Daniels is Section 31

oliviaclaire

Make the connection — 31st century, Section 31. . . .

Memory Alpha: Daniels (crewman)

While Crewman Daniels appeared to be allied with the United Federation of Planets, the identity of his faction remains unknown, although he might be attached to the Temporal Integrity Commission in his native time period. Regardless, Daniels has explicitly stated, in "Cold Front", that he is not a Starfleet officer.

Memory Alpha: Section 31

Section 31 was the name of an officially-nonexistent and autonomous clandestine organization which claimed to protect the security interests of United Earth and, later, the United Federation of Planets. Loosely speaking, it was Starfleet's black-ops division, operating separately from and usually without the knowledge of Starfleet Intelligence (though it often recruited members of Starfleet Intelligence). Section 31 was also somewhat comparable to the Romulan Tal Shiar or Cardassian Obsidian Order – unlike these other organizations, however, Section 31's very existence was a deeply buried secret, known only to a handful of people beyond its own membership.

"Interesting, isn't it? The Federation claims to abhor Section 31's tactics, but when they need the dirty work done, they look the other way. It's a tidy little arrangement, wouldn't you say?"
– Odo

They all wear black.



It would mean that the Section 31 operatives are black ops temporal agents who meddle in history and break the Temporal Accord.

EDIT: Memory Alpha: Humanoid Figure (a.k.a. "Future Guy")

In November 2012, Brannon Braga stated on his Twitter account that the show's fifth season would have revealed Future Guy to be Jonathan Archer "trying to correct history" and repair a corrupt future by influencing his younger self. Braga added that Archer being Future Guy was the plan from the beginning, and previous statements claiming Future Guy was intended to be a Romulan were meant as a red herring.

In December 2012, Braga expanded on his previous statements by indicating that Archer may have been kept alive by Suliban genetics. It was also indicated that Archer may have had a motive to even kill his past self to benefit the future.

EDIT: The Starfleet Charter, Article 14, Section 31 may be an effect. The section number may have been caused by the existence of the organization.

Memory Alpha: Section 31

Perhaps Section 31's darkest aspect was that, while it had existed since the beginning of Starfleet, it was practically autonomous, having operated for over two centuries with no oversight or accountability whatsoever, even free to kill those it deemed a threat to Federation interests at its own discretion.(DS9: "When It Rains...") Some high-ranking Starfleet admirals and intelligence personnel at times seemed to be vaguely aware that Section 31 existed, though giving them only very broad objectives. At other times, Section 31 appeared to be an outright puppet master to Starfleet, directing the actions and even overall political policies of the Federation itself.

EDIT: ENT: Cold Front

SILIK: Did they tell you that ridiculous story about their noble efforts to protect history? The great Temporal Accord? They're lying to you, Jon. None of it is true. Whoever contacted you is working for another faction. They didn't come here to protect history. They came to alter it. Who do you think was responsible for the antimatter cascade that nearly destroyed your ship? It was them. I was sent to prevent it.

EDIT: Does anyone find it strange that Daniels keeps his faction's identity unknown? Does it make sense that Section 31 is completely oblivious to the Temporal Cold War? They've certainly never contacted Malcolm Reed about it. Doesn't Enterprise have to share its discoveries with someone in Starfleet Command?

VOY: "Future's End"

BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: Starship Voyager, I'm Captain Braxton of the Federation Timeship Aeon. I've come from twenty-ninth century Earth, five hundred years into your future.

(later in the episode)

BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: In my century we can scan time, much as you use sensors to scan space. The Temporal Integrity Commission detected your vessel over twentieth century Earth. I was sent to correct that anomaly.

By comparison, Daniels states that he's from the future but hides his faction's identity. Was it for the sake of mystery to the viewers? Of course, it's possible that he's not Section 31 or that it may be a red herring. I guess we will see.

EDIT: ENT: "Storm Front, Part II"



Note the 9/11 reference.

As the image is shown, Daniels states, "It's almost ready."

saurializard

Your conspiracy theories are getting weaker and weaker.

salazarraze

Hopefully the OP is correct as it would mean that I now like Daniels as I am big supporter of Section 31's tactics.

jbmonroe

So, if Daniels is part of Section 31, what of it? How does that matter in the slightest? The Temporal Accords, like so many other inter-factional treaties, are just a set of rules that the signatories agree to observe in public, but which are violated in private whenever it's convenient or expedient to do so. Only a complete naif would believe otherwise.

But, just to make the OP happy--you want to show the Federation is evil? Fine--it's evil. We're all evil. Evil, evil, evil. Yup, just plain evil, that's us. Whoooooo boy, are we ever evil. Hey, on Saturday, we're gonna beam a whole compartment full of kittens out into space just for fun. That's how evil we are, yessirreebob.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there are some non-Federation ships parked right in front of my guns, and I hate it when that happens. Don't you? If only I could blow them up, but then, I'd have to be evil in order to--wait a second, wait a second, I'm Federation, so of course I'm evil! BWAH-HAH-Hah-Ha-ha-*snort*

Are we done here?

starkaos

Franklin Drake has mentioned that Section 31 has used time travel to solve certain problems that need a more interesting solution. Section 31 is all about protecting the Federation from any threat. Daniels and other Federation Temporal Agents are all about protecting their timeline. So one uses time travel to change history to protect the Federation while the other uses time travel to save their history.

fmgtorres1979

Hence the 31st century...

My God...

kitsunesnout

starkaos wrote: »

Franklin Drake has mentioned that Section 31 has used time travel to solve certain problems that need a more interesting solution. Section 31 is all about protecting the Federation from any threat. Daniels and other Federation Temporal Agents are all about protecting their timeline. So one uses time travel to change history to protect the Federation while the other uses time travel to save their history.

Franklin was also present at the Krenim station when the Annorax was being constructed. Funny place for him to suddenly show up as a non-interactable character all of a sudden isn't it? Plus he was also at some point chatting casually with the temporal agent whom I forget what his name was who'd always be in front of Quinn's office.

lighte007

Phillip Cray, is the person in front of Quinn's Office. But yeah, I think Franklin Drake is an Undine or something else...

liquidatorbrink

There's one weakness in this theory, though I do find the theory interesting. If Daniels is Section 31, why was his contact in the 23rd century Jonathan Archer as opposed to Malcolm Reed? After all, Reed was also a member of 31.

kitsunesnout

lighte007 wrote: »

Phillip Cray, is the person in front of Quinn's Office. But yeah, I think Franklin Drake is an Undine or something else...

Ah that's the name! Well I doubt Franklin an undine at this point, that plot was supposed to of been wrapped up since Delta rising really. However there are signs even in canon that the future federation is a bit more morally ambiguous and kind of fits the theme of section 31, protecting itself at ALL costs.

nikeix

Daniels is Tal Shiar. Truth.

The entire passel of 'Temporal Agents' are Tal shiar. They look like Tal Shiar, they ACT LIKE Tal Shiar, and the "Galactic Union" was signed into existence on New Romulus after the Romulan Republic brought the warring Federation and Klingon Empire to the bargaining table, backed by their deathgrip on the control of both Dyson spheres.

This isn't even a conspiracy theory. This is just opening your eyes to the plotline we've had running since Romulans became playable.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

angrytarg

Excellent detective work here, OP. Or not.

I mean this is a far fetch, linking the two because of a number and a similiar colour of clothing. But the real argument against is that in the 31st century there shouldn't be a S31 any more as there is no Federation left but a galactic union. The entity they want to protect doesn't exist any more.

In any case I would hate this for another reason aswell - Star Trek is more and more becoming Section 31 in the eyes of a lot of fans it seems. That once antagonistic plot point about a radical group running amok within the Federation evolved through canon and non canon works to be the somehow most important entity in the universe, controlling everything. And that's really boring, not only does it glorify a former villian and promotes despicable practices, it also takes everything that is not S31 and pushes it into insignificance, just like all this time travel nonsense completely invalidates whatever our characters do in the actual 25th century.

darkenvious

all I see here is the op is so desperate to make the federation be all evil and is just grasping at straws and their argument is getting weaker and weaker and just because someone wears all black doesn't make them part of section 31

nikeix

Really. This. We at section 31 have standards, after all.

legendarylycan

what standards? they recruited ME​​

nikeix

Well, you already had the shiny black coat.

kitsunesnout

angrytarg wrote: »

Excellent detective work here, OP. Or not.

I mean this is a far fetch, linking the two because of a number and a similiar colour of clothing. But the real argument against is that in the 31st century there shouldn't be a S31 any more as there is no Federation left but a galactic union. The entity they want to protect doesn't exist any more.

In any case I would hate this for another reason aswell - Star Trek is more and more becoming Section 31 in the eyes of a lot of fans it seems. That once antagonistic plot point about a radical group running amok within the Federation evolved through canon and non canon works to be the somehow most important entity in the universe, controlling everything. And that's really boring, not only does it glorify a former villian and promotes despicable practices, it also takes everything that is not S31 and pushes it into insignificance, just like all this time travel nonsense completely invalidates whatever our characters do in the actual 25th century.

Could be interesting plot material, we could end up eventually having to face off against the future Federation due to it going too far in some matters, and joining some sort of rebellion perhaps who wants to uphold the older ideals?

thunderfoot

If I wanted to be James Bond, I'd be playing GoldenEye. If I wanted a spy-centric game, there are lots of them which are far better at it than STO will ever be. If I wanted to play a game where the Federation was evil, I'd fire up my copy of Armada 2 and play as the Terran Empire there.

Section 31 is the absolute stupidest thing the writers for Star Trek ever came up with. If I had my way anyone who wrote an episode with Section 31 stuff in it would spend the rest of their miserable lives writing ad copy for Wal-Mart. Or the Clintons. Or Donald Trump. TBH, all three at the same time still wouldn't be punishment enough..

legendarylycan

nikeix wrote: »

Well, you already had the shiny black coat.

my coat may be black, but it certainly isn't shiny...it practically absorbs light, almost like a furry black hole​​

angrytarg

thunderfoot006 wrote: »

(...)

Section 31 is the absolute stupidest thing the writers for Star Trek ever came up with. If I had my way anyone who wrote an episode with Section 31 stuff in it would spend the rest of their miserable lives writing ad copy for Wal-Mart. Or the Clintons. Or Donald Trump. TBH, all three at the same time still wouldn't be punishment enough..

I liked the original intention. Of course not everything within the UFP is perfect, where do you go with all the reactionaire elements of a society? They have to be somewhere and a secret fascist society plotting, playing the UFP sometimes would make for a thrilling story. It should have stayed that way, though. Bashir uncovering their plans, finding allies and slowly work to beat and dissolve S31 and what it stands for should have been the way to go. Instead, we got Sisko going all "I like that, let's up the game" and with ENT when the real world was just terrified and loved stories with shadow ops protecting them they were established even firmer. The alternate universe/kelvin timeline even make them fully established, having more firepower than the entire Starfleet, just doing their gestapo thing. People love that stuff, for some reason.

legendarylycan

of course people love it...have you seen a gestapo uniform? it's one of the snazziest uniforms in the history of...history

and section 31's isn't bad either, even if a little plain​​

feiqa

I like this theory if only because I detest Daniels.
He is just another redshirt versus the gorn. We handled that mess.
He was a redshirt all the way through K13. Then when we won on our own merits he tells us we have to be silent on the threat that brought the parasites there. Even the fight versus the nak'hul ship, he rattles off about temporal shielding on an open channel and it is Scotty that handles that.
Modus operandi for Babel and Tangled webs keeps me asking. Why does he recruit from near the timeline he is fixing? Its his job not eight centuries prior's military.
The Defiant issue irks me in that he has us go back and help. (Didn't we know going in Defiant was lost? If not why is he recruiting altered people?) So he orders us not to help them? If you don't want us doing things our way. Don't recruit us.
And finally the battle of Caleb IV. I fully believe I could have shot my way out of the tractor beam. And as for the battle, I was winning when he beamed me out and declared we died. It seemed like he decided how it happened. Not that is history. The only part I might feel sorry for him is when he mentions the alternative is worse. Believe him. Like someone tortured him to take the job he is doing.

So 31st century temporal affairs being section 31? Sounds plausible.

[Deleted User]

Can we just all agree the story telling for AOY is pisss poor

legendarylycan

no, because it wasn't​​

centaurianalpha

I was entirely satisfied with Section 31 being involved with the Temporal Agents, which in why my Agent wears the S31 uniform...

nightken

well the choices are future feds have somehow become totally unable to handle well anything without help or something shady is going on. well section 31 is the shady side of the feds.

and really one does not need any theories to paint the federation as a nightmareish dystopia with a smiley face stamped on it. give me time I can do it without stepping a toe out of canon.

artan42

angrytarg wrote: »

thunderfoot006 wrote: »

(...)

Section 31 is the absolute stupidest thing the writers for Star Trek ever came up with. If I had my way anyone who wrote an episode with Section 31 stuff in it would spend the rest of their miserable lives writing ad copy for Wal-Mart. Or the Clintons. Or Donald Trump. TBH, all three at the same time still wouldn't be punishment enough..

I liked the original intention. Of course not everything within the UFP is perfect, where do you go with all the reactionaire elements of a society? They have to be somewhere and a secret fascist society plotting, playing the UFP sometimes would make for a thrilling story. It should have stayed that way, though. Bashir uncovering their plans, finding allies and slowly work to beat and dissolve S31 and what it stands for should have been the way to go. Instead, we got Sisko going all "I like that, let's up the game" and with ENT when the real world was just terrified and loved stories with shadow ops protecting them they were established even firmer. The alternate universe/kelvin timeline even make them fully established, having more firepower than the entire Starfleet, just doing their gestapo thing. People love that stuff, for some reason.

That's because Marcus was setting up a Federation military. Starfleet is not the Federation's military but S31 could be. It has it's own resources and command chain separate from Starfleet. The only downside to that was that Marcus was a pillock and decided an assault on Kronos with Harrison was a sensible idea instead of using a single gramme of Slone's cunning.​​

angrytarg

artan42 wrote: »

(...) The only downside to that was that Marcus was a pillock and decided an assault on Kronos(...)

You have made me crack up over here *uueueueue* ​​

legendarylycan

why? pillock means something different in deutschland than it does in england?​​

angrytarg

shadowfang240 wrote: »

why? pillock means something different in deutschland than it does in england?

No, I just read artan's post in a british accent. A brit saying pillock just makes me laugh I just like hearing brits talk, let alone hurl insults​​