Velal was a Romulan male who held the rank of General in the Romulan Star Empire's military. He commanded the IRW Rovaran during the Dominion War and was the Romulan Federation Alliance liaison on Deep Space 9 during the final weeks of the conflict, taking over from Senator Kimara Cretak. (CCG set: Tenth Anniversary Collection)
Biography[]
In late 2375, Velal, then a Subcommander, was assigned to take part in meetings with the DS9 crew while Senator Cretak was on Romulus. He would later take the role permanently after Cretak was imprisoned for treason by the Continuing Committee. (DS9 episode: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges")
After the Second Battle of Chin'toka and Corat Damar's attack on Rondac III, Velal attended a meeting with William Ross, Martok and Benjamin Sisko in which Miles O'Brien discussed the Breen energy dampening weapons. Velal was told his people's ships, as well as Starfleet's, were still vulnerable to the weapons, despite the fact the Klingon Empire's were immune. Velal was also unconvinced that Damar's depleted resistance movement could mount any credible opposition to the Dominion. (DS9 episode: "When It Rains...")
Several weeks later, Velal met with Ross, Martok and Sisko again to discuss the Dominion's retreat from Federation, Klingon and Romulan space into the territory of the Cardassian Union. Due to the possibility of a high loss of lives and ships, Velal advocated an idea for the Allies to contain the Dominion within Cardassian borders. Velal relented when the Ross and Martok agreed to attack, given the alternative of letting the Dominion rebuild their forces. (DS9 episode: "The Dogs of War")
In the late 2390s, Velal began to oppose the rule of Praetor Taris. In 2398, he was appointed second-in-command of the Romulan navy by General Tebok in a direct snub to Taris, and then succeeded Tebok as supreme commander after his death the next year. In 2401 he contacted Sela about removing Taris from office, but the subsequent vote of no confidence was narrowly defeated in the Senate. In 2403 he and Sela led a coup d'etat that forced Taris to flee Nova Roma; Sela was installed as Praetor and subsequently declared herself Empress of the Romulan Star Empire. (ST website: The Path to 2409)
External link[]
- Velal article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.