In 2293, West, a Starfleet officer, briefed the Federation President with a plan - Operation Retrieve - to rescue Kirk and McCoy from the penal colony on Rura Penthe.

It was later revealed that West was one of the members of the conspiracy, whose goal was to dismantle the peace talks. West, in Klingon disguise, tried to stop the Klingon peace talks by assassinating the Federation President during the Khitomer conference.

West's attempt was foiled by the intervention of members from both the U.S.S. Enterprise-A and U.S.S. Excelsior crews.