Patrick West
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| Biography | |
| Patrick West | |
 Patrick West in the Presidential Office in 2293. | |
| Full Name: | Patrick West |
| Known aliases: | Colonel West |
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Male |
| Born: | Circa 2243 |
| Died: | 2293 |
| Affiliation: | United Federation of Planets Khitomer Conspiracy |
| Career | |
| Occupation: | Officer, Federation Starfleet |
| Final Assignment: | Starfleet Command |
| Rank: | Vice Admiral |
Patrick "Colonel" West[1] was a male human born circa 2243[2], a 23rd Century Federation Starfleet officer who achieved infamy as part of the Khitomer Conspiracy.
Patrick West began his career as an expert on the Klingon Empire, working in the office of Federation Starfleet Admiral Herbert Solow in 2266 in the months immediately prior to the signing of the Organian Peace Treaty. Those months saw escalating tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and it was widely believed that war was inevitable. In spite of his young age and rank of lieutenant, West's analyses of the Empire had come to the attention of Federation President Kenneth Wescott, and he was invited to a meeting in the Presidential Office along with Admiral Solow to brief the President, his staff, and senior members of the Federation Diplomatic Corps. In the course of the meeting, President Wescott decided to allow a colony of independent Klingons that the Empire wished to annex to determine for itself whether it wished to join the Empire or remain neutral over Lt. West's loud objections. West had clearly not endeared himself to the president, and believed Wescott to have made a dangerous decision. (Seeds of Rage.)
By 2293, West had risen to the rank of Vice Admiral. That year, he briefed Federation President Ra-ghoratreii of Efros on Starfleet's plan to rescue Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy from the Klingon Empire, which had arrested the two for the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, Son of Toq. West strongly recommended that "Operation Retrieve" be implemented; when Ra-ghoratreii asked what would happen if this prompted a war, West, hawk that he was, simply replied that the Federation would clean the Klingons' chronometers.
Ra-ghoratreii's and Gorkon's work towards peace angered West, and he conspired with Federation Starfleet officers Admiral Cartwright, Lt. Valeris, Yeomen Burke and Samno, and with Romulan Ambassador Nanclus and Klingon General Chang, to assassinate President Ra-ghoratreii at the Khitomer Conference while disguised as a Klingon, thus guaranteeing a war between the Federation and Klingon Empire. The conspiracy was uncovered by Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise. West managed to fire his Klingon manufactured weapon at Ra-ghoratreii, but missed when the President was tackled by Captain Kirk. Losing his chance to kill either Ra-ghoratreii or Chancellor Azetbur, he decided to kill Valeris to ensure her silence. As he began to press on the trigger, Captain Montgomery Scott burst into the room where West was hiding, and fired a phaser at him. West fell through a window into the main chamber, and died on impact with the floor. Colonel Worf and Admiral Smillie ran over to check on the assassin, and Worf soon realized that the blood pooling on the floor was not Klingon in origin. Smillie pulled the mask West was wearing lose.(TOS movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
In the film, West was referred to only as "Colonel West." "Colonel," of course, is not part of the Federation Starfleet's naval-based rank structure. However, he wore the uniform of a Starfleet Vice-Admiral. Some have suggested that he was part of the Starfleet Marine Corps, but this is non-canonical and has not been used in a licensed fiction. ("Colonel" may have been a nickname; the heading of the article reflects that conjecture. West was named as a reference to the infamous United States Marine Corps Lt. Colonel Oliver North, who, as part of the Reagan Administration, sold weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran and used the profits to fund the anti-Communist Contra rebel group of Nicaragua in violation of United States law and later lied to Congress about his role.
[edit] Alternate Timeline
In an alternate timeline, West was placed in commnd of Starfleet after Harold Morrow was killed. He would then use the rank of Admiral instead of Colonel. West would also sit in on the planning session for deployment of the Genesis Device against Praxis. (Star Trek: Myriad Universes novel: The Chimes at Midnight)
[edit] Notes and References
- ↑ West's given name was not specified in The Undiscovered Country. The novel Seeds of Rage established it as "Patrick". (TOS novel Errand of Fury Book 2, Seeds of Rage)
- ↑ In Demands of Honor, West notes he has used the transporter more "in the past two weeks than in his first twenty-three years." Presumably, this means he's past his twenty-third birthday and not yet to twenty-four. (TOS novel Errand of Fury Book 2, Demands of Honor)
