The Kerkhovians were sentient non-corporeal lifeforms that inhabited interdimensional space. They were originally native to the moon of the planet Kerkhov. (SNW: "Charades")
History[]
In the distant past, the Kerkhovians built an impressive physical civilization with several cultural sites. It was rumored that they possessed a robust system of medicine more advanced that of the Federation in the 23rd century. Eventually, the Kerkhovians abandoned their homeworld and migrated into interdimensional space. They left behind a stable vortex that served as a transport tunnel into their new realm.
The apparent disappearance of the Kerkhovians remained a mystery to the Federation until 2259, when the USS Enterprise surveyed the Kerkhovian moon and detected their vortex. During a flyby investigation of the moon, the shuttle Cervantes, carrying Lieutenant Commander Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel, was overwhelmed by gravitational radiation and collided with the vortex.
The Kerkhovians repaired the damage sustained by the shuttle and Spock in the accident. However, they were confused by Spock's "mixed instructions", i.e. his hybrid physiology, and thus transformed him into a full Human so that he would "match" Chapel. Captain Christopher Pike was unable to convey the problem to the Kerkhovian representative Yellow via subspace communication. Chapel, assisted by Lieutenant Erica Ortegas and Ensign Nyota Uhura, subsequently took a shuttle into the Kerkhovian interdimensional space to make an appeal personally. Though Yellow was reluctant to heed Chapel outside the bounds of protocol, they were convinced to provide the knowledge necessary to revert Spock to his original self after Chapel admitted the deeper nature of her relationship to him. (SNW: "Charades")
Society and culture[]
The Kerkhovians tended to behave in a rigid and legalistic manner. Their laws dictated that they were responsible for "remediation" in the case of an accident with their transport tunnel, and they were capable of repairing both biological and technological damage with a high degree of sophistication. Afterwards, they would leave a data chip containing routing instructions on how to contact them over subspace, allowing a Kerkhovian representative to explain the situation and confirm that remediation was completed; if so, then no gratitude or further communications were necessary. The Kerkhovians considered complaints about remediation made after the "response period" to be irregular, and did not accept them from friends of those affected because they lacked sufficient personal connection. (SNW: "Charades")