Telepathic pitcher plant
The telepathic pitcher plant is a sentient bioplasmic organism, the largest known to the Federation. Though it has only been encountered in the Delta Quadrant, its planet of origin, if it has one, is unknown. The entity has no official name, 'telepathic pitcher plant' is simply the nickname used to refer to it by the crew of the USS Voyager.
Physiology
Despite its name, the telepathic pitcher plant is not believed to be a form of plant-life. Instead, it is a bioplasmic organism, an enormous entity which exists independently in space without the use of technology. The telepathic pitcher plant takes the form of a large cloud apparently composed of gases, with a solid mass at its core. This mass is called the maw and features a wide aperture on one side. The maw functions as the telepathic pitcher plant's mouth and digestive tract, which the organism uses to absorb and digest nutrients, usually starships. It is unclear exactly what components of a starship or its crew are desirable as nourishment for the entity, but any non-edible parts appear not to do the telepathic pitcher plant any harm and are simply expelled from the maw.
The entity possesses extremely powerful telepathic abilities, as well as the level of sentience required to use them intelligently. It employs these abilities by generating a neurogenic field which covers a distance of several million kilometers, and then psychogenically manipulating the crew of any starship which enters the field. The crew will then begin to experience a mass delusion, believing that their greatest desire lies at the heart of the entity, which they usually perceive as harmless. The entity's telepathic powers are strong enough that it can alter a starship's sensor readings, and mobilise crew members to eliminate threats or obstacles which may prevent them reaching the telepathic pitcher plant's core.
Once a starship is close enough and on course for the maw, the entity is able to use its neurogenic field to induce unconsciousness in the crew. When the starship passes into the maw, it enters the entity's digestive chamber, where bioplasmic energy discharges begin striking the ship until it degenerates on a molecular level. At this point, the telepathic pitcher plant is able to absorb the molecules of the ship and crew as if they were nutrients. This method of luring in prey and then devouring it is similar in nature to that of pitcher plants found on Earth, hence the nickname the entity has been given by the USS Voyager crew.
History
The origins of the entity which became known as the telepathic pitcher plant, including its native quadrant and its species, remain unknown. There are legends told by Klingons of a great beast in space which devoured starships in the Beta Quadrant which may refer to the telepathic pitcher plant or a similar bioplasmic organism, but there is no evidence to suggest these stories are based on fact.
Though it is likely that many humanoids have encountered the telepathic pitcher plant in the past but have not survived to tell the tale, the first confirmed encounter with it occurred in 2336 in the Delta Quadrant, when it consumed a starship containing the family of a humanoid named Qatai. Becoming consumed with the need for vengeance, Qatai devoted his life to finding a way to destroy the entity, ultimately encountering it frequently enough that he built up a partial resistance to its telepathic influence.
Later, in 2375, the telepathic pitcher plant encountered its first Federation starship, the USS Voyager, a ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant. It induced a delusion in its crew, tricking them into believing its maw was a wormhole which would lead them back to Earth in the Alpha Quadrant. Three inhabitants of Voyager were unaffected by this psychogenic manipulation, however, as a return to Earth was not their greatest desire. These included a former Borg drone who was nervous about a return to Federation space, a Human/Ktarian hybrid born on Voyager who had never seen Earth and therefore did not regard it as home, and the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram who lacked the biological brain necessary for the entity to influence.
These three, along with Qatai, attempted to divert Voyager's course away from the maw of the telepathic pitcher plant, but were prevented from doing so by the rest of the crew, who remained under the entity's control. Once Voyager was inside the entity's digestive chamber and the rest of the crew had been rendered unconscious by the effects of the neurogenic field, the unaffected crew were able to act to save the ship by venting plasma and detonating it using tetryon-based weapons, thereby causing an electrolytic reaction in the entity. This created a sensation akin to nausea in the entity and so it expelled the ship.
Once out of the entity's neurogenic field, the crew regained consciousness and were finally able to see through the deception, warping away from it.
Qatai, however, returned to his quest to bring about the destruction of the telepathic pitcher plant. It is unknown whether or not he was successful.
