The insignia of the Traquel Directorate.

The desert planet Traquel Alpha.

The Traquel species govern a rather large area in space, and mainly occupy two planets: Traquel Alpha and Traquel Beta. There is a remarkable difference between the two Class M planets, as Traquel Alpha is mainly a "desert planet", and Traquel Beta a green one. Despite the fact that the living conditions on Traquel Beta are alot better, it is still Traquel Alpha that has the most inhabitants. This is not only because the Traquel are more used to the conditions of their homeworld, but also because there is more job to do, than on Traquel Beta. The Traquel species are a race of technicians and engineers, and on a desert-planet, there is enough space for engineering work, and technological experiments. Traquel Beta, however, is full of forests and mountains, rendering an uninteresting testing area for technicians. Therefore, this planet is rather used by those (few) who do not show interest in technology, or would like a nice vacation.

Typical desert landscape on Traquel Alpha.

Particular desert landscape on Traquel Alpha by night.

The "green" planet Traquel Beta.

A Traquel.

Society

Tash, the creator of the Null Space Catapult.

The Traquel society has always been known to be a peaceful one. Most Traquel people occupy themselves with studying and testing new technology. This has resulted in a quick advancement, and it is little wonder that these species created their first warp drive much sooner than most other humanoid species.

Sometimes, however, experiments may go wrong, as it was the case with one Traquel named Tash. He ended up meeting a space anomaly that threw him into deep space, a four year's journey back home. Instead of undertaking this long j ourney back, he worked out a plan that technicians at his homeworld had been working on for quite some time already: a Null Space Catapult. He eventually met with the U.S.S. Voyager, a Federation starship that was lost in the Delta Quadrant, and with their help he was able to complete his task. His project proved succesfull, and since his return to his homeworld mass production of the Null Space Catapults began, now commonly used everwhere in the Delta Alliance.

Traquel usually wear robes with hoods, to protect them from the heat of the sun on their homeworld, Traquel Alpha. They have many signals with their hands, to give certain expressions, such as "thank you" and "goodbye".

A Traquel hand gesture to say "thank you".

The Traquel Apha capital city, with water reservoirs.

Traquel shuttlecrafts travelling through a typical Traquel city.

Another image of a typical Traquel city.

To aliens from other worlds, the Traquel cities often give the impression of a factory. The Traquel do not pay much attention to the design and looks of something, but rather focus on the quality of the technology behind it. Traquel do not believe that when something looks good, it is good. Something without a cover, has nothing to hide. This attitude is what renders their cities to look rather "sloppy", though you only see this from up close. The main form of transportation on the planet they use are shuttles.

Technology

When it concerns technology, alot can be said about the Traquel species. They have indeed achieved many forms of technology in a relative short amount of time. Needless to say, they were quick to achieve warp drive, and to launch a space station in orbit around their homeworld. Though they are still experimenting with transwarp technology, they have already been able to build starships capable of warp 9.9999 constantly without overheating the warp drive. When they joined the Delta Alliance, they made this technology available to all other members, until they discovered that high warp speeds damage subspace. This being the opposite of what the Delta Alliance stands for (to preserve the balance of nature and the universe), a new rule was created that warp speeds as of warp 4 and higher were no longer permitted without express permissions.

Traquel space station, orbiting Traquel Alpha.

Since it was agreed that warp speeds of warp 4 and higher were no longer permitted within Delta Alliance space, considereable problems appeared for traders and such. Therefore, the Traquel decided to work on an alternative to the warp 9 drive. For several years, they worked on prototypes of a "Null Space Catapult". However, it did not appear to be succesfull each time. At one of the field tests, one of the Traquel named Tash, suddenly faced some spatial anomaly that threw him into Deep Space. Instead of undertaking the journey back home for years, he decided to complete the catapult project, in which he was succesfull. After his return to Traquel space, production of the Null Space Catapults began for everywhere in the Delta Alliance. This is now the main form of transportation.

A Traquel starship.

Schematics of the Traquel starship design.

The Traquel Null Space Catapult.

Traquel and the Borg

Being relatively close to Sector J25, the distant outskirt of Borg space, a confrontation was inevidable at one point. The first confrontations with the Botg were disastrous. The Borg had detected the advanced technology of the Traquel, and had launched a full attack on this species. Many Traquel were assimilated that day. After recovering, the Traquel decided to create a defense against the Borg, in the form of Droids. They created robots (Droids) with a strong Artificial Intelligence, capable of reproducing themselves by creating better vversions of their own system. Another advantage was, that the Borg would not outright assimilate them, as they were no "humanoid" species of flesh and blood. These Droids were supposed to guard the borders of Traquel space against the Borg, but their ever-evolving A.I. brought them to a level of independence. When they requested to be free and independent from the Traquel, the Traquel answered this request with respect, and granted them a certain area of Traquel space to live. The Droids thereafter expanded their territory into deep space, even to a part of Sector J25, now living on their own, and considered a sentient species as well as a full member of the Delta Alliance. Even so, the Droids never lost their primary function: to hold back the Borg. It is thanks to them, that the Delta Alliance was safeguarded against the Borg so far, and was able to survive.