Pok, son of Torghn was a Klingon warrior of the House of SepIch on Taganika in the 24th century.
Biography[]
Pok was the eldest son of Torghn and K'Tar. The House of SepIch where he belonged was a Great House that ruled Taganika and was allied with Gowron.
His mother had told him stories that teach Klingon honor, such as legend of Kolan and Dula. His father trained him a lot in combat.
Rite of Ascension[]
During his chontay, armed with a sharp naQjej, he killed the largest TKnag beast than any other Klingon in his Rite of Ascension. The TKnag was roasted in an open pit, tables around it, and there was a big feast, his father, full of pride, praised Pok and his game. Guests brought cha'nob gifts including Gowron and even their enemy Vok.
Pok accepted Gowron's presents and kept holding them watching the elders talk, until his father ordered him to bring food for them. As he neared the table to place the presents, he tripped and dropped them; while Gowron with his father restrained their laughter, his mother showed her annoyance, and he received a humiliating comment from Vok. This resulted to an altercation between Vok and K'Tar, who ordered her son to throw him outside. Pok grasped the man, but Vok stopped him, reminding that in a lopno' celebration even old enemies are welcome. After Vok retreated, Pok picked a dish full of gagh, which happened to be Gowron's favorite. At the dining room he hesitated whether he should sit with the women and children, but Gowron offered him a seat near his father, with the other men.
Gowron suggested that he should open his presents; the first box contained the musical score of the qul tuq, disappointing his uncle Qua'lon for not recognising the Klingon opera narrating the history of their House, and Torghn admitted that he was dedicated more to hunting that singing. The second box was from Gowron, and he removed the seal with his knife. His face lighted seeing an Acta crystal. However from that box also emerged a Romulan assassin probe which targeted Gowron.
Pok's father jumped in front of him and received the fatal wound. Qua'lon was read to swear revenge, but Gowron interrupted him, saying it was Pok's place for this. Pok opened his father's eyes and performed the death howl, joined by others in the house. Qua'lon killed Vok, considering him responsible, but Gowron said the circle of vengeance was not complete, and swore a blood oath above Torghn's body to find all responsible. Pok joined him. All around shouted Qapla'.
Lord of the House[]
That same night it was arranged that Pok should complete his Rite of Ascension and become a warrior in order to follow the others in the quest. Qua'lon and two of his other uncles, and a warrior from Gowron's ship took part. Confident, he took the two steps forward accepting to pass through the River of Pain. Pok went through the three pairs of the gauntlet, always focused on the hearth; the final pair was Qua'lon and Gowron, whose painsticks he endured until they bowed to him. He approached the fire and fell on his knees; his mother came to his side, acknowledging him as the new head of their House.
Just then Tellot, Gowron's science officer was able to report her findings about the probe and its origin in Soltaris system of the Romulan Star Empire. K'Tar entrusted Gowron with Pok's life, threatening him should something bad happens. Gowron asked Pok whether he wante to come with his own will; K'Tar knew her son had no other choice as he would not follow the example of legendary Kolan; Qua'lon concurred, promising that he will write an opera if he dies for his family. Pok of course followed the oath he swore. Qua'lon offered his ship the IKS Tagana so that Gowron's won't be recognised in their hunt. Pok beamed few of his things to the ship.
Quest for vengeance[]
Pok entered the bridge of his uncle's ship with Gowron and his first task was holding a panel for SvaD while he was doing some preparative works. Once all guards were removed from the bridge, Pok witnessed the dynamics of the challenge of station in Klingon ships; Qugh, one of Gowron's warriors, formally challenged Qua'on's Ler'at and after a brief fight he took his station. Gowron offered to show him a space view of Taganika on the viewscreen before launching. He then ordered him to find a job to do.
Having in mind what he just saw of the formal power struggle, he moved behind Ler'at, who stood at the navigation station, and demanded the station. Like before, the old warrior ignored him, telling the "little nothing" to go away. Then, like Qugh before, grabbed Ler'at's shoulder, spun him around and tossed him to the floor. Quickly, the old man stood up and attacked the youth, but was soon beaten and lay on the floor again. This time he left the bridge, and Gowron's science officer taught him.
Gowron captained the ship to the Balka system, where assassins are hired; the next morning Pok had to prove his skills, preparing the ship for for standard orbit, slowing it before the planet Balka, and took the ship smoothly into orbital track, causing pride to Gowron.
He ordered Pok on his side as they beamed with T'Rok and another of his guards into the BItuHpa, a bar on the planet which Pok didn't enjoy at all. The bartender ordered Gowron to leave his weapons; two Bolian thugs who approached as Pok with Gowron's guards closed in to protect their leader. They agreed to surrender their disruptors but keeping their knives. The guards went to meld with the customers and Pok followed Gowron to the bar, where he enjoyed a glass of Pelat. On Gowron's request for opera, the singer performed tlhIngan jIH twice, and Pok showed his appreciation by breaking a chair, to which Gowron compensated with a bar of latinum. Gowron then demanded information from the singer, and seeing that he grasped her from the arm, Meska the bartender ordered his thugs to stop him; only to be brought down by Pok and the two guards. After torturing the barman with a glass of Necti, he revealed that a ship, Toofa, shipped weapons between that sector and the Soltaris system. With this lead the Klingons left the place.
The Tagana soon overtook the Toofa and Gowron ordered Pok to remove to the 2nd tactical station; Surgh, his best navigator, came to deal with the situation. When Surgh went to transport the Pakled captain to the ship, Pok was ordered to return to the navigation station, and to lower the shields and release the tractor beam. Once the Pakled materialized on the bridge, Pok followed the order to raise the shields, thus trapping their guest. A brief interrogation led them back to Meska.
On their way back to Balka, Gowron ordered him to the mess hall to eat during the long trip, and promised he would let him kill Meska himself. While eating, Pok assured him that he knew all his ancestral line. Then Ler'at came to the empty hall, and sat next to Pok, ostentantiously ignoring them; Gowron whispered at him to show his superiority, and Pok took the old man's plate. The man then left the room defeated; Gowron then told him that after their challenge ended, he should honor the old warrior's past and deeds that should not fade.
Soon after, they reached Balka and Pok accompanied Ler'at, Gowron, and his two guards T'lak and Ler'at back to bItuHpa in order to get Meska, but they arrived too late; the singer Aleria told them he had left. They surrendered their weapons and sat for some time, until, when paying Aleria, T'lak was revealed to had had business with Meska. The Klingons fell on him, and Aleria killed him when he tried to kill Gowron with a hidden disruptor. Searching him, they found connections to Galor, a planet where Meska was doing business, and they returned to the Tagana.
They took the human with them as a guide, and Pok was assigned to the communications console. Indeed, after four hours Pok announced a ship within sensor rabge at warp 6.5, and gave its description, with Aleria confirming it was the bartender's. Then he reported that Meska was hailing them, and put him on screen. Meska was defiant to Gowron's threats and revealed that T'Lak had sabotaged their ship; right then, a detonator was triggered. While Gowron was busy with it, Pok reported that shields were dropping and they saw the singer at ChaqI's console. Pok and D'cIq ran towards her but Meska beamed her to his ship before they caught her.
Seeing that, Gowron, determined on revenge, ordered Pok to take the navigation console, close in on Meska and engage the tractor beam. Over the viewscreen Aleria said that would change nothing, as they'd still die; but she would give the disarming code if he let them go. Despite this, Pok followed the orders. Seeing that time was running out, Gowron told Pok to release the tractor beam, but Gowron locked disruptors on the target; ignoring all pleas, and promise to give him a name, Gowron proceeded to the fulfillment of his oath and destroyed Meska's ship. All the crew saluted the explosion and shouted pItlh to ceremoniously confirm it.
Since equally nobody knew the combination for the detonator, Gowron gave to Pok the honor and responsibility to enter any combination to try before dying. Everyone was prepared to die and nobody would blame him. Instead of trying randomly however, Pok thought that the singer would have programmed the five-key combination according to the five-notes opera she was singing. Gowron hummed to him the melody, naming each note with a number, and when Pok entered it on the pad, they gave the theme of the opera, and the beeping stopped. Everyone yelled and slapped Pok.
- In that point of the novel, Gowron mentions the opera as qul tuq however earlier it is mentioned that the singer was singing tlhIngan jIh.
Then they set course of Taganika at full warp to find those who hired the assassins. Meanwhile, according to Gowron's suggestion, Pok wrote a GaTH'k to honor Ler'at, the old Klingon he had defeated. When they entered the mess hall with Gowron, Pok silently tossed a writing PADD in front of him, who looked at first weary, then puzzled. When Pok returned with food, Ler'at look paralyzed, and Gowron took the PADD to see what he read. Seeing the VaTH'k, he read it aloud, the hall fell silent in respect and Ler'at left moved, blessing Pok to die with honor in battle. Gowron congratulated him for writing a true GaTH'k, like a warrior poet.
The Tagana returned to Taganika at nighttime, and and K'Tar greeted him as if he returned from war. She hugged him and nodded thanks to Gowron, and they were joined by Qua'lon. During dinner Pok remained silent as Gowron narrated to them their adventure and how Pok saved them from a detonator. K'Tar shone with joy, conveying Torghn's pride to him. But Gowron pointed out that the circle of vengeance was still not closed.
They were interrupted by T'Var, Vok's window, who seconded Gowron, insisting that her husband was innocent and wrongfully killed. Qua'lon forbade the murderer's wife to enter and speak to Gowron, in his authority as head of the House; but Gowron reminded him that Pok was; and Pok let her speak, causing Qua'lon to return to his seat and express his dislike.
T'Var, to support her dead husband, said that he did want Gowron dead but would never make such an attempt, knowing that Torghn would even sacrifice himself, according to his honor, in order to save him; as he did. The real target therefore was not Gowron, but Torghn, while misleading everyone about the motives. Then Gowron urged Pok to decide: Who, from an ancient House, would gain from Torghn's death, and knew him well enough to predict his reaction?
Then Pok pointed at his uncle, who in his anger threw the chair and claimed his innocence. Gowron agreed with Pok that, after Torghn's and Pok's death, he would be the head of the House. Qua'lon then challenged Pok to vItHay' to prove his innocence, which Pok accepted. He chose a bat'tLeH for the ritual; although Qua'lon thought he would be an easy fight, not knowing the heavy training he took from his father, and the experience he gained from his first adventure; Pok overcame him. (TNG novelization: Klingon)
Later life and legacy[]
In 2370 Pok later accompanied Gowron when he visited Deep Space 9 for the official talks with the United Federation of Planets.
Sometime later, Gowron was on Deep Space 9 for a formal meeting with Admiral Edward Jellico, as representatives of the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. From the first day, the talks were in a deadlock, and the following days did not resolve them. In the evenings, Gowron met with the humans (and Worf) at Quark's, and narrated his adventure with Pok in order explain Klingon culture to them; especially to Jellico, who was the most ignorant and disinterested. He also chose Reginald Barclay, a human ignorant in their culture, to try to understand and guess Pok's actions. In the following days the story caught everyone's interest, even Jellico's. Even Jean Luc Picard learned things about Klingons that he didn't know.
After Gowron's and Jellico's rescue from the Botka, Jean Luc Picard and William T. Riker thought that the story might give the solution to the deadlock. Riker also considered working with Geordi LaForge to turn this tale into a holographic program to train Federation personnel, something useful even if the meetings would not succeed, although LaForge mentioned some problems. Gowron concluded the story on the last day of the meetings. During their last session, Riker even considered assisting and participating in the creation of the program.
That session was interrupted when DS9 was invaded by ships of the House of Duras. In the same moment, dRacLa, who had stowed away and hid in the station to assassinate Gowron, sneaked into the Engineering in an attempt to sabotage the shields and aid the Duras sisters, but he failed, and the ships retreated.
Hearing that he was cornered in a corridor by Odo's Security guards, Gowron called Pok and other four men from his ship. They were joined by Commander Benjamin Sisko, Admiral Edward Jellico, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Riker and Worf. Prompted by Gowron, Pok passed the guards, stood outside dRacLa's hideout and challenged him, ensuring him that nobody will attack him once he stepped out. The humans, puzzled with the warrior's courage and movements, did so, and then dRacLa lunged against him, succesfully dodged by Pok.
The two warriors circled each other crouched with knives in hand, and Pok drew first dRacLa's blood. Eventually dRacLa lunged again for Pok to dodge once more, and Pok stubbed him with an upward thrust, and let him fall down. His fellows slapped him on the back with Gowron saying it was finished, with a fatherly smile. Then he introduced Pok to the others, who knew him only by name.
The next afternoon, at the last meeting, Picard suggested to use the holodeck program to teach Federation personnel about Klingon customs and culture; Jellico was not enthusiastic but Gowron was enthusiastic and offered to lend his scanned holographic form to be included, and Riker volunteered to help set it up. (TNG novelization: Klingon)
Appendix[]
Pok is the protagonist of Star Trek: Klingon interactive movie. As a game character, he is an unseen and silent protagonist; his face is never seen, as we see the action through his (the player's) eyes, and his voice or dialogue are never heard. The game is presented as a holodeck program, and the player is assumed to be a Federation human whom Gowron introduces to Klingon culture. At some point the player is asked to make a choice, and what the response changes accordingly.
The story is adapted to a novel where Pok's adventure is narrated as a story by Gowron. Barclay's role as the one who is introduced to the Klingon way, and is asked to guess Pok's decisions, is a nod to the interactive nature of the game. In Gowron's narration, Pok is almost always silent, as in the game, which follows the logic of the "silent protagonist". The book makes a nod to it, with Gowron at one point saying: "I turned to Pok, who had sat quietly through all this discussion, a trait of his that I admired."