The Traveler was a mysterious individual from the planet Tau Alpha C, who developed an interest in humans.

Biography[]

The Traveler's real name is not known, but fell into the 1% of the population of Tau Alpha C that had the skills and abilities to become a Traveler. The Traveler, like all of his race, were interested in the development of other cultures in the galaxy. By 2364, The Traveler had developed an interest in humans, and managed to travel around the Federation posing as an assistant to Starfleet engineer Kosinski. The Traveler worked to enhance the engines of several starships, before boarding the USS Enterprise-D. While aboard the Enterprise, he used his powers too much and sent the starship to Galaxy M33, and then in a subsequent acceleration, sent them to an unknown realm that could have been at the edge of or outside the known universe. With the help and support of Wesley Crusher and the Enterprise crew, he returned them home before disappearing. (TNG episode: "Where No One Has Gone Before")

Over the next six years, The Traveler returned to the Enterprise twice. In 2367, he assisted Wesley in rescuing his mother, Beverly Crusher, from a warp bubble, and in 2370, he posed as a native named Lakanta on Dorvan V to help Wesley realize his potential. When Wesley decided to join The Traveler, he functioned as his mentor and taught Wes all the skills of being a Traveler. (TNG episodes: "Remember Me", "Journey's End"; CCG set: Fractured Time, card: "The Traveler")

By 2378, The Traveler had imparted all the information to Wesley that was possible, and they both returned to Tau Alpha C for Wesley to be "born" as a Traveler. The Traveler also helped perform the final test for Wesley by showing him the Pool of Prophecy. (TNG novel: A Time to Be Born)

In an alternate 2373, after Wesley altered the timeline to prevent the formation of both the Maquis and the Dominion-Cardassian alliance, The Traveler approached human DTI agents Dulmer and Gariff Lucsly, and challenged Crusher to justify his actions to them. When Crusher was unable to convince Lucsly of the rightness of his actions, The Traveler assured the agents the timeline would be corrected. (TNG short story: "Gods, Fate, and Fractals")

In 2384, the Traveler and the rest of his kind departed the prime universe as it was threatened with destruction by a temporal paradox. Although the Travelers often fixed dying timelines, their numbers had been depleted by the Temporal Wars and they believed that the paradox was too complex to be fixed. The sole Traveler to disagree with this was Wesley who refused to give up on his home universe where his mother still lived. When the USS Protostar crew arrived at the time ziggurat, they overhead the Traveler arguing with Wesley on the matter. Ultimately, the Traveler followed the rest of his kind in departing from the universe, leaving behind Wesley who remained determined to fix the damage from the paradox. (PRD episode: "The Devourer of All Things") Wesley would ultimately prove to be right, aiding the Protostar crew in finding their temporally-displaced ship and sending it back in time to Tars Lamora, repairing the broken timeline and ending the paradox. (PRD episode: "Ouroboros")

Appendices[]

External link[]

• The Traveler article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• The Traveler article at the Star Trek Timelines Wiki.