Ru ' afo Ahdar Ru ' afo was the leader of the ic Son ' a people , who attempted to oust the Ba ' ku people from their homeworld in 2375 . Attempted takeover . Born Ro ' tin of the Ba ' ku , Ru ' afo became dissatisfied with the simple life that the other inhabitants of the colony endorsed , and led a group in an attempted takeover of the settlement . Ru ' afo was eventually foiled , and he and his compatriots were exile d from the planet , becoming the Son ' a . Over the course of the next century , the Son ' a built up their military forces , and even conquered two primitive races , the Tarlac and the Ellora , integrating them into their society as a labor class . The Son ' a soon found , however , that in the absence of the metaphasic radiation being emitted from the rings of their planet , the aging process began to take its toll , and they became obsessed with recapturing their youth , undergoing numerous medical procedures to rejuvenate themselves and maintain a younger appearance . By the 24th century , Ru ' afo initiated a plot to take revenge on those who had banished him , and harvest the metaphasic radiation with which to reinvigorate the Son ' a . Alliance with Starfleet . In 2375 , Ru ' afo entered into an alliance with the Federation through Starfleet admiral Matthew Dougherty in order to facilitate the Ba ' ku ' s forced relocation from their planet in the area of space known as " the Briar Patch . " According to their agreement , Starfleet would covertly transport the Ba ' ku from their colony in a Starfleet holoship , and the Son ' a would subsequently perform a procedure on the planet ' s rings to collect the metaphasic particles , leaving the planet uninhabitable . Dougherty was convinced that the technology which would evolve from the alliance would be of a great benefit to the Federation , particularly due to the hardships suffered by them during their then - ongoing war with the Dominion , but Ru ' afo actively hid the fact that the Son ' a and the Ba ' ku were the same race . Eventually , however , their plot was uncovered by Jean - Luc Picard , captain of the . As Picard and a group of his officers remained on the planet in an effort to defend the Ba ' ku , Picard ' s first officer , Commander Will Riker , attempted to reach the perimeter of the Briar Patch to inform the Federation Council of the Son ' a assault against the Ba ' ku . Knowing that , if the Federation were to become aware of the assault , they would put the project in hiatus , Ru ' afo managed to convince Dougherty to authorize the deployment of two Son ' a ships to intercept the " Enterprise " . Ultimately , however , Riker was successful in defending the " Enterprise " against the Son ' a attack , and Picard was able to protect the Ba ' ku . When Picard informed Dougherty of his discovery that Ru ' afo was simply trying to gain revenge on those that had exiled them , Dougherty attempted to put an end to the mission , a decision to which Ru ' afo responded by killing him . Ru ' afo eventually decided to activate the Son ' a collector , a vessel designed to collect the metaphasic particles , while the Ba ' ku were still on the planet , an act which would have resulted in the deaths of all life on the surface . Picard managed to win over Ru ' afo ' s second - in - command , Gallatin , who deactivated the collector and transported Ru ' afo and his bridge crew to the holoship . Ru ' afo , however , was able to beam aboard the collector alone and restart the launch sequence . To stop him , Picard boarded and attempted to activate the self - destruct . Ru ' afo attempted to kill Picard , but Picard was able to avoid his attack long enough to attain his objective . As Picard activated the self - destruct , the vessel began to explode around the two of them . Ru ' afo was killed in the destruction of the collector while the " Enterprise " returned in time to beam Picard out . ( )