Day 164: DS9, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S7EP16, “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”

 Summary: Bashir is paid an unwelcome visit from Sloan, the head of Starfleet’s secret spy organization known as Section 31 (as introduced in “Inquisition”). Bashir’s heading to Romulus for a conference regarding the Dominion war, and Sloan wants him there to gather data on the Romulans, since Sloan suspects there’s going be a power struggle between them and the Federation once the Dominion threat is dealt with. At Sisko’s urging, Bashir goes along with it, but starts feeling even more uncomfortable when the mission shifts from reconnaissance to identifying weak spots in one of the Romulans, Koval (John Fleck). Koval is the head of the Tal Shiar, Romulus’ spy organization, and eliminating him would get rid of one of the major opponents of the Federation-Romulan alliance. Since Sloan is also present on Romulus (undercover, of course) and he can’t contact Deep Space Nine for advice, Bashir has to figure out what to do, and more importantly, who to trust.

Standalone Thoughts: I know some people think Section 31’s existence goes against everything that was Gene Roddenberry’s vision for Star Trek, but I like the idea of them. If handled right, they can be a subtle commentary about how the world isn’t perfect, and in the specific context of Deep Space Nine, they could have been a good source of conflict. A subplot about Bashir joining Section 31 to learn more about it for Sisko and having to struggle to both maintain his cover and not do anything too abhorrent would have been great. This episode feints in that direction…but it doesn’t quite get there.

Interestingly, both the episode specific and general issue boil down to the same thing; what exactly is the plan here? Bashir’s mission contains so many new assignments, twists, and complications that it’s hard to figure out exactly what’s going on, and while that makes a certain amount of sense given that this is a spy story, the reveal/explanation of everything at the end doesn’t feel wholly satisfying. Perhaps it’s not meant to be, since this is a story that revels in its grey morality, but we should at least be able to applaud the story for clever writing. This just feels muddled, and even if the speeches near the end are meant to be profound, we can’t shake the fact that things are being told rather than shown.

That’s nothing compared to the bigger picture, though. Sloan/Section 31 wants to be as secretive as possible, but they don’t care that Bashir blabs about their existence to Sisko? Maybe they knew he either wouldn’t be believed or that they covered their tracks well, but is that a risk a spy organization really wants to take? Sloan wants to recruit Bashir, but he takes almost a year to try again after his first attempt? If he really was the type who “doesn’t take no for an answer” as Sisko said in “Inquisition”, shouldn’t he have been trying to get his hooks into Bashir much more regularly? Not that Sisko’s logic makes much more sense. He wants Bashir to pretend to work for Section 31…why? Is the plan to expose them to make people more aware of their presence? To stop them from doing particularly heinous things like assassination? To get rid of them altogether? Like I said, Bashir outfoxing Section 31 would make a great plot thread, but it’s harder to be invested when you don’t know what goal he’s working towards.

I’m not saying I hate this episode. Certainly it feels more compelling and relevant than a lot of the other episodes I’ve had issues with this season. But it’s definitely not a great episode either, even with all the potential. Fortunately, unless my memory has failed me entirely, we’re about to enter the final push, when everything ramps into high gear and the stories get much stronger. And given the unexpectedly mediocre quality of a good deal of this season’s episodes, no one’s more excited about that than I am.

How it Relates to the Whole: This episode marks the return of Section 31, and while the plot that spins out here isn’t directly related to future events (although it does call back to “The Quickening”, which allows for some continuity), it lays out more of the group’s mission statement, which will come into play during the final push. Although you’ll be forgiven if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.

Other: *For those who like semi-crossovers, the ship that Bashir takes to Romulus is the same sort of ship (I think they’re called Intrepid class) as Voyager, which means that the showrunners got to use the Voyager sets to shake things up a bit. They’re not obvious about it, though, which is fine by me; personally, I prefer to be reminded of Voyager as little as possible unless SFDebris is involved.

*I like the fact that Sloan adopts a more nasally voice when he’s posing as a cartographer, no doubt to make people assume he’s a nerdy type and therefore not particularly suspicious. Sometimes, it’s all about the little details.

Best Line/Exchange: Given the somewhat convoluted nature of the plot, it stands to reason that I had trouble picking a best line. So I’ll use one of my usual gambits when it’s hard to find something—rely on Garak to help me out;

(Garak and Bashir are discussing Bashir’s trip to Romulus)

Garak: I trust that Starfleet Intelligence will be sending someone along to make good use of this opportunity.

Bashir: What do you mean?

Garak: Well, isn’t it obvious? This is a golden opportunity to gather intelligence on Romulan intentions and military capabilities!

Bashir: They’re our allies, Garak! And with any luck, this could be the beginning of an entirely new friendship  between our peoples.

Garak (shaking his head and rolling his eyes): The eternal optimist.

Bashir: Guilty as charged.

Garak: How sad. I must tell you, I’m disappointed at hearing you mouth the usual platitudes of peace and friendship regarding an implacable foe like the Romulans. But I live in hope that one day, you’ll come to see this universe for what it truly is rather than what you’d wish it to be.

While I disagree with Garak’s feeling that people should lose their sense of hope and optimism as quickly as possible, I’m…kind of in agreement with him about using the opportunity to gather data on the Romulans. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”, after all, and while I wouldn’t go as far as Sloan (as Bashir says, he’s planning for the next war before this one’s even ended), they’re both right that learning what you can when you have the chance isn’t a bad idea. I just support Garak more because he appears to be less nasty with his intentions.

After the Fact Update: There’s no explanation in the DS9 Companion as to why this episode was switched with “Badda-Bing Badda-Bang”. Given that the writers deliberately created “Badda-Bing” to have some fun before the big final push, swapping the two episodes makes even less sense. Fortunately, Memory Alpha came to the rescue on this one; apparently the studio thought it was a good (and expensive) episode, so they decided to air it during Sweeps week. They weren’t exactly wrong to do so, but it’s another example of studio meddling interfering in author intent. But such is life, I guess.