Ardea Preax was a male Romulan who lived in the 23rd century. In the 2260's, he held the rank of Centurion and was part of an assault force that stormed the classified Federation starbase, ARK-7. This was because the Romulans had learnt of the creation of a virus that could infect Romulans. Believing this to be part of a bio-weapon threat from Starfleet, he attacked the facility but was infected along with his crew. It was only the intervention of the starship USS Enterprise that saved him when Doctor Leonard McCoy created a cure for the virus.