Maltz Maltz was a male Klingon officer in the 23rd century Klingon Empire . In 2285 , he served on a Klingon Bird - of - Prey , later known as the , under Commander Kruge . History . In 2285 , Maltz participated in Kruge ' s attempts to obtain and exploit the Federation ' s Genesis technology . Kruge showed him the stolen summary of the device , and was impressed and sworn to secrecy . While in orbit at , Maltz manned the sensor s and identified the on approach . Despite Kruge ' s apparent success of capturing the vessel via a boarding party led by Torg , Maltz witnessed its explosion , killing much of the crew . He then commanded the ship when Kruge went to the planet to kill James T . Kirk . Kruge ordered him to beam up all but Kirk , however , unaware Kruge had been killed afterwards , he was tricked into beaming him up as well . As he was the only crew member left aboard , they commandeered the ship . When Kirk presented an ultimatum to Maltz to either assist them or be killed , Maltz simply responded , " " I do not deserve to live , " " to which Kirk replied , " " Fine , I ' ll kill you later . " " After successfully escaping the destruction of the Genesis planet , Kirk ordered Pavel Chekov to have Maltz imprisoned , an act which surprised the Klingon , as he was expecting Kirk to kill him . When Maltz confronted Kirk with his earlier promise , Kirk simply said , " " I lied . " " ( ) Appendices . Background information . Preparing and performing the role . Maltz was played by actor John Larroquette . He was highly eager to feature on " Star Trek " in any capacity . Recalling how he wound up with the part , he stated , " " I was just called and asked . And I " ran " [ . . . ] Leonard Nimoy and I got together , and I read some of the script with him . I guess the idea of playing a Klingon was real fascinating to me [ . . . ] Nimoy knows that form inside and out , obviously , and since I had never played a Klingon before , it was sort of like , ' No , " this " is how Klingons talk . " " When asked if he did any other preparatory research for the role – such as watching past " Star Trek " episodes or consulting other actors who had played Klingons – Larroquette answered , " " Yeah . I talked to a couple of old Klingons at the Old Klingon Home . " " He found his part as Maltz was difficult to speak about seriously , in general , remarking , " " How can you talk seriously about a role where you spent the whole day with a crab on top of your head ? " " While portraying Maltz , John Larroquette did not find his strengths as a performer were stretched , considering the long hours of makeup application required for the role . Despite this as well as the fact that he was barely recognizable – even to his fans – under the amounts of makeup and body - armor costuming involved in the part , he thought that playing the Klingon " was fun , a " lot " of fun . " On the set , John Larroquette jested , " " At some point in the film , I wanted [ Kruge actor ] Christopher Lloyd to turn to me and say , ' Bring me some chocolate , Maltz . " " ( " " , issue # 138 , p . 25 ) Aftermath . In a interview , John Larroquette declared that he " absolutely " would be interested in reprising the role of Maltz . He deadpanned , " " I just kept telling [ . . . ] [ Kirk actor ] Bill Shatner – since I was the last surviving Klingon , I smell spin - off . I could take this to a series . Maltz starts off and he has a little hot dog stand on Yakka III out there in the Doofus Galaxy . " " ( " " , issue # 138 , p . 25 ) It is unclear what became of Maltz after Kirk took the Bird - of - Prey to . He may have become a Federation prisoner of war , though Ambassador Kamarag makes no mention of him when demanding Kirk ' s extradition in . According to John Larroquette , the fact that Maltz " winds up in prison at the film ' s end " sparked a campaign conducted by a New Zealand fan network who called themselves the Klingon Occupation Force . Apparently half - joking , Larroquette commented , " " It ' s very interesting [ . . . ] They have this huge ' Free Maltz ' campaign . They want to get him out of prison . I get mail from them all the time . " " ( " " , issue # 138 , p . 24 ) In " The Klingon Dictionary " ( 2nd ed . , p . 12 ) , Maltz is credited for revealing the Klingon language to the Federation and to Marc Okrand . In , Vulcan s had the language stored in their database from previous contacts and Hoshi Sato was able to translate the language . According to Okrand , Maltz ' s name is matlh in " tlhIngan Hol " . ( " The Klingon Dictionary " 2nd ed . , p . 58 ) Apocrypha . In the novelization of " " , it is stated that Maltz committed suicide . In the " Klingon Academy " game , which is told from the Klingon Empire ' s point of view , official information is conspicuously adamant on insisting that all rumors about Matlz surviving the events of " Star Trek III " are false and that he did not assist the Federation in translating the Klingon language . Nor would a true Klingon allow himself to be taken prisoner by the Federation . Alternatively , in the " Genesis Wave " book series , it is revealed that Maltz survived , but was disgraced by his loss of honor , causing him to hide away from Klingon society for several years before the coming of the Genesis Wave . With the Wave , Maltz ' s life gained a new purpose , and he tracked the wave to its source on a Klingon vessel under the command of Leah Brahms , who had won his respect due to her determination to warn others about the Wave and avenge the death of her husband . Eventually , after becoming separated from the others , Maltz acquired a starship which he used to get on board the asteroid base that was preparing to launch a second Genesis Wave . There , accompanied by Carol Marcus , he set the station to self - destruct , regaining his lost honor as they prevented the Wave from ever being used again .