Nacene

File:Caretaker caretaker.jpg

The Caretaker.

Suspiria, the Caretaker's mate.

The Nacene are a species from another galaxy known as Exosia. They are a sporocystian lifeform. They have high level technology and an apparently natural ability to navigate subspace.

Only two have been encountered, both by the USS Voyager, on the far side of the Delta Quadrant.

Physiology

Nacene seem to be at least partially non-corporeal or energy-based, but after their death a physical component, crystal-like and significantly smaller than the living form, remains. They exist, or are capable of existing, in subspace, and are capable of manipulating it. Their natural apparent appearance appears to be that of a glutinous liquid and reflective cell, about two meters in diameter. They possess the ability to change their physical appearance at will. Nacene reproduction concerns males and females, using spores, although they seem to believe that reproduction with humanoids is possible if they possess a compatible biomolecular pattern. However, compatible humanoids seem to be rare in our galaxy. Lifespans of at least one thousand years are not uncommon for Nacene.

Culture and history

Not much is known of Nacene society, as the only specimens of the species Starfleet has encountered were isolated individuals separated from their own kind. Nacene consider themselves a race of explorers, and an expedition reached our galaxy about 1,500 years ago, as of 2371. After the effects of their method of crossing the gap of galaxies accidentally rendered the Delta Quadrant planet Ocampa uninhabitable, they decided to leave two members of their expedition behind, to care for the Ocampans. At some point in the 21st century, one of these "caretakers", as the Ocampa called them, left the other, taking several hundred Ocampa with her, intending to develop their telepathic abilities to a greater extent than the Caretaker was willing to do. By 2371, the remaining caretaker was dying. He used a displacement wave to bring ships to his array from all over the galaxy, searching for a compatible lifeform to procreate with, to create a successor who could understand the responsibility of caring for the Ocampa. He was not successful, but even in the last moments before his death, he did everything to protect the Ocampa – buying them some time from their enemies to learn to care for themselves, providing them with at least five years' worth of energy, and then sending them information about how to survive on their own.

Technology

Nacene are capable of great accomplishments, but it is unclear if these are to be attributed to technology, or merely their sporocystian nature, especially in the case of their subspace manipulation capabilities. They have demonstrated a deep understanding and mastery of subspace, by which they are capable of transporting entire ships across tens of thousands of light years in mere moments (see displacement wave). It is likely that they used a similar technology to bridge the gap between their galaxy and ours. They also seem to possess holographic technology, advanced medical technology, and technology to beam large amounts of energy from a space station to a nearby planet.

People

• Caretaker
• Suspiria

Appearances

• VOY:
  • "Caretaker"
  • "Cold Fire"

Apocrypha

The non-canon String Theory book trilogy state that the Caretaker, Suspiria, and numerous other Nacene are exiles, living away from their people as a punishment for tampering with the cosmic strings that the universe consists of; the other Nacene believe it is a sacred duty to care for the strings, although Q told the crew that the Nacene were exaggerating and the strings would be fine on their own. When Voyager came into possession of the Key that would allow the Nacene to return to Exosia, their home dimension, a Nacene attempted to infiltrate Voyager by altering the crew's memories to make them believe that the Nacene was Janeway's sister, who had been with them on the mission from the beginning. However, despite her attempts to escape attention, she was quickly discovered thanks to Naomi Wildman and Harry Kim, whose molecular structures were slightly out of sync with the rest of the crew due to them both coming from the duplicate ship created in "Deadlock", and were thus immune to her tampering (She even activated a backup version of the Doctor to try and escape attention, but the two programs were so different that the crew soon realized that something was wrong).

The Nacene launched an assault on Voyager to regain the Key, but Voyager was able to hold them off, using the neurotoxin that Tuvok had developed in their encounter with Suspiria. Meanwhile, with aid from Q and a returned Kes (along with some subtle manipulation of another Nacene), the Doctor was able to travel into Ocampa's distant past and oversee the birth of a Nacene/Ocampan hybrid, who was able to stabilize reality and negotiate peace between the two Nacene factions (after the hybrid's future self was tracked down by Tom Paris and Harry Kim, aided by a young q). Aided by Kes, the Nacene evolved to a higher stage of being, as Kes and her "son"- only Kes' body could cope with the strain of giving birth to the hybrid, although another Ocampan contributed the genetic information- returned to Ocampa to repair the ecological damage that the Nacene caused long ago, and, three years later, rain finally fell on Ocampa once more.

See also

• Caretaker's array