Guest Characters

TREKCORE > TOS > EPISODES > BALANCE OF TERROR > Guest Characters

 
 ROMULAN COMMANDER

PLAYED BY: Mark Lenard
SPECIES: Romulan Male

Around stardate 1709, a Romulan commander piloted a Bird-of-Prey on a mission testing a cloaking device, and a new energy weapon that destroyed Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone. A veteran of countless military campaigns, he was an atypical Romulan commander who questioned the ethics of his mission and was wary of war. He believed that enough lives had been sacrificed for the Romulan quest for conquest.

He and James T. Kirk would engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse. At first he tried to return to Romulus to deliver the information on the new weapon, but did turn and fight when the Enterprise intercepted him. When his ship was disabled by the USS Enterprise he destroyed it, rather than be captured. He told Kirk that he admired him and that they were alike, and could have been friends in another reality.
   
 LIEUTENANT STILES
 
PLAYED BY: Paul Comi
 SPECIES: Human Male
 
When it was learned the Romulans were externally identical to Vulcans, Stiles transferred his hatred to Spock, making a number of thinly-veiled insinuations that eventually drew the ire of Captain James T. Kirk; Kirk remarked that bigotry had no place on the bridge.

During battle with the Romulan ship, close-range detonation of a nuclear device left the forward phaser control room manned only by Specialist Robert Tomlinson, with no standby crew.Since Stiles' first assignment had been weapons control, he left the bridge to assist Tomlinson. When the phaser coolant line developed a fault, Stiles and Tomlinson were overcome before they could escape. Fortunately, Spock was nearby and was able to rescue Stiles before the gas could kill him, an act that possibly defused Stiles' bigotry.
   
 DECIUS
 
PLAYED BY: Lawrence Montaigne
 SPECIES: Romulan Male
 
Decius served aboard a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, attacking a series of Earth outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone. As a disciplinary measure, Decius was reduced two steps in rank by his commander as a result of Decius's breaking of radio silence, dispatching a coded message to provide a status update to the Romulan praetor. His commander initiated this action despite the fact that Decius had influential friends within the Empire, believing that they were being shadowed by an Earth vessel.

Later, in response to his commander's refusal to attack the USS Enterprise, Decius successfully manipulated him into launching an attack by requesting permission to destroy the enemy vessel himself. His commander, refusing to relinquish his own authority, did indeed attack, but soon found that the Enterprise was, in fact, only feigning disablement, and found himself overpowered by the Earth vessel. Decius and the other Romulan crewmembers were killed when the commander initiated a self-destruct, refusing to surrender to the Humans.
   
 TOMLINSON
 
PLAYED BY: Stephen Mines
SPECIES: Human Male
 
Tomlinson was engaged to be married to Angela Martine, a fellow Enterprise crewmember. The wedding ceremony was interrupted, however, when the Enterprise came under attack by a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, necessitating all crewmembers reporting to battlestations. Later, Tomlinson was left as the only crewmember in the phaser room, when all others assigned there were injured due to radiation burns, although he was later supplemented by Lieutenant Stiles. Later, as Tomlinson and Stiles were working in the phaser room, a phaser coolant leak incapacitated both of them, in the midst of another Romulan attack. Although Lieutenant Commander Spock was able to pull them both from the phaser room, Tomlinson succumbed to his injuries and died, the only casualty of the conflict.
   
 ANGELA MARTINE
 
PLAYED BY: Barbara Baldavin
 SPECIES: Human Male
 
She was a specialist in fire control, part of a team responsible for operating the ship's phasers. As she was about to marry Robert Tomlinson, the Enterprise received a distress call from one of the Earth outposts guarding the neutral zone. The wedding was postponed. In the course of chasing and crippling the Romulan Bird-of-Prey responsible for the attack, her fiancé inhaled a lethal quantity of phaser coolant.
   
 COMMANDER HANSEN
 
PLAYED BY: Garry Walberg
 SPECIES: Human Male
 
The Earth Outposts guarding the Neutral Zone came under attack by a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, equipped with a new, advanced cloaking device, and powerful plasma-based weaponry, whose crew was on a mission to test the resolve of Earth force after a century of nonexistent contact with Humans. The attack resulted in massive damage and casualties, including the deaths of Hansen's weapons crew. Hansen was subsequently contacted by Captain Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise, who was attempting to intercept the enemy vessel before it could attack again. After giving a report on the attack to Kirk, Hansen was killed when Outpost 4 was destroyed in a final attack by the Romulans.
   
 THE ROMULAN CENTURION
 
PLAYED BY: John Warburton
 SPECIES: Romulan Male
 
The Romulan centurion served aboard the Praetor's flagship that attacked several Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2266. He was a close friend of his commander (see entry below), and served with him in many campaigns. He believed in the right of the Romulan Empire to expand by use of any means necessary, including war. He was of the old ways, where you did not question the Praetor, but gave obedience. These beliefs were not entirely held by his commander. He was killed in battle with the USS Enterprise, he had pushed his commander to safety and was mortally injured by some falling debris in the control room. After he succumbed shortly thereafter, his body, and some of the ship's debris, was later jettisoned in an attempt to deceive the Enterprise into believing the ship was destroyed.