Braida was a Class K planet on the edge of Federation space in the late 23rd century.
History[]
- Copied from the Hidden Frontier Encyclopedia:
In the latter half of the 23rd century, a large group of humans established a colony on a Class K planet in the Braida System. Starting out in pressure domes, the colonists intended to prove up new terraforming techniques and create a paradise on what was, at the time, the fringe of Federation space.
Though initially successful, a catastrophic failure in one of the colony’s power generators resulted in irradiating the planet to such a severe degree that, in combination with a total loss of communication, Starfleet declared “…the likeliness of survivors of so slim, any attempts at a rescue mission would be an unreasonable use of time and resources.”
Consequently the Braida System was written off entierly, as its other planets could neither support life nor supply mineral resources not obtainable with more convenience elsewhere.
Despite Starfleet’s pronouncement of “death” on the Braida colonists, a small portion of them did survive, finding shelter in their pressure domes and integrating medical technology with terraforming equipment to flush radiation and toxins from their systems.
This constant need for what amounted to full-body dialysis limited their mobility and resulted in construction of portable “flushing” units, which grew successively smaller until it was possible to implant them directly into the body. Further miniaturization and enhancement of the biomechanical implants led to nearly total control of biochemistry, which allowed the colonists to leave their pressure domes for longer and longer periods of time, surviving extreme temperature ranges, a toxic atmosphere, and lingering radiation.
Though the colonists, now calling themselves Braidans, had failed to terraform their world, they’d succeeded in terraforming themselves.
In 2368, radiation died down sufficiently that communication was established with the Federation, but upon renewing contact, unexpected issues of prejudice arose. The Braidans resented Starfleet for giving up on them for so long, and Starfleet personnel, what with Wolf 359 still fresh in their minds, found Braidans to be uncomfortably similar to the Borg.
Only a handful of Braidans serve in Starfleet. One of them is Dr. Mordan Ness.
External links[]
- Braida article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.
- original Braida article at the Hidden Frontier Encyclopedia -- Wayback Machine Internet Archive