The United Federation of Planets might maintain itself up as a futuristic utopia nevertheless it additionally has a darkish underbelly. Covert intelligence group Part 31 carries out the missions Starfleet pretends do not occur, bending the foundations within the identify of conserving everybody else secure.
Since making its first look in “Deep House 9“, Part 31 has damaged cowl in quite a few “Star Trek” TV exhibits and flicks. Now, Starfleet’s responsible secret is getting its very personal film, as Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou is introduced again into service with an all-new group of specialist operatives.
So, as “Star Trek: Part 31” deploys on Paramount+, we raid the Federation’s most labeled recordsdata to provide you a full debrief on Part 31’s murky previous.
What’s Part 31 in “Star Trek”?
Part 31 is a top-secret department of Starfleet Intelligence, working means exterior traditional Federation guidelines and laws. Its operatives exist within the shadows, doing unsavory work behind the scenes in order that James T Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Kathryn Janeway, and different Starfleet captains can perform their day jobs with out getting their palms too soiled.
Starfleet Command is conscious of its existence however has traditionally given Part 31 the liberty to do no matter it thinks mandatory to realize its goals. This lack of day-to-day oversight permits Starfleet to protect the phantasm of believable deniability.
When did Part 31 first seem?
Whereas Part 31 made its TV debut within the Nineteen Nineties courtesy of “Deep House 9” — extra on that later — its origins return means additional in canon. The company was initially based to guard the pursuits of planet Earth, earlier than increasing its remit to cowl your entire Federation.
Within the twenty second century, “Enterprise”‘s Captain Jonathan Archer realized that his head of safety, Malcolm Reed, had beforehand been on the Part 31 payroll. However Part 31 will not be the kind of group you give up, so Reed’s former boss Harris (first names are, apparently, non-compulsory), did not hesitate to carry his unwitting sleeper agent again into the fold.
Sadly for Reed, Harris’s orders required him to betray his commanding officer by intentionally obstructing an investigation into the Klingons’ abduction of chief medical officer Dr Phlox. Simply so as to add to the murkiness, it turned out that Part 31 was complicit within the kidnapping, as they wanted Phlox to discover a remedy for a virus that was making Klingons look human.
The official purpose for Part 31’s intervention was sustaining the soundness of the Alpha Quadrant however, within the course of, in addition they fastened the retcon that had defined why Authentic Collection Klingons look fully completely different to people who adopted.
Why is it known as Part 31?
The identify comes from Article 14, Part 31 of the Starfleet Constitution. As Harris instructed Captain Archer in “Enterprise” episode “Divergence”, “There are a couple of traces [in the Charter] that make allowances for bending the foundations throughout instances of extraordinary menace.” Part 31 exists to stretch that “extraordinary menace” loophole so far as it will possibly.
How secret really are they?
Not very. Whereas Captain Archer seemingly knew nothing concerning the group within the twenty second century, Part 31 is such an open secret in Twenty third-century-set Star Trek: Discovery that it has its personal fleet of ships.
Officers additionally sport distinctive black Starfleet badges on their uniforms, which appears as naïve as Homer carrying a “Witness Relocation Program” t-shirt within the basic “The Simpsons” episode “Cape Feare”.
Did Kirk and Spock ever cross paths with Part 31?
Not through the Enterprise’s authentic five-year mission or subsequent film adventures, however Spock did have some dealings with Part 31 when he served beneath Captain Christopher Pike. In truth, he grew to become an individual of curiosity throughout an investigation into the mysterious Purple Angels that had haunted his desires. The Angels subsequently turned out to be Michael Burnham and mum Gabrielle, carrying a time-travel go well with bankrolled by… Part 31.
However this incarnation of Part 31 was much more sinister than the usual selection, having been taken over by a megalomaniac AI often known as Management. Initially designed for menace evaluation, it obtained extreme delusions of grandeur, took management of the Part 31 fleet, and murdered plenty of key figures within the company — with the notable exception of its puppet, Leland (once more, no first identify).
Philippa Georgiou, former chief of the Terran Empire within the Mirror Universe, in the end took Management offline earlier than blasting off for the thirty second century with the remainder of the Discovery crew. Klingon-turned-human Ash Tyler was appointed to steer the intelligence outfit’s rebuild.
Spock and Kirk additionally confronted off towards Part 31 within the parallel Kelvin timeline. The bombing of a Part 31 facility in London was the catalyst for the plot of “Star Trek Into Darkness“, as John “Khan” Harrison waged a one-man warfare towards Starfleet. Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus — who had, coincidentally, ordered the Twentieth-century tyrant‘s defrosting — was additionally a member of Part 31. He used the same old “extraordinary menace” excuse to justify his actions as he betrayed the Federation. He additionally flew across the cosmos within the USS Vengeance, a large starship whose lack of markings and visual registry quantity did not make it any much less conspicuous.
What makes the perfect Part 31 agent?
Part 31’s recruitment coverage tends to embrace ethical shades of gray. In truth, previous expertise as a brutal dictator appears to be an essential qualification, as each Khan Noonien Singh and Philippa Georgiou have made it previous Part 31’s vetting procedures.
You do not have to be a mass assassin to enroll, nonetheless. In “Decrease Decks”, Bradward Boimler’s transporter clone, William, faked his personal dying to affix Part 31. And, through the Dominion Battle, Part 31 tried and didn’t recruit the genetically enhanced Dr Julian Bashir to their ranks — seems like they had been impressed by his 007-esque holosuite exploits in “Our Man Bashir”.
So Part 31 nonetheless operates within the twenty fourth century?
Sure, Part 31 — represented by Luther Sloan (that uncommon operative with a primary identify) — indulged in some extraordinarily dodgy ways throughout “Deep House 9″‘s Dominion Battle. Its brokers even sunk as little as engineering a morphogenic virus to kill off the shapeshifting Founders. The Federation Council, now not claiming the ethical excessive floor over Part 31, later determined to withhold the remedy.
A number of years later in “Decrease Decks”, William Boimler commanded Part 31 vessel the Anaximander on a mission to apprehend a ship creating rifts between universes.
The place does the brand new “Star Trek: Part 31” film slot in?
The brand new Paramount+ film sees Philippa Georgiou pulled again into the Part 31 fold after touring again from the thirty second century. Someday through the “misplaced period” between the unique forged films and “The Subsequent Era”, Georgiou will be part of an all-new group on a mission to save lots of the Federation from a significant new menace.
“Star Trek: Part 31” streams on Paramount+ from Friday, January 24.
