The Klingon Frontier in 2393

1. Overview

Where the Romulan Neutral Zone runs close to Klingon space, the Federation is not the only power facing the Romulans. The Klingon Empire keeps its own border with the Romulan Star Empire, with its own ships, its own command and its own very long memory. A Starfleet crew on these stretches of the line will meet Klingon ships, hear Klingon traffic and, sooner or later, find itself between a Klingon captain and a Romulan one.

This article describes the Klingon side of the frontier as Starfleet sees it in 2393: the two stretches where Klingon and Romulan space meet near the Zone, the Narendra Command that guards one of them, how Klingon patrols behave, how a Klingon captain tends to answer a Romulan provocation, the raiders who have worked this frontier, and what a Starfleet officer should expect when a Klingon ship appears on the screen. For the Zone as a whole see The Neutral Zone (2393), for the Federation side of the region see Starbase 234 and the Patrol Region, and for the Romulan side see The Romulan Side of the Zone. For the history behind all of it see Klingons and Romulans.

The Klingon Defense Force publishes little about its border forces, and shares less. Much of what follows is drawn from observation and from officers who have served alongside Klingon crews. Where it describes a pattern rather than a fact, it says so.

2. Two Stretches of Frontier

There is no single “Klingon border” on the Zone. Klingon space touches the Romulan frontier in more than one place, and two stretches matter most to Starfleet in 2393. They are separate regions, some distance apart, and should not be confused.

2.1 The tri-border near Starbase 24

The first is the tri-border, the region near Starbase 24 where the Federation, Klingon and Romulan borders meet. It lies close to Khitomer, the Klingon colony the Romulans attacked in 2346. Across the border from Khitomer, about five light years inside Romulan space, lies Ad Pontes, a planet the Empire has declared uninhabited.

The tri-border is a region of trade as much as of watching. In 2390 more than twenty-six transport lanes met there, some running into Federation space and the rest into Romulan and Klingon territory, and a makeshift freighter outpost called the Hub stood where they crossed. Raiders working from the region struck Romulan and Klingon shipping that year, each empire blamed the other, and talks between Romulan Ambassador V’rel and the Klingon General T’Sok ended without agreement. What has become of the Hub since is not known to this article. Starbase 24, which was being rebuilt in 2390, was completed in the early 2390s.

The Klingon presence at the tri-border is shaped by Khitomer. Klingon patrols there guard a world whose name every Klingon knows, against the power that once burned it. They also guard trade lanes that matter to the houses whose ships use them.

2.2 The Nevrha stretch and Narendra III

The second stretch lies spinward of the Romulan Chaltok Sector, where the Zone runs nearest to Klingon space. The Romulans call the sector on their side Nevrha, and their garrisons there look two ways: toward the Federation and toward the Klingons. On the Klingon side, Narendra III lies within reach. This is the stretch closest to the Starbase 234 patrol region, and the one Starfleet crews from that region meet most often.

Narendra III is the reason this stretch is never calm. In 2344 Romulan warbirds attacked the Klingon outpost there, and the USS Enterprise-C was destroyed defending it. The Klingons have neither forgotten what the Romulans did there nor forgiven it, and the Romulans in Nevrha know it.

3. The Narendra Command

The Klingon Defense Force’s border command facing the Romulan Zone in the Nevrha stretch is the Narendra Command, based at Narendra III. The world has been rebuilt as a fortress-memorial, standing where the outpost the Enterprise-C defended once stood. It is a working military base, with docking and repair for the ships of the command, and it is also a place of honour. Klingon crews regard service there as a privilege, and Starfleet officers who have visited it describe a station that never lets anyone forget why it exists.

The Narendra Command is led in 2393 by General Kortaq, of the House of Vreth. The House of Vreth is an old house with many ship captains among its sons, and on the High Council it argues for a harder line with the Romulans (see The Great Houses). That a Vreth general holds Narendra is noted with care in Starfleet assessments. It does not mean the command acts against the Council’s wishes, and nothing on record suggests it has. It does mean that the officers who face the Romulans most closely belong, in many cases, to the house least inclined to let a Romulan insult pass.

The size and order of battle of the Narendra Command are not published. Starfleet sees birds-of-prey most often, with larger ships at intervals. Whether the command also answers for the tri-border, or whether the tri-border falls under another command, has not been confirmed. For the Klingon Defense Force as a whole see The Klingon Defense Force.

4. Klingon Patrol Habits

Klingon patrols on the Romulan frontier differ from Romulan patrols in almost every way that matters to a watcher. Starfleet observation over many years suggests the following patterns.

Klingon ships want to be seen. A Klingon warship on patrol often runs uncloaked, especially when it meets a Federation ship or wants a Romulan listening post to know it is there. The Klingon Empire is not a party to the Treaty of Algeron, which bars the Federation from cloaking devices, and Klingon ships do use their cloaks. But a Klingon patrol uses the cloak to get close, not to stay hidden. Sooner or later it decloaks, and it chooses the moment.

Klingon ships patrol in small groups. Birds-of-prey are the most common sight, often in pairs or small groups. Larger cruisers appear when the Narendra Command wants to make a point. For ship types see Klingon Ships.

Patrols are regular, and proud of it. Unlike the Romulans, who vary their patterns so that no watcher can learn them, Klingon patrols tend to keep to routes and intervals a careful observer can learn. A Klingon commander does not mind if the enemy knows where he will be. He would like the enemy to come and find him there.

Klingon ships answer what they see. A Romulan decloaking near the line, a buoy that drifts, a signal from the Zone: a Klingon patrol will go to look, and often go closer than a Starfleet crew would.

Klingon ships watch their own borders closely. They also watch the Federation. Starfleet ships that run sensor sweeps into Klingon space have been warned off by Klingon patrols, politely by Klingon standards and not by any other. The complaint that the Federation violates Klingon borders with sensor sweeps was made openly at the tri-border talks of 2390, and it has not gone away.

5. How a Klingon Captain Answers a Provocation

Klingon captains near the Zone share the Federation’s adversary but not its methods. Where Starfleet sees a treaty to uphold and an incident to defuse, a Klingon commander often sees an enemy to be answered and honour to be reclaimed, and has little patience for being told to stand down. Romulan provocations on this frontier are built to be watched and logged. A Klingon captain does not see the point of watching and logging.

What a Klingon captain does depends on the captain, the house and the moment, and Starfleet guidance warns against assuming any one pattern. Over many years, though, some tendencies have appeared.

The danger is plain. Starfleet analysts believe some Romulan provocations on these stretches of the Zone are aimed at the Klingons, in the hope that a Klingon answer will force the Federation to restrain its ally or take the blame for what the ally does. A Klingon captain who answers with force has done what the Romulans hoped. Klingon assistance on this border is real and valuable, and it is also capable of starting the very war Starfleet is there to prevent. Managing the ally can be harder than managing the adversary.

A Starfleet officer who must ask a Klingon captain to hold his fire should not ask him to be afraid. He will not hear it. The better argument, by the experience of officers who have tried, is about honour and timing: a warrior does not let an enemy choose the ground. Even then, a Klingon captain is not under Starfleet command, and may decline.

6. Raiders on the Frontier

6.1 Klingon raiders of the 2380s

From about 2382 to 2390, young warriors of lesser Klingon houses, and some ship captains, raided Romulan border holdings while the Romulan Star Empire was turned inward after 2379. The House of Gharvel is the house most often named. The High Council neither sanctioned nor stopped the raids. When Romulan patrols returned to the Zone from 2387, and in strength from 2389, the raids grew costly, and after 2390 they tapered off. They have not entirely stopped being a fear on the Romulan side, and Romulan garrisons near Klingon space are posted with that fear in mind. See Klingons and Romulans.

6.2 Nausicaan raiders

In the early 2380s Nausicaan raiders worked near the Klingon border, striking shipping and outlying settlements. Starfleet escorted convoys to Federation colonies in the area, and Starfleet ships fought Nausicaan raiders there. Klingon patrols hunted them on their own side. How many were taken and how many simply moved on is not recorded. Nausicaan raiding has fallen off since, but it has never stopped entirely on any frontier the Nausicaans can reach.

6.3 Pirates at the tri-border

The raiders of the 2390 crisis at the tri-border were neither Klingon nor Romulan, though each empire blamed the other for them. They were a pirate band working from Ad Pontes, across from Khitomer. The lesson Starfleet draws is that on a frontier where two empires distrust each other, a third party can do a great deal of harm before either looks past the other.

7. The Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone

The Federation and the Klingon Empire are allies, but a buffer between them still exists: the Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone. Its line was redrawn by the Khitomer Accords in 2293. It is not a contested border in the way the Romulan Zone is, and Starfleet crews on the Romulan frontier rarely deal with it directly. It is mentioned here only because it shapes where Klingon and Federation ships may go as of right, and because Klingon officers are as sensitive about their borders with the Federation as about any other. For the alliance itself see The Alliance with the Federation.

8. What a Starfleet Officer Should Expect

8.1 Meeting a Klingon ship

Expect to be hailed first. A Klingon captain will usually speak before a Starfleet captain does, often with a challenge or a demand to know the Federation ship’s business. This is courtesy, by Klingon standards. Answer directly. Hesitation reads as weakness, and evasion as dishonesty.

Expect a ship to decloak close by. Klingon ships often appear at short range and without warning. It is rarely a threat. It is a statement that the Klingon captain could have stayed hidden and chose not to.

Expect plain speech. Klingon officers say what they think of the Romulans, of the Federation and of the Starfleet officer in front of them. Insult is not always meant as insult. A Klingon who mocks an ally may be testing him, and one who praises an ally has meant it.

Expect to be watched. Klingon ships keep track of Starfleet ships on their frontier as closely as they track Romulans. Do not sweep Klingon space with sensors. If a scan into Klingon territory is truly needed, ask first.

8.2 Working with Klingon crews

The officer exchange between Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force has run since the 2360s, and Starfleet officers, among them doctors, have served aboard Klingon ships under it. After 2383 a Klingon Defense Force contingent trained with Starfleet on Mars in fighter tactics. Officers with that kind of experience are valuable on this frontier, and a Starfleet captain who has one aboard should use him. For Klingon custom see Honour, Faith and Custom, and for ranks and forms of address see Language, Names and Ranks.

A Klingon captain who agrees to act with a Starfleet ship will keep his word. He will not necessarily keep it in the way the Starfleet captain expected. Agreements on this frontier should be plain, spoken aloud and as short as possible.

8.3 Starfleet guidance

Starfleet’s guidance for crews on the Klingon-facing stretches of the Zone is short. Treat Klingon ships as allies, and treat them as allies with their own aims. Never follow a Klingon ship across the line. Never fire on a Romulan ship because a Klingon ship has. Log every Klingon movement as carefully as every Romulan one, because the Romulans will dispute both. And remember that the Romulans are watching the Klingons as closely as they watch the Federation, and that the most useful thing a Romulan commander can do on this frontier may be to make a Klingon captain angry.

9. See Also

The Klingon Empire · Klingons and Romulans · The Klingon Defense Force · Klingon Ships · The Great Houses · The Alliance with the Federation · The Neutral Zone (2393) · Starbase 234 and the Patrol Region · The Romulan Side of the Zone