The Heran Modality was the name of the official government of the Heran people. The homeworld of the Modality was the planet Hera. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
History[]
Foundation[]
The first colonists arrived on Hera in 2073. Being eugenicists, they wished to emulate the Khanate of the Augment Khan Noonien Singh. Prior to their arrival, they screened themselves for genetic damage from pollution and fallout from the Eugenics Wars. This dwindled their numbers to a mere two thousand. This did not worry them since they thought it was enough to build a stable gene pool and that they had adequately screened themselves.
However, they were wrong on both counts: they did not have enough people, and their screening technology was not advanced enough. After two centuries latent mutations and inbreeding caught up with the colonists. Average life span dropped to 40, most pregnancies miscarried, and nearly half the population had one or more lethal genetic diseases.
This biological crisis forced the colonists to rethink their ideas and begin a crash effort in genetic engineering. Their efforts paid off and all their health problems were cured. After which, the Originators started to plan the population's enhancement. By 2300, they had unleashed a virus that turned all children on Hera into the present people. However, the virus had the side effect of accelerating the aging process of the old humans.
Civil War[]
The rapid aging caused by the virus made some of the old humans into fanatics who wished to see Hera 'fulfill its destiny' in their lifetimes and so pushed the Heran Modality towards a war with the 'Primals'. However, this provoked the crisis that led to civil war on Hera. Some children believed in Heran superiority due to their parents indoctrination, but others had their own ideas and opposed the Modality's war efforts.
There were three factions that opposed the Modality in its desire to conquer the 'Primals', each having different reasons. One believed that it was wrong to attack people who had done nothing wrong against Hera. Another believed that such a war would destroy Hera as they did not have the means to win. The vast majority, however, believed that humanity was not worth conquering.
Eventually, the pro-war faction lost power since they did not have enough supporters to back them up. They attempted an invasion of the Federation's colonies in the Neutral Zone, but the attempt backfired and ignited the civil war. A side effect of the war was an exodus of many Herans who left to escape the war. Two of these were Astrid Kemal's parents who eventually made it to Zerkalo.
Operation Unity[]
The leadership of the Modality had been pushing to bring a war between "primals" and the Heran people. Despite years of resistance from 'radical' resistance groups and other factions, the Modality finally managed to begin Operation Unity.
The operation led to the development of the Unity virus which was a biological weapon that would alter the genes of ordinary humans and turn them into new Herans. Gustav Blaisdell, commander of the Temenus, was assigned with spreading the virus at the Aldebaran shipyards. Unfortunately, the Temenus was sabotaged by radicals which led to it being disabled in Federation space.
The ship was rescued by the Federation starship USS Enterprise-D. Seeing that their mission might failed, the two surviving Herans unleashed the virus on the Enterprise crew. They also attempted to terminate the ships security officer, Lieutenant Worf, who was attempting to learn more about the Herans. However, their attempt failed due to the intervention of Doctor Astrid Kemal.
The Modality learned about this failure and declared war on the Federation which started with a surprise strike against a Starfleet starbase through the use of cloaked robot ships. Starfleet would respond by sending a fleet consisting of starships and troop transports that would attack the Heran homeworld, Hera. They would receive assistance from the Klingon Empire in this task but not before five Heran warships engaged the Federation fleet. While this was occurring, the Enterprise was sent to negotiate a peace with the Heran people. The Modality's military allowed the ship to travel to Hera in this attempt.
During the engagement, several Starfleet ships were destroyed despite them outnumbering their enemy. However, the Heran fleet was completed destroyed but not before depleting the Federation ships shields. Heran advanced transporter technology was used to abduct several thousand Human hostages.
Despite the Modality's attacks, they were aware that their enemy outnumbered them. This meant that they were preparing for war through the use of a propaganda campaign that told the citizens that the "primals" were responsible for the war. They also issued data programs that would allow replicators to produce weapons. During the course of these events, Heran radical groups attempted to sabotage the Modality's attempts at war and to wage a peace with the 'old humans'. Unfortunately, Central Security were aware of these attacks and sent security teams to deal with these rebels.
As part of their response to the declaration of war upon the Federation, the Modality's leadership equipped three courier craft with the Unity virus which were sent on silent running operations to Earth and two other major colonies populated by Humans with the aim of infecting such vital worlds with the virus. While this was happening, as well as when Enterprise crewmen found Heran resistance group to coordinate the deposing of the Modality and installation of a new government, a Klingon invasion fleet along with their Starfleet allies broke Hera's defenses. Ground forces were beamed onto the planet's surface with the Klingons being lead by General Kateq who faced some difficulty with their weapon equipment which had been disabled by Heran nanite technology. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
Government[]
The government is commanded by the Senior of the Modality who serves as its Head of state.
Within the Modality, there are separate governmental branches that aid the state. Internal security is protected by Central Security which ensures that no dissent actions effect the operations of the government. While Combat Operations handles the military aspect of the state. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
Society and culture[]
Heran society is designed to emulate the design styles of Ancient Greek culture. Everything is divided into units of approximately 5000 adults.
Due to the fact that they were created as a form of living weapons, the Herans suffer from heightened states of aggression. In order to control these intense emotions, the Herans are instructed in aggression classes which they must take in order to be effective members of society. What many Herans were unaware of was that these aggression classes were not designed to reduce aggression but to instill aggression in the students as the genetic tampering made by the Originators made the race peaceful. However, this knowledge was kept secret from the population who believed they were living weapons designed for war.
Furthermore, unlike history lessons taught in the Federation, the Herans were taught to admire the genetic supermen that terrorized Earth during the Eugenics Wars. In particular, the story of Khan Singh's marriage to Marla McGivers is a noted 'love story' that is often duplicated in drama and is a lesson on how Heran and 'old human' can still 'get along'. Though part of their culture, the leadership of the Modality made a note on attempting to discourage this as part of their propaganda campaign against the 'primals'. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
Technology[]
USS Enterprise Chief Engineer, Geordi La Forge, stated that Heran technology was approximately fifty to a hundred years ahead of the Federation. This not only applies to their technology but the extent of their biological sciences as seen in their use of the Unity virus which was capable of transforming ordinary humans into Herans. Not only that, but the virus was capable of laying dormant and rewriting its genetic code to combat vaccines used against them.
The Herans had perfected the use of robotic starships that are completely automated and, thus, require no crew. Such vessels are also equipped with cloaking devices which enhances their performance. There standard manned vessels are equally automated allowing them to be crewed by fewer personnel compared to their equivalents in other race starships. In terms of propulsion, the Herans make use of transwarp technology.
It was also noted from the study of the Heran vessel Temenus that their offensive technology is hidden and the true depth of their defensive capabilities are not known from the surface observations. Their shield technology is known to possess reflective qualities and can redirect energy weapons back at the enemy vessel. The vessel also possessed an inhibition field that prevented tractor beams from capturing their vessels. Despite all these technological additions, the Herans are known not to equip them with all their technology in fear that such vessels may be captured by the enemy and studied.
Heran science weaponry consisted the use, as well as understanding, of quantum black holes which they used in their torpedo technology. This gave ships designated as pickets the weapon capability of a Galaxy-class starship. Certain science vessels were also capable of creating Antigluon effects as beam weaponry which standard Federation shields were incapable of resisting, however, this was actually a distortion of its true scientific purpose as it was 'jury rigged' during the brief war around Hera.
The Hephastos Institute, by the time of the Heran Crisis, managed to develop a long range transporter that was capable of planet wide operations. In addition to this, the transporter was capable of using its long range operations to abduct crew of starships that were outside the Hera Star System.
Citizens of the Modality were also equipped with portable personal replicator devices which was a form of technology that the Federation had not mastered. This technology was used by the Modality in an attempt to equip their civilians with weaponry to combat Federation and Klingon invasion forces on Hera after the distribution of weapon programming by the government.
Heran scientists had also mastered some aspects of nanite technology which they spread across the surface of their world. The nanites were programmed to be defensive in nature and would attack the power linkages of enemy weaponry on the planet and would, thus, make the enemy defenseless. This also applies to their starships which are equipped with nanite disassemblers which were capable of reducing a corvette sized vessel to its base particles as the nanites replicated themselves to destroy enemy starships which work effectively enough as shields are incapable of resisting them. However, this is actually a distortion of its true purpose as the starship that was equipped with the weapon was a science vessel that 'jury rigged' it for a different purpose.
Finally, some of their starships are equipped with a quantum inverter which is capable of transforming antimatter into ordinary matter which can leave enemy ships powerless during battle. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)