Was it ever mentioned if Seska was a member of the Obsidian Order or the Cardassian military?
Was Seska Obsidian Order or Cardassian military?
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Amaris
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I don't think it was ever mentioned, but if she was assigned to infiltrate the Maquis as a sleeper agent, then I figure she was probably Obsidian Order.
I'd believe either.
You're probably right here. I guess that they just didn't think about asking Garak.
^ Garak had been out of the loop for a while. He may have known the agent, but why would he have any details about her current assignment? Assuming "Seska" is her Bajoran cover name, we don't even know what her real name is.
I'm a little sad now that the words "obsidian order" were never mentioned. Were they?
Exactly. Check what? "We hear you have a Cardassian living here, just wanted to ask him if there are any undercover agents on board our ship please."
Wasn't Seska part of Chakotay's original Maqui crew and not Janeway's in the first place?
In which case... Seska would have already been in the DQ under the tender care of the Caretaker's examination probes by the time Voyager was still at DS9.
Exactly. Check what? "We hear you have a Cardassian living here, just wanted to ask him if there are any undercover agents on board our ship please."
Wasn't Seska part of Chakotay's original Maqui crew and not Janeway's in the first place?
Yep.
What I want to know is, is 'Seska' her Bajoran fake name or her Cardassian real one? There was a Cardassian on DS9 named 'Seskal', after all - possibly the male form of the name. It'd be odd if nobody in the Maquis recognized that she had a Cardassian name.
And it seems obvious that she was an Obsidian Order operative. Everything on Cardassia is run either by the military or the Order (there really isn't any civilian government to speak of), and deep cover spying is exactly what the Order specializes in.
...But the Central Command is also actively scheming and infiltrating, and ridiculed for its clumsiness in that trade by the OO. We learn as much in the Circle trilogy, "Cardassians" and other early DS9 episodes preceding the out-universe creation of the Obsidian Order.
Conversely, the Obsidian Order dabbles in doing armed combat, as per "The Die is Cast". And both meddle in civilian politics, to no particular success. So no doubt the Detapa Council also forfeits the conditions of the triumvirate treaty somehow, ineptly operating its own spies and armies...
Seska or "Seska" would have been of use to the Central Command in the anti-Maquis fight, which might indicate she was not Obsidian Order, as that agency would have wanted to hinder rather than help the CC efforts at defeating this annoying but essentially harmless foe!
That's an interesting point, even if the similar names probably are but a coincidence. Perhaps the cultures do have common roots going back a few thousand years? "Explorers" suggests the possibility of interstellar connections between the planets, and OTOH both Bajor and Cardassia are worlds without a past; they have been through hard times, are keen on rewriting their histories, and are ruled by people for whom truth and reality are annoyances to be dealt with so that true faith can prevail.
Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if the species were biologically exceptionally closely related even in Star Trek terms (remember all those unwanted half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran children, when Klingons and humans apparently need a doctor in bed with them in order to produce mixed offspring?). Shared cultural elements such as naming practices would be easy to accept.
Timo Saloniemi
Conversely, the Obsidian Order dabbles in doing armed combat, as per "The Die is Cast". And both meddle in civilian politics, to no particular success. So no doubt the Detapa Council also forfeits the conditions of the triumvirate treaty somehow, ineptly operating its own spies and armies...
Seska or "Seska" would have been of use to the Central Command in the anti-Maquis fight, which might indicate she was not Obsidian Order, as that agency would have wanted to hinder rather than help the CC efforts at defeating this annoying but essentially harmless foe!
It'd be odd if nobody in the Maquis recognized that she had a Cardassian name.
That's an interesting point, even if the similar names probably are but a coincidence. Perhaps the cultures do have common roots going back a few thousand years? "Explorers" suggests the possibility of interstellar connections between the planets, and OTOH both Bajor and Cardassia are worlds without a past; they have been through hard times, are keen on rewriting their histories, and are ruled by people for whom truth and reality are annoyances to be dealt with so that true faith can prevail.
Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if the species were biologically exceptionally closely related even in Star Trek terms (remember all those unwanted half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran children, when Klingons and humans apparently need a doctor in bed with them in order to produce mixed offspring?). Shared cultural elements such as naming practices would be easy to accept.
Timo Saloniemi
I suppose it's possible that Seska was working directly for the military as opposed to the Order, but I suspect that her operation was too well planned and executed for that. If Central Command's attempts at espionage are as 'clumsy' as the Order claims, I doubt they could have successfully pulled it off.
Although arguably never prior to that. Dukat's line in Defiant: "...they are explicitly forbidden from having military equipment of any kind."
Calling Seska a member of the Obsidian Order would require the viewers to remember something from a previous episode.
From the perspective of a Voyager writer, that's way too much to ask of our puny brains.
From the perspective of a Voyager writer, that's way too much to ask of our puny brains.
And yet, before she was revealed to be a Cardassian and we were still believing her to be Bajoran she did talk about the Prophets, which I think is the only time the Prophets have been mentioned outside of DS9.
Although this discussion has had me wondering, when Seska was on Voyager she held an officer's rank, which my understanding was that for the most part the Maquis crew were enlisted unless they had prior service as a Starfleet officer, then they got their former ranks, like Chakotay and Lt. Ayala. Obviously Seska wasn't a real Starfleet officer, but likely her cover story involved Starfleet service. Might she actually have been undercover in Starfleet when the Obsidian Order or whoever decided to re-assign her to infiltrate the Maquis by having her pose as one of many disgruntled Starfleet officers joining the cause?
I think the fact that Bajorans are very religious is referenced in The Next Phase but without the word 'Prophets'. Probably because the concept of 'Wormhole Aliens As Prophets' hadn't been come up with yet.
Also there's a difference between referencing the Prophets and referencing the Obsidian Order. It will be obvious from context that the Prophets are Bajoran religious figures even if you've never seen DS9. The Obsidian Order would require an explanation.
Also there's a difference between referencing the Prophets and referencing the Obsidian Order. It will be obvious from context that the Prophets are Bajoran religious figures even if you've never seen DS9. The Obsidian Order would require an explanation.
Not much of one.
"Seska's an agent of the Obsidian Order."
"The Cardassian intelligence agency?"
We certainly didn't need a detailed explanation of who the Tal Shiar were when they were mentioned in Message in a Bottle, why would we need any for the Obsidian Order?
That was genius.
They seemed to be inconsistent on that point. Seska wore the pin of a Lieutenant JG but was referred to as Ensign. And Chakotay wore a Lieutenant Commander's pin (but in his case, 'Commander' is frequent shorthand for a LCDR).
It could be that Seska's Bajoran cover identity (planted by the Order) was also in Starfleet prior to the Maquis, though.
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