Klingon word: yaS wa'DIch Part of speech: noun Definition: first officer Source: [KGT?] _______________________________________________ (KGT 53): regardless of their official ranks, those closest to the captain of a ship are called {yaS wa'Dich} (first officer) and {yaS cha'Dich} (second officer). Unlike the terms associated with specific duties, however, these may be used as titles as well. It is correct to say both {qImlaq yaS wa'Dich} (First Officer K'mlak) and {yaS wa'DIch ghaH qImlaq la''e'} (Commander K'mlak is first officer). Qagh yaS wa'DIch The first officer errs. (KGT) QaH yaS wa'DIch The first officer helps. (KGT) (KGT 183-84): A ritual of a less majestic sort occurs on a Klingon vessel when a new set of officers takes over and a mission is about to begin. With the bridge crew assembled but the captain not yet present, the first officer states his or her name and then says {DaH yaS wa'DIch vIgheS} ("I now take my place as first officer" or, literally, "Now I assume the responsibilities of first officer"). The first officer then requests the ship's may' ta (record of battle), which is presented by a crew member. The first officer reviews it. Soon the captain enters. The first officer says, {beq may' ta vIlajpu'} ("I have accepted the crew's record of battle"), pledges the crew's lives to the captain, and concludes by saying, {juDev 'ej Dujvam ra'wI' DagheS'e' vItlhob} ("I ask you to lead us as commander of this ship" or, literally, "I request that you lead us and that you assume the duties of commander of this ship"). The captain replies, {ghopDu'wIjDaq yInmeyraj vIlaj} ("I accept your lives into my hands") and then reverts to the ancient language form {no' Hol} and says, {Delaq Do'}, meaning something like "Take your stations", a phrase never heard in any other context. SEE ALSO: boQ aide (n) boQDu' aide-de-camp (n) cha'DIch aide [during a ceremonial challenge] (n) TREK NOTES: "You're fortunate your First Officer didn't kill you for such a failure." (Prosecutor Orack to Archer, ENT "Judgment") Medical officer Kee'Bhor of the IKC Toh'Kaht was murdered by First Officer Hon'Tihl while under the influence of the Saltah'na energy spheres, just before the ship was destroyed returning from the Gamma Quadrant in 2369. (DS9 "Dramatis Personae") Lt. Klag was Capt. Kargan's second officer on the IKC Pagh. (TNG "A Matter of Honor") MIRROR TREK NOTES: "Captain's log, supplemental. I command an Enterprise where officers apparently employ private henchmen among the crew, where assassination of superiors is a common means of advancing in rank." (Kirk, TOS "Mirror, Mirror") "Captain James T. Kirk succeeded to command ISS Enterprise through assassination of Captain Christopher Pike." (computer voice, TOS "Mirror, Mirror") "So you die, Captain, and we all move up in rank. No one will question the assassination of a captain who has disobeyed prime orders of the Empire." (Chekov, holding a phaser to Kirk, TOS "Mirror, Mirror") -- Voragh Ca'Non Master of the Klingons