Voyager and Deep House 9 draw many intriguing parallels as sister sequence that aired in tandem for an excellent chunk of their airings. Voyager‘s extra episodic format and tone struck an altogether totally different strategy to DS9‘s rising lens on the darkish coronary heart of Star Trek‘s concepts and universe, digging into wider and deeper interconnected storylines. However one little piece of Deep House 9 power that Voyager saved early on got here from an unlikely determine: Ensign Seska.
The turncoat Bajoran ex-Maquis revealed her true identification as a Cardassian double agent 30 years in the past at the moment with the published of “State of Flux,” setting off a uncommon little mini-arc for the early days of Star Trek: Voyager. Though by and enormous an episodic present, for higher or worse, Voyager did often experiment with short-form arcs right here and there, and Seska’s was considered one of them, weaving in different plotlines throughout the remainder of season one till her premature demise and defeat at the start of season three, like Tom Paris’ seeming discontent aboard the ship, and the related leaker storyline with Michael Jonas. However she’s most attention-grabbing as a distinction to how Deep House 9 portrayed the Cardassians.
In fact, DS9 had a lot, just like the mischievously two-faced Garak, or the loud and audaciously hammy Gul Dukat. Seska leans extra the latter than the previous as soon as the masks’s off, however whereas she is suitably duplicitous and scheming within the methods one would possibly count on of a Cardassian infiltrator who finds herself immediately going from leaking Maquis plans to serving on a Starfleet vessel 70,000 gentle years away from Cardassia Prime, one factor defines her in distinction to the Cardassians we’d been recurrently seeing on Star Trek at that second in time: she’s simply form of an absolute sizzling mess.
It’s fascinating revisiting “State of Flux” to see simply how all the things rapidly falls aside for Seska. The episode largely offers with Voyager‘s discovery of a closely broken Kazon warship (a thorn within the crew’s aspect on and off since the pilot episode), solely to disclose that the injury was attributable to misuse of replicator know-how surreptitiously acquired from Voyager. Virtually the second the senior workers understand that there’s a traitor on board, Seska is horrible at overlaying up the truth that she was the one who had been attempting to ally with the Kazon as all the things falls aside round her, from the crew getting nearer to her path to the physician’s discovery that her story about her Bajoran background was fully made up. Seska succeeds in getting away from Voyager to staff up with Maje Culluh, however it’s a failing-upwards pattern that persists all through the remainder of her appearances throughout Voyager‘s second season and into her demise that displays all the things “State of Flux” laid out for her.
The concept of a turncoat who sees the power find combative allies to take advantage of Voyager‘s scenario may be very Cardassian, however Seska finds herself instantly performed when she’s thrust into the patriarchal society of the Kazon as her newfound besties. Her recommendation is basically solely ever accepted below scorn and duress from Culluh and his subordinates; regardless of her perceived sense of superiority she’s consistently undermined, which is commonly the trigger for the failure of her on-and-off makes an attempt to get again at Voyager. She will solely ever barely make the very best of a foul scenario, regardless of as a rule having many of the playing cards in play: her historical past with Chakotay offers her a deliciously private angle of assault, her information of Voyager‘s capabilities from her time below cowl make her a extra harmful foe than most the present had thrown on the ship at this level.
However it’s form of what makes Seska work as a personality: regardless of all this, villainy or in any other case, nothing ever fairly clicks for her. It’s an amazing mirror to uphold towards Janeway’s resolution to have the crew take the great distance dwelling within the first place, the concept, in the event that they did finally simply go Seska’s route and exploit their advantageous energy in an unknown quadrant, it could doom them. Seska is so typically thwarted in her schemes by the straightforward act of Voyager‘s unity, one thing seeded by her time on the ship all through the sequence’ first handful of episodes—at all times one of many crew to precise dissatisfaction at being below the yoke of Starfleet beliefs and guidelines, at all times one keen to go spherical individuals to attempt to get issues performed. In some ways Seska form of has to be a catastrophe as a lot as a risk to additional amplify our heroes’ burgeoning group.
Though Seska would go on to look a pair extra occasions after her demise within the second a part of “Fundamentals,” it’s becoming that she perishes in a narrative that’s inherently concerning the disruption of Voyager‘s group and a violation of their secure house aboard the ship, a two-parter the place the Kazon efficiently handle to briefly overtake Voyager and dump the Starfleet crew on an unknown barren planet.
Regardless of profitable, Seska and the Kazon simply can’t beat the crew’s resilience and unity, a reminder that, even so early on on this journey, that sticking collectively is what’s going to get Voyager by all this. It’s a disgrace we needed to lose a really compelling antagonist in doing so, however that Seska at the least will get to facilitate that solidarity is welcome.
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