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P'Jem monastery

The monastery of P'Jem in 2151

"The High Command defiled P'Jem when they used it to spy on Andoria."

P'Jem was the site of a Vulcan monastery on a planet near the Andorian system. The site was destroyed in 2152.

History[]

Satellite image of P'Jem

A satellite image of P'Jem in 2151

At the time of its destruction, the structure was almost 3,000 years old, with Master Haadok having been one of the monastery's founders. (ENT: "The Andorian Incident")

This would mean that the sanctuary pre-dated the teachings of Surak by twelve centuries.

Some centuries before the 22nd century, a set of katric arks were discovered at the P'Jem monastery. Scientists studied them extensively, as ancient Vulcans were alleged to store katras in them, but no evidence of a katra was found. (ENT: "Awakening")

At one point in the 2130s, T'Pol visited the sanctuary of P'Jem and had the fullara ceremony performed on her. (ENT: "The Seventh")

Vulcan listening post

The sensor array beneath P'Jem in 2151

In the 22nd century, the monastery was ransacked three times by the Andorians looking for a suspected sensor array. On the last of these occasions, in June of 2151, the Earth starship Enterprise NX-01 visited P'Jem, only to find it taken over by a group of Andorian commandos led by Commander Thy'lek Shran. After some initial misunderstanding and a firefight, the commandos and the Enterprise landing party discovered a highly sophisticated surveillance installation in the catacombs beneath the monastery. Captain Jonathan Archer gave scans of the facility conducted by his science officer, T'Pol, to Shran as evidence of the Vulcans' spying. (ENT: "The Andorian Incident")

Though the Andorians gave the monks and surveillance personnel ample warning before an eventual orbital bombardment, the Vulcan High Command blamed T'Pol, who was by then a sub-commander, for allowing Archer to expose the facility and recalled her from Enterprise. They rescinded this decision at the request of Captain Sopek, after T'Pol saved his life on Coridan. (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem")

The repercussions back on Vulcan were longer lasting. The First Minister was dismissed, and the High Command forced the resignation of T'Les, T'Pol's mother, from the Vulcan Science Academy. The evidence of treason they used had been fabricated; even so, T'Pol had no way to restore her mother's position except by marrying into Koss' influential family. (ENT: "Home")

Arev identified Archer as the man who was responsible for the destruction of the monastery on P'Jem, after Arev learned that T'Pol was the daughter of T'Les. Archer assumed this would be held against him. However, Arev remarked that the captain's actions exposed the Vulcan High Council's "hypocrisy." (ENT: "The Forge")

Appendices[]

Background information[]

In the script of "The Andorian Incident", this monastery was referred to as "an eerie rust-colored temple [which] clings to a high mountain precipice" and "the majestic mountaintop retreat." The area was also scripted to include "a stone landing platform" and the script went on to say, "A bridge connects the platform to the sanctuary beyond."

The large double doors that served as P'Jem's entrance were a reuse of the doors to the Klingon High Council Chamber in ENT: "Broken Bow". ("The Andorian Incident", text commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD special feature)

The satellite image of P'Jem as seen on the display table in the situation room of Enterprise NX-01 was a retouched photograph of a boulder in Yosemite National Park. ("The Andorian Incident", text commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD special feature)

Originally, the ruins of this monastery was to have been depicted in "Shadows of P'Jem". In the stage directions from that episode's first draft script (written while the installment had the working title "Untitled Andorians Return"), this site appeared on a monitor in Archer's quarters, when Admiral Maxwell Forrest contacted Archer. The script stated, "The entire side of the mountain has been sheared away, and is still smouldering." This view was written out of the script by the time the final draft was issued.

In the final draft script of ENT: "Desert Crossing", Trip Tucker referenced this monastery, saying it was about as uncomfortable to be on the Torothan homeworld as it had been at the monastery.

It is unknown whether the planet on which P'Jem was situated is also called P'Jem. Stage directions in the final draft script of "The Andorian Incident" officially and repeatedly referred to the monastery as "Sanctuary at P'Jem," implying that the name P'Jem was also intended to be used for either the planet or the area of it where the monastery was located.

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 45) and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library ("Stellar Cartography", pp. 18-19; "Federation Historical Highlights, 2161-2385"), "), there was a star system named P'Jem (Luyten's Star), in which this planet might possibly have been located, in the Beta Quadrant. The system's primary was a M-class star. In the 22nd century, this system was a destination on a Vulcan trade route.

Apocrypha[]

In the backstory of Star Trek Online, P'Jem was rebuilt by a coalition of Humans, Andorians and Vulcans in 2170, and access is restricted to protect the sanctity of the monastery. One of the early Federation missions, "Diplomatic Orders", partially takes place there, as the player character hunts down an infiltrator from Species 8472 ("Undine") disguised as a Vulcan ambassador.

Star Trek: Fleet Command features P'Jem as a Federation star system and a planet in the system with the same name. The star system is an important system including many missions leading there, gas mines, and planets capable of housing player stations.

External link[]

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