Energy transference

"They have some sort of technology that prolongs life."

- Captain Balthazar Edison in his Captain's log

Energy transference was a technology that prolonged life.

History
Following the USS Franklin (NX-326)'s crash landing on Altamid in the 2160s, Captain Balthazar Edison and his two surviving crew members discovered this technology. When their distress calls went unanswered, Edison, Jessica Wolff, and Anderson Le used this technology on themselves by using the drone workforce to capture alien crew that came to Altamid. For the next century, Edison, Wolf and Le (calling themeselves Krall, Kalara, and Manas due to their heavily mutated bodies) used this technology on various aliens to survive until 2263.

By that timet, Krall and Manas incorporated the technology into their suits to enable them to directly transfer the energy from their captured victims into themeselves. They were also indistinguishable from humans. Krall also used this technology to slowly kill and coerce his prisoners in his search for the Abronath. After Krall crashed into the Franklin at Yorktown, Krall was able to drain at least five Enterprise crewman, to pass himself as human in his attempt to use the abronath.

Effects
Despite prolonging life, the transference caused anyone who underwent it to mutate and take on the victim's physical traits. This made Krall and his two crew members to indistinguishable from humans. Another effect was that the transference altered their language to point that they would not speak English.