- For other uses, see Tal.
Che'srik Tal was a Romulan male who served in the Imperial Romulan Star Navy in the 23rd century.
In 2268, Tal held the rank of subcommander and served as Commander Charvanek's first officer aboard the Stormbird-class battle cruiser, ChR Memenda. In this year, Tal was left in command of the Memenda while Charvanek attempted to persuade Spock to betray Starfleet and join the Romulans.
Once Spock and Captain James T. Kirk had stolen the Memenda's cloaking device and returned to the USS Enterprise, Tal ordered his ship to pursue. Unfortunately for Tal, the Enterprise was able to activate the cloaking device and escape back to Federation space. (TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: The Enterprise Incident; TOS - Rihannsu novel: Swordhunt)
In 2269, Tal and several centurions boarded the USS Enterprise, which had been crippled by a malfunctioning phase cloak, an experimental Starfleet cloaking device. The raid ultimately failed when the ship re-phased. He was transferred to the USS Federation, where Admiral Heihachiro Nogura proposed a gambit, and then Tal was returned to Charvanek. (TOS - Year Four comics: "The Enterprise Experiment, Part 2", "The Enterprise Experiment, Part 4", "The Enterprise Experiment, Part 5")
In 2270, Tal led a Romulan invasion of Gateway, the planet where the Guardian of Forever was located, believing it to be a Federation military research outpost, due to the continued presence of starships on patrol in the sector. After torturing Kirk and Spock, he was incapacitated by Zar. (TOS - The Yesterday Saga novel: Yesterday's Son)
In 2281, Tal continued serving under Charvanek and beamed down to inspect the conditions Krazz was keeping kidnapped Federation Warrantors of Peace in. His report irritated Charvanek. (TOS novel: Dwellers in the Crucible)
In the year 2287, Tal was promoted to commander of the Gallant Quest squadron, a fleet of six starships. He brought the squadron to Ectair on a mission to defend the planet from an approaching doomsday machine under the terms of the Treaty of Ectair, while actually planning to secure control of the planet killer. (FASA RPG module: A Doomsday Like Any Other)
By the year 2344, Tal had been assigned to General Volskiar in his latest series of military campaigns. Tal eventually turned against Volskiar and helped his former commander, Charvanek, and Spock in their attempt to evade the forces of Praetor Dralath. Tal was incensed at having to see Spock again, considering him responsible for everything that had happened, but eventually Tal was persuaded to help them. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Heart)
At some point before 2360, Tal was promoted to Admiral, and became a mentor to Alidar Jarok, whom he advised to keep out of politics. In that year he commanded a warbird which took Koval of the Tal Shiar to the planet Ragella in the Romulan Neutral Zone. (TLE novel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
Alternate timeline[]
In an alternate timeline where Montgomery Scott rescued James T. Kirk before he could be absorbed into the Nexus and the USS Enterprise-D followed them into the past, Tal was the commander of the Alliance vessel D'Zidran. Tal met that timeline's version of Guinan in 2283, when she somehow warned Tal about poorly done repairs to his vessel at the time, the Cormier. Guinan went with Tal on the next three ships he commanded, including the D'Zidran.
Tal and the D'Zidran was the first vessel to encounter the Enterprise-D after the Starfleet vessel left the Arhennius system. The alternate Guinan helped convince her commander that Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew were not agents of the Borg Collective, but was surprised to be speaking to Terrans after the Borg assimilated Earth centuries prior; Picard revealed he was from an alternate reality, but he and other ships were searching for ways to combat the Borg. Tal consented to rendezvous with the Enterprise and allow Guinan to transport aboard.
Once aboard the Enterprise, Guinan spoke with Captain Picard, and between the two of them they realized Guinan already knew him via her false memories, and she often had urges to say or do things without understanding a logical reason behind those urges, a fact she had never shared with Tal, although she had convinced him the premonitions were telepathic in nature, an explanation he accepted, believing it was the only reason he tolerated her. Picard convinced Guinan to request that Tal issue a fleet wide search for Montgomery Scott, which proved fruitful when he and Kirk were found on the Wisdom with Supreme Arbiter Sarek. When Tal went to report this to Picard, he saw their Guinan, and asked about his own duplicate.
As Kirk and Picard plotted to return the timeline to the one they knew, Guinan convinced Tal to speed ahead to Gateway and find the Guardian of Forever, where she found the information to understand her powers and what had to be done to restore the timeline. (ST novel: Engines of Destiny)
Appearances[]
External link[]
- Tal article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.