Dukat's Bird-of-Prey

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey that was captured by Dukat, with help from Major Kira Nerys, Damar and Tora Ziyal, in 2372. Dukat used it to conduct a series of independent raids during the Klingon-Cardassian War.

Under K'Temang's command
In the early 2370s, the ship was commanded by Captain K'Temang, with a crew of thirty-six. In 2372, the ship disabled the planetary defense systems of Korma colony and destroyed all of the buildings there. As well as the Cardassian dead, fifteen Bajorans were also killed in the attack, as they had been attending a conference on the planet.

The Cardassian freighter Groumall that had been assigned to bring Kira Nerys to the conference from Deep Space 9 arrived on the scene soon after. The Bird-of-Prey decloaked near the freighter, scanned them and began to move off. Even after the Groumall fired on them with its weak weapons, they continued to move off and engaged their cloaking device.

The Groumall equipped itself with a salvaged System-5 planetary disruptor from Korma and attempted to lure the Bird-of-Prey into decloaking by modifying the subspace transceiver array to project the image of the freighter having refined dilithium crystals aboard.

Dukat's plan was successful and the Bird-of-Prey decloaked near the Groumall in the Loval system. K'Temang demanded the freighter's surrender, and after the Klingon ship locked a tractor beam on the Groumall, it moved closer, about to beam the "precious cargo" off the ship. This allowed the Groumall to fire its planetary disruptor, breaching the Bird-of-Prey's hull and disabling their impulse engines. However, the Bird-of-Prey was still able to fire on the Groumall.

Dukat and Kira beamed onto the Bird-of-Prey and, using Klingon transporter codes, beamed the Klingon crew to the Groumall and the Cardassian crew to the Bird-of-Prey. Dukat and Kira made their way to the Klingon bridge, where Dukat fired the ship's disruptors on the Groumall and destroyed it, killing K'Temang and his crew. 

Under Dukat's command
The ship was the first Klingon starship to have been captured by the Cardassian Union and was discovered to have valuable computer logs, featuring status reports from several Klingon starships around the Union. The Detapa Council decided to not use the data to launch an offensive against the occupying Klingon forces, still favoring a diplomatic approach. Even though he was offered the chance to resume his old post as military advisor to the Detapa Council, Dukat decided to use the Bird-of-Prey to fight the Klingons himself. Kira managed to convince him to let Ziyal live on Deep Space 9, not wanting her to live the life she led - as a freedom fighter. 

Dukat's Bird-of-Prey began attacking Klingon ships, and Dukat himself procured a baldric. 

Mission to Ty'Gokor
Early in 2373, Kira asked Ziyal to contact her father and ask him to bring his Bird-of-Prey to Deep Space 9. Dukat's ship was needed by Benjamin Sisko, Worf, Odo and Miles O'Brien to infiltrate the Klingon Empire and bring them to Ty'Gokor, where they were to unmask a Changeling posing as Chancellor Gowron. During the journey, Damar voiced his opinion of using the Bird-of-Prey's photon torpedoes to destroy Gowron's command center. This idea was dismissed by Odo and O'Brien, who told him he would "be lucky to launch one torpedo before they shot you down". Using the Bird-of-Prey's computers, Dukat was able to plant the Starfleet team's assumed Klingon identities in Ty'Gokor's central computer system.

Nearing Ty'Gokor, Dukat's ship was hailed by another Bird-of-Prey. Usually, Dukat would have used the ship's holofilter to project the image of a crew of Klingons, but on this occasion its optronic relays were fused, rendering it useless. Worf offered to talk to them, but Dukat preferred to destroy them.

After depositing Sisko and his team on Ty'Gokor, Dukat and his Bird-of-Prey left the system. 

Dukat's last days in command
Later that year, Dukat's Bird-of-Prey was damaged in a confrontation with a Klingon battle cruiser and he visited Deep Space 9 for repairs. Several days later, Dukat's Bird-of-Prey joined the USS Defiant (2370) and two runabouts to face an invading Dominion fleet. After the Dominion starships moved away from the station and set a course for Cardassia, Dukat appeared to move to intercept them. This was not the case, as he was joining the Dominion fleet. He announced his negotiations with the Dominion and Cardassia's membership in it from the bridge of his ship. The last time the crew of Deep Space 9 saw Dukat's Bird-of-Prey it was moving with the Dominion fleet towards Cardassia Prime. 

In 2375, Dukat and Damar reminisced about their time fighting the Klingons with the Bird-of-Prey. Damar remarked that "those were simpler times". 

Background Information
The Star Trek Fact Files card for this ship suggests it was the first Bird-of-Prey the Dominion was able to study.

Apocrypha
As part of a promotion for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, Decipher released several sets of matching officers and their ships. "Dukat, True Cardassian" was released along with this ship, which was given the name Naprem. This would indicate Dukat renamed the ship in honor of the late Tora Naprem, with whom he conceived Tora Ziyal.

External link


Dukats Bird-of-Prey