Son'a

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Son'a
Four Letter Code	SONA
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	Ba'ku, a planet in the Briar Patch
Encountered	Star Trek: Insurrection
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N
List of Named Son'as
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Name

• Proper Name: Son’a
• Pronunciation:

Home System

• Quadrant: Beta
• Location: Piavon Regalias Sector (coordinates B25-0001-1301)
• Proper Name: Son’a
• Pronunciation:
• Star: It orbits a class Red Giant star
• Distance from Star: it's orbit is approximately 483 million km
• Companions: It is the 4th of 9 planets in the system

Home World

• Proper Name: Son'a Prime
• Pronunciation:
• Diameter: 11,021 km (6,848 miles)
• Gravity: 0.93 standard gravity with a density of 5.9
• Axial Tilt: 4.3%, with no seasonal changes
• Orbital Period: 334 days
• Rotational Period: 25 hours
• Classification: K
  • Surface Water: 23%
  • Atmosphere: 0.93% is a standard pressure with 71% nitrogen, 25% oxygen, 4% trace chemicals
  • Climate: Temperate zones around the equator with large arctic regions.
  • Population: Just over 100,000 with about another 300,000 scattered among various colonies, outposts and the Tarlac and Ellora home worlds.

History

The Son'a were originally Ba'ku, living on the idyllic Ba'ku home planet in the Briar Patch. In the late 23rd century a group of young Ba'ku desired to follow the way of the offlanders. They attempted to take over the Ba'ku planet, but failed and were exiled.

In 2328, the Son'a were used by the Cardassians to provide weapons that would soon be used to annex Bajor.

After a brief flirtation with space colonization, this group settled into a pattern of Nomadic acquisition. They would raid planets for resources and slave labor, and about half a century before 2375 subjugated the Tarlac and Ellora species to serve as indentured servants and soldiers. The Federation sanctioned them multiple times, and by the 2370s the slave raiding was thought to have stopped as a result.

By the 2370s, Son'a maintained colonies in the outlying areas near Cardassia and the Bajoran wormhole. By this time the Son'a had become infertile as well. The Federation speculated that this might have been the result of biological or genetic engineering.

For many years the Federation declined to establish diplomatic relations with the Son'a. However during the Dominion War, the Federation suspected that they were manufacturing large quantities of the Dominion narcotic ketracel-white in the Son'a colonies in the outlying areas near Cardassia and the Bajoran wormhole. As a result Federation first contact with the Son'a was made in 2374.

The Federation immediately moved to isolate the Son'a from the Dominion and establish an alliance with them, a move the Son'a welcomed with open arms.

In the later days of the war, a recently constructed facility indeed existed at their Devos II outpost. Weyoun diverted a number of Dominion warships to that colony, believing that the Federation knew about it. Damar questioned this, as he felt the Son'a should be able to protect it themselves.

However, the Son'a had one major problem; without the unique environment of the Ba'ku planet, the original generation of Son'a were reaching the end of their natural lives. Used to immortality, their leaders became obsessed with regaining the youth they had lost.

When they learned that Starfleet had already discovered the Ba'ku settlement and learned of the immortality enjoyed by the natives, the Son'a came to the Federation offering an explanation for the Ba'ku puzzle; high concentrations of metaphasic radiation particles in the planets rings was continually regenerating the genetic structure of the life on the planet. Concealing their Ba'ku heritage, the Son'a offered a method of collecting this radiation via a large orbital vessel they had constructed.

The potential was awesome; a whole new medical science would be created, with sufficient radiation present in the rings to treat billions of individuals. However, the collection method involved initiating an isothermic reaction within the rings which would destroy all life on the surface of the planet. Naturally, the Federation refused this offer as it would contravene the Prime Directive. However, it was agreed to establish a duck blind facility on the surface and conduct covert surveillance of the Ba'ku in an attempt to investigate the planets environment more thoroughly.

During this research it became apparent to the Federation that the Ba'ku were not in fact a primitive people; they possessed technological knowledge up to and including warp drive. With Prime Directive considerations considerably eased by the Ba'ku's new status, the Federation decided to proceed with the Son'a plan. The whole Ba'ku population was limited to six hundred people, all living in one small area. The Federation constructed a replica of their village and the surrounding countryside on a suitably similar planet, and a vessel was built which was capable of transplanting the Ba'ku without their knowledge.

In 2375, a group of Son'a led by Ahdar Ru'afo attempted to access the metaphasic particles within the rings of the Ba'ku planet, now located within Federation space. To do so, they entered an alliance with Starfleet Admiral Matthew Dougherty, who convinced the Federation Council to approve the scheme. The Son'a had developed a metaphasic collector to harvest the particles, but it came with the secondary effect of rendering the planet uninhabitable. They agreed to follow Starfleet procedure and relocate the existing Ba'ku population beforehand, using a hidden Federation holoship.

The plan began to unravel when Lt. Cmdr. Data from the USS Enterprise-E uncovered the holo-ship and was shot by a Son'a soldier. This caused him to malfunction and the Enterprise was sent to retrieve him. When the Enterprise arrived, they discovered the true nature of the Son'a's operations, the crew rejecting Dougherty's claims that the relocation of the small number of Ba'ku on the planet was worth it compared to the billions who would be helped by the subsequent advances in medical technology as they felt that the moral cost that would be paid in the destruction of the Ba'ku culture was too great.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard threatened to expose this to the Federation, by sending Cmdr. William T. Riker and the Enterprise to the edge of the Briar Patch to contact the Federation Council, while he and a number of his officers took the captain's yacht to the surface to help the Ba'ku. In response, Ru'afo sent Son'a warships to intercept the Enterprise and ordered the Ba'ku to be removed by force, though his efforts were impeded by the Enterprise crew.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Ru'afo decided to commence with the next stage of the operation, without relocating the remaining Ba'ku. When Dougherty objected to this, Ru'afo killed him and deployed the metaphasic collector. Fortunately, Picard was able to stop its activation and trigger the auto-destruct sequence, with help from Ru'afo's second-in-command Gallatin. Soon the Federation Council withdrew their support for the project, with new information from the Enterprise.

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.

Others allied themselves with the Dominion but the majority of them returned to their old way of life.

Government

Once they created their colony on Son’a Prime in 2275 and built their capitol city of Son’a the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place and the Son’a Solidarity become the governing body for their people.

Prior to that the Son'a Command was the operational organization (government) established by Ru'afo and his followers for the military forces they constructed after being exiled from the Ba'ku planet.

After that the Son'a Command became a strictly military organization. It was this group that planned and executed the attempt to fool the Federation into letting them drain the metaphasic radiation from the Ba’ku home world.

Description

The Son’a are a humanoid species that have gone to great lengths to try and maintain a youthful appearance. The end result is rather frightful as they have undergone surgical procedures to stretch the skin on their faces so much it now appears more like a mask than a face.

Physiology

Without the regenerative effects of the Ba'ku homeworld's metaphasic radiation, the Son'a became desperate in their efforts to prolong their lives by any possible means, including genetic manipulation and surgical techniques. The Son'a would make regular visits to facilities where their skin was stretched tight, and accumulated toxins were purged from their bodies.

Nevertheless, due to the amount of bacteria entering their system, in the 2370s many Son'a (including Ru'afo himself) were suffering from fatal diseases and nearing death. It was also revealed that it would take at least ten years of normal exposure to the metaphasic radiation to begin to reverse their condition.

The Son'a were rendered sterile by a failed attempt by Gallatin to artificially replicate the metaphasic radiation around their homeworld. Unable to reproduce, they became a dying race in every sense of the word, increasing their desperation.

Psychology

Son'a were considered a narcissistic and materialistic people. They put great value in precious metals, rare jewels, and other materials the desire for which was thought antiquated by Federation standards. They raided inhabited worlds in search for these resources, and also for slave labor, especially females. However, by 2375 it was believed that this practice had ended.

Some sociologists attributed their aggressive behavior to desperation, brought on by their infertility. On a more positive note, the Son'a were highly praised for their accomplishments in the arts, the high quality of their vinting and their "hospitable" attitude towards personal relationships.

Religion

They have cast off all the beliefs that they had when they use to be Ba’ku. As a result they do not have any religious beliefs.

Mythology

As with religion they do not have any use, need or want for their old Ba’ku legends or tales and have not created any of their own.

Society

They can be and are a ruthless, cunning people. One that has grown rapidly by stepping on and defeating weaker opponents. To them crime pays and the strong survive.

Culture

Strangely their love of the arts has flourished with their exposure to other cultures and species. As with their ruthless acquisition of wealth and gems they have taken all forms of art and music and made them their own.

Customs

Since leaving the Ba’ku behind and creating their own identity they have not really developed any new customs. Not unless you count their ruthless aggression and pirate like attacks on weaker ships and species as a custom.

Technology

The Son'a equipped their vessels with unpredictable isolytic subspace weapons, in defiance of the Second Khitomer Accord. The Son'a use hand-held disruptor weapons that fire plasma charges.

Metaphasic Collector

The Son'a metaphasic collector, also refered to as the Injector, was a massive spacecraft designed by the Son'a for the specific purpose of harvesting metaphasic radiation from the rings of the planet Ba'ku.

The collector was designed to launch an injector that would produce a cascading thermolitic reaction within the rings, allowing the collector to harvest the radiation that emanated from them. A major side effect of this process, however, was that the planet would be rendered uninhabitable for generations.

With the assistance of the Federation, the Son'a were able to finally deploy the collector in 2375. Fortunately, the collector was disabled moments before it could launch the injector when Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, and Subahdar Gallatin commandeered Ru'afo's flagship and deactivated the collector. However, Ahdar Ru'afo managed to transport aboard the collector shortly thereafter and raise its shields. Picard, nevertheless, managed to beam aboard by transporting between the shield generators and reactivate the collector's self-destruct sequence. Picard was beamed away seconds later by the USS Enterprise-E, but Ru’afo was killed when the collector exploded.

Economy

They still tend to take what they want and have never formed any long term trade partnerships with any other species. For the most part the Tarlac and Ellora who are their conquered servants provide them with all the materials or goods that they need.

Military

Battle Cruiser

The Son'a battle cruiser was a large warship utilized by the Son'a during the late-24th century. These vessels were equipped with isolytic subspace weapons, as well as conventional photon torpedoes.

Shuttles

Son'a shuttles were medium sized auxiliary craft utilized by the Son'a. These vessels were equipped with transporters and an indeterminate type of torpedo.

Initially intended to be used to transport the Ba'ku off the Ba'ku planets surface in 2375, two of these shuttles encountered difficulties when the Ba'ku village was surrounded by transport inhibitors. In response, they fired on village, attempting to take out the inhibitors.

Unable to capture all of the escaping inhabitants, two of the shuttles returned to the planet the following day to launch several dozen Son'a drones. These drones, in turn, shot isolinear tags at the inhabitants, allowing the shuttles to transport them aboard. After capturing the inhabitants they transported them up to Ru'afo's flagship.

Three of these vessels later fired on the mountains that contained several caverns concealing the now-hidden Ba'ku, in an attempt to force them out into the open. In all, Son'a shuttles were able to capture over one hundred of the Ba'ku.

Drones

Son'a drones were small automated flying devices used by the Son'a, capable of shooting isolinear tags. These probes were capable to pursuing moving humanoids, targeting them and firing dart-like tags onto them.

In 2375, two Son'a shuttles launched several dozen drones on the Ba'ku planet when their transporters were unable to lock on to the escaping Ba'ku and Starfleet personnel. At least fourteen drones were destroyed in the pursuit.

Federation Intelligence Files

Despite following the wishes of several other spacefaring civilizations, the Son'a have also been known to act in defiance of treaties and agreements. The most essential treaty they have acted in defiance of is the Second Khitomer Accords which deal with the use of subspace weapons, and all Son'a battle ships are equipped with such weaponry.

Federation first contact with the Son'a was made in 2374.

In 2379, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway joked with Jean-Luc Picard about his encounter with the Son'a, telling him he always got the easy assignments.

Sources

Both Memory Alpha and Memory Beta were used as well as the movies Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis. The TV episode DS9: Penumbra was also used.

The novelization of Star Trek: Insurrection, ST - Terok Nor novel: Day of the Vipers, Star Trek: Star Charts and the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion book was also used.

Also used were the following gaming sources, the Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook, TNG video game: Armada and the TNG video game: Hidden Evil.

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

		SPECIES PROFILE UPDATED This profile was revised by the Species Development Committee.		REV 239004.25
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