Ocampa

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Ocampa
Homeworld	Ocampa
Base of Operations	Ocampa
Affiliation	None

Ocampa is the fictional home planet of the Ocampa, a fictional race of elf-like humanoids in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager.

Originally surface dwellers and the dominant species of their homeworld, the Ocampa exhibited phenomenal mental powers far in excess of any similar race in Star Trek canon. Their amazing mental abilities were offset, however, by their extremely short nine-year lifespan. (This is in marked contrast to the usual practice of making alien races longer-lived than humans.)

[edit] History

The development of the Ocampa race was interrupted when an exploratory vessel from another galaxy chose to visit the Ocampa homeworld. The propulsion system of the intergalactic vessel caused an irreversible chain reaction in the atmosphere of the planet destroying the ability of the atmosphere to carry on a rain-cycle. According to Captain Janeway, the planet's atmosphere was "completely devoid of nucleogenics". The intergalactic explorers, upon realizing their mistake, took upon themselves the responsibility of caring for the Ocampa. The Caretakers built a massive underground cavern with access to the only remaining natural water source on the planet, and supplied it with energy via transmissions from a gigantic orbiting station. From this station, the "Caretaker" dutifully watched over the Ocampa, supplying every need and protecting them from every danger. As a result of this life of absolute ease, the Ocampa eventually stopped using their mental powers and, due largely to their short lifespans, eventually forgot about them completely. Over time, the Ocampa became completely dependent upon the Caretakers for all necessities of life. Their planet's surface, while ruined by desertification, was sparsely inhabited by the Kazon-Ogla, a subsect of the Kazon race.

The Ocampa remained in this state until the only Caretaker remaining on the station began to die. This Caretaker reasoned that only his own offspring would be able to carry on his work of protecting the Ocampa, and so began a galaxy-wide search to find a genetically compatible race through which it might produce offspring. This search consisted of a long series of trans-galactic ship-jackings, which is how the Federation Starship Voyager came to be in the Delta Quadrant. Another starship, the Equinox was pulled across shortly before Voyager was.