DS9 Returning Adversaries PT 4: The Founders and the Jem'Hadar

We are first introduced to the Jem'Hadar in the episode of the same title in season #2.  We learn they are the puppet warriors for the Founders, the tyrannical race of beings who dominate the Gamma Quadrant.

The Founders, who we later learn in season #3, are Changelings and Constable Odo's long lost relatives. They use and breed this specialized army for the purposes of intimidation, killing, and expanding the Founders stranglehold on the hapless inhabitants of the quadrant.

The Jem'Hadar are not only bred with the characteristics of loyalty to the Founders, but are kept in line with a special drug called Ketracel White. It contains addictive properties and also acts as food.

The warriors are taught that victory is life, even if it means their death. They remind me a lot of the Klingons, with a warrior mentality and a sacred call to battle in the name of honor. The Federation was at their mercy only as far as the Founders were willing to take the war.

One in a while a band of Jem'Hadar would go rogue, as they did in "Hippocratic Oath." Their  leader demanded of a captured Dr Bashir to help them discover a way to rid them of their dependence on the White. That was not successful.

The Jem'Hadar are the creation of The Founders, Changelings who exist primarily in "the great link," as one liquefied unit. They can become individual units ("solids") and did so many times during their occupation of the Gamma Quadrant.

We meet them in "The Search," and their matriarch, when solid, explained to Odo that they became conquerors after thousands of years of being tormented and hunted by solids who feared them. They decided to strike back and become the biggest threat to the solids in the Gamma Quadrant.

Their leader eventually surrenders to the Federation after they are outmaneuvered and the great link is suffering from a deadly contagion invented by Section 31. The virus made it impossible for the Changelings to change shape once they were infected. Those that remained in the great link were unable to participate in the war and their leader could not join the link due to being stuck in solid form. Upon surrender, she was cured by Odo who had within him the vaccine. He then carried it to the great link.

Best in Star Trek: DS9---The Abandoned

"The Abandoned" is the sixth episode of the third season and was written by D. Thomas Maio and Steve Wanek.

It begins with Quark buying wreckage from the Gamma Quadrant from a junk peddler. Turns out there was more in this wreckage than just computers and conduits. While looking over his merchandise, he hears the cries of an infant.

But what species is it? The science crew lead by Dr. Bashir examines the cellular structure of the baby and finds he is growing at an accelerated rate. After a couple of days, he reaches adolescence and his speech development is exceptional. Dr. Bashir also discovers his DNA has been altered deliberately. But the question about his origins remains a mystery, until...

Now his features are prominent and there's no mistaking it---he's a Jem'Hadar. He goes on a rampage when his violent hormonal instincts kick in. Fortunately, Odo shapeshifts before him and he calms down.

Now what to do with him? Starfleet command wants to study him for research in a controlled environment.
Great idea! To everyone except, of course, Odo, who was once in that same predicament. He talks Commander Sisko into letting him spend some time with the young homicidal brute in hopes of helping him to reach that deeper someone inside.

But when the Jem'Hadar teenager learns of Starfleet's plans, he uses his technological prowess, and threats of death to all, and manages an escape to be with his people.

Odo realizes his friend Major Kira was right. The Jem'Hadar is a danger to practically anyone that's not either a founder or another Jem'Hadar.

I like the fact that the episode didn't play it safe. Unlike the TNG episode "I, Borg," this one didn't end with a Federation threat leaving with newfound knowledge about friendship and independence. Here, the foe is what he is---a genetically manufactured automaton built for killing.

It's like what Sigmund Freud once said about dream imagery---"sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Best of Star Trek: Deep Space 9---The Maquis & the Jem"Hadar

I've completed watching season 2. We are introduced to new threats to the Federation---The Dominion, The Maquis, and the Jem'Hadar.

"The Maquis" is a two part episode from season 2 and was written by

Teleplay by	James Cocker (Part I) Ira Steven Behr (Part II)
Story by	Rick Berman (Parts I & II) Michael Piller (Parts I & II) Jeri Taylor (Parts I & II)

info courtesy of Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maquis

The Maquis is a resistance group made up of colonists along the demilitarized zone near Cardassian space. The Central Command of the Cardassian government are supplying weapons to the Cardassians on the colonies also inhabited by Bajoran and other races in a treaty pact with the Federation. The Maquis are fighting the Cardassians in the guise of self-defense but are also acting in, what Commander Hudson says, (stationed by the Federation at the demilitarized zone and good friend of Commander Sisko's,) "retaliation."

Hudson is actually a member of the Marquis and is part of the renegades that have abducted Gul Dukat, believing him to be involved in weapons transportation. However, a member of Central Command pays Sisko a visit to the station and says that he knows that Dukat has been running weapons and will pay for his crimes. Neither Sisko or Kira believe him, but at least he did admit that someone in Central Command is supplying weapons to the demilitarized zone.

Sisko and his team rescue Dukat and inform him about what Central Command said, accusing him of acting alone and supplying weapons. In one highlight of the episode, when Dukat learns about the betrayal, he offers to help Sisko stop the weapons flow if Sisko helps him stop the Maquis. Sisko agrees. This comes after they have a discussion about Cardassian justice and trials. A person is accused and deemed guilty before the trials. Why bother with trials? asks Sisko. "Because the people demand it." Sisko asks what if the person is innocent. "Cardassians never make mistakes" Dukat replies. "I'll have to remember that" says Sisko. Later we see this type of justice in action in the episode "Tribunal" where O'Brien is accused of terrorist attacks against the Cardassians.

In another highlight, one of the Maquis collaborators is a Vulcan woman who hires Quark to supply weapons for her in exchange for payment. The Vulcan is put in the brig after she is knocked out by Dukat during the abduction. Quark is put in there with her after Odo makes him give him the list of weapons he procured.
Quark gives the Vulcan a lecture in logic, saying that the time is now to negotiate while each side has equal firepower. To wait any longer, the conflict and violence will escalate, making the price of peace that much higher.

In the final standoff, Sisko and Hudson get into a battle of wits in space, each one disabling the runabouts of the other and Sisko allows his former friend back into the demilitarized zone. He and the rest of us are left wondering if they stopped a war or just delayed the inevitable.

"Jem'Hadar" is the last episode of the second season and was written by Ira Steven Behr.

Commander Sisko takes Jake to the Gamma Quadrant to do a planetary survey as a science project. Jake also, despite Sisko's reluctance, invites Nog along. Quark, hearing that, decides he's going too in hopes of convincing Sisko to allow him to broadcast merchandise for sale on the station's com system to increase profit.

The first half of the episode is a humorous romp in testing Sisko's patience with the two pesty Ferengi's on board. Quark develops allergies to the planet's fauna while admiring the planet's exploitable resources. Then he whines about bugs in his supper. "I thought Ferengis ate bugs" says Sisko. "Only certain bugs--Ferengi bugs" replies Quark.

Then he accidentally catches himself on fire at the campsite. Nog, embarrassed, runs off with Jake following suit. The two men are left in a heated discussion when suddenly approached by two aliens, one the prey and one the hunter.

As the two boys search for their dad and uncle, the men, and the alien prey, are left in a force field held captive. The woman, who has telekinetic powers, is wearing a collar to suppress those powers. She tells Sisko that her people were scattered through the quadrant after the dominion took over their world. She is captured to be used as an example to those who think about running away.

Here, we learn for the first time that the Dominion use an alien race called the Jem'Hadar to carry out their brutal takeovers. Sisko enlists Quark to use his lock picking skills to get the collar off their fellow prisoner. Once this is accomplished, she uses her telekinetic powers to release the forcefield.

Meanwhile, Jake and Nog follow a trail of tracks and see the Jem'Hadar guards. "The don't look friendly" says Nog. "We need to get closer" replies Jake. "I dont' think that will make them look any friendlier" says Nog. After several unsuccessful attempts to bring the runabout through the wormhole on autopilot, they head back on impulse power.

A Jem'Hadar transports onto the station and tells the crew their commander is being held and will be used as an example of what happens to anyone who interferes with the Dominion.

A starship arrives at the station to engage in the rescue of Sisko with the space station crew in tow in runabouts equipped with extra armament. O'Brien hails the runabout piloted by Jake and beams over to bring them back to the space station. The starship is destroyed via a Jem'Hadar ship committing a suicide maneuver. Sisko tells the crew in the runabout that it was a message to let them know what they are willing to do.

Quark also figures out the collar worn by their fellow prisoner contained no such technology to stop her telekinetic powers. Sisko realizes it was all a ruse to get her to the station and into Federation space to spy and confronts her. She transports away but her whereabouts can't be traced.

Thus, the Federation is now vulnerable to a new threat as dangerous as the Borg.

This episode was both exciting and funny. I liked how the two main story lines (the science field trip and capture by the Jem"Hadar) come together. And it also has the audience anticipating an exciting next season.

In the Maquis, we see an alliance forming between Sisko and Gul Dukat. We also see the Cardassian government is splitting, with members of the high command breaking the treaty with the Federation. Needless to say, shit's getting interesting.