Kahless or Kahless II is a Klingon male. A clone of the original Kahless the Unforgettable, Kahless was created by the clerics of the Boreth monastery in 2369.
Biography[]
By the mid 24th century, the clerics believed that the Klingon ideals expressed by the original Kahless had become corrupted, and that the Klingon people had lost their way. Feeling that the people needed a spiritual figure to rally behind, they decided to take genetic material from the original Kahless and create a clone. They programmed the clone with the memories of the original Kahless - including the story of the original bat'leth, which was known only to certain clerics.
The deception was soon exposed when Chancellor Gowron defeated Kahless in combat. Worf felt that the Klingon people still needed a symbol, and proposed that the clone become the ceremonial Emperor of the Klingon Empire, the first in 300 years, while the actual power would still rest in the Chancellor and the High Council. (TNG episode: "Rightful Heir")
In 2370, Kahless appointed Jean-Luc Picard as the official representative of the Klingon Empire in the auction of Dr. Jaymi Zorka's inventions on Novus Alamogordus. (TNG novel: Balance of Power)
In 2371, Emperor Kahless presided over the Quv van je tay, which honoured Kang and Koloth. (DS9 comic: "Remembrance")
When investigating why Martok's fleet was at Deep Space 9, Worf attempted to contact Emperor Kahless to no avail. (DS9 episode: "The Way of the Warrior")
Worf intended to give the Sword of Kahless to the Emperor to unify the Great Houses against Gowron, although Kor thought Kahless was a pretender and a toothless figurehead. (DS9 episode: "The Sword of Kahless")
Under unrevealed circumstances, Kahless managed to acquire the Bajoran Orb of Destruction either during or prior to 2378, using it to continue the deicide from his original lifetime. Travelling to Sarkadesh, Kahless threatened the Shapers with the Orb and forced them to build him a "godkiller array" to channel the Orb's power. (ST - Godshock comics: "Part 4", "Part 5")
Naming his deicide as the "Red Path", Kahless recruited members from a variety of species, instructing them to act as sleeper agents until the moment was right. (ST comic: "Prelude to Star Trek: Day of Blood")
Among Kahless' early victims included the Organians, out of revenge for the Organian Peace Treaty, and Gary Mitchell. (ST - Pleroma comic: "Part 1" & ST comic: "A Perfect System")
The Prophets restored Benjamin Sisko to corporeal existence to retrieve the Orb and counter Kahless' threat. After taking captaincy of the USS Theseus, Sisko witnessed Kahless turn his weapon on Branchers in the Hephaestus Nebula. (ST - Godshock comic: "Part 1")
The attack having absorbed a Brancher's ability to feed off a planet, Kahless killed Kazis IX to recharge his weapon. (DFT comic: "Issue 2")
When Sisko came to Qo'noS, Kahless, his identity as the killer still hidden, denied the Theseus passage to Sarkadesh. Resuming his crusade, Kahless' next target was the God City of the T'Kon. Due to the interference of the Theseus though, Kahless failed to kill the God City, rousing it back into action. With the Quv vo'Kahless damaged, Kahless retreated back to Qo'noS. (ST - Godshock comics: "Part 2", "Part 4", "Part 5")
On the Day of Blood, Kahless, anticipating that Starfleet would try and stop, had Alexander Rozhenko guard his throne. Facing off against Sisko in battle, Kahless immobilized the captain with the Orb of Destruction before he fatally stabbed a repentant Alexander from behind. On the cusp of victory however, the USS Theseus fired the energies of the Orb of Creation at his palace. With the Orbs' energies cancelling out, Kahless beamed back to the Quv vo'Kahless and ordered a retreat. In Kahless' absence, control of the Klingon Empire returned to Chancellor Martok while Lore managed to take control of the Red Path. (ST - Day of Blood comics: "Part 3", "Part 4", "Part 5")
His power and influence lost, Kahless fled to the remote system of Beta Thoridor, living in hiding as a vagrant as he underwent an existential crisis while the High Council put out a bounty on him. After being unable to find work, Kahless was confronted by Worf and Alexander, undergoing the Quv rite. Engaging Alexander in battle, Kahless was defeated but his pitiable state convinced Alexander to spare him. Though Kahless begged the two to take him with them, he was left behind. Taking some time to think, Kahless recognized that he was now free from the burden of his former life and able to start anew. (DFT - No Old Warriors comic: "Part 3")
Path to 2409[]
In 2403, Kahless departed Qo'noS for parts unknown, handpicking a crew from the Order of the Bat'leth for his flagship IKS Batlh. He left a message behind saying that the Klingons no longer needed his guidance and he would return when he was most needed. (STO website: The Path to 2409)
In 2409, following the Fek'Ihri attack on Qo'noS, a Klingon Defense Force vessel responded to a distress signal from the Batlh, which had come under Breen attack. The emperor had apparently been searching for the Sword of Kahless, and led the captain to the Boreth monastery so they could travel into Gre'thor to challenge Fek'Ihr and Molor. After the captain was successful, the clone gifted them a replica of the Sword of Kahless. (STO missions: "Destiny", "Afterlife", "The Gates of Gre'thor")
The following year, with the beginning of the Iconian War, Kahless was revealed to be the head of House Pegh, an elite group of warriors working clandestinely against threats of the Empire. Wielding the Sword of Kahless, the Emperor led a strike team - aided by Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Republic forces - to an Iconian facility dealing in the production of Omega molecules in the Dinasia system. On the surface of Dinasia Prime, he broke away from the main group and the mission plan to challenge the Iconian known as T'ket to single combat, while the strike force attempted to disable the Omega generators. B'Eler discovered that a weakness in the Iconians involving Omega, and temporarily disabled T'ket. Instead of striking the death-blow, Kahless told the Iconian he was victorious because he had honor on his side, at which point T'ket teleported behind him and ran him through. Upon seeing this, Ramir panicked, alerting T'ket to the team's position, and the strike force was forced to flee the planet with only one of three mission objectives successful. (STO - The Iconian War mission: "House Pegh")
First splinter timeline[]
In late 2375, Kahless aided Martok, Worf and Alexander Rozhenko when Morjod and Gothmara attempted to usurp the throne from Chancellor Martok. (DS9 - The Left Hand of Destiny novels: Book One, Book Two)
In 2379, the Klingon rebel group Klahb took over the Federation Embassy on Qo'noS and demanded, among other things, that the hologram posing as Kahless be deactivated. Until then, Martok and the High Council had been unaware of the duplicity. Many believed that the Federation was responsible for kidnapping Kahless and replacing him. This belief was further fueled by the discovery that the hologram was kept active by a copy of the mobile emitter that the USS Voyager brought back from the Delta Quadrant.
As it turned out, Kahless had replaced himself to see "how long it would take you to notice." The answer turned out to be six months. After getting help from discreet Klingon friends, Kahless traveled to Cygnet IV where he took up painting. He was found by the USS Enterprise-E and taken back to Qo'noS where he told Martok that he was no longer needed. After undergoing the vIt 'Iw tay ritual, he returned to Cygnet IV to allow himself time to be selfish and to do whatever he wanted. (TNG - A Time to... novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)
In 2381, Kahless assisted B'Elanna Torres in her efforts to hide her daughter, Miral Paris from a religious Klingon group who wanted her dead. (VOY novel: Full Circle)
In 2386, Kahless was invited to speak at a ceremony honoring the victors of the battle that had decided the fate of the House of Kruge over a century ago, being transported on the Enterprise-E, but was disgusted when Picard was forced to reveal that actually none of the lords of the House of Kruge had actually fought in the battle themselves. Although still willing to attend the ceremony, Kahless's intention had been to reveal the truths he revealed about the nobility in attendance. He was swiftly abducted by the Unsung, a group of Klingons descended from soldiers who had been defeated in the battle. After being captured, Kahless was then forced to toil in the sewage pits on the Unsung's planet. Kahless was apparently executed by the Unsung. But, this execution was revealed to have been faked by the Circle of Jilaan, a group of con artists who intended to study Kahless and fake the true return of Kahless later to manipulate the Empire for themselves. Despite his captivity, Kahless is able to outmaneuver his captures and escape. Kahless was able to hide within the conduits of the ship where he was being held. He later reunited with Worf while he has been forced to retreat to another planet with the remaining Unsung after Kruge's chosen heir, Korgh, betrays them. Spending time with the Unsung, Kahless is able to teach them what it means to be Klingon and recognize that their discommendation does not mean that they should reject their heritage, most notably when forcing Harch, one of the Unsung, to acknowledge his newborn son. When Korgh's true role in the crisis is exposed, Kahless decides to join the last of the Unsung in their new responsibility as guardians for Spirits' Forge to win back their honor, reflecting that, where the true Kahless leads deserving souls to Sto-Vo-Kor, the clone Kahless will help the living reach a point where they deserve such an honor (Prey novels: Hell's Heart, The Jackal's Trick, The Hall of Heroes).
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
- TNG episode: "Rightful Heir"
- TNG novel: Balance of Power
- TNG novel: Kahless
- DS9 comic: "Remembrance"
- TNG novel: Triangle: Imzadi II
- DS9 novel: The Left Hand of Destiny, Book One
- DS9 novel: The Left Hand of Destiny, Book Two
- ST novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace
- VOY novel: Full Circle
- ST - Prey novel: Hell's Heart
- ST - Prey novel: The Jackal's Trick
- ST - Prey novel: The Hall of Heroes
Connections[]
| Emperors of the Klingon Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary universe | Kahless I • Kaldon • Sompek • Reclaw I • Reclaw II • Budlesh • Yorq • Skolar • Yorlak • Mur'Eq • K'Trelan • Kligrok • Kahrl • Todokh • Koth • Krokh the Weak • Grannoch • Kahless IV • Kahless II • J'mpok | 
|
| Kelvin timeline | Chang • Thaal Sinestro | |
External links[]
- Kahless (clone) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Kahless article at Star Trek Online Wiki.