Star Trek 101: Kazon

With the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, we're once again acquainted with the Kazon, who were first introduced and last seen in Star Trek: Voyager, being a thorn in the side of Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew.

However, it's in Prodigy that we see the full extent of the Kazon's cruelty. Viewers learned the Kazon supplied The Diviner's Tars Lamora camp with labor from young children. In the latest episode, "Preludes," we saw their relentless pursuit of capturing the Medusan Zero.

In the series premiere episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker," while searching for a missing officer, Janeway and the crew of the starship Voyager are swept 70,000 light-years away from home. When they arrive in the Delta Quadrant, it's the Kazon who the crew first encounters.

A violent race that was once culturally- and technologically-advanced (probably friendlier too) — until it was conquered by another species. These days, all that remains of Kazon society is a bunch of tribal sects that live primarily aboard spaceships and never stop warring with each other. The Kazon are fond of stealing other species' ships and technology, making Voyager a natural target.

The Kazon Collective is made up of a loose alliance of various sects that hate each other's guts. The Kazon-Hobii, the Kazon-Mostral, the Kazon-Nistrim, the Kazon-Ogla, the Kazon-Oglamar, the Kazon-Pommar, and the Kazon-Reiora. Janeway once tried to get all the players together for a peace conference, but it was rather like trying to get the CIA and FBI to play together, the conference didn't go well.

Any Kazon without a sect is deemed a Goven, or outcast.

Star Trek 101, co-authored by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann, serves two functions — succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans.