Croden

Croden was a Rakhari from the Gamma Quadrant planet Rakhar. He spoke out against the repressive government of the planet, who retaliated by killing his family. He fled the planet, with his daughter Yareth, who he placed in stasis on a planet in the Chamra Vortex. Croden himself boarded a Klingon ship, that brought him to Deep Space 9.

He spent his time in Quark's, where he tried to steal a valuable item from two Miradorn twins. He killed Ro-Kel and was arrested by Odo, who put him in a holding cell. Croden showed Odo a shapeshifting locket that Julian Bashir identified as being fairly close to Odo's genetic makeup. He told Odo that there were many shapeshifters in the Gamma Quadrant and that he could take Odo there.

Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax traveled to Rakhar to inform the authorities there about Croden's arrest and imminent trial. Exarch Hadran demanded Croden be brought before the law on his own planet. The Prime Directive forced Sisko to agree.

Odo was assigned to take Croden back to his homeworld aboard a runabout. However, Ro-Kel's twin Ah-Kel had sworn to get revenge on Croden for killing his brother. He followed Odo through the Bajoran wormhole and attacked the ship. Unable to evade them, Odo turned the ship over to Croden, who piloted the ship through the Chamra Vortex that masked the ship's signal from the Miradorn. He landed the ship on an asteroid and rushes to a cave. There, his daughter lied in stasis. Croden used the so-called shapeshifting object, which was really a key, to release his daughter. A cave-in knocks Odo out, but Croden saves him and carries him back to the runabout. The runabout is again pursued by the Miradorn raider, but this time Odo tricked the Miradorn into destroying his own ship. Grateful to Croden for saving his life, Odo transported Croden and Yareth to a Vulcan ship, where they transported him to safety on Vulcan. 

Croden