IKS Che'Ta'

The IKS Che'Ta' was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in service with the Klingon Defense Force and briefly Nova Fleet during the late 24th century.

Under the command of the extremist Captain Dorg, it was involved in a conspiracy to destabilize the Federation in the early 2380s by supplying weapons and intelligence to the Pakleds.

In 2381, Dorg killed his second-in-command, Commander Togg, who had challenged him for dishonorable conduct. He subsequently promoted Ma'ah, an ambitious young officer, to the position. Shortly after, the Che'Ta' rendezvoused with the Pakled Clumpship Pakled in System 7743.8, whereupon Dorg supplied the Pakleds with another Varuvian bomb to replace the one they had "tested". Their meeting was then interrupted by the arrival of the USS Cerritos.

Dorg ordered the Che'Ta' to attack alongside the Pakled, eager to trigger a war with the Federation; the battle was soon joined by the Vulcan cruiser VCF Sh'vhal. Ma'ah, appalled by Dorg's underhanded behavior toward their allies, challenged him for leadership and slew him in single combat. He then ordered the Che'Ta' back to Qo'noS to inform the Klingon High Council of Dorg's actions. With the withdrawal of the Che'Ta', the Pakled was defeated by the Cerritos and Sh'vahl. (LD: "wej Duj")

Later that year, the Che'Ta' was attacked and stolen by Nick Locarno, who had bribed lower decker G'reck to betray Ma'ah. Debris planted at the scene initially misled the Klingon Defense Force into believing the ship destroyed, but footage from a murder drone proved that Nova One was towing, not destroying, the ships it attacked. G'reck marooned Ma'ah on Sherbal V and kept the Bird-of-Prey near the planet to deal with intruders. This led to the Che'Ta' attacking and destroying the USS Cerritos shuttlecraft Death Valley on an away mission to repair a nearby disabled weather satellite, forcing the away team aboard to beam onto Sherbal V themselves. One of the members of the away team, Lieutenant jg Beckett Mariner, rallied other stranded crews to work together before being abducted by Locarno, eventually leading to Ma'ah killing G'reck and retaking the Che'Ta' when the stranded crews feigned a distress call and tricked it into entering the planet's atmosphere in order to board it. (LD: "Twovix", "A Few Badgeys More", "The Inner Fight")

Che'Ta' translates approximately as "Reigned" or "Ruled". Che' is Klingon for "reign", and -ta' is a suffix which indicates that something is past tense in a way which was done deliberately. ^{(citation needed • edit)}