Revised draft. Thanks for your feedback,
@Hawku.
Section 31: Echoes From the Past, Shadows of the Future
1: The Unexpected Arrival
He was the last person that Phillipa Georgiou had ever expected to see again…
Phillipa Georgiou had retired to the office of her alias, Madame Veronique du Franc, owner, operator and host of the Barram Station, a major juncture for spies, smugglers, fugitives from justice, the very rich and other deplorable sorts outside the confines of Federation space near Hupyria V. She had taken over the station from the previous owner who had come to an unfortunate end… which Georgiou had nothing to do with.
She had been living this life for a few years when her past finally caught up with her, both her past as the tyrannical despot of the Terran Empire of the Mirror Universe and her past serving with the off the book Starfleet Black Ops division known as Section 31. After helping 31 with a threat that wound up having very personal ties to Georgiou and her past, she was once again offered a role in the spy organization as part of a unit based out of the Barram station.
Given her own skills, personal security systems and Section 31 ties, her office should have been the most secure space on the entire station. Imagine her surprise when she realized that she wasn’t alone. Georgiou was briefly taken back given the connection that she shared with her visitor, although she didn’t show it. Georgiou was the first to speak.
“Ambassador Spock, what a wonderful surprise. What brings you to my station?” And how did he arrive on Barram, let alone get into her office, without being seen. Spock was well known in Federation these days and a very recognizable face. Phillipa resisted the urge to find the source of the security breach and have those responsible flogged. Old habits die hard.
Spock looked older than Georgiou remembered him, as well he should given that 70 years had passed for him since last she saw him, although for Georgiou it had been just a few years ago. Spock considered the former Terran despot before speaking, with emotion that few others would note but was obvious to Georgiou, “Just tell me. Is she well?”
Georgiou realized that Spock had lived with uncertainty of the fate of his foster sister, their mutual connection, Michael Burnham for seven decades. Georgiou had travelled to the 32nd century with Burnham when Discovery journeyed there, using the time-travelling “Red Angel” suit, to defeat the threat of Control, a Section 31 created artificial intelligence that had gone rogue and threated all life. Georgiou later travelled back to the current era, presently the year 2324, by way of the sentient time-portal known as the Guardian of Forever. Georgiou surmised that Spock had come to her for closure without breaking any temporal protocols.
“Yes, Spock”, Georgiou said, “The last I saw of her, she was thriving.”
A weight seemed to lift off of Spock’s entire being. He briefly considered the former Emperor and said, “Thank you.”
A moment passed and Georgiou realized that there was more to Spock’s visit, “That’s not the reason you came here, is it?”
“Not entirely,” said Spock. “But it may concern her.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was recently contacted by Queen Po of Xahia…”, Spock began.
“How nice”, Phillipa said, “Does she still enjoy that obnoxious confection that Tilly introduced to her?”
“Indeed, I do believe that to be the case.” Spock replied. Continuing, Spock said, “Queen Po informed me of Cardassian activity near the site of the battle and time portal where Discovery travelled to the future, and their scans indicated that they found… something and returned to Cardassia with it. As the incident at Xahia 70 years ago was classified and scrubbed from all Starfleet records, there were none at Starfleet who would give her concerns the proper weight.”
“And so, she contacted you.”
“Indeed.”
Georgiou considered all that Spock had told her. If the Cardassians recovered some evidence from the battle at Xahia, an energy signal from the Red Angel suit perhaps, the Cardassians could find a way to reverse engineer the technology, which could be disastrous for the Federation.
“What are you asking of me, Spock?”, Georgiou asked.
“I need you to assemble your team”.
****
“Let me get this straight”, asked Lieutenant Commander Rachel Garrett, “You are asking us to infiltrate Cardassian space without authorization to retrieve or destroy… ‘something’ that doesn’t even exist through official records?”
“No, Lieutenant Commander Garrett, I am informing you of a potential threat to the Federation in Cardassian space” Spock replied, “What you do with that information is entirely up to you.”
Georgiou rolled her eyes at that.
Vulcans…
“What I want to know”, asked team leader Alok Sahar (or at least Georgiou let Sahar believe that he was team leader), a time-displaced augment born in the late 20th century and genetically modified, “is how Spock got on to the station, let alone Georgiou’s office, without anyone detecting him.”
Spock raised his eyebrow, “I am Vulcan.”
“What? That’s not an explan…”, Alok turned towards Georgiou, who merely shrugged. Good enough for her, then. Moving on.
“So, this Bo of Shahiea…” began the unit’s shapeshifting Chameloid agent Quasi, currently presenting itself in a male human body.
“It’s ‘Queen Po of Xahia’, darlin’”, said Wisp, a microscopic member of the Nanakin species that was piloting a black-market robotic Vulcan body with what Spock considered to oddly- colored blonde hair and spoke with an accent reminiscent of what Doctor McCoy would have called ‘a thick southern drawl’. He had known Blonde Vulcans in the past, but they were rare. “’Po’ with a ‘P’ and ‘Xahia’ with an ‘X’.
“Right,” said Quasi, “Queen Jo of Shashia”.
Before Quasi could be further corrected, the exchange was interrupted by the holographic arrival of Control, a human woman with cybernetic modifications who issued assignments out to Section 31 teams out in the field. “Bad news, team, I think that Spock might be on to something. Scuttlebutt (“Scuttlebutt” being a computer algorithm designed to scan transmissions from foreign states and extrapolate possible threats) says that the Cardassian High Command has apparently sequestered a group of their most prominent scientists at a secure science facilty near Celtris III. Scuttlebutt has determined that all of the scientists involved are well-versed in advanced Temporal Mechanics.”
Spock seemed uneasy. “Something wrong, Spock?”, asked Georgiou.
“I am concerned,” replied Spock, “that Section 31 is once again relying on a system called ‘Control’. The whole goal of our mutual acquaintances mission was to keep information away from Control.”
“This is not the Control of old,” Georgiou replied. “Scuttlebutt aggregates the data and delivers it to Control, but the Control division is made of sentients who make the decisions and then the assignments are handed out by Nancy here.”
“My name’s not Nancy.” said Control.
“It still makes me uneasy”, Spock said.
“I don’t blame you,” replied Georgiou, “While a sentient Control will not seek to destroy all sentient life, sometimes the intelligence seems equally artificial.”
“I heard that!” said Control.
“You were supposed to,” replied Georgiou.
“Anyway,” Control continued, “Beta team recently reported a break-in at the Klingon Monastery at Boreth that the High Command is trying to keep quiet. Apparently, the Marauders managed to fight their way out of the Monastery after obtaining a time crystal.”
“The power source for the Red Angel suit.” said Georgiou. “If the Cardassians managed to find even just a piece of debris at that battle site that still contained the quantum signature of the portal, with a time crystal, they could reverse engineer a time travel suit. This is a worst-case scenario.”
“Well, what are we gonna do about it?”, asked Wisp.
“Let’s get to work,” said Sahar.
2: The Game Plan
An hour later with the help of Scuttlebutt and Control, the team had a plan. Sahar addressed the assembled group, "Alright, squad. This is how it's going to go. First, the undercover team will travel to Celtris III in the Cloakship. Wisp, using her remote control over her robot body, will beam the landing party aboard.”
Spock interrupted, “Cloakship?”
“Yes, Spock,” Georgiou said, “one of the advantages to being off the books is that we are not bound by the limitations that the Federation has placed upon itself.”
Garrett interjected, “However, the ship is used only for infiltration and extraction. The Federation forbids Section 31 from using it for attack.”
“How cute,” Georgiou smirked and continued with the plan, “But before you can do that, we need to obtain the security codes that you need.”
“How y’all gonna do that?” asked Wisp.
“We will obtain the codes from Leget Skreev of the Cardassian Union, as well as the Legate's bio-signature for access to the computer core.” Georgiou said. He is currently on his way because Scuttlebutt has sent him false information that Barram Station recently came into possession of a very rare distillation of Kanar that is considered a delicacy. Skreev is an aficionado of Kanar and a regular face here at Barram. He spends a lot of money and has a regular routine.
Virgil will greet him but will be unable to see him at his regular table. Instead, he will be brought to the “private room”. The fact that we do not have that distillation of Kanar will be of little relevance because the narcotic within the Kanar that we do give him will knock him out within seconds. After that, it will be a simple matter for Spock to obtain the codes we need by way of the Vulcan mind meld. After we obtain the codes and bio-signature, we will send them to you at Celtrus.”
Sahar continued, “Garrett and I will be wearing disguises that are passable for what we have to accomplish in the mission, which is to locate and destroy the time crystal, anything they might have retrieved from Xahia, and any tech that they might have developed. We should be arriving while the scientists are in their sleep cycle, there should not be any resistance to us coming in and discreetly destroying the evidence.
“But our disguises won't fool the scanners at the highly secure computer core, which will spot a disguise in an instant. That's where Quasi and Wisp comes in. Morphed into the form of the Legate, Quasi's abilities will make him indistinguishable in appearance from Legate Skreev while Wisp will broadcast Skreev's bio-signature from her micro-ship, which will allow them to enter the computer core area unhindered. Wisp, in her Micro-ship, will take it from there, entering the computer core and scrambling all the files having to do with the Red Angel technology.
“Easy peasy,” said Wisp.
“Then we will all meet at the rendezvous point, where Wisp will have her Vulcan conveyance activate the transporters on the cloak ship by remote control, and we are out of there without anyone ever having known we were there. It's as easy as that.” Sahar looked at the assembled group.
Wisp turned toward Quasi, “Is it ever as easy as that?”
“No.”, replied the Chameloid.
“That’s just wonderful…”
3: The Operation
Twelve hours later, the Cloakship arrived at Celtrus III. “Alpha Squad to Queen Bee, we are in position," Sahar transmitted on a secure line.
“Don’t call me that," replied Georgiou over the link. “It’s not grandiose enough.”
“Copy that, Queen Bee. Standing by.”
*
Back on Barram, Georgiou rolled her eyes. Back home, she had killed men for far, far less. She turned around and saw Virgil approaching with a Cardassian Legate and his adjunct. “Welcome Monsieur Skreev! The Barram welcomes you, as always.” Georgiou said smoothly, easily falling into her persona as Madame Veronique Du Franc, “How can we best serve you today?”
“I’ve heard an interesting rumor,” Skreev began without preamble, “That the Barram had gotten it’s hands on the Culat Valley 2202. It’s a magnificent vintage.”
“Indeed we have, Legate Skreev.” Georgiou said, “Please allow Virgil to see you to your usual accommodation and we will have the bar send you a carafe”.
“Actually,” began Virgil, Georgiou’s Cheron concierge, “Your usual accommodations are undergoing renovation. Allow me to upgrade you to the Private Room.”
“Hmm”, said Skreev, “I’m not surprised.” Skreev’s adjunct pulled out a small hand phaser on Georgiou and Virgil. “You see, I already verifiably own every remaining bottle of the Culat Valley 2202 in existence, so you have lured me here under false pretenses. Now, you clearly want to walk me into a trap.”
Damn it!, thought Georgiou,
one little mistake.
Skreev gestured toward Georgiou’s office, “We’ll find out what really going on here in private.” Georgiou could easily take out these cretins, but she could not guarantee Virgil’s safety, and she had come to greatly value his service.
Georgiou allowed Skreev to lead them into her office, but before the door could even close behind them, Skreev was felled by Spock, who was waiting just inside the door and administered a Vulcan neck pinch on the Legate. Spock gently lowered Skreev to the ground while beginning the Vulcan Mind Meld on him. While this was happening, Georgiou downed the adjunct with a vicious kick to the face. As he fell, his phaser discharged, firing towards Virgil, who was hit, but didn’t fall.
“Virgil!” Georgiou yelled in concern.
Virgil held on to his shoulder, wincing in pain. “He just grazed me, Madame.”
Phillipa sighed and composed herself. She hadn’t expected to feel so strongly about almost losing Virgil. Looking at Skreev, she said “Well, I’ve lost his business forever.” She turned to Virgil, “After you have that wound seen to, knock down the price of the high-end Kanar by 20%. Nobody else is going to pay the price he did.”
“At once, Madame.”
*
Moments later on the Cloakship, the transmission with the codes arrived. “That’s it, people! We’re up!”, said Sahar. Wisp directed her Vulcan conveyance to activate the transporter from her micro-ship, which was currently nestled in Quasi’s Cardassian neck ridges and the team transported to the station.
*
Back on Barram, Spock and Georgiou settled in. “And now, we wait”, said Georgiou. Whatever shall we do to pass the time?”
*
At Celtris, Sahar and Garrett stood outside of the science lab, entered the stolen access code into the console and the door whooshed open. But instead of the empty lab they expected to find, they encountered a Cardassian couple engaging in… coital relations.
The male exclaimed with rage, “How dare you enter without authorization! Who do you think you are?” he reached towards a console and activated communications, “Security, report to…” He was cut off by Sahar’s fist, which sent him flying across the room. Garrett stunned the woman and said, “So much for subtlety.”
“Par for the course with this lot.”, said Sahar. “Security is on their way, and we don’t have the time for a thorough search. Time for ‘Plan B’. Scans show that what we’re looking for is definitely in this room.”
“Right,” said Garrett, pulling explosives out of her pack. “Let’s blow some shit up.”
*
Back on Barram, Georgiou and Spock waited. “What do you think of our little operation here, Spock?’
Spock paused briefly before responding. “My personal experience with Section 31 makes me wary of your operations and its implications. I also must wonder if you really have changed, Phillipa Georgiou.”
“You cannot deny our results.” Georgiou said. "My unit has saved the Federation from an invasion from the Mirror Universe.”
“It is not your achievements that concern me,” Spock said, “but rather the techniques you use to accomplish them.”
Georgiou scoffed, “Oh, don't get so high and mighty with me Spock, I've read your file. Where were your almighty ethics when you violated poor lieutenant Valeris in the name of Federation security? I understand that she has still never fully recovered.”
“That was... Regrettable.”
“But necessary.”, Georgiou countered.
“Indeed,” Spock said with a sigh of deep remorse.
“You know, I’m actually proud of you Spock.” Georgiou continued, “I didn't think you had that kind of steel inside of you. Ripping the information you needed out of her skull as she screamed in pain.”
Spock regarded Georgiou and said, “That is the difference between us, Emperor. I regret the necessary evil while you take pride in it.”
“But the ‘evil’, as you call it, is no less necessary.” Georgiou maintained, “I would have done the same thing to Valeris in that situation had I the ability. And I would have done it without hesitation or regret.”
“An act of necessity should never be made without due consideration.” Spock said, “Regrettable action must be taken with regret. ‘Evil’ without consequence or remorse is never necessary. Section 31 does what it does in the name of Federation security without either of those things. Therefore, what Section 31 does cannot logically be deemed necessary. Your unit has Lieutenant Garrett attached in the name of accountability. This has not always been the case with Section 31 and is not entirely the case even now. Your unit is an exception rather than the rule. Image the harm to Federation ideal and ethics that an unregulated and unaccountable Section 31 could cause.”
*
Meanwhile on Celtris, Quasi and Wisp approached the computer core. He stepped under door sensor, which thoroughly scanned him, and then the speaker in front of him said, “Welcome, Legate Skreev.”
Quasi entered the pilfered code. After what seemed like an eternity to Quasi, the door wooshed open.
After they were alone in the computer core, Wisp took it from there, piloting her micro-ship into the core.
Inside the computer memory, Wisp sought out and scrambled all the files on the Cardassian time-travel experiments. “According to the logs, the Cardassians were only days away from their first practical test of a time suit.”
“There’s nothing like good timing”, said Quasi.
After Wisp returned from the computer core she wondered, “I wonder if the others are having as easy of a time as we did.”
It was then that the alarms started blaring.
“Let’s skedaddle,” said Wisp.
“Absolutely,” said Quasi.
*
Back on Barram, Georgiou and Spock continued their conversation.
“Consider this, Spock” Georgiou said, “Perhaps ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are artificial constructs.”
“What do you mean?”, asked Spock.
“I wasn't always a monster, Spock.” Georgiou continued, “I once had a family that I loved dearly and could not have imagined ever bringing them harm.”
“Yes,” Spock said, “I’ve read your file as well. You and hundreds of Terran children from across the Empire were taken from their homes and forced to battle to the death in order find a new Emperor.”
“Over two years, I was encouraged and awarded to betray and kill," Georgiou said, "given accolades for finding new ways of eliminating my enemies. And over timeI came to enjoy it, Spock. Seeing the surprise and shock in your enemy’s face as you plunge the knife deep into their chest or when the poison takes effect. To see their horror and their desperation and the light fade from their eyes.” Georgiou’s voice trailed off.
“It seems an illogical way to find a successor to the throne.” Spock opined.
“Not in the Empire.” Georgiou replied. “Strength is the only thing that matters. Concepts like ‘good’ and ‘evil’ were irrelevant. The only things that mattered were strength and weakness, and I was strong, Spock. I did what was what was expected of me for the good of the Empire. I became a soulless monster who thought only of exemplifying the Empire's ideals. Who craved only power and would do anything to maintain and increase the rush that came with that power, and no court in that land would have convicted me for my actions.”
“Indeed,” Spock said, “The courts in the Terran Empire are rigged.”
“That’s beside the point.”
*
On Celtris, Quasi and Wisp were heading for the extraction point when they were stopped by a security contingent. “Halt! Let me see your identification.”
“Don’t you know who I am?” Quasi declared. “I am the Lega- I mean I am Legate Skeez, and I order you not to hinder us, I mean me.”
“Legate ‘Skreev’ is not due to arrive here until next rotation," said the lead Cardassian, 'so you are obviously one of the imposters that we are tracking. Now, put your hands up, ‘Legate’.”
As Quasi raised his hands, one of the Cardassians was blasted across the hall, slamming into the wall, and fell unconscious to the floor while the other flew across the room, on the receiving end of a flying kick from Sahar, who came out of nowhere. Garrett holstered her phaser. “Overkill, much?”, she said to Sahar.
“We don’t have the time for prolonged combat.” Sahar replied.
“What took you so long?” asked Quasi.
Sahar gestured to Garrett, “Starfleet here insisted that we drag two naked Cardassians out into the hall before we left.”
“Naked Cardassians?” asked Wisp from her micro-ship.
“Long story”, said Sahar.
“We weren’t going to leave those people there to die in the explosion. Naked.” Garrett said.
“What are y’all talkin’ about?” asked Wisp. “What explosion?”
The station was rocked as the explosives that Garrett had set detonated.
“That one!”, said Garrett and Sahar simultaneously.
“Let’s get out of here,” urged Garrett.
“Copy that!” agreed Quasi, then said to Wisp, “
This is how our missions usually go.”
In the ensuing chaos, as alarms sounded and response teams rushed to the lab, the team reached their extraction point, beamed to the Cloakship and warped away, mission accomplished.
*
Back on Barram, Spock and Georgiou continued their conversation.
“I realize now that my adoption of Michael was a cry out for that child I used to be,” Georgiou explained, “but I knew no other way of life and simply turned her into another monster like myself. I should have expected her to betray me because that was how I taught her.”
“There is a human expression that, ‘the apple does not fall far from the tree’.” Spock said.
Georgiou gave Spock a side-eye glare before continuing. “Your Michael touched and reawakened that child from long ago, the one who would never dream of harming her family, and it sickened me. She infected me with things like conscience and remorse, and there's no coming back from that. But there's no going back to who that innocent child was, either. I am who I am.”
“But is that all that you are?” Spock asked.
“What else can I be?” Georgiou asked. “I no longer crave the rush that comes with power or a fresh kill or the utter annihilation of my enemies as they beg for mercy, but I can only be what my life has made me.”
“That is all that the Empire allowed you to be.” Spock countered. “The choice to be something else is now yours. If I know Michael, when you parted ways she encouraged you to make connections in your new life.” Spock said. “Have you?”
“Like who?”
“Your new team, perhaps,” Spock said. “Would the Phillipa Georgiou of old have shown the concern for Vigil that you showed during the operation?” Spock asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about," Georgiou snapped a little too quickly.
“My apologies,” said Spock but he knew that he had made his point. “This has been a fascinating talk, Emperor Georgiou.” Spock said, “I believe that we have come to understand each other better, if not come into agreement.”
“For the sake of our mutual friend”, Georgiou said, “perhaps, some day, we can come to an agreement.”
“Perhaps,” Spock said. “There are, after all, always possibilities”. Spock raised his hand in the Vulcan salute, "May you live long and prosper, Phillipa Georgiou."
*
After Spock’s departure from Barram and the team’s return from Cardassian space, the team all gathered in the Barram lounge listening to the live music performance.
“So,” asked Sahar of Georgiou, “are you ever going to give us the personal details of this mission, this mysterious person that you and Spock have in common?”
“Eh. Probably not.” Georgiou replied.
“Typical.” Said Garrett.
“As expected,” said Quasi.
“Didn’t expect anythin’ less from you, darlin’”, said Wisp.
Georgiou remembered the words of Spock and Michael, “It’s just...” Georgiou began. She realized to her surprise that she actually did enjoy the company of her… friends? “Perhaps another time.” She said, “After I’ve had a few elixirs. At least.”
The team laughed at that. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet,” said Sahar.
Virgil approached with a new round of elixirs as a new transmission came in from Control and the team gathered around to hear the details of their next assignment.
“Hello, Alpha Squad!” Control started, “Nice work in Cardassian space. Tell me, have any of you ever been to Klystron IV…?”
This is the first piece of fiction that I have written in two decades, with first draft coming at just under 4,000 words, so be understanding, if not kind.
