Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy this and my previous Section 31 one-shot.
Section 31 - Return of Khan.
"Is this confirmed?" The first man in a black leather tunic asked the second man in a similar outfit.
"Yes. Khan Noonien Singh has definitely returned," the second man replied, his voice cold but with a hint of grimness in his tone. "He tried to take over the Enterprise. Our agents posted onboard the ship have already submitted their reports."
"And Kirk and the rest of Starfleet in their infinite wisdom decided to exile him on Ceti Alpha V?" The first man said sceptically. "From what I've learnt from the reports, Kirk allowed Khan access to the Enterprise's database and there is no telling what he learnt from the schematics of Enterprise. They schematics may not have had the complete technical specifics of warp or impulse technology, but he could find a way off that planet in a primitive spacecraft, and he and his augments could venture out of the solar system if they create a warp ship."
Both members of the organisation knew that was a fear that could be exaggerated, but it was their role in the Federation to consider this kind of problem and act upon it.
Section 31 had agents scattered through the Federation, and even a bit beyond. But many operatives were assigned as crew members or officers onboard Starships or Starbases. Every day they sent back reports to Section 31 detailing potential and realistic threats to the Federation. Recently Section 31 had received a report from Enterprise. The organisation had come to expect almost daily reports from the ship and its sister ships. But even they hadn't predicted the recent communique.
Khan Noonien Singh, warlord of the Eugenics Wars. Madman. The despotic genius who had dominated a good size of Earth during that period had returned. Resting in suspended animation onboard a primitive spaceship with many of his surviving followers, Khan had been revived by the crew of the Enterprise by accident. Once he had acclimatised to being in the 23rd century, Khan had tried to take control of the starship but had been foiled. It had been a near thing. Now Khan had been exiled to a planet in a remote system.
Starfleet had closed the book and had forgotten it. But Section 31 would not. They never closed the book on anything.
A third man, dressed in an identical suit to the other two, had something else on his mind. "I find it amazing that Khan and the augments believed Starfleet would just roll over and let them take the Enterprise if their little takeover was successful. Khan may have been brilliant and ruthless when his empire stretched over the planet, but he is no starship captain, he wouldn't have lasted long against a properly trained crew."
The other two men agreed with him there. Khan Noonien Singh's reputation for brutality was well known on Earth and on other Federation worlds where his history was used to remind everyone why genetic engineering had been banned.
"How does this affect us and our genetic projects?" The second man asked in concern.
"We'll need to be careful," the third man replied, "but considering how much of a tight squeeze the Federation has on genetic engineering and how we monitor the illegal clinics where genetic tinkering takes place, I doubt it would affect them, but we might need to take precautions in case someone discovers what we're doing. For long-term security sake, I suggest we lay low for the time being and keep watch in case the Federation Council or Starfleet discovers our projects on distant worlds."
The first man nodded. "That's a good plan," he said, "see to it. But make sure that the research is still taking place, but keep it slow until further notice."
The third man nodded but he didn't leave, he knew that there would be more to come.
"I want a spy satellite placed in the Ceti Alpha system to monitor the colony on Ceti Alpha V," the first man said, "we can pull some strings in Starfleet Intelligence and have one planted without the knowledge of too many people, especially Kirk. If those augments even think of leaving, I want us to be the first to know; we were unable to completely suppress what that bunch of augments in the 22nd century did with the Klingons, but I don't want a repeat of that disaster happening again because Khan makes some stupid mistake that gets the Federation locked in a war with someone else."
Neither of the other two men in the room had a problem following that order, but the third man raised a big concern. "Do you think there are other augments that managed to escape Earth during the Eugenics wars and made it into space the same way Khan did?"
The second man frowned. "I hope not," he said, though the uncertainty of his voice said even he was not sure.
"Even if there are or there aren't, I want to be ready for anything," the first man said, effectively putting an end to that line of the discussion. "Send a message to all of our agents on various ships out there in the galaxy, tell them to report back if their ships discover anything like the Botany Bay in space. If they can, destroy the ship, colony, whatever and tell them to make sure it looks like an accident."
"Starfleet will probably investigate such an attempt," the second man pointed out.
"I don't care. Starfleet rarely, if ever, learns from its mistakes. But send the instructions anyway, but make sure our agents get the full story on such a discovery before they take the law into their own hands. We have enough to deal with as it is, we have to ensure our long-term plans with genetic research aren't discovered by Starfleet, and with the latest mess with Khan, they're more than likely to shoot first if they encounter another case of genetic manipulation."
The second man cursed Khan Noonien Singh in his mind, and he wondered if his predecessors from the 22nd century had had this same problem with the augments that reckless idiot Soong had grown from those embryos stored in that cold station. Fortunately, today he and his colleagues had just received the information while Starfleet was in the process of deliberating and meeting with the Federation Council on how to deal with genetic engineering. The Council were surprised and amazed someone like Khan had been alive all this time, albeit in suspended animation, but was now aware of where and when he was and happened to be exiled on a planet.
Starfleet would probably not bother to check on the progress of the augment colony now on the planet, they would believe the matter was closed off and would try to forget about Khan and his followers like trying to forget a truly unpleasant chapter in a book. But Section 31 was there to cope with the embarrassing and disturbing aspects of life in the galaxy, and thanks to the Enterprise crew who'd revived Khan before they even knew who he was, there was a big mess in the galaxy today.
"I think we should also prepare for the worst," the second man said, "I think we should send in more than one spy satellite, and I think we should also have a team prepared who could destroy the augments if they try to escape the planet."
"I like that idea," the third man commented. "But I'm not sure if we would even be able to send a ground force to the planet to deal with the augments. They are physically and mentally dangerous, and they are capable of overwhelming even Vulcans."
"What do you suggest?"
The third man clicked his fingers. He had been deep in thought for the last minute, and he had paid close attention to the conversation and the dilemma at hand. "I think we should prepare a missile, powered and propelled by a warp engine. If we equip it with a warhead with enough antimatter and normal matter, with a tricobalt device added on, we could destroy the colony and everything there if the spy satellite we place in the system picks up any suspicious activity."
"That's a good idea, but we would need to find a site close to the Ceti Alpha system," the second man pointed out, "and it would take a while to build it, even if we use robots to do the work."
The first man groaned as something else sprang to mind. "Also it might attract attention to our activities, and a Starfleet captain might get involved, and ruin the entire operation. After Khan's discovery and revival, the service is tense enough as it is."
"And it would also require a freight run to ferry the supplies to the site to build the place, build the missile and ensure it has a powerful enough warp engine to reach the augment colony to destroy it, and that would definitely attract attention. Our cloaking technology is good but it's too risky. And then, we would have to dismantle the site, and that would take time. It could take less than a year to make sure there are no signs of any engineering, especially if we choose a place that is unsurveyed, and we all know Starfleet simply can't keep its nose to itself."
The third man sighed and reconsidered. "What if we find an old starship in mothballs, reactivate the ship, and load it up with antimatter and other powerful explosives while giving it more than enough fuel and power to reach the planet? We wouldn't have to build anything from scratch, but we would have to make sure the theft is quiet, and that we don't leave any trail, but have a cover story planned out in case the theft is reported, or it fails."
"I like that idea, and there are quite a few starships in mothball shipyards throughout the Federation that are large enough to cause a lot of damage to a planet's surface over a large area," the second man commented after a moment's thought, but the first man was shaking his head in frustration. "Starfleet," he muttered irritably, "how many messes are they making that we need to prepare plans and counterplots for these days?"
The other two men were just as exasperated, but the whole point of Section 31 was to protect the Federation, sometimes from their enemies, and sometimes from themselves.