Ba'ku

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Ba'ku
Four Letter Code	BAKU
Federation Status	Member
Planet of Origin	Ba'ku, a planet in the Briar Patch
Encountered	Star Trek: Insurrection
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	D- (D- is apparent, but they have level N knowledge)
List of Named Ba'ku
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Home System

• Quadrant: Beta
• Location: Piavon Regalias Sector (coordinates B25-0001-1301)
• Proper Name: Ba’ku
• Star: It orbits a class K (Orange) star
• Distance from Star: it's orbit is approximately 49 million km
• Companions: It is the 3rd of 6 planets in the system

Home World

• Proper Name: Ba’ku
• Diameter: 11,286 km (7,013 miles)
• Gravity: 0.91 standard gravity with a density of 5.8
• Axial Tilt: 12.8%, with normal terran seasonal changes
• Orbital Period: 374 days
• Rotational Period: 26 hours
• Classification: M
  • Surface Water: 58%
  • Atmosphere: 0.98% is a standard pressure with 74% nitrogen, 25% oxygen, 1% trace chemicals
  • Climate: Mainly a temperate planet with arctic poles.
  • Terrain: It has rolling plains and hills with forests and a few mountain ranges.
  • Population: Just over 600 people.

History

Their home world is unknown, but is believed to be located beyond Federation space. Some three hundred years and fifty years ago the Ka'bu had entered a period of rapidly escalating and uncontrolled technological advancement, to the point where they were on the verge of destroying themselves. Realizing that their planet faced certain destruction, a large number of them took the name Ba'ku (meaning "the Peaceful"), and departed to find themselves a new homeworld in the Briar Patch.

Determined not to repeat the mistakes the rest of their people had made, the Ba'ku adopted a philosophy of near total avoidance of high technology. The Ba'ku claimed that when a machine was built to do the work of a person, it took away an essential quality of that person. However this did not mean they did not understand or were incapable of creating or using advanced technology. Merely that they preferred to avoid using it as much as possible.

The Ba'ku eventually discovered that the metaphasic radiation that was contained within the planetary rings had caused their aging processes to be radically decreased, and that they could live for centuries. This was through the use of some advanced medical devices that they had available to them.

For two hundred years the Ba'ku society continued in a mostly pre-industrial state; however, the Ba'ku's simple life style didn't appeal to some of the younger members of their society, and they rebelled against their elders and attempted to take over control of the colony. When the attempt proved to be unsuccessful, they were exiled from the colony, and the rebels eventually became the Son'a. This split in their civilization occurred in 2295 and a large majority of their population left.

In 2375, first contact was established between the Ba'ku and the United Federation of Planets during a failed "duck blind" operation on the planet with Son'a support, in which Lt. Cmdr. Data, a Starfleet officer, revealed the covert nature of the mission, attacked the Son'a mission scout ship, and revealed to the Ba'ku that the Federation and the Son'a were their enemies.

Following the USS Enterprise-E shortly after, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew were able to learn that Admiral Matthew Dougherty was working with the Son'a to relocate the Ba'ku so that they could gain access to the metaphasic radiation within the planet's rings. Believing that this was fundamentally against everything the Federation stands for, Picard and his officers fought against Dougherty and the Son'a to keep the Ba'ku on the planet.

Following the destruction of the Son'a collector ship and the death of Son'a commander, Ru'afo, peace on the Ba'ku world was restored, and the Son'a were able to re-establish relations with their families after many years.

Following the defeat of this plan, a number of Son'a were allowed to settle on the Ba'ku planet in a separate colony. Some of these Son'a, under the leadership of Urano, rebelled once again with Romulan assistance in a bid to seize control of the entire planet. The plan was put to a halt by Picard, Data and Ensign Sovok.

Rogue members of the Son'a would continue to attempt to forcibly take over the homeworld of the Ba'ku but these would be repelled by Starfleet, who made sure to keep the world under their protection. On one occasion, the defense of the planet was commanded by Commander Worf.

The Ba'ku became a member of the Federation sometime prior to 2378.

Government

Since the colony is so small they really have no use for a formal government. People get together and discuss what is needed and then work together to achieve those goals.

Description

They appear to be completely human but with only Caucasian skin tones. Hair and eye color varies as well as height and weight but for the most part they all appear to be young, healthy individuals.

Physiology

Due to the planetary conditions and the constant exposure to the metaphasic radiation they seem to suffer from very few illnesses and tend to be very healthy. Other than that they have the normal unique physiology to be expected of intelligence humanoid life forms.

Extended Lifespans

The other major affect of the metaphasic radiation seems to be the total and complete reversal of the ageing process. While the children do age as normal, once they reach full adulthood the ageing process slowly stops. For others who were in middle or old age the process seems to have reversed the ageing process and then stopped it somewhere in their twenties or thirties.

Slowing of Time

In some instances the Ba'ku have exhibited the ability to slow time in their immediate vacinity. This seems to be a fairly localized effect and does not extend out very far. They call it enjoying that "Perfect Moment in Time". It seems to be associated with intense feelings of one kind or another. Suprisingly they seem to very seldom use this ability. At this time it is unknown if they all have this ability and just how muct it takes out of them to do it.

Psychology

For the most part they seem to be a very stable colony when it comes to mental issues. However it must be remembered that a large percentage of their original population rebelled and were exiled. Those individuals became the greed, ruthless, aggressive Son’a.

Religion

They do not have any formal type of religion but practice a form of peaceful, non-aggression life style that concentrates on basic fundamental traits.

Mythology

They have a rich legacy of tales from their original Ka’bu roots. However they also have a long epic tale about the rise and fall of that civilization that enforces their belief in remaining a simple society.

A Ba'ku Villa

Society

The Ba'ku society consists of strong bonds between each individual as there are currently only 600 living in the village. Their simpler way of life encourages these strong bonds. There is no crime, aggression or other negative activities anywhere within the colony.

Culture

They enjoy music and many different forms of art. In fact these things are one of the few off world items they import. Song and dance as well as community celebrations are also a key part of their life.

Customs

Working together to teach the younger generations and celebrating important events are considered to be a community task. One that everyone enjoys and looks forward to.

Technology

They have access to the knowledge needed to use and produce very advanced technology but simply do not wish to use it. However if needed they can and are able to produce extremely advanced equipment such as the medical devices they used to discover how and why their aging process had been so radically altered.

Economy

They are almost completely self-sufficient. They have very few needs that they cannot full fill themselves and only import a few luxury goods such as music and exotic foods.

Military

They have absolutely no military or security forces of any kind. Not even a constable to keep the peace. Under normal conditions they never need one.

Federation Intelligence Files

The Ba'ku became a member of the Federation sometime prior to 2378.

In 2376, Elias Vaughn read a number of entries aboard the Enterprise-E about "the Ba'ku affair".

Many Federation experts believe that the Ba'ku used their advanced technology to select their new homeworld when they were originally looking for one. They may not have known just how potent the regenarative affects of the unusual metaphasic radiation would be with prolonged exposure but they probally did know that it would improve the quality of their lives.

Sources

Both Memory Alpha and Memory Beta were used as well as the movie Star Trek: Insurrection.

The following written material was also used, the TNG novelization: Insurrection, DS9 novel: Avatar, ST reference: Star Trek: Star Charts and the Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook.

SDC

This file was updated and approved by the SDC on 4 June 2013

Content from this article may have
come partially, or entirely from
 Memory Alpha

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