Actually, @Deks , I believe that you are wrong. I have rewatched the scene in question. Dr Jago takes a strand of Dal’s hair and places it in to a scanner, Dal’s DNA is in turn displayed via holographic projection of a familiar DNA helix. This holographic representation of Dal’s DNA then transitions via animation in to a decompiled profile of Dal’s genetic makeup - we even see how it is all links together.
As Dr Jago looks through Dal’s ‘profile’ he immediately *visually* identifies that Dal is the handy work of a Soong protégée as he saw familiarity in the geneticists ‘handy work’. Jago states that Dal likely began as a homosapien/humanoid/human and was augmented with recessive DNA from the 26 species listed in the graphics as depicted via the hologram, screenshot earlier in this thread.
We can not deny what we have seen in canon on screen, Deks.
Now, we need to think about just how this Soong protégé collected all of these samples from the four quadrants. Founder DNA *could* have been collected from one of the 100 founders that were sent out to explore the galaxy, perhaps even from Odo himself who had been living in the Alpha Quadrant for many years on Terok Nor/Bajor. Other DNA could have been collected via travel using the Borg transwarp conduit network or some other unknown means of travel. Alternatively, someone may have stumbled upon a Borg cube in the Alpha/Beta Quadrant and collected DNA samples from all of the different species that the cubes drones were comprised of; some of these species *would* indeed have been unknown 17 years ago, but in the 2380’s a species designation could finally be identified as a result of cross referencing Dal’s DNA against Voyagers first contact database after the ships recent return home to the Alpha Quadrant.
We can also entertain the possibility that the Soong protégé geneticist who created Dal was on a multi generation sleeper ship similar to the Botany Bay, it could have been collecting DNA from around the galaxy on it’s century spanning journey retracing the steps of the Progenitors or Preservers in order to recreate the galaxies first life forms who helped to seed the galaxy. Dal could even be a galactic genetic puzzle being put together - he could be a genetic ‘key’ to something on a galactic level. Dal could even potentially be the ultimate form of galactic evolution from the far future of the galaxy, but of course engineered in the present with extrapolated information and genetic projections. Dal could also possibly have been designed to act as a common life form genetically linked to all major species in order to bring peace throughout the galaxy.
Regardless, I think that the evidence on screen in the episode Masquerade is accurate and can not be disputed unless the writers want to overwrite Dal’s genetic profile in a future episode with only Federation member/friendly species with a bit of retcon. It was *not* stated on screen that Dal was sequenced only from Federation member species, however. If Dal was a hybrid of *only* Federation species, this leads to the question of whether the Federation themselves were covertly involved in his creation for some reason.
Please rewatch the scene 7 minutes and 58 seconds in to the episode Masquerade for clarification and confirmation of everything that I have said above.
I think that the writers have a lot of explaining to do, personally. Though they may just brush this all off for now.
Its still not possible.
The writers said Dal was supposed to be 17 years old.
Ergo, he would have been created in 2366 (the show Prodigy takes place in 2383).
Species 8472 hadn't even been in our galaxy until the Borg tried assimilating them in 2373 (and back then, Species 8472 would have actually probably invaded the galaxy if someone from our side tried 'contaminating' their realm - they only did that when the Borg invaded).
Even with Odo living on DS9 or Bajor, let's be real... SF and UFP didn't have access to Bajor or DS9 until 2369 (prior to this, its unlikely the Cardassians would have allowed many traders onboard their station. The protege's of Soong couldn't just casually stroll onto Terrok Nor and take Odo's sample (it would have been a lot easier to do this when SF was on DS9).
Oh and, travelling via the TW network back then would have been a ridiculous endeavour because ships would suffer rather big hits on structural integrity (if not be completely destroyed), and the Borg were still very much of a threat in 2366. And if they noticed someone was using their TW conduits... they'd probably be curious as to who was doing that and put a stop to it.
I'm not ignoring canon... canon is in disagreement with itself.
The visual graph contains Delta and Gamma Quadrant species DNA for Dal (species that couldn't come into contact with the Alpha Quadrant in 2366). And its supposed to include species 8472 DNA as well? A species that lives in another DIMENSION and didn't even set foot into the Milky Way (and our dimension) until 2373?
The first few times Dal's DNA was mentioned (episodes 15 and 18), the characters only mentioned 26 alien species (but no one mentioned what they were).
But then, VA Janeway said to the SF tribunal that Dal's DNA contains samples of 26 different alien species that are part of UFP.
Either she way lying (and I'm sure she wouldn't because they aren't stupid and would have looked over the data themselves), or she was wrong (in which case it would make her negligent and weaken her defense of Dal).
I'd say the graph was wrong, and Dal's DNA was supposed to include samples from 26 species part of UFP at the time (so it may have been a small retcon).
