Affliction

The Enterprise returns to Earth for the launch of her sister ship Columbia, and so Trip can transfer to the new ship as requested, a move that still has his crewmates baffled. During a routine visit to Earth, Dr. Phlox and Hoshi are attacked by a group of Rigellians, who kidnap Phlox. He is taken to a Klingon colony, where he is forced at the point of a phaser to help a Klingon doctor determine the nature of a virus that is said to be spreading through their entire race. On Earth, Lt. Reed is contacted by a superior officer from a top-secret security organization within Starfleet, and given a few clues about what may have happened to Phlox – and is also given orders not to tell Archer about his assignment, or his connection to the organization known only as Section 31. The Enterprise leaves Earth early to search for Phlox, and is attacked by a Klingon ship and boarded by its crew, who sabotage the engines. One of the Klingons is captured, but Archer and the crew are stunned to find that he looks human, without the characteristic cranial bone structure of a Klingon.

teleplay by Mike Sussman
story by Manny Coto
directed by Michael Grossman
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Guest Cast: Ada Maris (Captain Erika Hernandez), John Schuck (Antaak), James Avery (General K’Vagh), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Terrell Tilford (Marab), Kate McNeil (Lt. Collins), Seth MacFarlane (Ensign Rivers), Marc Worden (Klingon Prisoner), Brad Greenquist (Alien #1), Derek Magyar (Kelby)

Notes: There are several familiar faces among the Klingon crew; John Schuck’s Klingon career predates the Star Trek spinoff era with his appearance as a blustery Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and has also played a Cardassian Legate on Deep Space Nine. Marc Worden also appeared on Deep Space Nine, as the grown-up version of Worf’s son Alexander. Eric Pierpoint has appeared in each of the previous Star Trek spinoffs, and starred in Fox’s series adaptation of Alien Nation. This story marks the first official explanation of the difference between the Klingons’ appearance in the original series and every other iteration of the franchise. Prior to this, the closest to an official explanation was Gene Roddenberry’s assertion that the Klingons, in fact, were always meant to look more alien, but the 1960s series wasn’t budgeted for it; this clashes somewhat with a key plot point of the classic episode The Trouble With Tribbles, in which Klingon undercover operatives were indistinguishable from humans except to tricorder sensors.