The First Stand-off at Macadarna II
During the Nez’rel’s mission to the second planet, a Ferasan pirate flotilla, led by Kzarak, reappeared at the edge of the system with four ships of class which served as a precursor to modern day Slithis escort. With the Nez’rel focused on their away mission, Kzarak had his flotilla approach the system in the fly-by of Macadarna IV, a gas giant whose far-reaching magnetic field hid the Ferasan pirates. Although eager to engage the Nez’rel who fended them off in the previous encounter days earlier, Kzarak had his flotilla lie in wait and observe their target. Not willing to share his prey and spoils with other pirate groups, Kzarak ordered the engagement of Nez’rel on her tenth day of the away mission.
Hidden by the gas giant, Ferasans quietly approached the second planet and successfully ambushed the unsuspecting Excelsior-class vessel, disabling the ship, but not before Commander T’Mir sent out a general distress call.
After disabling and boarding the vessel, Kzarak had himself and his personal guards beamed fown to R’Rel’s location, at the outskirts of town which diaspora residents referred to as K’Sari. As Ferasans approached the town, panic spread out among the K’Sarians. They easily recognised the garments and the posture of their Ancient Oppressors, as they were taught about them from an early age.
R’Rel and his away team found themselves tangled in the yarn of the situation. Kzarak, although a pirate, was also well versed in old Ferasan dialects and had issued an ultimatum to K’Sarians in the language they understood: they would handover R’Rel, whom Kzarak exposed as another off-world visitor, or they would have society stomped. Kzarak demonstrated his ultimatum by point-blank execution of F’Marr, an elderly bazaar merchant and the first victim of Ferasans, with his disruptor pistol.
Having no upper paw at the moment, R’Rel and his team surrendered to Kzarak, who then proceeded to declare the planet as the territorial ownership of Ferasan Dominion, basing his claims on the fact that the current denizens were a runaway diaspora.
Meanwhile, the hostage situation in orbit grew more complex when, approximately 24 standard hours later, six more ships entered the system and closed on the second planet: three more Ferasan vessels and three Federation starships, USS Clemenceau, USS Titan and USS Pulsar.
The newly arrived Ferasans were Kzarak’s rivals under the leadership of Kitarra of Fahv clan, a minor clan in Ferasan Dominion, known to Starfleet Intelligence as “quirky” by Ferasan standards, simply because they were more cooperative with the outsiders than the rest of their society.
Captains Th’ralneth and Sobon, of Clemenceau and Titan respectively, attempted to diffuse the situation but had no maneuvering space to do so: “We were hard pressed. The Prime Directive was already violated, cultural contamination had happened and Macadarnan natives were in a tight grip. Sobon’s primary concern was what would happen to the natives once we left them behind. Kzarak’s claim was not very substantial, but we had nothing to counter it. It was Kzarak’s rival, Kitarra, who gave us an edge. She revealed a fact previously unknown to us. R’Rel’s mother was a Ferasan exile from Kitarra’s clan. Being part Ferasan, R’Rel was in position to invoke the Rite of Declawing.”
The Rite of Declawing
Although ferocious hunters to the outsiders, Ferasan society followed certain codices which, by today’s standards, would fall somewhere between the Warrior’s Code of Kahless and Hirogen rituals.
The Rite of Declawing was rather simple in its idea. If two Ferasan hunters or hunting packs could not agree to the order of prey hunting and scavenging or there was proof that one party took unjust precedence, their leaders could settle the dispute with a duel. The loser would be declawed and their right to the prey would be handed over to the winner. As the most senior officer in the system, Captain Sobon had to make a decision: if R’Rel was left to his Ferasan fate, it would potentially backfire and escalate beyond the current border skirmish. If the Rite of Declawing was allowed, Starfleet might interpret it as a further violation of the Prime Directive. But as R’Rel’s XO, Commander T’Mir pointed out: “Starfleet officers were bound to guard the principles of the Prime Directive even at the cost of their lives. We are a bit late on that, but it is still an option.”
Captain Sobon reluctantly agreed and allowed Kitarra to mediate the Rite and introduce R’Rel with details. Kzarak was younger than R’Rel and there was a concern among his fellow officers he would fail. But as many times in history of many species, experience of seniority prevailed over the impulsiveness of youth. Kzarak was able to strike several cuts and stabs at R’Rel, but once R’Rel recognised Ferasan’s repetitive pattern, he quickly disarmed him. Kitarra proclaimed R’Rel the victor. To her surprise, Kzarak’s personal guards accepted the outcome and had their own leader restrained and beamed back aboard his vessel. Other henchmen also retreated from the planet and Nez’rel. Within an hour of the duel’s end, Kzarak’s party was gone.
Years later it would be discovered that Kzarak was indeed declawed and defanged, making him a mockery among Ferasans. He took the remaining few Ferasans loyal to him and left the Dominion, but not before publicly vowing he would exact his revenge on R’Rel. The Ferasan Rulling Council of Clans never sent a diplomatic response. Only through Kitarra, Starfleet learned that the Council deemed the Macadarnan incident settled.
Meanwhile, R’Rel’s troubles only began. He collapsed due to severe blood loss during the duel and was taken into the care of Nez’rel’s medics. The ship, however, was in no condition to provide medical care or leave orbit due to the damage it received during Kzarak’s ambush. The situation was further complicated when F’Raat, Elder of K’Sarians, insisted on healing R’Rel, their saviour, in their town. As Tanya Miller put it: “Elder F’Raat radiated with some kind of honour you couldn’t scan with tricorders. He was also a healer by profession, as was his daughter, R’Rana. She had her eye on our Captain from the very first day. We remained at Macadarna II for 11 more standard days, during which Admiral S’rrel arrived with a cohort of xeno-anthropologists, JAG officers and First Contact diplomats.”
“It looked like Macadarnans were still comfortable with the idea of other space faring civilisations and dangers that came along with that. Elder F’Raat was also a guardian of the computer archive of the ship which brought his people to this planet. For the Caitian Diaspora project, it turned out to be a gold mine of information about the era which was largely unknown, both to Ferasans, Caitians and the Federation at large.”
“The court martial was presided over by S’rrel, Harriman, Sulu, Th’Changra and Sobon, aboard USS Titan. It wasn’t too much of dragging through mud and yarn though R’Rel was found guilty for disobeying S’rrel’s original orders to abandon the planet. He was demoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. At the request of the Caitian government, he was removed from active duty in Starfleet for the time being, as he had to also tend to civilian fallout of the Macadarnan incident.”
The Caitian Parliament had petitioned the Federation Council to proclaim Macadarna system a Federation protectorate but their request was not accepted. Against the Council’s recommendation, Caitians deployed an expeditionary force of their own and established direct contact with Macadarnans themselves. However, the Elders refused to talk to anyone but their messiah, R’Rel. After all, per Rite of Declawing, which Elders still remembered, all of Macadarna was now R’Rel’s prey.
Fleet Captain M’Haan, leading the expedition, came up with a compromising solution. R’Rel was installed as the Overseer of Macadarna (an administrative position which was created just for that particular occasion) and liaison of Macadarnan denizens to the Caitian government. With his Starfleet commission hanging in air, R’Rel reluctantly accepted the job of civilian administrator.
