Martok, son of Urthog


 * For the mirror universe counterpart, see Martok (mirror).
 * ''For the Changeling that replaced Martok, see Martok (changeling)

Martok, Son of Urthog, (played by J. G. Hertzler) is a Klingon male and Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. He is also the leader of the House of Martok.

Before his accession to Chancellor, he was a decorated and popular General during the Dominion War. He fought at the Second Battle of Deep Space 9, Operation Return, the First and Second Battles of Chin'toka and at the Battle of Cardassia.

His wife Sirella and his daughters Shen and Lazhna were killed in January 2376 by Gothmara and Morjod's coup d'état. His son Drex once served as first officer on the.

Early life
Martok was born in the Lowlands of Ketha Province on Qo'noS. 

Fifteen generations before him had been warriors, although his father Urthog wanted him to be an officer. Martok managed to find someone to sponsor his entry, howeverKor opposed him, destroying Martok's hopes of becoming an officer.

The "Mark of Kor" also held him back from warrior posts and Martok later joined the civilian crew of General ShiVang's flagship. The Romulans attacked that ship soon after and Martok was given a battlefield commission for his effort in fighting them. 

Early service to the Empire

 * To be written

Capture by the Dominion and imprisonment
In 2371, Martok was hunting sabre bear on Kang's Summit, when he was captured by the Dominion and taken to Internment Camp 371. A Founder assumed his form and took his position as Gowron's chief of staff. 

During his imprisonment, Martok would fight the Jem'Hadar guards who used him for practice for the time they would engage other Klingons in battle. While fighting Ikat'ika, he lost his left eye. 

When Worf arrived in the camp in 2373, Martok began to coach him. 

2373
After the "Second Battle of Deep Space Nine", Martok would participate in several early battles during the Dominion War over the next three months with many of them alongside Benjamin Sisko and the USS Defiant (NX-74205) (I). After receiving a minor injury to his left arm during a reconnaissance mission, he beams over with Worf to the Defiant to exchange greetings with the crew and ask for help from Dr. Julian Bashir. However, after hearing the report of the near destruction of the Seventh Fleet, Martok puts off checking into the Defiant's sickbay and instead consults privately with Sisko about what they should all do next. At first, Martok is uneasy when Sisko begins to concoct a long-term plan to re-take Deep Space Nine but is eventually in full agreement with what needs to be done. 

Tezwa
In late 2379, the Tezwan Prime Minister Kinchawn claimed sovereignty over the Klingon border colony of QiV'ol. Unknown to Chancellor Martok, Federation President Min Zife had installed six nadion-pulse cannons on the planetary surface for a potential tactical ambush against Dominion forces, a situation that never became necessary. As the weaponry was a clear violation of the Khitomer Accords, President Zife and chief of staff Koll Azernal, via Ambassador Worf, requested that the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) and Captain Jean-Luc Picard attempt to negotiate a peaceful outcome, with a Klingon Defense Force fleet acting as military backup, offering the Mirka colonies as a supposedly unrelated gesture.

However, Kinchawn refused to negotiate, and opened fire with the cannons, destroying the Klingon fleet and damaging the Enterprise. Martok swore that revenge must be taken for the 6000 lives lost in the assault, and prepared a second fleet of nearly forty vessels. However, Worf was able to obtain the Fleet Command Codes and delivered them to Captain Picard, who used them to neutralize the Klingon fleet and claim batyay'a - complete control over a conquered foe. Martok realized that it could have only been Worf would could have accessed and delivered the codes, but refused to bring charges against his housemate. 

2381
In early 2381, the Borg Collective launched a brutal invasion of the Alpha and Beta quadrants, which the Klingon High Command deemed a purely internal Federation matter, despite Martok's willingness to aid their allies. However, Khitomer fell victim to an attack by a Borg cube, which was successfully defended by the Starfleet vessels USS Arimathea, USS Constant, and USS Ranger (Nebula class), although all three ships were lost. Using sensor data transmitted by governor Talgar and Colonel of Khitomer City, Martok organized the Great Houses and pledged the support of the Klingon Defense Force. 

As Khitomer and Beta Thoridor fell to the Borg, Martok boarded his flagship, the and gathered a fleet of nearly five hundred Defense Force vessels to intercept a Borg armada of roughly the same size; Captain G'mtor declared it an advantage, as they were warriors of the Empire. Martok gave a rousing address to the fleet before they set to warp speed; upon arriving, they engaged the Borg forces, and the shortest battle of Martok's life rapidly became the costliest. A slab of metal knocked the command chair from its bolts, and Martok was slammed brutally to the deck and pinned under debris, breaking bones in his rib cage and the femur in his left leg. General Goluk gathered several Bridge crew to lift the debris and help the Chancellor back to his feet. Despite their bravery, sixty one Borg ships broke through, and Martok was forced to hail the homeworld and alert the home guard. Councilor Kopek answered from the High Council chambers in the Great Hall, and pledged to fight on behalf of the Empire, not for politics.

Despite the efforts of the home guard and the timely reversal of the Borg fleet back to the Azure Nebula, seven major cities were wiped from the surface of Qo'noS, and the damage reminded Martok of historical reports following the destruction of Praxis. Many of the councilors had perished with the attack fleets or were missing, and Martok had no idea which would turn up alive or dead; despite the possibility of acting as the sole representative of the High Council, he held himself in check, vowing not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, Gowron. Martok received a casualty report from Goluk, who informed him of an estimated seventy seven million dead just on the homeworld. Despite the severity of the moment, Goluk and Martok shared a humorless laugh when the Chancellor pointed out he might be the only sitting ruler to have survived the destruction of the Great Hall twice. 

Fall from power
As his reign approached the end of its second decade, Martok's decisions were increasingly challenged by hardliners within the High Council, led by the brash J'mpok. When he refused to give in to the hardliners' demands to invade Gorn space, Martok was scorned as old and weak, and accused of being a Federation puppet. Enraged at J'mpok's continued challenges, Martok expels J'mpok from the High Council and seizes his title and lands, dissolving J'mpok's House. This had the effect of polarizing the High Council behind either Martok or J'mpok, and fighting breaks out on the streets of Qo'noS between those who supported either side. Martok - seeking to avoid a repeat of the Klingon Civil War that began after K'mpec's demise - invited J'mpok to the Great Hall to discuss a potential resolution to the conflict, ordering his Yan-Isleth bodyguards to guard the doors and allow no one to disturb them. By the end of that meeting, Martok was dead, and J'mpok declared that he was now Chancellor. 

Episodes

 * "The Way of the Warrior" (Changeling)
 * "Apocalypse Rising" (Changeling)
 * "In Purgatory's Shadow"
 * "By Inferno's Light"
 * "Soldiers of the Empire"
 * "A Time to Stand" (Season Six)
 * "Sons and Daughters"
 * "Favor the Bold"
 * "You Are Cordially Invited..."
 * "Tears of the Prophets"
 * "Image in the Sand" (Season Seven)
 * "Shadows and Symbols"
 * "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
 * "Once More Unto the Breach"
 * "The Emperor's New Cloak"
 * "Strange Bedfellows"
 * "The Changing Face of Evil"
 * "When It Rains..."
 * "Tacking Into the Wind"
 * "What You Leave Behind"
 * "When It Rains..."
 * "Tacking Into the Wind"
 * "What You Leave Behind"
 * "What You Leave Behind"

Novels

 * The Badlands, Book 2
 * Diplomatic Implausibility
 * The Left Hand of Destiny
 * A Time to Kill
 * A Good Day to Die
 * Honor Bound
 * A Time for War, A Time for Peace
 * Articles of the Federation
 * A Burning House
 * :
 * Gods of Night
 * Lost Souls

Novelizations

 * "The Way of the Warrior"
 * "Call to Arms..."
 * "...Sacrifice of Angels"
 * "What You Leave Behind"

Video games

 * Armada
 * Armada II
 * Conquest