- This article is about a technology. You may be looking for Trill symbionts or the Dax (symbiont).
Hephaestan symbiont
The symbiont was a type of electronic device, a technology by which the chimpanzee-like Hephaestans became intelligent.
Background[]
Hephaestans were not born intelligent. A small chip was surgically implanted at the base of the skull shortly after birth, which acted as a symbiont, augmenting the ape species’ reasoning capacity.
History[]
The symbionts were introduced by an unidentified alien species which visited Hephaestus at the beginning of their recorded history. They left them with mechanisms for manufacturing additional symbionts as well as computerized procedural records. These were kept in an underground manufacturing center.
Klingons uncovered this secret of the Hephaestan’s intelligence. Commander Kagg tried to circumvent the Organian Peace Treaty in the year 2274 by destroying the manufacturing center and physically removing implants from citizens, so as to redefine the planet as one without a sentient population. The treaty would then no longer apply, allowing the Klingon Empire to freely annex the planet. But James T. Kirk uncovered the plot and was able to upload the symbiont manufacturing data before it was destroyed. USS Enterprise technicians rebuilt the symbiont facility. (TOS comic: "All the Infinite Ways")
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References[]
Related technologies[]
- Subcutaneous communicator (ENT episode: "Stratagem", TNG episode: "Who Watches the Watchers?")
- Subcutaneous homing beacon (TNG comic: "Disgrace")
- Subcutaneous transponder (TOS episode: "Patterns of Force", VAN - Declassified novella: The Stars Look Down)
- Implanted universal translators (VOY episode: "The 37's"; DS9 episode: "Little Green Men")