Station log: stardate unknown

Robert Hewitt Wolfe pens this Kira (Nana Visitor) episode that first aired on 24 October, 1994.

When Major Kira is abducted by Cardassians, and she is horrified to discover that she is supposed to be one of them. She no longer appears to be a Bajoran, she’s been modified to look like a Cardassian.

Now, obviously, she can’t truly be Cardassian, but the story pulls out all the stops to make it seem true. There are records of her being in a Cardassian prison, and though she doesn’t remember any of it, the records, and survivors place her there.

Gregory Sierra plays Entek the Cardassian who is her handler and is watching over her transition back to Cardassian society, while also grilling her about Federation and Bajoran secrets. Back on the station, Sisko (Avery Brooks) is working (read as blackmailing) Garak (Andrew Robinson) into helping him.

Eventually, Sisko and the rest must take the Defiant into Cardassian space and they may be just in time, as it seems that Kira is close to breaking, and may actually be starting to believe that she may be a Cardassian.

But it seems all of it is a ploy by Entek, a member of the nefarious and vicious Obsidian Order, to flush out Federation sympathisers and spies.

It’s a pretty solid episode, and of course, confirms once again, that Garak is a little more than a simple tailor.

I quite like this one, and it ends up being a great Kira episode.

Station log: stardate unknown

Avery Brooks directs this episode that was penned by D. Thomas Maio and Steve Warnek. It first debuted on 31 October, 1994.

Quark (Armin Shimerman) discovers an abandoned Jem’Hadar child, and because of their respect for Changelings, Odo (Rene Auberjonois) may be the only one able to control him.

The story also picks up a story thread mentioned previously that Sisko’s teenaged son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton) is seeing a Dabo girl, Mardah (Jill Sayre), one of the employees from Quark’s bar. She’s older than he is, and Sisko is determined to put a stop to it.

The Sisko storyline is a little lighter, while Odo and the Jem’Hadar plot line layers out a little more information about our new Big Bad, and they do it without making it a a big shoot ’em up episode. There’s a nice emotional arc for Odo, and is very much a Trek tale.

It plants some continuity in both story threads, Jake’s interest in writing begins to make an appearance, and the Jem’Hadar story hints at the drug addiction that infects the race, as well as Odo still trying to find his place in the world with his new knowledge of his people.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday as I continue exploring Season 3 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Complete Series on DVD, available now from Paramount Pictures.