Is Section 31 the true face of the Federation?
When he returned to his quarters following his report to Sisko and the others about his experiences with Section 31, how they had shoved him into a simulation depicting a scenario where he would be accused of being a traitor to the Federation after being brainwashed to their cause during his imprisonment at that Dominion asteroid prison while all of his friends and colleagues turned their backs on him, Julian dropped into the couch and he closed his eyes.
He was so tired; Sloan and the other Section 31 people had kept him awake for so long, subjecting him to interrogations, accusations, games where the Dominion led by Weyoun had kidnapped him and told him that they had brainwashed him so thoroughly he would betray everything he had believed in his entire life, only to be rescued by a hostile depiction of his friends. It had almost worked, had Sloan and the others had taken the trouble to learn Miles had injured his arm in one of his kayaking sessions in Quark's holosuite.
Julian knew from his studies of espionage some ancient cults and sides during wartime before the Third World War and the fifty years after the First Contact subjected people to sleep deprivation, endless harangues… it certainly seemed Section 31 believed in the original approach, and with access to modern 24th-century technology like a holodeck, they'd put a new spin on it.
His mind was already racing with the implications of what he'd learnt about Section 31; Odo wasn't surprised by the news the Federation had a bureau like Section 31, given how the Romulans had the Tal Shiar, and the Cardassians had the Obsidian Order before Tain's manipulated attack on the Founder's homeworld which had been sabotaged by the Founders themselves.
But Julian was surprised, and he had seen the same surprise and horror in Sisko's own face at the implications of Section 31's existence. There was little doubt in Julians' mind there were admirals in Starfleet Headquarters who knew about Section 31 and their operations, and now he had the chance to think about it more, there was also no doubt in his head the captain's call would go unanswered. It was likely Starfleet, well those in the know about Section 31 would bury the whole matter quietly.
The thought disgusted him and judging from the way Sisko had said Starfleet hadn't said when they'd get back to him about his enquiries, the feeling was shared.
Julian was amazed an organisation like Section 31 even existed, its development coming about from Starfleet' original charter. Two hundred years of existence, without official guidance or reports, or even knowledge of the organisation. That was scary enough, but what made it unthinkable to Julian was how Section 31 acted as judge, jury, and executioner as if it was their god-given right. That was too much power for anyone to have. If Section 31 was known to exist, if they'd had a different choice and were as known to the Federation as the Romulan public knew of the Tal Shiar, things might've been different.
He remembered the mess where Garak was being tortured by the Obsidian Order's implant in his brain when it began to fail. It was the first time Julian had ever heard of the Obsidian Order, but it was not the last. Odo had been the one to tell him about it, and how the Order was so good at what they did they had the means to document what any Cardassian was eating for their meals; Odo had said people had died for even less, and Julian, who was younger by that point, naive and optimistic before he had spent a month in that Dominion Prison and after everything that had happened since with the outbreak of the war with the Dominion, had been horrified the Cardassians would go that far.
But at the time Quark had been in secret transmission with a Cardassian officer in the process of ordering another implant for Garak. The moment the officer had inputted the implant's code, he panicked and shouted his career was over, and the Obsidian Order would soon be after him. That fear had been palpable, but a lot of it had come from the knowledge of the Order. Was Section 31 keeping itself hidden so then nobody would feel the need to hide?
A clandestine, secret organisation who took such steps would find it easier to mask their activities, but Julian wondered if Section 31 was the true face of the Federation. Odo had made it clear Section 31's purpose made sense, but Julian had been stunned by his experiences and what he'd learnt about the organisations' methods, how they picked and chose their operations, spying on other powers as it was implied, seeking out and destroying anyone who posed a threat without anyone knowing. Was ignorance truly bliss?
And they wanted him to join?
No chance in hell.
Sloan had tried to justify everything he and his organisation did while Julian had been reeling from what he'd learnt and what Sloan expected of him now he knew of Section 31 - Julian had wondered thanks to his genetically engineered intellect at the time how anyone could accept such an offer, and he wondered if all of the organisations' recruits had gone through the same horror he had. Had Sloan when he'd been younger before he'd known of Section 31, go through the same ancient horror? Did they just adopt the mentally of 'well, it happened to me, if I could put up with it, so could others?'
If they did, Julian wanted no part of it.
He refused to work for an organisation that took so many rights and freedoms and ground them into dust like it was their god-given right. But what made it worse was how they claimed to work for the Federation, and while he was pleased they had saved lives - Sloan's voice had been too passionate for what he was saying to be a lie - Julian could not work for them.
Or could he?
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