 On the eve of Dr.
Bashir's departure for a conference on the Romulan homeworld,
he's visited by Sloan, the director of Section 31, a secret and
unsanctioned extremist entity within Starfleet Intelligence.
Sloan asks a reluctant Bashir
to gather information on the Romulan leadership. Bashir reports
the request to Sisko, who worries that although Starfleet
Command has officially condemned Section 31, someone in its
membership may actually be protecting the group. After
consulting with Admiral Ross, Sisko advises Bashir to play along
with Sloan in order to determine Sloan's motivations.
En route to the conference, Bashir and Ross run into Sloan, who
is posing under an assumed identity. Later, Sloan gives Bashir
the job of diagnosing whether or not Koval, a key Romulan who
opposes the Federation Alliance, is suffering from a
degenerative disorder. Sloan hopes to use that knowledge to
block Koval's assignment to the Romulans' powerful Continuing
Committee.
Shortly after arriving on Romulus, Bashir meets Koval. When
Sloan queries Bashir about Koval's health, it becomes clear to
Bashir and Ross that Sloan plans to assassinate Koval by
accelerating his illness. Ross vows to arrest Sloan to prevent
the deadly plot from moving forward, but to Bashir's dismay,
Ross is apparently felled by an aneurysm before detaining Sloan.
With Ross incapacitated, Bashir shares his suspicions about
Sloan's intent to assassinate Koval with Senator Cretak, and
presses her to access top secret documents from Koval's database
to help thwart the murder. Meanwhile, a wary Koval turns the
tables on Bashir by luring him into an interrogation, where he
uses painful, but ineffective, tactics to ascertain for whom the
doctor is working.
Bashir is brought before the Continuing Committee, where he
learns that Cretak was arrested for trying to tap into Koval's
database. What's more, Bashir is led to believe that Section 31
is nothing more than an elaborate cover for Sloan's personal
desire to avenge the death of his mentor. But after Sloan is
vaporized by Koval while trying to escape, Bashir confronts
Ross. The admiral admits that Koval is a Romulan "mole" working
for the Federation and that Sloan is still alive — and still
running Section 31, which "officially" doesn't exist.
See Also: Image Captures |
