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Historical Brief
Betazoid culture had enjoyed over four hundred years of peace and prosperity. Due to their telepathy, Betazoid culture embraced honesty almost to a point considered rude by other cultures. That came to a crashing halt when in 2374 they were invaded and occupied by the Jem’Hadar and other forces of the Dominion. The Dominion wreaked havoc and much destruction on Betazoid culture. Many resistance factions formed almost immediately, but two rose to the top and were the most effective at eradicating the accursed Dominion occupation. The Matriarchy and the Riixxian Caliphate. The Matriarchy was composed of mainly the seven great houses that were talented telepaths. They used a dangerous form of offensive empathy. As the name implied they were mostly females. The Riixxian Caliphate however were a group of male and female resistance fighters who were trained in the offensive forms applications and techniques of telepathy that were far crueller to the Dominion. They were experts at infiltration, assassination, and insurgency, but were also much more xenophobic than the more mainstream Matriarchy.
Once they had driven off the Jem’Hadar, the Matriarch moved to ban and delegitimize the Riixxian Caliphate due to political considerations, namely that the offensive telepathic techniques would most likely cause the Betazoid race their peaceful culture. The Caliphate was rounded up and exiled without due process and expelled from Betazoid society. Two of the Riixian Caliphate (Brannon’s Parents) switched sides to the Matriarchy and had evidence of the terror the Caliphate was going to inflict if their demands for autonomy weren’t met. Namely, an equal share of voices on the ruling council and as they were xenophobic they insisted on Betazed leaving the United Federation of Planets. For many years the Riixian Caliphate has been in the shadows causing discontentment with the Matriarchy to the people. There have been several revolts and the existence on Betazed has been anything but peaceful. Starfleet Intelligence has learned that that agents of the Caliphate have acquired a Thaleron biogenic device and are even now planning to use it as a terrorist weapon if their demands are not met.
I received this message from Starfleet Command:
To Captain Maia A. Sterling, Commanding Officer, USS Leto NCC-80916.
Well done on the establishment and construction of a Federation embassy on Thorion-4 and their entrance into the United Federation of Planets. Your first mission was a resounding success. Well Done! Starfleet Command has received and reviewed your recent reports about the Riixian Caliphate agent you have captured. You are hereby ordered to proceed to planet Betazed with your prisoner for trial. You are also ordered to track down and destroy the Thaleron device and monitor the vote of separation. While we will respect the final vote, however, we do not want to lose the Betazoids and their representatives from the UFP. Do everything you can to represent the Federation in these talks, Yours is a ship of peace. Make the Betazoid understand that.
Good Luck, Starfleet out
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