Nomad

The Nomad MK-15c (NSSDC ID: 2002-045b) space probe was a Nomad Program spacecraft that was in service in the early 21st century. Dr. Jackson Roykirk designed the probe with two goals in mind: to create a probe that could function as a perfect thinking machine capable of independent logic and that could seek out new lifeforms in interstellar space.

History
Nomad was launched from Earth in 2002 as the planet's first interstellar vessel to seek out new life. It was a prototype and the only one of its program built.

During its mission, Nomad was damaged by a meteorite and lost contact with Earth. It later encountered an alien probe called Tan Ru in deep space. The two units merged, resulting in a powerful new construct with faulty programming, which destroyed anything that was perceived as imperfect, a condition that apparently applied to any organic living being.

Travis Mayweather had a model of the Nomad probe in his quarters aboard Enterprise. 

Nomad was eventually discovered by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in 2267, shortly after it wiped out four billion inhabitants of the Malurian system. Originally deeming the Enterprise to be as imperfect as the Malurians, it opened fire on the vessel, nearly destroying it. It halted its attack when Captain James Kirk hailed the probe and introduced himself; Nomad had mistaken Captain Kirk for Roykirk.

Upon coming aboard the Enterprise, Nomad found the crew to be imperfect and wiped out the memory of Lieutenant Uhura as well as killing Montgomery Scott. Fortunately for Scotty, Nomad was able to "repair" him on the orders of Kirk. Using the ship's star charts, Nomad was able to fix coordinates on Earth and planned to return. Kirk was concerned that if Nomad returned to Earth and found it to be populated with imperfect lifeforms, it would sterilize the planet. Captain Kirk managed to convince Nomad that it was imperfect after it mistook Kirk for Roykirk, its creator. This led Nomad to eventually destroy itself, though Kirk was able to beam it out into space before it did so. 

Capabilities
Nomad revealed a number of advanced capabilities during the encounter. It could travel at warp speed. It fired energy bolts approximately equivalent to ninety of the era's photon torpedoes, that traveled at approximately warp 15 and could track a starship. Its own defensive screens could entirely absorb the energy of a photon torpedo the Enterprise fired at it, despite its small size. They were also entirely opaque to sensor signals. Its communications equipment could absorb data from the Enterprise computers far faster than their maximum transmission rate, an act that damaged the computer interface. It could drain all knowledge from a living being. It successfully repaired Montgomery Scott after contact with its defensive screens killed him, in essence restoring him from death. To do this, it required only a few moments to study tapes of his "structure." It also effected mechanical changes to the Enterprise propulsion system that improved its efficiency (to the point that the power of the engines threatened the structure of the ship). It was able to both "repair" Scott and "upgrade" the engines without making physical contact. It was also able to fire red beams of energy, which disintegrated anyone it hit.

Components

 * Primary power system
 * Magnetohydodynamic vernier-pulse
 * Selective amplifier screen
 * Regenerative mode emulsifier
 * Data assimilation digital encoder
 * Tracking screen and coupler prediction scanner
 * Sperographic analysis computer
 * Acquisition sensor
 * Computer databanks recall and transmition

Background

 * Nomad was voiced by Vic Perrin.
 * Pieces of Nomad showed up again in the Romulan cloaking device in and Flint's M-4 robot in .  The prop for Nomad's head was placed atop Sargon's storage vessel in  in order to create the Romulan cloaking device.


 * Among the in-jokes that appeared on the engineering cutaway of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) was an image of Nomad located where the ship's launch probes were supposed to be.

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