Michael Dorn: Klingon Defense Attorney
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Quotes
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General Chang : There we have it, citizens. We have finally established the particulars of the crime. And now we come to the architect of this tragic affair: James Tiberius Kirk. What would your favorite author say, Captain? "Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings." Tell us your sad story, Kirk. Tell us that you planned to take revenge for the death of your son.
Captain James T. Kirk : That's not true.
Klingon Defense Attorney : Objection! Captain Kirk has not been identified as the assassin.
Klingon Judge : Sustained.
General Chang : I enter into the record this except from the captain's personal log.
Captain James T. Kirk : [voice recording] I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I have never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy.
Klingon Translator : [clamoring from the Klingon gallery] Again! Again!
General Chang : [the recording repeats] Are those your words?
Captain James T. Kirk : Those words were spoken by me.
Klingon Defense Attorney : Objection! My client's political views are not on trial.
General Chang : On the contrary! Captain Kirk's views and motives are indeed at the very heart of the matter! This officer's record shows him to be an insubordinate, unprincipled, career-minded opportunist with a history of violating the chain of command whenever it suited him!
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Captain James T. Kirk : On occasion, I have disobeyed orders.
General Chang : And were you obeying or disobeying orders when you arranged the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon?
Captain James T. Kirk : I didn't know about the assassination until we boarded the ship.
General Chang : You still deny the Enterprise fired on Kronos One?
Captain James T. Kirk : Well...
Klingon Defense Attorney : Your Honors, please!
General Chang : And you still deny your men beamed aboard and shot the chancellor?
Klingon Defense Attorney : Objection!
Captain James T. Kirk : I cannot confirm or deny actions I did not witness.
General Chang : Captain Kirk, are you aware that as the captain of a starship, you are required to be responsible for the actions of your men?
Captain James T. Kirk : I am.
General Chang : And if it should be proved that members of your crew did in fact carry out such an assassination...
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : Jim, they're setting us up. Your Honors...
Klingon Defense Attorney : Do not answer!
Klingon Judge : Captain Kirk, you will answer the question.
Captain James T. Kirk : As captain... I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command.
General Chang : Your Honors, the State rests.
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Klingon Judge : It is the determination of this court that the prisoners are... guilty as charged.
Klingon Defense Attorney : I wish to note for the record that the evidence against my clients is entirely circumstantial. I beg the court to consider this when pronouncing its sentence.
Klingon Judge : So noted. Captain James T. Kirk, Dr. Leonard McCoy, in the interest of fostering amity for the forthcoming peace talks, the sentence of death is commuted.
[clamoring from the gallery]
Klingon Judge : It is the judgment of this court that, without possibility of reprieve or parole, you be taken from this place to the dilithium mines on the penal asteroid of Rura Penthe, there to spend the rest of your natural lives.
Uhuru : [watching on the Enterprise] Rura Penthe?
Chekov : Known throughout the galaxy as the alien's graveyard.
Scotty : Better to kill them now and get it over with.
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Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : For 27 years, I've been ship surgeon aboard the USS Enterprise. In three months, I stand down.
General Chang : Ah. You know... I believe that you consumed a rather generous amount of Romulan ale in the officers' mess on the night in question. Am I right, Doctor?
Klingon Defense Attorney : Objection!
Klingon Judge : Sustained.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : We all did. All of us. That doesn't mean...
General Chang : Was Chancellor Gorkon alive when you first examined him?
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : Barely.
General Chang : Now, be careful, Doctor. Have you ever, in your past, saved patients as barely alive as he?
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : I didn't have the medical knowledge I needed for Klingon anatomy.
General Chang : I see.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : You were there.
General Chang : You say you are due for retirement. May I ask, do your hands shake?
Klingon Defense Attorney : Objection!
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : I was nervous!
General Chang : No. You were incompetent.
