A straight-bladed polearm carried by Jem'Hadar soldiers for close combat, seen when Sisko's crew and a Jem'Hadar unit fought side by side in To the Death.
The kar'takin is the hand-to-hand weapon of the Jem'Hadar, a short staff ending in a broad axe-like blade. Although the Dominion's soldiers normally fight with plasma rifles, they are bred to enjoy close combat and carry blades for it.
The weapon features in the Deep Space Nine episode To the Death. Sisko's crew join forces with a Jem'Hadar unit under the Vorta Weyoun to destroy an Iconian gateway held by renegades, and because a dampening field around the site makes energy weapons useless, both sides are issued kar'takins for the assault.
The joint training sessions, with the Jem'Hadar First Omet'iklan openly promising to kill Sisko once the mission is over, show how the soldiers think.