Maltz

Maltz
Maltz in 2285
Species:	Klingon
Gender:	male
Born:	23rd century
Died:	2376
Affiliation:	Klingon Empire
Family
Marital Status:	single
Career
Occupation:	space officer
Previous Assignment:	IKS Ghargh; IKS B'rel

Maltz was a male Klingon who lived in the 23rd and 24th centuries. He was from the House of Grokan. (TNG - The Genesis Wave novel: Book One)

History

As a young man, Maltz became an officer in the Klingon Defense Force. In the year 2273 he was the second officer of the IKS Ghargh during its mission to Cragon V. (TOS novel: Home Is the Hunter)

In 2285, he was serving on board Commander Kruge's bird-of-prey. When the ship was taken by then-Admiral James T. Kirk, Maltz was taken prisoner. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

Pavel Chekov told Maltz on Vulcan that he would be extradited to the Klingon Empire. He was released from the ship's brig and remanded to Vulcan authorities. (TOS comic: "The Needs of the One")

It was believed after the incident that Maltz had committed suicide. (TOS - Duty, Honor, Redemption novelization: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

However, Maltz had survived as a prisoner of the Federation. During his imprisonment, Maltz assisted Federation linguists in learning even more about the Klingon language. (ST reference: The Klingon Dictionary)

In 2287, Maltz testified at the trial of Captain Kirk. (TOS comic: "Trial and Error!")

Maltz eventually returned to the Klingon Empire. For many years he struggled with the shame of being defeated by Admiral Kirk. In 2376, when the Genesis Wave was propelled through the Alpha Quadrant, Maltz emerged to help track the wave to its source, joining a Klingon-Federation crew where he served as first officer to Doctor Leah Brahms, who had impressed him with her courage while attempting to escape the first strike launched by the wave. Shortly before his death, he met Carol Marcus, the mother of David Marcus— who had been killed at the order of Kruge many years before. Maltz died holding Carol Marcus while the space station they were on self-destructed, ensuring that the knowledge of Genesis that Marcus had could never be used again. (TNG - The Genesis Wave novels: Book One, Book Two)

Alternate timeline

In an alternate timeline created by Spock's death in 2237, Maltz was serving about the IKS Katai in 2285. The ship's commanding officer Kruge frequently disparaged him for his perceived cowardice. In March 2285, Kruge instructed Maltz to break one of their captive David Marcus' fingers in order to elicit information about the Genesis Device but Maltz did not see the honour in torturing the human.

Two months later, David's father Admiral James T. Kirk and his former USS Enterprise crewmates captured the Katai and rescued David and his fellow captive Saavik. However, the Klingons briefly gained the upper hand when Maltz accessed the Katai's weapon console and fired at the already damaged Enterprise's warp core. Admiral Kirk then attempted to bring the Enterprise's auxiliary power systems online and prevent a warp core breach. However, his efforts were unsuccessful and he was killed as a result of the ship's destruction. In retribution for the death of his friend and former commanding officer, Thelin vapourised Maltz. (TOS - Myriad Universes novella: The Chimes at Midnight)

External link

• Maltz article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.