Spy Trek

In Star Trek Magazine #39, Dayton Ward charts the undercover missions that lead characters in Star Trek have undertaken without the specialised skills and experience of trained intelligence agents. Read on for an extract from the feature...

Intelligence agencies and shadow organizations in the Star Trek universe take on many forms: from the Romulan Empire's Tal Shiar to the Obsidian Order of the Cardassian Union, or even the V'Shar agency, tasked with overseeing security affairs on Vulcan. Starfleet has its own intelligence bureau, of course, and then there's the rogue Federation agency known by its seemingly-innocuous moniker "Section 31". Each of these groups is tasked with protecting the secrets of their respective governments, while simultaneously endeavoring to obtain information for use against their enemies. Agents and operatives who work for such groups are highly trained and experienced, and the nature of their work also makes such figures enigmas unto themselves, which of course only serves to make them more interesting.

Perhaps one of the most prominent characters in all of the Star Trek mythos, Elim Garak, presents just such a mystery. Formerly a high-ranking officer in the Obsidian Order, Garak is banished from the organization. Unwelcome even on his home world of Cardassia Prime, he eventually makes his way to the space station Terok Nor in orbit above the Cardassian-occupied planet of Bajor. He stays behind even after the Cardassian military withdraws from the station and it's claimed by Starfleet, renamed Deep Space 9, and commissioned for use as a forward operations base. While living and working as a tailor in one of the station's civilian merchant shops, Garak finds himself using his training and knowledge to assist Starfleet on several occasions, particularly after the Federation is drawn into the war against the Dominion. Despite his close ties and even friendships with the station's Starfleet officers, very little about Garak's true past is ever revealed, which is exactly the way he would want it.

Though not a member of Starfleet or any other known intelligence group, the mysterious human known as Gary Seven obviously fits a similar profile. The product of generations of genetic breeding and training after his ancestors were taken from Earth thousands of years ago, Seven can best be described as a field operative for an unknown alien agency with a vested interest in Earth and its people. Transported to New York City in the late 1960s during the events of the original series episode "Assignment: Earth," Seven's mission was to covertly observe human activities and take whatever action might be necessary "to prevent Earth's civilization from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society." Officially, how long Seven remained on Earth is unknown, as is the number of events or actions in which he took part. Still, we can assume he succeeded well enough, as humans emerged from the darkness and despair of yet another global war to make first contact with the Vulcans nearly a century after he began his mission.

You can read the full article in Star Trek Magazine #39 (US numbering), on sale now.

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