2346
Phillipa Georgiou remembered the last time that she had spoken with Rachel Garrett…
*
“Damn it, Rachel,” Georgiou had said, “I know that the Romulans are up to something in Klingon space.”
“I believe you, Phillipa,” said Captain Rachel Garrett of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C. She and Georgiou had served for five years together in the Starfleet black-ops division known as Section 31 doing jobs that the Federation was unable, or unwilling, to do themselves before Garrett’s promotion to first officer of the USS Carthage. The two had developed a close, if unlikely, friendship during that time, with each making the other their ‘project’. Georgiou had tried to unlock what she saw as the ‘chaos demon’ locked inside the young by-the-book officer, while Garrett tried to reach the humanity of the former Terran Emperor. Garrett would pull Georgiou back when she was on the verge of going too far, and Georgiou let Garrett know when she needed to unleash herself. “But Admiral Fillibee won’t authorize…”
“Fillibee is an idiot,” said Georgiou. “A self-important imbecile who is too stupid to acknowledge a threat when it’s right in front of him. Just because the information came from the ‘Mirror Tyrant’.”
“He just doesn’t believe that the Romulans would attack the Klingons.” Garrett said, “They’ve been allies since the 2260s.”
“He would believe it if he would just consider the evidence that Section 31 uncovered, but he won’t even look at it!” Georgiou said. “And as for the Romulans, they are only one’s allies until they decide that you’re not.”
“Starfleet Intelligence believes…” Garrett began, but Georgiou cut her off.
“Starfleet Intelligence is a joke.” Phillipa said. “Those idiots don’t even know what a Ferengi looks like.”
“I said that I believed you, Phillipa,” Garrett said, "That’s why I pulled a few strings to get a stop-over at Starbase 234.” Starbase 234 was the closest Federation outpost to the region of space where the Federation, Klingon and Romulan borders converged.
“Has your ‘civilian consultant’ arrived?” asked Georgiou.
“Right here, boss,” said Alok Sahar moving into screen. “I'll make sure that Captain Garrett is fully briefed on the Romulan activity in this sector.” Georgiou and Sahar had served together for 22 years in Section 31, and he had her complete trust.
“Thank you, Alok,” said Georgiou.
“We’ll train all of our sensors at Klingon space while we’re on patrol,” Garrett said, “If we find anything suspicious or actionable, you’ll be the first to know." Garrett smiled, “We’ll talk when this is all over. Garrett out.”
*
She got the dispatch two days later. While out on patrol near Gamma Eridon, the USS Enterprise responded to a distress call from the Klingon outpost at Narendra III. Upon arriving at Narendra III, the Enterprise defended the Klingon outpost against a sneak attack from four Romulan warbirds. The ship was destroyed, with all hands believed to have been lost.
The Klingons were hailing Garrett as a hero while the Romulans claimed that Narendra was performed by a rogue faction, which Georgiou knew to be a lie. Fillibee and his allies in the Federation Council accepted the Romulan lies without question, infuriating Georgiou.
Georgiou had been through thick and thin with her rag-tag group of operatives; Garrett, Sahar, Quasi and Wisp, and had found something with them that she had not known since childhood— a sense of family.
Wisp had parted ways with the team after they had caught up to her husband, Fuzz. Fuzz had betrayed the team at the cost of two of their lives and Wisp had joined the team to track him down. In the end it turned out that despite Fuzz’s proclamations of excitement about his upcoming fatherhood of 190,00 hatchlings, he had betrayed the team for money and to get out of fatherhood and child support. “Men!”, Rachel had exclaimed. Fuzz was being held in a cell at the Daystrom Institute. A literal cell. A hollowed-out titanium cell had been designed and constructed to hold the murderous Nanokin.
Now this…
It was time. “Have you activated the program?” asked Georgiou.
“Activating now,” replied the Chameloid Quasi, the last remaining member of Georgiou’s original team.
“Good,” said Georgiou, “Get to the ship.”
“I’m already there,” said the Chameloid. “No going back now.”
The program that Quasi had activated had begun countdowns for explosive devices at every Section 31 installation that Starfleet knew about. Georgiou had spent the last 15 years establishing safe houses, supply stores and back-up command centers that Starfleet knew nothing about. Those would serve as Section 31s new bases. As for the rest, Section 31 already had the answer for that…
*
The transmission went out, voice only, to the Commander Starfleet, the head of Starfleet Intelligence, the Intelligence Chief to the President of the UFP and to Admiral Fillibee and his cohorts on the council. After viewing, the message disappeared from the memory banks of the computers that played it. As if it never existed…
“This is Section 31, and as of this moment, we no longer exist. We have just utilized the same targeted quantum data scrub technology that Section 31 developed at Starfleet's behest to erase from existence all evidence as to the existence of the Starship Discovery from Federation records. What’s that? You’ve never heard of Discovery? Exactly. Today, we have used it to erase all knowledge of Section 31 from Federation databases.
“The losses at Narendra III were entirely avoidable, if only you had heeded our warnings. So, now you have given us no choice but to take matters into our own hands.
“Do not look for us as you will not find us. If we need your assistance, we will contact you. You will not see us. You will not hear us. You will not know where we are, but you will see what we do. When the cowardice and incompetence of bureaucrats put lives at risk, Section 31 will do what Starfleet will not.
“This is Section 31… going dark.”
Phillipa Georgiou remembered the last time that she had spoken with Rachel Garrett…
*
“Damn it, Rachel,” Georgiou had said, “I know that the Romulans are up to something in Klingon space.”
“I believe you, Phillipa,” said Captain Rachel Garrett of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C. She and Georgiou had served for five years together in the Starfleet black-ops division known as Section 31 doing jobs that the Federation was unable, or unwilling, to do themselves before Garrett’s promotion to first officer of the USS Carthage. The two had developed a close, if unlikely, friendship during that time, with each making the other their ‘project’. Georgiou had tried to unlock what she saw as the ‘chaos demon’ locked inside the young by-the-book officer, while Garrett tried to reach the humanity of the former Terran Emperor. Garrett would pull Georgiou back when she was on the verge of going too far, and Georgiou let Garrett know when she needed to unleash herself. “But Admiral Fillibee won’t authorize…”
“Fillibee is an idiot,” said Georgiou. “A self-important imbecile who is too stupid to acknowledge a threat when it’s right in front of him. Just because the information came from the ‘Mirror Tyrant’.”
“He just doesn’t believe that the Romulans would attack the Klingons.” Garrett said, “They’ve been allies since the 2260s.”
“He would believe it if he would just consider the evidence that Section 31 uncovered, but he won’t even look at it!” Georgiou said. “And as for the Romulans, they are only one’s allies until they decide that you’re not.”
“Starfleet Intelligence believes…” Garrett began, but Georgiou cut her off.
“Starfleet Intelligence is a joke.” Phillipa said. “Those idiots don’t even know what a Ferengi looks like.”
“I said that I believed you, Phillipa,” Garrett said, "That’s why I pulled a few strings to get a stop-over at Starbase 234.” Starbase 234 was the closest Federation outpost to the region of space where the Federation, Klingon and Romulan borders converged.
“Has your ‘civilian consultant’ arrived?” asked Georgiou.
“Right here, boss,” said Alok Sahar moving into screen. “I'll make sure that Captain Garrett is fully briefed on the Romulan activity in this sector.” Georgiou and Sahar had served together for 22 years in Section 31, and he had her complete trust.
“Thank you, Alok,” said Georgiou.
“We’ll train all of our sensors at Klingon space while we’re on patrol,” Garrett said, “If we find anything suspicious or actionable, you’ll be the first to know." Garrett smiled, “We’ll talk when this is all over. Garrett out.”
*
She got the dispatch two days later. While out on patrol near Gamma Eridon, the USS Enterprise responded to a distress call from the Klingon outpost at Narendra III. Upon arriving at Narendra III, the Enterprise defended the Klingon outpost against a sneak attack from four Romulan warbirds. The ship was destroyed, with all hands believed to have been lost.
The Klingons were hailing Garrett as a hero while the Romulans claimed that Narendra was performed by a rogue faction, which Georgiou knew to be a lie. Fillibee and his allies in the Federation Council accepted the Romulan lies without question, infuriating Georgiou.
Georgiou had been through thick and thin with her rag-tag group of operatives; Garrett, Sahar, Quasi and Wisp, and had found something with them that she had not known since childhood— a sense of family.
Wisp had parted ways with the team after they had caught up to her husband, Fuzz. Fuzz had betrayed the team at the cost of two of their lives and Wisp had joined the team to track him down. In the end it turned out that despite Fuzz’s proclamations of excitement about his upcoming fatherhood of 190,00 hatchlings, he had betrayed the team for money and to get out of fatherhood and child support. “Men!”, Rachel had exclaimed. Fuzz was being held in a cell at the Daystrom Institute. A literal cell. A hollowed-out titanium cell had been designed and constructed to hold the murderous Nanokin.
Now this…
It was time. “Have you activated the program?” asked Georgiou.
“Activating now,” replied the Chameloid Quasi, the last remaining member of Georgiou’s original team.
“Good,” said Georgiou, “Get to the ship.”
“I’m already there,” said the Chameloid. “No going back now.”
The program that Quasi had activated had begun countdowns for explosive devices at every Section 31 installation that Starfleet knew about. Georgiou had spent the last 15 years establishing safe houses, supply stores and back-up command centers that Starfleet knew nothing about. Those would serve as Section 31s new bases. As for the rest, Section 31 already had the answer for that…
*
The transmission went out, voice only, to the Commander Starfleet, the head of Starfleet Intelligence, the Intelligence Chief to the President of the UFP and to Admiral Fillibee and his cohorts on the council. After viewing, the message disappeared from the memory banks of the computers that played it. As if it never existed…
“This is Section 31, and as of this moment, we no longer exist. We have just utilized the same targeted quantum data scrub technology that Section 31 developed at Starfleet's behest to erase from existence all evidence as to the existence of the Starship Discovery from Federation records. What’s that? You’ve never heard of Discovery? Exactly. Today, we have used it to erase all knowledge of Section 31 from Federation databases.
“The losses at Narendra III were entirely avoidable, if only you had heeded our warnings. So, now you have given us no choice but to take matters into our own hands.
“Do not look for us as you will not find us. If we need your assistance, we will contact you. You will not see us. You will not hear us. You will not know where we are, but you will see what we do. When the cowardice and incompetence of bureaucrats put lives at risk, Section 31 will do what Starfleet will not.
“This is Section 31… going dark.”
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I hope that the difference in tone between the two stories is enough to make up for that. That is something that I will definitely need to watch myself for as I write further.
