The Metrons were a powerful, enigmatic race native to Metron space. They found violence distasteful and were curious about whether other species and societies could move past aggression.
History[]
The Metrons inhabited their region of space long before Humans existed in their current form. (SNW: "Terrarium")
2261[]
The Metrons were first encountered by United Federation of Planets representatives in 2261. In that year, the Metron brought together Lieutenant Erica Ortegas and a Gorn pilot through a wormhole to see what could happen if a Human and a Gorn—two "barbaric" species each determined to destroy each other—were forced together with the need to survive. The two were able to work together, with the Gorn's loneliness drawing her to Ortegas, who was able to work past her trauma from her captivity by the Gorn. This caused the Metron to conclude that there was hope for the two species. However, when an away team from the USS Enterprise arrived to rescue Ortegas, La'An Noonien-Singh killed the Gorn.
Freezing the other Humans mid-beam out, a Metron took on a humanoid form to communicate with Ortegas directly, explaining the experiment. While Ortegas and the Gorn's cooperation suggested hope for a peaceful future, La'An's violent reaction meant that the Metron needed more data to determine if Humans and the Gorn would ever find peace. The Metron returned Ortegas and the away team to the Enterprise with no memory of ever meeting them, saying "one day we may need to reset your perception of the Gorn as well". However, Ortegas was allowed to keep her memories of her experiences with the Gorn. (SNW: "Terrarium")
2267[]
In 2267, Captain James T. Kirk ordered the Enterprise to pursue a Gorn vessel that had destroyed the observation outpost located on Cestus III. This took them into a section of the galaxy that at the time was considered largely unexplored. According to Spock, there were only rumors and legends of intelligent life in this region of space.
As the pursuit passed the uncharted star system at 2466 PM, the Enterprise was scanned from that system. Then the Gorn vessel inexplicably slowed and stopped. Thinking they planned to fight, Kirk prepared to engage, but the Enterprise likewise slowed and stopped. Both ships were being held in place from the star system at 2466 PM, not by tractor beams, but rather by "an unidentifiable power."
The Metrons denounced both ships for entering their space on a mission of violence. They prepared a planet and transported the captain of each ship to it. There, they were to fight to the death, and the outcome of this contest would determine which ship survived, and which was destroyed.
Eventually, Kirk won the fight, but elected to spare his helpless opponent. This demonstration of mercy surprised the Metrons, whose analysis of the situation did not lead them to expect it. A Metron—a tall, blond male, with a youthful appearance, looking rather like a Greek god, who wore a silver toga and sandals—appeared to Kirk. He suggested that, although the Federation was still half savage, there might be hope for it in a few thousand years. The Metrons then returned Kirk to the Enterprise and transported the ship 1,600 light years away from their space. (TOS: "Arena")
Physiology[]
Metron
Metrons could assume a form similar to that of Humans. According to the Metron met by Erica Ortegas, this was not their true form but rather one that the Metrons assumed to more easily communicate with Humans. (TOS: "Arena"; SNW: "Terrarium") Metrons had long life spans; despite seeming to Kirk to be "more like a boy", the Metron representative who met Kirk stated that he was approximately 1,500 Earth years old. His comments to Kirk suggested an interest in the political and sociological geometry of the galaxy thousands of years hence. It is possible that this perspective was a consequence of this long life span. (TOS: "Arena")
When Ortegas encountered the Metron, they initially appeared in the form of a horizontal glowing light that both she and a Gorn pilot could sense was observing them, suggesting that the Metrons were non-corporeal lifeforms in their true forms. In this form, the Metron brought Ortegas and the Gorn together and apparently even shielded them from the explosion that they set to signal the USS Enterprise when the Gorn escape pod's heat shield proved to be insufficient. This Metron spoke with a distorted voice that fluctuated between masculine and feminine. While speaking with Ortegas, this Metron was spoken to in indecipherable whispers by others of their kind. (SNW: "Terrarium")
Technology[]
An example of Metron technology was the recording-translating device provided by the Metrons to Kirk and his Gorn opponent during their conflict. This allowed Kirk and the Gorn to understand each other's speech, and to record logs. Metrons were also able to erase and alter memories at will. The most advanced capabilities of the Metrons included the ability to control forces unknown to Federation science, to perform comprehensive scans at great range, to open wormholes, to selectively stop, alter, and restart the flow of time, and to rapidly terraform planets to specific requirements. They were also able to transport matter great distances instantly; the upper limits of that ability were unknown, but Spock believed that the Metrons might have transported Kirk anywhere within a thousand cubic parsecs of space. Most of these feats were well beyond what even 24th century Federation technology could accomplish, suggesting that Metron science and technology was hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than that of the Federation. (TOS: "Arena"; SNW: "Terrarium")
In 3190, Federation Security identified the Metrons as one of the civilizations that may have technology advanced enough to create the Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA). However, the Risian scientist Ruon Tarka stated afterwards that he knew that the DMA had nothing to do with the Metrons. (DIS: "The Examples")
People[]
- See: Unnamed Metrons
Appendices[]
Background information[]
It is possible that the Metron Consortium mentioned in DS9: "Business as Usual" is connected with the Metrons, but this is not confirmed in canon.
In Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 64) and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library ("Federation Historical Highlights, 2161-2385"), the Metron Consortium was the name of the Metrons' interstellar nation. This nation was located in the Beta Quadrant.
Apocrypha[]
Star Trek Online has the Metrons contacting the USS Stargazer-A in the late 24th century in an attempt to initiate relations between the Metron Consortium and the Federation.
External links[]
- Metron at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works