Iconian probe
An Iconian probe was a spherical blue orb with energy tendrils arcing at random and which was employed by the ancient, powerful, and extinct Iconian race to download an operating system into a ship's computer core, presumably in order to facilitate communication. However, if the operating system of the ship is too different from the Iconian one, they will clash, causing the vessel and its systems to malfunction and possibly suffer catastrophic consequences. Once the ground-based computer detected an incoming vessel into orbit of Iconia, an automated sequence would begin launching one probe per vessel. The probes were housed in a launch bay in the planet's surface. If many were released at once and the egress door failed to open, the resultant detonation would destroy the facility.

A probe affected the  on stardate 42592.72 causing a malfunction in the ship's dilithium seals, resulting in the release of matter and antimatter and causing the vessel to explode, killing all hands aboard. Upon achieving a standard orbit of Iconia several days later, another probe was launched at the , but it was destroyed before any systems could be affected. However, the Enterprise had previously downloaded the Yamatos logs, which contained the Iconian program, thereby "infecting" the Enterprise with the same program that destroyed the Yamato. The data "infection" was later removed. Another probe was launched at the Romulan vessel Haakona. It, too, was destroyed before it could upload any information. However, it also downloaded the Yamatos logs and inadvertently received the program. The crew of the Enterprise was able to aid the Romulans in removing the program before the Haakona could be destroyed as well. ()

cs:Iconianská sonda
Probes