At the far end of Federation space, an old admiral explains a dark and foreboding secret about the black ops organization Section 31
THE JOB OFFER AT RX J1856.5−3754 (Star Trek flash fiction)
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"So, you may ask...what is Section 31," said the admiral, reclining in his big leather chair. "First, I want you to do a thought experiment. You know energy credits? ...right, haven't thought about them since high school civics. Okay, so, imagine a planet." He holds up his hands, palms apart. "This planet has a bunch of people on it. Artists. Engineers. Farmers. They're all putting into this planet a certain amount of labor - and that labor produces products, art, medicine, everything you need. This is tracked and managed by Fedeccom and they tabulate up a rough approximation of how much the planet can make at any one time. Thanks to replicators, cheap fusion, and one of the most robust telecommunication and teleportational infrastructures ever built in the history of the galaxy and, yes, that includes the Q Continuum!" He taps his finger on the desk, hard. "Each planet produces far, far, far more than it can ever need."
A short pause, a muttered question.
He chuckles, leaning back, lacing his fingers behind his neck.
"There's more people on Earth than there are Q in the Continuum."
Confused sound.
"It's true. Anyway, an energy credit is just one of the ways Fedeccom uses to tabulate all that. During the Dominion War, for example, we shifted from 5% of our EC being used for ship production to 50%. The real issue was crews, not ships, we were putting KDF sailors on half of them near the end there. That's one thing the Kling got, it's birthrates. An advantage of being primarily industrial-agrarian, I guess." He pauses. A flicker of fire. A sigh. "Don't worry, it's not carcinogenic. Total affectation."
His smile glints like coals.
"Now! 5% sounds like a tiny number. But remember, this is 5% of nearly a thousand solar system, each with at least one M or L or, maybe a K in the edge cases. Then throw in the space stations, the ouster habitats, the longboats, the slowboats, the generational art projects, the solariums, that...fucking space station made out of tweaked meat, and you have nearly five hundred billion people who are nominally in the Federation. This is why Fedeccom is six times bigger than Starfleet and is responsible for half the innovations that the Daystrom Institute then turns into new photon torpedo targeting systems. And this is why Section 31 is..." He gestures around himself. "...this."
A questioning sound.
"Heh, this isn't anything, Lieutenant. This whole place, all six kilometers of tunnels, all the antimatter cannons, all the phaser strips, all the holographic defense emitters? All the automated systems and the isolinear chips used to run it?" He gestures, drawing an arc of smoke with the cigar. "This is a fucking rounding error."
He smokes for a bit, meditatively.
"The first Section 31 was a bit of a bigger investment, admittedly. But it went the way they all did - because at the end of the day, the Federation means what we say. By and large. We do. Section 31 was found out by...I think his name was..." He rubs his temple. "Fletcher or something. Captain Fletcher. Or it might have been one of the pre-Federation Day captains, back in the United Probe Service, what matters is they were found out and shut down. And they left behind all their toys. Then, a few decades later..." The cigar traces a smokey figure eight. "Another admiral with an ax to grind, a governor who has a famine running down on top of him like a train, a boarder outposter who thinks that maybe we could win a war with the Romulans if we just got our act together, some...fucking asshole will find this...this big black box with an S31 on the side and they'll open it up and it'll be like all their Christmases come at once."
Muffled noise.
"Oh, uh, Earth holiday."
Angry grumbling sound.
"Hey, listen, the last Andorian I met was born in Cleveland, and I haven't had many people to talk too for the past year and a half, so..." The cigar dips. "Anyway. The same thing happens to every Section 31 - in the end. They may last a few months. A few years. I think the last one managed to get their own custom uniforms together, pretentious dickheads." The cigar glows, smoke puffs out. "But in the end a captain, or an ensign, or some freemerchant trader or, shit, once, a fucking janitor will put the pieces together and Starfleet and Fedeccom and the Surakian Tor'Kal will come in and clean up as much as they can. But, again, a thousand planets, five hundred billion people, rounding error, you've got the math down, right?"
A mute nod.
"The box remains. And it gets opened up again in a few decades...and that's why we're here, isn't it, Lieutenant."
Silence.
"You...can put the phaser down now, you know?"
A quiet whirring sound.
"Heh. I like you, you know that?" The cigar crumples, mashed against the desk. "The truth is, this is one old, sad man whose read far too many history books trying his best to clean up after his father's so his kids don't have to go through this bullshit. Yes, my agent was involved with the Santina. And I'm very impressed you tracked it all the way back here. But the Santina was not a civilian ship. It was one of ours."
Silence. Then a questioning grunt.
"This big black box is being opened again. I don't know by who, but they've found one of the other caches and they definitely think the post-imperial Romulan state is in need of favorable political adjustments - the kind of adjustments we terrans know oh oh oh so much about. You've probably never heard of Cambodia, or Loas, or New Texas, but I have. So, I had my man scuttle the ship. He knew where those disruptor rifles were going." The Admiral sighs. "I...wish..." He shakes his head, then looks back up, intently. "But the problem is...now...it's just me. I can't even get out of this goddamn chair."
The whirring dims down. A single question.
"Is there a limit?" The Admiral grins. "Of course there's a limit. There has to be."
He starts to skim around the desk, the soft sound of whirring hover-lifts replacing the sound of a fully charged phaser. He puts a wrinkled, liver-spotted hand on soft blue knuckles, a single touch. "Maybe, if you help me out here, we can make sure there's nothing left for the bastards to find next time."
The blue hand tightens into a fist.
Releases.
Then shifts, and takes hold of the Admiral's.
A wry comment.
The Admiral chuckles.
"Glad to have you aboard, Lieutenant."
A short pause, a muttered question.
He chuckles, leaning back, lacing his fingers behind his neck.
"There's more people on Earth than there are Q in the Continuum."
Confused sound.
"It's true. Anyway, an energy credit is just one of the ways Fedeccom uses to tabulate all that. During the Dominion War, for example, we shifted from 5% of our EC being used for ship production to 50%. The real issue was crews, not ships, we were putting KDF sailors on half of them near the end there. That's one thing the Kling got, it's birthrates. An advantage of being primarily industrial-agrarian, I guess." He pauses. A flicker of fire. A sigh. "Don't worry, it's not carcinogenic. Total affectation."
His smile glints like coals.
"Now! 5% sounds like a tiny number. But remember, this is 5% of nearly a thousand solar system, each with at least one M or L or, maybe a K in the edge cases. Then throw in the space stations, the ouster habitats, the longboats, the slowboats, the generational art projects, the solariums, that...fucking space station made out of tweaked meat, and you have nearly five hundred billion people who are nominally in the Federation. This is why Fedeccom is six times bigger than Starfleet and is responsible for half the innovations that the Daystrom Institute then turns into new photon torpedo targeting systems. And this is why Section 31 is..." He gestures around himself. "...this."
A questioning sound.
"Heh, this isn't anything, Lieutenant. This whole place, all six kilometers of tunnels, all the antimatter cannons, all the phaser strips, all the holographic defense emitters? All the automated systems and the isolinear chips used to run it?" He gestures, drawing an arc of smoke with the cigar. "This is a fucking rounding error."
He smokes for a bit, meditatively.
"The first Section 31 was a bit of a bigger investment, admittedly. But it went the way they all did - because at the end of the day, the Federation means what we say. By and large. We do. Section 31 was found out by...I think his name was..." He rubs his temple. "Fletcher or something. Captain Fletcher. Or it might have been one of the pre-Federation Day captains, back in the United Probe Service, what matters is they were found out and shut down. And they left behind all their toys. Then, a few decades later..." The cigar traces a smokey figure eight. "Another admiral with an ax to grind, a governor who has a famine running down on top of him like a train, a boarder outposter who thinks that maybe we could win a war with the Romulans if we just got our act together, some...fucking asshole will find this...this big black box with an S31 on the side and they'll open it up and it'll be like all their Christmases come at once."
Muffled noise.
"Oh, uh, Earth holiday."
Angry grumbling sound.
"Hey, listen, the last Andorian I met was born in Cleveland, and I haven't had many people to talk too for the past year and a half, so..." The cigar dips. "Anyway. The same thing happens to every Section 31 - in the end. They may last a few months. A few years. I think the last one managed to get their own custom uniforms together, pretentious dickheads." The cigar glows, smoke puffs out. "But in the end a captain, or an ensign, or some freemerchant trader or, shit, once, a fucking janitor will put the pieces together and Starfleet and Fedeccom and the Surakian Tor'Kal will come in and clean up as much as they can. But, again, a thousand planets, five hundred billion people, rounding error, you've got the math down, right?"
A mute nod.
"The box remains. And it gets opened up again in a few decades...and that's why we're here, isn't it, Lieutenant."
Silence.
"You...can put the phaser down now, you know?"
A quiet whirring sound.
"Heh. I like you, you know that?" The cigar crumples, mashed against the desk. "The truth is, this is one old, sad man whose read far too many history books trying his best to clean up after his father's so his kids don't have to go through this bullshit. Yes, my agent was involved with the Santina. And I'm very impressed you tracked it all the way back here. But the Santina was not a civilian ship. It was one of ours."
Silence. Then a questioning grunt.
"This big black box is being opened again. I don't know by who, but they've found one of the other caches and they definitely think the post-imperial Romulan state is in need of favorable political adjustments - the kind of adjustments we terrans know oh oh oh so much about. You've probably never heard of Cambodia, or Loas, or New Texas, but I have. So, I had my man scuttle the ship. He knew where those disruptor rifles were going." The Admiral sighs. "I...wish..." He shakes his head, then looks back up, intently. "But the problem is...now...it's just me. I can't even get out of this goddamn chair."
The whirring dims down. A single question.
"Is there a limit?" The Admiral grins. "Of course there's a limit. There has to be."
He starts to skim around the desk, the soft sound of whirring hover-lifts replacing the sound of a fully charged phaser. He puts a wrinkled, liver-spotted hand on soft blue knuckles, a single touch. "Maybe, if you help me out here, we can make sure there's nothing left for the bastards to find next time."
The blue hand tightens into a fist.
Releases.
Then shifts, and takes hold of the Admiral's.
A wry comment.
The Admiral chuckles.
"Glad to have you aboard, Lieutenant."
FIN
bookwyrm
Doom of Public Libraries
- Location
- Wichita, Kansas
Section 31 as like the facsimile of an intelligence service growing like a fungus and semi-regularly pruned as basically controlled opposition like the cold war CPUSA and the East German liberal-conservative parties allowed five seats in the legislature and etc... is such a big brained reincorporation of the Starfleet spooks into the utopian vision of Star Trek while not dismissing or invalidating the grimy political thriller and spy games they allow to be told that it has like opened my third eye. This rules.
- Location
- Earth
I interpreted this snippet as trying to deal with the leftovers of a prior instance of Section 31. I like the atmosphere and the setup. A good part of the premise made me angry though.
I'm not sure it's relevant to your goals, but I'll leave it in. Even if it interests you. I wouldn't take the rant too seriously.
I'm not sure it's relevant to your goals, but I'll leave it in. Even if it interests you. I wouldn't take the rant too seriously.
I loathe the subversion of optimism that is canonizing Section 31 within the Federation.
The idea that 'goodness', 'ethics', and 'integrity' cannot exist in a society without some dark and secret hypocritical underbelly secretly enabling all the sheep to live out their false fantasy of an actually good nation is disappointing.
Star Trek, in part, is about trying to live up to ideals of society, and canonizing that said society can only exist with systemic violations of that goal ruins that part of the intent of the setting.
The least offensive personal interpretation I can come up with is that "Section 31" is what Starfleet Intelligence uses as a catch all term for fascist cults of philosophy or personality, that have nothing to do with the Federation, except as trying to use them for resources, as cover, or an excuse for the goals of a particular iteration of Section 31. As far as the Federation is concerned, Section 31 is societal cancer; to be excised for the health of the host victim.
The idea that 'goodness', 'ethics', and 'integrity' cannot exist in a society without some dark and secret hypocritical underbelly secretly enabling all the sheep to live out their false fantasy of an actually good nation is disappointing.
Star Trek, in part, is about trying to live up to ideals of society, and canonizing that said society can only exist with systemic violations of that goal ruins that part of the intent of the setting.
The least offensive personal interpretation I can come up with is that "Section 31" is what Starfleet Intelligence uses as a catch all term for fascist cults of philosophy or personality, that have nothing to do with the Federation, except as trying to use them for resources, as cover, or an excuse for the goals of a particular iteration of Section 31. As far as the Federation is concerned, Section 31 is societal cancer; to be excised for the health of the host victim.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
This entire story was basically me going, "I hate Section 31 - if a gun was held to my head, how would I write it?"
And that's basically what I came up with - it's a fungus that grows, is noticed and removed, leaving an increasingly elaborate set of leftover 'black boxes' full of automated ships, guns and doomsday weapons. Then a hypothetical Section 31 series would be about an admiral setting to using this to nip the next aberration in the bud before it happens, rather than after.
So, like, an episode might be 'federation governor wants to use mind control to make a more perfect utopia' and it might have a few raygun fights, but the real climax is talking them down and sent to therapy.
Mechanis
Confirmed Extremely Screwed
- Location
- Absconding with Alacrity
I mean. This is basically exactly what Section 31 is in canon: they're a bunch of Hard Men Making Hard Decisions While Hard Mall Ninjas, relying on an interpretation of a law at least as wacko as the SovCit loonies, and if the Federation has ever benefitted from their existence it has been strictly in spite of whichever goals or actions they've taken. I firmly believe they should exist as a concept - people are going to be people and that kind of "we have to do What Is Necessary" are always going to exist; and with the free availability of resources in the Federation even the stupid pretentious black uniforms aren't unbelievable - but it's important to present them as being fringe lunatics that (once they're not in a position to blow up Qo'onos or lure a Crystal Entity to Romulus or unleash the carnivorous tribbles or whatever) get gently sat down by the protagonists and have explained to them that No, Actually, The Federation Doesn't Need People To Make The Hard Decisions, Because We Have The [Technology/Economy/Population/Allies/Military Strength/Select Whichever Is Appropriate] To Not Have To.
The Federation solution to the Trolley Problem is "Tractor beam the trolley and then set it down" because they don't have to muck about with the levers.
He implies that Section 31 will get a massive budget regardless, which is a bit silly.
I can see S31 building a Dyson sphere and having a massive amount of private and secret resources/construction. It wouldn't be found out by auditing the existing federation credit system.
If Star Fleet and other Federation organizations actually cleaned up everything that they could find about S31. S31 would have 0% of that massive income. I'm not sure why he keeps repeating it.
I was getting Hydra vibes, except the guy was Nick Fury, whining that SHIELD didn't survive, but Hydra did. S31 is merely Hydra.
Some of the original Hydra set up some conceptual magic so there would always be a Hydra. That's why S31 will always exist within the Federation.
The real mystery is where all these recruits come from every few years! It shouldn't be a surprise. It is all those that think that Star Fleet is a crap military and something needs to be done.
I've always viewed it as there was something deeply wrong with Star Fleet. Not S31, it was the Vulcan/alien influence and what remained wasn't human. S31 is more of how humans want to be rather than Star Fleet.
I keep wondering if there was a background brain washing of humanity to keep them in that mold. I'm sure the Vulcans would call it educational uplifting.
I can see S31 building a Dyson sphere and having a massive amount of private and secret resources/construction. It wouldn't be found out by auditing the existing federation credit system.
If Star Fleet and other Federation organizations actually cleaned up everything that they could find about S31. S31 would have 0% of that massive income. I'm not sure why he keeps repeating it.
I was getting Hydra vibes, except the guy was Nick Fury, whining that SHIELD didn't survive, but Hydra did. S31 is merely Hydra.
Some of the original Hydra set up some conceptual magic so there would always be a Hydra. That's why S31 will always exist within the Federation.
The real mystery is where all these recruits come from every few years! It shouldn't be a surprise. It is all those that think that Star Fleet is a crap military and something needs to be done.
I've always viewed it as there was something deeply wrong with Star Fleet. Not S31, it was the Vulcan/alien influence and what remained wasn't human. S31 is more of how humans want to be rather than Star Fleet.
I keep wondering if there was a background brain washing of humanity to keep them in that mold. I'm sure the Vulcans would call it educational uplifting.
Mechanis
Confirmed Extremely Screwed
- Location
- Absconding with Alacrity
No? Like, the idea that Starfleet Is Bad At Military is completely bupkiss. Starfleet was and is good at military. They are in fact so good at military that their idea of a lightly armed exploration vessel can kick the shit out of other people's battleships, even when said battleships are literally decades newer, and they are too big a fish for either of the previous Big Empires (the Klingons and Romulans) to take on even in Kirk's day. They were complacent during the early NextGen era, but it was the complacency of a power whose military strength is entire orders of magnitude greater than anyone who might want to try fighting them, who has forgotten that there's always a bigger fish and that the pond they're in is small. Like, that's part of the whole point: Section 31 is completely unnecessary, because the ones who are in the "oh the Federation/Starfleet is weak, we need to be the Strong Man to compensate" are just... Flat wrong. As a military power Starfleet is perfectly capable of fighting the Klingons and the Romulans simultaneously without even going to a war economy, and did win the Dominion War without even going to a war economy or bringing in any of the canonically existent member fleets that are the traditional military formations of said members, such as the Andorian Imperial Guard. The things many take as Federation weakness are in point of fact them going "X is the luxury of the Strong" because they're strong enough they can afford to, even in the worst cases.
Edit: We even see this in the Klingon War timeline with the Galaxy class battleship Enterprise, which gets four bloody Neg'Vars-you know, that big beefstick battlecruiser the Klingons built because the Galaxy class was giving them Gun Envy-dropped on it and it just casually deletes one of them in the opening salvo.
And the Ambassador class Enterprise worked over a second pretty good when the Klingons in question got between them and the Negative Space Wedgie that time-displaced them and caused that alternative timeline to begin with, so it's not just butterflies in action there.
Other people send a whole Battlegroup to do jobs a Galaxy can handle by itself and fail where the Federation ship succeeded, because the Federation is that far ahead of everyone even remotely close to them
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
I imply no such thing, I merely say that the Federation's industrial and technical output is so wildly, preposterously huge that you can build a few secret bases and ships with a rounding error.
Mechanis
Confirmed Extremely Screwed
- Location
- Absconding with Alacrity
Yeah that's actually Canon.
In fact, if anything, you actually overstated how much of the Federation's raw economic power was brought to bear during the Dominion War by a lot, and how much of said power goes into the Starfleet. Quite frankly if the Federation Starfleet accounts for more than two percent of the Federation's economic power in cost I'll buy a hat off the nearest Ferengi specifically to eat it. Because it's canon that the Federation didn't even start talking about a war economy until Betazed happened, and even that wasn't enough to get them to actually do it.
Much of the supposed "incompetence" of Starfleet as a military unit comes from the fact that by Picard's time, the Federation Starfleet (and the Federation in general) was accustomed to operating from a position of insurmountable strength, militarily, technologically, and economically.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yup!
Still, if I was going to write a S31 story, the much shorter version of this short story is "I wouldn't."