A struggle for the leadership of the Ten Tribes of Capella IV in 2267, set off when a Klingon agent competed with the Federation for mining rights on the planet.
Capella IV was rich in topaline, a mineral needed for life-support systems. Kirk, Spock and McCoy, who had once been stationed there, arrived to negotiate a mining treaty and found the Klingon agent Kras already at work.
In the Original Series episode Friday's Child the warrior Maab, who favours the Klingons, kills the ruler, the Teer Akaar, and takes his place. By custom the dead Teer's pregnant widow Eleen must die. The landing party flee with her into the hills, where McCoy delivers her son. A false distress call meanwhile draws the Enterprise away.
Kras turns on the Capellans, and Maab gives his life so that the Klingon can be killed. The infant, named Leonard James Akaar, becomes Teer with Eleen as regent, and she signs the treaty with the Federation.