Episode Report Card Keckler: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Private Little Hunt
By Keckler | Season 1 | Episode 18 | Aired on 03.19.2002
The Eska hunters voraciously pursue the Wraith until something attacks one of them.
Back at the campsite, one of the Eska screams in pain as his fellow Eskans try to hold him still on the picnic table. Quantum et al. dash back to camp, and Quantum comms Phlox to stand by. Trip asks what jumped the guy, and Reed tells him they didn't see it. Holtz-Damrus says it was a Drayjin: "The females can be very aggressive, especially when they're protecting a nest." The Eskas resist Quantum's sick bay offer for a bit, until Holtz-Damrus finally gives in and thanks Quantum, saying, "We obviously want him to have the best treatment." Quantum orders Trip and Malcolm to take the wounded Eska back to the sh'pod. Holtz-Damrus says, "You should all return to your ship. We came to this planet aware of its dangers -- you didn't." But naturally, since Quantum can't shift that chip on his shoulder, he says, "I'm not ready to leave."
Quantum reads in his tent, and T'Pol stops by to tell him that Trip phoned to say they got home okay. Quantum invites T'Pol in for a little chin-wag. He tells T'Pol he saw his lady of the lake again and this time she spoke to him, telling him she needed him. "I believe you should reconsider returning to Enterprise," T'Pol says. "And have Dr. Phlox take a look at me?" Quantum asks rhetorically. "There are no psychotropic compounds here [well, that's a first]. I wasn't hallucinating and I wasn't dreaming," he insists. T'Pol postulates that the only "logical conclusion" is that the Blue Banshee is a "real human woman." Quantum says he doesn’t know if she's human or not, but she's materializing to him for an express purpose, and he's going to find out what that is by going after her. T'Pol says she will accompany him, but Quantum insists that he's the chosen one and that the Blue Banshee will appear for him alone. "Is that your only reason for going by yourself?" T'Pol asks. "What?" Quantum asks. "With respect, Captain, I wonder if you would be so determined to find this apparition if it was a scantily-clad man," T'Pol tells him. Heh -- nice one, T'Pol. Only if it were Dean Stockwell. T'Pol vacates the captain's tent.
Sick Bay. Phlox reports to Trip that their Eskan patient will get over his wounds with a few more hours rest, and asks what attacked him. "They call it a Drayjin. Looks like a big, nasty pig. Kinda tastes like one, too," Trip tells him. I wonder if that makes Trip a cannibal? Phlox says, "I found cellular residue in the wound. It clearly doesn't belong to this gentleman, I assume it must've come from the animal that mauled him." He leads Trip over to his microscope. Trip asks what he's looking at. "The cells are in a state of chromosomal flux. They're mutating. It's as if they're trying to change into something but can't quite figure out what," Phlox explains, adding, "That must've been a most unusual 'pig,'" and looking over at his patient. "Shape-shifter, pan-fried by your bile, Holtz is hunting you in style all day. He's a heart-staker, you big faker, wherever you run to, he'll be on his way," Mathra croons to the tune of "Moon River."