Star Trek: 10 Alien Species You’ve Probably Forgotten About
9. The Hekarans
Star Trek: The Next Generation's season seven instalment Force of Nature has never ranked all that well with fans. Despite the relatively strong ecological message at its core, the episode is really only remembered for imposing a maximum speed limit on Federation vessels. Since that idea was rapidly swept back into the subspace disruptions it came from, you'd be forgiven for forgetting the alien species at the centre of this warp drive drama.
We've only ever met two Hekarans — a brother and sister science duo who were trying to save their planet, Hekaras II, which was under threat from the cumulative effects of warp field energy on the region. Sure, they might both have engaged in some 'unconventional' methods to prove their point, but then most activists don't wait around for the paperwork to clear.
Rabal and Serova were widely greeted with suspicion aboard the Enterprise-D. Geordi seemed more concerned by his power conversion one-upmanship with Commander Kaplan of the Intrepid, and Picard fobbed them off to the Federation. Serova had to self-destruct her own ship before anyone would truly listen, sacrificing herself to prove her theory. There's nothing like a gigantic subspace rift to make people pay attention!