Headscratchers / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Klingons

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Wartime extradition

• Klingons try to extradite Worf for allegedly shooting a civilian ship.
  Sisko: What are the diplomatic relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire?
  Prosecution Attorney: There are no diplomatic relations.
  • In that case there is no Extradition Treaty and the episode should end right there.
  • What makes this more ridiculous is that, when the Dominion and Cardassia join forces, Dukat pulls the same thing in regards to a political rival on the station. Sisko pretty much tells him to sod off because there is no extradition treaty between their peoples.
    • The difference is that up until the conflict began the Klingons and Federation were allies and the Federation very much wants friendly relations with the Klingons to resume again. They're playing nice in hopes that it will be a step to reconciliation between their two powers, plus the Federation was not happy with the situation and Worf was hella lucky it was a frame up. Heck, for all we know WORF is the one who accepted the charges set against him and agreed to the trial, murdering civilians would be something all sides could agree would warrant punishment.
    • In my opinion Worf was completely justified in taking the shot. Present day Navies "strongly encourage" everybody to keep well away in peace time. And he was at that time in combat. Anybody who approaches active combat puts themselves willingly at risk. Trying to sneak up on the combatants is suicidal.
  • When the Khitomer Accords were dissolved, ending the Federation-Klingon alliance, it seems very likely that the two sides had to revert to the terms imposed onto them by the Organian Peace Treaty. The word 'treaty' is actually a bit misleading, as neither side actually got any say in the stipulations of the document, they just had to follow them or else. Perhaps extradition was mandated by the Organians, and the Federation had no choice but to go along with it.
• Changing the subject, three different problems with the "Rules of Engagement" scenario:
  1. Why doesn't anyone think to question what a civilian transport ship is doing with a cloaking device?
     • Possible answer: As far as the Klingons might be concerned, cloaking devices are perfectly acceptable to install on civilian ships during wartime conditions, especially if said ships travel along trade routes that intersect combat zones. It's provocative, but not outright hostile. It's like installing high-powered sonar and radar on a commercial vessel IRL—it's overkill and raises suspicion, but unless it's paired with weapons, not so big a deal.
     • They are in the middle of a war. The Klingons are likely attacking Cardassian civilian ships, so they expect the Cardassians to retaliate in the same manner. The cloak is the best protection they can offer.
  2. The judge is blatantly incompetent. She uses "logic" to justify allowing the Klingons to continue with the hearing when logically Starfleet JAG Corps has jurisdiction, not the Klingons. Therefore Worf should logically be tried only under Federation law, and they establish that he's innocent of all charges under that legal system before the opening credits roll.
     • Possible answer: The judge isn't operating on strict interstellar law and jurisdictions. The obvious intent of the Klingons is to score points against the Fed, since the Khitomer Accords are dead and the strike against DS9 is relatively recent. They could very well use the pretext of Starfleet refusing to submit Worf to satisfactory justice (i.e., Klingon law) to restart the recently-suspended hostilities. The Fed would rather that not happen, since a Federation-Klingon conflict would almost certainly mean a Dominion invasion after it was all over. So from the perspective of Starfleet, they could have informed the judge of the political background and basically told her to consider the logic of provoking the Klingons; she would permit an extradition hearing on the basis that Worf would not refuse due to his honor, and might be sufficient to placate the Klingons. Not strictly legal, but sometimes you gotta legislate from the bench.
  3. Or how about why an unarmed transport would decloak right in the middle of a battle, right in front of an enemy warship ready to shoot at anything that twitches? This particular bit was mentioned only briefly, and outside the hearing. If I were Sisko, I would've put this front-and-center and argued that the transport's destruction was actually the fault of a very stupid (and possibly suicidal) captain.
     • Sisko did question this. He sent Odo to find out if the captain was a glory hound or death seeker. The information came back negative. It's also mentioned several times that the battle occurred very near to a set of shipping lanes. Odo even says it would only take a very small navigational error to end up there. Add in that shields don't function while cloaked. If they were caught cloaked in the middle of a firefight, decloaking and raising shields is a smart maneuver.
     • Shipping lanes aside, the freighter should've still seen the battle and immediately changed course to avoid it.
  • Did Klingons even have cloaking technology at that point? Evidently so, I just don't remember when that was established. They would probably say they cloaked to "avoid pirates", which is very flimsy but that point might have been outside the trial's scope.
    • The Klingons obtained cloaking technology from the Romulans in the 23rd century, in a trade. The Romulans had cloak but not very powerful ships, the Klingons had much more powerful ships but no cloak. So they traded a bunch of D-7 class attack cruisers for cloaking tech. The Romulans used those for awhile and eventually used their tech to upgrade their own ships. And the Klingons got cloaking tech out of the deal.

The Greatest Klingon Warrior, a Pencil Pusher?

• For all the great battle feats Worf accomplishes during DS9, he ends up as an Ambassador?!. Okay, sure, it's a prestigious job and Worf being a Klingon raised by humans sounds like a good fit. But this ignores any character development Worf had over TNG and DS9. He's already on a command track which could lead him to be an admiral. He's got plenty of combat and tactical experience, outwitting opponents from Klingon to Borg. Why would foreign relations, a bureaucratic job, be a good use of his skills? If the Federation needs to combat a new foe, one of its best tactical commanders is now sitting behind a desk giving diplomatic, NOT tactical advice! What a waste!
  • Well it doesn't stick beyond DS9, but it would be a smart move. Back in the episode Change of Heart Sisko bumps Worf off the promotion chain, so a lateral shift to being ambassador is a good way to get his career back on track. Any black mark he received prior to that posting has to be read in the context of serving as a high level ambassador or liaison to another of the great powers. It makes it all the more likely that the promotion board will overlook it.
    • That's a good way to explain why Worf might switch to diplomacy. It should be noted, that even Command Officers who consistently break Starfleet regulations, can still be considered the finest officers and be promoted to admirals. Also that position stuck with Worf at least until Star Trek: Nemesis where he seemed very unhappy indeed until he got to man a tactical post again.
    • That’s assuming being the ambassador to the Klingon is boring. Considering their culture and all the probably rituals they have to do, far from it, also as a Klingon himself even as a Federation’s citizen, Worf may enjoy be back in his home world among his people. And, besides, don’t get fooled by what you see in television, an Ambassador’s job is much more than signing papers, can get pretty nasty sometimes.
  • The whole thing is a bit odd. Why would Martok get to name the ambassador to, not from, his government? If it's some back channel request, isn't that just the kind of cronyism we don't want to see Federation? One wonders what the vetting process is like. Worf is not only a Klingon, but a Klingon who is a member of the Chancellor's house... oughtn't that to raise a few questions about how objectively he can represent the Federation's interests?
    • Well, denying the request that Worf be appointed because he was Klingon would kind of be super duper racist, which the Federation tends to try and avoid for the most part. Also, he's been a member of Martok's house for less time than he's been a Starfleet officer, and for far less time than he's been a Federation citizen, so by time spent his loyalties are clear. His service record also shows that any time his loyalties have been split between the Federation and the Empire, he is very, very clear about the decision he makes; if he chooses the Empire, he informs Starfleet of it very clearly and in no uncertain terms, similarly if he chooses Starfleet he does so without reservation. He's actually a very good pick because he's walked in both worlds and has made his pattern of behavior about choosing between those worlds clear.
    • This is also the first time in probably generations that the Klingon Chancellor wasn't corrupt, a drunk, or both. The Federation is getting a fresh start with the Klingons and Martok asking for a particular person is part of that.
    • Beyond that, the Federation probably made the concession of allowing Martok to name his own choice for ambassador as a sort of show of trust. Saying "we're not going to interfere in your decisions" as a way of assuaging tensions that they'd try and take over

The General's Kia-of-Prey

• For much of the second half of the series, General Martok is hanging around the station in one capacity or another, and has command of the Rotarran, a Bird of Prey, which eventually becomes his flagship as he is given command of the Federation-Klingon fleet. Wait, what? Why is a tiny, hundred-year-old skirmisher with a crew of cowards and rookies 1) appropriate for a General, 2) appropriate to act as flagship once said General has been given a proper command again, or 3) a sensible choice of vessel for a man whose family apparently owns a private attack cruiser, a powerful modern vessel representing the best of Klingon ship design?
  • Because he feels a Bird-of-Prey is a proper vessel for a Klingon warrior, far better than the "luxury liner" of a Vor'cha- or Negh'Var- class attack cruiser. When he was promoted to the liaison officer between the Klingons and the Federation, he declined Sisko's offer of quarters aboard the station, saying, "I will keep my flag aboard the Rotarran. At least then I'll feel like I'm still in the war." In other words: It keeps him grounded. I must admit, though, that you're right that it doesn't make much sense from a strategic perspective. Three or four well-placed photon torpedoes would destroy the general's flagship.
    • Simply because the basic external design is 100 years old doesn't mean the Rotarran is a century behind in technology. The Klingons are really fond of that design and seem to upgrade everything under the hood so it can fight against 24th century ships. They are either still building new ones or they're upgrading them the same way the Federation upgraded Mirandas and Excelsiors to be a match for Dominion ships. Another important question is whether the Rotarran is a B'rel-class scout or a K'vort-class cruiser; the latter is larger, better armed and can probably take more of a beating. As for why not command from a more powerful and distinctive warship, it could be that if the Dominion knew Martok were on the only Negh'var in the fleet they would make it a priority target, whereas if there are scores of Birds of Prey in any engagement it's much harder to identify which one Martok is on. It keeps the Dominion on its toes: if they get a report that a squadron of Birds of Prey is going to attack some depot, they don't know if its a bunch of hotheads or the General and won't know how to properly allocate defenses. Contrast that with if they saw a Sovereign-class coming they'd know it was Picard.
  • Regarding his crew that keeps ending up filled with rookies, I can think of at least three reasons why it keeps happening: 1) He got out of a Dominion prison camp after being replaced by a Changeling, so he hadn't re-earned the trust of Klingon veterans yet (backed up by the fact that we only see his crew after he was recently released), 2) he really is a good trainer, general or not, and one of his duties is to train rookies simply because he's the best at it (admittedly this has little proof), or 3) Gowron doesn't want to see him get too popular and so keeps sending him inexperienced crews to hinder his progress (this one's especially backed up by Gowron's behavior near the end of the series).
  • Given that Martok wasn't originally a highly-placed member of the Klingon society, it could be a sign that he considers his humble origins to be a source of honor, and this uses a more humble ship that the large cruisers that the other generals use. Also, there are numerous stories of Generals who will fight alongside their men and end up earning their loyalty, as opposed to those who lead from the rear and merely have obedience (compare General George Patton and General Max Taylor from World War II).
  • I think Martok sees the Rotarran as the symbol of his return to grace as a Klingon warrior. After he left the Dominion prison, General Martok felt as useless and disgraced that ship and its crew was before he took command—he even compared the ship's service record to a prison record. It was his victorious first mission on the Rotarran in which Martok proved to himself that he was still a worthy of command.
  • There actually is an historical precedent for flagships being far more primitive and crappy than the rest of the fleet. In Tudor England, the flagship of Henry VIII was a ship called the Mary Rose, which at the time of its construction was literally the most advanced thing on the sea and proceeded to win many great battles. Twenty years later and it was still in use, but by this time ship building had advanced to the point that rendered it on the verge of obsolescence, and the only reason Henry kept it in service as his lead ship was its fierce reputation and because it carried the name Rose which was the symbol of the Tudor dynasty (and thus the symbol of the whole of England.) This story has a very unhappy ending, for its advanced age was probably a very large contributory factor in the fact that it sank with nearly all hands on board.
    • The 255 year old HMS Victory is still the ceremonial flagship of the British First Sea Lord—the professional head of the UK's Naval Service.
• Accepting that the Rotarran was, for whatever reason, Martok's ship of choice, why was the flagship of the Klingon Eisenhower so often stuck doing convoy escorts, patrols, and other such crap duty?
  • Either the timeline included involved his time before his full return to grace, or it's training for his less-than-stellar crew and unwinding for him (still contributing to the war since a war without supply lines is a lost war).
  • Also, it is stated that Gowron is going out of his way to give Martok crap duty in hopes of keeping Martok from gaining enough political clout to be a threat for the title of Chancellor.
    • This is the reason for most of the above. Gowron became overly concerned that Martok was going to become a legitimate political rival at some point in the future (since he was popular with most Klingons as he was a 'fighting' General). Gowron decided to start giving him ridiculous objectives so that he would fail and lose support. Worf realizes that Gowron is wasting lives on politics, so like a good Klingon, kills him.
  • After Martok returned from prison he may also have needed to work his way back up the chain of command. He needed to prove himself doing increasingly more difficult missions with his ragtag crew until he was finally given a fleet again. The Rotarran crew thought he was damaged goods, and its possible Gowron wanted to be sure he was up to the task. Only much later did he start getting the suicide missions.
• For story reasons it was useful to have an alternative to the Defiant which was a small fighter-like starship like the Bird of Prey. Several episodes were mainly spent on Klingon ships, mostly Birds of Prey. Presumably when Martok was made Supreme Commander of the Ninth Fleet, the Rotarran became his flagship by default. He just never changed that arrangement, preferring the worn-in, veteran Bird of Prey to any other ship.
• There is historical precedent for an admiral not always moving their flag to the most powerful available ship. Admiral Kurita during the Battle of Leyte Gulf initially commanded from a heavy cruiser despite having the two largest battleships in history under his command, only transferring his flag when his ship was torpedoed out from under him.
• Likewise Admiral Raymond Spruance who commanded the Fifth Fleet at the Battle of the Philippine Sea from a heavy cruiser even though the fleet under his command included seven heavy carriers and seven battleships.
• Another possibility is tactical familiarity. Martok may have spent years of active duty on a B'rel, and it may fit how he operates (more a skirmisher who relies on speed and agility to outmaneuver and out think his opposition). The Negh'Var and Vor'cha class ships are bigger, heavier, and less agile, and thus unsuitable for how Martok fights (think handing a general skilled in the longsword and mace a claymore or a halberd. It's more likely to get them killed than help)

Those lazy, lazy Organians

• Well here we are in season 4; war between the Federation and the Klingons - exactly the thing that the Organians said that they would prevent to Kirk and Kor. Could the Federation and the Empire always have just warped away and called their bluff?
  • it is possible that since the organian prediction of a federation/Klingon friendship had occurred, the organians took a hands off policy after that point, trusting the two nations to have grown enough to settle their differences peacefully. which then backfired when they couldn't. alternately, it could have been that the Organians only intervened in TOS because the Federation-Klingon war was going to kick off in the Organian's home system, and they just wanted to be left alone. certainly by the time of first Trek films the Organians were not a factor. You have Star Trek V: The Final Frontier with its Klingon BoP attacking the Enterprise over Nimbus, and in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country both the Federation and the Klingons had factions within their military proposing starting a war as a response to the loss of Praxis. and neither side seemed to think that Organians or anyone else would intervene.

How does the High Council have time for that?

• In "The House of Quark", we see the Klingon High Council devote several days to pass judgment on fairly routine legal case involving a widow's rights after her husband's death. Even though the House the husband lead is said to be fairly important, considering how most of the houses are lead by members of the warrior class who are eager to fight to death, you'd think such cases are not uncommon? Now, the High Council is supposed to run an interplanetary empire, so if they're also expected to pass judgment on legal disputes like this, how on earth do they have time for anything else? Shouldn't cases like this be left to the courts, which we do know exist in the Klingon Empire? The High Council doing this is the equivalent of the President of the United States and his cabinet handling individual divorce cases, except that the Klingon Empire has billions of inhabitants instead of mere millions.
  • The Klingon Council is less like a Cabinet and more like a Parliament as their system is clearly closer to a Parliamentary system ála Britain or Japan (as they even have a symbolic monarch) than to a presidential system like the US, with the Chancellor akin more to the British Prime Minister or the German Chancellor. As such yes it is common in many Parliaments that they deal with judicial issues especially regarding noble families, you can see several cases in British or Japanese history were the Parliament had to deal with inheritance of noble house's titles and/or properties after someone's death, even during the time that the British had one of the world's largest Empires. Not to mention the Roman Senate also handle things like that having to also rule the very large —for the time— Roman Empire. So is not such a stretch.
  • Klingon society is feudal. Think of this dispute as two barons going to the king to settle a succession dispute. This isn't small claims court for them.

Baffled by a Spreadsheet?

• On a related note, while hearing the court case mentioned above, Quark walks the High Council members through a forensic accounting report he'd prepared. The Klingons clearly do not have any idea what Quark is talking about, and stare at his report with obvious uncomprehending bewilderment. Seriously, every one of them looks like a very stupid person who wandered into an astrophysics lecture. Granted, the average Klingon isn't particularly well known for their intelligence, but these are people who collectively run an empire. Each of them is the head of one of the more powerful Klingon Great Houses, and they've all most likely been high-ranking officers in the Klingon military. They should all have a ridiculously solid understanding of finances; otherwise, the Empire and their own houses would have gone broke long ago, and the Klingon military would be a joke because its leadership couldn't manage their resources. How can they possibly be so bewildered by the details of a financial scheme that was uncovered by Quark, who owns a bar that occasionally manages to turn a profit?
  • The warrior caste is dominant among the Klingons and everyone else (scientist, doctor, advocate) is sort of second rate. Why would anyone on the Council itself (which may be made up entirely of military personnel who would have highest position anywhere on the Empire) possess knowledge of things that are most likely dealt with from the financial staff. The High Council, i.e. the Klingons who take decisions about everything, would most likely simply be advised regarding financial matters but would not require in-depth knowledge. And this was a problem of a noble house, so it wouldn't be necessary for financial advisers to take place in that ruling (as they would be present for situations regarding resources of the militia or the entire home world).
  • it could be that they were familiar with spreadsheets, but their bafflement was over the complex financial maneuvers Quark was describing to them. after all, we see them trying to follow along on their own PAD Ds, so they are able to follow what he is saying. Quark however was describing very complex financial maneuverings, which require a fairly deep understanding of the logic behind financial markets, real estate, banking ,and the like. As Grilka remarked earlier, Klingon warriors do not usually concern themselves with financial issues (presumably they have non-warriors or slaves track such things), and we see Gowron being very disgusted by the idea of a Klingon warrior using 'money' instead of challenges and open combat to achieve a goal. so it is likely that the warriors of the Klingon High Council were having trouble wrapping their head around the financial logic and maneuvering Quark was describing. they certainly seemed to get the gist of it though, since Gowron actually goes so far as to confront D'Ghor over the tactics chosen. presumably bringing down a Great House in itself was not a major crime, but doing so through 'dishonorable' means like financial schemes is.

The Ritual of Mauk-to'Vor

• Why didn't Worf and Kurn simply travel to Klingon Territory to perform the Mauk-to'Vor ritual? Or anywhere that isn't Federation territory, really? They couldn't come up with an excuse for Worf to be gone for a few days?
  • Presumably Worf would still have to answer why Kurn didn't come back with him, and it would likely disgrace the honor of the ritual to lie. Remember, the whole point of the ritual is that it's an honorable thing... treating it like something to hide or be done in secret would erase the honor.
• And would the ritual be valid by Klingon standards, since Worf is the actual disgraced one, not Kurn?
  • Presumably the Mauk-to'Vor is more a matter of personal honor, and would carry significance for Worf and Kurn whether or not the rest of Klingon society acknowledged it. After all the ritual isn't about making the Council forgive them, it's about Kurn wanting to be able to go to Sto-vo-Kor.
  • It is an interesting question, and rests on whether the ritual isn't allowed because it's not legal on a Bajoran space station (as Odo seems to imply, but then doing it somewhere else would presumably be okay), or if it's against regulations for a Starfleet officer (which would presumably apply to Worf even if he were off duty and outside the Federation).
    • Funny you should mention the law. Odo remarks that if Kurn dies it's murder. If Kurn lives, apparently it's not attempted murder.
    • Odo knows that if Kurn survives, he's not going to press charges against Worf.

Never let anyone know about our appearance

• How could O'Brien and Bashir not know what TOS-era Klingons looked like? There was a near-war with the Klingons, and multiple border conflicts/proxy wars, during that period. Does the Federation/Star Fleet Academy not teach 23rd-century history? Has Section 31 edited all history books and news reports to replace "Space Mongol" Klingons with "Head Ridge" Klingons?
  • Doylist answer: at the time "Trials and Tribble-ations" was written, there was no official explanation for why Klingon appearance changed between TOS and the movies / TNG / DS9, and the simplest explanation was that it DIDN'T actually change in-canon, it's just that advances in makeup budgets allowed later iterations of Trek to show what Klingons "really" looked like. The Klingon augment virus from Enterprise was a retcon that hadn't been officially made canon yet. The scene you're referring to was just a cute wink at the audience asking them to not think about it too hard. Watsonian answer: something something temporal paradox tachyons don't think about it too hard.

Why do Bat'leths keep breaking?

• In both "Blood Oath" and "Tacking Into The Wind," a bat'leth shatters during combat. If bat'leths are supposed to be such formidable weapons for hand to hand combat, why are they made of brittle material?
  • As a possibility, the ones we see break are the equivalent of the IJN's Shin Gun-To. Mass produced weapons of markedly lower quality than a properly made one, more meant to be a backup and symbolic weapon (a reminder to the bearer that "you are Klingon"), over a well-crafted, optimal weapon (which would be kept safe as heirlooms)

Let’s give the least qualified person a position!

• Whose idea was it to put Alexander, the youngest and least experienced crew member, a position on the bridge?
  • Probably Worf, to keep an eye on him.
  • Martok gripes in the beginning that he hoped for ten more new crewmen than he received, making the ship short-staffed. Alexander might be one of the few Klingons onboard with the training to man the sensors. Given that he's a good engineer, was raised by the Federation on Earth, and hasn't been spending much time on hand-to-hand combat, he's probably more adept in technical areas than the standard Klingon in spite of his youth.