Tellinii

The Tellinii are a race of non-corporeal beings that were first encountered by Starfleet in 2386 at Obsidian Command. Believed to be a race made up of psionic energy the Tellinii are capable of high degrees of telepathy. Unlike other non-corporeal beings they are dependant on the habitation of a physical body, though can exist for a time without. This is believed to be the result of the parasitism by the Tellinii of an ancient offshoot of the Lethean race which led to the Tellinii's loss of their native ability to process psionic energy needed for their survival.

Physiology

The Tellinii in their true form appear as a blue light, a phenomena which is shared with much of their technology. Their ability to interact with the physical word is very much limited in this form though they have been witnessed to phase small objects, as well as themselves, into other dimensional planes. They are a non-corporeal lifeform and it is likely they are also a trans-dimensional species.

More likely to be encountered while inhabiting the body of a host the Tellinii are intrinsically linked with an ancient offshoot of the Letheans. These psionically gifted creatures are very similar looking to modern day Letheans though have a much more primitive internal organ structure. The digestive system of these host bodies have evolved to be highly underdeveloped to the point of redundancy. This is due to the Tellinii providing the host with the nutrients it requires, a by product of their conversion of psionic energy into a form that they can consume. In this sense the Tellinii and ancient Letheans are a symbiotic pairing, though it has been noted that the brain structure of the Letheans has become subservient to habitation by the Tellinii. Without a Tellinii parasite the Lethean host enters a dormant state of hibernation and will eventually die if not inhabited again. The inverse is also true in that the Tellinii will also die if not inhabiting a host body as they cannot convert psionic energy in their natural state.

The Tellinii can also inhabit the bodies of other races though don't exhibit the same amount of control over them as seen in the ancient Letheans. The possession of other races does seem to require the implanting of a piece of Tellinii technology into the spinal column of the intended target.

Being a race of psionic beings that inhabit an unusually psionicly gifted race it's not surprising that the Tellinii possess remarkable telepathic abilities. From inducing hallucinations, altering memory, controlling thought, reading thoughts, inducing emotion and possessing suitable hosts the limits of their abilities hasn't been established. Another notable ability is promoting the rapid physical development of lifeforms from zygote to foetus to child. In one remarkable instance the Tellinii were able develop a Bajoran-Human (known as Rose) from conception to that of a 5 year old child in the space of 48 hours.

Technology

Through the limited exposure of first contact with the Tellinii a number of important elements of their technology were uncovered.

The Artefact

During the course of archaeological studies occurring on Alaandra two Federation scientists discovered a small blue crystal. Once exposed the crystal began to glow due to it's nature of being able to draw on selective bioelectric fields, specifically psionic fields. The most sophisticated containment fields available on Obsidian Command during first contact with the Tellinii were unable to prevent the artefact's ability to draw on these fields. Emission's of bioelectric fields emanating from Tellinii ships were directly linked to the artefact's pull on the field, and were found to be in perfect binary relation (a transitive relation); suggesting some kind of a remote link existed between artefact and Tellinii. Whether controlled by the psionically gifted Tellinii or acting on it's own the artefact was able to produce delta wave transformations which were able to change the behaviours of a number of crew members exposed to it. These behaviours included hallucination, paranoia and subtle coercion. These delta wave transformations were linked back to the binary relation of the ships and a theoretical means of disrupting them was proposed; using a synchronised symmetric warp field to trigger a resonance burst from a warp core should neutralise all delta wave frequencies emanating from the psionic field the artefact manipulated. It was further theorised that the Tellinii use this frequency as a form of communication with each other and that such a burst would also prevent them from operating as an organised group.

Initially the artefact was found to be unusually dense. The reason for this was discovered later as the artefact's tightly packed atomic structure started to expand, resulting in an increase in volume of the object while it's initial mass was retained. This lead to the discovery of the artefact being previously exposed to spiroid epsilon waves. It eventually stopped growing at a width of just under 4 metres.

Smaller versions of this artefact were found later, implanted in a crew member of Obsidian Command. It behaved in a very similar fashion to the larger except it lacked the exposure to spiroid epsilon waves and also exerted much more psionic influence over the person it was implanted. The device was also found to allow the habitation of the crew member by a Tellinii.

All artefacts were returned or taken by the Tellinii after the tumultuous first contact, if any more exist in the Alaandra system remains to be seen.

Weaponry

Tellinii weaponry was discovered to utilise cascading subspace micro tears which could be directed towards a target via highly charged tetryon particles. This highly inaccurate but incredibly destructive form of weapon seemed designed to be used against permanent structures like Starbases rather than manoeuvrable targets like vessels. Described as an advanced and controlled form of an Isolytic Burst what's now called the Tellinii Tetryon Cascade is produced by creating an oscillation between real space and subspace via the use of Tetryons. This oscillation eventually creates a tear from which large amounts of tetryons escape and are channelled towards a given target. The tear, attracted to this tetryon cascade follows it until it reaches some other form of matter or radiation which causes the tear to seal itself after causing a massive explosive reaction. This all occurs in fractions of seconds but early detection of the tetryon cascade is often enough to trigger evasive manoeuvre's to avoid direct hits from close targets. If the tears do not strike a target they eventually come to a stop as the tetyron cascade is depleted after a distance of approximately 2 light years, making the weapon potentially effective from long range. A stopped tear poses a great threat to vessels travelling at warp speeds and should be detected and sealed after any engagement where the Tellinii Tetryon Cascade is used.

References

• Rione & Tensenson, Samantha & Dakin, Anette & Atherton, Robert: "Butterflies in the Stomach".
• Koloth & Parker, Brenna: "Nekros Opsis".