WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 4, “A Farewell to Farms.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks brings back the Klingon title once given to Star Trek: The Next GenerationCaptain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). In Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 17, “Sins of the Father”, Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) returns to the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS to restore the honor of the House of Mogh. The Klingon High Council does not allow challengers to fight directly, so Worf has to appoint a cha’DIch: a second ritual to fight in his place. After Worf’s long-lost brother and eager first cha’DIch, Kurn (Tony Todd), becomes incapacitated, Picard becomes Worf’s cha’DIch.
Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) first meets Klingon Captain Ma’ah (Jon Curry) in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 9, “The Inner Fight”, when they are imprisoned on Sherbal V by disgraced Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). Ma’ah’s candid outlook helps Beckett recognize the responsibility of his Starfleet career so that Mariner can defeat Locarno. In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 4, “A Farewell to Farms”, Mariner seeks out Ma’ah in Qo’noS for help with the USS Cerritos Season 5 mission, only to find Ma’ah stripped of rank and reluctantly working on the wine of blood from his farm family.
Star Trek: Lower Decks offers the work of Mariner and Boimler Picard as Cha’DIch
Naming Starfleet officers Cha’DIch saves Worf and Ma’ah’s lives
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 4, “A Farewell to Farms”, gives Lieutenants Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) the same job as Captain Picard when they both become cha’DIch to Ma’ah. After Boimler suggests that Ma’ah can invoke the Ritual of J’ethurgh to regain her command, the Klingon Oversight Board, led by Bargh (Colton Dunn), demands a four-person team. Unlike Kurn, Ma’ah’s brother Malor (Sam Witwer) is disinterested (but bribeable), while Mariner and Boimler eagerly volunteer to engage in a Klingon ritual – never mind the meticulous mortals and the wild targs.
Ma’ah is first introduced as an ambitious junior officer analogous to Boimler in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 9, “wej Duj”.
Although the rituals end differently, both Worf and Ma’ah receive help from their Starfleet brothers and friends in challenges against Councils that cannot be easily influenced. Worf’s opponent, Duras (Patrick Massett), convinces the High Council that Mogh is a suitable scapegoat. The Oversight Board never intends to help Ma’ah, as Ma’ah killed Bargh’s brother. Picard, Mariner, and Boimler follow Klingon rules to find Starfleet-approved solutions. Picard faces the Klingon High Council, and Worf accepts decommendation in lieu of death, while Mariner and Boimler let Bargh’s death satisfy the Council’s demand for blood to ensure Ma’ah succeeds.
Star Trek: Lower Decks loves using Cha’DIch for relationships
Cha’DIch is a specific type of dedicated relationship, not just a friend
Star Trek: Lower Decks loves using the Klingon term cha’DIch to describe relationships between characters, even before Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler officially earned the title of Ma’ah. In Star Trek: Lower DecksIn the premiere episode, “Second Contact”, Mariner became Boimler’s mentor and named Boimler her cha’DIch. With his reputation as a by-the-book officer, Boimler is the perfect person to defend Mariner to the authorities.-especially when said authority is Beckett’s mother, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis). Freeman herself was called cha’DIch by Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and Vulcan lieutenant T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) referred to another Vulcan as hers.
Foreign loan words came into English when there was no pre-existing equivalent, so it makes sense that words from foreign languages ​​would become part of the Federation standard in Star Trek. Taken literally, cha’DIch means “second“but the examples of Star Trek: Lower Decks give a connotation closer to the meaning “ride or die“: a friend who will fight for you under any circumstances. Rather than simply yearning for that connection, Mariner and Boimler gain Star TrekThe best relationship between a Klingon and a Starfleet officer when they become Ma’ah’s chaDIch, just like Captain Picard did with Worf.