The Battle of Marcan was a key battle of the Dominion War, waged in the Marcan system between twelve Klingon starships and six Jem'Hadar and Breen vessels. Among the Klingon ships was the IKS Pagh, which was the last to survive to the end of the battle, along with one Jem'Hadar vessel. As both were severely damaged, each landed on Marcan V, a class M planet.
The Pagh was destroyed in the landing, and its entire crew killed except for the first officer, Klag, son of M'Raq, who suffered the loss of his right arm. The Dominion ship was also destroyed, leaving seven Jem'Hadar and one Vorta. Klag, armed with a mek'leth and disruptor and fueled by adrenaline, managed to kill the surviving Dominion soldiers before passing out from his injuries.
The Klingon victory at Marcan paved the way for Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force to penetrate the Allicar sector, a key development in the war.
Klag's heroism in this battle earned him the name "Hero of Marcan V," and was celebrated in song. Klag himself repeated the tale often, sometimes inflating the number of foes he defeated in hand-to-hand combat. (TNG novel: Diplomatic Implausibility)
- Klag's combat on the surface of Marcan V is depicted in the short story "A Song Well Sung". Some of the details of the battle in this account differ from those related by Klag in Diplomatic Implausibility, though these can be attributed to a faulty memory due to Klag's physical state, or else embellishments for the sake of Klag's storytelling.