With the end of the Klingon War, the Dominion War and several other conflicts, a period of relative peace in the past 20 years made the need for covert operations groups in Starfleet almost unnecessary, in the eyes of the Federation Council.
Seven years ago a scandal befell the nonexistent
autonomous intelligence and defense organization known as Section 31. This special security operation, manned by Federation citizens, was not subject to the normal constraints of Starfleet’s ethical protocols.
In 2387, evidence surfaced publicly from an anonymous source that Section 31 truly existed and was implicated in the use of time travel to alter some events in the timeline as it preferred the course of history to flow. This changed events in the Federation known to be coming (due to information given Starfleet years earlier by time travelers). When Section 31 was exposed it’s more than a century of operating outside the rule of the Federation was brought crashing down.
After Section 31 fell, the Federation Council’s sights fell upon other covert operations groups working within Stafleet. The Shadow Operations division of Starfleet Intelligence was then targeted after the Federation Council questioned the need for such an organization.
While not connected to Section 31, Shadow Ops was deactivated by Starfleet because it was felt the Federation did not need another covert operations division running around the quadrant, at times unchecked, especially in a time of relative peace.
In 2387, the personnel in Shadow Ops were reassigned, mostly throughout Starfleet Intelligence, while the ships, equipment and bases used by Shadow Ops were mothballed, re-purposed or scrapped. Starfleet Intelligence became the primary clandestine operations group in the Federation and life resumed for all involved.
Now it is 2394 and Starfleet Intelligence is beginning to see some unsettling events throughout the Alpha Quadrant.
Growing discord has shaken the governments of Federation, Klingons, Romulans and most of the other major powers in the galaxy. With a power shift underway on the Federation Council, factions on the council have secretly moved to reactivate Shadow Operations to begin investigating these incidents of unrest to find out if they are related.
Admiral Ian MacLeod has been tasked with the reactivation of Shadow Operations and the establishment of one unit, using old and new operatives. Operating from a secret base in a former mining facility in a remote asteroid field, the unit has been given a prototype ship, the U.S.S. Resurrection, and all the equipment and personnel needed to conduct its operations.