The Federation moved the border.
Dozens (hundreds?) of Federation worlds were put into a near lawless demilitarized Zone or out right into Cardassian Space, under the rule & protection of Cardassian law.
At first we are told that the Maquis are mostly farmers, but really, who the frakk are they farming for? Although the city dwellers would probably have opted to hop on the reversecolony ships and retreat back to Federation space. It takes a lot more than farmers to make a successful colony, but farmers would be the most likely to stay after the flags change.
Then it became political. Kim was the editor of the Starfleet Academy Newspaper, where he begun an honest conversation about the Maquis. Which means that people that had no skin in the game started getting involved. Starfleet Officers signed up because it was the right thing to do, and other persons, administrators, governors, quartermasters, diverted resources and weapons to the Maquis which was a horribly illegal thing to do.
Now here's the weird bit. Once it actually became about killing as many Cardassians as possible, psychopaths who can get the job done were needed, who did not care a lick about politics or nationalism. They only wore the flag as a brand new opportunity to whack spoonheads in bulk. Or at least that's how B'Elanna explained Lon Suder, because Voyager's writers room had never seen anything on TNG or DS9 about the Maquis.
Idiots.
Dozens (hundreds?) of Federation worlds were put into a near lawless demilitarized Zone or out right into Cardassian Space, under the rule & protection of Cardassian law.
At first we are told that the Maquis are mostly farmers, but really, who the frakk are they farming for? Although the city dwellers would probably have opted to hop on the reversecolony ships and retreat back to Federation space. It takes a lot more than farmers to make a successful colony, but farmers would be the most likely to stay after the flags change.
Then it became political. Kim was the editor of the Starfleet Academy Newspaper, where he begun an honest conversation about the Maquis. Which means that people that had no skin in the game started getting involved. Starfleet Officers signed up because it was the right thing to do, and other persons, administrators, governors, quartermasters, diverted resources and weapons to the Maquis which was a horribly illegal thing to do.
Now here's the weird bit. Once it actually became about killing as many Cardassians as possible, psychopaths who can get the job done were needed, who did not care a lick about politics or nationalism. They only wore the flag as a brand new opportunity to whack spoonheads in bulk. Or at least that's how B'Elanna explained Lon Suder, because Voyager's writers room had never seen anything on TNG or DS9 about the Maquis.
Idiots.
