Changes: The Augments (episode)

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Dr. Soong's Augments devise a plot to wage war on the Klingons.
(Part 3 of 3)

Summary

On Cold Station 12, every stasis field in the space station will shut down in forty seconds, releasing hundreds of lethal pathogens, unless Captain Jonathan Archer stops the containment breach from a primary junction in the central core. As the minutes pass, Archer climbs up a shaft to the primary junction and manages to isolate a room where the station's staff are monitoring his progress. However, the pathogens will still reach the rest of the station, including the shaft where Archer is, in less than a minute.

Because Enterprise, situated nearby, is unable to obtain a transporter lock on Archer, the captain orders Commander T'Pol to fire the starship's phase cannons at an exterior hatch, decompressing the station's central core. As the pathogens begin to be released, Enterprise destroys the top of the shaft where Archer is located. The captain is pulled out from inside the station and is beamed back aboard Enterprise.

Elsewhere, Malik tells Doctor Arik Soong that their stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey has passed into Klingon space. Enterprise is not following the Klingon ship. Dr. Soong is furious when Malik reveals that Archer is dead and threatens to lock the augment in the Bird-of-Prey's targ pit for a month if he disobeys another order. Unsatisfied with the ship's lack of speed, Soong orders Malik to go to engineering and repair the port inducer assembly, which has been damaged.

Meanwhile, still in temporary command of Enterprise, T'Pol records a log entry.

"First officer's log, supplemental. We've evacuated the away team and all personnel from the station. The captain shows no sign of infection. He's recovering in sickbay."

Archer, T'Pol, Doctor Phlox, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Commander Charles Tucker discuss plans to stop Dr. Soong and his Augments in Enterprise's sickbay. Although there are several Klingon patrols that will intercept Enterprise if it follows the Augments' stolen Bird-of-Prey into Klingon space, the Starfleet officers decide to try emulating a Klingon warp signature. T'Pol reports that the staff of Cold Station 12 are anticipating returning to their facility and beginning repairs.

On the Bird-of-Prey, Dr Soong talks of taking the Augments to an area flooded with radiation from supernova remnants, he refers to it as the "Briar Patch". Dr Soong knows that there are several habitable planets and it would be difficult to find them within the clouds of radiation. Malik tries to reason with his father that Khan Noonien Singh ran away on the Botany Bay, not deciding to fight against his enemies, which they should do. Soong tells him that it is out of discussion.

When the Enterprise finds the Bird-of-Prey, Soong is sort of relieved that Archer survived but to put him off their trail, he has the female Denobulan pilot ejected in her craft between two magnetic pulls, knowing Archer would rescue her.

After the Augments turn on Soong, Soong escapes to help the Enterprise crew with the help of Persis. The Enterprise crew tries to stop the Augments and T'Pol confronts Tucker. Malik stabs Persis for helping Soong escape and continues with his plan to attack a Klingon colony planet. Malik's scans of the colony reveal three population centers which he plans to attack with a torpedo armed with bio-weapons stolen from Cold Station 12. If they use the pathogens from C12 on a Klingon colony, then Earth will be at war with the Klingons and they can live in peace.

Enterprise manages to destroy the torpedo seconds after it was launched and proceeds to disable the Klingon bird of prey after Soong tells Archer where the stolen bird of prey is most vulnerable. Malik prefers to die rather than be captured and proceeds to overload the dilithium matrix and the Bird-of-Prey explodes. Malik however manages to transport himself onto the Enterprise unnoticed and attacks Archer and a guard in an attempt to kill Soong for betraying the Augments, but Archer manages to kill Malik. Soong is taken to the brig and told that none of his work during his time in prison has been destroyed and is stored in a secure location for potential future use. Soong doubts that will ever happen.

Soong, now believing that humanity cannot be perfected, instead turns his attention to building an artificial lifeform

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Memorable Quotes

"Come on. It's not like we would have made an ideal couple. A Vulcan and a Human? Romeo and Juliet probably stood a better chance."

- Tucker to T'Pol, a reference to Spock, who was a Vulcan-Human hybrid

"Is there something we can do to keep from showing up on their sensors?"
"I could paint a bird of prey on the hull."

- Archer and Tucker

"How long can we sustain warp five?"
"As long as the captain wants it. Or until we blow up, whichever comes first."

- Soong and Tucker

"Target the bridge."

- Archer

"You could at least let me finish my work before you take it away and destroy it..."
"No one's destroyed anything. It's being stored in a secure location - maybe someday, we'll figure out how to use it to benefit humanity."
"I wouldn't count on it."

- Soong and Archer

"I've been thinking - perfecting humanity...may not be possible. Cybernetics...artificial lifeforms...I doubt I'll finish the work myself...might take a generation or two..."

- Soong, back in his cell, thinking towards the future

Background Information

QuVat colony display — The Qu'Vat colony

This episode concludes the "Augment" story arc.
The scene of a gravely-injured Malik crawling through the ruined bridge is slightly familiar and possibly a homage to a very similar scene with Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The Briar Patch from Star Trek: Insurrection is mentioned here by Arik Soong as a place of refuge for his Augment children. Both Brent Spiner (Soong) and director LeVar Burton had starred in Star Trek: Insurrection. Soong also claims that the Klingon name for the Briar Patch is Klach D'Kel Brakt, which was mentioned by Kor in DS9: "Blood Oath" as the site of a great victory by the Klingons over the Romulans.
LeVar Burton had not directed an episode of Star Trek featuring Brent Spiner since TNG: "The Pegasus".
This three-part story arc established that in the 22nd century, genetic engineering was completely banned on Earth after the Eugenics Wars, even for genetic research which could be used to cure critical illnesses. At the end of the story, Archer expresses his hope to Dr. Soong that research into genetic engineering that could cure life-threatening diseases would actually be resumed. According to Dr. Bashir in DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", by the 24th century genetic engineering was indeed used by that time to treat serious medical conditions, though trying to genetically engineer Humans with "superior" abilities was still banned.
At the end of this episode, Arik Soong claims "I've been thinking, perfecting Humanity may not be possible. Cybernetics. Artificial lifeforms. I doubt I'll finish the work myself; might take a generation or two." This is a direct link to the Soong family's work in upcoming centuries, which see the creation of the androids B-4, Lore, Data and Juliana Tainer by his great-grandson Noonian Soong.
This episode was heavily edited by UK Channel 4 when they broadcast it, removing the whole of the fight between Malik and Persis and its conclusion. As a result, Persis simply disappears from the episode without explanation.
John Billingsley called the episodes making up the Augments arc some of the best work of the season. [1]

Links and references

Starring

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest Stars

Special Guest Star

Brent Spiner as Arik Soong

Co-Stars

References

Australia; biogenic agent; Botany Bay; Botany Bay, SS; Briar Patch; coil assembly; Cold Station 12; cybernetics; D5 class; Denobulan shuttle; dilithium matrix; dispersive armor; engineer; escape pod; Eugenics Wars; garbage scow; Great Wars; Klach D'kel Brakt; Klag (Governor); Klingon; Klingon battle cruiser; Klingon Bird-of-Prey (22nd century); Klingon chancellor; Klingon High Council; Klingonese; Qo'noS; M'Rek; megahertz; Mississippi; Orion slave girl; Orion; Panama City; penal colony; phase cannons; Qu'Vat colony; Romeo and Juliet; Singh, Khan Noonien; tactical alert; targ pit; transponder signal; Tucker, Charles II; universal translator; Vulcan (planet); warp coil; warp signature; Xindi incident

Previous episode:
"Cold Station 12"

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 4

Next episode:
"The Forge"

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