Search
Cookie Usage Statistics Colour Key Sudden Death Monthly Poll Caption Comp eMail Author Shops
Ships Fleets Weaponry Species People Timelines Calculators Photo Galleries
Stations Design Lineage Size Charts Battles Science / Tech Temporal Styling Maps / Politics
Articles Reviews Lists Recreation Search Site Guide What's New Forum
8472 Ships
Bioship Planetbuster
Bajoran Ships
Assault Ship Fighter Emissary Kendra Pagh Prophet Solar Sail Additional
Borg Ships
Cube Probe Singularity Ship Sphere Tactical Cube Transwarp Prototype Yacht
Cardassian Ships
Dreadnought Freighter Galor Hideki Keldon
Dominion Ships
Breen Frigate Attack Ship Battlecruiser Battleship Dreadnought Karemma Ship
Federation Ships
Air Tram Akira Ambassador Antares Centaur Challenger Cheyenne Class F Shuttle Constellation Constitution Constitution Daedalus Danube Defender Defiant Delta Flyer Endgame Nova Endgame Shuttle Excelsior Excelsior II Excelsior Variant 1 Federation Class Raider Scout Trainer Freedom Gagarin Gage Galaxy Galaxy Yacht Griffin Hermes Holo Ship Intrepid Kelvin Luna Miranda Nebula New Orleans Niagara Norway Nova Oberth Olympic Orbital Shuttle Peregrine Polaris Prometheus Ptolemy Raven Refit Galaxy Reliant Rigel Ross Saber Sagan Saladin Shelley Sovereign Sovereign Yacht Soyuz Springfield Steamrunner Sutherland Sydney Travel Pod Trident Type 3 Shuttle Type 6 Shuttle Type 7 Shuttle Type 8 Shuttle Type 9 Shuttle Type 10 Shuttle Type 11 Shuttle Type 14 Shuttle Type 15 Shuttle Type 17 Shuttle Type 18 Shuttle Warp Sled Wells Work Bee Yeager Additional
Ferengi Ships
D'Kora Additional
Human Ships
Ares Conestoga DY-100 Intrepid J Class Neptune NX Class NX Test Ship Saturn V SS Enterprise The Phoenix Type 0 Shuttle USS Enterprise Valiant Y Class Additional
Kazon Ships
Raider Predator Additional
Klingon Ships
B'rel D'tai D-5 D-7 Early Bird of Prey K'pak K'T'Inga Bird of Prey Cargo Ship Tanker Negh'var Raptor Regency Voodieh Vor'cha Additional
Romulan Ships
D'Deridex Early Bird of Prey Narada Norexan Bird of Prey D7 Science ship Scout Shuttle Scimitar Scorpion Additional
Son'a Ships
Battleship Collector Destroyer Additional
Suliban Ships
Cell Ship Module Ship Salvage Ship Additional
Talarian Ships
Observation Ship War Ship Additional
Vulcan Ships
D'Kyr Sh'Raan Suurok Vahklas Lander Additional
Xindi Ships
Aquatic Cruiser Arboreal Ship Insectoid Assault Ship Insectoid Fighter Insectoid Warship Primate Ship Primate Shuttle Reptilian Warship Additional
Miscellaneous Ships
Dauntless Doomsday Machine Kumari class Angosian Ship Cravic Ship Yonada Hirogen Ship Husnock Ship Krenim Patrol Krenim Timeship Krenim Warship Malon Ship Mawasi Cruiser Eymorg Ship Nihydron Ship Pralor Ship Promellian Battlecruiser Tarellian Ship Early Tholian Ship V'Ger Whale Probe Varro Ship Zahl Ship Additional
☰

Tarchannen parasites

NotesImagesDatapoints
TimelinePeople
Universe : Prime Timeline
Species Name : Tarchannen parasites [1]
Quadrant : Alpha

The planet Tarchannen II was the site of a Federation outpost, but in 2362 all 49 members of the outpost crew vanished mysteriously. The Starship USS Victory was sent to investigate, and sent down a five person away team. No trace was found of the outpost crew, and the search was abandoned. [1]

Five years later the members of the away team began to disappear one by one, apparently suffering an irresistible urge to return to the planet. The Enterprise-D was assigned to investigate; the ships chief engineer, Geordi laForge, had been a member of the Victory's away team and the final unaffected member, Susanna Leitjen, joined the ship for the mission. [1]

Once at the planet both Leitjen and LaForge began to be affected by a mysterious metamorphosis which began to transform their entire bodies. Doctor Crusher discovered that they had both been infected by a strange parasite on the planet. The Parasite, which lives on Tarchannen, injects a strand of DNA into a host body. Years later the strand becomes active and begins to take over the host body, converting its DNA into an alien form. The host metamorphoses into a Humanoid lizard like form. The entity is non sentient, and has an instinctive fear of other life forms. Photoactive cells on the skin allow a chameleon like camouflage effect, rendering the entity almost completely invisible. [1]

Doctor Crusher was able to remove the DNA from Leitjen, but LaForge beamed down to the planet under its influence and joined the others on the surface. The Enterprise crew was able to find a method of rendering the aliens visible, and with this Leitjen was able to appeal to the remaining shreds of LaForge's Humanity and convince him to return to the Enterprise. He was also subsequently cured, and Captain Picard placed warning beacons in orbit of the planet to prevent any further contact. [1]

Colour key

Canon source Backstage source Novel source DITL speculation

References

# Series Season Source Comment
1 TNG 4 Identity Crisis
Series : TNG Season 4
Episode : Identity Crisis

© Graham & Ian Kennedy Page views : 30,094 Last updated : 8 Jul 2022