The Augments

At the end of "Cold Station 12", Doctor Arik Soong and the Augments he secretly raised depart the space station, taking with them 1,800 frozen Augment embryos preserved from the time of the Eugenics Wars. Malik also steals pathogen samples from the station and sets the containment fields to fail. In "The Augments", Captain Archer restores stasis around the central compound, and is beamed from space to safety. He takes the Enterprise in pursuit of Soong, Malik, and the Augments in their stolen Bird of Prey. Soong and the Augments arrive in Klingon space where he shares his plan: Soong intends to hide out in a region (the Briar Patch) where Starfleet would have trouble tracking them down. Malik objects to Soong's plan, noting that Khan Noonien Singh also ran away on the SS Botany Bay. In pursuit of the Augments Enterprise arrives in Klingon space, having faked a Klingon warp signature. Soong releases a hostage on a Denobulan shuttle into a gas giant, forcing Enterprise to abandon the pursuit and mount a rescue operation. Escaping, Malik proposes a new plan: trigger a war between Starfleet and the Klingons as a distraction by firing a pathogen-filled torpedo at a Klingon colony. He reasons that Starfleet will be too busy fighting the Klingons to hunt down the Augments. Soong will have nothing to do with Malik's genocidal proposal. On the Enterprise, Commander T'Pol asks Commander Tucker about the distance between them after her recent arranged marriage. He tells her he has come to terms with their new relationship. Back on the Bird of Prey, Soong works on a way to remove aggressive behavior from the unborn Augment embryos. Malik, concerned by Soong's plan to hide from Starfleet and his tampering with the embryos, leads a mutiny which confines Soong to his quarters. With the help of Persis, Soong leaves the ship in an escape pod. Enterprise, once again in pursuit, detects the pod and brings Soong on board. Heading towards the Klingon colony at high warp in an attempt to stop Malik's plan, the Klingons detect their ship. Enterprise is forced to disable a Klingon cruiser when it tries to board. Malik kills Persis for her betrayal, and continues with his plan to attack the Klingons. Scans of the ''Qu'vat'' colony reveal three main population centers; the torpedo is armed with pathogens and prepared for deployment. The Enterprise arrives at the ''Qu'vat colony just after Malik fires the torpedo, but Enterprise destroys it, saving the population. Soong helps disable the Klingon ship, hoping to save some of the Augments. However, Malik scuttles the Klingon ship, killing the remaining Augments and the embryos; and transports himself onto Enterprise'' in an attempt to kill Soong in revenge. Archer manages to kill Malik first, blowing a hole clear through him. The Klingons call off their retaliation against Earth, and Soong is returned to the Starfleet Detention Center. In custody, he begins to doubt the feasibility of genetically engineering humans; and wonders if perfecting artificial life holds better possibilities for the future. ==Production==

and LeVar Burton "The Augments" is the final episode in a three-part story which began with "Borderland" and continued in "Cold Station 12". The return of genetically enhanced humans, as seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, links Enterprise to The Original Series. The episode reunites Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton, two Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni. Spiner played the role of the android Data and Burton played chief engineer Geordi La Forge. Spiner appeared in all instalments of the three-story arc, while Burton only directed "The Augments". Burton directed three episodes of Enterprise in the third season. To celebrate their collaboration, as well as acknowledge the crew members who had remained with the franchise since their series, Burton bought lunch on the final day of shooting for everyone on the set. The episode was written by Mike Sussman, his second of the season after "Home". Shooting began on September 2 and lasted for seven days, with the production taking time off for Labor Day. The majority of the sets on the episode were created for "Borderland" or "Cold Station 12". The scene depicting a Klingon escape pod required the construction of a new set. Spiner, as well as several other guest stars, resumed their roles from earlier in the story arc, including Alec Newman as Malik, Richard Riehle as Doctor Jeremy Lucas, Abby Brammell as Persis and Adam Grimes as Lokesh. Joining them was Mark Rolston as the Klingon Captain Magh; Rolston previously appeared in The Next Generation as Walter Pierce in the episode "Eye of the Beholder", and also played Kuroda in the Enterprise episode "Canamar". ==Reception==

UPN first broadcast "The Augments" on November 12, 2004. According to overnight Nielsen ratings, 2.1 percent of the population of the United States and four percent of those watching television at the time viewed the episode. "The Augments" received the same ratings as the previous episode, "Cold Station 12". However, it moved up to fourth place in the 8 p.m. timeslot, narrowly beating What I Like About You and Grounded for Life on The WB. Michelle Erica Green of TrekNation, said that Malik had become a "cardboard villain" by the time of "The Augments", but she did not blame Alec Newman for this. She also criticised the use of Persis' death by Malik, saying that he defined her "even in death as a commodity for his use". Writing for ''Jammer's Reviews'', Jamahl Epsicokhan gave the episode a rating of two out of four. He criticised Malik, noting that the "crux of the story is reduced to an unremarkable three-character power struggle that is supposed to be a microcosm for the trouble that comes with genetically engineered super-humans, but comes across instead as overly bland and tidy drama." In a review for Big Shiny Robot, Andy Wilson said that the story represented the "personal journey" of Arik Soong from genetic engineering to cybernetics. Screen Rant praised casting Brent Spiner as the character Arik Soong. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed various cast and production crew of the Star Trek franchise to determine the "100 Greatest Episodes" from across the five series, ranking "Borderland"/"Cold Station 12"/"The Augments" as the 96th best episode of all time. Den of Geek writer James Hunt ranked the mini-arc as the sixth best story of Enterprise. ==Home media release==

A home media release of "The Augments" was originally released in the United States on November 1, 2005, as part of the season four DVD box set of Enterprise. The Blu-ray edition was released on April 1, 2014. ==See also==