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Section 31 - Judging the Duras.
In some ways, Luther Sloan thought to himself as he read through the reports his agents had sent from the recent Klingon Civil War, the Duras family should have won the war.
Oh, he didn't mean that in the manner a typical Starfleet officer would have taken it, saying the balance of power would be completely altered, but it would have made Section 31's task of finding Klingons who did dislike the Federation and would definitely take advantage of the new freedoms the Duras family would put into place if Toral took over from Gowron, and use it as justification for lashing out at the Federation.
In diplomatic circles the destruction of the Enterprise C and the sacrifice of her crew, though Section 31 had known for a long time there had been survivors, had done much to convince the Klingon Empire of the goodwill of the Federation. To this day Sloan had no idea why Section 31 had left them to their fate.
But that didn't mean there were not some Klingons who opposed the treaty, either publicly and openly or stewed resentfully in silent.
Starfleet captains who encountered the Klingons, particularly in the last few years, sometimes met a few who really didn't like the Federation. It said a great deal when you encountered the Klingons that they didn't lash out, their innate discipline and their harsh upbringings showing themselves clearly.
But some Klingons didn't care what Starfleet officers and ambassadors thought.
They made rude and off-putting remarks about the Federation, and they also missed the days where their empire was all about death and glory.
Sloan had actually hoped the Duras would have won the war because then they could have planned out new strategies on how to cope with the change in the political landscape.
It would, if it had worked and Gowron had either found himself being forced to go on the run or more likely killed, and the Duras would have ruled the Empire with their Romulan masters pulling the strings, then it could have opened the Romulan Star Empire up to all kinds of sabotage that could not be done at the moment because the Tal Shiar kept such a watch over their people that no Romulan could even scratch one of their pointed ears without it being noted by someone nearby.
The Romulan Empire was dangerous.
In the last few years, the Federation had gone deeper and deeper into space, and while the Borg were truly dangerous, Section 31 had opened laboratories and workshops where they could employ some of the best minds in their employ on the study of Borg technology now they were studying the wreckage of the Borg cube which had been destroyed in orbit above Earth. There was not much left, and Sloan had cursed William Riker's decision to not leave the ship intact, but there was little he could do about it now.
While the Borg were being studied, thanks in no small part to that meddling pest of an omnipotent being, Q, the Romulans were the primary problem for the Federation. If they had taken over the Klingon Empire by opening a new dialogue and forging a new alliance, then their own intelligence service would have been hard-pressed to keep watch on the more violent and impulsive Klingons.
Sloan knew from his agents in the Romulan Star Empire that the Senate had secretly authorised the mass killings of Klingons, though he was not sure if that was an exaggeration or not, though he wouldn't put it past them. The Romulans last alliance with the Klingons had not gone well; the Klingons had harassed the Romulans, harmed their women, and caused no end of disturbances.
The Senate did not want the same thing happening again and Sloan could not blame them for that. Back in the 23rd century, the alliance between the Klingons and the Romulans had been met with joy, it had opened up all kinds of opportunities for espionage, and many 31 agents had forged their careers on it.
Section 31 had also been in two minds about the Khitomer conference; while they had been sympathetic towards Admiral Cartwright and General Chang's thoughts about the alliance, 31 had to look to the bigger picture. On one hand, an alliance with the Klingons would probably mean an enemy had been put down in a more diplomatic way rather than having it destabilised from the inside out.
But on the other hand, an alliance would probably mean that Section 31 would lose their chance to find out if there were other enemies lurking inside Klingon territory. Not all Klingons cared about the Federation. Some were indifferent then as they were now, and there was not a lot that could be done about that opinion. Back in the 23rd century after Praxis, many in 31 had wanted to use the incident as a means to distract the Klingons, there had been many long-term projects on the books.
They could have found spies in Klingon territory, found people with the ears of their governors and councillors to gain a better idea of what Praxis's destruction had done. They may have found ways to destabilise the economy; with how the Empire had such an enormous budget because of their military, it would have been straightforward to bring down the Empire in ways Cartwright had never imagined.
But the end plan was to give the elements in the Empire who didn't want an alliance, led by General Chang, and his opposite number in Starfleet, Admiral Cartwright, some support to bring down the conference, and perhaps even incite a war to make the Federation finally wake up.
Once that was done then the Klingons would have understood it was a bad idea to go up against the United Federation of Planets.
But no. Cartwright and Chang had been given secretive aid from behind the scenes, but they had messed it up, they had overreached themselves and they had done the last thing they should have done. Instead of assassinating Gorkon, or planting a bomb of some kind in the building where the conference was taking place which would have killed the President, half a dozen diplomats, Starfleet officers, and dozens of others, which would have begun a massive war which would have cemented Section 31's place, they had played a really stupid game.
They had assassinated Gorkon onboard his own ship, framed James Kirk and made the Empire only step up their defences. They had also gambled with the existence of a cloaked ship that could fire when invisible, and it had been destroyed.
But now…. Sloan could see the weaknesses of the Duras family and their Romulan allies; their plans were good enough, but they had made it too easy for Starfleet to detect them. The Romulans depended on those cloaking devices too much.
Sloan made notes about the Duras family and what was happening to them now. He would make sure that the Duras sisters, B'tor and Lursa were both kept under watch, and if they caused any troubles for the Federation then they would die. Sloan knew they would try to reconquer the Klingon Empire, but it would take years for them to do that, the Klingon High Council had gleefully given out the news about where the Duras had gotten their help from, making the Duras lose a lot more of their credibility.
But it was early days, the sisters would be back, as would Toral.
Sloan wasn't worried about him for now - he was still basically a kid, but in the future, he could be dangerous, especially if he went around with Klingons who had been dishonoured either for their mistakes or because they believed they could get honour for themselves only.
Rubbing his eyes as they began to sting, Sloan thought about what would happen for the long term. The Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire would perhaps have elements which wanted to forge a new alliance, but now he had work to do. He would need to send agents into the respective territories to see what was going to happen with the High Council and the Senate, but he doubted the Klingons would pose a problem.
It was the Romulans which posed a risk, especially that Sela….
Sloan stopped that train of thought instantly, her origins were so fantastic they were almost unbelievable but Sloan was more interested in her plans for Vulcan, something about reunification….
Author's note - Doesn't it make sense that Section 31 would have interests in the Empire if the Klingons joined with the Romulans?
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