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1995 by Tiffany L. Edenfield. All rights reserved.



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           The Fall of the Central Command
                       
                        by
               
                 Tiffany L. Edenfield



"Ungoverned power can't be maintained. Eventually the puissance
that established the Central Command's control over the
government will be dissolved." 

                   --  Gul Dukat, Commander of the Second Order.



    The foundation of any Empire consists of three components:
the economic component, guardian of the marketplace; the military
component, guardian of the gate; and a sociointellectual
component, guardian of the mind. What happens when one of those
three are threatened by domination of the other? Would a
centuries old order crumble overnight?
    The Central Command enforced diligence to the State and
absolute control over political factions. Strictly speaking, when
a power permits its authority to go untuck, there are no facts
to support the preconception that the thought of retribution
alone can control the populace. Is this what happened to the
Central Command? Did they actually believe that they would not be
overthrown merely because they were in command? Could they be so
flawed in their understanding of the power they had over the
people that they were slow to recognize the shifts in ideals that
so systematically changed the components?
    Command leaders are continually divided over how civilians
could have succeed in ousting them from the government, because
they refuse to shift their understanding. When a paradigm shifts
in rule, it is usually a result in a shift in reality. The
Central Command was so narrowly focused on the militarization of
the economic dimension of society that they failed to recognize
the "trialectic" relationship between economy, oppression, and
freedom. Instead the Central Command had chose to maintain its
natural obstinacy and power by forging many instruments of
doctrination--the family, education, military--to build in the
soul of a citizen a habit of patriotic loyalty and pride.
    The fall of the Central Command was to be expected. With
discord flourishing among their own ranks, an overthrow was
inevitable. The Central Command's control had reached a critical
point, when the stipulations of the peace treaty between
Cardassia and the Federation and Bajor were fiercely attacked by
a branch within the Central Command. The conflict weakened its
command structure's integral cohesion considerably, providing new
evidence of the diminution of the Central Command's prestige. The
principal blow against the Central Command was, however, launched
by the Obsidian Order. Profiting by the torpid decline of the
Central Command's powers, though fearful of the consequences of
possible anarchy--which was noticeable among the citizenry--the
Order had forged an alliance with the Romulan Tal Shiar, which
aimed at extending their control over the government. The Order
managed to obtain an extension of rights and was supported by
several members of the Central Command, who were adverse to
seeing the citizens regaining control. What resulted from the
conflict between the Obsidian Order and the Central Command was
the disbandment of both powers, with some members being executed.