Telepresence

A telepresence-controlled Romulan drone-ship

The Aenar Jhamel uses Enterprise's telepresence unit to contact her brother, Gareb

Telepresence is a process which enables a person to safely control a vessel from the safety of a remote location. Telepathy seems to be related to telepresence, as it was a required ability to successfully use a telepresence unit.

The Andorian Imperial Guard experimented with telepresence in the early 22nd century, though nothing came of it.

The first known successful example of a telepresence-controlled ship was developed by the Romulan Star Empire in 2154 using two modified drone ships. With the unwitting aid of an Aenar named Gareb, these ships were used to attack vessels of neighboring species. Though successful, controlling the vessels was both physically and mentally taxing on Gareb.

The Romulans' control over Gareb and the drone-ships was disrupted when the Starfleet vessel Enterprise, constructed a telepresence unit of their own, allowing Gareb's sister Jhamel to contact him and show him what he was doing. Gareb was killed by the Romulans but not before programming the two drone ships to destroy one another. (ENT: "The Aenar")

It is unclear if the Romulans, or anyone else for that matter, experimented with telepresence after this point. Telepresence offers one possible explanation as to how the Romulans could have waged a war with Earth, yet never have anyone see a Romulan's face. However, it is unlikely that the Romulans could have successfully abducted another Aenar, so if that were the case, they may have used some other telepathic species, such as the Remans.

In the 24th century, Starfleet used the interface probe, which was comparable to telepresence. (TNG: "Interface")

External link

• Telepresence at Wikipedia