tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 15 00:42:19 1996
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Reival's log
Klingon ship logs are noted for having a much more impersonal,
mission-oriented air about them, whereas Federation captains use them to
portray their personal viewpoints about an expedition. It has been the
Klingon tradition to assign the first officer the 'less vital' task of
composing the ship log, to allow the captain to attend to the details of the
operation. For most of the expedition, Reival's first officer was QI'ngal (a
name analogous to that of the Terran stereotype "Bubba" or "Butch").
Log entries were composed every day, even if they only amounted to a few
sentences on the less interesting days. In writing his memoires, Reival is
said to have "extracted several passages verbatim from the ship log." It is
actually more accurate to say that he took the log in its entirety, deleted
the less interesting portions, and added extra sentences where appropriate.
These extras were personal retrospections, and can usually be spotted as
contrasting with the otherwise strictly matter-of-fact tone of the document.
He also took information from the ship's tricorder database and the on-board
sensors for his memoires. He most often used them to recount the
conversations in the corridors of the ship and on the surfaces of planets.
Finally it should be added that the first chapter of the memoires is
considered the only purely fictitious part, as it was written to introduce
the circumstances that led to the initiation of the expedition. Literary
scholars will also point out that it marks the beginning of Reival's personal
growth from a rebellious, insubordinate juvenile to a victorious military
leader of great honor. This point does seem to have some relevance, as Reival
is known as the only Klingon mission leader that could have turned a ship log
into a reflective document of literary significance. Of course, this would be
typical in his line of non-traditional accomplishments.
Guido