Gralmek (also known as Krek, son of Gralmek or Kron) was a male Klingon in the 23rd century, distantly related to the House of Kahnrah. He was surgically altered to appear Human and in that guise went by several identities, including Arne Darvin and Barry Waddle.
History[]
Gralmek was not a QuchHa', but was born a mach ghotI', diminutive in stature and strength. Nevertheless he had a strong will and trained hard to become a warrior, but despite his desires his body was not made for that life and he was forever a runt.
In 2267, to Gralmek's apparent fortune, an opportunity arose for him to serve the Empire; knowing only the most minimal of details he volunteered immediately.
Gralmek was to work for Klingon Intelligence undercover, sabotaging Federation efforts to win planets, as the Empire unable to engage them in open warfare due to the Organian Peace Treaty. To achieve this, Gralmek was surgically altered to appear Human. His ridges were sanded down, he had hair drillings into his forehead to simulate a Human hair line and his skin was bleached to resemble a common Human tone.
It took two months for him to heal and which time he felt he had lost his Klingonity. To his disgust, the doctors informed him that, due to the limits of Klingon medical technology, the procedure would not be reversible. He then trained to be a Human, to eat infantile human food and to show restraint in his actions, keeping his voice a steady tone and being gentle to touch.
The Empire then outfitted him with a Starfleet uniform and forged credentials to get him aboard the USS Lexington which was en route to Federation Deep Space Station K-7. On the Lexington he found his target, Arne Darvin, and killed him; disposing of the body, Gralmek then took Darvin's place. (ST - Klingons - Blood Will Tell comic: "Issue 2")
On K-7 he reported as Darvin to take up the role as assistant administrator to Nilz Baris of the Planetary Development Corps, ideally placed to sabotage the Federation's colonial endeavors. His orders were to infect a shipment of quadrotriticale for Sherman's Planet with a viral agent, dooming the colony to failure; under the Organians' terms, the Empire would be allowed to take it.
Over the weeks as he awaited the grain shipment, he gained a growing loyalty to his Human commander. Baris was discussing the Klingon threat and concluded he must issue a Priority one alert, and despite Gralmek's objections the act would land Baris in trouble. Baris did issue the alert, bringing the USS Enterprise to the station. The increased Starfleet presence would make Gralmek's mission difficult; concerned that Baris might manage to force more security, Gralmek made his move, using the repair ducts he accessed the grain bins and completed his mission.
Three days passed without event and Gralmek relaxed, content in his success, waiting for the grain to be shipped out before he returned to the Empire. And then he was called to the stations commander's office. Gralmek was greeted by screaming tribbles, from which Captain Kirk of the Enterprise and his crew were able to deduce he was a Klingon. And what's more, the tribbles allowed Kirk to uncover Gralmek's plan. He had failed. (ST - Klingons - Blood Will Tell comic: "Issue 2"; TOS episode: "The Trouble with Tribbles")
Gralmek spent several months in a Federation detention facility before being returned to the Klingon Empire in a prisoner exchange. After being debriefed he was taken before the Klingon High Council and discommended for failing due to the cowardice of infecting the grain too early, and was expelled from Klingon space. (ST - Klingons - Blood Will Tell comic: "Issue 2")
Still with the appearance of a Human, Gralmek spent the next century living as a Human trader called Barry Waddle. After the Klingon Empire invaded the Cardassian Union in early 2372, he was trapped on Cardassia. After becoming aware of the Bajoran Orb of Time and its possibilities, he boarded the USS Defiant and used it to travel back to 2267. He attempted to take revenge on Kirk for exposing him and destroying his career by placing a bomb in a tribble. Fortunately, Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax found the bomb before it could kill Kirk and it detonated harmlessly in space. Darvin himself was captured by Worf and Odo and brought back to the 24th century. Starfleet appears to have never learned Gralmek's original name, since during the Orb of Time incident Starfleet Intelligence records identified him as "Arne Darvin". (DS9 episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Alternate timelines[]
In an alternate timeline, Gralmek (or 'Krek' as he was known here) successfully poisoned the quadrotriticale, which was eventually shipped to Sherman's Planet; the resulting ecological disaster cost thousands of lives, which sickened Krek greatly. Ashamed at what he had done, he dedicated the rest of his life to restoring his honor and atoning for his crimes. He faked his own death, escaped from the remnants of Sherman's Planet, and killed Kamuk, his Klingon Imperial Intelligence handler. Krek subsequently assumed the identity of Kamuk, and eventually became the governor of Bajor (a subject world of the Klingon Empire, which had conquered Cardassia). Krek/Kamuk ruled Bajor as best he could, paving the way for the planet's eventual independence from the Empire. (ST - Myriad Universes novella: Honor in the Night)
In another alternate timeline created by the death of Spock in 2237, the Enterprise's half-Andorian / half-Aenar first officer Thelin th'Valrass discovered that Darvin poisoned the quadrotriticale which was to be sent to Sherman's Planet when thousands of tribbles were found dead. Darvin remained in Federation custody until a prisoner exchange was arranged with the Klingon Empire several months later. His failure to fulfil meant that he was unable to return to Qo'noS and he was "without a house, without honor...a pariah of the Klingon Empire."
In May 2285, Commander Kruge of the IKS Katai paid Darvin to inform Thelin that Admiral James T. Kirk's son Doctor David Marcus and Saavik, whom Kruge had captured on the Genesis Planet two months earlier, were still alive and that the commander was willing to release them in exchange for all Federation data concerning the Genesis Device and an operational Genesis torpedo. Darvin met with Thelin on Rigel X for that purpose. (TOS - Myriad Universes novella: The Chimes at Midnight)
Appendices[]
Background information[]
The televised TOS and DS9 episodes never gave the character's real Klingon name or clarified the origin of the Arne Darvin identity. The Klingons: Blood Will Tell comic series gave his real name as "Gralmek" and showed him assassinating the real human Arne Darvin. Similarly, the hardcover reference book Federation: The First 150 Years gave the character's real name as "Kron" and mentioned the human Arne Darvin as having been murdered upon Kron's deployment. By contrast, the novella Honor in the Night gave his birth name as "Krek" and explained there was never a human by the name Arne Darvin. Finally, The Klingon Empire Core Rulebook gave his true name as "Krek, son of Gralmek".
Appearances[]
- ST - Klingons - Blood Will Tell comic: "Issue 2"
- TOS episode & novelization: The Trouble with Tribbles
- DS9 episode & novelization: Trials and Tribble-ations
- ST - Myriad Universes novella: Honor in the Night
- TOS - Myriad Universes novella: The Chimes at Midnight
References[]
- ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years
- TOS - Strange New Worlds I short story: "The Last Tribble"
- TOS - Strange New Worlds 9 short story: "A Bad Day for Koloth"
- TOS novel: Timetrap
- TOS novel: Excelsior: Forged in Fire
- ST novel: The Captain's Table Omnibus (Benjamin Sisko's Biography)
- DTI novel: Watching the Clock
External link[]
- Gralmek article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
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