Used on more than a few occasions over the years, Star Trek's best weapon to beat Klingons probably isn't what you think it is. Klingons have been iconic Starfleet enemies since Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 26, "Errand of Mercy", which saw Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) defend the Organians from Klingon Commander Kor (John Colicos). Unlike Starfleet phasers, Klingon disruptors have no stun setting, proving their thirst for blood. Time and again, Kirk's Klingon enemies match the USS Enterprise captain's battle strategy, starship armaments, and taste for revenge—best served cold, of course.
Klingons are redefined by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with an emphasis on rituals and honor that changes the Klingons' favored weapons. Instead of carrying disruptors like TOS Klingons, 24th-century Klingon combat is defined by bladed weapons, like the two-handed bat'leth, the smaller mek'leth, and the d'k tagh dagger. Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons retroactively incorporate these, along with weapons lost to time. In Star Trek: Picard, Captain Worf's (Michael Dorn) unique kur'leth conceals a phaser in the hilt, but even this dual-duty Klingon/Starfleet hybrid isn't the best weapon to use against Klingons.
The Best Weapon Against Star Trek's Klingons Is Their Own Laws
Lower Decks' Boimler And DS9's Quark Help Klingon Friends Win With Legal Loopholes
The best weapon to use against Star Trek's Klingons is their own laws. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 4, "A Farewell to Farms", Lieutenant Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) uses his encyclopedic knowledge of obscure Klingon rituals to help Lieutenant Beckett Mariner's (Tawny Newsome) friend, Ma'ah (Jon Curry), regain his captaincy.Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 3, "The House of Quark", sees Quark (Armin Shimerman) prove to the High Council that D'Ghor (Carlos Carrasco) is attacking Quark's Klingon wife Grilka (Mary Kay Adams) with shady accounting instead of honorable victories.
Neither Boimler nor Quark fit the description of a warrior, but their minds are sharper than the bat'leths wielded against them.
Klingons who solve problems with combat are prepared to cross blades when there's conflict, so using the law as a weapon catches Klingons off guard, especially when they expect an easy victory. Neither Boimler nor Quark fit the description of a warrior, but their minds are sharper than the bat'leths wielded against them. Klingon law is riddled with minutiae that even other Klingons don't know well, so Ma'ah and Grilka trust their friends to find the details within their complicated systems to win against a stacked Council. Even D'Ghor originally succeeded because he fought on paper instead of with swords.
Star Trek's Klingon Lawyers Fight On A Different Battlefield
Captain Sisko Defended Worf In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rather than being seen as cowards, Star Trek's Klingon lawyers are warriors in their own right who simply fight on a different kind of battlefield. Lieutenant Commander Worf and Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) meet Klingon prosecutor Ch'Pok (Ron Canada) on that battlefield firsthand in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 18, "Rules of Engagement", after Worf allegedly destroys a civilian ship. Even at a Federation hearing, Ch'Pok envisions the proceeding as a battle, comparing himself and Sisko to warriors locked in a fight over whether Worf's motives were more Klingon or Starfleet.
In fairness to Star Trek: Discovery 's Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), planting a hydro bomb within a volcano on Qo'noS is also a pretty effective weapon against the Klingons, but genocide isn't the answer that the United Federation of Planets is looking for.
Like the other Klingon councils, Ch'Pok's reliance on passion to cinch a victory for the Klingon Empire failed to account for other cultures having different values. In the same way that Quark uses Ferengi accounting skills and Star Trek: Lower Decks' Boimler and Mariner use their knowledge of obscure Klingon rituals, Sisko beats his own Klingon opponent by uncovering the truth. Klingons may find that bat'leths and mek'leths may still be the best weapons to use against each other, but for non-Klingon outsiders, Star Trek proves that the law is a great weapon to beat Klingons.
