In 2367 Captain Benjamin Maxwell of the USS Phoenix attacked Cardassian ships and an outpost, threatening the new Federation-Cardassian peace.
About a year after the Federation and the Cardassian Union made peace, Captain Benjamin Maxwell took the USS Phoenix on an unauthorized campaign, destroying a Cardassian science station and a supply ship. Maxwell, who had lost his family in a Cardassian attack during the war, believed the Cardassians were secretly rearming.
Picard was ordered to stop him, with Cardassian observers on board the Enterprise-D. Chief O'Brien, who had served under Maxwell, persuaded him to surrender. Picard let the Cardassians know that the Federation suspected Maxwell had been right and would be watching them closely.