomes whether Sisko was even authorized to resume the mission, seeing that he was taken off to begin with, and if Starfleet decided to look the other way, because Sisko succeeded.

 

[nx1701g]

Maybe there were no actions taken because the Maquis and the Cardassians just basically swapped planets?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Also, again--whose sovereign territory was Sisko in when he did that?

If he was in Cardassian space, even though there were humans living on that planet, there should've been a big diplomatic incident over the use of WMDs in their territories.

UNLESS...the Cardassians decided to look the other way because Sisko got Eddington, and it was something they would've done! Which might explain why Sisko got off easy.

 

[DonIago]

OTOH, Sisko made a planet poisonous to humans, in effect giving the Cardassians a planet for free shortly after they lost one to those pesky Maquis. The Cardies probably looked at it as a fair deal.

I love how it seems like nine times out of ten when his actions in this episode are brought up people gloss right over the specifics.

For instance, that the colonists never -had- to evacuate and -knew- they'd be living at the mercy of the Cardassians. They chose to stay.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Good point, that would mean both powers looked away, because Sisko caught Eddington.

Interesting, but a few other officers, Worf, Tom Paris, Kirk, Ensign Ro, Cadet Sito Jaxa And Wesley Crusher- they were either demoted, court marshalled, or held back for various things, some for not nearly as dangerous actions.

Well, except for Worf. In Worf's case, after saving Jadzia, in Change Of Heart, was almost court marshalled, and was told by Sisko he would likely never be offered a comman of his own.

 

[DonIago]

If Sisko deserved to be crucified for anything it was probably his actions in "In the Pale Moonlight".

I somehow doubt Starfleet would ever make an official record of that though.

Be curious to find out what Section 31 would do, though.

 

[TeutonicNights]

The episode could use a few more details about the treaties concerning the DMZ.
I don't see why the Federation could order Picard to forcefully evacuate those Indians, but now a very similar case is a crime or something? After the Maquis breaking the treaty in 1000 ways, too. The special agreement made by Picard should long have been null and void by then anyway.

Would Eddington, even with his secret fantasies, really buy that Sisko would do that- if he didn't think it was a legal action?
On the other hand, it's hard to believe the Federation would allow such an operation without more starships around.
What if an evacuation shuttle has an engine failure? The Defiant is just a small vessel.
And why would Sisko do that? "We don't potentially put civilians at risk...", remember?

I don't like the episode. And where was the big ass battle with swarms of Maquis fighters?

 

[DonIago]

How would a big ass battle have added to the episode? I don't recall a lot of filler material myself.

I'm pretty sure Eddington didn't fully realize how far he'd push Sisko and Starfleet by crippling an Excelsior-class vessel.

And again, Starfleet may have just ultimately viewed what Sisko did as balancing out what the Maquis did earlier in the same episode. Both sides lost one planet that the other could then use.

As for Picard, I believe that episode occurred -before- the colonists were given the option to stay. I imagine Starfleet's thinking was 'Why would humans -want- to live under Cardassian supervision?'

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is an information technology company...

Anyway, a demotion in rank is a half-measure. Either Starfleet approved, in which case no punishment is justified, or they didn't, in which case Sisko should've been thrown in rehab.

I think this is right. If Starfleet sees what Sisko did as within his authority, reasonable, etc. why would there be any punishment?

If he made a planet uninhabitable without proper authority, or they judged his reasons totally lacking, wouldn't demotion be laughably insufficient?

 

[Timo]

And one question I have...I know there were Maquis/Federation settlers on the planet in question, but what I want to know is this: were they on the Cardassian Union's side of the DMZ or not?

Well, "Journey's End" made it sound very much like only one planet, Dorvan V, was allowed to retain a UFP population on the CU side. All others were evacuated, and all the Federation colony planets were in the DMZ or on the UFP side. One would also expect the Cardassians to order evacuation of all of their citizens from the UFP side, and for said citizens to humbly obey.

So it seems that between "Journey's End" and "For the Uniform", all the Maquis were located either on DMZ planets or within UFP proper. However, before "For the Uniform" there never existed the concept of a "Maquis planet". The Maquis were simply a bunch of criminals hiding amongst law-abiding populations in the DMZ and in the UFP.

Sisko coined the phrase "Maquis planet" in "For the Uniform", in what sounded like a lunatic justification for his campaign of genocide. Dax readily agreed, although other heroes didn't adopt that odd turn of phrase. Now, it's perfectly possible that by that time, things had polarized so far that there indeed existed entire planets where everybody was openly supporting the Maquis cause. But the episode doesn't really offer factual confirmation of that. It's at least equally possible that Sisko killed innocent bystanders in addition to Maquis criminals when he poisoned that planet.

(And make no mistake, there must have been deaths, probably in horrifying numbers. The only plausible way the Maquis could have been prompted to evacuating an entire planet is if they observed fellow inhabitants dropping like flies. They wouldn't have possessed the technology to observe the poison before it started acting, wouldn't have been on alert next to the telltale sensors. And they wouldn't have evacuated unless they felt their own planet was a deadlier threat to them than the heavily armed and now-established-murderous Federation warship in orbit.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[TeutonicNights]

While I must agree that the episode was a horrible failure on many levels, shouldn't technology to detect poisonous agents be standard for colonizing a planet? I mean they started evacuation almost immediately. Though I understand your view completely the way the episode was written.

Also, Sisko said that the colonists in the DMZ "chose to live with the Cardassians", and he talked about "our"/the Cardassian "side of the DMZ".
Wouldn't that imply that the DMZ IS the territory with the planet in Journey's end and that the planets in question have a similar agreement? I think the writers of FTU definitely had that concept in mind.
Makes you think where that planet was where Evek brought Samuels. Was it "The capital planet of the DMZ", the capital of the worlds that "chose to live with the Cardassians"?
Hudson had an office there, but the Cardassians obviously could come there as they pleased, as well.

About the "Maquis Planet"...that's why I think some more details about the DMZ and the treaty would have been nice. Your idea the situation had considerably changed since "The Maquis" sounds good.

If there were planets that refused to work or even communicate with the Federation or the Cardies, maybe deny Federation officers access, in violation of the "Picard treaty", calling them "Maquis Planets" wouldn't be too far off.
After all, according to Eddington, the Maquis were about to declare themselves independent, which would probably imply they had been running their own business for some time. Defending themselves, not collaborating with the Feds.

 

[Myasishchev]

And one question I have...I know there were Maquis/Federation settlers on the planet in question, but what I want to know is this: were they on the Cardassian Union's side of the DMZ or not?

Well, "Journey's End" made it sound very much like only one planet, Dorvan V, was allowed to retain a UFP population on the CU side. All others were evacuated, and all the Federation colony planets were in the DMZ or on the UFP side. One would also expect the Cardassians to order evacuation of all of their citizens from the UFP side, and for said citizens to humbly obey.

So it seems that between "Journey's End" and "For the Uniform", all the Maquis were located either on DMZ planets or within UFP proper. However, before "For the Uniform" there never existed the concept of a "Maquis planet". The Maquis were simply a bunch of criminals hiding amongst law-abiding populations in the DMZ and in the UFP.

Sisko coined the phrase "Maquis planet" in "For the Uniform", in what sounded like a lunatic justification for his campaign of genocide. Dax readily agreed, although other heroes didn't adopt that odd turn of phrase. Now, it's perfectly possible that by that time, things had polarized so far that there indeed existed entire planets where everybody was openly supporting the Maquis cause. But the episode doesn't really offer factual confirmation of that. It's at least equally possible that Sisko killed innocent bystanders in addition to Maquis criminals when he poisoned that planet.

(And make no mistake, there must have been deaths, probably in horrifying numbers. The only plausible way the Maquis could have been prompted to evacuating an entire planet is if they observed fellow inhabitants dropping like flies. They wouldn't have possessed the technology to observe the poison before it started acting, wouldn't have been on alert next to the telltale sensors. And they wouldn't have evacuated unless they felt their own planet was a deadlier threat to them than the heavily armed and now-established-murderous Federation warship in orbit.)

Timo Saloniemi

Nah. The radiation, or whatever, from the "trilithium resin" (sigh) might have just been enough to give the Maquis cancer after a few months. I mean, a dude could have stayed in Chernobyl for a while and not immediately died or even get immediately sick, but he wouldn't be very smart to do so.

Or maybe trilithium resin is like plutonium--they could tell it was there from its radiation signature, but even outrageously unlikely weather patterns wouldn't blow the deadly dust into their settlements for weeks. Nevertheless, they decided it'd be a good idea to book immediately.

And hey, maybe they did all get tumors, big deal--the Federation does tumors.

Then again, maybe TR is just poisonous, in which case maybe it's more like coating a planet in DDT. Not really deadly, but you don't want to live and breed there.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Perhaps the reason why most starships--regardless of size--are commanded by officers with the actual rank of captain is because captains are given a considerable degree of autonomy by Starfleet as they generally have to operate in regions where realtime instructions from Command isn't possible. In such instances, starship captains can do anything short of breaking Federation law or Starfleet General Orders, IMO.

It could be that Sisko's actions in "For The Uniform" were brought before a Starfleet Board of Inquiry, which analyzed the situation, and then cleared him of any possible wrongdoing. Otherwise, he likely would have been relieved of command had Starfleet truly disapproved of what he did...