History: (Who's Who in Star Trek #1) - The Hortas were silicon based lifeforms that reduced their population down to one gravid mother every 50,000 years. The Federation discovered the Hortas' homeworld Janus VI, and were unaware of any life, because Hortas were not standard carbon based lifeforms. Janus was rich in minerals, and supplied the Federation with wealth. Miners discovered the Hortas egg cache and destroyed the seemingly inert silicon nodules, prompting the last surviving Hortas to start killing the miners in self-defense. The U.S.S. Enterprise intervened on stardate 3196.8, and found the miners fearful of a boogeyman. Captain Kirk and Spock confronted the creature, and after a Vulcan mind-meld Spock realized the creature was no monster, but a mother. Spock empathized with the creature, and stopped a mob of miners from killing her. Using a universal translator, the Enterprise opened diplomacy between the Hortas and the miners. In return for the safety of her eggs the Hortas aided the miners in extracting minerals. The new generation of Hortas proved useful to the Federation, with one Hortas Nahraht serving as an Enterprise lieutenant.