Cold Station 12 (episode)

Soong's Augments take control of a medical facility containing more augment embryos and several dangerous diseases. (Part 2 of 3)

Summary
Dr. Arik Soong and his Augment children head to Cold Station 12 to free other embryos following his escape from the custody of the starship Enterprise.

Meanwhile, the only clues given to Enterprise were the coordinates Soong last gave them, so they follow them. They arrive at Trialas IV, the settlement where Soong raised his children, where there is only one person: Udar. He was left there about one year ago by his brethren because he was not as strong and intelligent as the others.

Captain Jonathan Archer then receives new orders from Starfleet. He learns that there were about 1,800 other embryos kept at Cold Station 12 and, since Soong is probably headed that way, Archer is given orders to stop him, using whatever force is necessary.

After formulating a plan to get the embryos, the Augments then hijack a Denobulan medical ship, and easily take control of the station without killing anyone (as Soong wished). Things get a little uglier when Soong realizes that Jeremy Lucas, the senior medical director, will not give up the code that unlocks the embryo chamber, even at the expense of his people or his own life. Soong is not able to go through with his threat, which raises tension between Malik and Soong.

The Enterprise then arrives at the station and, after not being allowed to approach, is able to transport a team to the station before backing off. However, the team is no match for the Augments and they are easily detected and captured. Nevertheless, Archer is still able to give a final order to T'Pol: activate the station auto-destruct sequence as Starfleet ordered. The security measure is quickly disabled, thanks to the hacking skills of one of the Augments. The Enterprise has to then proceed to destroy the station manually.

Realizing the friendship between Dr. Phlox and Lucas, Malik decides to take things into his hands as he openly defies his father and proceeds to expose the Denobulan doctor to one of the various pathogens studied on the station. Understanding he is not bluffing, Lucas reveals the code and the Augments are finally able to steal the embryos and get away before the Enterprise, which is busy with a Bird-of-Prey, destroys the station.

In the last minutes of the episode, Malik clearly shows sadistic tendencies and little regard for his father's wishes. He beats Archer badly, decides to take some virulent pathogens, and programs a containment breach that will release all the pathogens stored on the station – killing everyone there. He also kills Udar, with the excuse that it is to spare his brother a horrible death.

Memorable quotes
"You son-of-a-bitch!"

"Actually, mother was a chemist."
 * - Jeremy Lucas and Arik Soong

"Why are you flying a Denobulan shuttle?"

"Why not?"

"You aren't Denobulan."
 * - Starfleet security officer and Persis

"Am I going to spend the rest of my life trying to get rid of you?

"You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison."
 * - Arik Soong and Jonathan Archer

"Udar?!"

"Father?!"

("Father" and "son", reunited, engage in a heartfelt embrace) "They told me you were dead, that...that...that...that you were sick..."

"They lied to you."
 * - Arik Soong, Udar, and Jonathan Archer

"It was Raakin's order."

"What was?!"

"Banish him."

"Why?!"

"He wasn't strong enough..."

(Horrified) "You all went along with this?!"
 * - Malik and Arik Soong

"Whenever a group of people start believing they are better than everyone else, the results are always the same."
 * - Jonathan Archer, to Soong

Background Information

 * At one point, it is said that there are a few hundred thousand possible combinations for the hexadecimal password. However, when Lucas finally reveals it, we see on the screen that it is composed of 16 characters, meaning that there were in fact about 1.8 * 1019 (= 1616) or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 (about 18.4 quintillion) possibilities. Note that the Augments may have understood the workings of the encryption algorithms and thus able to reduce the number of possibilities from its mathematical limit.
 * On the surface of Trialas IV, where Soong raised the Augments, there was a large device composed of two long glowing red tubes. This device has been seen in many places on TNG, DS9, and VOY, including, most interestingly, in Doctor Noonian Soong's lab in .  It is also seen in the control room of Cold Station 12, but with blue lights rather than red. The device was first seen in  on the space laboratory Regula I.
 * While Udar's mother was stated to have been an Olympic decathlete, in reality women's decathlon is not, and never has been, an Olympic event (yet).
 * When this episode was aired in the United Kingdom, broadcaster Channel 4 edited out some of the more violent scenes, including the part where Doctor Lucas gets tortured, and the close-up of the scientist being killed by the virus.
 * The lethal diseases mentioned as being stored in Cold Station 12 in this episode are references to various (fictional) diseases which have been mentioned on previous Star Trek series, including Xenopolycythemia, Anchilles fever, Synthococcus novae Type A, Rigelian fever and Telurian plague.
 * This episode received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Stunt Coordination by Vince Deadrick, Jr.
 * Several props and costumes from this episode were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including Richard Riehle's lab coat and Dr. Soong's lesson PADD.

Starring

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

Guest Stars

 * Alec Newman as Malik
 * Abby Brammell as Persis
 * Richard Riehle as Jeremy Lucas
 * Kaj-Erik Eriksen as Udar
 * Kris Iyer as Deputy Director
 * Adam Grimes as Lokesh

Special Guest Star

 * Brent Spiner as Arik Soong

Co-Stars

 * Amy Wieczorek as Female Pilot
 * Jordan Orr as Young Malik
 * Kevin Foster as Security Guard #1

Uncredited Co-Stars

 * Jorge Benevides as Private R. Azar
 * Nathan Bowers as Young Raakin
 * Ryan Chase as a Denobulan doctor
 * Fernando Chien as Saul
 * Amy Kate Connolly as Irina Karlovassi (still picture)
 * Benny Farillas as Augment child
 * Nikki Flux as a Denobulan doctor
 * Scott Hill as Ensign Hutchison
 * Ricky Lomax as Private W. Woods
 * Macarena Lovemore as a Starfleet officer
 * Andrew MacBeth as Private E. Hamboyan
 * Tonya Olivarez as Augment child
 * Chandler Taylor as Augment child
 * Violetta Torres as Augment child
 * Unknown actor as a Denobulan doctor

Stunt doubles

 * Shawn Crowder
 * Vince Deadrick, Jr. as stunt double for Scott Bakula
 * Danny Downey as stunt double for Kaj-Erik Eriksen