Masquerade (episode)

Trapped in the Neutral Zone, the crew encounters a rogue geneticist who sheds light on Dal's past.
== Summary ==
A jealous Dal silently fumes over the crew's fawning over their guest, Thadiun Okona. With the in need of repairs, Okona suggests that they port at Noble Isle – a port which can only be accessed through a space elevator because of heavy ion storms in the atmosphere, where science is unregulated. Okona takes them to the lab of his client, a geneticist named Dr. Jago. Dr. Jago is fascinated by Dal and, after conducting a brief scan to confirm her suspicions, she reports that Dal is a Human hybrid, composed of the recessive DNA of 26 alien species, created by the protégés of Arik Soong. When Dal bemoans the fact that he has no family and is just a "failed experiment," Jago states that she can fix Dal by implanting an epigenetic dermal device which will activate his dormant genes. Though the crew assures Dal that he doesn't need fixing, he secretly has Jago perform the procedure. 
On the other side of the Neutral Zone, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway contacts her superior at Starfleet Command – Admiral Edward Jellico – to get clearance to enter the Zone to retrieve the Protostar so that the weapon on board doesn't fall into Romulan hands. Unwilling to risk the current negotiations with the Romulans, Jellico denies her request and tells her to destroy the Protostar if the Romulans seize it. Ensign Asencia volunteers to covertly enter the Neutral Zone to get the ship, but Janeway states that she isn’t ready to defy orders.
Meanwhile a Tal Shiar squad arrives on Nobel Isle in order to take the Protostar. As Okona runs off at the first opportunity, Dal is able to fight off the Romulans with his newfound, and rapidly expanding, genetic traits. The crew are pursued by the Tal Shiar squad as they attempt to escape through the space elevator, 
Monitoring the Romulans' activities from the , Janeway, over the loud objection of Ensign Asencia, orders a full spread of torpedoes to be fired at the Protostar in order to keep the ship from being captured. 
On the space elevator, Murf is desperate to be released from the containment pod that he's housed in. When Rok lets him out, Murf springs into action and easily overwhelms the Romulans, leading Gwyn to declare that they have a new security officer. Seeing that the Romulans are no longer a threat, the Admiral quickly belays the torpedo order, and the torpedoes detonate harmlessly in open space.
Safe on board the Protostar, Rok and Zero are able to remove the Dal's new implant before his genetic changes can become permanent. Back to his normal self, Dal complains to Gwyn that he just wanted to better himself, because he knows he'll never be as good a captain as Okona. Gwyn tells him that he's right. He'll never as good as Okona; he's already a better captain because he stayed to fight where Okona ran off. 
Back on the Dauntless, Asencia visits the Diviner and unexpectedly orders Drednok to activate. As the table transforms into the robot from Tars Lamora, Asencia presses the epigenetic dermal implant on her neck and reveals herself to be another Vau N'Akat sent back in time to find the Protostar.
==Log entries==
* Captain's log, USS Protostar
* Science log, USS Protostar
==Memorable quotes==
"Ah, tell me, who is this beautiful specimen? Such interesting mandibula."
"Uh, is this how you greet strangers here?"
"The unique coloration. The skull ganglia."
"You've seen someone like him?"
"Never, but his origins are obvious."
"Whoa, whoa. You know where I came from?"
"Not where. But who."
: - Dr. Jago, Dal and Gwyn
"Aha, as I suspected. You're the handiwork of the protégés of Dr. Arik Soong, a geneticist who defected from the Federation."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling them Dal was made in a lab."
"As you can see, Dal is the product of artificial hybrid speciation."
: - Dr. Jago and Okona, as the geneticist reveals Dal's true origins
"It appears they began with a sample of an unremarkable humanoid specimen, most likely homo sapien."
"Unremarkable? I'm... Human?"
"Human Augment, blended with the most recessive traits of 26 species. I see traces of Vulcan, proto-Organian... Sloppy work in my opinion. Miracle you can talk."
: - Dr. Jago reveals to Dal his true species
"Who are these kids?" 
: - Admiral Janeway
"I'm sorry. I really messed things up. I didn't wanna be a mistake. I just wanted you to look at me like you look at Okona."
"You're not a mistake. But you'll never be as good as Okona. You're better. He left us. You didn't."
: - Dal and Gwyn
"You weren't the only one sent back to find the ship." 
: - Asencia, revealing her true identity to The Diviner
==Background information==
===Title===
* The title was announced by Paramount+ in . 
===Production===
* The episode was aired on by in some European countries such as Croatia, Hungary, and Poland, ahead of US release. 
* Variations of the score from can be heard throughout the episode.
===Cast and characters===
* Ronny Cox reprises his role of Edward Jellico after last portraying the character on-screen in the two-part episode and in . Since then, Jellico has been promoted to admiral, which was established in the episode where the Federation News Network news ticker mentions him as an admiral and banning the Zebulon Sisters from performing on active-duty starships in 2381.
===Continuity===
* Jago's screen shows emblems of various species whose samples she checked Dal's DNA against, some of which previously appeared in other Star Trek series:
** Andorian (), Bajoran (), Breen (), Cardassian (), Ferengi (), Hirogen (), Kazon (), Klingon (), Risian (), Son'a (), Suliban (), Vidiian (), Vulcan ()
** Four of the emblems originally come from Star Trek games: a Gorn symbol from , a Species 8472 symbol from Star Trek Online, an Orion symbol from The Orions, a supplement, and a Tellarite symbol from the Starfleet Operations Manual supplement for , now used in a canon production for the first time.
** The Tholian emblem originated in the reference book Star Trek: Star Charts.
** This version of the Romulan emblem was previously used only in promotional materials, but not on screen. Similarly, the Reman emblem is based on a design sketch created for the movie, slightly different from the version used in the actual film. 
** Three emblems belong to multi-species groups, the Dominion (), Maquis () and Xindi (), without specifying the actual species.
** One of the symbols has the shape of the letter Q, which might designate the species.
* Okona discusses the events of with the Protostar crew.
* Admiral Janeway's ready room contains a replica of the , the ship she commanded during the events of .
* The Romulans use the same disruptor pistols and rifles featured in Season 1 of .
* Although there is no official stardate within the episode itself, a log by Janeway on the "Star Trek Logs" Instagram account dated the episode to stardate 61368.6. 
==Links and references==
===Cast===
*Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk
*Dee Bradley Baker as
**Murf
** Starfleet Officer #2
**Tal Shiar #3
*Brett Gray as Dal
*Angus Imrie as Zero
*Ella Purnell as Gwyn
*Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
*John Noble as The Diviner
*Jimmi Simpson as 
;And
*Kate Mulgrew as "Hologram Janeway / Vice Admiral Janeway"
*Kimberly Brooks as
**Commander Kaseth
**Starfleet Officer #1
*Billy Campbell as Thadiun Okona
*Brook Chalmers as
**Tal Shiar #2
**Tal Shiar #6
*Ronny Cox as Admiral Jellico
*Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess
*Bonnie Gordon as
**Ship Computer
**Tal Shiar #4
*Amy Hill as Doctor Jago
*Jameela Jamil as Asencia
*Ben Thomas as
**Tal Shiar #1
**Tal Shiar #5
=== Background characters ===
* Noble Isle visitors
* Spike Headed Alien
* Two Headed Alien
===References===
adenine; advisory hologram; agility; alien puppies; Andorian; anti-grav suit; arm; "armed and ready"; artificial hybrid speciation; artificial lifeform; assumption; augment; away team; ; barrier; bases; battle; beaming; Benzan; blood; blood cell; body; Brikar; business; ; captain (rank); (title); captain's log; cargo; cell division; Chakotay; cheating; city; client; Coalition of Madena species; coffee table; command; control panel; crew; "cutting edge"; cytosine; (unnamed (x2)); ; ; Debin; Denaxi Depot; disruptor; DNA; "doc"; dormant genes; double helix; dreams; Drednok; ear; engineer; Engineer Officer; ensign; epigenetic dermal implant (aka dermal implant); excretion; experiment; "fan out"; fathers; Federation; fire; ; friend; gelatinous putrescine; genes; genetic augmentation process; geneticist; goo; goods; grappling gun; guanine; hair; heirloom; helmet; holo-emitters; hologram; Human (aka Homo sapiens); humanoid; hybrid; ice cream cone; s; intelligence; ; ion storm; Jago's species; Jewel of Thesia; job; ; Klingon; ; Kushell; lab; lightning; logic; M class; "man-chop"; mandibula; Medical Officer; Medusan; Mellanoid slime worm; metal; microtorpedo; miles; mind; mind reader; mission; mistake; mutation; nacelles; Noble Isle; obligations; odds; officer; order; origins; parents; s; Petri dish; phaser; pressure; procedure; proto-drive; Proto-Organian; ; ; purpose; quantum torpedo; questions; recessive traits; reflection; Rhino; rocket launcher; Romulan; Romulan Neutral Zone; rule of law; rules; salvage yard; sample; science; science log; security officer; services; shipment; shore leave; sickbay; skull ganglia; ; Soong's protégés; space elevator; species; specimen; "stand down"; stardate; Starfleet; ; starport; story; stranger; street; strike team (aka hit squad); stun bomb; sub-channels; "suit up"; Tal Shiar; teenager; telepathy; Tellarite; thing; thymine; "too good to be true"; Trill; trouble; Vau N'Akat; vomiting; ; Vulcan; wager; weapon; words; Yanar; "Z"
====LCARS references====
adaptive mode; Alpha Quadrant; archive; Bajoran; Breen; Cardassian; comm center; command functions; command net; contour mode; Delta Quadrant; Dominion; Earth; Ferengi; flowchart; folder; Gorn; Hirogen; Kazon; Krenim; LCARS; Maquis; message; Orion; planet; ; record; Reman; Risian; Sector 001; security code; Sol system; Son'a; Species 8472; Starfleet Headquarters; Suliban; sync; Tholian; Vidiian; wireframe mode; Xindi
===External links===
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