Since It was signed, I have always been a strong proponent of the Federation-Cardassian treaty. I get that it’s not perfect. Few treaties are. But it is essential to maintaining stability in a region that has seen far too much bloodshed. The Maquis, though passionate in their convictions, operate outside the rule of law and threaten the fragile peace the treaty seeks to preserve.

While a shuttle cruising along at warp 2 would have been left unaccosted in other systems. I couldn’t leave anything to chance. There was a recent report of a Cardassian ship being attacked in the nearby Dorvan system and I mean hey, it was what we were there for.

Conducting ‘routine scans’ for Maquis activity. Both Starfleet Intelligence and Cardassian Central Command suspected the region was a hub of Maquis operations. We just had to prove it. Which meant being a little heavy handed with the locals. We’d either catch terrorists, or word would get out that Starfleet wasn’t messing around. Either way it was a win.

On my suggestion, the shuttle was tractored into the main shuttlebay after a pathetic attempt at getting away. Including firing on the ship. With a shuttle that old I’m surprised firing the phasers didn’t immediately overload the power systems.

I led a security team to greet its occupant, somebody who had identified himself over the comm system as Tom Piper of the shuttle ‘Equality’. As the hatch lowered I couldn’t believe my own eyes. It took every ounce of my self control to not immediately let Tom Paris know I was on to him.

We took a class at the academy together! Did he think the ragged flight suit he was wearing and the grease on his face was some sort of disguise? Even if I hadn’t been in the same room as him a bunch of times. His flight team's accident was front page news in the Academy Gazette!

I remember thinking that clearly being kicked out of Starfleet hadn’t taught him anything as he walked down the ramp with his hands raised in mock surrender. He still had that annoying swagger. He was even trying to catch the eye of one of the female ensigns working nearby as he walked towards me. Still. It was a shame. He once had a promising Starfleet career. I mean, he had everything handed to him. With a father like Admiral Owen Paris he could have had his pick of assignments throughout the fleet.

He claimed to be a simple colonist traveling to Selka to visit a "lady friend", because of course he did. He feigned awe at the Bradbury's interior, making small talk about starship design as though he was a tourist. I had him convinced that his charms had won me over.

But I knew something was up, there was no reason to play this charade unless he was hiding something. So I continued to play along, I took him to the mess hall and invited him to order some lunch from the replicators while I checked in with Engineering. In actual fact, I made a call straight to the shuttlebay and put some of my best people on tearing that shuttle apart from stem to stern. Whatever was hiding, I was going to make sure it was found.

And found it was. My team discovered an encrypted transmission buried in his communications array. He’d done a good job of hiding it, just not good enough. It was routed toward Selka, a colony of suspected Maquis sympathisers and was secured with a level of encryption rarely seen outside Starfleet. I had caught him. Red handed. He could add treason and terrorism to his charge sheet, alongside firing on a Federation starship.

Following a brief interrogation in the conference room, during which Paris continued to deny any Maquis affiliations, I placed him under arrest. His lack of resistance suggested he knew the futility of further denials. Almost the moment the report was filed, The Bradbury immediately received orders to return Paris to Earth to face a Starfleet tribunal. Somebody back on Earth was very keen to get him back. Probably his father now I think about it…

I knew that Paris understood that day that the Federation-Cardassian treaty is a hard-won agreement that demands sacrifice on both sides, and undermining it serves no one in the long term.

Paris, with his skillset and Starfleet training, could have been an asset to maintaining peace, yet he chose a path of defiance.

I hope his capture sent a message to those considering joining the Maquis: Starfleet remains vigilant, and the rule of law will always prevail.