70thousandlightyearsfromhome:

Endgame

One thing I liked about “Endgame” was that the futures of our heroes were fairly realistic.  The only ones still in Starfleet were Janeway and Kim.  If Tuvok were healthy, he’d have been in Starfleet, too.  But none of the Maquis were.  I honestly wasn’t expecting that much realism. 

I remember getting into long discussions about this, during the earlier seasons of Voyager.  What would happen to the Maquis when – if – Voyager got back to the Delta Quadrant?  Many fans thought all would be forgiven, and Chakotay, Paris, Torres, and all the rest of the Maquis would stay in the Federation.

But I didn’t think that was realistic. At least if Starfleet is anything like the US military.  Yes, I know Tom Paris is a Starfleet captain or admiral or whatever in the post-”Endgame” books, games, etc., but I can’t accept that as canon.  He was cashiered out.  You’re not allowed back in after that.

Not to mention…it seems likely that many of the Maquis are just not Starfleet material.  "Meld” reveals that not all the Maquis were rebels for a cause. Torres says, “We didn’t check resumes. Some were fighting for home and family. Others had their own reasons.“  Suder joined to indulge his bloodlust, and it’s implied that he’s not the only one.

So some of the Maquis killed, not for a cause, but just because they liked to. They may have committed crimes that cannot be readily forgiven.  What if some of the Maquis were the equivalent of Timothy McVeigh?  He was a former military man.  Would he ever have been welcomed back in uniform, under any circumstances?  

Even the ones whose names are in the opening credits have had less than stellar records.  Just two years before “Endame,” Tom Paris committed mutiny in “Thirty Days.”  Just a few months before “Endgame,” B’Elanna Torres violated the Doc for self-serving reasons in “Lineage.”  (Even if you don’t think the Doc is a person, her actions were vandalism.  And could have killed someone.  What if there had been a medical emergency while the Doc’s subroutines were screwed up?) 

I just can’t see Starfleet letting Paris, Torres, Chakotay, and other Maquis keep the rank Janeway gave them.  Many view the Maquis as terrorists; it would be like telling a U.S. army unit that they were now being commanded by Osama bin Laden.  Heck, the rest of the Maquis are in jail.

And even without the Maquis issue…how would someone who struggled through four years at the Academy to get their degree and their commission feel about having to take orders from, say, Torres, who dropped out in her second year?

Realistically, allowing the Maquis to stay in Starfleet would be very, very bad for morale.  They can reward them in some other way.  They can give them awards, pardon them, have the president of the Federation give a speech in their honor and invite them to dinner in what passes for the White House, but they have to cut them loose.

I’m also against total clemency the Maquis for dramatic reasons – for the same reason I’m against the reset button.  The lack of real consequences for people’s actions is not only unrealistic, it’s a drama killer.

Chakotay was a Starfleet officer with a promising career.  He chose to give that up and join the Maquis when his father was killed by the Cardassians. That is an incredible sacrifice, that will affect the rest of his life.  And he knew it, when he made that decision.

But if they just wipe the consequences away – hey, you did a good job, let’s let bygones be bygones – that makes his sacrifice meaningless.  Just as the reset button makes character deaths meaningless, this kind of total forgiveness makes personal decisions meaningless.  Because there won’t be any consequences.

At one point, the Voyager writers were planning to have Chakotay take the fall for all the Maquis.  He serves some jail time, and the rest of the Maquis get probation.  That didn’t make it on screen, but I liked the idea.  (So much that I stole it for my post-”Endgame” saga.)

Another possibility: do what the U.S. did in the aftermath of the Civil War.  Some officers who left the U.S. military to join the Confederates were recommissioned.  But they were required to serve in hardship posts that no one else wanted.  They were weren’t fully trusted, and there were concerns that loyal soldiers would resent having commanders who had been rebels.  So they put them out on the western frontier.

Though I wonder if any Maquis would want to stay in Starfleet that badly.  It’s not like the post-War south, where people are starving.  One gets the feeling there’s a hell of a safety net in the Federation. 

Thank you for wording this so well because it’s something I think about a lot too. Especially in all of the fics that I’ve read, this is way too often the solution. It seems like the easy way out (which it is) and it is super unrealistic. And, as you pointed out, it doesn’t always make for the most interesting story telling.