Why would Sloan have posessed specific knowledge of the cure?

[Xerxes1979]

That is a huge, huge risk for goals that Section 31 was trying to accomplish which was either a successful genocide or a forced peace with the Dominion.

Its not like in a galaxy of telepaths, mindprobes and whatnot that the knowledge could not easily have been obtained. Hell modern torture or drugs would have done the same thing if Sloan had a "normal" human mind.

The only explanition that could work is if Sloan is an augmented super genius like Bashir and that staffing shortages forced him to moonlight in the bio-weapon department in addition to standard espionage.

I mean Sloan knowing too much was against the very principles that he claimed to operate by. It endangered the integrity of the organization and the mission. Sloan's mind was a better safe than a trillion bit cypher with failsafes?

 

[Timo]

Another possibility is that S31 was a one-man organization. We never saw another operative, after all - only some temps like Ross and Bashir, and then some shady characters on the background of a holosimulation. Perhaps Sloan was just a regular Starfleet Intelligence operative gone mad and rogue?

For all we know, he actually opposed the genocidal plans of Starfleet, which is why he obtained as much knowledge of the bioweapon as he could, and then delivered it to Bashir... All the while pretending that he didn't want to, so that the fictional S31 would get the blame. A great patriot, that man!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Art Vandelay]

My interpretation: Bashir and O'Brien went inside Sloan's mind, hoping that Sloan knows somebody who knows somebody who knows enough about the virus to allow Bashir to formulate a cure. They were grasping at the last straw, and they were taken aback by the fact that he did have the cure.

In Inquisition, a big deal is made out of compartmentalisation, the ability to retain knowledge and restricting access to it - even for the person having the knowledge. The fact that Sloan seemed to look for that abilty in Bashir before recruiting him might mean that many if not all of Section 31's agents have it. Which would mean that Sloan probably was able to compartmentalise himself.

This would actually say a lot about the way Section 31 works: Provide your agents with all available information, then make them bury it inside their heads. Keep nothing in writing, never handle any data storage devices. This notion has merits when it comes to running an intelligence agency.

 

[sonak]

plot necessity

 

[Art Vandelay]

^ Right! Sloan knew about the cure because he read the script.

 

[Guy Gardener]

they needed the cure to stop the extermination of mankind if the Dominion said "fuckit" or they thought they might pay off the dominion to fuck off or they thought they could make the cure less effective so that it was a temporary dose and the Changlings suddenly became hooked on federation crack because they chose crack.

Or if the virus mutated ands tarted attacking solidd,. they so fucking needed it.

The Federation might have had an ally or a member world that contained a dominant life form with a similar biology?

Stuff.

No one in section 31 could be so sure that they themselves wer not changleing spies who had been programmed to forget their true origins and loyalty.

 

[Rush Limborg]

The only explanition that could work is if Sloan is an augmented super genius like Bashir

You know...you may be on to something, there. I admit to being more than a little bit curious as to how the heck Sloan would have such detailed knowledge of things like "Current Operations On Qo'noS" that it would be akin to files in an office.

The explanation I came up with is that Sloan--and all the other "directors" of the Bureau--have had their memories enhanced to uber-photographic levels. Hence...he's an Augment, of sorts.

 

[Trevacious]

Do you think Sloan / S31 would have been intrigued by the Vorta solution to Continuity? That is, if the technology could be stolen and applied? Sloan dies on a mission or by misadventure, S31 simply activates another one. He learns from the previous Sloan's mistake and they carry on.

(I'll bet he won't be so quick to drop in on Bashir again to watch him sleep, haha. But still watching closely in other ways, dangerous man as the doctor's now proven to be.)

If they Are an organization, considering how important they consider their mission to be and how carefully they select people for membership, why not supplement themselves with a small Dominion-style cloning facility to replace their top operatives as needed?

Hm, I wonder if Sloan's body ever got home. Would anyone have come to claim it? There was no record of him, right? I suppose the friends and family we saw in his mind could have been made up for Julian's benefit, too. Because, you know, he's freakin' Sloan. He's got it all covered, just about. (even death, maybe)

 

[Rush Limborg]

^

Hm, I wonder if Sloan's body ever got home. Would anyone have come to claim it? There was no record of him, right? I suppose the friends and family we saw in his mind could have been made up for Julian's benefit, too. Because, you know, he's freakin' Sloan. He's got it all covered, just about. (even death, maybe)

[shameless-plug]

I actually have a tale in the FanFic Forum--foucusing on Sloan's tragic past--which sorta has my answer to the question. It's "Passing Of Value", if you want to check it out...and it's based on the assumption that the family we see is for real.

I'll just say, in my interperetation...he does indeed have it all covered--even death.

[/shameless-plug]

 

[Enterprise1981]

^ That and one of my fan fiction stories will provide an explanation.