The PowWow

This is another Star Trek character in my line-up. At the start of this game, the Federation and the Klingons are no longer allies and are at war with each other. I wanted to make a Starfleet Klingon captain, but I didn't want to just make a female copy of Worf. I thought, "what if a Klingon house joined the Federation rather than stay with the Klingon Empire." The chancellor of the Klingon Empire at the start of the game makes it a point to deny Klingons that are not loyal to him an honorable death, so I took that element of the story line and went from there. I hope you enjoy.

Name:  K'leela

Daughter of Volk, House of Vok

DOB:  Stardate 61965.30 (Earth date approximately 13 May 2385)

POB:  Qo'noS (Kronos)

Service History:

Starfleet Academy- 2405-2409

Starfleet- 2409-Present

Current Command:

USS Batlh-  Vor'ral Class Battlecruiser

History:

K'leela is a member of the House of Vok and the daughter of house patriarch, Volk.  House Vok was a minor Klingon house in the Klingon Empire that was allied with Chancellor Martok.  Volk made the decision to leave the Empire after J'mpok came to power and began targeting the houses that did not support him against Martok.  Volk was aware of J'mpok's tendency to deny Klingons he viewed as enemies an honorable death, so he took the members of his house, his ships, and resources and discretely left Qo'noS under cloak.

Upon crossing the Federation border, his ships were intercepted by a Starfleet task force.  He offered his house's support for the Federation in exchange for asylum which the Federation Council quickly approved.  This greatly angered J'mpok who had the Klingon High Council disavow House Vok and sentenced Volk and the members of his house to death in absentia.  (ADDITIONAL NOTE: The death sentence was later lifted after the actions of House Vok members in defending Qo'nos from the Undine, but due to the politics inside the Klingon High Council and despite J'mpok's death and the return of General Martok, it will be a very long time before House Vok is accepted back into the Empire.)

After House Vok joined the Federation, they resettled in a sparsely populated Federation colony world, and several of the house's members, including Volk's daughter K'leela applied for Starfleet Academy to honor his promise of support for the Federation.  K'leela graduated from the academy in 2409 and served honorably in Starfleet quickly proving herself as a skilled officer and warrior in numerous actions against opposing enemy forces.

Upon her promotion to Captain, House Vok gifted her with a modernized Vor'cha class battlecruiser to command which Starfleet commissioned as the USS Batlh (the Klingon word for Honor).  The sight of a Vor'cha battlecruiser painted in Federation colors and crewed by Starfleet personnel can be particularly unsettling to many officers in both Starfleet and the KDF, but she has become a welcome sight on the battlefield and has earned a reputation that is worthy of her namesake.

Psychological Profile:

K'leela is like most Klingons in that she is loyal, honorable, and aggressive.  However, unlike most Klingons, she is also quiet, reserved, and humble.  Other Klingons take this as weakness on her part, but they quickly discover that K'leela is not weak.  She simply prefers to allow her actions to speak for themselves.

K'leela is soft spoken, which is unusual for a Klingon, but make no mistake, she is the master of her vessel, and any crew member that seeks to challenge her authority will quickly regret that decision.  Although for the Batlh, that typically ends with disciplinary actions in the form of extra duty shifts, loss of shore leave, or confinement in the ship's brig rather than the immediate execution of the offending crew member.

She is a skilled warrior, but her heart lies with engineering, a subject that she is passionate about, and she considers one of her greatest achievements to be meeting Montgomery Scott after she was forced to travel to the past to defeat the Devidian threat on Drozana Station.

K'leela has had less trouble adjusting to Federation life than other members of her house, but she still has many challenges to overcome.  She has had difficulty adjusting to Federation social norms, so she tends to avoid social gatherings where there are no other Klingons present, choosing instead to spend her free time honing her combat skills or looking for ways to improve the performance of her ship.

USS Batlh

Vor'ral Support Battlecruiser

Service History:

The USS Batlh (Klingon word for honor) is a variant of the Klingon Vor'cha class of battlecruisers. She was one of over a dozen ships in House Vok's fleet that crossed the Federation/Klingon border and requested asylum from J'mpok. She, along with the other ships in House Vok's fleet, was impounded for a time while the Federation considered the asylum request, but they were soon released back to House Vok, albeit under the watchful eye of Starfleet, after their request was approved.

Volk, the house patriarch, pledged his support to the Federation in exchange for asylum, and upon his daughter, K'leela's, promotion to the rank of Captain, he petitioned Starfleet Command to allow her to command one of his ships under the flag of the Federation. This was an unusual request, but after some consideration, Starfleet Command approved his request and accepted the Batlh into service with Starfleet.

Batlh was commissioned into Starfleet as the USS Batlh and turned over to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to undergo modernization that would allow her to more easily operate with other Starfleet vessels. She retained her disruptor banks and heavy cannons, photon torpedoes, cloaking device, warp core, impulse engines, deflector, and defensive systems, but her sensors, communications, and what few science and engineering facilities she did have were brought up to Starfleet standards. Her bridge module was upgraded to allow for the integration of her new Starfleet systems, and some creature comforts were added to make her crew feel more at home. She was still very spartan compared to other Starfleet vessels, but her crew would find the Batlh a much more comfortable stay than if they were on a KDF ship.

Upon taking command, Captain K'leela wasted no time in getting the Batlh ready for combat. K'leela ran her crew through numerous readiness drills, and at the conclusion of the shakedown cruise, Batlh was assigned to Task Force Delta where she quickly made a name for herself. Her tactic of moving under cloak into the rear arc of Vaadwaur cruiser formations before de-cloaking at near point-blank range and striking hard with her disruptor beam arrays and heavy cannons made her a feared adversary among the Vaadwaur.

Upon completion of the Vaadwaur campaign, Batlh was assigned to the fleet tasked with dealing with the Undine threat where she was upgraded with transphasic torpedoes and a hargh'peng torpedo launcher. She soon found herself back in Klingon space fighting alongside Klingon forces to defend the Klingon home world from destruction at the hands of the Undine. This act would see the death sentence on House Vok lifted, but their exile and discommendation remained in effect and is unlikely to be lifted any time soon.

While a Klingon battlecruiser painted in the colors of Starfleet can be quite unsettling, particularly to Starfleet and KDF officers, Batlh has become a welcome sight on the battlefield by her allies. She has been a credit to her name and served honorably throughout the many wars and conflicts that have occurred since she joined the fleet. Starfleet Command sees her as an important asset, and she will continue to serve and face the threats to the Federation and her allies for the foreseeable future.