Klingon body count on the Genesis planet?

[Xerxes1979]

After the Enterprise blows up what happens to the two Klingons who were there?

Was Kirk's phaser set to kill? I find it hard to believe Spock took care of the other one from his body throw.

Kruge beamed down and Maltz was still on the bird of prey, correct?

 

[Timo]

Kirk's phaser has usually portrayed a greenish-blueish hue when on stun, and hasn't kicked its victims across scenery on such a setting. This would argue in favor of a lethal setting.

OTOH, setting isn't evident from beam color in ST5 vs. ST6, let alone in the TNG era. And Kirk hasn't been in the habit of killing anybody unless he absolutely has to - even in heated, declared war, in a desperate situation where he's outnumbered hundreds to one, he merely stuns his Klingon enemies ("Errand of Mercy"). Perhaps he just stunned the Klingon extra hard (he used something he called "heavy stun" on Klingons in TOS already), thus indirectly killing him in the explosion of the planet. Unless the weird mutations of that planet killed (and perhaps revigorated, and killed again, and so forth) the Klingon before the explosion already.

The other Klingon, the one Spock dealt with, would have more dramatic justification for being dead. Spock is known to be strong; he would also have few qualms about killing his victim, and ample motivation to do so.

We don't know how many Klingons still remained aboard the BoP. Maltz was on the bridge; perhaps another Klingon remained in the transporter room to handle Kirk's beam-up request? Sulu made an educated guess on the total crew complement, but that would still allow for a couple of unseen Klingons.

Finally, do we know that Genesis truly exploded? We only saw it go all lava lamp and shoot at least one small chunk of matter to space; we didn't see an explosion or a complete breakup, since the camera didn't follow the planet, it followed the BoP.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nero's Shadow]

I think kirk would have had the phaser set on kill remember he had just blown up the enterprise to stop it falling into Klingon hands not to give starfleet secrets away. Also they had just killed his son so he would I think be very pissed but again using starfleet skills to save his crewmates and survive.

I noticed he was the only one with a phaser surely scotty McCoy sulu and chekov would have been armed to just in case there were more Klingons on the planet surface.

As for Spock vulcans are more stronger when going thourgh ponn farr so the Klingon was knocked out or even killed with a head injury from spocks actions. ?

 

[FormerLurker]

And let us not forget that Kruge took a swim in lava. That counts, even if you discount it.

 

[Mr Silver]

What Timo said and...

* Gunner Vaporized by Kruge for his "Lucky Shot"
* Armed Boarding Part of 6 Blown Up with the Enterprise
* Klingon Guard Thrown by Spock, landed head first against a rock
* Klingon Sgt stunned by Kirk, left on Planet
* Kruge, took a swim in lava (as pointed out by FormerLurker)

Thats makes 10, leaving behind Maltz, its also possible there were casualties when the Enterprise opened fire and as Timo pointed out, there may have been another Klingon on board operating the Transporter

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

That would be 11, and that agrees with Sulu's estimate of around 12 Klingons aboard a BoP. No need for any other Klingons. We don't know if Maltz controlled the transporter from the Klingon bridge.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

I'm thinking there was only 11 crew members on the BOP maybe the other crew member was kruge,s pet targ that would have been 12 ?

 

[Timo]

We don't know if Maltz controlled the transporter from the Klingon bridge.

We have to consider that Kruge apparently cast the fate of his boarding party on the mercy of the transporter of the Enterprise. The Klingons materialize in the blue haze of the Starfleet transporter (not the red Klingon one), on a Starfleet transporter pad (rather than directly on Kirk's bridge), after Kirk has said that he's doing the energizing, and Kruge has told his own crew that he wants (his own?) transporter to stand by.

Why would Kruge agree to Kirk being in charge here? The natural assumption would be that his own transporter would be broken down or at least unreliable after Kirk's torpedo attack. Probably not completely non-operational, because Kruge originally orders his boarding party to the Klingon transporter room, which wouldn't be necessary if Kirk's transporter room were doing all the work. Plus Kruge says that bit about transporter standing by - looks like there was a change of plans when a less suicidal alternative for moving from ship to ship manifested itself.

If the above speculation holds, then it would make sense that the Klingon transporter would be under close supervision (and perhaps indeed ongoing repair) when Kirk and friends beam up. It would be odd for Maltz to be operating the system on remote.

(Of course, it may simply be that the Klingon transporter was used in boarding Kirk's ship, but that something in the basic nature of transporting made the Klingons materialize in the middle of blue rather than red VFX... There's fairly little other evidence on how these things work, besides ST3. We do have DS9 "Dramatis Personae" where a Klingon transporter initiates transport and tries to materialize the transportee in red effects, but this fails and our heroes finish the transport with their own Cardassian hardware, in the amber Cardassian effects. So color change is possible, but seems to be related to handing over control of the process; Kruge either didn't do the transporting at all, or then handed over control to Kirk, both options calling for an explanation. And knowing Klingon psyche, only a force majeure like equipment failure sounds believable.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FormerLurker]

It is also entirely possible that Maltz, being the last Klingon on board, was in the transporter room doing the beaming, and that's how Kirk got the drop on him.

This is in fact how I have always interpreted the scene in question.

 

[Timo]

But we saw Kirk surprise Maltz on the bridge (since that was the only Klingon set built). And at that point, Kirk already had McCoy, Scotty and the rest with him.

Sounds likelier, then, that Kirk surprised and overpowered a transporter operator other than Maltz in the transporter room, then used the transporter a second time to beam up the rest of his friends - all without Maltz being in any way involved in the transporting process and thus being unaware of the double beam-up of hostiles.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

The only solution is that Maltz was operating the transporter remotely from the bridge, assumed that since Klingonese was being spoken that it was Commander Kruge returning, and didn't check to be sure. Kirk materializes, and then goes to the bridge where he surprises Maltz who has been keeping guard on McCoy, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov. Kirk says, "Anyone else aboard?" And Scotty says, "Just him, sir."

 

[Timo]

That should work. Although it would also allow for additional Klingons between the transporter room and the bridge, because Scotty would then assume Kirk had already dealt with those.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FormerLurker]

But we saw Kirk surprise Maltz on the bridge (since that was the only Klingon set built). And at that point, Kirk already had McCoy, Scotty and the rest with him.

Sounds likelier, then, that Kirk surprised and overpowered a transporter operator other than Maltz in the transporter room, then used the transporter a second time to beam up the rest of his friends - all without Maltz being in any way involved in the transporting process and thus being unaware of the double beam-up of hostiles.

Timo Saloniemi

You're forgetting that Maltz had already beamed up McCoy, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov. Kruge said "Over there. All but Kirk.", remember?

 

[T'Girl]

I think kirk would have had the phaser set on kill remember he had just blown up the enterprise to stop it falling into Klingon hands not to give starfleet secrets away. Also they had just killed his son so he would I think be very pissed

But Kirk kills when he has too, not because he wants to. For Kirk to capriciously kill the Klingon soldier would be a serious departure from his observed lifelong pattern of behavior. Even in the case of Kruge, who actually order the death of a prisoner (David), Kirk attempted to save his life after Kirk (mistakenly) believed him to be defeated. It was only after Kruge re-engaged Kirk in combat that Kirk then did kill him.

Of course if only stunned, Kirk didn't seem to go out of his way to have the Klingon soldier beamed up with Spock and himself prior to the planet's break-up.

 

[Timo]

We might always plead the "gravity was in flux" thing: Perhaps Kirk's innocent stun beam flung the Klingon to his death-from-impact because the laws of nature weren't being observed on Genesis that day?

Timo Saloniemi