"There are those who... crave war. Who need it. I am not one of them, Captain. And I'm beginning to see... that neither are you. We have had our full measure. The lasting peace begins here. with the two of us." ―Gul Macet, explaining his war-weariness to Captain Jean Luc Picard.
Akellen Macet was a Cardassian character introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Wounded. Macet was portrayed by Marc Alaimo, who portrayed several different characters in the Star Trek universe, including the infamous Gul Skrain G. Dukat.
Macet and Dukat were first cousins through Macet's mother and Macet bore a strong resemblance to Dukat. Unlike Dukat, Macet was much more sincere in his speech and motivations. Even though he was always loyal to the Carassian Union, Macet did not wear the same rose colored glasses that his cousin did regarding the Union, and felt that the government acted in ways that were detrimental to the Cardassian people.
As Dukat's power and influence increased inside the Cardassian Union, Macet felt that his resemblance to his infamous cousin was a liability both in and outside the Union. People that knew Dukat tended to be suspicious of Macet before learning that the man was very different than his cousin, and Macet was much more honorable individual.
By the mid 2360s Macet was in command of the Galor class ship Trager. Following the end of the first war with the Federation, the Cardassians and the Federation signed a peace treaty. When a Federation starship attacked Cardassian outposts, Macet was sent to investigate. Encountering the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise Macet opened fire on the Federation ship, but the Galaxy class ship returned fire, damaging Macet's ship. Macet was convinced to stand down by Captain Jean-Luc Picard and work with him to learn what really happened. Learning that the ship that attacked the Cardassians was the USS Phoenix under the command of Benjamin Maxwell, Macet and two of his aides boarded the Enterprise to pursue the Phoenix. When one of his aides tried to hack the Enterprise's computers, an angry Macet let Picard confine the aide to quarters and promised the aide would be severely punished after the mission.
Macet came to trust Picard as a man of peace who was so determined to keep the peace that he would put Cardassian lives ahead of Federation lives if needed. When the Enterprise caught up with Maxwell, Maxwell told Picard that the Cardassians were re-arming before taking off to attack a Cardassian outpost. Arriving at the outpost the Enterprise found it couldn't scan the outpost due to station having shields up that hid what was on the station. With the assistance of Miles O'Brien - who had served with Maxwell - the Enterprise was able to talk him down before he could attack the outpost. Heading back to Federation space Picard told Macet that Maxwell was right about the Cardassians rearming, and Starfleet would be watching.
For his part, Macet had known all along about the rearming of the border outposts, but had been under orders from Central Command not to say anything about the outposts. The whole incident convinced Macet that Central Command was being reckless and acting in ways that harmed the Cardassian people.
Over the next decade Macet remained in command of the Trager. In the closing days of the Dominion War, Macet joined Damar's anti-Dominion resistance movement. He led the resistance's successful attack on the Dominion cloning facilities on Rondac III. While the facility was destroyed the Trager was heavily damaged and was out of action for the rest of the war. The damage was such that it took over a year to repair Macet's ship.
First Splinter Timeline[]
When the human colonists of Europa Nova needed to be evacuated in the Gateways crisis, Macet traveled to that world to offer assistance in evacuating the colonists to the Bajoran system. Colonel Kira Nerys almost fired on him when the Trager met the Defiant because of Macet's resemblance to Dukat. However, he was soon able to convince her that while he looked like Dukat, he was not Dukat. Thanks to his efforts the Europanians were successfully evacuated to DS9 and Bajor.
A short time later the neural parasites that had earlier tried to take over the Federation staged an invasion of the Bajoran system. One parasite tried to take over Macet but couldn't because Cardassian physiology was incompatible with the parasites. This led the Bajoran government and Starfleet to ask Macet to help lock down the Bajoran system to keep the invasion from spreading beyond Bajor. After the parasites were defeated, Macet was present on Bajor to witness the entry of the Bajorans into the Federation.
Macet was still in command of the Trager in the mid 2380s when he took Rakena Garan to the dedication ceremonies for the new Deep Space Nine station that had been built after the destruction of the original DS9.