The Azziz were a race native to somewhere in the galaxy's Alpha or Beta Quadrants, admired for their remarkable bioengineering and biosynthesis abilities. The first formal contact between the Azziz and the Federation came in the year 2354 on Pelios Station. This first contact ended tragically when "the Poet," the member of the Azziz who was able to verbally communicate, was accidentally killed aboard the station. It was later revealed that the Azziz ship and crew were in fact all interdependent biological units, all of which relied on the Poet to keep them in harmony. (DS9 - The Lives of Dax short story: "The Music Between the Notes")