Firstborn (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
"Firstborn" is a seventh-season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode.
Summary: Worf is concerned that his son Alexander pursue his Klingon heritage.
Alexander, Worf's son, has finally reached the age where he should declare his desire to become a Klingon warrior. However, Worf is appalled to learn Alexander has no such intention.
While awaiting a rendezvous with the USS Kearsarge near the Vodrey Nebula, Captain Picard suggests Worf should expose Alexander to more of his heritage, and the Enterprise stops on Maranga IV so the father and son can go to a Klingon festival.
The exposure to Klingon culture goes well for a time. However, while there, the two are confronted by three Klingon thugs. Before the assailants can mount an attack, a Klingon named K'mtar arrives and fights them off. K'mtar reveals that he is a distant relative who has come to protect Alexander.
K'mtar comes with Worf and Alexander back to the ship, and they quickly bond. Learning of Alexander's quandary, K'mtar assures the boy of the value of becoming a warrior. K'mtar agrees to help with Alexander's training, but after his initial attempts at teaching bear little fruit, K'mtar advises Worf to send Alexander away for training at a Klingon military academy. When Worf is reluctant to pursue this course, K'mtar threatens to use Klingon law and take custody of Alexander away from Worf.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is attempting to find out who attacked Worf and Alexander on Maranga IV. One dagger left behind had a mark from the House of Duras, and following this lead Riker and the crew locate the Duras sisters and accuse them of trying to assassinate Worf, which they deny vehemently.
Meanwhile, Worf discovers K'mtar in Alexander's room, preparing to kill the boy. Alarmed and angry, Worf attacks K'mtar; once he is immobilized, K'mtar confesses that he was behind the attack, which he used to gain the trust of Worf and Alexander. Furthermore, he reveals that he is in fact Alexander – from the future – and he has come back in time to try to prevent Worf's murder.
The future Alexander had blamed himself for having allowed Worf to die, since he had never chosen the life of a Klingon warrior. Worf immediately realizes that K'mtar is in fact his adult son, and Worf tells him that he can only die happy if he knows he allowed Alexander to chart his own course. The two hug, and K'mtar leaves, to return to the future. Worf determines to approach his young son with a new attitude in the future.
Trivia
The Vodrey Nebula was named after a fan who wrote in to suggest the use of the name Kearsarge, after the famous Civil War steam sloop.
Cameos
- Armin Shimerman makes a brief cameo in this episode as Quark, a regular character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.