| “ | You've restored my father's faith. | „ |
| ~ Azetbur to Captain Kirk |
Azetbur was a Klingon female introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. She was portrayed by Rosana DeSoto.
She was the daughter of the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon and a member of the House of Makok. Under her father's tutelage she became a voice for moderation, much like Gorkon was. She was in a romantic relationship with her father's military advisor Brigadier Kerla. In 2293, when the Klingon moon Praxis exploded she supported her father's efforts to make peace with the Federation in order to deal with the crisis, even though she was not exactly enamored with either the Empire or the Federation - the latter of which she termed a "homo sapiens only club."
Feeling that something would happen to him due to his efforts to make peace with the Federation, Gorkon convinced a number of High Council members to name Azetbur the next Chancellor should something happen to him. Meeting up with the Enterprise en route to Earth, Azetbur, Gorkon, General Chang, and Kerla boarded the Federation vessel. Dinner did not go well, with a couple Enterprise enlisted crew members making racial remarks which were heard by the Klingons even though the two human crewmembers thought they were out of earshot. After dinner, Azetbur met with her father and expressed her concerns about how poorly they had been treated by the crew, and how hostile Kirk in particular seemed to be towards them. For his part, Gorkon was sympathetic towards Kirk, knowing that Kirk was a father grieving the death of his son David at the hands of the Klingon Commander Kruge and his crew.
Later that night, members of a Klingon-Federation-Romulan conspiracy led by Chang, a Tal'Shiar agent calling himself Nanclus, and Starfleet Cartwright managed to have Gorkon assassinated and framed Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard McCoy for having the assassination carried out. Despite calls for war by Kerla and other advisors, Azetbur decided that the peace process would continue and that Kirk would pay for her father's death. She informed Federation President Ra-ghoratreii that she wanted the peace talks to go forward, but she made clear that the Klingons would not agree to return Kirk and McCoy and demanded the Federation not attempt to rescue them.
At a show trial Kirk and McCoy were quickly found guilty of the crimes, but in a surprise move by the judge were not sentenced to death. Instead they were sentenced to life imprisonment on Rura Penthe. The conspirators moved quickly to try to have Kirk and McCoy killed, but the two men were rescued by Spock and the Enterprise crew. Learning that the renewed talks were being held at Khitomer, Kirk and the Enterprise raced their. Despite Chang trying to destroy them, the Enterprise was able to kill Chang and most of the Klingon participants in the conspiracy when they destroyed Chang's ship. They beamed down in time to keep the Federation President from being assassinated and blowing the lid open on the conspiracy. Seeing all of what Kirk did to defend her and the peace process, Azetbur told Kirk that he had restored Gorkon's faith, to which he responded that she had in turn restored his son's faith.
Soon afterwards, Azetbur and Ra-ghoratreii met privately with Kirk to apologize for their actions. In this meeting Kirk shared all the information the Enterprise had on the conspiracy. Azetbur initially continued her relationship with Kerla, but soon learned that he too was a member of the conspiracy and had him put to a particularly slow death for betraying her and her father.
Azetbur would continue as chancellor for the next 18 years, leading the Empire in the tumultuous time in stabilizing and repairing the damage to Qo'noS, and continuing to pursue peace with the Federation. Azetbur signed the Khitomer Accords which would form the basis of the alliance between the two powers for many years to come. Some more conservative Klingons acted against her not only for being a woman, but also for continuing the peace process and making peace with the Federation.
In the first years of the 24th century, Azetbur worked hard to keep the Empire neutral when it came to disputes between the Federation and the Romulans. In 2311 she decided that the Klingons would aide the side that was not the aggressor in any conflicts between the Romulans and the Federation. When an extremist Romulan Admiral Vokar apparently attacked the Federation, Azetbur ordered the Klingon military to enter Federation space and join up with Starfleet. The combined Klingon/Federation fleet caused the Romulans to back down. After signing a new treaty with the Federation, the Romulan Empire isolated itself for the next half-century, cutting off nearly all contact with the rest of the galaxy.
Azetbur was assassinated in 2311 by Ditagh, an ally of the Klingon General Kaarg. Ditagh felt that the Empire was becoming too weak under Azetbur's leadership, and that Kaarg would be a much stronger leader. Kaarg did indeed become the next Chancellor. One of Kaarg's first acts was to ban women from becoming Chancellor or even serving on the High Council, a ban that would continue for at least the next half century.
