Croden Croden was a male Rakhari alive during the late - 24th century . History . In 2369 , Croden spoke out against the repressive government of his homeworld , who retaliated by killing his family . After slitting the throats of the security officers responsible , Croden fled the planet with his daughter Yareth , whom he placed in stasis on an asteroid in the Chamra Vortex , while he escaped in a shuttlecraft . Sometime later , Croden ' s damaged ship was discovered by a Klingon ship three light year s from the Gamma Quadrant entrance to the Bajoran wormhole , and he was given passage back to the Alpha Quadrant . Upon arriving on the Bajoran space station Deep Space 9 , Croden met with Ferengi businessman Quark who asked for his help in conning the Miradorn twins Ah - Kel and Ro - Kel out of a valuable egg sculpture . Croden accepted , on the condition that Quark would supply him with a small ship that could take him back to the Gamma Quadrant . When the time came , Croden interrupted Quark ' s meeting with the Miradorn and demanded the twins hand over the egg . Refusing to do as he said , Ro - Kel flipped a table at Croden , throwing him to the floor , before taking out his weapon and firing . The shot narrowly missed Croden , giving him the opportunity to return fire using his own weapon . Ro - Kel was killed instantly . Before the situation could escalate further , Constable Odo , who had shapeshifted into a glass on the table , re - took humanoid form and restrained Croden , allowing a security team to take him into custody . While detained in a holding cell , Croden justified his actions in that he was defending himself against Ro - Kel and that he was sorry for " " making things awkward " " but that he had no choice . He later revealed he knew of more Changeling s like Odo living in the Gamma Quadrant . He claimed to have once visited a colony of shapeshifters and showed Odo a shapeshifting locket he had be given , promising to tell the Constable more in exchange for food , though Odo believed him to be lying . After traveling to Croden ' s homeworld , Commander Benjamin Sisko informed Exarch Hadran of Croden ' s arrest and upcoming murder trial . Hadran , visibly angered upon hearing Croden ' s name , demanded he be returned to Rakhar immediately so he could face his punishment under their law . Though Sisko attempted to reason with Hadren , the Commander knew he had to abide by the Prime Directive , and subsequently agreed , later requesting his release from the Bajoran militia . With confirmation that Croden was to return to his home planet , Sisko assigned Odo to escort him there in the runabout . With Croden handcuffed in the rear , Odo piloted the " Ganges " alongside a departing Rigelian freighter to mask the runabout ' s signature , in order to a avoid a vengeful Ah - Kel who had been scanning all ships leaving the station . During the journey to Rakhar , Croden spoke of Odo ' s people in an attempt to strike up some sort of rapport with him . He also revealed to Odo the reason why he had left his homeworld , going into vivid detail of the night he had to kill the security officers who entered his home and killed his family , though Odo was skeptical his story was true . Before they could speak further , their runabout came under fire from Ah - Kel , who had discovered the plan to return Croden to his planet and wanted revenge for the death of his brother . With the shield s taking more and more damage from Ah - Kel ' s ship , Croden convinced Odo to release him from his restraints so he could assist in pilot ing the runabout . Croden managed to successfully avoid Ah - Kel by entering the Chamra Vortex and landing the ship on the asteroid on which he claimed there to be a colony of shapeshifters . However , unknown to Odo at the time , Croden had actually hidden his daughter here in stasis and had lied about his experiences with Changelings , with his locket actually being a key for the stasis unit . On learning the truth , Odo reluctantly agreed to help save his daughter and promised he would take her to safety when Croden handed himself in . " En route " back to the " Ganges " , Ah - Kel detected their presence on the asteroid and began bombarding it from space causing a cave - in which landed on top of Odo , knocking him unconscious . With his daughter in his arms , Croden hesitated at first , but lifted Odo to his feet and carried him back to the runabout . With Ah - Kel still on their tail , Odo regained consciousness and piloted the ship through a dense pocket of unstable Toh - maire gas . When Ah - Kel fired his photon torpedo es at the Starfleet vessel , Odo engaged full impulse , resulting in a massive explosion within the nebula , thereby permitting their escape . Soon after , the " T ' Vran " detected the explosion in the nebula and offered their assistance to the " Ganges " . Grateful to him for saving his life , Odo said he would tell the authorities that Croden died in Ah - Kel ' s attack on the asteroid and requested the " T ' Vran " escort both him and his daughter to . Before departing , Croden gave Odo his shapeshifting locket hoping it would help him discover where he came from . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " You and I have a great deal in common , Changeling . " " < br > " " We have nothing in common . " " < br > " " We are both aliens here , the only ones of our kind . Each of us is alone , isolated , shut out . Others like us only exist in the Gamma Quadrant . I have always wondered why changelings are so distrustful of other species . " " < br > " " Well , that ' s too bad . I was hoping you ' d feel sorry for me , seeing as we ' re the only two here from the other side of the passage . " " < br > " " I feel nothing for you but contempt . You ' re a thief , and a killer , and who knows what else . " " < br > " " They tolerate you , but you ' re not one of them . Being what you are , you can pour your square shape into a round hole , but you never really fit , do you ? You ' re like my stone . " " < br > " " I think I finally figured out what crime you were found guilty of on your world . " " < br > " " What ' s that ? " " < br > " " You talked too much . " " < br > " " I never was told and to this day I don ' t know . They broke into my home just before dawn , and before I had time to stop them , they had murdered both my wives . You see , on my world , the punishment for being an enemy of the people is the death of your family . I had no sophisticated weapon . Only a short , slaughter knife that I used for cutting the necks of fowl we would prepare for supper . Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the necks of the security officers were no more difficult to cut than the birds . Even the sound they made as the blade crossed their gullets were similar . " " < br > " " You ' re going to have to get used to living in an alien society . " " < br > " " Like you . But I know where my home is . And perhaps someday I ' ll be able to go back there . I hope this helps you to find where you came from . " " Background information . Croden was played by actor Cliff DeYoung . Of the scene in which Croden is introduced , the script for describes , " " At the far end of the bar , a figure wearing nondescript clothes sits , drinking alone ( CRODEN ) . He wears a locket on a chain around his neck . Odo moves halfway toward him to his usual spot at the bar , deliberately makes eye contact with the alien who looks away . Odo already has him marked for suspicion . " " ( " " , ) Producer Ira Steven Behr compared Croden ' s character to that of " Smith " from the 1977 film ; " " It ' s about a man who ' s living a mundane kind of life and there ' s political turmoil and the next thing he ' s a wanted terrorist - and he hasn ' t done anything . " " Behr recalled , " " It ' s a wonderful little movie , and that ' s what we saw this guy as . Instead of being a criminal , he ' s a guy who woke up one day and doesn ' t know why , but he did something wrong on his planet and they ' re after him now and he has to kill some people to get away from there . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 50 ) Author Keith R . A . DeCandido said of the character ; " " Cliff DeYoung does a nice job with Croden , who ’ s chatty and vaguely charming and totally awful at being a master criminal ( the whole thing starts because he really sucks at being a thief ) . I especially like that he spends the entire episode talking too much , and we eventually find out that he ’ s on the outs with the government that killed most of his family because he couldn ’ t keep his mouth shut . " "