It really felt like Starfleet lost it’s way for a time. Not to say that it’s found it’s way now, but there at least seems to be some sort of drive to improve and provide better security for Federation worlds, as opposed to the cycle of managed decline we seemed to be in during the 2360s, and yes yes. I know about the Galaxy class, the poster ship for Starfleet! They even named one Enterprise and stuck the poster boy of Starfleet in charge. Even his destroying 30 odd starships wasn’t enough for them to take him out that chair.

Meanwhile, while they were ferrying around diplomats and VIPs in luxury suites on Starfleets latest and greatest, the rest of us were stuck out here on the Cardassian border in ships that should have been retired decades ago, hotwired together with whatever leftover scraps they couldn’t fit in a Galaxy hull.

Can you tell that I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the Starfleet brass?

Well, do let me know if I end up going on a bit. I have a habit of doing that.

As to why you’re here? Commander Chakotay? I definitely got it in the neck for what happened with him. But I don’t know what they really expected. Again, they had us out here running interference on the border conflict. Being told that we couldn’t do anything to dare aggravate the Cardassians while they continued to push further and further into Federation occupied territory. He told me of a time when he was onboard the Vico, the ship ended up facing off against a Cardassian Gul who was flat out redrawing boundary lines while they were talking, but their orders were clear. Defuse. Don’t engage. Let the diplomats do their job.

Meanwhile, they were laughing. Making a mockery of everything the Federation purported to stand for. What’s worse, was that they sent people like Chakotay out here. People who came from planets along the border. The gold bars back at San Francisco were either really stupid, not realising that people with close personal connections would obviously be the first to sign up to any resistance against the Cardassians. Or they were really clever, and wanted an ‘off the books’ way to combat Cardassian expansionism while maintaining the veneer of being peace seekers.

Given the reaction to the forming of the Maquis, I’m more inclined to think it was the former. But even then they were slow on the uptake. The name Maquis was being whispered around the Cardassian border for more than two years before the treaty was officially signed. After that though, their operations were definitely kicked up a notch.

I’m surprised that Starfleet never seemed to question how a fully fledged resistance group began poaching Starfleet officers almost the second the treaty was signed. It was clear that many who lived and worked in the region had contacts within the diplomatic corps, the ‘DMZ’ as it became known had been unofficially established for a long time before FNN broadcast it across the Federation. The Gettysburg was even told to steer clear of certain worlds a few times, funnily enough, in the years since I haven’t been able to retrieve those communiques.

But back to Chakotay. We had just done a supply run to Bajor when we got the news that Trebus, his home, had been attacked. He requested leave. What was I going to say? No? You can’t go to help your family and friends?

From what he told me when he got back, there weren’t any family and friends left for him when he arrived.

He had always been a bit rebellious, maybe that’s the wrong word... Uncertain?

He didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do with himself beyond not doing what was expected of him by the traditions of his people. For somebody so keen to go against what they were being told to do, I always found it somewhat funny that he picked Starfleet of all the organisations in the Federation as his way of striking out. If you don’t like orders or expectations, it seems like a counterproductive career choice.

But when he did get back from Trebus, there was something different. I’m not talking about your standard stages of grief either. There was no denial, full acceptance and if there was anger, it was the quiet kind. What there was though, was determination. The Gettysburg was on its way back to Earth, I’m surprised the deck plating in his quarters survived the trip with all the pacing he seemed to be doing any time he wasn’t completely occupied.

The second we entered orbit, I’m told he beamed straight down to Starfleet headquarters, marched into Admiral Nimembeh’s office when he was mid-meeting with an aide and handed in his resignation.

That was the last I saw of him. I hope he’s still alive, somewhere. He was a good man, confused, but good.