Klingon First Encounter

[Mistral]

Ignoring Broken Bow-I am under the impression that canon First Contact with the Klingons occurred prior to the inception of the Prime Directive(General Order#1) and directly led to the adoption of same due to the horrible results of that encounter. I just can't remember where I bumped into that idea. How did First Encounter with our ridge-headed friends first occur? Please source your answers if you can-i.e.:The Entropy Effect or TWOK or something like that.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

From Memory Alpha:


Unofficially, the first known contact between humans and Klingons took place on April 4, 2063, when Lily Sloane was beamed aboard the time-traveling USS Enterprise-E and met Lieutenant Commander Worf. (Star Trek: First Contact)

In April of 2151, a small Klingon craft piloted by Klaang was returning to Qo'noS with evidence that Suliban Cabal was responsible for recent internal strife within the Klingon Empire. Klaang was pursued by members of the cabal and crash-landed on Earth in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Though Klaang managed to dispatch his pursuers, he was shot by a Human farmer named Moore. Against the urgings of the Vulcans, Earth Starfleet launched its first warp 5 vessel Enterprise NX-01 to return the wounded Klaang to Qo'noS. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

It has been suggested that this event seen in "Broken Bow" actually took place in an alternate timeline created by agents from the future fighting in the Temporal Cold War. By this account, the interference of the temporal agents caused first contact between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire to occur before it was supposed to in the "real" Star Trek universe. This would certainly explain why this first contact and later Human-Klingon relations were apparently described differently in TNG's "First Contact".

 

[AlboOfBorg]

I didn't even think of First Contact. Good research!

 

[Timo]

Also, in the episode "First Contact" (as opposed to the movie), Picard tells the alien of the week that the Prime Directive was adopted after a disastrous first contact with the Klingons led to decades of war - "centuries" before the episode, and thus in the 2150s or earlier.

Whether this matches what was shown in ENT "Broken Bow" et al. is up to debate. Certainly the timing would be perfect as such - but people don't like the fact that the ENT first contact was not all that disastrous, nor did it immediately lead to decades of war. More damningly, the ENT first contact doesn't sound like something that could have gone any better had there been a Prime Directive in place.

This is why it is speculated that Picard speaks of first contact between the Klingons and some Federation member species other than humans. Vulcans would be a nice candidate, as ENT establishes them as early proponents to the Prime Directive, as well as knowledgeable about the Klingons but hesistant to deal with them. There may well have been a disastrous Vulcan/Klingon contact that led to decades of Vulcan/Klingon war, which was won by the Vulcans and thus prevented the Klingons from conquering Earth. But that's all speculation; Picard's speech from the episode is not.

Then again, Picard may have been lying, as he was trying to defend the concept of the Prime Directive to some aliens who had no conception of Federation history.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Rene Picard]

great discussion! but i must object to one small conjecture
"Then again, Picard may have been lying"
heresy!

 

[sdayan]

Well, in reality, I think Picard meant that the "disastrous" First Contact with the Klingons led to decades of war, and so they instituted the practice of observing the local culture before actually making contact with them (once they were ready to start warp travel).

In reality, although the Prime Directive did not really exist, there was an Enterprise episode (I think it was The communicator?) in which Reed misplaces his communicator and they beam down to recover it, but are caught. Archer is practically willing to sie rather than reveal who they are and make "first contact", in essence a Prime Directive of sorts.

As I understand the Prime Directive deals with non interference or contact at all, with pre Warp civilizations. The Klingons were certainly warp capable so the Prime Directive was certainly not a solution to any First Contact with them.

Sadly, we never got to see excactly what led to actual war (or a state of war) between the Klingons and the Federation in Enterprise that could lead to Picard's phrase.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I doubt it was just one thing. Just a string of events that lead to conflict.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

The "Broken Bow" episode was pretty disastrous. Humanity launched their first ship ahead of schedule despite the warnings of their closest ally, the Vulcans. What if the Vulcans would have turned their back on humans afterwords? I imagine there was a good deal of political bickering after that.

Then we get to the Klingon. The first klingon on Earth gets shot by a human. That's rarely a good way to start a relationship with a new species -- especially one of a warrior society. So they decide to take him back to his home planet...despite the Vulcans again warning that Klingon culture would prefer that he was killed so he could die in honor. It's possible that klingons could have taken that act of good will as a great dishonor.

Then, humanity gets entangled into the Temporal Cold War. Archer and company come into contact with Silik, a time agent. Then Archer even gets a little chat with the mysterious leader of that sect. The Temporal Cold War didn't just span centuries -- it could have very well gone 'on' for the entire length of time itself! That's a long war.

Picard never said "Once we ran into Klingons they sent a squadron of 200 cruisers strait for the Sol System, at which they vaporized the continent of Australia." Picard is about as straight laced as you can get -- this probably was a disaster to him. After all, he says "Make it so" instead of "Do it," and "Engage" instead of something like "Let's go."

I'm not certain when they went to war with Klingons...I guess somewhere between Enterprise and TOS.

 

[BrotherBenny]

The first canonical open war between Klingons and the Federation was during Kirk's time and was stopped by the Organians.

And FYI, the spelling you're looking for is s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.

s-t-r-a-i-t is for a thin stretch of ocean, ie the Straits of Gibraltar.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The first canonical open war between Klingons and the Federation was during Kirk's time and was stopped by the Organians.

And FYI, the spelling you're looking for is s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.

s-t-r-a-i-t is for a thin stretch of ocean, ie the Straits of Gibraltar.

There is the Battle of Donatu V fought 20 years prior to Kirk's time near Sherman's Planet.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I was clearly comparing Picard's will power to the strength of the ocean.

I'll correct that.

 

[Anwar]

The writer of the First Contact episode said that Picard's reference to the Klingons was just something he said off the top of his head and can be open to interpretation by other people.

And the writers of Broken Bow said that they interpreted Picard's word as that there were many bad encounters between the Humans (and later Federation) and the Klingons which eventually led to war, not one bad encounter.

And before anyone mentions the 2218 thing, McCoy NEVER said that.

 

[Unicron]

What does McCoy actually say? I haven't seen the ep in a long time and I'm curious about what the dialogue is, and whether the subsequent extrapolation that led to the 2218 date is valid.

Also, didn't "A Piece of the Action" imply that the PD was established after the cultural contamination left by the Horizon's crew?

 

[Nerys Myk]

IIRC, McCoy doesnt say a damned thing.

 

[Mistral]

As I recall, the Battle of Donatu V was fought to a draw. And it was before Kirk's time. Some of you have commented on Broken Bow-I'm trying to ignore it in favor of the Picard comment in First Comment-but keep talking-I really want to pin this down to something useable to the fan fic writers.(History only-not looking for help with any writing-we know what we are doing, just debating the historical timeline and reasoning behind Prime Directive as it relates to First Contact with the Klingons.)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Picard's line doesn't really tell you much. Nor was it supposed to. Basically the first time "we" (Be it humans, Vulcans or some other UFP member) met the Klingons it didn't go so well and led to a lot of fighting.

Picards comment seems to work with "Broken Bow". Human-Klingon relations and by extension UFP-Klingon relations got off to a bad start and got worse partially due to a lack of cultural understanding. This assumes that Picard was refering to Earths first contact with Klingons and not some other UFP members who's experiences have been folded into the UFPs.

 

[Anwar]

What does McCoy actually say? I haven't seen the ep in a long time and I'm curious about what the dialogue is, and whether the subsequent extrapolation that led to the 2218 date is valid.

Also, didn't "A Piece of the Action" imply that the PD was established after the cultural contamination left by the Horizon's crew?

Somehow there was this belief that McCoy said that the Federation and Klingons had been mortal enemies for 50 years, and since the episode was in 2268 that would mean they'd been enemies since 2218. Then when the fandom started thinking that the Klingons had been enemies ever since first contact that would mean 2218 was when the contact was made and it was so bad they wound up as enemies.

In TUC Spock said that the Feds and Klingons had been hostile for 70 years. Since THAT was in 2293 that means hostility didn't begin until 2223.

So going on McCoy's (nonexistent) statement, this would mean first contact was in 2218 but things didn't go south until 2223.

 

[Timo]

Also, Spock (in ST6) specifically speaks of 70 years of "unremitting" hostility, allowing for lots and lots of "remitting" hostility before and after that continuous stretch. Certainly the hostility appeared to go to at least local remission in cases like "Day of the Dove" or ST5:TFF... Although only on very small scale.

Also, didn't "A Piece of the Action" imply that the PD was established after the cultural contamination left by the Horizon's crew?

Yes. But not as a consequence of that event, of course, as Starfleet had no knowledge about what had really happened between the Horizon and the Iotians.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[clint g]

Not quite sure why there is the desire to ignore Broken Bow. It seems to mesh pretty well with what Picard said in my opinion. Plus there were the other nasty encounters between Archer and the Klingon through out the first and second season of Enterprise. From what I remember Archer and crew break into a Klingon warship and steal photon torpedo tech from it. later on Archer get's arrested by the Klingons and put on trial (i forgot how that episode ended) and then even further down the road (season 2 finale I believe) the Klingon's send a hunting party after Archer and the Enterprise, which was destroyed in the Expanse. That's about all I remember (the last time I saw these episodes was during the first run) but it is pretty clear that things were nasty and heading down hill.

 

[Timo]

The problem is, none of ENT's encounters is a very good case for observing a policy of covertly spying the other side before contact. And that's the policy that Picard tries to advocate in "First Contact".

If humans had sent infiltrators surgically altered to resemble Klingons to the Klingon worlds before "Broken Bow", how would matters have been improved? Archer would still have ignored Klingon sensibilities and would have shipped Klaang back home. He would still have sided with the refugees in "Judgment", and with the victims in "Marauders". Duras would still have had a feud with him.

And it's not as if "Broken Bow" were a real first contact for both sides, as Klaang's species was already starfaring and had access to all sorts of interstellar information and rumors, no doubt including bits on humans. It would fit the bill much better if, say, Vulcans descended on the Klingon homeworld in the 18th century and, out of ignorance rather than bullheadedness, committed some sort of a grave faux pas in their quest of advocating Surakianism, after which the Klingons launched an interstellar jihad that made them an important interstellar menace for the first time.

Of course, "fitting the bill" is something that shouldn't be our responsibility. Picard was making a sales pitch, and he could have taken liberties with truth, only telling that side of the story that supported his sale of covert surveillance.

Timo Saloniemi