"Star Trek" Universe - "K" Characters Quiz

Answer: Jay-Den Kragg

Jay-Den Kraag was a Klingon Starfleet cadet in the 32nd century. His family was destitute, living as refugees after "The Burn" left many space-faring races stranded. He dreamed of joining Starfleet, despite his father's disdain for the Federation. ("Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" episode "Vox In Excelso")

Jay-Den Kraag was portrayed by Karim Diané.

Answer: Kes

Kes was a young (1-year-old) Ocampa who joined the USS Voyager's crew after Captain Janeway needed to destroy the Caretaker's array. She and her then-paramour Neelix volunteered to join the USS Voyager since Neelix had extensive knowledge of the Delta Quadrant, which Voyager needed to traverse on its way back to the Alpha Quadrant. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Caretaker")

Her species, Ocampa, had very short lifespans compared to other humanoid species: about 8-10 years. The three years that Kes spent on Voyager thus put her at early middle age. They also had mental powers that weren't extensively practiced. But Kes worked with Tuvok to help her develop them.

She left Voyager when her mental powers were seemingly uncontrolled and presented as dangerous to Voyager. She apparently transformed to a higher form after leaving the ship on a shuttle. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "The Gift")

Kes returned to Voyager three years later. But instead of being friendly, she is angry about the fact that she was "taken" from Ocampa. She uses the power of Voyager's warp core to travel back in time to the past to take her younger self back to Ocampa, at the expense of giving the Voyager crew to the Vidiians. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Fury")

Kes was portrayed by Jennifer Lien. She was removed from the cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" at the beginning of the fourth season. Then Jeri Ryan was added as the liberated Borg Seven of Nine.

Answer: K'ehleyr

K'Ehleyr was a Federation ambassador and special emissary. She was half-Klingon/half-Human. Though she was evidently part-Klingon, she preferred her Human side and tried to tightly control her Klingon impulses.

During one mission, which brought her to the USS Enterprise-D, she and former paramour Worf surrendered to their passions after a workout on the holodeck. This encounter conceived a child, whom she named Alexander. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Emissary")

A couple of years later, she returned to the Enterprise-D with her son. She was accompanying K'mpec, the Klingon chancellor, who had selected Picard as the Arbiter of Succession. In the intervening years, Word had had a discommendation placed upon him, shunning him from Klingon society. K'Ehleyr wanted to know why this happened, but Worf was not forthcoming with the details. She started her own investigation, and realized that it was a false accusation of Worf's father Mogh that led to the discommendation. The true son of a traitor, Duras, discovered that she was finding the truth. He went to her quarters and fatally attacked her.

Worf and Alexander, who were elsewhere during the attack, came to her quarters and saw her dying. Worf led Alexander to her side, instructing him to remember her death. She died, and Worf removed his communicator badge so that he couldn't be traced. He then went to Duras's ship and challenged him as a matter of honor and vengeance. He killed him in the ensuing fight. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Reunion")

K'Ehleyr was portrayed by Suzie Plackson. She has played four different characters in "Star Trek" productions: K'Ehleyr in "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; Dr. Selar in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Schizoid Man"; a female Q in "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "The Q and the Grey"; and Andorian Imperial Guard member Tarah in "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode "Cease Fire".

Answer: Harry Kim

Ensign (much later Admiral ["Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" memorial wall]) Harry Kim was the operations officer on the USS Voyager during its first mission, to find Tuvok, who had covertly infiltrated the Maquis. It was on this mission that Voyager was seized by the Caretaker and brought to the Delta Quadrant.

Kim notoriously remained an ensign for Voyager's entire 7-year trek back to the Alpha Quadrant. (In real life, navy officers usually only spend 18-24 months before being promoted to lieutenant junior grade.) Even his friend Tom Paris, who had been given a lieutenant j.g. field commission by Captain Janeway ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Caretaker"), then demoted as punishment ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "30 Days"), was promoted back to lieutenant j.g. while Kim was still an ensign. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Unimatrix Zero")

In "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "Fissure Quest", the USS Anaximander rescued multiple Harry Kims from various quantum realities. All of them were still ensigns, except for the last one, who was a lieutenant. This surprised all of the Ensign Kims.

Harry Kim was portrayed and voiced by Garrett Wang. He was also portrayed in a flashback to Harry's childhood by Kenny Yee ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Favorite Son"), and as an infant by Taylor Chong when Harry was transformed by The Clown ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "The Thaw").

Answer: Kor

Kor was a Klingon officer, one of the most influential warriors and respected military leaders of the Klingon Empire. He first came to note by leading the military occupation of Organia, a planet located in a strategic position between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, populated by a pre-industrial and peaceful society. Becoming the military governor, he governed it with an iron fist. Unknown to him, Kirk and Spock had positioned themselves in the populace of Organia. They began performing acts of sabotage against the Klingons posted on Organia. Kor responded by having 200 Organians executed.

But unknown to Kor, Kirk, or Spock, the Organians were not who they appeared to be. They were actually non-corporeal beings who detested violence. With the conflict between Kor and Kirk on their planet and the imminent war between the space forces of the Federation and the Klingon Empire, the Organians used their powers to force a cease-fire by making all offensive weapons and equipment too hot to touch. The Organians then imposed the Treaty of Organia, establishing a framework that would bring peace between the two space governments. ("Star Trek" episode "Errand of Mercy")

In the years after, Kor became friends with Curzon Dax, the Federation ambassador to Qo'noS. When Kor, Kang, and Koloth's firstborn sons were murdered by a criminal known as the Albino, the three Klingons and Curzon swore a blood oath to track down and kill the Albino. It took decades, but the Albino was finally found. By this time, Curzon had passed away, and Jadzia was Dax's new host. She had been Kang's son's godfather, so her urge to join them on their mission was strong. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Blood Oath")

Kor was portrayed by John Colicos, both in "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". He is also known for portraying the traitorous human Count Baltar on the original "Battlestar Galactica".

Answer: Keiko O'Brien

Keiko O'Brien (née Ishikawa) was initially a civilian botanist on the USS Enterprise-D. She met engineer Miles O'Brien there. They wed and had their first child, Molly, aboard the Enterprise-D. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Data's Day")

When Keiko, Ro Laren, Guinan, and Captain Picard were returning in the shuttle Fermi from Marlonia, their shuttle was enveloped by an energy field. They were beamed out of the shuttle, but were transformed into children of about 10 years in age. This was especially hard on Keiko, because her daughter Molly didn't recognize her and shied away. They were able to be transformed back into their adult selves after they helped defeat some Ferengi pirates that had taken over the Enterprise-D. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Rascals")

Miles was offered a position as Chief of Operations on the newly-acquired space station Deep Space 9, formerly a Cardassian ore processing station called Terok Nor. He brought his small family with him. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Emissary") Once there, Keiko found she had no purpose as a botanist, but then noticed that the children on the station were extremely unsupervised. So she asked Sisko if she could start a school for the children, which he approved. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "A Man Alone")

Later that year, after forming the school, it became involved in a dispute with the Bajorans. Keiko was teaching the science about the aliens who lived in the Bajoran wormhole. However, the Bajorans believed these aliens were their Prophets, religious figures in their society. As the tensions grew, someone planted a bomb (Sisko suspected Vedek Winn was responsible) and destroyed the school. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "In the Hands of the Prophets")

Keiko O'Brien was primarily portrayed by Rosalind Chao. Chao is known for portraying Soon-Lee, Max Klinger's bride on "M*A*S*H" and "AfterMASH".

Answer: Kurn

Kurn was Worf's younger brother. He had been left with a friend of Mogh, Lorgh, when Mogh, his wife, and Worf had gone to visit the Khitomer outpost. When the outpost was attacked by Romulans (who had codes that disabled its defenses), just over three-fourths of the colonists were killed. Two that survived were Worf and his nursemaid Kahlest. Since Worf was just a toddler, he couldn't inform the Federation rescue workers that he had a brother on Qo'noS. So he was taken in by a Starfleet chief petty officer, Sergey Rozhenko, and raised alongside his human step-brother Nikolai.

When Kurn reached the Age of Ascension, he was told of his true lineage. He also found that his father's reputation was being sullied, with the late Mogh being framed as the one who sent the Romulans the defense codes for Khitomer. (It was actually a Klingon politician Duras's father Ja'rod, who had betrayed the Khitomer outpost.) Kurn sought out Worf, to inform him of the plot against their father. Since Worf was the elder brother, it was his duty to protest the framing of Mogh.

Kurn was portrayed by Tony Todd. Todd also portrayed an adult Jake Sisko in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Visitor".

Answer: Katherine Pulaski

Dr. Katherine Pulaski was the Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D for one year, replacing Dr. Beverly Crusher when the latter accepted a position as head of Starfleet Medical. She left after a year when Dr. Crusher returned. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" second season)

Dr. Pulaski had a similarity to Dr. McCoy: she hated using the transporter. This posed a problem when she became infected by the genetically augmented antibodies of the children on the Darwin Genetic Research Station, which altered her genes and made her age at an accelerated rate. It was hypothesized that the transporter could filter out the changes in her DNA, but she had never used the transporter so it had no basis for the filtering. However, her quarters were searched and an intact hair follicle was found on her hairbrush. This was enough to restore her DNA to normal. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Unnatural Selection")

She initially had a prejudice towards Lieutenant Commander Data, believing that artificial life forms weren't worthy of consideration, classifying him as just a machine. She initially mispronounced his name ("DAH-tah" instead of "DAY-tah") ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Child"), didn't think that he would be of comfort to Deanna Troi when she was in labor ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Child"), and didn't think he could solve a unique Sherlock Holmes mystery ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Elementary, Dear Data").

She eventually warmed to Data, especially when she was infected by the Darwin Station children's antibodies. He piloted her to her initial examination of one of the children, as well as shuttling her to Darwin Station when she realized she was infected. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Unnatural Selection")

Dr. Katherine Pulaski was portrayed by Diana Muldaur. She was one of several actors who had acted on "Star Trek" in the 1960s as well as following "Star Trek" productions. On "Star Trek," she portrayed Dr. Ann Mulhall/Thalassa ("Star Trek" episode "Return to Tomorrow") and Dr. Miranda Jones ("Star Trek" episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty?").

Answer: Koloth

Koloth was a Klingon commander who had been previously acquainted with Captain Kirk when he requested shore leave rights at Federation Deep Space Station K-7. K-7 was also being used as a way station for a supply of quadrotriticale to Sherman's Planet, a disputed planet between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Kirk agreed to the shore leave for the Klingons, but made sure that there was an Enterprise security officer for every Klingon aboard K-7. This upsets Undersecretary Nilz Baris and his aide, Arne Darvin, who are in charge of the Sherman's Planet development project.

Despite the extra security, a brawl erupted between the Klingons and some Enterprise crew in the station's bar, egged on by Koloth's crew.

In the meantime, tribbles that were being hawked by trader Cyrano Jones were "running" loose aboard both K-7 and the Enterprise. (Jones had earlier tried to sell some to Klingons, but the Klingons found them irritating, and the tribbles cried and trembled when placed near Klingons.) When Kirk found that instead of lunch he got a platter full of tribbles, Scotty confirmed that they got there via the ventilation ducts. Kirk and Spock realized that K-7 had similar ventilation ducts, and hurried over to K-7. Once there, Kirk found that the storage bins were full of tribbles instead of quadrotriticale; also, McCoy noted that many were dead or dying. The quadrotriticale had been poisoned.

In the station manager Lurey's office, Koloth and his first officer Korax were demanding an apology. Baris objected, stating that this would give the Klingons a wedge to claim Sherman's Planet. At the same time, security officers were carrying live tribbles out of Lurey's office. As they passed Arne Darvin, the tribbles started shrieking. Jones noted that he'd only seen them do that when next to Klingons. Kirk put another tribble next to Darvin, and it also shrieked. McCoy then scanned Darvin, and revealed that he was indeed a Klingon. Darvin was arrested for the poisoning of the grain. Then, when Koloth pressed for their apology, Kirk then told him to get out of Federation territory within the next six hours.

Back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk noted that all the tribbles were gone. He asked his officers how they'd done it. Spock, McCoy, and Scott hemmed and hawed and kept passing the buck to each other. Kirk finally gets Scott to reply that before the Klingons warped away, he had beamed all the tribbles into the Klingon cruiser's engine room, "where they'll be no tribble at all."

Years later, he was bonded in a blood oath with fellow Klingons Kor and Kang and Curzon Dax. A criminal known as the Albino had enacted revenge on the three Klingons by killing their firstborn sons. Their oath was enacted when the Albino was found, with Jadzia Dax, Curzon's successor to the Dax symbiont. Koloth was killed fighting the Albino's personal guard. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Blood Oath")

Koloth was portrayed by William Campbell in both the "Star Trek" episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" and the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Blood Oath". He also portrayed Trelane in the "Star Trek" episode "The Squire of Gothos".

Answer: Kang

Kang was a Klingon commander. His ship was mysteriously attacked near Beta XII-A, where all but 40 of his crew were killed. As they drifted toward Beta XII-A, they saw the USS Enterprise and assumed they were the ones who had attacked them. Kang forced the Enterprise landing party on the surface to beam him and his surviving crew to then Enterprise. Through a secret signal, Kirk had the transporter chief only materialize his crew members. They then could capture the Klingons.

After all 40 Klingons were aboard, emergency bulkheads activated on the Enterprise, trapping all but 40 Starfleet crew with the 40 Klingons. Also, all of the modern weapons in this section were replaced by medieval weapons, mainly swords. The Starfleet crew and the Klingons then started to fight with the new weapons, injuring each other quite gravely. This was all orchestrated by an energy being that fed on the violent emotions of corporeal beings. It even would heal those seriously hurt so that they could go back to fighting. Also, it would egg on bigoted impulses to increase the hate being felt.

After Kirk determined the nature of the energy being, he used the transporter in an intra-ship beaming (which was a risky maneuver in the 23rd century) to Kang's stronghold in Engineering. He then convinced Kang of them being used by the energy being. They saw the being in Engineering, and started to laugh at it. The positive emotions repelled the being. ("Star Trek" episode "Day of the Dove")

Years later, he was bonded in a blood oath with fellow Klingons Kor and Koloth and Curzon Dax. A criminal known as the Albino had enacted revenge on the three Klingons by killing their firstborn sons. Kang's son had been named Dax, after his godfather Curzon Dax. Their oath was enacted when the Albino was found, with Jadzia Dax, Curzon's successor to the Dax symbiont. Koloth was killed before they got to the Albino, but Dax and Kang made it. Kang was injured, and Jadzia was about to kill him when she realized that she didn't have the bravado to do it. As she was holding the Albino at bay, Kang came up from behind him and killed him. ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Blood Oath")

Kang was portrayed by Michael Ansara in both the "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episodes in which he appeared.

Answer: Keyla Detmer

Lieutenant j.g. Keyla Detmer was the helmsman aboard the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou. She was injured sometime after the Battle of the Binary Stars and Michael Burnham's arrival on USS Discovery, necessitating her having a cranial and ocular implant. ("Star Trek: Discovery" episodes "The Vulcan Hello" and "Context Is For Kings")

When Michael Burnham was brought aboard the USS Discovery, Detmer had been promoted to full lieutenant and was the helm officer under Captain Gabriel Lorca. Upon seeing Burnham again, she wouldn't speak to her. ("Star Trek: Discovery" episode "Context Is For Kings")

When it was decided to have Discovery leap forward in time to prevent Section 31 from gaining information they shouldn't have, Detmer volunteered to be among the crew who would travel to the 32nd century, never to return to her life in the 23rd century.

Keyla Detmer was portrayed by Emily Coutts.

Answer: Kestra

Kestra Troi was the eldest daughter of Ian and Lwaxana Troi, about 6 or 7 years older than her sister Deanna. Lwaxana called her daughters by terms of endearment: "Precious One" and "Little One" for Kestra and Deanna, respectively.

On a family picnic, when Deanna was still a baby, the Trois were picnicking by Lake El'nar. They had brought their dog along. The dog's barking upset baby Deanna, so she started crying. As Ian and Lwaxana were tending to Deanna, the dog ran off and Kestra ran after him. Sadly, she fell into the lake when her parents weren't watching, and she drowned.

For years after Kestra's death, Lwaxana took great strides it erasing all knowledge of her existence and death, as it was too painful because of her guilt in not being attentive enough. Deanna never knew of her sister until she was in her 30s, when Lwaxana was mentally fatigued by communicating with a new telepathic species, the Cairn. One of the Cairn children, Hedril, reminded Lwaxana of Kestra, and this further broke her down mentally. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" "Dark Page")

(Throughout "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Deanna Troi was shown as being irritated by Lwaxana calling her "little one" all the time. "Dark Page" gently reveals why Lwaxana was so insistent on using the term of affection.)

Years later, when Deanna and her husband William Riker had a daughter as their second child, they named her Kestra after her late aunt. ("Star Trek: Picard" episode "Nepenthe")

Kestra was portrayed by Andreana Weiner as the true image of Kestra and by Kirsten Dunst (who was also playing Hedril) as a pseudo-image of Kestra in Lwaxana's mind.

Answer: Kashyk

Kashyk was a Devore inspector and a member of the Devore Imperium, an empire in the Delta Quadrant. The Devore considered telepaths a danger to the Imperium because of their ability to read minds. Kashyk considered all strangers and vessels in Devore space to be suspect and subject to search. When USS Voyager was traversing their space, they rescued a group of telepaths, the Brenari. Since the Devore performed random and thorough searches of all starships travelling through their space, Voyager would use the transporter to hide the Brenari as well as their Vulcan crew. They would be held in transporter statis until the Devore left Voyager. ("Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Counterpoint")

Kashyk was portrayed by Mark Harelik. Harelik is known for portraying Doctor Eric Gablehouser, the president of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) on "The Big Bang Theory".

Answer: Kevin Riley

Lieutenant Kevin Riley was a command division officer on the USS Enterprise under Captain Kirk.

He was proud to be of Irish descent, similar to Ensign Chekov's pride of being Russian. This pride came out to the extreme when Riley was infected with the PSI 2000 water-virus. While under its influence, he tricked the engineering staff into leaving their posts, then locked them out of Engineering. He then deactivated the ship's engines, endangering the ship which was in a low orbit of PSI 2000. After Scott was able to re-open the Engineering's doors, Kirk discovered that the engines were cold. Scott said he'd need 30 minutes to restart, which was less time than they had before crashing into the planet. However, Spock was able to figure a full-power restart that pulled them away from PSI 2000, as well as sending them three days into the past. ("Star Trek" episode "The Naked Time")

As a child, Riley was a colonist on Tarsus IV. The governor of the colony, Kodos, was faced with the starvation of the colonists. He ordered the execution of half the population of 8,000. Of the 4,000 survivors, only nine ever saw the face of Kodos. This included Thomas Leighton, James Kirk, and Kevin Riley, who were the only three still alive by stardate 2817. Kodos, nicknamed "Kodos the Executioner", managed to escape once Federation ships arrived to the colony.

The adult Leighton, a research scientist on Planet Q, had extensive damage to the left side of his head, presumedly caused by the events that occurred on Tarsus IV. He lured the Enterprise, captained by his friend James Kirk, to Planet Q to reveal his suspicions that the leader of a visiting Shakespearean acting troupe, Anton Karidian, was actually Kodos the Executioner. Kirk had his doubts. But when Leighton was found dead shortly thereafter, Kirk decided to investigate further. He pulled some strings so that the acting troupe was in dire need of transport. He then offered passage on the Enterprise to Lenore Karidian (Anton's daughter), which she accepted.

Doing research once the actors were aboard, Kirk discovered that the six other witnesses had died suspiciously and relatively recently. Also, one of his junior officers, Riley, was the ninth witness. For Riley's safety, Kirk ordered him transferred to Engineering, despite Riley just recently being promoted to Communications. On his first night shift back in Engineering, Riley stewed at his Engineering post, all by himself on a late shift. He called the rec room in order to talk to anyone. Lieutenant Matson answered his call, then put Lieutenant Uhura on the comm. She decided to serenade Riley with a song, "Beyond Antares". As Riley relaxed listening to Uhura, a mysterious person snuck up to his dinner and squirted something into the milk glass. Riley then turned to his dinner, picked up the milk and took a gulp. He started to gag and choke just as Uhura finished the song. She called to him, to ask his opinion on the song. She and the others in the rec room then heard Riley's distress and sent help in time to save him.

Kirk's suspicions are further confirmed by Riley's poisoning. When he confronts Karidian, Karidian neither confirms nor denies his past. He takes a voice print test offered by Kirk (reading Kodos's execution order), but it is inconclusive.

As their payment for transport, the Karidian players put on a performance of "Hamlet" for the crew. In Sick Bay, Dr. McCoy was recording his log where he mentioned Kirk's suspicions of Karidian. Riley overheard this, and left Sick Bay to kill Karidian. Backstage, Kirk saw Riley with a phaser and intercepted him. Riley, chagrinned, surrenders his phaser and returned to Sick Bay. Kirk then went to confront Karidian, who was talking with his daughter Lenore. Lenore then revealed that she had been protecting her father from those who would harm him: the witnesses of the Tarsus IV Massacre and of his identity. Karidian was horrified, because this was just more blood on his hands, despite his best efforts to keep his past crimes from his daughter.

Kirk appeared to the Karidians, to take them into custody. Lenore, who had become frantic, grabbed a security officer's phaser and ran onstage. Kirk chased after her, then stopped when she pointed the phaser at him. As she's about to fire, Anton Karidian threw himself in the line of fire, killing him. ("Star Trek" episode "The Conscience of the King")

Kevin Riley was portrayed by Bruce Hyde. Although his two appearances in "Star Trek" were key to the plot of those episodes, he didn't appear in any further episodes. He only made nine guest appearances on television shows, then decided to step away from his acting career.

Answer: Kruge

Kruge was a Klingon commander of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. He obtained confidential information about Project Genesis, given to him by a spy, Valkris, who was a romantic interest of his. But when she revealed that she had looked at the information, he destroyed the ship she was on.

He then went to Planet Genesis, where he found the USS Grissom in orbit. He ordered his gunner to disable its engines so that they could get hostages, but with a "lucky shot", the gunner destroyed the Grissom. Kruge then killed his gunner. But then another officer, Torg, found that there was a landing party on Genesis that they could capture instead. (movie "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock")

Kruge was portrayed by Christopher Lloyd. Lloyd is known for many roles: Taber in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Reverend Jim Ignatowski on "Taxi", Dr. Emmett Brown in the "Back to the Future" movies, and Judge Doom in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".