Silik

High-ranking Suliban soldier fighting on the 22nd-century front of the Temporal Cold War, taking orders from a mysterious humanoid from the future in exchange for genetic enhancements for himself and fellow members of the Suliban Cabal. These enhancements include shapeshifting and chameleonic abilities as well as enhanced senses, giving Silik a distinct advantage over those he must battle with, such as Jonathan Archer from the Earth ship Enterprise NX-01.

Silik first crossed paths with Archer in 2151 when he was ordered to prevent Enterprise from reaching the Klingon homeworld with Klaang, a courier who held information that would undermine efforts of the Cabal to bring civil war to the Klingon Empire. He succeeded in kidnapping Klaang from the starship, but he was unable to ascertain from the Klingon what information he received from ex-Cabal member Sarin and in what form. So to find more clues, he traveled to Rigel X, where he met up again with the Enterprise crew, and in the ensuing struggle he killed Sarin. Later Archer and his people tracked down the Suliban Helix where Silik was based and retook Klaang.

Silik faced off with Archer in the Temporal Chamber where Silik receives orders from the future, and revealed that his people don't share humanity's patience with natural selection, essentially confirming that his enhancements were payment for pitting the Klingons against each other. Silik tried to kill Archer at that time, knowing it would have changed history, but Archer managed to escape with the help of his crew.

For failing to prevent Klaang from reaching Qo'noS with Sarin's revelations, Silik was punished by his commander from the future by having his enhanced vision extracted. He was promised he would get it back if he succeeded in his next mission. That mission once again involved boarding Enterprise, which he did disguised as a Borothan pilgrim. While taking a tour of Engineering incognito, Silik surreptitiously used his shapeshifting abilities to access the inner workings of the warp reactor and disconnect an antimatter junction from the primary antimatter feed. He knew that Enterprise would be struck by a bolt of plasma lightning, and by disconnecting that conduit he prevented an antimatter cascade from breaching the reactor core, thereby averting destruction of the starship.

He later appeared to Archer and claimed that he was sent to save the ship, and that the cascade was caused by a rival faction who was trying to change history, not protect it as they profess. Apparently Silik's real mission, though, was to procure a device from the future that was brought on board Enterprise by a 31st-century temporal operative named Daniels who was posing as a crewman, a device that contained a wealth of information that would give the Cabal and their bosses a leg up in the Temporal Cold War. But once again Silik failed in his mission, as that device was destroyed by Archer during a tussle between them. Silik escaped by jumping out a Launch Bay to free-float in space, and was retrieved by a Suliban cell ship.

A few months later, in 2152, after Archer and his crew infiltrated a cloaked Suliban ship and stole some data disks, Silik was ordered by his commander to bring Archer to him, but allow Enterprise to continue unharmed. Silik led a swarm of ships to surround the starship and demanded that Archer give himself up or he will destroy the starship. But just as Archer was preparing to board the Suliban ship, he disappeared — whisked away to another time — leaving Enterprise at the mercy of Silik and his weapons.

Archer and Daniels managed to restore Archer to the correct time, while the Enterprise crew defeated Silik’s soldiers.

Bec's Note: While the Federation is not yet formed in Enterprise, I feel that Silik is more than worthy of a place in the RIVALS section of Bec's Trek Page.

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