The Leyton Coup - detail help?

[Diamond]

This week the characters in my Academy series are going to be "in the trenches" of the Leyton Coup. That's the Admiral who, fearing shapeshifter infeltration, performed a power-grab. He used Starfleet units loyal to him to seize power from the Federation civilian government. But Captain Sisco was his undoing, and things were fixed in days.

The idea for this adventure is that the Cadets will be ordered to secure various sections of the Federation Civil government "from shapeshifter infeltration." They'll enter the Federation Intelligence Service to secure their armory. They'll occupy Department of Temporal Investigation starships. They'll enter the secretariat in support of more senior officers showing the bureaucracy the new way things will be run. That sort of thing.

As they follow orders, they'll gradually get more and more evidence that what they are doing is wrong. And then they have to decide what to do about it. Will they call their conacts and patrons for advice? (Some of which are highly relevant). Will they stand down in protest? Continue the job trusting their superiors? Join elements of the FIS, DTI, the diplomatic corps who are planning action to restore the Federation?

Clearly I'll be using lots of stuff from "The Price of Freedom." I'm looking for opinions on how much Admiral Leyton's people were able to secure. What the likely response the aspects of the Federation government had. How much of Starfleet bought Leyton's story.

My imagination sees the cadets being used extensively by Leyton because they are the ones least likely to be equipped to question orders from on high.

Help, suggestions, tactics, details and advice warmly appreciated.

[Evan van Eyk]

Is this not very topical. Terror attack lead to harsh security measures which can easily lead to the destruction of our democracy from within.

[Dan Gurden]

To get the details correct. The only illegal operation performed by Leyton with cadets was the initial strike on Earth's power supply with Red Squad (Who had no clue about what was going on... Shows how good they were )

After that he simply made the recommendations to up security, and the now paranoid Earth after the changeling sabotage said "Yes Please."

At that point Cadets were drafted into the field alongside Starfleet Security, but at that point it was general peace-keeping duties...

The best way to describe Leytons actions is;
The Road to hell is paved with good intentions.

He didn't actively harm those against him, not even Siako (the correct spelling BTW), but he would put them out of the way until his power base was secure.

So theres a couple of points to think about when planning this one...

[Captain Zymmer]

Ih Dan, don't forget that Sisko was also framed as being a changeling...and Leyton ordered Benteen to fire on another Starfleet vessel he knew NOT to be infested with changlings...but told her it was anyways...those are both illeagal acts...hell they are acts of Treason by American standards today.

What is Siako BTW?

[Diamond]

Dan,

Thanks for posting your memories of the episode, but I am afraid I find it confusing.

The earth did not say "yes please." The elected president protested and was silenced. The citizens of New Orleans did not seem eager to be guarded.

Leyton did actively harm others, including Sisco. He ordered a starship to shoot at them.

The point of my episode is I want to explore things that did not happen on screen in that incident. We saw cadets augmenting Starfleet security. Starfleet security was used to seize control illegally (that's why it's called a 'coup').

But I am unclear how Earth (and the rest of the Federation) took this situation. Did they blithly accept, following orders from the self-proclaimed leader? There's more adventuring possibilities in assuming there was dissent, but it didn't have enough time to form before the situation was resolved by Sisco's actions.

However, I note your suggestion that most poeple thought it was OK and went along with it. Any other suggestions out there? Looking for interesting conflicts/character issues. Possible responses, etc.

The road to hell has interesting adventuring possibilities.

[Dan Gurden]

hehe. I love it. I try to coreect the spelling of Sisko and SPELL IT WRONG!

D'OH!

Anyway, heres the plot points;

The earth did not say "yes please." The elected president protested and was silenced. The citizens of New Orleans did not seem eager to be guarded.

- Yes but after Leytons plan was successful the president was convinced to sign the documents. He wasn't forced or threatened, he was coerced by paranoia and Leytons strong argument...

- As for the people of New Orleans, we only saw Sisko's dad was against it, but it was stated that the vast majority of the planets inhabitants were FOR the extra protection... At least until it turned into martial law with no perceived threat...

Leyton did actively harm others, including Sisco. He ordered a starship to shoot at them.

- He ordered the combat as a last ditch attempt. That was a significant moment as it was the time that he took the 'next step' in the pursuit of his plan... Until that time nobody had been harmed.

- Even Sisko was only arrested as a changeling infilytrator, remember Leyton even visited him and told him that he would be released after the specificc date...

The point of my episode is I want to explore things that did not happen on screen in that incident. We saw cadets augmenting Starfleet security. Starfleet security was used to seize control illegally (that's why it's called a 'coup').

- It was only a coup when Leytons duplicity was revealed, before that there was no coup, they were all acting under authorisation of the Federation council, who had given Leyton carte blanche to deal with the 'threat'.

Thats how I have alreays read the episode.

[Diamond]

- It was only a coup when Leytons duplicity was revealed, before that there was no coup, they were all acting under authorisation of the Federation council, who had given Leyton carte blanche to deal with the 'threat'.

WAS he acting under authorization of the Federation council? If so, then it's not a coup at all. But I don't remember that being in the episode. If he did not have that authorization, it was a coup from the very beginning. Saying it was only a coup "when Leyton's duplicity was revealed" is like saying it was only illegal until he got caught.

The way I remember the episode, Leyton wanted to do things. The president said "no." Leyton silenced the president and did them anyway. He used Starfleet, including cadets, to control everything down to the level of patrolling the street. When Sisko tried to spread the word about the illegality of Leyton's actions, Leyton lied to the captain of a Starship, causing the starship to attack Sisko.

My impression was that Leyton was doing something illegal, but he sucessfully hid that for a time because people trusted him.

Can someone help resolve this? I sure wish I could watch the episode again.

[Diamond]

I agree Leyton's intentions were good. It's true he was not evil, just overzealous.

>At least until it turned into martial law with no perceived threat

Right, that's exactly what I saw. The average citizen (at least on a certain New Orleans street) was unhappy with it relatively soon after it happened. Not instantly, granted.

>Leyton even visited him and told him that he would be released after the specificc date

Yes, absolutely- after Leyton had consolidated his power. Granted, Leyton did not want to be a murderer. But it was still illegal.

>Yes but after Leytons plan was successful the president was convinced to sign the documents. He wasn't forced or threatened

Leyton's plan was to seize control. After it was successful, he was basically giving the President the choice, "legitimize my illegal action or else the Federation will look weak at a time it can't afford disunity. I've already seized control, either sign the papers and retain some nominal power, or don't play ball with me and I'll leave you out in the cold entirely."

Granted, not threatening anyone with death. But still being improperly ruthless.

[Dan Gurden]

Not at all...

The entire scene when he visits the President, and puts down a bag which is Odo was the key...

He made his point that the changelings could be anywhere, and in doing so the President then signed the order legitimising his actions.

Its a key scene in the episode, and one that makes my point.

At that point the only Illegal activity he had conducted was the sabotage of Earths power grid. After that however, the absolute power corrupted...

[Diamond]

I remembered that.

The president gave Leyton authorization to increase security. I seem to recall Leyton was unhappy, that authorization did not go far enough. Leyton had red squad sabotage the power grid...

Anyway, his coup did not begin THEN. The increased security was legal up until that point. I thought it was that after the power grid sabotage, then he seized power. That fake sabotage was used as a pretext to declare martial law. Against the law.

[Steele1701]

Leyton used the opening and closing of the Bajoran wormhole to make it appear that cloaked Dominion ships were coming through the wormhole. He used that in combination with the sabotage of the power relay system to make the Federation President think that the Earth was about to be invaded. With the prospect of invasion facing him the President did what he thought was right and what Leyton wanted him to do, which was to declare a state of emergency and deploy Starfleet security to defend Earth against the supposed invasion. With Starfleet deployed in such a manner the Admiral had Earth under his control. It was never stated what the Admiral intended to do with the President but it was obviuos that he planned on taking control of Earth for what he thought was the best way to defend it. Leyton only sent the Lakota after the Defiant when he learned that they had found the officer responsible for attaching the device to the relay that made the wormhole open like it did. With the news of the wormhole and the power relay sabotage the people were pretty willing to have Starfleet security around to protect them. Leyton finally gave up when Captain Benten refused to destroy the Defiant and he realized that he would have to fight the very people he was trying to protect.

[Captain Zymmer]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
At that point the only Illegal activity he had conducted was the sabotage of Earths power grid. After that however, the absolute power corrupted...

For sure, especially with the wrongful incarceration fof Sisko.

Layton is one of those guys I wish we could know what happened to them

[Evan van Eyk]

Well I think it became a coup when they began to betray everything the Federation stands for - Freedom, Justice, Honor.
There is a certain price to freedom, of course but you cannot end freedom to save it. That's a contradiction. There is a TNG episode, where the is a conspiracy on Enterprise even Picard is accused ( there's a Klingon traitor and a 1/4-Romulan crewmember, who is innocent ). Picard says the following at the end to the eager investigating Admiral ( sorry I only know the German text ): A chain is made with its first part - when the first person is restricted in its freedom the damage is done, all people and the whole society have to suffer from this harm. And he is right.

Think that really matches this Layton thing. That this is the real danger for the Federation, which at the end would mean its destruction morally and in reality is proven by the fact that Layton in fact was a Changeling. They saw that this would be the best weapon to use, in order to destroy the Federation, take that what they believe in and they will loose their war - they already lost their soul, their essence.

[Dan Gurden]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Evan van Eyk
That this is the real danger for the Federation, which at the end would mean its destruction morally and in reality is proven by the fact that Layton in fact was a Changeling. /QUOTE]

This one I CAN contradict with total certainty...

At one point in the episode a Changeling impersonates Leyton and escapes when discovered. But the real Admiral Leyton was not a changeling... he was simply acting out of his own fears and concerns and following the Dominion plan for destabilising...

And doing a damn fine job of it...

And for all those that felt the Leyton was a good Admiral, but misguided. Remember this.

To destabilise the Kligon High Council, and Romulan empires, the Dominion ifiltrated Chagelings such as the false General Martok and the Tal Shiar operative Lokar (or whatever his name is...)
Where-as Leyton did the job all by himself... Outsmarted by Klingons...

[Diamond]

Thanks Steele, that's the kind of details I needed.

So... not getting into deep debate about Leyton, what sort of response might the other branches of the Federation government be doing during that time?

I imagine the Federation Intelligence Service looking hard (and uselessly) to see if Leyton or those close to him were shapeshifters. This would naturally cause friction between them and the Leyton-led Starfleet elements.

The Judicial branch would be a large part of the subsequent inquiry.

What else might go on in and around those events?