What if Admiral Leyton's Coup Was Successful?

[Emperor Norton]

In Deep Space Nine, Admiral Leyton, fearing war with the Dominion (which did eventually come), attempted a coup to become dictator of the Federation. He faked Dominion aggression, moved loyalists into high positions, and convinced the Federation President to declare martial law all to covertly lay the groundwork for Starfleet to take over leadership, with himself at it's head. Leyton appears as though he believed his plan to be patriotic, that in order to save the utopia of the Federation such measures were necessary, and that he was putting the needs of the many foremost. He also appears to have been Humanocentric and bigoted, in that way that people who do not see themselves as bigots make statements about the deficiencies of another group at an equal task. He also appears to believe that he's saving these things; not destroying them in the quest to preserve them.

The coup plot was foiled. What if it had succeeded? Personally, I see a Federation Civil War.

 

[T'Girl]

It doubtful that Layton would have commanded the loyalty of the majority of Starfleet, mostly likely he would have been simply arrested in a short period of time.

No civil war.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

It doubtful that Layton would have commanded the loyalty of the majority of Starfleet, mostly likely he would have been simply arrested in a short period of time.

No civil war.

Yeah for some reason his entire strategy seemed to come down to securing the sol system and the other 149 members of the federation just submitting to his authority for pretty much no reason other than controlling Earth.

 

[Emperor Norton]

I've posted this elsewhere, by the way, but the discussion hadn't gotten going as I would have hoped.

Dominion conquers the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and I can see the Borg eventually assimilating the Galaxy.

Agreed. Meanwhile, the Founders would no doubt be pleased by the chaos caused by the coup, since an Alpha Quadrant plagued by infighting (I believe the Klingon-Cardassian conflict had already taken place by this point in the series, right?) equals less of a threat to the Dominion proper in the Gamma Quadrant.
Afraid that's all I've got since it's been a long time since I've seen the appropriate episodes, though I do seem to recall reading somewhere that the two-parter's main inspiration was 'Seven Days in May'. Not sure if there's a verified source for that though.

A good question to ask is,

What would Section 31 do? Assassinate Leyton to bring the coup down and preserve the Federation? Or would they work on his behalf and infiltrate the rebellious faction?

Considering the article of the Starfleet Charter that caused Section 31 to exist in the first place, I'm thinking the latter. Section 31 seems to be a very scary organization indeed, considering the head of the Tal Shiar was a S31 agent.

Not to mention they unleashed a bioweapon on the Dominion that threatened to exterminate the Founders. Maybe S31 works in the shadows by stabilizing the Federation by dealing with those against Leyton, then when the Dominion are no longer a threat, clean up house by getting rid of Leyton and his colleagues to return the federation to normal.

Lots of interesting stuff in this scenario

You mean the Coup was successful on Earth?

I cant see Leyton having control over one of Starfleet fleet arms or Starbases. In this case, some loyal fleet moves in and destroys Leytons coup. Leyton was the only Admiral shown to be part of the coup. How he was thinking he could be successful, I have no idea. This "coup" was amateurish, to say it in a polite way. The Federation is not only Earth. Its like occuping D.C. or Berlin and than expecting the rest of the nation will follow. It puts you in a good starting postion, but could only be the first step. Leyton was not shown to have further plans than to occupie Earth, by using some cadets and some loyal Feds, yeah dumb, really dumb. His coup had no chance from the begining.

The Federation is shocked how paranoia already has poisened the society, and as always gets stronger from that experience.

That's because it was a TV show. It doesn't mean there wasn't a larger scope.

Agree with Haakwood

My argument would be, one, it could be more expansive than the show let on. It is, after all, not a miniseries or movie, and it only has so much of a budget, so there's only so much of a scope you can get across. Two, it may not necessarily be a *yoink* dictatorship. It may be a slow descent into dictatorship where more and more liberty is lost, more and more authority is taken, more and more is excused as protecting the country and the good of the many outweighing the needs of the few, and it's not realized until too late. By which point, Leyton would be established. It may also be Leyton doing such on Earth, and then using that position to strengthen his position in the Federation overall, and then leading to dictatorship.

---------- Post added at 2140 ---------- Previous post was at 2003 ----------

Three, an alternate universe where Leyton took power as a "Dear Leader", decimated the Dominion, the Federation was in a Civil War where systems seceded and the anti-Leyton forces lost, and the figures of the actual Star Trek history have these alternate paths, and you play as a secessionist ship no longer attached to anyone just trying to survive and lead a guerrilla fight against the dicatatorial UFP would make a kickass sim.

Personally I think in the greater strategic war it wouldn't have changed too much, as the Founders were smart enough to realize that if they struck while the Federation was suffering from internal turmoil their attempts would be more likely to unite the Federation against a common foe rather than be easy to pick off. At the same time Section 31's plan was already in full play so Odo would most likely have still infected the Founders later that year or at some other point in the future whenever they linked. This virus would either eliminate the Founders or keep them preoccupied and thus hold off an invasion even if the Federation was weak.

The speed at which Leyton moved and the ease at which he could take a high profile Starfleet Captain out of the picture and rally an elite unit of Cadets without raising suspicion leads me to believe he had much more support and definitely in high places, the reason it was never shown was most likely budget but the kind of moves he could make wouldn't be possible in the kind of military system the Federation seems to be.

People make a good point in that there would be resistance to a human-dominated coup on Earth from other Federation worlds but you have to keep in mind that despite being a Federation in name it is a highly centralized government. Nearly every civilian and military element has its headquarters on Earth. A coup on Earth could effectively render the entire command structure of the entire Federation ineffective and restrict general fleet communications to Earth.

The way I could see it going down is that the core of the Federation is forced to surrender by the Leyton-aligned forces quickly while rebellious ships will consolidate to the fringes of the Federation as those member planets can secede more easily, you would also see the major neighbouring powers making incursions into border regions as the Leyton-aligned forces couldn't project far from the core of the Federation and the remaining ones would be too busy fighting for independence.

Narratively, it would be the logical conclusion of what DS9 played out circa the Dominion war; destroying things in the name of those same things; destroying democracy in the name of democracy. Etc.

It would have been a lot more realistic than a lot of the choices DS9 and other Trek's made yeah.

The Starfleet coup was always something that was proposed a number of times, but never actually gone through with with TNG onward. And it feels like they were constantly setting up for it, while never following through. That TNG bug episode was originally going to be about a Starfleet coup, DS9 obviously, and Insurrection had Starfleet in full on prick mode, and brought up what the UFP was by that year, which was a tired old country, increasingly corrupt, which was breaking down. Picard and crew disobeying orders is testament to that. Not what I would have done with the franchise, being the TOS and TNG fan I am, but that is what they did with it and what they set up these things.

Also, think of the universe where Leyton did not win, but the Civil War lead to a UFP which cleansed itself and sorted out the corruption and fixed those problems in a way the actual reality did not.

---------- Post added at 1905 ---------- Previous post was at 1900 ----------

I do also wonder if there would be any interest in a sim set in an alternate reality like this, or one where a ship from the actual timeline gets stuck traveling from alternate reality to alternate reality Sliders-style. Not that I would start such a thing (I don't know your TNG era enough). I just have a curiosity.

I am good at world building though, if anyone were to need me.

You know, there's a good chance every jerk admiral and captain you ever saw on the shows could have been part of the coup plot. Certainly if someone were to write the story, that'd be part of the narrative, with the "I'm a jerk, but I'm not a jerk like that" switcheroo of people you'd assume would go along with it. Leyton is the kingpin of that trope. Jellico I could see, as well as Dougherty. The list goes on. Nechayev would be the switcheroo I think.

I also see this as a universe where the eye-patch trope is in play; that is, everyone got an eye lost or a facial scar or a missing arm to show you it's a grimmer and grittier universe. Not in the fashion of something like the post-Borg War Federation and universe, but something more blissfully Fascist. More Bioshock Infinite than Bioshock. And somehow Picard dies and Riker is Captain of the Enterprise, or what remains of it after making some sort of stand.

---------- Post added at 2342 ---------- Previous post was at 2321 ----------

EDIT:
Hell, I'd bring in Ronald Tracy if you could.

Good points.

I like the idea that Leyton had support, otherwise his coup attempt would be futile from the start.

And this idea, Nice!

 

[Melakon]

It has been so long since I've seen those episodes, I had to look Leyton up. My memory mistakenly thought he was a Changeling infiltrator.

 

[Emperor Norton]

It has been so long since I've seen those episodes, I had to look Leyton up. My memory mistakenly thought he was a Changeling infiltrator.

Perhaps he was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

 

[jimbotron]

Even though they were only "following orders", I'm surprised Red Squad was allowed to continue existing after participating in the sabotage. Oh well, I shed no tears when those little s#!ts ate it in Valiant.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Even though they were only "following orders", I'm surprised Red Squad was allowed to continue existing after participating in the sabotage. Oh well, I shed no tears when those little s#!ts ate it in Valiant.

I'd imagine Red Squad would become something like a Hitler Youth in a Leyton controlled Federation.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Section 31 would probably have taken out Leyton and any of his co-conspirators.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Section 31 would probably have taken out Leyton and any of his co-conspirators.

Not necessarily. Leyton's idea was never to destroy the Federation, only to reconstitute it. A dictatorship (borderline or otherwise) that gets rid of the rabblerousers and takes out the opposition seems right up Section 31's alley. Leyton's plan is order and security, which is what Section 31 is all about.

The biggest issue would be causing a Civil War. So it may even be an internal conflict in Section 31 of what matters more between order and security and a Civil War. Albeit there is benefit to a Civil War; it opens the door to asserting and expanding authority and clearing out anyone who may be a problem.

EDIT: And who is to say Section 31 is involved in the plot, or at least ok with it already. Leyton got pretty far without a peep, and had a lot of intricate plots going. The only person who stopped him was Sisko and crew. So it seems that even if Section 31 wasn't part of it, they didn't have a problem with it.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Another biggie: What happens with the USS Voyager?

 

[Melakon]

For all we know, Leyton might have been Section 31. Even if everyone involved denies it.

And variations on the name Leyton show up throughout Trek history. One appears in TOS: The Conscious of the King, with Tom Leighton. In TNG: Identity Crisis, there's Susanna Leijten.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Yeah for some reason his entire strategy seemed to come down to securing the sol system and the other 149 members of the federation just submitting to his authority for pretty much no reason other than controlling Earth.

And what would that have accomplished besides pissing off other Federation member worlds? Leyton's plan would never have succeeded because he controlled only a small portion of the fleet--a group made up of officers loyal to him. It's highly unlikely any other Starfleet personnel would have bought into his ideas once they were presented with the evidence gathered by Sisko and Odo.

--Sran

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Section 31 was probably Admiral Lleyton's biggest backer to begin with.

If his coup was successful on Earth it would have worked in the Dominion's favor in the long run. Their goal at the time was to fracture the Federation and create distrust and infighting, and it would have accomplished exactly that.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Well the point is that it is successful. So how to do it. For one, it wouldn't be something so bold as "I'm dictator now", as that would alienate. It would be a slow slide with more and more power taken, until it's only noticed when it's too late, all under the cover of war powers. Leyton has his Reichstag fire in the staged Dominion aggression on Earth. He's already got martial law on Earth. He has everyone paranoid about Changelings. People are afraid and will happily trade in their liberties for security. So he'd take more authority, launch a war on the Dominion, use the war to assert more authority and create a growing dictatorial infrastructure around himself, until it's too late. By the time anyone would act, he'd already be wedged in there, with loyalists in high positions and whoever else is on his side doing it because the Federation is their country and Leyton is a war hero who saved the Federation. The opposition is where the Civil War/rebellion part would come in.

And Sisko et al would probably be killed or something to prevent them from ever uncovering the plot, or Sisko could go along with it because what Leyton doing is in the nature of the wicked things Sisko was willing to do despite his conscience.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Section 31 was probably Admiral Lleyton's biggest backer to begin with.

If his coup was successful on Earth it would have worked in the Dominion's favor in the long run. Their goal at the time was to fracture the Federation and create distrust and infighting, and it would have accomplished exactly that.

Potentially. Although there is the flip side that this would be the Federation under the direction of a man and a psychology of being willing to do anything to save the Federation and democracy (even if democracy had to die to save democracy). Anything.

To quote George Orwell, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." This would be a Federation that would be willing to do any horror and violate any morality, and excuse it as being for the greater good. That is what DS9 became all about, so it's the logical conclusion of all that. That's one of my problems with Deep Space Nine as a series, because it does have this violation of morality go on and does violate the Roddenberry Utopianism, and it's more a post-modern deconstruction of Star Trek than anything else. But no matter. This is a Federation that would be, as Quark put it, desperate and would be barbarous to save itself from destruction. What it would take to defeat the Dominion is a willingness to betray your own morality and standards and to be absolutely brutal.

So the Dominion would initially very much enjoy the Federation Civil War, and it would possibly affect their other plans like the Klingon war with Cardassia and the subsequent war with the Federation. But I would say that in the long run it would hurt the Dominion because this would be a Federation that would destroy them by any mean necessary. If the villain is evil, there will be no long Picard speech and letting them go and talking about how we must be pure; they will get shot in the face.

EDIT:

I'd also like to point out that the Federation would essentially become what the Cardassians became. Cardassia used to be a happy-go-lucky democracy itself, but it suffered from lack of resources and the military took over and fixed those issues.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

This idea that ruthless barbaric militarism is going to make your country more safe is a load of fascist BS. You might have a short term increase in power and influence but then you lose all your allies and hearts and minds of the people, and end up isolated in poverty or worse.

Sisko was every bit as ruthless and barbaric as necessary to win the war. He mined the wormhole, he became accessory to murder to bring the Romulans into the war, he personally convinced Starfleet to conduct an all out assault on Cardassia at the end. He 'Violated any morality' the absolute minimum necessary. Who was the most ruthless and barbaric? Why, it was the Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order. And look what happened to them. The Dominion wanted AQ powers to make reckless offensives as soon as possible.

Maybe Lleyton would have collapsed the entrance to the wormhole before the Dominion had a chance to reinforce it, that's the only way the coup would have actually won the war. And even if that did happen the Federation would have collapsed in on itself in the next couple decades.

 

[Emperor Norton]

It is essentially fascist. That's the point. Regardless of how you may feel about it or how I may feel about it, the narrative of DS9 is that if you're willing to do horrible things when backed up against the wall, that is how you fight your way off the wall. There was no alternative thought to killing the Romulan senator and bringing the Romulans into the war; it was just done, and Sisko was ok living with it for the greater good. So the narrative is that you are most effective as saving yourself being willing to do terrible things. And that's really the narrative of all Star Trek; things would have been so much easier for Picard on so many occasions if he had just disintegrated the villain or something like that. But species maturity and morality was always taken into account.

And dictatorships can be efficient and very stable, if they have the infrastructure to be at the forefront. Nazi Germany is an example of that, and Star Trek has said Nazi Germany is an example of that ("Patterns of Force"). The Federation would be more Nazi Germany than North Korea. And it would probably stand in the similar way Nazi Germany did; don't worry about your liberties, and just smile and enjoy the prosperity we give you and enjoy your utopia. Leyton's Federation would be one that exchanged liberty for security, and which ruthlessly sought to keep it's paradise from floundering even slightly. And as for allies, externally there really are none. You can point that to being a criticism of the narrative the Star Trek franchise set up, and I certainly would, but there really are no allies because there are no other democracies, and every other empire is a jerk. The Klingons, Cardassians, Borg, etc all fall into that category. There are no states that are democracies as well, but just don't join the Federation because of the multiple reasons there would be not to join the UFP (reasons like why the US, Canada and Mexico are not one united nation). Internally, there certainly would be divisions, and there would be divisions within member worlds and their colonies, the leadership of those worlds, and in average individuals and groups. Therein lies the issue of a Civil War, and probable secessions and long term rebellion. As I said, though, I don't see Leyton's coup being an instant and bold announcement of dictatorship; rather, there'd be war on the Dominion, and power would be expanded during that period, and it'd only be noticed what was happening after it was too late, and probably after the war was concluded.

Ruthless also does not entail reckless; the two can be one and the same but now always. What it means is a Federation that would not pull its punches, and would go even further. It would be a Starfleet willing to bombard civilian populations and then cover it up, willing to unleash plagues, and to torture prisoners, and anything else. It could end up a galactic Oceania in the long term.

EDIT:
I do see it more becoming the Federation from Starship Troopers, however.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It is essentially fascist. That's the point. Regardless of how you may feel about it or how I may feel about it, the narrative of DS9 is that if you're willing to do horrible things when backed up against the wall, that is how you fight your way off the wall. There was no alternative thought to killing the Romulan senator and bringing the Romulans into the war

To be fair, it was Garak's idea to kill Vreenak. Sisko himself would never have thought of it. And after the fact, it's not like Sisko was in a position to do anything about it. There wasn't even any proof that Garak was responsible, anyway.

 

[Anwar]

And dictatorships can be efficient and very stable, if they have the infrastructure to be at the forefront. Nazi Germany is an example of that, and Star Trek has said Nazi Germany is an example of that ("Patterns of Force").

Which in itself was nonsense. The Nazi system wasn't efficient or stable, it required persecution of minorities and essentially enslaving and stealing from its own citizens to keep on going. The writer of that episode didn't know what he was talking about, and neither did Gill.