Admiral Leyton's Coup: The Aftermath

Admiral Leyton's Coup:

The Aftermath

On stardate 49334.6 Admiral James Leyton, along with a group of other mostly high ranking officers attempted amplify Dominion cold war, Founder infiltration fears as an excuse to declare martial law on Earth and plane Earth under Starfleet military control (effectively a Starfleet coup).  The coup would fortunately fail when Captain Sisko forced Leyton to stand down and Captain Erika Benteen, Leyton's closest loyalist turned against him.  On stardate 49372.4 a full investigation would be carried out by the Starfleet Command Judge Advocate Generals office, spearheaded by recently appointed Judge Advocate General for Starfleet Command Captain Phillipa Louvois.  The investigation would result in the courts-martial and dismissal from Starfleet of Leyton and several others: 

Admiral James Robert Leyton, Chief of Starfleet Operations

After being taken into custody by Captain Benjamin Sisko, Admiral Leyton would be court-martialed on charges of treason, conspiracy, abuse of authority, sabotage (2 counts), and ordering a Starfleet ship to attack another Starfleet ship.  After being found guilty on all charges he would be dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and sentenced to a 10 year prison sentence at the Federation Penal Settlement at New Zealand.

Rear Admiral Vaas, Commandant of Starfleet Academy

For his involvement in Admiral Leyton's coup (allowing Admiral Leyton to use Red Squad to sabotage Earth's planetary power grid) Admiral Vaas would be force to step down as commandant of Starfleet Academy and placed under arrest.  Following a court-martial for sabotage, conspiracy and abuse of office Vaas was stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged from Starfleet.  Recently retired Rear Admiral Andrea Brand would return to active duty and resume her position as commandant of Starfleet Academy for the remainder of the academic year.  Following the conclusion of the academic year Brand would retire again (permanently) and would be succeeded by Admiral Charlie Whatley.

Commander Janelle Mathis, Head of Starfleet Tactical Special Operations

The court-martial testimony of Rear Admiral Vaas identified Commander Janelle Mathis, head of Starfleet Tactical Special Operations as the previously unidentified female senior officer who gave Red Squad their orders for the operation to sabotage Earth's power grid.  Commander Mathis would be court-martialed on charges of sabotage (for ordering Red Squad to commit sabotage against Earth's planetary power grid, overseeing the operation, and providing Red Squad access to the Department of Planetary Operations computer systems and facilities) and conspiracy.  Her involvement would be confirmed by a witness, cadet 2/C Riley Shepard, who would testify at her court-martial.  Mathis would be found guilty on all charges and dishonorably discharged from Starfleet.  She would be sentenced to a term of 5 years in prison at Tantalus V. 

Captain T. Ishmael Snowden, Commanding officer Starbase 375

Following the end of the coup and the arrest of Admiral Leyton, the newly launched USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E was ordered to transport Admiral William J Ross to Starbase 375.  Upon arriving at the starbase Admiral Ross beamed aboard with an Enterprise security team and relieved Captain Snowden of command and placed him under arrest.  Snowden would be transported back to Earth aboard the Enterprise.  At Earth Snowden would be court-martialed on charges of sabotage (for ordering Lieutenant Arriaga to commit sabotage by placing a subspace modulator on the Gamma Quadrant subspace communication relay, providing Arriaga with the modulator and ordering the transfer of Lieutenant Arriaga to Deep Space Nine with the express purpose of committing the sabotage) conspiracy and treason.  Snowden would be found guilty, stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and sentenced to 5 years in prison at Jaros II.

 

Lieutenant Manuel Arriaga

After an investigation by the crew of Deep Space Nine revealed Lieutenant Arriaga to be responsible for sabotaging the Gamma Quadrant subspace communication relay by placing a subspace modulator on the relay to make the wormhole open and close at random the Lieutenant would be transported to Earth where he would face court-martial for conspiracy and sabotage.  Due to his agreement to testify against Captain Snowden and Admiral Leyton, Arriaga would be dishonorably discharged from Starfleet but would not serve a prison sentence.

Captain Erika Benteen

Upon entering Earth orbit the USS Lakota would be contacted by Vice Admiral Bullock with orders to stand down and receive him and a security team.  After beaming aboard Admiral Bullock relieved Captain Benteen of command of the Lakota and relieved her of duty and placed her under arrest.  He placed Captain Satelk in temporary command and ordered all senior officers confined to quarters under guard pending the investigation.  Captain Benteen would be transferred to the custody of Starfleet Security.  She would be court-martialed on charges of treason, conspiracy, attacking another Starfleet ship (the USS Defiant) and falsely implicating Captain Sisko.  She would be found guilty, however, in light of the fact that she, of her own accord and contrary to Leyton's orders, willingly stood the USS Lakota down, ended the attack on the Defiant and escorted the Defiant to Earth, she would be spared a prison sentence and dishonorable discharge and would instead be demoted to the rank of commander and assigned as first officer of the USS Appalachia.

Addendum: on stardate 50613.2 USS Appalachia was attacked by Jem'Hadar ships while on patrol near the Demilitarized Zone.  After Captain Busch was killed during the attack Commander Benteen assumed command and successfully led the ship out of the battle and back to the safety of Starbase 300 with minimal additional casualties.  Due to the shortage of command rank officers at the time it was decided to allow Benteen to remain in command of the Appalachia.  On stardate 50893.5 the Appalachia fought at the Battle of Sector 001 as part of the fleet attempting to repel a Borg Cube.  Following the battle and after a review of her record since the Leyton Affair, it was decided by Admiral Jeremiah Hayes and approved by the Starfleet C-in-C to reinstate Erika Benteen to the rank of Captain. 

Starfleet Academy Red Squad

Following a thorough review of the actions of the cadets of Red Squad and their involvement with Leyton's coup, it was decided that the cadets would not face any academic or career disciplinary actions, mainly in light of the fact that they were cadets following the orders of a senior officer.  The Red Squad program would undergo a thorough review.

Addendum: following the loss of the USS Valiant and the majority of Red Squad (many of the same Red Squad cadets involved in the Leyton coup) on stardate 51825.4, the Red Squad program would be suspended indefinitely.