Episode no. Season 3
Episode 6 Featured music Jay Chattaway | Directed by Avery Brooks Production code 452 | |
Written by D. Thomas Maio
Steve Warnek Original air date October 31, 1994 (1994-10-31) | ||
"The Abandoned" is the 52nd episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the sixth episode of the third season. It is directed by series cast member Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko).
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy. In this episode, an abandoned unknown alien infant found aboard the station grows into an adult Jem'Hadar.
Plot
An infant is found in the wreckage of a ship that Quark (Armin Shimerman) buys as salvage. The boy grows at a phenomenal rate, developing in appearance to an eight-year-old in only a few hours. Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) determines that the child is the result of genetic engineering. As the boy continues to develop, his aggression and discovered reverence to Odo reveal that he is Jem'Hadar. Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) convinces Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) that the boy should not be sent to Starfleet Command as a specimen to be studied. He believes that he can control the boy because Jem’Hadar are bred to serve the Founders. Odo tries to show the boy, physically now a teenager, options for his life besides violence, but the boy's only drives seem to be to fight others. When it is discovered that Starfleet has sent a ship to pick up the boy, the boy pulls a phaser and refuses to go along. Odo insists on returning the boy to the Gamma Quadrant and Sisko reluctantly agrees.
There is also a minor plot in which Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) is dating an older woman named Mardah (Jill Sayre), who is a Dabo girl. Commander Sisko is very concerned and invites Mardah to dinner. Though originally intending to intervene and end the relationship, the Commander discovers through Mardah a hidden side to his son he realizes must be allowed to flourish.