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
Battles
Introduction Enterprise Attack Azati Prime Sphere Bashing Saving Earth Vulcan Civil War Romulan Marauder Empire in Crisis Battle of the Brown Dwarf Altimid Battle Romulan Attack Romulan Attack The Doomsday Machine The Deadly Years The M-5 Debacle The Wrath of Khan Khitomer Crisis The Battle of Minos Wolf 359 Klingon Civil War The Odyssey Death of a Caretaker A Flagship Battle The Omarion Nebula Deep Space Nine Kazon Attack Shattered Mirror Borg / 8472 War The Swarm Sector 001 The Dominion War The Valley of Death The Chin'toka Invasion AR-558 The Chin'koka Retreat Righteous Insurrection Advance on Cardassia Vaadwaur Battle Workforce Incident Reman Nemesis Coppelius battle
☰

Nanites

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

Nanotechnology has been used within the Federation for some time in the repair of cellular damage - at only one millionth of a millimetre in length these machines are easily able to penetrate a living cell. In 2366 Ensign Wesley Crusher was experimenting with forcing standard nanites to evolve on the Enterprise-D when some of his sample escaped from the containment vessel. The nanites continued to evolve, spreading through the ship's computer systems and inflicting considerable damage.

At the time the Enterprise was assisting Dr. Paul Stubbs in an important astrophysics experiment which had to take place at one specific time. When the nanite's actions threatened to prevent the experiment, Dr. Stubbs argued that they should be eliminated. Captain Picard declined, arguing that the nanites could be considered as a new life form and as such could not be killed en masse for the Federation's convenience.

Dr Stubbs attempted to force the crew's hand by irradiating one of the ship's computer cores with gamma rays to destroy the infestation. He hoped to provoke a conflict between the Enterprise crew and the nanites which would force the eradication of the machine life form. The nanites responded by launching attacks against Dr. Stubbs personally, indicating that they had developed a degree of intelligence.

Eventually the crew managed to make contact with the nanites via commander Data, and peaceful relations were established. The nanites proved to be fully sentient, highly intelligent creatures. The declined further conflict with the Federation, and the Enterprise transferred them to Kavis Alpha IV. This planet was designated as their home world. [1]

Colour key

Canon source Backstage source Novel source DITL speculation

References

# Series Season Source Comment
1 TNG 3 Evolution
Series : TNG Season 3
Episode : Evolution

© Graham & Ian Kennedy Page views : 32,073 Last updated : 15 Mar 2013