The Augments

"The Augments" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the eighty-second episode overall. It is the last of a three-story episode arc, preceded by "Borderland", and "Cold Station 12". "The Augments" was directed by LeVar Burton, from a script by Michael Sussman.

The series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise, registration NX-01. In this episode, "Augments", genetically enhanced humans, and Doctor Arik Soong, their surrogate father, escape Cold Station 12 after stealing frozen Augment embryos from storage. Soong plans to hide out with the Augments and raise the embryos, but Malik, their leader, is tired of hiding and attempts to instigate a war between Starfleet and the Klingons.

The production of the episode reunites fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni Burton as the director and Brent Spiner as Arik Soong. On The Next Generation, Burton previously played Geordi La Forge, while Spiner played Data. Most of the guest cast from the previous two Enterprise episodes in the story arc returned for "The Augments"; Mark Rolston makes an appearance as Klingon Captain Magh. The sets were also reused, but a new one was built for the Klingon escape pod used by Soong. UPN first aired "The Augments" on November 12, 2004, where it was watched by 2.1 percent of the U.S. population. It received mixed reviews from critics, who spoke negatively of Malik's character, but praised the performance of Spiner as Soong and the relationship between T'Pol and Tucker.