Episode Report Card Keckler: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Importance of Being Earnest Borgnine
By Keckler | Season 2 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.06.2003
Borg ship. As Reed continues to fiddle, Quantum fires at some more Borg. This time his phaser fire is met with the Borg shielding. "They've adapted," Quantum says. "Hurry, Malcolm!" Took them bloody long enough, with no explanation as to why these particular Borg must be such thickies! Oh, right -- because Bermaga want them that way. Quantum orders T'Pol to transport them out. The Borg gather around the EPS manifold and pick up all the doodads Reed left behind.
Enterprise transporter pad. Quantum nods at Reed, who pushes a button on some little remote thing. On the Borg ship, all the doodads explode in the Borg hands, as does the EPS manifold. From outer space, we see a small explosion take place on the Borg ship.
Trip announces that the alien circuits are all losing power and that Enterprise's weapons are coming back online. Inexplicably, the four remaining Borg on Enterprise phase out. On the Bridge, T'Pol tells Quantum that both the Borg vessel and the alien circuitry have been disabled. Quantum seems to see something in the distance as T'Pol asks him if he found the research team. "There isn't anyone on that ship we can help anymore," he says. May-XX and Hoshi exchange looks. Reed reports that something is happening on the Borg ship: "Their systems are being restored. They're charging weapons!" Quantum orders, "Target their warp core and hit them with everything we've got!" With some spectacular special effects, the Borg ship explodes. "Get me Admiral Forrest," Quantum growls at no one in particular as he goes to his Ready Room.
Quantum logs that their repairs are underway, they are flying around at low warp, and Phlox thinks he'll make a complete recovery.
Sick Bay. T'Pol and Quantum pay Phlox a visit. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Quantum demands. Phlox says he's catching up on paperwork: "Nothing too strenuous, I assure you. It's vital to keep the mind occupied during the healing process." "They say doctors make the worst patients," Quantum comments. Whatever, buddy -- it sounded to me like Phlox was making good sense, not a bad patient. Phlox's makeup is really excellent in this scene; he's pasty and dry-looking and there're even veins showing through as a result of the intense radiation treatment. In a disturbed tone, Phlox tells Quantum about his experience being mentally connected to a "group consciousness." At first T'Pol and Quantum don't believe him, because he was under such a great deal of strain. Phlox insists that it "seemed" very real, and though he couldn't understand most of it, he got the distinct impression that they were trying to send a sub-space message. "They transmitted a numerical sequence," Phlox continues, reaching for an e-pad. "I heard it over and over again." T'Pol and Quantum examine the e-pad.
Quantum's Ready Room. T'Pol enters, and Quantum tells her that he's been examining Phlox's numerical sequence: "They're pulsar frequencies with geometric light-year measurements." "Spatial coordinates," T'Pol adds. "Don't even use 'Delta Quadrant' because that term doesn't exist yet!" Mathra screams. "They told their homeworld how to find Earth," Quantum says. "Did you learn where the message was sent?" T'Pol asks. "Somewhere deep in the Delta Quadrant," Quantum says as Mathra's head explodes. Great, another mess I have to clean up. Thanks a whole buncharoo, Bermaga! T'Pol doesn't think they're in immediate danger: "It would take at least two hundred years for a sub-space message to reach the Delta Quadrant, assuming it's received at all." And in case that TNG anvil landed on the part of your brain that can do basic addition: "Sounds to me like we've only postponed the invasion until what? The twenty-fourth century?" Quantum rejoins.