Mestiko

Mestiko was a class M planet proximate to both Federation and Klingon space. It is the home world of the Payav, a humanoid race.

Mestiko was divided into a number of nation-states, which had an extended history of conflict and warfare. Circa 2300, the various nations formed a global security council -- the Zamestaad -- as a forum to peacefully avoid future wars.


 * The 2300 date is a conjecture, based on the statement in Things Fall Apart that Zamestaad was formed "three generations" prior to 2264, and using the assumption that the Payav's generation is roughly equal to humans'.

In the early 2360s, scientists in the nation-state of Gelta developed an launched a faster-than-life warp vessel, which was detected by a passing Andorian passenger transport. The Federation began study of the people of Mestiko, and in 2263 placed surgically-altered observation teams on the planet.

In 2264, a rogue pulsar was detected approaching the Mestiko system, threatening to bombard the planet with X-ray radiation and destroy all life there. By this time, the presence of aliens on Mestiko had been discovered, and the Payav made a plea to the Federation for help.

In 2265, the USS Enterprise undertook a mission to deploy a series of probes which would form an energy field which would shield Mestiko from the pulsar's destructive radiation. Unfortunately, the shield was only partially successful, and significant damage was done to the planet, killing hundreds of millions and severely damaging their atmosphere. Following the disaster, the Zamestaad took the lead in restoring social order and providing humanitarian aid. (TOS eBook: Mere Anarchy: Things Fall Apart)


 * Miniseries editor Keith R.A. DeCandido has stated that the name "Mestiko" derives from the Italian word "domestico" ("home").