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TREKCORE > MOVIES > STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED
COUNTRY > Synopsis
Following the
violent explosion of an energy production facility on the
Klingon moon of Praxis, the collapse of the Klingon Empire
is considered imminent. In 2293, the United Federation of
Planets decides that this is the opportunity to finally
negotiate a true, lasting peace with the Klingons.
Chancellor Gorkon, the leader of the Klingon High Council,
immediately heads towards Federation space for the proposed
peace conference.
Captain Spock suggests that the U.S.S. Enterprise be Gorkon's
escort, forcing Kirk, who still harbors deep resentment for
the brutal death of his son at the hands of the Klingons, to
meet the Chancellor's ship. The two ships rendezvous
peacefully and are proceeding towards the conference when
the U.S.S. Enterprise suddenly appears to fire on the
Klingon ship; Federation-uniformed men beam to the ship and
mortally wound Gorkon. After beaming over to the Klingon
ship with Kirk to lend assistance, Doctor McCoy is unable to
save Gorkon's life. McCoy is arrested, along with Kirk, for
the murder. After a quick trial before the Klingon High
Council, the two men are sentenced to imprisonment on a
Klingon penal colony. Unknown to the Klingons, however, is
that prior to Kirk's beam-out from the Enterprise, a
quick-thinking Spock surreptitiously attached a homing patch
to the back of Kirk's uniform.
On Rura Penthe, the ice-cold Klingon penal planet, Kirk and
McCoy meet a Chameloid, Martia, who approaches the pair with
an escape plan. The proposed plan, however, turns out to be
an elaborate ruse designed to lure Kirk and McCoy into the
open, where they can be killed as escapees.
Arriving in the nick of time, the U.S.S. Enterprise tracks
Kirk's homing signal and rescues the two officers just
before they are killed by the colony's nefarious prison
warden. Safely aboard, Kirk and McCoy decide to avoid
contact with Starfleet while they work to figure out what
happened to the Klingon Chancellor's ship and to identity
Gorkon's true killer. They are assisted in this
investigation by Captain Hikaru Sulu, commander of the
U.S.S. Excelsior.
Meanwhile, Gorkon's daughter, Azetbur, works to continue her
father's plan of peace with the Federation, putting her life
in serious danger. Learning of this, Kirk and Spock become
convinced that there is an organized conspiracy behind the
assassination intended to prevent the peace. They set a trap
for the suspected conspirators on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Ultimately, Lieutenant Valeris, a promising young Vulcan
protege of Spock's is revealed to be one of the leaders of
the dissident movement. When Spock performs a Vulcan
mind-meld with Valeris, he finds that both Federation and
Klingon conspirators are in league against the proposed
peace.
The Federation ships proceed to the location of the
conference, at Khitomer, but before landing parties are able
to beam down both the U.S.S. Enterprise and the U.S.S.
Excelsior are attacked by an invisible vessel—one capable of
firing while remaining cloaked. The audio transmissions of
the vessel identify it as Klingon General Chang's
Bird-of-Prey, an unknown prototype. Faced with an
unstoppable new form of technology, the two starships
sustain considerable damage. Racing against time, equipment
on the U.S.S. Enterprise usually used for studying gaseous
anomalies is fitted into a photon torpedo. Using some new
technology of their own, the U.S.S. Enterprise tracks the
cloaked Bird-of-Prey and destroys it.
With the orbiting Klingon threat gone and Valeris apprehended,
the U.S.S. Enterprise crew arrives at the peace talks just
in time to prevent the planned assassination of the
President of the United Federation of Planets. The
conference continues, and the first steps are taken towards
peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.
The U.S.S. Enterprise is recalled by Starfleet Command for
decommissioning, but Kirk, in typical fashion, indulges
himself and takes the ship out for one last voyage before
passing the baton to a new generation of explorers destined
"to boldly go where no one has gone before."
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