Maquis (Star Trek)

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The Maquis were a fictional group in the Star Trek universe, who served as recurring adversaries in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. The group was made up of humans and members of extraterrestrial races, such as Bajorans, that refused to give up the colony planets on which they lived after they were ceded to the Cardassians as part of the treaty that ended the war between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union, as well as others who joined out of sympathy to their cause, including a number of Starfleet officers who resigned their posts to join. The Maquis saw themselves as a resistance movement, but were viewed by the Federation and the Cardassians as terrorists, having committed numerous transgressions against the Cardassians and Starfleet, such as theft, sabotage, and attacks upon their ships, though they usually avoided attacking Federation ships directly, preferring to warn them to get out of the way. The Maquis were eventually wiped out almost entirely by the Dominion. Exceptions were the Maquis who had joined the crew of the USS Voyager, and a few captured members of the movement in Federation prisons. Deep Space Nine commander Captain Benjamin Sisko believed there may have been a few other survivors who were biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

1 Politics
2 Parallels
3 Members
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] Politics

Some critics feel that the Maquis was a "cheap" concept, which took the custom of Star Trek having modern day political parallels too far. To some, the Maquis' rebellion against the Cardassians, which occurred in spite of the Federation's willingness to relocate the inhabitants of the ceded planets, seemed irrational and petty. ^{[citation needed]}

In the Federation's view, the Maquis were endangering the uneasy peace between the Federation and the Cardassians, and thereby the lives of billions. The Maquis, on the other hand, felt that the Federation had abandoned them to the mercy of a militaristic government bent on their destruction. Refusing to abandon the homes and lives they had built and resettle, and faced with escalating harassment from neighboring Cardassian settlers armed by the Cardassian central government (in violation of the very treaty that signed away their homes), they decided that an armed resistance was necessary. Even Benjamin Sisko, an opponent of the Maquis, opined in the epsiode "The Maquis part II":

"The trouble is Earth. On Earth there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see paradise. It's easy to be a saint in paradise, but the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints, just people - angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not"

After the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion in the fifth season of DS9, it was revealed that the Maquis and their colony planets were shown to have been all but eliminated by Dominion forces.

In the novelization of the last episodes of Voyager, it was revealed that most of the Maquis contingent on the ship had accepted a Federation offer of full amnesty, and had opted to rejoin Starfleet and fight against the Dominion, though this is not part of official canon.

[edit] Parallels

The Star Trek Maquis were possibly named for the French Resistance group who countered the Nazi occupation (see Maquis (WW2)). A later Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Killing Game", may seem to some to confirm this. The episode is set in World War II France and features the French resistance prominently. This was confirmed in a Star Trek: Voyager book in which Seska reveals that while recruiting Chakotay that the name Maquis was chosen due to the French resistance. ^{[citation needed]} Also, in many respects, they were similar to anti-globalization movements around the world. In the Season Four episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine titled "For the Cause", Starfleet security officer Lt. Michael Eddington, who reveals himself as a Maquis operative, states:

"Why is the Federation so obsessed with the Maquis? We've never harmed you. And yet we're constantly arrested and charged with terrorism. Starships chase us through the Badlands and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. Why? Because we've left the Federation, and that's the one thing you can't accept. Nobody leaves paradise. Everyone should want to be in the Federation...You know, in some ways you're even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious. You assimilate people and they don't even know it."

Deep Space Nine writer Ronald D. Moore has interpreted Eddington’s statement as having a “kernel of truth” to it, and there is a feeling of betrayal associated with the Maquis in the minds of the people of the Federation. [1].

[edit] Members

Notable members of the Maquis include:

Ro Laren (The Next Generation)
Michael Eddington (Deep Space Nine)
Chakotay (Voyager)
B'Elanna Torres (Voyager)
Tuvok (Voyager) (In reality a Federation spy)
Thomas Riker (Transporter Double of William Riker)
Seska (Voyager) (In reality a Cardassian spy)

[edit] See also

Maquis Forces International, a Star Trek fan organization.
Maquis Freedom Alliance, a Star Trek/Sci-fi fan organization that raises money for charity.