Episode Report Card Strega: F | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Strifeboat
By Strega | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.12.2002
We return to the Enterprise zipping along, decidedly in one piece. Phew. Hoshi enters, and Captain Quantum asks how the Tesnians are doing. Hoshi says that Dr. Phlox is treating them and they'll be fine. Hoshi has been able to communicate with the aliens, and we finally learn what the heck is going on. It seems that the alien ship was about to dock with the Enterprise when their sensor and navigation systems suddenly went out, and they had to use their escape pods before their ship crashed. Oh, and the Tesnian captain is very sorry about the damage to the Enterprise's docking bay door. So I guess that's what the piece with the serial number was from. That means that this isn't going to involve any time-space anomalies after all! Hooray! Around this time, the writers' credits come up, and it seems this was a personal effort by Messrs. Berman and Braga. I'm starting to see why some people hate them. Quantum buzzes Mayweather and confirms that they'll be able to take their guests home to Tesnia and still get back in time to rendezvous with the shuttlepod. Since they've got plenty of time, Quantum suggests that they slow down so that he can check out the damage to the ship. Me, I'd do that before going anywhere, but I guess I'm too cautious to be in Starfleet.
A capsule drops out of the ship and pokes along the belly of the Enterprise. Inside, Quantum asks T'Pol who is taking over Trip's engineering duties. Way to know your staff, sir. The answer isn't important; Quantum just wants somebody to fix the stupid door. T'Pol announces that they may have detected "micro-singularities in the vicinity of the asteroid field." "Oh ho ho," chuckles Quantum, "you Vulcans and your wacky fairy stories! I'm tired of always trying to teach you how to think scientifically. There's no such thing as micro-singularities! Humans have had interstellar travel for a couple of hours now, and we've seen no evidence of such a thing. Why should we take your word for it, just because your science outstrips ours by several generations?" I'm paraphrasing. I wonder if maybe Quantum is wrong in his blithe dismissal of T'Pol's concern.
Back on the shuttle pod, Trip wonders if the crew could have escaped in the lifeboats. Malcolm says that they'd still be in sight if that had happened. Next, Trip says they have to pick up the "black boxes," but Malcolm reminds him that their sensors are out. We establish that they've got ten days worth of air, which isn't enough to get them, well, anywhere at impulse speeds. They start shouting at each other, because Trip wants to head toward Echo Three, so that Starfleet can at least recover the shuttle and find out what happened to the Enterprise. But since the navigational systems are out, they can't even do that. Trip shouts, "You come from a long line of Navy men, and you've got a real good memory! Look hard at those stars, find something that looks familiar, and tell me which way to go." They're close enough to Earth that there are still recognizable constellations? Recognizable enough to navigate by? Right. Malcolm sniffs, "I don't suppose you have a sextant handy?" and Trip calms down and replies, "I left it with my slide rule." Malcolm obediently turns out and looks at the stars, and after giving him about two seconds to orient himself, Trip asks, "Well?" Malcolm admits that a blue giant looks familiar, and claims that they might have passed it on the way to the asteroid field. The implication being that all they have to do is turn around and "pass it" on the other side, and they'll be going the right way. I love that. Remember how NASA was able to get the Viking Landers to Mars by just aiming them "past the moon"? They take a final pass over the crash site, and Trip mutters, "See you around, Cap'n."