KTF/Heroes

From MFIWiki
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
 
(11 intermediate revisions by one user not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
 
{|
 
{|
 
|width=165px |
 
|width=165px |
|[[Image:ktf_logo_sm.jpg|500px|Klingon Task Force]]
+
|div align="center"|[[Image:ktf_logo_sm.jpg|500px|Klingon Task Force]]
 
----
 
----
 
|-
 
|-
Line 8: Line 8:
 
|width=550px div align="center"|<h3 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt" align="center"><b><u><font size="6">HEROES OF THE EMPIRE </font></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">
 
|width=550px div align="center"|<h3 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt" align="center"><b><u><font size="6">HEROES OF THE EMPIRE </font></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">
 
</span></h3>
 
</span></h3>
<br><br>
+
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center"><b>by Gary Hollifield, Jr., <br>
<p>
+
Dewald de Coning, <br>
<h3 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt" align="center"><b><u><font size="6">MARTOK</font></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">
+
David R. A Grate, <br>
</span></h3></p>
+
Frances B. Brock, <br>
<p><h2 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt" align="center"><b><u><font size="4">Son of Urthog: a psychological profile</font></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">
+
Leslie A. Lechner, <br>
</span></h2></p>
+
and George Pimentel</b></p><div align=left><br><br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center"><b>by Dewald de Coning
+
[[KTF/BElanna|B'Elanna Torres]]<br>
</b></p><div align=left>
+
<div align=left><br><br>
General Martok's life story is a typical “rags to riches” tale. In this sense, out of all the legendary
+
[[KTF/Chang|CHANG]]<br>
Klingon characters in the Star Trek universe, he's probably the one who exhibits the most human
+
<div align=left><br><br>
psychological traits to his personality, and the one Klingon character we can identify with best.
+
[[KTF/Martok|MARTOK]]<br>
Despite being by all accounts a “traditional” Klingon, he is enigmatic in the sense that at times he
+
<div align=left><br><br>
also displays remarkably “human” characteristics, such as recurring bouts of self-doubt
+
[[KTF/Alexander_Rozhenko|ALEXANDER ROZHENKO]]<br>
and
+
<div align=left><br><br>
insecurity. Students of military strategy and leadership can learn a lot from studying this warrior's
+
[[KTF/Duras|HOUSE OF DURAS]]<br>
psyche.<br><br>
+
<div align=left><br><br>
<b>Early life</b><br>
+
[[KTF/Kor|KOR]]<br><br><br><br>
Martok was born in the lowlands of Ketha province on Qo'nos to a common family. The Ketha
+
 
lowlands was a generally impoverished region of Qo'nos. His family had a long history of loyalty to
+
 
the empire. Fifteen generations in his family before him had been warriors. His father, Urthog, had
+
 
never achieved officer status himself, and had therefore harbored the hope that his son could one
+
 
day become an officer. It took a great deal of effort, but Urthog found an old friend willing to
+
{{Copyrights}}
sponsor Martok for enlistment. He passed the entrance exam, but when he went before the Oversight
+
[[Category:Klingon]][[Category:KTF]]
Council, to his everlasting shame and his father's embarrassment, the legendary warrior, Kor,
+
rejected his application, specifically because he was not of noble heritage. In all probability, Martok
+
never forgave Kor for that. It was a blight he would carry with him the rest of his life.<br>
+
[[Image:Martok.jpg|General Martok]]<br>
+
General Martok <br><br>
+
As a direct result of Kor's rejection, Martok was forced to serve as a mere civilian laborer on a
+
Klingon ship from 2345 to 2350. It was during a battle with the Romulans that he had acquitted
+
himself so well in the fighting that he was given a battlefield commission. Sadly, his father died
+
only shortly before he received this commission. This most probably might always have been
+
Martok's biggest single regret. <br><br>
+
<b>Military career</b><br>
+
From there, Martok worked his way up the ranks, until he became a general. He began his steady
+
rise to hero status when he commanded the Klingon forces loyal to chancellor Gowron at the battle
+
of Mempa during the Klingon Civil War in 2368. Although Gowron's forces were sent into a full
+
retreat, Martok's bold leadership kept the battle from turning into a complete rout. In a way, Martok
+
can be described as the “Stonewall Jackson” of the Klingon empire.
+
In late 2371 Martok was abducted from Qo'nos by the Dominion as part of an intricate wartime
+
ploy, and imprisoned in an internment camp in the Gamma quadrant, where he lost his left eye
+
during a fight with the Jem'Hadar camp commander, leaving him half-blind.
+
After his escape from
+
this internment camp, he returned to Deep Space 9, where chancellor Gowron appointed him
+
commander of the Klingon detachment.<br>
+
[[Image:Worf_and_Martok.jpg|Worf and Martok]]<br>
+
Worf and Martok during their custody in the Dominion internment camp.<br><br>
+
Later that same year Martok was given command of the IKS Rotarran. But his time in the Dominion
+
internment camp had left a serious scar on Martok's psyche and self-esteem.
+
Cognizant of his
+
uneasiness with a command position following his confinement, he invited Worf to serve as his first
+
officer. This in itself shows his reasonableness as an officer and his willingness to delegate and trust
+
and to place the interests of the empire above his own.<br>
+
[[Image:IKS_Rotarran.jpg|IKS Rotarran]]<br>
+
IKS Rotarran, Martok's first starship command following his captivity.<br><br>
+
Martok was initially too cautious in his command of the Klingon warship, despite the crew's already
+
low morale, as a result of a serious of defeats. He exacerbated the situation by deliberately avoiding
+
several opportunities to engage the Jem'Hadar in combat during the opening shots of the Dominion
+
War. To preempt a mutiny, Worf staged a challenge between Martok and himself, allowing Martok
+
to win. This rekindled Martok's selfconfidence,
+
as well as the crew's trust in him.
+
His brilliant leadership and near-heroic
+
exploits during the rest of the Dominion War from 2373 to
+
2375, made him very popular among his peers, as well as civilians. He was instrumental in
+
convincing Gowron to support Starfleet's offensive to recapture Deep Space 9 from the Dominion.
+
He was promoted to the position of Supreme Commander of the combined Starfleet/Klingon Ninth
+
Fleet in early 2374, but he resented the position because of all the paperwork and bureaucracy
+
involved in commanding an entire fleet. From this we can clearly see that Martok was not a
+
politician or bureaucrat, but more of a “hands-on”
+
type of commander, active amongst his troops,
+
not happy to be trapped in an office, nevertheless prone to self-doubt.<br><br>
+
<b>Personal relationships</b><br>
+
Martok resented his elderly assistant, Darok. He often belittled him for being elderly, in stead of
+
having died with honor. Darok, in turn, had befriended Kor, because he reminded him of a “Qo'nos
+
that once was”. Perhaps this was another motive for Martok's resentment of Darok, because he still
+
resented Kor for having declined his first application to the Klingon defense force at the outset of
+
his career.
+
Martok showed fierce loyalty, heroism, and incorruptibility, even in the face of treachery and
+
adversity. When chancellor Gowron embarked on a program to discredit Martok as a military leader,
+
he refused to betray his loyalty to Gowron, despite the latter's treachery. When Worf later killed
+
Gowron in battle and became chancellor, he abdicated in favor of Martok. Initially, Martok refused
+
the position, expressing his belief that the High Council would not accept him as chancellor, for
+
being a common man from the lowlands. Clearly he was not aware of the impact the reverence his
+
troops had for him would have in terms of compelling the council to accept his appointment as
+
chancellor.
+
Despite all of his “human” traits, Martok was still by all rights a traditional Klingon. He viewed
+
marriage in a rather cynical fashion, describing it as “just another form of combat”, and although he
+
had clearly become disillusioned with his marriage and the woman he was married to, he loved
+
Lady Sirella deeply. Sirella, together with two of his daughters, Shen and Lazhna, were all killed in
+
January 2376 during a coup d'etat, led by Gothmara and Morjod, Martok's illegitimate son.
+
Lady Sirella
+
Fiercely traditional and proud, somewhat stubborn, Martok preferred to keep his injured eye as is.
+
When an ocular implant was suggested to him, he was adamant that he did not want “an artificial
+
eye”.
+
Incredibly disciplined and stern towards his troops, he once disciplined Kretok, a member of Deep
+
Space 9's Klingon detachment, by throwing him off a crossway on the promenade.
+
Like most Klingons, Martok showed a disdain for Ferengi. However, when the Ferengi cadet, Nog,
+
stood up to him and directly challenged him, Martok developed a grudging respect for him.
+
The Ferengi cadet Nog, who courageously stood up to General Martok
+
Conclusion
+
Martok was a complex man. He could even be considered a contradiction in himself. He could be
+
surprisingly compassionate at times, yet brutally cruel at other times. In one incident he appointed
+
Worf as first officer on a dangerous mission to Monac IV in early 2375, so that Worf could earn
+
entry into Stovokor
+
for his Jadzia, who had recently passed away. In yet another incident he had
+
Kaybok of the IKS M'Char executed in 2372 for merely disobeying orders. But he was also an
+
excellent judge of character, caring deeply about those under his command.<br></div><div align=center>
+
<b><u>Sources</u><br>
+
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Martok <br>
+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martok <br>
+
http://memorybeta.wikia.com/wiki/Martok <br>
+
http://www.startrek.com/database_article/martok <br>
+

Latest revision as of 20:12, 22 July 2013

Klingon Task Force Main Page

Klingon Task Force
KTF Directory

HEROES OF THE EMPIRE

by Gary Hollifield, Jr.,
Dewald de Coning,
David R. A Grate,
Frances B. Brock,
Leslie A. Lechner,
and George Pimentel



B'Elanna Torres



CHANG



MARTOK



ALEXANDER ROZHENKO



HOUSE OF DURAS



KOR






Cbs-para2.jpg Star Trek®,StarTrek.com, Star Trek: The Next Generation®, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, Star Trek: Voyager®, and Enterprise® are registered trademarks of CBS Paramount Television & Viacom. All material found on these pages are for promotional purposes only. No infringements on their copyright is intended. These are Star Trek Fan Pages.