"The Albino" was an infamous criminal who launched numerous raids against Klingon colonies in the late 23rd century.
Quick Answers
What motivated the infamous Albino's raids on Klingon colonies?
What was the Albino's promise to the Klingon captains?
How did the Albino evade capture by three Klingon warships?
What impact did the Albino have on Klingon history?
How did the Albino seek revenge on the Klingon captains?
History[]
In 2290, three Klingon warships were dispatched to apprehend the Albino: Kor's, Koloth's, and Kang's. The raid was successful in breaking up most of the Albino's power base, but they failed to capture the Albino himself. In a last message to the Klingons, he promised revenge upon the firstborn sons of each of the captains.
A few years later, the Albino infected each of the three captains' firstborn sons with a genetic virus that slowly killed the children. The three fathers, plus Curzon Dax, the godfather and namesake of Kang's son, swore a blood oath to track down and kill the Albino in revenge. Kang nearly tracked him down on Galdonterre, but the Albino was warned that they were coming and escaped in time. As a result, the Albino went into hiding, finally establishing a compound on Secarus IV in 2345.
The Albino's compound on Secarus IV
The Albino was finally tracked down again in 2370, when Kang learned of his location from one of his discarded wives. When Kang went to scout out the location, the Albino contacted him and offered a glorious battle – forty of the Albino's best warriors against his four pursuers. Kang accepted, however, the Albino instead booby-trapped the threshold of the compound with a gravitic mine. Confident in his security, he stayed in the compound and waited.
Instead, Kang, Kor, Koloth, and Jadzia Dax (the then-current host of the Dax symbiont) launched their own sneak attack against the Albino's compound. Dax bombarded the Albino's compound with tetryon particles, rendering the energy weapons of the Albino's soldiers useless. This allowed the four comrades to fight their way, hand-to-hand, into the Albino's headquarters. Kang himself landed the killing blow on the Albino, although both he and Koloth were mortally wounded in the battle. (DS9: "Blood Oath")
Memorable quotes[]
"The Trill. Of course. You're far too young and lovely to sport such a deadly weapon. All right, then, use it if that's what you came to do. Kill me in cold blood. Run me through the belly and cut out my heart… isn't that what your blood oath promised? Or have you lost your appetite, my dear?"
- - Upon being confronted by Jadzia Dax
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Jim Martin sketch of Albino's courtyard
The Albino was played by Bill Bolender.
StarTrek.com describes The Albino as a "ruthless Klingon criminal," and while he had a slightly Klingon-look to his appearance, he regarded other Klingons as "filth" and "scum". [1](X) According to the script, however, he was described simply as "an all-white humanoid in good physical shape for a man of a hundred." [2]
Apocrypha[]
Forged in Fire gives his name as Qagh (β).
The comic "Remembrance" features the Albino's granddaughter seeking revenge for his death. Jadzia is on Qo'noS. She is there to attend, with Kor, the quv van je tay ritual to honor the recently deceased Kang and Koloth. However, the Albino's granddaughter tries to use the opportunity to seek revenge for his death and has allied with Toral of the House of Duras.
The Albino appears in Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels' novel Forged in Fire, which tells the story of his piracy and later his revenge on Kang, Kor, and Koloth. The book confirms that he is indeed Klingon – a cousin of Kor – who was born an albino after his mother attempted to genetically alter him in the womb to cure him of the augment virus. The procedure is only partially successful, and the infant is born with brow ridges (unlike his mother), but entirely white in coloring. His revolted mother sends the infant away to be killed, but he is found by a pair of Orion pirates, who raise him in their trade. One of the pirates with a passing knowledge of the Klingon language whimsically names the infant Qagh, "mistake". This history explains his dislike of fellow Klingons. The virus – which he actually gave to the Klingons themselves and they passed to the children – was also given to Sulu, who had assisted the Klingons in the hunt for the Albino, in hopes that it would kill his daughter. Because a key component came from Omega IV, a planet Sulu had visited and become resistant to its adverse effects, the virus did not infect him. The virus also afflicted Curzon Dax, but he expressed no real concern about it, explaining to Sulu that he would retain a form of immortality thanks to his symbiont, clarifying that Dax had never contracted the virus in the first place as it was incompatible with the symbiont and would thus not pass the virus on to future hosts. Sulu notably rejected the offer to aid in the Klingon blood oath as he felt that it would be a mistake to focus so much of their lives on revenge against one man, although he nevertheless agreed to keep silent about the events that had taken place and allow the other four to proceed as they saw fit.
External link[]
- Albino at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works