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Ma'ah is a character introduced into Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Biography[]
Ma'ah is a Klingon warrior who served aboard a Klingon Bird of Prey, the IKS Che'Ta' in the 24th Century. In 2381, Ma'ah dreamed of wanting to be promoted to captain someday, although he was sadly made fun of and mistreated and greatly misunderstood by the other Klingons serving aboard who often saw him as small and weak.
He became very interested in gaining captain Dorg's favor, to which his captain gave him chores as well as allowing him to look after and take care of his pet Targ, which became very fond of Ma'ah. Eventually Ma'ah finally got his chance to become a replacement first officer by captain Dorg [after the latter killed his former first officer], who was secretly aiding and helping the Pakleds, by giving them Klingon weaponry in order to provoke a war. Ma'ah quickly saw captain Dorg's actions as dishonorable even when Klingons do not allow others to fight their battles for them and his support was slowly diminishing. During the meeting with the Pakleds at the rendezvous in System 7743.8, the Pakleds wanted another bomb, which emitted a traceable energy pattern. This deeply concerned Ma'ah who warned his captain that other starships might come to investigate.
Ma'ah was correct in his statement, when the California-class USS Cerittos arrived in the system. During the ensuing battle Ma'ah watched as his ship and the Pakled warship begun their merciless combined attack on the USS Cerittos and would have destroyed the starfleet ship, had not a nearby Vulcan cruiser [also investigating the source of the traceable energy pattern from the bomb] arrived and quickly joined the battle against the Klingons and Pakleds. Ma'ah finally took action and demanded that his ship's weapons officer stop firing on the USS Cerittos, which enraged captain Dorg. Ma'ah challenged Dorg and the two quickly engaged in a duel to the death. Ma'ah at first was no match for Dorg, due to his opponent being bigger and stronger than him. Dorg would have killed Ma'ah, had not his Dorg's own pet Targ, bit Dorg in the arm, to which Dorg angrily threw his Targ aside. Ma'ah then tackle Dorg, only for Dorg to overpower and threw him aside. When Dorg approached Ma'ah's supposedly lifeless body intent on finishing him off, Ma'ah immediately grabbed Dorg's sword and fatally stabbed Dorg right through the chest, ending the traitor's life. Ma'ah was then nominated captain by the rest of the crew, who quickly rallied behind and asked him for his orders. Ma'ah then assume command of his former commander's cahir and ordered the IKS Che'Ta' to set a course for the Klingon homeworld in order to report Dorg's cowardly actions to the Klingon High Council, who were completely unaware of Dorg's own actions.
Sometime later, Ma'ah continued as captain of the Che'Ta', but his former lower decker friends G'reck and Key'lor had grown bitter of his position, believing he had "lucked his way" into it and that he had forgotten about them, with the two plotting against him. At that time, the Che'Ta' came a cross an unknown vessel that was seemingly marooned. When the vessel gave no response to being hailed, Ma'ah decided to just leave it since there was no honor in destroying a incapacitated ship, ordering its location to be marked and resume course to Qo'noS. But at that moment, the ship came to life and charged its weapons. Ma'ah ordered them to destroy it, but the Che'Ta's weapons were not responding for unknown reasons. The Che'Ta' was fired upon and seemingly destroyed, with the fate of the crew unknown.
It turned out though that the Che'Ta' was not destroyed. Ma'ah was betrayed by his lower deck officers, who were secretly working for the mysterious ship. They mutinied against him shutting down his ship's power, and Ma'ah was left marooned on Sherbal V, while G'reck took over as the new captain of his ship. Other non-Federation ships suffered the same fate, being targeted by the unknown ship and seemingly destroyed, their lower deck officers betraying their commanding officers and leaving them stranded on Sherbal V with Ma'ah.
Ma'ah quickly established himself as the most dangerous one among everyone stranded there as they all struggled to survive. One night, he encountered Lieutenant jg Beckett Mariner, and the two engaged in a fight to the death. They were interrupted by a glass storm and quickly ran to shelter together. Ma'ah refused to continue their fight in confined quarters, and the two waited in silence for the storm to pass. Ma'ah noticed how Mariner seemed to "wage war with herself", and Mariner opened up to him, deciding it didn't matter with one of them going to be dead soon anyway. Ma'ah listened as Mariner explained her frustrations over her recent promotion she didn't want, and the trauma she endured over the death of her academy friend Sito Jaxa and her own horrible experience in the Dominion War. Ma'ah is amazed she was part of such an event and wishes he could have seen it himself, but Mariner stated there was no honor, just a slaughter, with Ma'ah saying in the end she was still victorious. Mariner reveals she developed Survivor Guilt and become disillusioned with Starfleet from all of these events. Mariner removed her Lieutenant jg rank pip and tossed it at Ma'ah, crying "I don't wanna be a general! I don't — I don't wanna send my friends off to die! I just wanna be an ensign. If it was good enough for Sito, then it's good enough for me."
Ma'ah picked up her pip and said in the past, Klingons felt humans were weak and easily conquered, but her species has proved its toDuj, declaring Sito was a warrior and Mainer is not honoring her with her actions. Mariner became hostile at this, saying Ma'ah didn't know her, but Ma'ah stated Sito made her choice and gave her life so Mariner could uphold Starfleet's ideals and would not approve of her actions. Mariner realized that Ma'ah is right, but still thinks Starfleet can be better. Ma'ah handed her back her pip, telling her "honor your friend, slay your enemies, and study your... what is it, plants?" The two formally introduce themselves, and as the storm finally stops, Ma'ah plans to continue their duel, but is shocked when Mariner hugs him, declaring them friends and that they should work together to survive. Ma'ah was annoyed by this, but agrees to cooperate.
Finding the other stranded aliens outside a monitoring station, Ma'ah demanded they listen to Mariner as she spoke. Mariner and her friends convinced them to work together to survive, but Mariner was suddenly transported off-planet. Ma'ah took control of the group, declaring Mariner was honorable had not abandoned them, instructing Tendi to finish her work on the station, since he had a plan. They lured the orbiting Che'Ta' into a trap by broadcasting a distress beacon coming from the monitoring station. When it moved in to destroy the station, Ma'ah and the others jumped onto the Bird-of-Prey via a cliff when it descended to the ground. They fought their way to the bridge and Ma'ah retook control of the ship by killing G'reck.
However, because Ma'ah had allowed himself to be overthrown by his lower officers, he was stripped of his command and forced to return to his family farm, where he was mocked by his brother Malor. Ma'ah's appeal of judgment was overruled by the councilor Bargh, who held a grudge against Ma'ah for killing his brother Dorg.
Ma'ah was reunited with Mariner due to her unexpected appearance on Qo'noS with Bradford Boimler, with Mariner insisting she help Ma'ah get his captaincy back. Ma'ah found himself roped into participating in the Ritual of J'ethurgh, with Mariner, Boimler, and Malor assisting him. Ma'ah was much less enthusiastic about the trials than any of them though, and Bargh continued to abuse his authority against Ma'ah. The final trial required Ma'ah choose a member of his crew to die to demonstrate allegiance to the empire, with Ma'ah choosing himself. Bargh was convinced to let Ma'ah discuss his decision further before his execution could be carried out. Mariner and Malor confronted Ma'ah over his defeatist attitude, with him explaining his heart hasn't been in it because he didn't want his position as captain back, not wanting to be in Bargh's dishonorable fleet, and said fighting alongside the three of them reminded him how much he hated serving on the Che'Ta'. Boimler yelled at him to stop being a qoH and that there are more paths he can take, explaining his brief time on the Titan, saying that despite how great it was it wasn't for him and he transferred back to the Cerittos, which was the right move for him, insisting Ma'ah can still be a captain, just not in Bargh's fleet. Ma'ah says Klingons can't just transfer to a new fleet whenever they want, they need a two-thirds majority vote from the Oversight Council. Luckily though, Ma'ah had that already with Enaj and K'orin willing to do so, both being sick of Bargh's corruption too. Malor pointed out that Ma'ah still would need to choose one of them to die to pass the final trial though, but Mariner had a plan to fix that.
Ma'ah stormed into Bargh's room, awakening him from his drunken sleep, and invoked the Rite of Forced Conscription against him. Despite Bargh's attempt to refuse, it had already been recognized and the two dueled, with Ma'ah easily defeating Bargh. With Ma'ah's victory, Bargh was now a member of his crew, and thus was an eligible choice as a sacrifice for the trial. Ma'ah stated the only way for Bargh to live was to grant him his captaincy back. As he walks off to rejoin the others, Bargh dishonorably stabbed Ma'ah in the back in a cowardly act, but Ma'ah survived and killed him in return with the very same weapon.
After Ma'ah was healed, Mariner revealed she was on an assignment from Starfleet to study a quantum fissure in Klingon Space, but because Bargh hated the Federation he refused to allow them access. She needed a Klingon captain to get them to the fissure, and thought of Ma'ah, she just didn't expect Bargh to die getting him his command back. Ma'ah is impressed by Mariner "playing games with death" and agrees to get her to the fissure, using his family's bloodwine delivery ship. After returning to his family farm, Ma'ah invited Malor to serve as his First Officer, with him excitedly accepting.
Months later, the brothers were returning from a bloodwine delivery when they were attacked by Relga, the sister of Dorg and Bargh. Relga sought revenge on Ma'ah for the deaths of her brothers and the downfall of her house, planning to frame them for the destruction of one of her ships as an excuse to kill them. Ma'ah planned a suicide run by ramming the ship into her bridge, but Malor overruled him, taking control of the ship and fleeing to the Cerritos for asylum. After explaining the situation to Captain Freeman and her crew, Ma'ah insisted he would face Relga in a duel to the death, stating he would gladly die fighting, but Malor stated she would never give him a fair fight. Freeman allowed the brothers to stay, but confined to quarters. Relga arrived shortly afterwards, destroying their bloodwine delivery truck, and demanding Freeman give her Ma'ah and Malor, and faked a message from Admiral Freeman demanding she hand them over.
As the Cerritos headed to seal a universe-destroying rift, Relga chased them. Malor however went missing on the ship and Ma'ah searcher with Mariner to find him. When Boimler checked the PADD he stole from an alternate universe version of him for any leads, he found a similar situation happened in that universe, with Captain Becky Freeman hiding Klingons, leading Ma'ah to accuse Mariner of hiding his brother. When he became hostile over this though, Commander Ransom revealed he hid Malor instead, believing the message from "Admiral Freeman" to be sketchy, buying Captain Freeman time to investigate and give her plausible deniability. After Relga's deception was revealed, her ship's shields were disabled and she and her entire crew were killed in the destruction of her Bird-Of-Prey after the rift transformed them into mindless Proto-Klingons. When the Cerritos arrived too late to close the rift, Malor arrived on the bridge and gave them a solution they could use, stabilizing the rift and keeping it open permanently, comparing it to daming a flooded river on his family farm. Ma'ah was amazed ove this, and joined Mariner in hugging his brother in celebration.
Due to Relga's dishonorable acts, Ma'ah was given command over her fleet by the Klingon High Council.
Appearance and Personality[]
Ma'ah is a somewhat short teenage Klingon in height, but he is still tall and menacing to his opponents. As for his personality traits: Ma'ah is a true Klingon. And unlike most typical Klingons, Ma'ah is wise, highly intelligent, usually calm (unless angered), reasonable, and honorable.
Abilities[]
Ma'ah is skilled in hand to hand combat, despite his height stature, and being described as weaker compared to most Klingons. But his intelligence and cunning as well as Dorg's pet Targ intervening were what let to him ultimately rebelling against his former captain Dorg, and ended up slaying him, despite Dorg at first being bigger and stronger than him. Later when he encounters and fights Mariner on Sherbal V while marooned, the two were evenly matched in terms of fighting skills.
Quotes[]
| “ | Dorg: "Let the Pakleds take the final shot. They're about to start a war. Ma'ah: "This feels wrong. There is no honor in letting others fight our battles. |
„ |
| ~ -Ma'ah and Dorg. |
| “ |
Ma'ah: "Set a course for the homeworld! The high council can decide what to do with this biHnuch! |
„ |
| ~ Ma'ah challenging his former captain Dorg to a fight to the death, after having enough of his former captains lies. |
| “ | ''Mariner: "Not too long ago, I got a promotion I didn't want. I tried to get demoted, but my commander won't do it. Ma'ah: [chuckles] "You must hate Starfleet. |
„ |
| ~ Mariner and Ma'ah, when he encourages her, gives her advice, and wisdom to overcome her own fears after she told him of her friend Sito Jaxa's fate. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ma'ah is very similar to Worf, son of Mogh.
- Both are honorable Klingons.
- Both have defeated and killed their main treacherous arch-enemies/opponents in combat (Ma'ah killed both Captain Dorg and later G'reck, while Worf also succeeded in killing both Duras and Gowron respectfully).