All In
Posted on January 30th, 2017 by Ian Blackthorne

FROM THE DESK OF VICE ADMIRAL IAN BLACKTHORNE
COMMANDER, THIRD FLEET, EMBARKED ON USS ATLANTIS

To All Starfleet Officers,

By now, it is likely that news has reached many of you that I am not actually dead. I, along with my wife and executive officer, Captain T’Kirr, were believed to have been killed in a shuttlecraft explosion, but were instead transported to a nearby cloaked ship. Over the next month, we were held against our will while the contents of our minds were forcibly examined through telepathy. We were finally exiled without any technology to a wilderness on the other side of a planet from an off-limits pre-technological civilization and left to survive with only monthly supply drops to sustain us. It should be noted that this exile was granted in lieu of execution, ostensibly as a reward for our service to the Federation.

This crime against two highly-decorated Starfleet officers was committed by an organization known as Section 31. For most, knowledge of the existence of Section 31 will be a sudden confirmation of what had only been spoken of before in whispered rumors. However, it is my displeasure to not only confirm the existence of Section 31, but to inform you that they are in control of a large section of Starfleet Command, as well as the Federation government itself. Key figures that would stand in their way, such as former President Aennik Okeg and Admiral A. C. Zuriyev, were removed along with me through various illegal methods. These are not the actions of a government accountable to the public, but are instead cowardly strikes from the shadows intended to quietly remove all dissent.

Section 31 as an organization is guided by the belief that the Federation should come first, which in itself isn’t terribly objectionable. However, they are willing to stop at absolutely nothing to achieve this end, which is where the ideological break happens. Any moral government must have boundaries that they will not cross in pursuit of their own benefit, and this creed alone would be enough to keep Section 31 from power. Unfortunately, they already have gained such power, and it is the duty of Starfleet to ensure that they are not allowed to keep it.

As an example of this reprehensible philosophy, while I was detained, Atlantis was ordered to stop a fleet of Romulan Republic refugees from crossing into Federation space by any means necessary. These Romulans were fleeing an Imperial government that had attempted genocide upon them with biological weaponry. Asking them to return where they came from was not an option, nor was firing upon them, which were the unspoken orders given—by any means necessary. Captain Kathryn Harper chose to negotiate the historic treaty with the Republic that was publically lauded by the Federation, but privately, she was punished for not destroying the helpless Romulans during their moment of weakness.

Every single Starfleet officer should, at this point, question why they ever put on the uniform in the first place. Was it to join an organization that orders its ship Captains to fire on innocent unarmed refugees and punishes them for negotiating peace treaties? If it was, instead, in service to the ideals of the Federation, such as universal liberty, equality, sharing of knowledge, exploration, scientific development, and peaceful cooperation, then that officer has a duty to defy Section 31. Without these values, the uniform and career have no meaning, and it is in pursuit of a return to these values that I ask your help in bringing down Section 31.

Attached, you will find evidence from Section 31’s own computers to support my claims. More will be forthcoming as I gather it, but in the meantime, there are many things that need to be done to help this cause, a list of which I will also attach. In the meantime, view any orders you receive from Starfleet Command through the lens of those ideals, and disobey any that are morally reprehensible, as has always been your duty. We can overcome this, together, and take back the Federation.

Vice Admiral Ian Blackthorne
CO, C3F, USS Atlantis, NCC-1021-D
“Come let us sail the boundless sea…”

 

Ian signed off on the missive with a simple tap, which seemed to echo in the ready room. With a sharp exhale of breath, he then sent it for immediate distribution, first to his own Third Fleet, and then to the whole of Starfleet. It would be encrypted and the originating location masked, but it was still certainly a gamble since his status along with Atlantis’s would no longer be unknown to HQ. Each ship would be free to select their path, and he could only hope that they would choose the right one, but trusted that many would.

Another blinking message caught Ian’s eye now that he had finished composing one that could potentially change history. Opening it, he found it was from T’Kirr, a simple message from his wife wishing him a happy birthday and inviting him to spend an evening in the holodeck with her. With the weight of this on his shoulders, Ian had forgotten the date, and he smirked. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said as he rose from the desk. Crossing to the bar to pour himself a drink, he mused that perhaps he would be.