Z'Xak

Z’Xak was hatched in 2177 from an egg that was not nearly as large as a grape. They spent the first 15 years of their life growing, in the pre-sentient stage of their development in which they can only graze in the large forests of their home planet.

Upon achieving cognition, their mind expanded. The Ukarimi are an odd species: entirely not sociable — they can live for dozens of years without ever communicating to anyone else — but also extremely intelligent. They are capable of science and technology, but they do it without ever working together: anything they make or discover, they leave for anyone else to see and take, but they never ask for help, never collaborate on something. They take one project and study it for the entirety of their century-long life, perfect in their loneliness.

Z’Xak, at the age of 24, chanced upon the Ukarimi who had built the first Warp drive. Fascinated, they took it, and made it their life project to improve on it. After just a couple of decades toiling on it, at the age of 162, they were the first Ukarimi to breach Warp Factor 2 – on a spaceship built entirely by them.

In 2361 their species made contact with a Federation deep-space mission, the USS Sarastro, although in perfect Ukarimi fashion they did not feel any particular desire to speak – with the exception of Z’Xak. They had been wanting to have a discussion for at least fifteen years, at that point, and had found no one who wanted to chat. They requested to come aboard and, if possible, to stay aboard the USS Sarastro.

Their life has been… chatty, since then. They helped develop a translator they can use by beating their carapace rhythmically. They are the first Ukarimi to pick a name for themselves — and also to have picked a name for their species. They love Warp nacelles.

They joined Starfleet in 2380, graduated the Academy, and now work as an Engineering Officer on the Redding. For a while they worked on the Sarastro-B, but it was destroyed during a battle with the Sovreignity of Kahless. They like it here. People sometimes want to talk to them more than they want to speak, but there’s engines and nacelles, and life is good.