E12X Experimental B'Rel Class

Based on the E12 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class, this class of ship is highly classified and officially does not exist. The brainchild of General Chang, the Experimental B'Rel has a modified Cloaking Device which gives her the unprecedented ability to fire whilst cloaked. She also has a highly sensitive sensor package which allows her Captain to intercept any known transmission from considerable ranges. She can even eavesdrop on intra-ship communication at close ranges.

## Development

In 2249, the Klingon Empire under the leadership of Chancellor Durak, signed the Treaty of Korvat with the Federation, a treaty that both powers knew was temporary at best. In order to strengthen the Empire for the time when this treaty would be broken (Klingon strategists correctly theorised that the Federation was as likely to break the treaty as they were), an alliance was signed with the Romulan Star Empire, at that time still withdrawn from contact with the Federation after their humiliating defeat in the Earth-Romulan War.

Part of this alliance was a technology exchange. The Romulans desired modern, M/AM Warp Drive, (as they were still using Nuclear Fusion based Warp at this point, which greatly limited their vessels' range and power reserves) and Military Theorists in the Empire could see a great potential in acquiring Romulan Cloaking Technology. These technologies were exchanged in the form of starships, with the Empire providing the Romulans with several obsolete D6 Kl'ar (Leader) Class Heavy Cruisers, and in return received three Kite Class Escorts. Fittingly, both classes were considered beyond useful service, and accordingly had obsolete examples of the technology they were fitted with. (The Klingon High Council were not without cunning, to the surprise of the Romulans).

It was found to be a relatively simple task to fit the current D7 qItI'tinga' (Great Powerful Conqueror) Class Heavy Cruiser with a cloaking device, modified to work with Klingon systems. The resulting refits entered service in 2255 as the D7A qItI'tinga' (Great Powerful Conqueror) Class. Captains were order not to decloak within sensor range of a Federation starship or facility, so as to hide the fact that they had acquired Cloaking Technology.

Meanwhile, smaller vessels such as the F5 pIH (Suspicious) Class were being refit with Cloaking Devices, and in the arms race that began between the Empire and the Federation, the original Kite Class hulls were examined. Development of a light starship based on those hulls began in 2269, with full production of the new E12 B'Rel Class beginning in 2272.

At some point prior to the Ormong of 2291, General Chang procured two pieces of highly experimental (and highly dangerous) technology. It is not known how he came to procure the modified Experimental Cloaking Device and the highly sensitive sensor array that he fitted to an ordinary E12 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class, but given their experience with Cloaking Devices, the Romulans seem the most likely source. Given the General's contacts in the Imperial Intelligence Service, the technology was most likely stolen.

Regardless as to how the technology came into his hands, Chang had the IKS guHmoH, an otherwise unremarkable E12 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class, refitted with the technology in secret and officially listed as destroyed.

## Operational History

In 2291, Kalnor of the House of G'Iogh attempted to overthrow Chancellor Lorak, and the Ormong of 2291 began. Shortly after this insurrection was put down personally by General Chang. A continuation of this Ormong, precipitated by Kalnor's half-brother, Melkor, saw the first clandestine use of the IKS guHmoH. Captained by Torlek, one of the most promising students of that year's class at the KDF Elite Command Academy, the guHmoH was sent on two secret missions to eavesdrop on meetings between Melkor and his supporters. The second of these missions, in the Taharak System, revealed crucial information about his war plans.

In the aftermath of Melkor's return in 2292 (precipitating the General War), both General Chang and the IKS guHmoH disappeared. Whilst Chang returned to serve as Chief of Staff under Chancellor Gorkon, the whereabouts of the guHmoH remain unknown.

## Apocrypha

The guHmoH was most infamously used during the Praxis Incident in 2293 when General Chang, unhappy at Chancellor Gorkon's peace overtures with the Federation, assassinated him using the guHmoH as the instrument of his crime. Managing to initially frame Captain James T. Kirk and his Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Leonard McCoy, for the crime, Chang was eventually outed, and he and the IKS guHmoH were defeated in combat above Camp Khitomer.

In the Khitomer Accords that followed, the technology that enabled the IKS guHmoH to fire Photon Torpedoes whilst cloaked was outlawed. Prior to the finalisation of the Accords, there was a plan to construct or convert further B'Rels to the same specification as the guHmoH. These plans were shelved when the Accords specified that this technology be outlawed.

Ironically, the Federation did, in secret, study the remains of the Experimental Cloaking Device recovered from the wreckage of the guHmoH. Suspicions that the Romulans were involved in it's development proved correct, and in light of the Romulan Ambassador's involvement in the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon, it seems the device was delivered to Chang rather than previous statements from the Klingon government that it had been acquired by him through the Imperial Intelligence Service. As would later be determined by Federation scientists, the device functioned by moving the ship it was fitted to slightly out of phase with normal space. This technology was further refined in secret by both the Romulan Star Empire and the Federation leading to various scandals involving Phase Cloaking technology.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Escort, Experimental
* **Hull Type Designation:** KECX
* **Length:** 92m
* **Crew:** 17
* **Warp Nacelles:** 1

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 4425 k/s (44.25 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.5
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 9.6
* **Hull Rating:** 140 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 220 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 1000 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 2 × Light Disruptor Cannon
	+ Secondary
		- 1 × Photon Torpedo Tube
	+ Heavy
		- None
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Experimental Cloaking Device
		- Probes

## Ships in Service (2292)

IKS guHmoH

IKS BorTaS (Proposed)

IKS Ney'Huq (Proposed)

IKS DahK'KronHk (Proposed)

IKS Da'Ja (Proposed)