Summary
We open as Enterprise enters orbit around an uninhabited
planet. Archer states in his starlog that the planet is
full of plant and animal life, and he's leading the survey
of the planet's surface. Trip, also going along, is excited
because of a large canyon that's five times larger than
the Grand Canyon, and is anxious to try some rafting. He
also says that T'Pol said that the planet is dark only
four days of the month because of the binary star system.
As Archer and Trip board shuttlepod one, T'Pol calls from
the bridge to inform Archer that an alien ship is approaching
and is hailing them. He orders her to route the transmission
to shuttlepod one, and three individuals appear on the
screen. One identifies himself as Rellus Tagrim. He asks
if he and his companions come onboard immediately because
of an approaching neutronic storm. Trip checks the sensors,
but nothing is seen. Tagrim insists that they will detect
it in a few minutes, and once they're onboard Enterprise
leave the system at warp seven. Archer answers by saying
their top speed is warp five.
In the situation room, Archer and the senior officers
are examining the wave front. T'Pol reports that it spans
more than half a dozen light years, and that a century
before a Vulcan vessel had encountered a class five wave
front, and that they were nearly destroyed. Reed states
that if they reinforce the structural integrity Enterprise
should be able to survive the storm, but Phlox says that
the crew will not. This wave front is composed of radiolytic
isotopes that will kill the entire crew within three minutes.
He says sickbay is well shielded, but Archer interjects
by saying you can't fit eighty-three people in sickbay
and he's not going to draw lots. Trip moves over to a display
panel and brings up a schematic of the ship's nacelles,
and suggests everyone might be safe in "The Catwalk," a
serviceway that extends the length of each warp nacelle.
It's heavily shielded, and should provide enough protection
from the isotopes. Also it gets over 300 degrees when the
warp drive is online, so main power would have to be taken
offline. Everyone agrees that going into the catwalk is
the best solution, and Archer orders the evacuation.
Trip and Travis go ahead and check out the catwalk. Trip
asks Travis if he had ever been in a storm as bad as this
one, and he says they encountered a class three storm that
forced them to take cover for six weeks. The two continue
to explore the catwalk, and find the place for the command
center. Trip says that the storm encountered by Travis'
family must have been scary, in which Travis answers by
saying they found out when the generators went off-line,
and his dad's look in his eyes told him they were in trouble.
In the detox chamber, Tagrim and his companions are finishing
they decon session when Archer, Phlox enter to greet them.
Archer asks if they're from the Takrit System and that
it's a long way from their current position. One of the
men states that they're stellar cartographers and Archer
asks if they would help them update their star charts.
They agree, and we see the crew evacuation into the catwalk.
T'Pol stops by sickbay to inform Phlox that he's behind
schedule and asks if he needs help. He states that she's
only allocated him fifteen meters for medical storage space,
and not all of his animals will fit in that area. She suggests
that the animals can share cages, but he comments that
they would eat each other. She eventually gives Phlox twenty
cubic meters of space.
Trip shows Tagrim and his associates their bunking area
and says if they need anything, he'll be nearby. After
he leaves, one of the men says they're not stellar cartographers.
In he ready room, Archer is finishing up packing, and sees
the storm through the window. He moves to the window to
take a look, when T'Pol enters. She reports that Reed's
modifications are complete. Archer admits that he done
some research about the Vulcan ship that encountered the
class five storm a century ago, and says that it was lost
with all hands. He says that T'Pol reported it was "nearly
destroyed," to which she responds by saying she must
have remembered incorrectly.
In the catwalk, Trip and Travis are completing their modifications
to the display panels so command functions would be transferred
to the catwalk. They successfully reroute helm control
to the catwalk, and shut down the main bridge and all internal
ship systems. Archer, Reed and T'Pol make their way to
the catwalk. Moments later, Enterprise enters the wave
front. After a few shaky moments, Travis manages to stabilize
the ship.
Later, Archer uses this chance to spend some time with
the crew. He picks up a crewwomen's padd and sees she's
doing a crossword puzzle. She asks who was the first Vulcan
Ambassador to Earth, six letters, ending in r. Archer answers
by saying he thinks it's Solkar. He then moves over to
Hoshi, who's dealing with her claustrophobia. She seems
to be ok with the situation. Next, Archer moves to Trip,
who's playing a poker game with several crewmembers. Archer
asks about their guests, and Trip says that they're keeping
to themselves and one of them came out earlier and asked
them to be quieter, they were making too much noise. Reed,
who appears to be suffering from motion sickness, goes
to Phlox to get a treatment. Archer stops by and asks Reed
how he's doing, and tells Phlox that they could move some
of his cages to the aft compartments. Phlox says he likes
the cramped quarters, on Denobula 12 billion people share
one continent. In the command center, Archer watches a
water polo game while T'Pol does some work. The two tell
each other that they're slightly bothering each other,
and they decide to try to get some sleep. Archer tells
her that this is a good time for her to get to know the
crew, but she hesitates. Archer asks her if she's ever
been camping, and she answers by saying she took part in
kas-wahn ritual. At the poker game, Trip and Reed have
a light agreement about the conditions in the catwalk.
Chef comes by to bring everyone their meal, and they talk about
movie night. They smell something burning, and rushes into
Tagrim's space where they are cooking some food. Trip demands
that they turn their cooker off, and carries their food
to Chef.
Next, Archer calls Trip to the command center. Sensors
show that the antimatter injectors have come online. Trip
says that's not right and it must be a sensor glitch. He
then asks Archer if he could sleep in the command center
because Tagrim and his men are driving him crazy. Archer
says that they owe them because they warned them about
the storm. Suddenly, sensors show that the matter injectors
have now come online. Trip takes an EV suit and proceeds
to engineering. Phlox states that Trip has only 22 minutes.
Once he reaches main engineering, Trip notices that there
are others onboard, and they are trying to reengage the
warp core. He makes his way to a terminal, and ties in
to the bridge monitor and sees people on the bridge, trying
to take control of the ship. Next, we see an alien in the
ready room looking over Archer's starlogs. One of his men
say that they've searched the ship and cannot find the
fugitives and that he's having problems with the dilithium
matrix. The Alien Captain orders him to make it a priority.
In the catwalk, Phlox examines Tagrim and his associates
and reveals that they're immune to the radiolytic isotopes.
Archer demands to know who is onboard. Then they reveal
that they were once in the Takrit Militia, but left when
they discovered the higher officers were corrupt and steal
alien vessels. Later, Archer, Reed, T'Pol and Trip are
discussing the plan to retake the ship, when the warp core
begins to come online. Trip says they only have about twenty
minutes before everyone in the catwalk is killed.
Archer, Reed and T'Pol proceed to retake the ship. Reed
and T'Pol proceed to engineering to disable the warp core.
Archer heads to deck five and makes contact with the alien
captain. The captain asks Archer where his crew is, and
Archer answers that they all have died. Archer tells him
to get off his ship, but the captain says that he can't
do that because they detected Tagrim's vessel in the launch
bay. The captain also says that they have impounded Enterprise
under the Takrit Militia code, but Archer says that he'll
destroy Enterprise if he has to. Archer then orders Travis
to change course to head directly to a plasma eddy. In
engineering, T'Pol and Reed are having difficulty shutting
down the warp core. Archer becomes trapped on deck five.
On the bridge, the captain demands that he get helm control,
and one of his men says it will take too long and they
must evacuate. T'Pol and Reed shut down the warp core,
and Enterprise begins to get dangerously close to the plasma
eddy. The ship begins to shake itself apart, and the alien
captain orders a total evacuation. Archer contacts the
command center and orders Travis to alter course because
the aliens are gone.
In the catwalk, the crew is watching a western, when Archer
announces that they will be able to leave the storm earlier
than expected.
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