Episode Report Card Keckler: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Blue Swayed Crews
By Keckler | Season 3 | Episode 13 | Aired on 01.20.2004
Quantum logs that they have been able to steer clear of anomalies, thanks to the Andorians.
Bridge. They approach a system cautiously. T'Pol can't tell if there are bio-signs because there's a lot of debris floating around. Shran McCain offers to let their superior sensors do the scanning without betraying their presence. Hoshi announces that the Andorian sensor reports are coming in, and she puts them up on the viewscreen. It looks curiously downscale for their usual effects on this show. I would put it down to inferior Andorian technology, but we've been told two different ways in the last two minutes that Andorian technology is far superior to that of the Enterprise. T'Pol views the data and concludes that all four vessels are Xinidian. Quantum stares and furrows. Shran McCain steps up behind him and joins him in both the staring and furrowing.
Stella Cartography. After looking at the evidence that the Xindi have been testing their weapon on uninhabited moons, Quantum compares it to the nuclear testing done on Bikini Atoll. "So you believe this is some kind of PROVING GROUND," T'Pol states (emphasis mine). Quantum doesn't think they have much time if the Xindi are now getting ready to test a new weapon. Because of their general state of disrepair, Shran McCain doesn't recommend a frontal assault on behalf of Enterprise: "You're outnumbered four-to-one." "I thought it was four-to-two," T'Pol correctly points out. Shran McCain still doesn't think that their combined forces would be sufficient for the firepower the Xindi seem to have. He points at a crater in the moon on the viewscreen. Quantum wants to take a closer look. "What do you propose we do? Fly up to them and ask them what they're doing?" Shran McCain asks. Quantum doesn't say anything, so you know that's exactly what he's proposing.
Shran McCain is escorted though the corridors until Trip meets up with him and escorts him the rest of the way. Shran McCain inquires after Trip's repairs, and Trip asks for some technology from Shran McCain's ship -- anti-matter injectors that use variable compression nozzles. Shran McCain isn't so sure he wants to hand over such sensitive and sophisticated equipment. I have to note that I do like how Enterprise is starting to be patched together and upgraded by various alien implants. Sort of like how Crichton altered his runabout with bio-mechanoid materials. "I thought we were allies here," Trip says. "That remains to be seen," Shran McCain comments. Trip grins. Shran McCain gets serious and expresses his deep sympathy for Trip's sister. "Well, lots of people lost family," Trip says with a stiff upper lip he borrowed from Malcolm's makeup case. "No great victory comes without sacrifice," Shran McCain reminds him, adding that the "dispute" between the Andorians and the Vulcans hasn't been bloodless. Shran McCain indicates that he lost a brother in the border wars, so he says he can see why Trip "seeks vengeance" against the Xindi. "I'd love to get my hands on whoever [sic] ordered that attack...but that's not why we're here," Trip says. "You have no desire to make these people pay for the death of your sister?" Shran McCain wonders. "I just want to make sure they don't get the chance to finish what they started," Trip says, opening the airlock for Shran McCain. "So, any help you can give us," Trip says, his previous jocularity gone. I looked for the tears that others saw in this scene, and I did not see them. I'm sorry. "I'll have that anti-matter injector delivered to you," Shran McCain promises. What does it say about Quantum's character that an alien expresses a lot more proper sensibilities at Trip's sister's death than he did? It's still always going to piss me off unless they find some way of explaining it away or rewriting history -- something they've gotten so used to, I don't even bother losing sleep over it anymore.