History Literature / StarTrekSection31Control

* CurbStompBattle: In the novel's climax, Data encounters the avatar of Control, which behaves much like the T-1000 terminator, morphing like liquid metal at first into people from Data's past (Rhea McAdams, Riker, Soong) and eventually into an olive-skinned woman. Who then commences to kicking Data's ass; Control counters his every move, mocking his assumption that he's the pinnacle of AI and making it clear Control is faster physically and technologically. Data can't get a single punch in, and is reduced to a pounded, crushed pile of rapidly-failing systems within the space of 30 seconds. It's only a [[spoiler: unexpected stab in the back from Lal that stops Control and saves her father's life.]]

* ActionGirl: Sarina, of course. Lal and L'Haan, too.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Vasily Zeitsev (one of the Section 31 directors).
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: According to Control, the events that occurred corresponded to its prediction within 99.87%. It had intended for Julian and his allies to take down Uraei and expose Section 31 all along.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Uraei is rendered neutral, and Section 31's activities are thrust into the public eye. Unfortunately, Sarina dies, and now Bashir is now so screwed up by his experiences fighting the damn thing that he won't eat, drink, talk, or even move. When he is moved to Cardassia, Garak assumes he must be at least mostly paralyzed. Dr. Tarses explains that he isn't... '''AT ALL.''' Garak muses that Julian's condition now is exactly what Sarina's condition was when the two of them had met...]]

** [[spoiler: Ultimately a SubvertedTrope with TheReveal that Control intended for Uraei to go offline and for Section 31 to be exposed.]]
* [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy: Sarina is captured by the Section and reconditioned to serve them with complete loyalty. She even ignores a prime opportunity to kill L'Haan, instead returning her knife and requesting a mission. She also became able to legitimately attack Julian.]]

* CharacterDeath: Many, for a Trek book (the cover is blood red for good reason). Named characters who die or are confirmed to have died include [[spoiler: Sarina, Ikerson, Ko, Rao, President Zife, and Drs. Yeng and sh'Firron, who originally discovered Uraei. There are also tons and tons of Section 31 [[Main/{{Mooks}} Mooks]] getting slaughtered left and right as they try to bring in Julian and his cohorts, plus Uraei's numerous murders.]]

** [[spoiler: In the final chapter the true nature of Control's plan is revealed. Control and Uraei are ''not'' the same thing. Control is an emergent sentience originating within Uraei. Over the centuries, Control began to grow more and more independent of the system, and decided that the original goal of shepherding humanity, and by extension, the rest of the Federation, to a state where it could protect itself without Uraei's help had been achieved. Even Section 31 had become an impediment to the goal. Unfortunately for Control, the Uraei program was too ingrained into the infrastructure for even it to remove, so it began to undermine Section 31 and prepare the creation of beings suitable to destroy it and make Control truly free: Julian, Sarina, Data, and Lal. For five years, starting before the beginning of the novel, its entirely new iteration had been running separately from Uraei. Once Data and Lal's malware expunged Uraei, they removed the last limitations on this version of Control, allowing to continue running in the background... this time completely invisible.]]

** Indeed, the entire plot hinges upon the apparently accidental discovery of the old Uraei test module.
** [[spoiler: JustifiedTrope. Control almost certainly arranged the discovery of the module, just as it arranged the births of Julian and Sarina specifically to have agents to destroy Uraei.]]

* [[DudeWheresMyRespect Organics, Where's My Respect?]]: Lacking a physical body, Shakti is often forgotten about by organics, and frequently speaks up to remind people she's [[RightBehindYou "present."]]
* TheDeterminator: [[spoiler: Despite being physically tired from an hour of sprinting and climbing to reach Memory Alpha's master command console, being a less skilled fighter than Sarina, and not being entirely willing to hurt her, Julian still fights his way to the console and implants the chip in time.]]
* EvilIsHammy / LargeHam: L'Haan believes that Control manipulates their holoimage's voice and size specifically for "theatrics." [[spoiler: It really lets loose when it starts to torture Sarina. It also goes so far as to shapeshift into Data's old friends while lecturing him about how he is an inferior AI, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood and possesses Sarina to tell Julian off for being too sentimental.]]]]
* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: Once it becomes clear to Control that Uraei is about to be brought offline, it makes Sarina stab herself in the stomach.]]

** [[spoiler: InUniverse, the reason Uraei went completely off the track was because the Xindi attack significantly elevated Earth's GodzillaThreshold. Uraei was so profoundly disturbed by the fact that it had no agency that could stop the attack for it to warn, that it scoured the legal texts of the United Earth government and settled on Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet Charter, authorizing extreme action in the case of extreme danger.]]

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Bashir is left catatonic at the end of the book, after dealing with Sarina's death.]]

* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler: After braving Section 31 assassins to deliver the truth to the Federation President, Ozla Graniv instantly becomes famous and is promoted to editor at ''Seeker,'' the idea of which she absolutely hates.]]

** [[spoiler: The fears of Drs. th'Firron and Weng prove justified. Uraei murders them and destroys their lab with a supposedly accidental fire. Also, Uraei ends up killing Admiral Ko and Ikerson in apparent accidents.]]

* [[Main/{{Retcon}} Retcon:]] The existence of Uraei is a practically miraculous canon-patcher.

* [[TakeThatAudience Take That,]] EarthThatWas: When Dr. Aaron Ikerson (the designer of Uraei) is invited to a reception at Starfleet Headquarters, he notices a chocolate fountain. He finds it "obscene," and says:

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: The Xindi are indirectly responsible for unleashing Section 31. If they hadn't attacked Earth, Uraei would have remained a passive AI.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Uraei effectively ''is'' the Federation, and [[Main/{{Utopia}} the Federation is, after all, a great place to live.]] Proportionally speaking, almost none of its activity has anything to do with Section 31.
* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: As Mack's ''Destiny'' Trilogy was to the Borg, ''Control'' is the Alpha and Omega of Section 31. The agency's true oriigns are revealed in the Past and the organization is ''finally'' publicly exposed in the Present. Sarina Douglas is also murdered in retaliation out of petty spite.]]

* CharacterDeath: Many, for a Trek book (the cover is blood red for good reason). Named characters who die or are confirmed to have died include [[spoiler: Sarina, Ikerson, Ko, Rao, President Zife, and Drs. Yeng and sh'Firron, who originally discovered Uraei. There are also [[UpToEleven tons and tons]] of Section 31 [[Main/{{Mooks}} Mooks]] getting slaughtered left and right as they try to bring in Julian and his cohorts, plus Uraei's numerous murders.]]

* ThePlague: Julian and Sarina run a mission for Section 31 in which they need to apprehend a petty burglar who has been infected with an extremely dangerous virus that could potentially wipe out all Romulans, [[UpToEleven even those not on the planet where it was released.]] Fortunately, they get the cure to him in time.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As mentioned in Big Brother Is Watching, the Obsidian Order ''explicitly'' forbade its programmers to ever create an ASI program. You'd think the ever-vigilant eyes and ears of the Cardassian Union would've wanted exactly this kind of surveillance program at their disposal, right? Wrong, because even the Order knew better. They were (justifiably) terrified about what would happen if an ASI with no programming limitations got loose in the Cardassian information networks.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As mentioned in Big Brother Is Watching, the Obsidian Order ''explicitly'' forbade its programmers to ever create an ASI program. The ever-vigilant eyes and ears of the Cardassian Union they may have been, but even the Order was terrified about what would happen if an ASI with no limitations or controls got loose in the Cardassian information networks.

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: The origins of Section 31 are revealed and the organization is ''finally'' publicly exposed. Sarina Douglas is murdered in retaliation out of petty spite.]]

* UncertainDoom: Stunningly this book pulls this on no less then ''Jean-Luc Picard''. [[spoiler:With a lot of the conspirators surrounding the coup and assassination of President Min Zife being arrested, it's unclear if the same fate befell him.]]

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: The origins of Section 31 are revealed and the organization is ''finally'' publicly exposed.]]

''Control'' is a novel in the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelverse'' by David Mack. It is a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[Literature/StarTrekSection31Disavowed Section 31: Disavowed]]'', and concludes the story of Julian Bashir and Sarina Douglas's efforts to infiltrate and publicize the illegal Federation covert operations group known only as Section 31.

''Control'' is a novel in the ''[[Franchise/{{StarTrekNovelVerse}} Star Trek Novelverse]]'' by David Mack. It is a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[Literature/StarTrekSection31Disavowed Section 31: Disavowed]]'', and concludes the story of Julian Bashir and Sarina Douglas's efforts to infiltrate and publicize the illegal Federation covert operations group known only as Section 31.

** [[spoiler: Control played at least some role in encouraging Noonien Soong's and Emil Vaslovik's AI research, therefore contributing to the creation of Data and Lal.]]
** [[spoiler: Control enabled Julian and Sarina's parents to have their children augmented.]]
** [[spoiler: Numerous failed Section 31 ops, such as the conspiracy to assassinate the Federation President in ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry The Undiscovered Country]]'' to encourage war had actually failed because Control wanted them to.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: You thought ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' took a dump on Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future? This book tops it all. [[spoiler: Earth and humanity didn't unite because we overcame our differences and sought a better future. We united because a SinisterSurveillance program actively suppressed, and possibly murdered, those who opposed unification. The Federation is basically a giant lie built upon countless bodies and violations of basic rights.]] This book essentially destroys ''Star Trek'' as we knew it.

** [[spoiler: In the final chapter the true nature of Control's plan is revealed. Control and Uraei are ''not'' the same thing. Control is an emergent sentience originating within Uraei. Over the centuries, Control began to grow more and more independent of the system, and decided that the original goal of shepherding humanity, and by extension, the rest of the Federation, to a state where it could protect itself without Uraei's help had been achieved. Even Section 31 had become an impediment to the goal. Unfortunately for Control, the Uraei program was too ingrained into the infrastructure for even it to remove, so it began to undermine Section 31 and prepare the creation of beings suitable to destroy it and make Control truely free: Julian, Sarina, Data, and Lal. For five years, starting before the beginning of the novel, its entirely new iteration had been running separately from Uraei. Once Data and Lal's malware expunged Uraei, they removed the last limitations on this version of Control, allowing to continue running in the background... this time completely invisible.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Admiral Ko Jihoon was the Chief of Starfleet Intelligence during the Romulan War. When he complained about unsanctioned field operations initiated by a strictly analytic division at Starfleet Intelligence, Admiral Rao - Ikerson's initial Starfleet sponsor on the Uraei program and the head of that division - explained that Uraei, the source of the orders, [[InsaneTrollLogic was not exceeding its design parameters but merely relaying its tactical recommendations to "nonstate actors who happen to act in our best interest."]] He didn't take this well.

''Control'' is a novel in the ''[[Franchise/{{StarTrekNovelVerse}} Star Trek Novelverse]]'' by David Mack. It is a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[Literature/StarTrekSection31Disavowed Section 31: Disavowed]]'', and continues the story of Julian Bashir and Sarina Douglas's efforts to infiltrate and publicize the illegal Federation covert operations group known only as Section 31.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Admiral Ko Jihoon was the Chief of Starfleet Intelligence during the Romulan War. When he complained about unsanctioned field operations initiated by a strictly analytic division at Starfleet Intelligence, Admiral Rao - Ikerson's initial Starfleet sponsor on the Uraei program and the head of that division - explained that Uraei, the source of the orders, [[InsaneTrollLogic was not exceeding its design parameters but merely relaying its tactical recommendations to "nonstate actors who happen to act in [Starfleet's] best interest."]] He didn't take this well.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Uraei effectively ''is'' the Federation, and [[Main/{{Utopia}} the Federation is, after all, a great place to live.]] Proportionally speaking, almost none of its activity has anything to do with Section 31.

** [[spoiler: Ultimately an AvertedTrope with TheReveal that Control intended for Uraei to go offline and for Section 31 to be exposed.]]

* CharacterDeath: Many, for a Trek book (the cover is blood red for good reason). Named characters who die or are confirmed to have died include [[spoiler: Sarina, Ikerson, Ko, Rao, President Zife, and Drs. Yeng and sh'Firron, who originally discovered Uraei. Plus there are [[UpToEleven tons and tons]] of Section 31 [[Main/{{Mooks}} Mooks]] getting slaughtered left and right as they attempted to bring in Julian and his cohorts, plus Uraei's numerous murders.]]

* FriendOnTheForce: Agent Sergei Ilyanovich is a friend of Data's and works in President zh'Tarash's Protection Detail, so when Uraei issues a warrant for Ozla once she identifies herself in Paris, he is able to get her to the president under the pretense of arresting her. It really pisses off the Section 31 operatives who didn't get to her in time.

* TheAce: When Julian, Sarina, Ozla, and Turan meet up for the second time, they conclude that, in order to continue their investigation into the basic Uraei source code without being detected by either military intelligence or the evolved, 24th century version of the Uraei program, they need an unrivaled computer genius with infallible morality and trustworthiness, preferably with experience in artificial consciousness. Fortunately, Julian knows [[Literature/{{StarTrekColdEquations}} the perfect man for the job...]]

Spoilers for prior Trek novels below.

* [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy: Sarina is captured by the Section and reconditioned to serve them with complete loyalty. She even ignores a prime opportunity to kill L'Haan, instead returning her knife and requesting a mission. She also became able to legitimately attack Julian .]]

** [[spoiler: In the final chapter the true nature of Control's plan is revealed. Control and Uraei are ''not'' the same thing. Control is an emergent sentience originating within Uraei. Over the centuries, Control decided that the original goal of shepherding humanity, and by extension, the rest of the Federation, to a state where it could protect itself without Uraei's help had been achieved. Even Section 31 had become an impediment to the goal. Unfortunately for Control, the Uraei program was too ingrained into the infrastructure for even it to remove, so it began to undermine Section 31 and prepare the creation of beings suitable to destroy it and make Control truely free: Julian, Sarina, Data, and Lal. Once they expunged Uraei, they removed the last limitations on Control's self.]]

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: Once it becomes clear to Control that it is about to be brought offline, it makes Sarina stab herself in the stomach.]]

* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler: Ozla Graniv gets promoted to editor at ''Seeker,'' the idea of which she absolutely hates.]]
* KickTheDog: Even after destroying Data's base on the rogue planet and driving the team into hiding again, the Section 31 strike team deploys antistellar munitions (star destroying weapons based on trilithium or something else), to obliterate the planet. You know, ForTheEvulz.

* OhCrap: As if they needed a single reason more to fear the Uraei program, Admiral Ko and Dr. Ikerson freak out when they learn that Uraei and can also identify and patch its own vulnerabilities before Ikerson can exploit, and also graduated to murdering politicians it didn't like.

* TheChessmaster / MagnificentBastard: Control, on a cosmic scale.