Editorial The Klingon Empire: Accepted Ally or Tolerated Blot?

[Federation News Service]

In this two-part editorial series, FNS foreign affairs reporter Flynn Dupond questions the Federation’s alliance with an empire built on conquest, subjugation, and conflict.

I recently found myself wandering the main promenade of Starbase 118 along with my daughter. It is usually a bustling hive of ordered chaos, but with the (then) upcoming Khitomer Accords anniversary approaching, everyone was moving about—buying gifts, hanging decorations, etc.

My daughter, a precocious youngster of five, was aware that something special was impending, and asked me what was going on. I attempted to explain that, many years ago, the Federation began to work with the Klingon Empire toward peace. I managed to give a cursory overview without delving into the rich and convoluted history the Empire and the Federation had shared together. Remember, this is a five-year-old I’m trying to communicate with. Even with this ultra-condensed version, my daughter looked thoroughly bored by my ramblings, and with an, “Oh,” she darted off to join her friends and munch on jumja sticks.

As I continued to window shop and keep an eye on her, my eyes were drawn upwards, toward the ceiling, where a Federation banner and a Klingon Empire banner hung side by side. I’d seen such imagery before, and it had often stirred the patriotic portions of my heart for days after. But as I observed that harsh, emblazoned trefoil, my thoughts returned to the abridged lecture I’d just given. In that moment, the alliance between the two previously feuding governments seemed so improbable, so impractical, that I simply couldn’t believe it had held.

Later that night, I began to study the Klingon Empire in detail. I poured over any confirmed and unclassified information I could dredge up, and my findings shocked me. I decided my next piece for the FNS would not be on the Khitomer celebrations. Virtually all of my esteemed colleagues would be following that particular story. Instead, I would delve deeper into one the of the best-kept secrets of the Federation: its abusive, abrasive comrade, the Klingon Empire.

 

Read the rest of the editorial at The Klingon Empire: Accepted Ally or Tolerated Blot? on the Federation News Service.

This editorial was written by Lt. Randal Shayne of the USS Darwin.