Tal Shiar
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In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Tal Shiar is a Romulan intelligence organization. The name possibly refers to the Tal Shaya, or Vulcan death grip as seen on the original Star Trek series. Their members, even the juniors, hold higher rank than starship captains. The organization has its own fleet of ships and generally works afar from the military, which it frequently competes with.
The Cardassian counterpart to the Tal Shiar is the Obsidian Order. Prior to the Dominion War, the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order secretly worked together to launch a pre-emptive strike on the Founder homeworld. The attacking force was destroyed and it was later revealed that the head of the Tal Shiar, the man who initiated this plan of action, was a changeling. The military capabilities of both the Cardassians and the Romulans were severely forstalled by this turn of events. Soon after, the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion while the Romulan Star Empire entered a pact of neutrality with them.
The Federation counterpart to the Tal Shiar is Section 31, a secret intelligence organization. Given the intense state of tension and competition between the two great powers, it is not surprising that both agencies have had considerable run-ins in the past. For instance, Section 31 detected attempts by the Tal Shiar to sway democratic elections on a Federation planet in hopes that the result would favour their interests. Section 31 intervened in the electoral process and averted the threat. The Tal Shiar has also been accused of assassinating a high ranking Starfleet admiral, in what operative Luther Sloan declared to be "crossing the line". The Tal Shiar currently poses a much lesser threat to Federation interests as Section 31 successfully infiltrated the organization at the highest of levels by converting the head of the Tal Shiar to a Federation agent.
In the TNG season 6 episode "Face of the Enemy" Counselor Deanna Troi was surgically altered by a Romulan underground organisation to impersonate a Tal Shiar officer.
External links
- "Tal Shiar" (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/Tal_Shiar) at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek WikiWiki