Quezalth
The Quezalth are a reptile-like humanoid specie living on the planet Quezal in the Tarod Sector. Quezal being a class-P planet, the Quezalth skin is particular in its capacity to retain both waters and nutrients. For example, the Quezalth don't sweat. They are also a very intelligent specie. It is believed that the presence of mensilium in the planet crust, a mineral which has the property to significantly increase the synaptic of those who inhale it, is responsible for the now natural specie intelligence.
Because of the extreme cold on the surface, more than 97% of the Quezalth population, which averaged 50 millions in 2413, live in underground cities.
History[edit]
In stardate 2409, interested by the prospect of the cultural and economical exchange it would bring to them, the Quezalht and the Federation opened diplomatic talks to discuss not only trade, but also membership into the Federation, For the Quezalht, the prospect of having the Federation technology was incredible. Few species are actually born on Class-P planets, and it has always been quite hard for the Quezalth to produce the necessary resources to progress. It was only because of their incredible intelligence that they managed to evolve and advance technologically despite the very limited resources they had. By joining the Federation, this prospect would change definitely. Rather than focusing on ingenious way to survive on those hostile conditions, they could at last start to think about new development.
As they hoped, the new relations with the Federation really opened new opportunities and a new sense of life. In the next 2 years following the trade agreement with the Federation, the civilization prospered and birth rate increased by 462%. Furthermore, the valuable resource they had on their planet was of incredible use for the Federation, especially the Vulcans and Betazoids.
Thanks to the trade agreement, mensillium is exported in huge number to other worlds and contributed to a significant improvement for the Federation.
In early 2013, Starfleet made an important discovery. Deep within the planet crust, they discovered Aeghon crystal. Starfleet did not even know what Aeghon was before they found it on the planet. After several tests, it was discovered the Aeghon had a capacity to increase photon concentration 40% better than the best crystal the Federation had. Phasers, disruptors, even medical equipment used the crystal, so the discovery of Aeghon was seen has a remarkable discovery. It took time, but the Quezalth accepted to start collecting Aeghon for trading. So far, the Federation received in trade a small quantity of Aeghon.
Following the success of the trade agreement, the Federation and the Quezalth authority decided to push things one step further. The Quezalht submitted an official request for membership to the Federation. Since everything has gone well during the last two years, it was mostly a formality, consisting of preparing the Quezalth to the rules and regulations of the Federation, a process that would take only six months. Three months into the process, the Quezalth cancelled their application for unknown reason. Diplomatically, there was no reason for such change of mind. They also put an end to the trade agreement with the Federation and asked everyone from Starfleet and the Federation to leave their planet. The Quezalth also closed their Embassy on Earth. The last to leave where the Federation embassy personnel who were supposed to leave a week after the day of the explosion.
However, they never had time to leave. An explosion occurred that killed most of the Quezalth population as well as the people working for the Federation on Quezalth. Only about a hundred thousand Quezalth survived the explosion out of a few millions. With the Aeghon destroyed, the Romulan stopped almost immediately their relations with the Quezalth, leaving them in a very vulnerable position. They were now alone facing the almost extinction of their specie, and having to recover from that. But they weren’t for long. The Federation mounted a vast project of rescue efforts to come to the help of the Quezalth people. A Medical station was built in orbit of the colony and a huge amount of resources (personnel, ships, materials…) were provided to help the Quezalth recover from this tragedy.
For the first two months, the general thought was that a simple malfunction in one of the antimatter reactor providing energy to one of the main cities caused an antimatter explosion which triggered a domino effect. But as the investigations progressed, new evidences suggested a completely different theory: the explosion was an act of sabotage. The general opinion changed again quickly. A large group of Quezalth believing the Federation was behind the act of sabotage, and asked them to leave. However, this time, the Federation also had strong supporter. Some saw in the Federation’s desire to help the Quezalth despite they had nothing left a proof that the Federation was benevolent. There was also a small group of people, some among the highest and most respected people on Quezalht, who even claimed that Starfleet saved their specie. That, the Federation people on the planet tried to prevent the explosion and almost succeeded. Even if they mostly failed to prevent the explosion, their attempt still made the difference between complete annihilation of the Quezal and several thousand surviving. In a way, they saved their species from extinction.
However, in a situation of strong supporters, and strong haters, the situation become very difficult for the Federation. A lot of people refused the Federation help, and accusing them of being murderers. In the absence of a government (all government officials having been killed), the situation has become chaotic as well with no formal authority. Some group including the Quezalht military (what was left of it) become determined to chase the Federation while other group like the Quezalht police, looked for proof of their crimes.
