Qatai

Qatai

Qatai was a pilot of a run-down ship who was obsessed with killing a ship-devouring protoplasmic beast. He warned the USS Voyager away, but the crew of Voyager, believing that they were entering a wormhole that would take them home, ignored his warnings as random fluctuations.

Qatai had been hunting the beast for over forty years since it consumed a ship carrying his family, and had become mostly immune to the beast's telepathy, though he could not capture or destroy it. Although he came across as a simple hunter, he apparently had some degree of technical skill, saying that he once attempted to help someone subjected to the creature's influence throw off the illusion using a method similar to an attempt to lower the subject's neurotransmitter signals with a cortical inhibitor, only to be met with failure.

After Voyager was swallowed by the beast, Qatai beamed over to Voyager. Only Seven of Nine and Naomi Wildman were conscious, as neither of them had been especially bothered about getting back to Earth (The Doctor was also available, but he had been deactivated prior to entering the "wormhole", and, as an artificial lifeform, was immune anyway). Qatai explained the situation to them, and the four were able to come up with a means of tricking the beast into expelling them by making Voyager indigestible.

After Voyager had left, Qatai retired to make repairs on his ship before resuming his quest, asking his new friends to get their crew home shortly before he vanished from their lives.

He was last seen finishing repairs on his engines and engaging the creature for yet another attempt at its destruction. (VOY: "Bliss")

Qatai was played by W. Morgan Sheppard. His species and origin were not identified.