Battle of the Binary Stars The Battle of the Binary Stars , also referred to as the Battle of the Binaries , was the opening battle in the on stardate 1207 . 3 between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire . ( ) Prelude . On stardate 1207 . 3 , The battle was the first time the Federation and Klingon s had engaged each other since the Battle of Donatu V in 2245 . Prior to the battle , the two powers had barely interacted with each other – barring a few inconclusive skirmishes such as at Donatu V and Doctari Alpha – in a full century . ( ) The Klingon leader T ' Kuvma ordered his ship to disable an interstellar relay on the edge of Federation space , in an uninhabited binary star system six light year s from Gamma Hydra , in order to lure out a Starfleet vessel to investigate , so he could provoke a confrontation . The responded , and on investigation , Commander Michael Burnham was attacked by the Klingon Rejac , and killed him in self - defense . Upon her recovery , " Shenzhou " sent out distress call s to any nearby Starfleet vessels to warn them of the Klingon incursion into Federation space . Meanwhile , T ' Kuvma activated the Light of Kahless beacon to call on the twenty - four Klingon Great House s to unify and send their own ships to aid him . Soon , twenty - four ships dropped out of warp , one from each of the Great Houses , but while the Klingons were debating whether or not to unify into a single fleet , ten Starfleet ships responding to the distress call dropped out of warp behind " Shenzhou " . Both newly - arrived fleets then faced each other down in a tense confrontation . ( ) The battle . The battle began after T ' Kuvma ordered his ship to open fire on the " Shenzhou " , forcing it to take evasive maneuvers . To cover the " Shenzhou " , the starship , along with others , moved up and opened fire , inflicting considerable damage to the smaller Klingon ships . However , Starfleet began to take considerable losses early on in the battle , with the and destroyed , and the " Shenzhou " heavily damaged and unable to fight . ( ) At this point , the " Shenzhou " began drifting toward the debris field and was left by the Klingons to be destroyed by a collision with a large asteroid . Moments from impact , the arrived at the battle and saved the " Shenzhou " with a tractor beam . ( ) Following this , Admiral Brett Anderson made contact with the Klingons and was able to negotiate a brief cease fire . But , while communicating with Captain Philippa Georgiou on the " Shenzhou " , the " Europa " was deliberately rammed by a cloak ed Klingon vessel . The low speed collision began tearing through the saucer section , ripping it apart like paper . With this happening , the " Europa " deliberately collapsed its anti - matter containment field , which overloaded the warp core . The resulting breach destroyed both vessels . The cease fire was broken , and the Klingons resumed shooting , and a wave of new Klingon reinforcements warped into the system as well . Several other Starfleet vessels were destroyed , until only the Klingons remained . T ' Kuvma told the other Klingon leaders that they should return home and declare far and wide that the Klingons fought as a united empire once again , and they departed – but T ' Kuvma stayed behind on his flagship to recover their fallen comrades for proper funeral rites . ( ) As the Klingons collected their dead , the crew of the " Shenzhou " transported an explosive warhead onto the body of a Klingon warrior adrift in space . As the body was tractored into the Klingon flagship , it detonated , severing the " head " of the ship , and inflicting considerable damage . Captain Georgiou and Commander Burnham took this opportunity to board the ship in order to take T ' Kuvma prisoner . While searching the ship , the officers were ambushed , and a brief fight ensued . Commander Burnham was knocked down , but was able to overcome her attacker , however , Captain Georgiou was stabbed through the chest by T ' Kuvma and killed . Burnham then shot T ' Kuvma in the back , killing him . She was then beamed back before she could recover Captain Georgiou ' s body , and the " Shenzhou " was abandoned . ( ) Aftermath . Ultimately , the battle was a massacre for the Federation , with thousands killed and a number of ships destroyed . The Klingons also took Lieutenant Ash Tyler prisoner and kept him aboard a prison ship . ( ) While the Klingons also took casualties , T ' Kuvma achieved his goal : using a war against the Federation to reunite the Great Houses . However , with T ' Kuvma dead , the Klingons were left without a living leader , and T ' Kuvma ' s vessel and its surviving crew , as well as the only known Klingon cloaking device , were left to drift for months in the debris field of the battle . However , of the House of Kor was able to take command of the " Sarcophagus " after he bribed the remaining crew to follow him instead of T ' Kuvma ' s protege , Voq and abandon him . ( ) L ' Rell then had Voq taken to the Matriachs of the House of Mo ' Kai , where he under went surgery to pose as Tyler in order to infiltrate Starfleet . Kol later became a general and consolidated his power over the High Council . ( )