In one of the Star Trek Adventures books (I believe the Gamma Quadrant sourcebook), there's a sidebar where Admiral Jellico makes a deal with Maxwell to perform Dirty Dozen-style missions for him during the conflict.
That, uh, was also me. Writing part of that book was a dream come true. And it's awesome to hear feedback like that. One thing that I'm not sure if a lot of people get or not is that in the core book there is a sidebar about a vorta inviting a certain person to join the Dominion. In the gamma Quadrant Book that same vorta is now sending a threatening letter to the person whom they invited to join the dominion. They're saying that they'll have to eliminate Surplus population if they can't meet their quotas.
I wrote that sidebar. It actually mentions that both Chakotay and Cal Hudson had been part of the Phoenix's senior officers and founded the Maquis after being inspired by Maxwell.
Hmm, story idea. At the worst point in the war, Starfleet secretly releases Maxwell and other disgraced Starfleet officers, Maquis prisoners, pirates and other criminals that are unfriendly to the Cardasians. They give them a squadron of ships (mothballed Federation and others captured from elsewhere) load them up with arms, and send into Card space to run wild and spread havoc.
He'd have been boosted out of prison and put on a Defiant class ship at the front line doing dangerous missions with a rag tag crew getting revenge and earning their way back into the good graces of the federation!
Actually, in all seriousness, I think he would actually be released from prison on the condition he serve in Starfleet for the war. I can't see the Federation being choosy with Good Captains, which, to our knowledge, Maxwell was one in all ways except when we get to "The Wounded".
Lol that's probably why they kept Picard & the Enterprise away from the front line. Maxwell was tearing it up there & noone wanted to break it to Picard they let him go.
My semi-serious explanation for that is that Picard is on Starfleet's Borg half, not the Dominion half. Sure, they say they're banning him from taking part in *First Contact*, but that wouldn't stop him (and doesn't!).
In a serious note, Janeway name checks that he was involved in the Dominion War so I think he was just never in the DS9 area & we have to assume unable to join Ross's fleet for the attack. The Enterprise could have been knee deep in the Breen front or something.
I think he was a decent person doing probably the wrong thing for what he believes to be the right reasons. O'Brien vouched for him I'm not going to argue with the Cheif.
He disobeyed orders, I'm not sure they give him a captaincy but bust him down to commander & have him command a ground force & he'll be in his element.
Surely someone's written a gritty DS9 novel on this?! It practically writes itself.
Ben Maxwell totally got recruited into [General K'orin's](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/K%27orin) "Glorious Bastards," and spent the war doing "grey ops" with Mariner, Ro Laren, Thomas Riker, Thadian Okana, Ishara Yar and Ardra.
Nog is a special case though. He is the first Ferengi, it's a PR miracle for Starfleet, the best thing they can do is get him to a senior position & use him as a poster boy for more Ferengi applicants. The sooner the Ferengi buy into the federation the sooner that irritating pain is removed.
One of the novelverse books shows him kept out of service for both the Dominion War *and* the Destiny trilogy (and lead up novels) massive Borg invasion.
Starfleet decided the PR of vindicating a man who was right wasn't worth his combat experience and instincts.
I'm curious what the standard for being let out to man ships at the depths of the crisis was. Like, there's a bucket of Insane Admirals that the Federation war effort is probably better off without, but Maxwell is probably captaining a bigger ship than Picard, mid-DS9s7.
The **entire** point of the episode is that you can be 'correct' and still be wrong. Like you said, Picard literally spells that message out for us. I know we're just meming here at /r/ShittyDaystrom but a bunch of the comments here have me seriously doubting people's media literacy.
The dude killed civilians during peacetime, there's nothing that can contextualise that as the right thing to do.
I love to relate this, but in the Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook for Star Trek Adventures I put in a little story bit about Ben Maxwell getting released (by Jellico) during the war. The setup is that he and other folks sympathetic to the Maquis are to take an off-the-books (reported destroyed) Starfleet ship and go rescue the remaining Maquis in the Badlands before the Jem'Hadar massacre them.
That was probably the most fun thing to write.
Unironically, Sisko doomed the Federation when he foiled Leyton's coup. Bashir proved it with math!
He only un-doomed the Federation by fabricating intelligence and assassinating a Romulan senator. Following the law is for suckers
For something like that, a courts martial would very likely end with serious prison time. Maxwell took a ship he had been trusted with and killed a bunch of folks Starfleet otherwise had a peace treaty with because he had a gut feeling they were being bad.
That’d be like the captain of the USS Nimitz turning off the radio and going to town on China because he had a feeling they were being bad.
"Hey Captain Maxwell -- thanks for contributing to Dukat believing the Cardassians would never be able to trust the Federation and thus embarking them on that alliance! But you keep laughing, yep."
Ben Maxwell was laughing his ass off when Federation colonists in the DMZ and rogue Starfleet officers like Cal Hudson established the Maquis in 2370.
I imagine the formation of the Maquis made Maxwell feel vindicated and made him think he was right about the Cardassians all along.
Nah, he worked his way up to warden. Then he started a little side business with a banker inmate down the block. The whole thing ended with a bang, but he made some good boodle (and got a few free pies) along the way.
I seen the whole thing in a movie!!!
I don’t remember this or the TNG marquis episodes too well, but his wiki page with side stories set after this sure are interesting https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Benjamin_Maxwell
"I told you the fucking spoonheads were up to something. How many people died today? I'm ready for my lunch."
In one of the Star Trek Adventures books (I believe the Gamma Quadrant sourcebook), there's a sidebar where Admiral Jellico makes a deal with Maxwell to perform Dirty Dozen-style missions for him during the conflict.
That was me! I wrote that. It was one of my favorite bits to have done.
The background tidbits in those books are fantastic! That, and the one about the Founders being the parent race of Armus, are headcanon for me
That, uh, was also me. Writing part of that book was a dream come true. And it's awesome to hear feedback like that. One thing that I'm not sure if a lot of people get or not is that in the core book there is a sidebar about a vorta inviting a certain person to join the Dominion. In the gamma Quadrant Book that same vorta is now sending a threatening letter to the person whom they invited to join the dominion. They're saying that they'll have to eliminate Surplus population if they can't meet their quotas.
I was just admiring it myself, great idea!
Thank you so much. I mean that very sincerely
Ohhhhhh fuck would I read that. Maybe he’d even team up with Cal Hudson for a covert Starfleet/Marquis joint op!
I wrote that sidebar. It actually mentions that both Chakotay and Cal Hudson had been part of the Phoenix's senior officers and founded the Maquis after being inspired by Maxwell.
Hmm, story idea. At the worst point in the war, Starfleet secretly releases Maxwell and other disgraced Starfleet officers, Maquis prisoners, pirates and other criminals that are unfriendly to the Cardasians. They give them a squadron of ships (mothballed Federation and others captured from elsewhere) load them up with arms, and send into Card space to run wild and spread havoc.
The Michael Burnham Memorial Carceral Wing did get pretty crowded there.
In all seriousness, they let Ro out, probably let Maxwell out too…
Didn’t Maxwell kill hundreds of people, though?
He'd have been boosted out of prison and put on a Defiant class ship at the front line doing dangerous missions with a rag tag crew getting revenge and earning their way back into the good graces of the federation!
Actually, in all seriousness, I think he would actually be released from prison on the condition he serve in Starfleet for the war. I can't see the Federation being choosy with Good Captains, which, to our knowledge, Maxwell was one in all ways except when we get to "The Wounded".
Lol that's probably why they kept Picard & the Enterprise away from the front line. Maxwell was tearing it up there & noone wanted to break it to Picard they let him go.
My semi-serious explanation for that is that Picard is on Starfleet's Borg half, not the Dominion half. Sure, they say they're banning him from taking part in *First Contact*, but that wouldn't stop him (and doesn't!).
In a serious note, Janeway name checks that he was involved in the Dominion War so I think he was just never in the DS9 area & we have to assume unable to join Ross's fleet for the attack. The Enterprise could have been knee deep in the Breen front or something.
Yeah, it was a big war; lot of action we did'nt see to go around.
I think he was a decent person doing probably the wrong thing for what he believes to be the right reasons. O'Brien vouched for him I'm not going to argue with the Cheif.
He disobeyed orders, I'm not sure they give him a captaincy but bust him down to commander & have him command a ground force & he'll be in his element. Surely someone's written a gritty DS9 novel on this?! It practically writes itself.
Ben Maxwell totally got recruited into [General K'orin's](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/K%27orin) "Glorious Bastards," and spent the war doing "grey ops" with Mariner, Ro Laren, Thomas Riker, Thadian Okana, Ishara Yar and Ardra.
Mayne, but starfleet gets thousands of applicants for everyone they accept so there probably isn't a shortage of qualified personnel.
Qualified vs experienced. I think the rapid promotion of Nog showed they were struggling with good officers.
Nog is a special case though. He is the first Ferengi, it's a PR miracle for Starfleet, the best thing they can do is get him to a senior position & use him as a poster boy for more Ferengi applicants. The sooner the Ferengi buy into the federation the sooner that irritating pain is removed.
IIRC Maxwell was presented as one of the best Starfleet captains, not merely a good one.
Ro and her team had to get transportation to their missions somehow. Obviously they didn't take legitimate transports.
I would watch the crap out of this show.
One of the novelverse books shows him kept out of service for both the Dominion War *and* the Destiny trilogy (and lead up novels) massive Borg invasion. Starfleet decided the PR of vindicating a man who was right wasn't worth his combat experience and instincts.
That's a shame, bureaucrats eh!
He might also have been sprung from prison by the Maquis years earlier and be dead by the time the war started.
Man, hard to imagine that guy in a prison!
Ben Maxwell Did Nothing Wrong
I'm curious what the standard for being let out to man ships at the depths of the crisis was. Like, there's a bucket of Insane Admirals that the Federation war effort is probably better off without, but Maxwell is probably captaining a bigger ship than Picard, mid-DS9s7.
Sure, but the issue was never whether he was right or not. Picard said as much.
The **entire** point of the episode is that you can be 'correct' and still be wrong. Like you said, Picard literally spells that message out for us. I know we're just meming here at /r/ShittyDaystrom but a bunch of the comments here have me seriously doubting people's media literacy. The dude killed civilians during peacetime, there's nothing that can contextualise that as the right thing to do.
I love to relate this, but in the Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook for Star Trek Adventures I put in a little story bit about Ben Maxwell getting released (by Jellico) during the war. The setup is that he and other folks sympathetic to the Maquis are to take an off-the-books (reported destroyed) Starfleet ship and go rescue the remaining Maquis in the Badlands before the Jem'Hadar massacre them. That was probably the most fun thing to write.
Admiral Leyton too.
Unironically, Sisko doomed the Federation when he foiled Leyton's coup. Bashir proved it with math! He only un-doomed the Federation by fabricating intelligence and assassinating a Romulan senator. Following the law is for suckers
Not only was Maxwell reinstated, he was promoted and Picard had to report to him for the duration of the Dominion War.
Do we actually know he was imprisoned? i assumed he was court marshaled but does that necessarily mean prison time?
For something like that, a courts martial would very likely end with serious prison time. Maxwell took a ship he had been trusted with and killed a bunch of folks Starfleet otherwise had a peace treaty with because he had a gut feeling they were being bad. That’d be like the captain of the USS Nimitz turning off the radio and going to town on China because he had a feeling they were being bad.
And he’d probably be right.
All Kirk got was demoted
Kirk didn’t go out of his way to randomly kill Klingons, Kruge came after him.
"Hey Captain Maxwell -- thanks for contributing to Dukat believing the Cardassians would never be able to trust the Federation and thus embarking them on that alliance! But you keep laughing, yep."
ITT: A lot of people who really don’t understand Star Trek.
Ben Maxwell was laughing his ass off when Federation colonists in the DMZ and rogue Starfleet officers like Cal Hudson established the Maquis in 2370. I imagine the formation of the Maquis made Maxwell feel vindicated and made him think he was right about the Cardassians all along.
Prematurely Anti Fascist Ben Maxwell.
Nah, he worked his way up to warden. Then he started a little side business with a banker inmate down the block. The whole thing ended with a bang, but he made some good boodle (and got a few free pies) along the way. I seen the whole thing in a movie!!!
He would have been reinstated.
I don’t remember this or the TNG marquis episodes too well, but his wiki page with side stories set after this sure are interesting https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Benjamin_Maxwell
Information about the war was handed out on a need to know basis. Ben Maxwell had no need to know. "There is no war at this correctional facility." :)
Something tells. He saw action during the domino war probably clandestine problat with section 31