The Klingon Dimension

The Federation and the Klingon Empire have been formal allies since the Khitomer Accords of 2293, an alliance sealed in blood at Narendra III in 2344, when the USS Enterprise-C died defending a Klingon outpost from Romulan warbirds. That history is not abstract on this border: Narendra lies within memory and near reach of the Rubicon's patrol region, and the Klingons have neither forgotten what the Romulans did there nor forgiven it.

This makes the Klingons, in 2369, allies who are genuinely on the Federation's side and genuinely difficult to work with. A Klingon captain near the Zone shares the Rubicon's adversary but not its methods. Where Starfleet sees a treaty to be upheld and an incident to be defused, a Klingon commander often sees an enemy to be answered and honor to be reclaimed, and has little patience for being told to stand down. Klingon "assistance" on this border is real, valuable, and prone to starting exactly the war the Rubicon exists to prevent. Managing the ally can be harder than managing the adversary.