Narada personnel The following is a list of " Narada " personnel . Unnamed . Commander . This Romulan commander served aboard the " Narada " and was in command of the bridge when Nero and Ayel hunted down . When Nero returned to the bridge he informed him about ' s actions . ( ) Communications officer . This Romulan female served as communications officer aboard the " Narada " when Nero traveled with the mining ship through time to revenge the fate of his homeworld . She served on the bridge of the mining vessel . She died when set a collision course with the " " and the " Narada " was pulled into the black hole . ( ) Crewmembers . These Romulans served as crewmembers aboard the " Narada " under the command of Nero . ( ) Engineer . This Romulan engineer served aboard the " Narada " and was on the bridge when the ship was destroyed . ( ) Guards on drilling rig . These two Romulans guarded the drill platform while in orbit of . They defended the drilling rig from and who landed on the rig . The first Romulan fought against Kirk until Sulu landed on the rig and attacked him with his retractable sword . He was killed by a burst of flame from a vent after Sulu kicked him towards the vent seconds before it opened again . The second Romulan wrestled Kirk and threw him off the edge of the platform , but Kirk was able to hang onto the edge , kilometers above the surface of Vulcan . The Romulan tried to stomp Kirk ' s hands to force him to release his grip , but was stabbed by Sulu from behind and then fell off the platform himself . ( ) Helmsman . This Romulan served as helmsman aboard the " Narada " under the command of Nero . He worked on a console of the bridge and also died when the ship exploded in the black hole . ( ) Tactical officer . This Romulan served as tactical officer aboard the " Narada " . He detected closing starships such as the and the " " and reported to Nero . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman claimed that both the baldness and tattoos of Nero and his shipmates were for " solidarity as a crew . " ( ) However , Proteus FX Makeup Effects Supervisor Barney Burman stated that the Romulan crew ' s baldness was " to keep their hair from getting dirty as they worked . " ( ) Originally , Neville Page was tasked with imagining how the " Narada " crew might look different from other Romulans , given that the crew members were separate from the Romulan Empire with which they were familiar . It was Page who conceived the idea of using tattoos to differentiate the " Narada " personnel , thinking up the concept at that point . He later apologized to the body art community for taking advantage of the widely held misconception that facial tattoos indicate that a person is dangerous . About the same time as Neville Page decided upon using tattoos for the Romulan crew , it was imagined that – even though it was Romulan tradition to commemorate a loved one by skin - painting with paint that faded along with the period of mourning – the " Narada " crew had burned their tattoos deep , so that they would never fade . This back - story had to be planned before Page could make a start on the actual designing of the tattoos . He designed the tribal - looking patterns digitally . ( " Star Trek - The Art of the Film " , p . 37 ) Once he worked out how Nero ' s tattoos would look , Page was left with hundreds of tattoo configurations which , having been discarded for Nero , were consequently available to use for the rest of his crew . Once the tattoo designs had been finalized , the application of the patterns was the next step . Drawing or painting them onto each performer ' s face were not endorsed methods . Instead , the tattoos were chosen to be " a transfer process , like you ' d find at an amusement park , only much more expensive , " explained Neville Page . Sheets of paper showing his tattoo artwork were dispatched to Tinsley Transfers , which used the images to produce , Page estimated , a couple of hundred tattoos . ( " Star Trek - The Art of the Film " , p . 37 ) The usage of these printed sheets of rub - on images saved the makeup artists hours of work and helped to ensure consistency . With the tattoos for the " Narada " personnel having to be appear aged , Mindy Hall , head of the makeup department , chose an appropriate color for the ink to be used for the Tinsley Transfers . The tattoos were added to the performers playing the " Narada " crew members by Joel Harlow Designs . The addition of the tattoos was the final stage in making the actors look Romulan . However , ensuring that each tattoo completely conformed to a performer ' s face was a laborious procedure . It was done by digitally adjusting the various tattoo configurations and testing them on lifecasts , which had been manufactured when creation of the Romulan facial appearances began . ( " Star Trek - The Art of the Film " , p . 37 ) Costume Designer Michael Kaplan decided how the Romulan crew were dressed in the movie . " " I wanted the Romulans to look more like workers than cerebral Vulcan s , " " he recalled , " " to have a feeling of being pirates and barbarians . Their costumes were patchworks of different fabrics , like they ' ve been stitched over and repaired . " " ( " Star Trek - The Art of the Film " , p . 41 ) Kaplan also contrasted the Romulan crew to the Vulcans by saying , " " There was much more rough and organic feeling to the Romulans . That barbaric feeling that I wanted them to have , more warlike . " " ( " Props & Costumes " , " Star Trek " ( Three disc Blu - ray ) ) Director J . J . Abrams found that the Romulan crew , on the first day he filmed on the " Narada " set , seemed considerably intimidating . " " I literally just broke out in a sweat because I was surrounded by all these , you know , bald dudes with face tattoos and , you know , pointy ears and the wardrobe , " " he related . " " And I just . . . I was so afraid that it was gonna look insanely stupid . " " ( audio commentary , / ( Special Edition ) / ( Single disc Blu - ray ) / ( Three disc Blu - ray ) ) The ruggedness of the Romulan crew informed their style of fighting , about which J . J . Abrams had a long discussion with Ayel actor Clifton Collins Jr . . Collins later observed , " " These guys are very strong , very thuggish and very powerful . Their style of fighting wouldn ' t be a finesse - ful " savat " , or an " aikido " type of thing : they ' re like brutal space cavemen . The style is something that accommodates that body structure . " " ( ) Apocrypha . In the " Star Trek " prequel comic " " , the back - story about the Romulan crew deeply burning their tattoos into their skin was included in the storyline . In the " " story arc " Legacy of Spock " , two " Narada " crew members , and , escape Rura Penthe and return to Romulus , where they are tasked with destroying all surviving Vulcans with what remains of the red matter . Though Vella is eager to do so , Arix incapacitates Vella , having decided to destroy the red matter by detonating it a safe distance away , swallowing up the ship and the two of them instead . Shortly before doing so , he explains in a communication to the " Enterprise " that although they are supposed to be enemies , he is only a miner and has no wish to cause such destruction .