Luther Sloan
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
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| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Human |
| Affiliation: | Section 31 |
| Died: | 2375 |
| Martial Status: | Married |
| Spouse(s): | Jessica Sloan (Wife) |
| Children: | Possibly one son |
| Played by: | William Sadler |
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Luther Sloan was a Human operative of the clandestine intelligence agency Section 31. Though he and the rest of Section 31 operated independently of the United Federation of Planets and performed actions most Federation citizens would consider morally reprehensible, he saw himself as doing what was necessary to protect it. So great was his dedication to protecting and preserving the Federation that he was willing to do almost anything, even cutting ties to his family and friends and resorting to genocide. He took a particular interest in Doctor Julian Bashir of Deep Space 9.
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[edit] Personal Life
Sloan wanted to be a doctor in his youth, so he was glad to see his son enter Starfleet and accomplish the goal. However, his son was killed by the Jem'Hadar during a Dominion raid on the Seventh Fleet. (DS9: "Inquisition")
According to Koval, Sloan was a member of Starfleet Intelligence and the protégé of Admiral Fujisaki prior to the admiral's death. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges")
- See below for why this may or may not have been the case.
Sloan once described himself as "a man of secrets", and indeed lived in a world of mystery and deceit once he joined Section 31. His wife Jessica and their children lived on Earth, but Sloan's clandestine missions meant he almost never saw them. This made the marriage "a living hell" for Jessica, but Luther was so dedicated to the preservation of the Federation that he saw it as a necessary sacrifice.
Despite his determination, Sloan's actions often weighed heavily on his conscience. He was unable to sleep at night, though he took comfort in knowing that citizens of the Federation were able to do so. Ultimately, he died wishing he could apologize for cheating his family out of being in his life -- and for cheating himself. Because he had spent his life erasing any trace of his actions, it was as if he had never existed. (DS9: "Extreme Measures")
[edit] Interest in Bashir
In 2374, Sloan staged an elaborate scenario in an attempt to recruit Bashir into the organization. He abducted the doctor from Deep Space 9 while he was sleeping (shortly before he was to depart for a medical conference, so no one would miss him) and placed him inside a holodeck simulation of the space station. In it, Sloan posed as an investigator from Starfleet's Department of Internal Affairs and pretended to investigate Bashir as a possible Dominion spy. However, Bashir passed the "test" with flying colors and his loyalty to the Federation proven to be above reproach, and he offered the doctor a position inside Section 31. However, Bashir refused, and Sloan returned him to the station. (DS9: "Inquisition")
Later the next year, Sloan once again approached Bashir on Deep Space 9 to give him his first "assignment". Although Bashir had refused to join, Sloan claimed that he had been "accepted" into the organization and thus was needed to fulfill his "duties". Sloan goaded Bashir into joining the operation by appealing to Bashir's love of fictional spy dramas and intrigue. He instructed him to perform observations of various members of the Romulan government during an upcoming Federation-Romulan conference on Romulus, and in particular Koval, the chairman of the Tal Shiar.
At the conference, Sloan posed as Wendell Greer, a representative from the Federation Department of Cartography. Through a complex series of events, Sloan convinced Bashir that he was planning to assassinate Chairman Koval. Sloan hoped that Bashir's sense of ethics would force him to try to alert the Romulans to Sloan's apparent threat. Bashir approached Senator Cretak, who agreed to break into Koval's personal database in an attempt to find evidence that would reveal Sloan's threat. However, Cretak was caught while trying to access the classified files and brought before the Continuing Committee, where she was censured for her improper and possibly treasonous behavior.
Ultimately, the entire operation was revealed to be a ruse aimed at getting Koval — a Section 31 mole — elevated to the Continuing Committee. In addition, Admiral William Ross was revealed to be involved in the operation, working alongside Sloan. At the end of the conference, Sloan thanked Bashir for his sense of ethics and for doing "the right thing", while at the same time pointing out that Section 31 existed precisely to protect people like Bashir. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges")
[edit] Attempted Genocide
Several months later, while investigating a cure for the morphogenic virus that had infected Odo, Bashir came to the conclusion that the disease had been engineered by Section 31 as a way to attack the Founders and end the threat of the Dominion. Bashir and his friend Miles O'Brien devised an elaborate scheme to lure Sloan to the station with the hopes of forcing him to reveal the cure to the disease. Bashir informed Starfleet Medical that he had devised a cure to the virus, knowing that Section 31 would send an operative to destroy that information in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Dominion. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind")
When Sloan boarded Deep Space 9, Bashir stunned him and attempted to use Romulan mind probes to extract the information from Sloan's mind. However, Sloan triggered a lethal implant in his brain, committing suicide to prevent Bashir from finding the cure to the morphogenic virus. Bashir managed to prolong Sloan's life, but the implant had scrambled the operative's neural pathways and his death was inevitable within an hour. Desperate, Bashir and O'Brien used a neural interface to link their minds with Sloan's in a last-ditch attempt to discover the information. Sloan attempted to distract the intruders with images of his wife, Jessica, his family, and an alter ego who professed to want to reveal the information. Ultimately, Bashir managed to find the cure -- a simple nucleotide sequence -- buried away inside a mental recreation of Sloan's office.
Sloan had one last trap planned for Bashir, however. With the secret of the cure revealed, Sloan offered to share with Bashir all of his secrets — enough information to bring down Section 31 entirely. This was the one thing Sloan knew Bashir could not resist, and the doctor was nearly trapped in Sloan's mind as their time grew short. Fortunately, O'Brien convinced him to leave in time. Although the secret of the cure to the morphogenic virus had been revealed, Sloan took the rest of his secrets about Section 31 to the grave. (DS9: "Extreme Measures")
[edit] Appendices
[edit] Questionable Information
Much about the man known as Sloan remains unknown, and what is known is shrouded in mystery. However, if one looks closely, one might discover hints of his real life. For example, while testing Bashir on the holodeck in their first encounter, Sloan claimed that his son, whose name was never revealed, had been in the Seventh Fleet and was killed in a surprise Jem'Hadar attack. In the simulation, this was indicated to be why Sloan thought Bashir was a Dominion spy; while the mention of Sloan's son may have been a ruse to make the simulation even more believable, it may have been based on Sloan's personal life. If the story was true, it may have influenced Sloan's decision to interrogate Bashir in the first place. This would also have given Sloan a personal motive to ensure that the morphogenic virus eliminated the Founders.
Similarly, Koval's story about how Sloan came to work for Section 31 may not be entirely false. In Koval's version of events, after using the mind probe on Sloan, he discovered that Sloan had been the protege of Admiral Fujisaki, whose death was officially attributed to food poisoning. Sloan allegedly became convinced that the Tal Shiar murdered Fujisaki, and he created Section 31 as a means by which he could exact revenge. The true nature of the relationship Sloan had with Fujisaki (if any) is unknown.
The factual basis for information revealed while Bashir and O'Brien were inside Sloan's mind is also unclear. It is likely that Sloan, who was dying at the time, simply used elements of his own life to stall for time; however, it is plausible that he never had a wife or the other family ties he described. Among the things that may or may not be true is Sloan's claim that he once considered becoming a doctor.
[edit] Background
Sloan was played by William Sadler. Martin Sheen was also considered for the role.
Sloan and Section 31 epitomize DS9's vision of a more realistic universe in which the Federation struggles to maintain its high ideals amid difficult situations. Section 31 is one of the elements that has made DS9 highly controversial among Star Trek fans. It is highly unlikely that Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would have condoned the idea of a covert organization that answered to no one; Roddenberry's vision of the future was a utopian one in which mankind had a near-perfect society. Nonetheless, Section 31 has permeated the rest of the Trek franchise, appearing in Enterprise, as well as several TNG and DS9 novels.
Luther Sloan may have been named for Martin Luther, credited with reforming Christianity in the Middle Ages. If this is the case, it likely refers to the way in which Section 31 altered the Trek universe, in essence taking away its innocence and making it more believable.
While Sloan appeared to bear the rank of a Fleet Captain while posing as an officer with Starfleet Internal Affairs, it is possible that he truly did hold this rank. Furthermore, Section 31 may have existed under the umbrella of Internal Affairs, at least, unofficially.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"How many lives do you suppose you've saved in your medical career?"
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"Hundreds? Thousands? Do you suppose those people give a damn that you lied to Starfleet Medical [about being genetically enhanced]? I doubt it. We deal with threats to the Federation that jeopardize its very survival. If you knew how many lives we've saved, I think you'd agree that the ends do justify the means."
- - Sloan and Bashir
"The Federation needs men like you, doctor. Men of conscience. Men of principle. Men who can sleep at night... You're also the reason Section Thirty-One exists -- someone has to protect men like you from a universe that doesn't share your sense of right and wrong."
- - Sloan
"I lived in a world of secrets. Of sabotage and deceit. I spent so much time erasing my movements, covering my tracks... and now that I look back at my life, I find... nothing. It's as if I never really existed. I cheated you all out of being in my life. And what's more, I cheated myself as well."
- - Sloan's alter ego, to his family and friends (inside his mind)
[edit] Apocrypha
Sloan appears briefly at the end of the The Lost Era novel "Catalyst of Sorrows". The novel is set in 2360, although it does not say if he is a member of 31 at that point. Sloan also appears in "Hollow Men".
[edit] Appearances
[edit] External link
- Luther Sloan at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
