Dukat's Bird-of-Prey

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey
Class:	Klingon Bird-of-Prey
Owner:	Klingon Empire Cardassian Union / Dominion
Operator:	Klingon Defense Force Cardassian military
Status:	Active (2373)

"Well, Major, quite a prize we've taken; the first Klingon Bird-of-Prey ever to be captured by Cardassia."

– Dukat, 2372 ("Return to Grace")

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey that was captured by Dukat, with help from Major Kira Nerys, Damar, and Tora Ziyal, in 2372. Dukat used it to conduct a series of independent raids during the Klingon-Cardassian War.

History

Under K'Temang's command

First encounter with the Groumall

In the early 2370s, the ship was commanded by Captain K'Temang, with a crew of thirty-six. In 2372, the ship disabled the planetary defense systems of Korma colony and destroyed all of the buildings there. As well as the Cardassian dead, fifteen Bajorans were also killed in the attack, as they had been attending a conference on the planet.

The Cardassian military freighter Groumall that had been assigned to bring Kira Nerys to the conference from Deep Space 9 arrived on the scene soon after. The Bird-of-Prey decloaked near the freighter, scanned them and began to move off. Even after the Groumall fired on them with its weak weapons, they continued to move off and engaged their cloaking device.

The Groumall equipped itself with a salvaged System-5 planetary disruptor from Korma and attempted to lure the Bird-of-Prey into decloaking by modifying the subspace transceiver array to project the image of the freighter having refined dilithium crystals aboard.

The Bird-of-Prey is damaged by the Groumall's new weapon

Dukat's plan was successful and the Bird-of-Prey decloaked near the Groumall in the Loval system. K'Temang demanded the freighter's surrender, and after the Klingon ship locked a tractor beam on the Groumall, it moved closer, about to beam the "precious cargo" off the ship. This allowed the Groumall to fire its planetary disruptor, breaching the Bird-of-Prey's hull and disabling their impulse engines. However, the Bird-of-Prey was still able to fire on the Groumall.

Dukat and Kira beamed onto the Bird-of-Prey and, using Klingon transporter codes, beamed the Klingon crew to the Groumall and the Cardassian crew to the Bird-of-Prey. Dukat and Kira made their way to the Klingon bridge, where Dukat fired the ship's disruptors on the Groumall and destroyed it, killing K'Temang and his crew. (DS9: "Return to Grace")

Under Dukat's command

The ship was the first Klingon starship to have been captured by the Cardassian Union and was discovered to have valuable computer logs, featuring status reports from several Klingon starships around the Union. The Detapa Council decided to not use the data to launch an offensive against the occupying Klingon forces, still favoring a diplomatic approach.

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey leaves Deep Space 9 on a new mission - to fight the Klingons in the Cardassian Union

Even though he was offered the chance to resume his old post as military advisor to the Detapa Council, Dukat decided to use the Bird-of-Prey to fight the Klingons himself. Kira managed to convince him to let Ziyal live on Deep Space 9, not wanting her to live the life she led – as a freedom fighter. (DS9: "Return to Grace")

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey began attacking Klingon ships, and Dukat himself procured a baldric. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")

Mission to Ty'Gokor

Early in 2373, Kira asked Ziyal to contact her father and ask him to bring his Bird-of-Prey to Deep Space 9. Dukat's ship was needed by Benjamin Sisko, Worf, Odo and Miles O'Brien to infiltrate the Klingon Empire and bring them to Ty'Gokor, where they were to unmask a Changeling posing as Chancellor Gowron.

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey approaches Ty'Gokor in 2373

During the journey, Damar voiced his opinion of using the Bird-of-Prey's photon torpedoes to destroy Gowron's command center. This idea was dismissed by Odo and O'Brien, who told him he would "be lucky to launch one torpedo before they shot you down." Using the Bird-of-Prey's computers, Dukat was able to plant the Starfleet team's assumed Klingon identities in Ty'Gokor's central computer system.

Nearing Ty'Gokor, Dukat's ship was hailed by another Bird-of-Prey. Usually, Dukat would have used the ship's holofilter to project the image of a crew of Klingons, but on this occasion its optronic relays were fused, rendering it useless. Worf offered to talk to them, but Dukat preferred to destroy them.

After depositing Sisko and his team on Ty'Gokor, Dukat and his Bird-of-Prey left the system. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")

Dukat's last days in command

Later that year, Dukat's Bird-of-Prey was damaged in a confrontation with a Klingon battle cruiser and he visited Deep Space 9 for repairs. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow")

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey joins the Dominion fleet

Several days later, Dukat's Bird-of-Prey joined the USS Defiant and two Danube-class runabouts to face an invading Dominion fleet. After the Dominion starships moved away from the station and set a course for Cardassia, Dukat appeared to move to intercept them. This was not the case, as he was joining the Dominion fleet. He announced his negotiations with the Dominion and Cardassia's membership in it from the bridge of his ship. The last time the crew of Deep Space 9 saw Dukat's Bird-of-Prey, it was moving with the Dominion fleet towards Cardassia Prime. (DS9: "By Inferno's Light")

In 2375, Dukat and Damar reminisced about their time fighting the Klingons with the Bird-of-Prey. Damar remarked that "those were simpler times." (DS9: "'Til Death Do Us Part")

Appendices

Appearances

• DS9:
  • "Return to Grace"
  • "Apocalypse Rising"
  • "By Inferno's Light"

Background information

The Star Trek Fact Files card for this ship suggests it was the first Bird-of-Prey the Dominion was able to study.

Apocrypha

As part of a promotion for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, Decipher released several sets of matching officers and their ships. "Dukat, True Cardassian" was released along with this ship, which was given the name Naprem. This would indicate Dukat renamed the ship in honor of the late Tora Naprem, with whom he conceived Tora Ziyal.

External link

• Naprem at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works