Khitomer conspiracy The Khitomer conspiracy was a cabal of disaffected officer s from the Federation Starfleet , Klingon Empire , and Romulan Star Empire , formed to undermine peace talks between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire in 2293 , culminating in the attempted sabotage of the Khitomer Conference . Origins . A catastrophic explosion on the Klingon moon , Praxis , cost the Klingon Empire their key energy production facility , as well as imperiling Qo ' noS ' s ecosphere . Without diverting resources from their vast military expenditures to combat the disaster , the Klingon Empire had approximately fifty years remaining before it dissolved , according to Starfleet estimates . Vulcan Ambassador Sarek directed his son , Captain Spock , to open a covert dialogue with Gorkon , the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council in the weeks following the disaster . Gorkon recognized the Empire ' s precarious state , and through Spock , he proposed immediate peace negotiations with the Federation . Officially , the Federation and Klingon Empire embraced Gorkon ' s peace initiative , and Gorkon departed for Earth aboard the battle cruiser " Kronos One " . The prospect of an end to nearly seventy years of hostilities , coupled with massive demilitarization , was not welcomed by some of the more conservative elements on either side of the Neutral Zone . Starfleet ' s Admiral Cartwright protested welcoming Klingon " trash " , and insisted the proper course was to bring them to their knees and dictate a resolution on Starfleet ' s terms . Gorkon ' s chief of staff , General , seemed to believe an outright war was more palatable than resolving the crisis politically . Both men would find support within their fleets , as well as from without , and joined in a conspiracy to subvert the peace process . Assassination and misdirection . The Federation ' s first olive branch , Captain James T . Kirk and the , escorted Gorkon and " Kronos One " from Klingon space on the journey to Earth . A prototype Klingon Bird - of - Prey , capable of firing her torpedoes while cloak ed , shadowed the vessels and attacked " Kronos One " , while an accomplice aboard the " Enterprise " forged the databanks pertaining to torpedo magazines ( presumably Valeris ) , suggesting the " Enterprise " had fired . Lieutenant Valeris ordered Yeomen and Samno to board " Kronos One " in the chaos , where they assassinate d Gorkon . After Kirk and Leonard McCoy boarded the battle cruiser to offer aid , they were accused of murdering the Chancellor , arrested , and taken into Klingon territory for trial . On Earth , a member of the conspiracy , Colonel West , presented the Federation President with Operation Retrieve ; an aggressive plan to invade Klingon space to rescue Kirk and McCoy before their trial , using eight starships . Conspirators Cartwright and Romulan Ambassador Nanclus urged approval for the drastic action , but the President was wary that " Retrieve " might trigger full - scale war and refused it . In spite of the conspiracy ' s efforts , the peace process continued between the President and Gorkon ' s daughter , Azetbur , and a summit was scheduled to take place at a secret location . Kirk and McCoy faced their show - trial , prosecuted by Chang himself . Though earnestly represented by Colonel , the officers were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on the dilithium mines of Rura Penthe . Kirk found an " ally " in the comely Chameloid , Martia , who led the new prisoners to the surface and into a trap . Just before their attempted murder by the prison warden ( another lackey of the conspiracy ) . Kirk and McCoy were rescued by Spock and the " Enterprise " - A , after a clandestine run through Klingon space . Spock ' s shipboard investigation turned up the bodies of Burke and Samno , and exposed the treason of Valeris . Spock ' s forced mind meld with his erstwhile protégé identified the leading conspirators , and their new plan to assassinate the Federation President . From Captain Hikaru Sulu , they learned the location of the secret conference at Khitomer , on the Klingon border . ( ) Battle of Khitomer . As of 05 : 25 : 46 hours , the " Excelsior " was underway to Khitomer in an attempt to help " Enterprise " , though Sulu doubted they would make it in time to be of any assistance . The " Enterprise " entered the sector at approximately 09 : 37 : 00 hours and Kirk ordered the helm to slow to impulse for Khitomer orbit . Commander Uhura informed Kirk that she couldn ' t hear the Bird - of - Prey ' s engine , which must have meant they were rigged for silent running . When the " Enterprise " was within approximately forty seconds of transporter range , General Chang hailed the vessel , taunting Kirk with his own ship ' s invisibility . The first shot was fired by the Bird - of - Prey , the photon torpedo struck the ventral - port side of the " Enterprise " s saucer section . Kirk immediately ordered the ship to reverse at half impulse power , prompting Chang to wonder what they were doing . When Kirk asked himself a similar question , Spock responded that Chang was likely trying to ascertain whether his ship was detected . After a moment of indecision on either side , Chang ordered a second torpedo that presumably struck the dorsal - starboard side of the vessel . Meanwhile , a desperate Sulu ordered the " Excelsior " flown to her limits to help " Enterprise " . The " Enterprise " continued orbiting the planet , as Kirk ' s legendary tactical skills were of no use against an invisible enemy . The next shot fired struck the aft - port of " Enterprise " hull near the nacelle pylon , causing the bridge to erupt with destroyed circuitry ; among the destroyed circuits was the ship ' s auxiliary power . After recovering from the last blow , Spock noted that the Bird - of - Prey would still release ionized gas under impulse power , to which Uhura responded that the ship was carrying equipment to catalog gaseous anomalies . As Spock asked Dr . McCoy to assist him in the modification of a torpedo , another shot rocked the " Enterprise " and Kirk ordered the ship hard to starboard . It seemed that Chang had intentionally let the " Enterprise " in front of his vessel , as the next shot fired also came from the rear , though his aim had tapered a bit , as the shot would appear to glance off the dorsal - port side of the saucer section . The shot caused major distress in the engineering decks and Montgomery Scott was quick to note that the torpedoes were packing " quite a wallop " and that the shields , specifically the forward ones , were weakening . The shot also caused major damage to the hull , which from the exterior was visually spewing bolts of electricity . Fortunately for the " Enterprise " , the " Excelsior " entered the sector and raised its shields just after the previous torpedo had been fired . Chang was intrigued by the new enemy and targeted " Excelsior " s saucer section ; the torpedo struck the ventral - starboard side of the vessel , causing a major shift in the inertial dampening field , strong enough to send Sulu and several " Excelsior " crewmembers flying across the bridge . The torpedo , however , did not do major structural damage to the ship itself . The " Enterprise " was struck again and the torpedo caused the shields to almost completely collapse . With the shields weakened , Chang took advantage and fired a torpedo from underneath the Enterprise and again struck the ventral - port side of the saucer section , only this time the torpedo punctured the hull and exited the other side ; destroying , among other things , the " Enterprise " s dining room . At this point , McCoy and Spock were in the forward torpedo tube , lifting the dorsal access port of the torpedo and preparing to connect the echobars ; they then converted circuit " A " to sensor status . After removing a circuit board from the torpedo , they inserted another one , the " plate " , and the torpedo ' s newly conceived tracking device came online . The final step , as Kirk yelled at them for the torpedo , was to insert the torpedo ' s key . Once that was done , McCoy informed the captain that the torpedo was ready . Kirk appeared to take a great deal of satisfaction in finally ordering the torpedo to be fired , to which Commander Chekov immediately responded and the torpedo was away . The sound of the tracking device was audible to the crew of the Bird - of - Prey as they stood in disbelief ; undoubtedly the power required to fire weapons and remain cloaked was too much to have their shields raised , and their only other option perhaps an attempt to decloak and raise shields . Chang made no effort to stop the blast , instead asking one last time , " " To be , or not to be ? " " Though tracking the impulse signature , the torpedo appeared to strike the dorsal - fore of the Bird - of - Prey , temporarily making it visible , and killing Chang and the bridge crew . Upon the impact , Sulu ordered the " Excelsior " to target the explosion and fire as Kirk simplified his order and just insisted that the " Enterprise " fire . Each vessel fired no less than three torpedoes apiece , completely destroying the Bird - of - Prey . Camp Khitomer . Kirk and his officers beamed down within the confines of the Khitomer conference hall only seconds after the battle ended ; once inside Kirk immediately ordered Scotty to go up the steps behind them , presumably to locate the assassin . Armed with phasers , the crew pushed their way through the audience , meeting interference from the spectators . Kirk and Chekov managed to push their way to the front ; Kirk made a beeline for the Federation President , leaping towards him to protect him from the shot about to be fired . Kirk ' s interference proved to be just enough , as the assassin missed and fired a shot just under the President ' s right armpit . As Kirk identified himself , his officers went to work on crowd control and attempting to finger the conspirators as the Klingons ran to protect Chancellor Azetbur . Chekov held his phaser on the Klingon Ambassador and McCoy seized Nanclus . Cartwright pushed through the delegates to order that the officers be arrested , then Spock emerged from the crowd with Valeris in tow , demanding that Cartwright " arrest himself " . Next the Klingon assassin took aim for Valeris , but Scotty broke down the door and shot him , sending him through the window he was firing from to the floor below , killing him and saving Valeris ' life . Colonel Worf was quick to point out that the assassin ' s blood was not that of a Klingon , and Cartwright attempted to use the distraction to get away . Luckily , Sulu and two of his officers beamed in and surgically cut off his escape route before he could run out . Worf removed the assassin ' s rubber mask to reveal that Colonel West had disguised himself as a Klingon . Aftermath . Following the action , Kirk reconciled his conflict with the Klingons and the Khitomer Accords went on to be signed . It was decided , also , that neither Kirk nor the rest of his crew were to be prosecuted for anything they had done , which included participating in breaking Kirk and McCoy out of prison and violating the Klingon Neutral Zone . Unfortunately , the halting of the conspiracy also brought to an end the " Enterprise " crew ' s last mission , as the next order received from Starfleet was that the Enterprise was to return to spacedock to be decommissioned . Captain Spock ' s humorous response ( " " If I were Human , I believe my response would be ' Go to Hell ' . . . If I were Human " " ) prompted Kirk to have Chekov lay in a course for the " " second star to the right and straight on ' til morning . " " Apocrypha . In the crossover novel series " " , Admiral Cartwright is revealed as an agent of Section 31 , thus implicating the organization in the conspiracy . However , Section 31 was not introduced into the series until the " " episode . In the novel " " , set shortly after the events of " Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country " , the conspiracy was revealed to be part of a Romulan plot to destabilize their two major rivals , the Federation and the Klingon Empire , that had been in the planning since at least seven decades prior to the Khitomer Accords . As part of the plan , Romulan officers had masqueraded as the neutral " Freelans " , the individuals in the concealing robes and masks seen attending the conference . During a visit to Freelan after the Khitomer conference , Ambassador Sarek uncovers evidence of a deeper Romulan connection to the conspiracy , and brings it to the attention of Captain Kirk . Kirk mentions that during his court - martial , Admiral Cartwright claimed that Ambassador Nanclus originally brought the idea of sabotaging the peace conference to him , and the both of them then turned it over to Chang . The novel " Cast No Shadow " explores the conspiracy in greater depth , particularly in its analysis of Valeris ' life both before and after " " , when she is offered a chance at relocation to a colony world under a new name , seven years after her arrest and imprisonment , in exchange for assisting in an investigation into attacks being carried out by what appears to be a new branch of the Conspiracy as the last known living member of the scheme . During the story line , she is forced to acknowledge that the real reason for her participation in the conspiracy was not her logical assessment that the Klingons would be a future threat to the Federation , but her own past trauma from a time she was taken hostage as a child by Klingons attempting to convince her ambassador father to abandon a planet that was negotiating to join the Federation . During the investigation , Valeris also claims to have calculated that Kirk would have taken the opportunity of the initial attack to fire on Gorkon ' s ship rather than beam over to help , with Spock stating that such an assumption proves that she never knew Kirk at all . At the conclusion of the story , the attacks are revealed to be the work of a Klingon - occupied world attempting to rebel against their masters , but Valeris risks her life to disable a bomb that would have decimated the remains of Praxis and the Klingon homeworld . As a result , she is given a pardon and a new life on a colony world under a new name .