The Most Villlainous Person In Starfleet?

[Mojochi]

Throughout Star Trek lore, Starfleet is generally professed as being an elite institution of the highest moral codes, such that infractions of an unethical, immoral, criminal or otherwise villainous nature are not only rare, but rather unexpected

However, throughout Star Trek's history, there have been plenty of Starfleet personnel who have fit one or more of the aforementioned criteria

Among them, who would you say is the most villainous person to ever wear the uniform?

 

[Admiral Shran]

Janeway.

 

[Finn]

Wesley?

 

[The Wormhole]

Isn't being villainous basically a requirement to becoming an Admiral? Mind you, most Captains aren't exactly shining beacons of nobility either.

 

[Avon]

apart from main characters, everyone in starfleet is either evil or incompetent. or both.

 

[Paradon]

You know the saying: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"? That's true for a lot of people who are handed the power to make decisions for people whether they like it or not. People love being control and having power and authority to decide someone's fate has powerful psychological affects on people. It feeds into their ego. I'm not surprised if more than than half of SF officers are corrupted and abused their power. This is exactly why when The Founding Fathers were writing the Constitutions and creating the American government, they all and other top leaders agreed they wanted a very weak executive and other very weak federal government branches. All the three branches (the executive, legislative, and judicial) would share their very limited powers. They didn't want someone like a king who monopolizes on everything and take every share of the profits made by the citizens. The people would have the freedom, rights and liberty to pursue their idea of happiness, the way of life and religions. The first draft of the Constitutions were very long, but they figured it was more like a code for living (like instructions) and were too specific and therefore there wasn't room for different interpretation in order for it to be flexible. It needed to be flexible because people have different idea of what is appropriate and how to lead their lives. The laws needed to be able to expand and protects everyone's rights, freedom and liberty.

 

[BillJ]

Picard, Kirk, Janeway and Sisko. Not very interesting to follow the adventures of perfectly moral characters.

Even morality comes down to interpretation.

 

[Kadratis]

I was going to say Admiral Nechayev, but then again, she was just a bitch.

 

[Arpy]

Main characters don't count without a reason why.

The one that readily comes to my mind is Cartwright. Very high ranking, involved in two head of state/government assassinations, ready to plunge half the galaxy into war. He was more likable than other crazy admirals of the week but who else nearly FUBARed things that badly?

 

[Shatnertage]

Kodos the Executioner?

Lord Garth?

 

[Mr Silver]

Ronald Tracey
Valeris
Admiral Cartwright
Colonel West

And any of the other conspirators to destabalise peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire (since it involved assasinations, mass murder and corruption).

I guess you could also class Benjamin Maxwell as a villainous type. Although his motivations were solely based on mental breakdown and the loss of his family. But then again, he was right about the Cardassian's carrying weapons.

 

[seCrawler]

Q - He was a star fleet officer for an episode.

 

[Silvercrest]

Lon Suder.

 

[22 Stars]

Lon Suder.

Ya maybe this ^

 

[Arpy]

Suder was Maquis, Garth and Maxwell were not intheir right minds, Kodos was a civilian governor, I think.

May I also suggest my favorite captain: Picard. His attempt to save the Borg in "I, Borg" may have failed, but that's a little beside the point: IMHO, it was too great a gamble in the first place.

 

[Silvercrest]

Suder was technically in Starfleet during all his appearances, having received a field commission as of "Caretaker". Janeway co-opted ALL of the Maquis crew. Therefore the question applies to him.


It could be argued that the crazy Vulcan in "Field of Fire" was just as villainous as Duder. But he was so far around the bend that I don't think he could be said to be in control of his actions. Not villainous, just dangerous.

 

[Phantassm]

Ronald Tracy and Eddington

 

[Mr Silver]

If we are being literal, its got to be Janeway. She conspired with her future self to commit genocide (see "Endgame") leaving an entire race (The Borg) in tatters, destroying a unicomplex which was likely inhabited by millions of drones from millions of species.

 

[The Wormhole]

Ronald Tracy and Eddington

While I suppose Eddington is kind of villainous, I wouldn't classify him as the most villainous. Really, all he was doing was breaking the law to defend his home and his people. His fight was primarily with the Cardassians, who let's face it aren't really innocent.

 

[Mojochi]

Ronald Tracy and Eddington

While I suppose Eddington is kind of villainous, I wouldn't classify him as the most villainous. Really, all he was doing was breaking the law to defend his home and his people. His fight was primarily with the Cardassians, who let's face it aren't really innocent.

That's sort of how I feel too

The conversation is getting good. I'm leaning toward Cartwright & the peace destablizers in UC too. They were literally going to murder the UFP President. Although I'm not too familiar with Voyager to know much about Suder. I'm interested enough to look into it though

Really glad Ben Maxwell has been brought up. I love that story, because in many ways, he's not a villain. He's a soldier, who's cracked, and more than that, he was.... right, not in action or motive, but in truth, which does matter. Great story

Edit: Oooh Suder is the Brad Dourif character... Interesting