Hello all, Ric here with a brief breakdown of the planet Khitomer that represents quite
a great deal in the lore of the Star Trek universe, despite not being featured that
prominently.
First off, Khitomer itself is a planet located somewhere around the borders of the Klingon,
Federation and Romulan territories, although ownership of it has shifted between the two
Empires of the Klingons and the Romulan Star Empire before.
It has traditionally been a Klingon colony, with the earliest recorded colonies established
on its surface at least as early as 2255, with further development in 2266.
It was an M-class planet and one that was rather temperate, with vast oceans and spanning
verdant mountain ranges with valleys.
Not much else was seen of the planet, except that it is very Earth-like and according to
apocrypha, only has just over 4000 colonists living there, meaning much of its surface
is likely untamed wilderness.
In fact, we know there were areas where hunting was practiced by the Klingons who visited
there and that it was home to creatures capable of posing a threat to them, ideal for training
and Klingon family getaways.
As with most Klingon settlements, a hall was constructed on its surface that would house
statues and monuments to Klingon victories and glory, a hall of heroes connecting to
a chamber of Conquest depicting numerous achievements.
Its proximity to both the Romulan Star Empire and United Federation of Planets made it an
excellent choice to host talks and negotiations, and “Camp Khitomer” was selected as the
location for peace talks to replace the tenuous Organian peace treaty in 2293.
These are the events of Star Trek 6, the Undiscovered Country.
This planet became synonymous with Federation-Klingon relations, and as such was lauded by many,
especially on the Federation side of things.
The early to mid-24th century however saw an increase in Romulan aggression however,
with them making forays into territories such as Narendra 3 and in 2346, Khitomer.
It was protected by a system of defensive satellites, however the Star Empire had obtained
codes from a Klingon traitor, Ja’rod and shut them down, allowing them to draw in for
orbital bombardment.
This event became known as the Khitomer Massacre, and saw the death of Worf’s parents, and
the capture of many other Klingons.
These captives were taken and interrogated by the Romulans, with plans to leverage their
return for more territory.
The Klingon High Council denied that offer and the prisoners were taken to Carraya 4,
where they eventually were allowed to live on in a Romulan penal colony.
Khitomer meanwhile, fell under the sway of the Romulans, and seemed to remain so until
at least 2369.
After this, it was returned to the Klingon Empire around the time the Dominion began
to present themselves as a threat, and by 2374, was a Klingon colony once more, or at
least an allied one as the Romulans, UFP and KDF were all working together.
In canon, we know that it is now in Klingon territory and therefore probably their world
again by 2399, but that is the end of it.
In The Star Trek Destiny Timeline, it came under attack in 2381 from the Borg as part
of their renewed push into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, then again later that year, finally
succumbing to the cyborg aggressors.
However, in Star Trek Online chronology, it briefly came under Romulan occupation once
more between 2381 and 82, before being seized back by the Empire.
Chancellor Martok the ordered all non-Klingons to leave the world, which was a sizable amount
and General Mojog is put in charge of rebuilding Khitomer.
This move was seen as deeply unpopular by other powers, but I think by then, the Klingons
had just had enough of the Romulans stealing their planet from them.
Then the Romulan Supernova happened, and shattered their Star Empire.
In 2409, the splinter faction of displaced Romulans, calling themselves the Republic
reached out peacefully to the KDF as allies and talks were held once more at Khitomer,
where the Republic was officially recognised as a new Romulan government.
For four years since 2405, the Klingons have been at war with the Federation after dissolving
the Khitomer Accords in protest to the UFP’s condemnation of their attack on the Gorn Hegemony
and their insistence that there were Species 8472 infiltrators within it.
This was all the machinations of the Iconians, from behind the scenes and in the closing
months of 2409, the Klingons and Starfleet put their differences aside to prepare for
the oncoming threat of the 200,000 year old Empire returning in a vengeful storm.
Some of these meetings to re-establish this alliance were held, once more at Khitomer,
as it had been in 2293 with the first signing of the peace accords.
It was just in time too as it marked the reappearance of the Iconians, and the beginning of their
yearlong war against the Milky Way.
The renewing if the Khitomer Accords was a prequel to the political power that was to
follow.
With the Delta Alliance already being formed from a collection of Delta Quadrant species
with the Federation and Romulan Republic at its core also being established in 2410, the
foundation of cooperation was already there to extend this alliance into something larger
in the crucible of war.
With the eventual defeat of the Iconians, the Accords formed the basis for a new alliance,
the Khitomer Alliance, primarily between the UFP, KDF and Republic.
Again, the signing of this historic partnership was held at where else but, Khitomer.
A new symbol was created to signify this alliance, a split arrow, evoking both the Starfleet
Delta and the Sword of Kahless emblem of the Empire.
Then there was the Alliance fleet.
This was an experiment at first and is still in its early stages.
The notion was to create a unified navy of all its members and allied forces to undertake
joint missions with a token amount of officers and warriors from several departments and
backgrounds.
Sort of like how the federation Starfleet was formed.
It was issued its own uniform, equipment and in 2411, a new Starship was also commissioned.
One that was built through the development of both Starfleet and KDF engineers and shipwrights
and in honour of the new alliance, it was christened the Khitomer Class, it’s design
making the most of both the robust firepower of a Klingon vessel and the multirole utility
favoured by Starfleet.
Khitomer itself became the home to the Alliance operational command and its halls were renamed
from the Klingon traditions to the more inclusive alliance designations.
Understandably, many Klingons bristled at this, and those tensions were eventually stoked
into a full scale civil war in early 2411, but Klingons have never done well in peace
time.
The site came under attack again however, during a false flag operation.
Actually now I think about it, there has seldom been a conference at Khitomer that has not
ended in violence in some fashion, from the attempted assassination in 2293, to similar
events in the other tales.
Where the legacy of Khitomer goes in the primary canon remains to be seen, but personally I
think the direction it went in STO is better than being a victim of the Borg as depicted
in Destiny.
Despite this, in canon it is a historic symbol of cooperation between the Klingon and Federation
peoples, giving rise to not only the accords, but heroes such as Worf, even through such
tragedy.
Apocrypha tends to re-establish this place as equal amounts of woe to go with its weal,
as a symbol of unity, it makes a good narrative target to highlight the state of the galaxy.
The site may be traditionally Klingon, but it is one celebrated by the UFP as a representation
of everything it stands for, showing that even among cultures so vastly different, cooperation
is possible and diplomacy the inevitable end result of any conflict.
I’ve been Ric, thanks for watching this breakdown of the planet Khitomer in canon
and how it was further depicted in apocrypha.
Thanks again, and goodbye!