Duras

Duras, son of Ja'Rod was a Klingon antagonist in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He appeared in two episodes; Sins of the Father and Reunion.

Duras was portrayed by Patrick Massett.

A member of the influential House of Duras and the son of Ja'rod, Duras was a powerful and ambitious man. In 2366 he captured a Romulan vessel, which had records providing proof that his father had betrayed the Kithomer outpost to the Romulans, resulting in the deaths of over 4,000 Klingons - including Worf's father Mogh and mother Kassin.

Under Klingon law Duras was responsible for the treason of his father. Unwilling to face the music, and feeling that if the truth was known it would cause a civil war K'mpec and the rest of the council buried the truth. Needing someone to blame for the attack they decided on Ja'rod's rival Mogh. They thought that with Worf living in the Federation and serving in Starfleet he would not even be aware of the decision. However what they didn't know was that Mogh had a second son named Kurn, who had been hidden with a friend of the family before the other members of the family went to Khitomer.

Returning to Qo'noS Worf challenged the decision of the council. Duras proceeded to prosecute Worf for the supposed crimes Mogh had committed. Meanwhile, learning that Kurn - who was standing with Worf as Cha'DIch - was a second son of Mogh he arranged to meet Kurn nearby, and tried to assassinate Kurn. With Kurn seriously injured in the attack, Worf chose Captain Jean-Luc Picard as his Cha'DIch.

Learning that Worf's nursemaid Kahlest had survived the attack on Khitomer and was living again on Qo'noS, Picard went to see her to see if she could help. She informed Picard that Mogh was not the traitor - that he was loyal to the Emperor, but she didn't know who the traitor was nor could she testify. After Picard left he had to fight off two assassins sent by Duras to kill him. Impressed with Picard's bravery and feeling Worf chose well Kahlest changed her mind and accompanied Picard to the council chambers. Seeing her K'mpec ordered Worf, Picard, Kahlest, and Duras into his chambers.

There it came out that it was Duras's dishonor the council was protecting. Unwilling to have her testimony heard in open council Kahlest was allowed to return home. There K'mpec admitted that Mogh was not the traitor, but Ja'rod was. Worf decided to accept discommendation from the Empire as long as they left Kurn alone. Before leaving Worf backhands Duras and calls him a "son of a traitor."

Over the next year Duras began poisoning K'mpec slowly with Veridium Six. Eventually the poison killed K'mpec, but not before he met with Picard and got him to be his arbiter of succession after he died between the two strongest candidates - Duras and Gowron.

On board K'mpec's ship while Picard, Gowron, and Duras were certifying the death of K'mpec, a bomb went off. PLanted by one of Duras's men, it was a Romulan device.

While Picard was evaluating the worthiness of Gowron and Duras to fight each other for the office of Chancellor, Federation Ambassador and Worf's girlfriend K'Ehleyr became suspicious of why everyone on the Enterprise was so put off by Duras. While not going into specifics, Picard told her that they had prior dealings with Duras that made him untrustworthy.

K'Ehleyr decided to do some research into Duras. Using her diplomatic access to the Klingon Imperial information net - the main database of the Klingon government - she attempted to access the records of the last high council inquiry into the Khitomer attacks. However the information was sealed by Duras so the computer would not give her the records. She then tried a different route, and requested all information available on Duras. K'Ehleyr was able to piece enough information together to realize that Ja'rod was the traitor, not Mogh.

Unfortunately her attempted access of the restricted materials generated an alert which was sent to Duras. Confronting K'Ehleyr in her quarters, Duras attacked her and stabbed her, and she died a short time later in Worf and their son Alexander's arms.

Furious over the loss of his love, Worf boarded Duras's ship. Brushing him off as a traitor, Duras turned away. But Worf then claimed the right of vengeance, and publicly claimed K'Ehleyr as his wife. The two men fought. Meanwhile the Enterprise crew realized what Worf was doing. Commanders William Riker and Data went to stop Worf, but as they got to where the two men were fighting Worf got the upper hand and killed Duras.

Picard was less than pleased and put a reprimand in Worf's record for killing Duras. Afterwards Picard gently suggested to Worf that the time to keep the secret was over. With Duras having died in disgrace Picard thought it wasn't necessary to keep up the illusion that Mogh was the traitor. Worf responded that it was not just Duras who used his father as a scapegoat, but the other members of the high council as well, and that he and Kurn would need to wait until the time was right to put things right.

Even though Duras was dead his influence continued to reach from beyond the grave. As the time approached to install Gowron as the new chancellor, his sisters Lursa and B'Etor put forward Toral - the illegitimate son of Duras - as a claimant on the office of Chancellor. Picard rejected this claim, stating that Toral was too young and that the claim to the office died with Duras.

The House of Duras started a brief civil war within the Empire. Eventually the Federation was able to expose the Romulan involvement in the war. Along with Gowron's forces conducting a full scale attack news of the Romulan ties resulted in the defeat of the Duras forces. Toral was captured but his aunts beamed away. Toral got off lightly, with Worf being unwilling to kill him as Toral had never harmed Worf. Meanwhile the sisters continued trying to take over the Empire until they died in combat against the Enterprise in 2371.