General Rellk was a 23rd century Gorn individual, a military flag grade officer who was the commanding officer of a Gorn Space Command squadron. He had a sense of history and pride in the Gorn people.
In the year 2282 Rellk's headquarters on a Gorn training planetoid detected the Starfleet shuttlecraft Kepler (NCC-1864/05) as it crash landed in sector 38. General Rellk believed this was a perfect opportunity to balance the scales for an act of mercy that the Human Captain James T. Kirk had shown to the Gorn Captain S'slee fifteen years earlier. He ordered a medical and rescue party to find and assist the humans.
The crew of the shuttlecraft Kepler were not aware that the jungle planetoid was set up with various traps to test young Gorn warriors. One of the Humans, Crewman Skiles, accidentally set off one of the traps and it killed him. The remaining Humans, led by Captain Clark Terrell, detected the Gorn rescue party and mistook them for a war party. When the Physician Thak attempted to make contact, he was accidentally shot by Crewman Bates. Believing that Thak was killed, Rellk ordered out additional troops to kill the Humans. Luckily Doctor Bianca Wilder was able to use her shuttles scanners and translators along with Thak's medical equipment to heal the Gorn physician. Thak was then able to avoid further bloodshed by talking with General Rellk and the approaching war party. (ST - Alien Spotlight comic: "The Gorn")