Spoilers Section 31 the reason for the Treaty of Algeron?

[Turtletrekker]

As leverage to force the signing of the treaty by the “goody two shoes” Federation, all the Romulans would need to do is threaten to reveal MU Georgiou to the public. Just an example of potential blackmail material.

Who's this MU Georgiou that you speak of? The woman working for Section 31 is retired Starfleet captain Philippa Georgiou formerly of the USS Shenzhou, currently working as a independent Starfleet security contractor. Just ask her. And the Romulans would have no reason to believe otherwise.

 

[Ovation]

Sure. But how would they know she's MU?

The Tal Shi’ar is a resourceful organization. Easy enough to reveal a presumed Vulcan as a Romulan spy who learns her background.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The Tal Shi’ar is a resourceful organization. Easy enough to reveal a presumed Vulcan as a Romulan spy who learns her background.

But only a handful of people actually know this Philippa Georgiou actually is. As far as almost all of the Discovery crew is concerned, they were working with the Captain Philippa Georgiou that they had heard about previously from their own universe. Recall, that Tilly believed her to be the Prime Georgiou up until she reported for the mission.

So, the only people who actually know where she came from would be Michael, Tyler, Tilly, that transporter room operator with the dreadlocks, Admiral Cornwell and Sarek. Six people. And how would the Tal Shiar know to question them about something as off the wall is this? . I don't see any of them giving up this secret to the Tal Shiar.

 

[Paradise City]

It's one of those "keep the peace" at all costs things. The Romulans had the upperhand is some dispute or other. The Federation had technology that could detect cloaked ships at the border so it wasn't a big a compromise as one might think. Something like that maybe.

 

[Ovation]

But only a handful of people actually know this Philippa Georgiou actually is.

Not a serious obstacle for an espionage story, surely.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Not a serious obstacle for an espionage story, surely.

I added to that post.

 

[thribs]

I doubt the treaty stopped the Section using cloaks.

 

[Ovation]

I added to that post.

Easy enough to whip up a story where Dreadlock Transporter Guy is overwhelmed with keeping the secret, decides Starfleet Security should be aware, confides the secret to a Vulcan (who is a Romulan spy) and voilà.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I doubt the treaty stopped the Section using cloaks.

I apologize that I didn't state my main concept in a more concise way in the OP. (I tend to ramble.)

Idea:
Section 31 attacks Romulus in a catastrophic way, thanks to cloaking.
The Federation is horrified by this, and THEN signs the Treaty, banning cloaking, perhaps even giving the technology to the Romulans out of guilt and also as a counterbalance with the Klingons.

If you were saying that S31 would then still probably use it after all that, you're probably right, but it doesn't explain why the Federation cloak is treated as something new by Starfleet intelligence when the Pegasus episode rolls around in TNG.

 

[drt]

There is no evidence the Romulans have been to the Mirror Universe, therefore they have no frame of reference and neither does 99.999% of the Federation, so I don’t think knowledge of Georgiou‘s origin has much blackmail value.

 

[thribs]

I apologize that I didn't state my main concept in a more concise way in the OP. (I tend to ramble.)

Idea:
Section 31 attacks Romulus in a catastrophic way, thanks to cloaking.
The Federation is horrified by this, and THEN signs the Treaty, banning cloaking, perhaps even giving the technology to the Romulans out of guilt and also as a counterbalance with the Klingons.

If you were saying that S31 would then still probably use it after all that, you're probably right, but it doesn't explain why the Federation cloak is treated as something new by Starfleet intelligence when the Pegasus episode rolls around in TNG.

They were just acting. Most know that Starfleet has the technology.
I like the idea in the Resistance novel which reveals that all Starfleet vessels have the ability to cloak. All that is needed is the captain’s authorisation to replicate the parts.
If the Romulans don’t know, who does it hurt?

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

I was thinking, Section 31 and the spin-off if it happens is gonna be their excuse to feature Romulans. If it's all black ops top secret silliness, they can know who Romulans are and it not violate continuity. Or something.

Yeah, I have a strong suspicion this will happen. Possibly even in Discovery, but only in section 31 scenes.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

They were just acting. Most know that Starfleet has the technology.
I like the idea in the Resistance novel which reveals that all Starfleet vessels have the ability to cloak. All that is needed is the captain’s authorisation to replicate the parts.
If the Romulans don’t know, who does it hurt?

Interesting. But it seems like there were countless situations in every ST series where a cloak would've come in very handy but wasn't used. I'm sure Voyager would've liked to be cloaked for 90% of its journey.

 

[Rusty0918]

The "Resistance" novel? Don't quite remember that. On the other hand, I usually considered the phase cloak on the Pegasus a possible Section 31 deal.

 

[zar]

If you were saying that S31 would then still probably use it after all that, you're probably right, but it doesn't explain why the Federation cloak is treated as something new by Starfleet intelligence when the Pegasus episode rolls around in TNG.

Well, Starfleet Intelligence isn't Section 31.

The Feds were apparently breaking the treaty and using cloaks as late as Insurrection. For what it's worth, the novels establish all of that was a Section 31 operation.

 

[XCV330]

the cloaking technology the Sec.31 ship is using isn't necessarily the same thing the Romulans use.
Rather, by this point the technology of the inferior Klingon cloak used during the war is figured out by the Federation.

The Romulan cloak works differently, and years later Enterprise doesn't have the technology to immediately detect it, or later Klingon variants.

So this Sec.31 ship could be using something like 22nd century Romulan active camouflage or T'Kuvma's cloaking system.

 

[zar]

the cloaking technology the Sec.31 ship is using isn't necessarily the same thing the Romulans use.

I can imagine the actual agreement was something like "the presence of Federation ships must always be detectable by Romulan ships", which doesn't preclude all cloaking.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Well, Starfleet Intelligence isn't Section 31.

The Feds were apparently breaking the treaty and using cloaks as late as Insurrection. For what it's worth, the novels establish all of that was a Section 31 operation.

My impression always was that the previous usage was something like the holographic concealment methods used in TNG "Homeword" and "Who Watches the Watchers?" Otherwise, ships like Voyager that were state-of-the-art would've cloaked their way through a great many jams.

 

[Phoenix219]

If Section 31 committed a catastrophe against Romulus by means of using the cloak, maybe the cloak itself was given to the Romulans. Maybe that's why it was so compatible with a Starfleet ship's systems when that time came in DS9, and never required another Romulan to tinker with it after T'Rul was taken out.

Same thing for the Enterprise Incident compatibility.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I dislike attributing every ill deed that the Federation commits to Section 31. Sometimes an evil admiral is just an evil admiral.