March 1st, 1993, "Birthright Part II"
Fiver by Kristina
The Episode
WORF: Why did you allow it to happen?
GI'RAL: We had no choice. We were defending an outpost on the perimeter. The Romulans took out our shields. The next blast rendered us unconscious. When we awoke, we were prisoners, unarmed and shackled.
L'KOR: We were interrogated for three months. We tried to starve ourselves but they kept us alive.
I'd think if any race would know how to kill themselves without weapons it would be the Klingons.
Or at the very least use the Josephus tactic.
L'KOR: The Romulans hoped to trade our lives for territorial concessions, but the Klingon High Council refused to negotiate. They would not acknowledge that their warriors had been taken prisoner.
GI'RAL: And when it was clear that we would be of no use to them, Tokath offered to let us go.
L'KOR: But we knew that our families believed we had fallen in battle, so we did not wish to return to dishonour them.
GI'RAL: We asked Tokath to let us stay and he took pity on us.
And you didn't commit suicide at that point...why? Look, I don't actually hate this episode, it's just a bit too contrived.
L'KOR: Why did you come here? If you had found your father you would have found only dishonour.
WORF: If he had been captured as you were, if I had found him here, I would be glad to see him. There is no room in my heart for shame.
L'KOR: I can only hope that if my son came here, he would be Klingon enough to kill me.
This needed more elaboration. Worf's code is not the same as other Klingons, and because of that Klingon history is quite different. Just think about it, without him Duras and the Romulans would've taken over the entire Alpha Quadrant by now.
WORF: This is a gin'tak spear.
You'd think these things would've joined the standard Klingon arsenal, but nope. They didn't even make a cameo until Lower Decks.
TOQ: We have no need for weapons here. The war is far away.
WORF: What war?
TOQ: The war our parents came here to escape.
WORF: That war was over many years ago.
TOQ: I'm not interested in what you have to say, Klingon.
This seems odd. Are the Romulans deliberately not keeping them informed about current events?
BA'EL: Aren't you happy to have escaped the war?
WORF: The war.
BA'EL: Yes. We've heard the stories all our lives. How people are slaughtered in terrible battles, forced to fight whether they want to or not. That's why our parents came here, to make a safe home, a place where they could raise their children in peace. I should think you'd be relieved to get away from the fighting. You're safe here.
The Romulans have no reason to lie about this, so this must be the elder generation trying to preserve their honor. But this is hardly the simplest method. If I gave it some thought I could probably think up a reasonable alternative, but I'm not in the mood.
WORF: A place can be safe and still be a prison. Where I come from, people are free to come and go as they choose.
BA'EL: So are we.
WORF: Tell your father that you would like to leave. Tell him that you would like to visit the Klingon Home world. See what he says.
BA'EL: Why would I want to go there? It's dangerous.
"To go alone, take this." Sorry. Anyway, how can the war still be going on if Q'onos has fallen? STVI really seemed to imply that no Q'onos=no organized empire.
TOKATH: You're just like L'Kor was twenty years ago. Proud and angry. He hated me. All the Klingons did. And I had no love for them, I won't deny it. When I informed the High Command that the Klingons wanted to remain here, I was told that unless I stayed to oversee them myself, they would be killed. My decision ended my military career.
WORF: Why did you do it?
TOKATH: I don't expect you to understand. You're a Klingon. But I do expect you to understand this, We've put aside the old hatreds. Here, Romulans and Klingons live in peace. I won't allow you to destroy what we have.
There's so much to unpack here. How do the Romulan, Klingon (old), Klingon (Worf), and Federation ideas of peace compare? How much is Tokath deluding himself? Etc.
BA'EL: Bagh Da tuHmoh. ChojaH Duh rHo. ylja'Qo' ylja'Qo' ylja'Qo'
WORF: Do you know what that song means?
BA'EL: No. I just like the melody.
So are these Klingons speaking a language other than Klingon? If they were speaking Romulan I would imagine Worf would be even more angry.
The Victory Song will be repeated later in the episode. The translation is gibberish.
TOKATH: We haven't had to use one of these for a long time. It implants a small boridium pellet under the skin.
Boridium makes a few appearances throughout Trek. Usually they're used for power networks, but the people of Rigel IV make knives out of it.
(She opens a chest. It contains Klingon armour amongst other items)
BA'EL: I don't know why, but I'm not supposed to look at these things. They're Klingon, aren't they?
WORF: Yes.
Well, duh. Klingons don't seem like the type to regularly import items from elsewhere in the galaxy. Maybe there would be a few Romulan artifacts from the alliance in the TOS days, but that would be it.
(Well, maybe there would be a Klingon translation of Shakespeare in there as well...)
(Ba'el has taken a necklace)
BA'EL: Isn't it beautiful?
WORF: That is a jinaq. It is given to a daughter who has come of age, old enough to take a mate.
The jInaq only appears in the novel Kahless besides this episode.
WORF: Kahless held his father's lifeless body in his arms. He could not believe what his brother had done. Then his brother threw their father's sword into the sea, saying, if he could not possess it, neither would Kahless. That was the last time the brothers would speak.
Kahless' brother was Morath. He's prominent in the novel "Kahless", and the blood the "Kahless" clone was made from was really his. The brother's relationship was much different than as related here.