In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close. I guess some folks are born, made to wave the Starfleet flag. Ooh, that red, white, and Braga. But it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son. Or daughter, for that matter, but I still didn't like this episode, which involved Nausicaans with language lessons and Mayberry with so many "boomer" lines that I really dislike him as an actor now. Seriously. The recapping gods must be really ticked at me, because I slept through another episode. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
A long ship, déjà-vu-ing me back to 1978 and Battlestar Galactica, glides through space. On opposite catwalks, two men, going for the casual-Friday look in sweatshirts, throw a football back and forth across a cargo hold. The CGI ball moves very slowly through the air. Much slower, in fact, than the men's arms throwing it. I get it; this is supposed to be a gravity-depicting thing. The older gent grabs the ball and crows, "Hauled down in the corner of the end zone; touchdown! Haw haw!" The other, younger guy expositions, "I'd like to see you make that catch with the gravity plating at Earth sea level." "I doubt you could throw the ball ten meters on Earth," the older guy says. Is that the space way of saying he throws like a girl? "One more reason not to go!" the younger guy yells back. "Did you find out what was causing that vibration in Module Two?" the older guy asks with captain-like authority. Yeah, it was all those people jumping on the beds in Module One. The younger guy recoils from a catch with unnecessary force (considering the speed of the ball they're attempting to portray) and explains that the cargo was loaded unevenly on Jupiter. He finishes by saying, "Shawn and I, we trimmed it out." This scene and conversation shows that these astronauts and the writers have a warped understanding of the conservation of momentum law. Captain tells him to keep an eye on the vibrating module just as the ship is hit by something heavy. Someone comms from the bridge, "Bridge to Captain Keene: we're under attack sir, it's the Nausicaans!" Captain Keene orders that they drop out of warp and charge up their plasma cannon. The ship is jolted by another hit, and the younger guy drops the football. Butterfingers.
Outer space. A small, moth-shaped ship zaps the cargo ship with blue phaser blasts.
Insert song snark here.
It's dark, it's shadowy, and there's Porthos. Must be Quantum's cabin. The Captain is paged from the bridge and told that Starfleet Command has a message for him. Quantum asks to have it put through to his quarters as he pulls on a shirt. Admiral Forrest comes through kind of fuzzily on Quantum's laptop. They greet each other, and Quantum apologizes for the quality of the transmission, explaining, "We're getting ready to deploy the first subspace amplifier -- should clear up reception a bit." Adm. Forrest tells him to do whatever's necessary to "keep those reports coming, those scans of that comet were fascinating." Yeah, deadly fascinating. The reason for Adm. Forrest's call is to ask Quantum to backtrack a bit in order to check up on a distress signal sent out by a cargo freighter called the Fortunate. Quantum asks for specifics, but Forrest doesn't have any: "They're not responding to hails. I'd like you to check this out -- give them any assistance they need." Quantum accepts his assignment, and they sign off. "Think our day's gonna start a little early," Quantum comments to Porthos, who wags his cute tail from his cute cushion.
On the bridge, the crew analyzes the specs of the cargo ship. Among other insignificant details like speed (warp one-point-eight) and vessel type designation (Y-Class), T'Pol tells them that the crew complement of the Fortunate is twenty-three. Mayberry is just fidgeting with the desire to show off how much he knows about cargo freighters and says, "Not counting newborn babies." Everyone looks at him. "Ensign?" Quantum prompts. Mayberry pants with excitement, "I grew up on a J-Class. A little smaller but the same basic design. And one thing I can tell you is that at warp one-point-eight, you got a lotta time on your hands between ports. That's how my parents wound up with me." Aw, I didn't want to know that. T'Pol asks him if he actually has any useful information to impart about the cargo ship "beyond its recreational activities?" Heh. Predictably, Reed asks what kinds of weaponry the Fortunate would be likely to carry. Mayberry furrows his brow and says, "Well, typically nothing more than a low-yield plasma cannon, but most freight-haulers would have upgraded the first chance they got." Reed asks why that is. Before Mayberry answers, I want to ask why it is that Reed's even questioning why anyone would upgrade their weapon system. Reed's very character suggests that his reason for ever upgrading weaponry would be "because it's there." So I shouldn't think that he of all people needs an explanation why an inferior system would get upgraded. Mayberry decides to ignore my meanderings and answers Reed: "Think about it: you're a dozen light years from home, with twenty kilotons of dilithium ore in your hold, armed with nothing but a pop gun for shooting oncoming meteors. What would you do?"
Somewhere in space. Enterprise drops out of warp and comes into view of Fortunate. "I'm reading hull damage," Reed reports. "Their warp reactor's offline and most of their primary systems are down." Quantum asks if there are any other ships in the area. T'Pol gives him a negative. Quantum tells Hoshi to "open a channel," and he tries contacting Fortunate. Hoshi doesn't get a response back, so Quantum tries again. Still nothing. "Their comm systems may be down," Hoshi finally says. T'Pol uses the Spock viewer and reports twenty-four bio-signs. Wasn't it twenty-three last time? Guess Mayberry was right about cargo people gettin' bizzay! Quantum thinks a bit and says, "Have Doctor Phlox meet us in the launch bay." Mayberry and Reed follow him out. You know, I've noticed that Quantum doesn't specifically tell people that they're on the away team. How do they know? Furthermore, Picard always said, "Mr. So-And-So, you have the bridge," whereas Quantum just walks away. Irresponsible, that's what he is. TNG marathon this weekend? Why, yes, I did.
Shuttle pod. Quantum acts as a backseat driver to Mayberry. "Easy does it. There's a lot of debris out here," he says. Reed comments that not all the debris is from the Fortunate, and Phlox adds, "On the bright side, I'm only picking up inorganic material -- no bodies." Ouch. Reed reports that the main hatch is damaged: "No chance we'll get a positive seal." May-I-Know-It-All-Berry tells them, "There should be an auxiliary hatch on the port side." In outer space, the shuttle pod navigates through the burning debris -- um, how exactly is it STILL BURNING when fire needs OXYGEN to burn? -- and locks itself to the side of the Fortunate. The Enterprise crew strides aboard and is met by four of the glowering Fortunate crew. "Permission to come aboard," Quantum says. Rather late for that, since they're already aboard. "Granted," says young football-throwing guy, to whom they better give a name soon, because he's so nondescript that it's getting hard to come up with identifiers. "I'm Matthew Ryan, First Officer," says nondescript-but-now-named young football-throwing guy. Quantum introduces himself and says, "Sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances. What happened here?" "Nausicaans," Ryan tells him. "They tried to board us. We managed to fight them off but not before we took a few bruises." "Nausicaans?" Quantum queries. "Pirates, sir," Mayberry fills in for him, chomping at the bit to impress the crew of the Fortunate with the fact that he's a "boomer": "They've been attacking freighters in this sector for years. M'parents had a run-in with them once, they were lucky to come out of it alive." Maybe it's just me, but I would have thought that in order to become, and function as, a Starfleet Captain, you'd actually have to have some knowledge of what goes on in space. Especially if those goings-on affect other humans in space. I mean, how can a freighter crew going warp one-point-eight know more than the captain of a Galaxy-class starship whose main purpose is exploration? Ah, I'll only find the answers at the bottom of a Post Road. "Your parents ran freight?" Ryan asks. "Still do," Mayberry says, puffing up with pride, "An old J-Class -- the Horizon." Ryan looks at him with new respect, and Mayberry gives him a weird nod over Quantum's shoulder. "I've got repair teams standing by. What can we do?" Quantum asks. Ryan thanks-but-no-thanks him for his trouble. "If you didn't need our help, then why did you send out a distress call?" Reed asks. Ryan smiles creepily and says, "One of our younger crewmembers panicked -- hit the emergency beacon. With our comm down we had no way of telling Starfleet to ignore it." Quantum digests this and asks, "Where's your captain?" Ryan admits that Captain Keene was wounded, so he's in charge until Keene recovers. "I'm sorry we took valuable time away from your mission," Ryan says.
Finally, Phlox steps in and tells them that he's a doctor: "If your captain, or anyone else is hurt, it wouldn't be right for me to leave without seeing them." The Hippophloxtic Oath, or something. Mayberry butts in again with his freighter background and says, "He's got a lot more experience than any freighter medic I know." Quantum finally lays a guilt trip on the sullen Fortunate crew and tells them that, as they've come from so far away, it would be stupid if they left without being able to butt in just a little. Ryan smiles tightly and takes them to his leader. Captain Keene is unconscious in the infirmary. "Is he going to die?" Ryan asks. "Not any time soon," Phlox says, cheerily. "The Nausicaan weapon disrupted his neural pathways. I've started him on a cortical regeneration, but it'll take some time." Ryan asks how long, and Phlox gives him a recovery prognosis of two or three days. Ryan goes to ponder this information in the corner. "Since we have to stick around, we might as well help you get your ship up and running," Quantum offers. "That's all right," Ryan says, dismissing the offer. Quantum tries again, saying, "I understand you're used to doing things on your own, but we're here. Use us. We might be able to upgrade your hull-plating, your weapons. It couldn't hurt the time you run into these Nausicaans." Ryan looks up suddenly, which Quantum takes as encouragement and continues, "The sooner you're back at warp, the sooner that cargo you're hauling gets to where it's supposed to go." Ryan nods.
In a plastic-barrel-filled cargo bay, a crewmate says to Ryan, "You're letting them send over more people?" "A few engineers, that's all," Ryan tells him. "We can't have people crawling all over the place," Crewmate says. "We'll keep them where they're supposed to be," Ryan says, as The Music Of Misconduct builds. "And what if they find him?" Crewmate asks. "What do you want me to do?" Ryan asks back, "Throw them off the ship?" They walk around a few barrels and reach another crewmember holding a pistol. "Anything?" Ryan asks, as it's revealed that they have a bruised Nausicaan tied up. Pistol-Toting Crewman shakes his head, and Ryan leans into the Nausicaan to hiss, "I want those codes." The Nausicaan looks scared.
Enterprise hovers under the Fortunate. Amazingly, it's about one-hundredth the size of that garbage scow. Mayberry and Ryan confab in Enterprise's corridors. "Trip'll get a kick out of this -- it's older than he is," Mayberry says, examining some device. "Quartermaster won't have anything like it, but Engineering should be able to make one for you." Ryan looks peevish: "We've got our own machine shop." Mayberry placates him by saying that he knows their crew must have their hands full with everything else, and they're just so happy to help. "That's a transporter," Ryan comments, as they pass a pad. Mayberry chuckles, "Enterprise came with all the trimmings." Like a turkey. Ryan examines the pad and says he's read about transporters. "Have you been through it?" he asks Mayberry, who grins and says, "Not yet. Most of the crew's afraid, but I'm kinda curious to try it out." Ryan steps onto the pad, and looks around, saying, "They say for a split second, you can actually feel yourself in both places at once." "Why do you think I want to try it?" Mayberry asks archly. Ryan looks at him with new respect and brings up his barge experience: "So you were on the Horizon." Mayberry tells him he was born on her, "halfway between Dralax and Vega Colony." Ryan gets personal on the walk to Engineering and asks how his parents felt about him abandoning ship. "I've still got my sister and her husband aboard the Horizon," Mayberry says, "but I know my father expected me to take over at some point." Ah, the old family-business storyline. Classic. But by "classic," I mean "trite and as tired as a recapper." Ryan asks why Mayberry left if his father had such expectations of him. "I had to figure out where I wanted to spend the rest of my life," Mayberry tells him, as they get on a turbo-lift. "And I was pretty sure it wasn't on the Dralax-Vega run. Besides, the Horizon didn't have transporters to play with."
Engineering. Trip tells Ryan that the mechanical thingy Mayberry was carrying in the last scene has destroyed valve seals. "We'll have to synthesize some new ones. Give me about forty minutes?" Mayberry and Ryan look at each other. "If you want, our resident boomer here can give you a tour," Trip offers. Ryan thanks him, but tells him he's already seen most of the ship. "You missed the best part," Trip says, "the only warp five engine in the Fleet." Ryan walks over to the warp drive like a man transfixed. "I've heard about it," he says. "Once they get installed in the generation of freighters, they'll change a whole lot of things," Trip says, his Southern "accent" pretty much making the last part of his line completely unintelligible. Mayberry tells Ryan that, with a warp three engine, they'd reduce a five-year cargo run to six months in transport. Ryan turns to him defensively, saying, "Warp one-point-eight works just fine for us. Any faster and there'd be no time to enjoy the trip." Mayberry and Trip exchange raised-eyebrow looks. I'm willing to lay odds that if Ryan stayed in Engineering, he'd be able to cajole Trip into giving him an attitude adjustment.
Enterprise mess. Mayberry shows Ryan the way to the food. "Save room for dessert," he says. "Homemade ice cream." Ryan pulls out a plate of steak and baked potatoes from the glassed-in shelves. "Do you eat this well all the time?" he asks. Mayberry tells him their chef's the best in the Starfleet: "Heard the Captain had to call in a lot of favors to get him on board." So, he's the best at reconstituting protein? What kind of degree do you need for that -- some hybrid from Cal Tech and the Cordon Bleu? Mayberry barely gets himself seated before he starts shoveling food into his mouth. "It's good you stayed away from the resequenced meatloaf," he tells Ryan. "They still haven't gotten that right." Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap? My mother made exceptional meatloaf. In fact, it was one of my most requested dishes, and I was a really picky eater as a kid. Just as long as she didn't get all weird and put diced green peppers in it. "Resequenced?" Ryan mumbles through his mouthful. "This tastes real." "That's because it is," Mayberry grins through his mashed potatoes. Oh, I give up on this food thing. Ryan says the last time he had steak was over a year ago. Mmm -- when was the last time I had a nice, juicy steak? Too long ago. "All we got left now are hydroponics and nutripacks," Ryan says. They take a little trip down culinary memory lane; Mayberry recalls eating that kind of crap. "What did we used to call those?" he asks. "Mystery meals!" they say together, and share a jocund moment. Mayberry tells Ryan that his dad could do wonders with those nutripacks. "Whenever it was someone's birthday, my mother would bake a cake, and we knew better than to ask what it was made of," Ryan tells Mayberry. "Didn't stop you from eating it," Mayboomer chortles, getting all hyper with his food. Mayberry asks if Ryan's parents are on the Fortunate. Ryan seems to have some trouble swallowing, and tells Mayberry his parents were on the North Star. Mayberry pauses dramatically before asking, "Were you on board?" Ryan tells him he was one of the survivors, and signed on to the Fortunate after that. "I'm sorry," Mayberry says, looking deep into Ryan's eyes. Ryan shakes his head: "Running freight's dangerous." He keeps shoveling green beans into his mouth and chewing loudly.
Mayberry waits a bit, then asks Ryan if he ever thinks about doing anything else. "You mean join Starfleet?" Ryan asks. "Food's not bad!" Mayberry says goofily. Ryan leans back in his chair, the better to show off his man breasts in his tight grey t-shirt. "Was this premeditated?" he asks, smiling. "Buy me lunch then give me the recruiting pitch." No, he just bought you lunch because he wants to get you into bed. I mean, you got the steak, after all. Mayberry swears his intentions are honorable, "but you've spent more time in space than most Starfleet Captains [hey, didn't I just say that?]. There are three more NX-class ships on the drawing board -- they are going to need experienced people." Ryan asks who's left to do the freight run, if Starfleet cherry-picks all the best crew. Mayberry tells him not to worry, because not everyone's going to go. "You did," Ryan points out. "You think leaving the Horizon was easy for me? That I just took off because I got tired of the food?" Mayberry asks, getting his back up. "That ship was my home." Ryan asks him why he "abandon[ed]" his family. Mayberry drops his silverware and tells him, "Being in Starfleet is the best thing that ever happened to me. My parents weren't happy that I left, but they respected my decision." Ryan asks, "Did they? Or were they just saying what you wanted to hear, so you wouldn't feel guilty?" Mayberry gives him the stink-eye and then looks away, trying not to cry. Ryan stands up and says that Trip should be done with his mechanical doo-hickey by now. "Thanks for lunch," he says to Mayberry -- who doesn't look up -- and leaves.
Fortunate. A few rugrats play hide-and-seek while T'Pol does some supercilious scans. She asks one of the crewmembers, "Why is power being rerouted from the internal sensors to the weapons systems?" "Maybe you didn't notice," the crewmember snarks, "we were in a battle." T'Pol reminds him that "the battle" is over, and she will remove the bypass. "Uh, that's all right," the crewmember says. "You can just leave them." T'Pol looks at him, and continues with her scans. She looks puzzled and lowers her tricorder to a cupboard. Opening it, she finds a girl-type rugrat. "Shhh," the little girl says, holding her finger to her lips. A boy rugrat comes back and asks T'Pol, "Have you seen Nadine?" as she closes the cupboard. "I'm sorry, I don't know which child is named 'Nadine,'" she responds. The boy rugrat runs off. Nadine comes out of her hiding place. "Thanks," she says to T'Pol. "I just told him the truth," T'Pol calls after her. I think they should have struck that last line from T'Pol's script. We all would've "aww"ed over the cute aspect of what she did and then told each other that Vulcans (supposedly) don't lie. We didn't need T'Pol's clumsy reminder -- it just ruined the effect. T'Pol does some more scans while the crewman watches her with narrowed eyes.
Enterprise. T'Pol comms Quantum in his cabin and tells him that the repairs are nearly complete, but she does need to see him "in private." In his cabin with T'Pol, Quantum questions Ryan: "Those engine parts Mr. Tucker gave you working out okay?" Ryan tells him, "Some of the connections were off by a few microns but they should be okay." Picky, picky. Hey, wasn't that the name of Ramona Quimby's cat? Quantum does a bit more shadow-boxing before he says, "Are there only humans aboard your ship?" Ryan tells him he thinks one of the children has a pet Tenebian skunk, "if that's what you mean." "It isn't," T'Pol says, standing directly behind him. Ryan whirls around to look at her. Quantum explains, "T'Pol's scanner picked up a Nausicaan bio-sign." "Are you saying we've got a stowaway?" Ryan asks. "You know that's not what we're saying," Quantum says. "Why don't you tell us what's going on over there." Ryan stalls by playing dumb. He's rather good at it. T'Pol's scans indicate that the Nausicaan is injured. "Okay, not that it's any of your business, but there is a Nausicaan aboard. He's my prisoner," Ryan says. Quantum asks him what gives him the right to take prisoners. Ryan gets all emotional about the fact that the Nausicaans have been attacking their ship for months, taking their cargo and nearly killing his captain. "What gives them the right to do that?" he asks tearfully. Not so tough once you've been called onto the carpet, are you, football-boy? Quantum requests an audience with the Nausicaan. "And what would you do, hmm? Take him back to Nausicaa?" Ryan asks, quickly getting over his tearful outburst. "They'd probably give him a medal." Does anyone really say "hmm" in everyday conversation? Quantum asks Ryan what his plans are for the Nausicaan, but Ryan says it's his business and Starfleet has no jurisdiction over what he does on his ship. So, by that logic, he could murder his whole crew and not get into trouble, because Starfleet has no authority over what happens on his ship? What. Ever. Buddy. Boy. Quantum agrees at his lack of jurisdiction, but tells him there's something else he can do. He comms Trip: "I want you to remove all the spare parts and equipment you installed on the Fortunate." "Sir?" Trip comms back, a little more confused than usual. "You heard me, Trip," Quantum says. "You wouldn't do that," Ryan says. "Try me," Quantum says. Oh, my. I am so overexcited by this original and engaging dialogue that I am just going to have to get myself another beer to calm down.
Fortunate cargo module, a.k.a. Nausicaan holding pen. "He's in there," Ryan growls at the Enterprise crew, gesturing somewhere inside the hold. The Enterprise crew walks through the hold. "Where?" Quantum asks. "He's tied up over there," Ryan says unhelpfully. They meander some more through the barrels. Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. They're hunting Nausicaans. Still no sign of a smelly giant with a horny face. T'Pol scans as if her life depends on it. "I'm reading one bio-sign," she tells Quantum, "but it's not Nausicaan." T'Pol and Quantum spy a Fortunate crewmember with a gun. Ryan grabs his gun from its hiding place in a barrel. "Don't do this," Quantum warns Ryan, ducking behind a barrel. Reed fires a phaser shot at the other crewmember, but misses him. T'Pol and Quantum duck as the crewmember fires back. Reed pulls at Phlox and tells him to "get down." And boogie. "Under the circumstances, I defer to your experience," Phlox says. Quantum calls out that they're making a large-ish mistake. More phaser fire. Quantum points at Reed and hisses, "Go!" Reed goes. Quantum and Reed sneak around the barrels, attempting to get into position. As Ryan and the other crewmember back their way out of the cargo bay, Ryan purposefully fires several shots at the surrounding bulkhead. "Captain, there's a breach," T'Pol announces as stuff starts to hiss from the phaser blast points. Ryan fires a few more shots behind him and closes the cargo bay off. Quantum tries to comm Ryan from the inside, but they don't heed him. There's a rumble. Reed looks around and asks, "What was that?" Pretty soon the walls start closing in, the trash starts compacting, and Luke gets strangled by a water snake. Okay, actually, we see that Fortunate has decided to jettison that particular cargo module.
This move does not go unnoticed by Enterprise. "What the hell's going on over there?" Trip the acting captain asks. "There are four bio-signs on that module. It's the away team!" Hoshi announces. Trip comms Quantum and asks what's up. Quantum explains the situation and orders Trip to keep the cargo freighter from leaving orbit. Trip hails the Fortunate. No response. "They're charging weapons," Mayberry announces. Trip tells him to polarize the hull plating. The garbage scow fires at Enterprise. T'Pol reports as much to the away team in the module. Quantum asks Trip for a report. "They're gettin' a l'il trigger-happy, sir, jes' stand by!" Trip pants back. He doesn't stay very calm under pressure, does he? I mean, it's a recycling barge firing on them with weapons he just upgraded himself. It's not like three Romulan birds of prey appeared from nowhere with their cloaking devices and big-ass photon torpedoes. That's it -- he's out of the running for captain should Captain Quantum happen to have an incident. Since we're standing by and there's no "Girl from Ipanema" as the hold music, we can hear Trip giving breathless commands: "Load starboard tubes three and four. Target their engines." On Enterprise, Mayberry says, "They've jettisoned our pod. Their warp drive's coming online." Trip gives the order to fire a torpedo, but they miss as Fortunate makes the jump to warp speed. In the cargo module, Quantum asks Trip how he's doing. Trip tells him they didn't take too much damage, but the Fortunate got away. Quantum orders Trip to follow them, but T'Pol has something to say about that: "Considering our rate of decompression, I suggest Enterprise retrieve us as quickly as possible." Good ol' T'Pol -- always up on the logical course of action. Quantum tells Trip to "belay" his last order (that's twice in two episodes -- who's been cracking open the maritime dictionary?) and send a shuttle pod to pick them up. "We've sprung a leak," Quantum says, grudgingly acknowledging the fact that they need oxygen to survive.
Enterprise. Reed reports that they're trying to track the Fortunate's warp trail, "but their plasma cannon knocked out our long-range sensors." Convenient, that. Quantum asks how long before their long-range sensors are back online. "Mr. Tucker says at least four hours," T'Pol reports. "We don't know where they are but we know who they're looking for," Mayberry butts in. Everyone looks at him. Not because they don't know what he's talking about, but because they're wondering who wrote him so many lines this episode. "The Nausicaans," Mayberry supplies in the pregnant pause. "Ryan's after revenge, sir." "A very primitive emotion, but it would explain his irrational behavior," T'Pol says by way of agreement. "It's rational to him," Mayberry says. Well, irrational behavior usually is rational to the irrational. That's what makes them irrational. "Those pirates attacked his ship -- that's his family. If we want to find the Fortunate, we need to find the Nausicaans," Mayberry finishes.
Fortunate. "The frequencies," Ryan hisses. "You're not very skilled in interrogation. I could give you some lessons," the Nausicaan rasps. Ryan hauls off and kicks him in the chest. The other crewmembers look uncomfortable with this type of behavior. Ryan grabs the Nausicaan's face: "Give me the frequencies!" Seriously, what's the frequency, Kenneth? The Nausicaan says his shipmates will rescue him from his tower prison so long as he can let his hair down. "I'm counting on it," Ryan tells him, and then proceeds to beat his face in. The other crewmember -- whose name, it turns out, is Shawn, and I only know that because I looked it up -- looks even more uncomfortable than before, and now with overtones of nausea.
Later that same twenty-four-hour period. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?" Ryan says, rubbing his knuckles as he and Shawn walk through the corridors. "You nearly killed him," Shawn points out. Ryan ignores that minor bit of information and tells Shawn to remodulate the weapons. "What about the Nausicaan?" Shawn asks. "Keep him locked up," Ryan tells him. "We might still need him." Shawn reminds him they've got what they wanted: "Let's just get him off the ship." Ryan stops walking and looks accusingly at Shawn: "How?" Shawn grasps at straws and says, "An escape pod?" "So his friends can pick him up?" Ryan supplies, "and he can tell them to change their shield modulations. What was the point of all this?" Shawn says he's been asking himself the same thing, since they been able to deal with the Nausicaans before without taking hostages or beating them bloody. Ryan tells him it's time they show the Nausicaans they're serious, or else they'll never leave the Fortunate alone. Shawn asks how Captain Keene would want them to handle this. That gets Ryan's dander up, and he gets up in Shawn's face: "I'm responsible for this ship now, and I need to know that you're going to help me do whatever it takes to protect her." Shawn wipes his face, considers this, and nods. Ryan grasps him by the shoulders and says they've taken enough Nausicaan abuse in the past; it's time they started giving it back.
Enterprise. Quantum throws a supplemental star log on the fire and reports that they've picked up a warp trail that could belong to the Fortunate, but they still don't have their long-range sensors. So, in essence, nothing new under the nearest sun. "Anythang?" Trip asks Mayberry in Engineering. Mayberry answers negatively and gives some technobabble direction to another officer as he and Trip walk off. The other officer responds with an "aye, sir." Hey, isn't Mayberry just an ensign? Who does he get to command? Trip says he doesn't get what's going on with Ryan: "I can understand taking on those pirates -- I probably woulda done the same thing, but firing on a Starfleet vessel? He's got a lot more than pirates to worry about now." Mayberry says he never thought he'd be pursuing an errant cargo freighter and, since it's been nearly four minutes since he worked his "boomer" background into everyday conversation, he says, "When I was growing up on the Horizon, anything that happened on board, you handled yourself. [Isn't that exactly what the Fortunate is doing?] If someone on the crew got into a fight, you just worked it out. You took care of your own. If Starfleet suddenly showed up and told my father what he could and could not do on his own ship --" "Things are changing -- Ryan's gonna have to figure that out," Trip interrupts. "There's a battle outside and it's ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls," Mathra Dylan whines, "for the times they are a-changin'!" "Maybe he already has and he just doesn't like it," Mayberry says in Tones Of Portent. There's a blippity-bleep and Trip says, "Got it. Sensors are back online," before dashing off. Mayberry does some smell-the-fart acting.
Quantum's cabin. Mayberry requests an audience. "I think I can squeeze you in," Quantum says good-humoredly. He gestures at a chair. Mayberry sits down and doesn't say anything. Finally, Quantum asks him what's on his mind. This should be a good scene; if the teasers were right -- and we all know they ALWAYS are -- this should be the scene where Mayberry replicates a spine and stands up to the Captain. Mayberry asks if he can speak freely, and Quantum says, "Anytime." Mayberry says he's worried that they're not handling the Fortunate situation correctly. Quantum prompts him to continue. "You know I'd never question your orders," Mayberry says. "You served on one of those freighters, I want to hear your opinion," Quantum tells him. But, you know, the rest of us really don't. Mayberry mewls that Ryan could be right about this situation being none of Starfleet's business, so why force their help on the Fortunate? "So you think we should just let Ryan take on the Nausicaans?" Quantum says, getting up to start The Stride Of Morality around his miniscule cabin. Mayberry tells him not to underestimate a freighter crew, adding, "My father never ran into any trouble he couldn't handle himself. Nausicaans included." Quantum asks Mayberry what will happen to the Nausicaans. That puts Mayberry in a bit of a quandary. "Sir?" he asks. Quantum asks him what Ryan will do if he tracks down the attacking Nausicaan ship and is able to outgun it. "He'd probably try to blow them out of the sky," Mayberry says, still in "boomer" la-la-land. "I don't know about you, Travis, but that doesn't sit right with me," Quantum tells him with the quietude of ethics. "Human beings have a code of behavior that applies whether they're Starfleet officers or space boomers. And it isn't driven by revenge. Just because someone isn't born on Earth doesn't make him any less human." Mayberry gets The Look Of Enlightenment on his face and says, "You're right, sir. I supposed I should understand that better than anyone." "Any other orders of mine you'd like to question?" Quantum asks, giving him a grin. "Not today, sir," Mayberry says, getting up to leave. He pauses at the door and says, "Thank you, sir," before humbling off. What a piece of rot. We all know how the teasers made it look. Hell, they even had this conversation set on the bridge, with Mayberry looking extremely angry as Quantum recites most of the "any other orders of mine you'd like to question" bit off-camera, so we wouldn't have caught sight of his goofy, indulgent smile. UPN manipulation.
Fortunate. Ryan asks Shawn if he's sure about something. "I've seen that hull signature enough times," Shawn tells him. Ryan inquires after Kenneth's frequencies. "Loaded and standing by," Shawn tells him. "I'll bring the cannons online -- drop out of warp," Ryan says, patting him on the back. Shawn comments that the Nausicaan ship is sitting one hundred yards ahead of them. They get a view of the ship, but it takes off. "They've seen us," Ryan comments. "Lay in an intercept course. Full impulse." Ryan looks like a Keanu Reeves who spent too much time at the local Outback Steakhouse loading up on Bloomin' Onions. Shawn reports that they're closing in on the Nausicaan ship. "Twenty kilometers. Uh, th-they're firing," Shawn stutters out. Fortunate is shaken by the cannon impact. "The hull plating is holding," Shawn says. Ryan asks if he can get a weapons lock, but Shawn reports that they're too far away. Ryan orders them into range. They get into range, lock their cannons onto the target, and fire. Unfortunately, the Nausicaan ship goes behind the asteroid, so they lose their lock on them and miss by a hair. Ryan looks pissed.
Fortunate pursues the Nausicaans, and it is revealed that the other side of the asteroid is not all it appears to be. Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, not excuses. "This must be where they offload stolen cargo," Ryan says, examining a fully functional, hollowed-out portion. Shawn says he's going to navigate them out of there, but Ryan tells him to stay the course. Shawn tries to dispute this presidential order, but Ryan will have none of it. "We still have their shield frequencies," Ryan says. "Lock weapons on the first ship and fire." Shawn fires, but nothing seems to happen to the Nausicaan ship. "Again," Ryan orders. "No effect," Shawn reports. "Are you sure you programmed the right frequencies?" Ryan asks accusingly. "I used the ones he gave us," Shawn tells him. Gee, did it ever occur to either of you nerf-herders that the Nausicaan might be lying, because he knew that by the time you all got within firing range of a Nausicaan ship and discovered the fake shield frequencies, his bio-sign would be detected by his fellow Nausicaans? Several other Nausicaan ships start attacking the Fortunate. Ryan orders them to warp, but surprise surprise, the warp reactor is a little frizzled by all the firing. "Full impulse, then," Ryan commands, "hull plating to maximum." More serious blasts on the ship, and then Shawn announces that they've lost impulse capability. The Nausicaans hail them. Onscreen, a Nausicaan Captain addresses them: "Our scans show you have one of our crewmen on board. I assume you're here to return him." Ryan tells him that the Nausicaan is their prisoner. "He won't be for long," Cpt. Nausicaan tells him. Fortunate gives a large shudder and Shawn turns to Ryan. "They've latched onto us," he tells him. Sure enough, from the outside, the Nausicaan ship looks just like The Incredible Mr. Limpet on the side of Fortunate.
Enterprise warps to the rescue of the Un-Fortunate. T'Pol reports weapons fire in the distance, and Reed can't figure out who's doing the firing. "Lay in a course," Quantum orders Mayberry. Weren't they already on their way?
Fortunate and Nausicaan ships. Shawn reports that the Nausicaans have boarded their ship, and Ryan asks how many there are. "Three," Shawn reports, and looks to Ryan for guidance. Ryan tells him to pass out weapons. "We know what they're after," Shawn says, by way of a protest, "Why not just let them have him?" Ryan stands stubborn and says they can fight the Nausicaans off as they have before. Shawn reminds him that that was one ship rather than three. "Weapons," Ryan repeats, not brooking any more arguments. Four armed Fortunate crewmen get into position in the corridors. There's some phaser fire, showing that Ryan is an exceptionally bad shot, and one Fortunate man goes down. Shawn helps the wounded and tells Ryan to "fall back." Ryan actually agrees and closes off passage doors. The Nausicaans follow in mod knee-length black leather coats and blast through the doors. Well-spoken and trendy.
Enterprise on its errand of mercy. Reed reports that the Fortunate is up ahead with three other ships. "Nausicaans," T'Pol clarifies. Quantum gives the orders to drop out of warp and polarize the hull plating. Since they're "in range" of the battle, Hoshi puts it up on the viewer. They pop some corn, grab sodas, and gather around, waiting for the Bud Bowl commercials. T'Pol detects four Nausicaan bio-signs aboard the Fortunate, as well as onboard weapons fire. Quantum looks grave. Mayberry looks constipated. "Hail the Nausicaans," Quantum orders.
The four modish Nausicaans continue to blast through the corridor doors as Ryan and his Merry Men lay in wait in the cargo module with the captured Nausicaan. The wounded hu-mon groans, and Shawn insists on getting him to the infirmary. "He's going to be okay," Ryan rasps. "I told you they'd come for me," the captured Nausicaan says, and chuckles. Ryan holds a phase pistol to his head and says, "Shut. Up!"
Enterprise. Quantum converses with one of the Nausicaan captains, who tells him, "We're involved in a rescue operation." Quantum mentions that there's an awful lot of phaser blasting going on for a rescue. "We want our crewman back," Cpt. Nausicaan says. "He wouldn't be there if you hadn't attacked them in the first place," Mayberry says, letting his "boomer" roots carry his mouth away. Quantum gets all Gandhi on the Nausicaan captain and says that they have an opportunity to improve the relations between humans and Nausicaans. "We're happy with our 'relations' the way they are," Cpt. Nausicaan says. So there! Quantum plays Let's Make A Deal and says that they'll get their crewman back, and the Nausicaans will allow the Fortunate to go on her way. "You're facing three of my ships," Cpt. Nausicaan says, holding up three fingers. "We're not interested in your proposals." Quantum pulls out his ace in the hole: "We've scanned your ships -- Mr. Reed?" "Fore and aft plasma cannons. I doubt those shields of theirs would hold up to our torpedoes," Reed reports derisively. We're getting married, and you're all invited to the wedding. Quantum puffs up his Starfleet studded-chest and says, "You're not sneaking up on an old freighter this time -- this is an NX-class starship. Take a good look, because you'll be seeing more of them. Now, you can reconsider my offer or you can take your chances." "If you think you can convince them to return our crewman, do it quickly otherwise we'll be forced to 'take our chances,'" Cpt. Nausicaan hisses. The Nausicaans were one degree removed from ape-speak on TNG, which is two hundred years after this show. As if any of us even need reminding of that, but I've never heard of a language getting worse with time. Well, not that much. I mean, sure, I have my issues with the English language -- considering not many people run around saying "forsooth" and "anon" anymore -- but to go from "if you think you can convince them to return our crewman, do it quickly otherwise we'll be forced to 'take our chances,'" to "Play Dom Jot, hu-mon," before stabbing Picard through the heart, shows quite a degradation of the Nausicaan language, would you agree?
Fortunate. The Nausicaans break into the cargo module; there are more phasers fired. Suddenly, The Voice Of God booms, "Enterprise to Ryan, this is Jonathan Archer." How did he get on their PA system? Maybe he's just speaking through a megaphone through outer space and they can hear it. Yes, I know that in space, no one can hear you scream, but it's not like the writers have been paying much attention to scientific facts. I think we all agree on that. Quantum continues, "We're ten thousand meters off your starboard bow. I know you can hear me. Why don't you think about what's best for your crew, and let us help you." "What a relief," Ryan growls sarcastically. "Starfleet's come to save the day." "I've spoken to the Nausicaan captain," Quantum goes on. "He's willing to let the Fortunate go if you turn over his crewman." Ryan says, "And you believe them? What, you believe that they're going to let us just fly away?" Apparently, Quantum can hear Ryan as well, because he says, "I've got an armory full of torpedoes that will make sure they do." More phaser fire in the cargo module. Ryan asks what happens the time a freighter gets attacked in the middle of nowhere: "What then?" Quantum tells him he's got a chance to make sure no one gets hurt this time around, and Ryan responds that he's speaking to the Nausicaans in their own language of violence.
Aboard Enterprise, Reed reports that one of the Nausicaan ships has locked their weapons on them. "This has gone on long enough," Quantum tells Ryan. "Now you're putting my crew in danger. Release that hostage." Phaser fire in the cargo module. Ryan shouts back that it's his prisoner and he's going to do what he wants. Time for Mayberry to step up to the plate and deliver a long and sanctimonious speech. "What are you going to do -- kill him?" he asks. "It's you again," Ryan growls back, which makes me laugh for some reason. Maybe it's because that's exactly how I felt every time Mayberry opened his mouth in this episode. Mayberry asks Quantum's permission to deliver his scheduled long and sanctimonious speech. Paraphrased, Mayberry tells him that killing anyone isn't going to solve anything, especially because it would mean that other freighters who run into the Nausicaans will have to pay for Ryan's "stubborn stupidity." Ryan tries to argue that his M.O. is all about trying to protect other freighters, but Mayberry gives a lukewarm "the hell it is" to that, and tells him it's all about revenge. Reed announces that the Nausicaan ships are firing, and Enterprise is hit. Quantum orders that they return fire with torpedoes. Mayberry keeps on with his annoying speech until FINALLY, Ryan gives in and returns the Nausicaan hostage. The Nausicaans leave the ship. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm relieved. Relieved that Mayberry's done talking. Aboard Enterprise, there's a few tense seconds of tension-building music before Reed reports that the Nausicaans have powered down their weapons, and are preparing to leave. Under Quantum's gaze, Mayberry huffs emotionally, clenches his jaw, and returns to his ensign's seat. I'll bet he gets to write up the report for this one as well. Now go crawl back to obscurity, Harry Kim.
Fortunate. Quantum and the recovered Cpt. Keene have a little chin-wag about the recent events. "I've got a little Dralaxian whisky stashed away -- if you'd like to join me," Cpt. Keene offers. Quantum declines, saying he's on duty. "Too bad," Keene says. "If you've never had it, you're missing one of the galaxy's real pleasures. [Hey, dude, can I have some?] I'm reducing Mr. Ryan's rank to Able Crewman. He gets to spend the rest of the trip purging hydraulic pumps." Quantum says, "If you think he's going to be a problem, we can take him back to Earth." Keene declines, saying, "We take care of our own. Besides, that would leave me a man short." Quantum gets it. Keene sighs, "I made him my First Officer because I trusted him with my ship. It's going to take him quite a while to earn that back." Quantum tells him that Ryan had good intentions, but that he needs to learn to accept help when it's offered to him. I thought it was more that he needs to learn not to have serious vengeance issues. Keene explains, "The ones that grew up out here feel that they have some special claim -- that this particular stretch of space is theirs. They see another ship within ten light years and they get jumpy." Quantum tells him they're going to see a lot more ships, and soon. Keene shakes his mullet: "Ships get faster -- it's progress, I suppose. My family's been on the Fortunate for three generations, now I'm going to need at least a warp three engine to stay in business." Quantum tells him that's not all bad: "At warp three, help's a lot closer than before. You won't have to go it alone." Keene reminds him that "going it alone" is all they've ever done. "For some of us, that's the reason we're out here. A chance to prove ourselves," Keene finishes. Point of order here: if you are all alone, because that seems to be his big issue, to whom, exactly are they proving themselves? Quantum tells him he thinks they've already proven themselves, which makes Keene sigh and say that they'll adapt. "But things just won't be the same," Keene muses. Quantum wishes him "good luck" and attempts to leave, but Keene stops him, asking, "You sure you won't join me for that drink?" Quantum laughs, "Thanks, but I'm just a stuffed shirt." Of course, he could've said, "Thanks, but my crew's anxious to get underway. time." Do you think Quantum's on the wagon? Nimoy is. All the pressure on the set of TOS literally drove him to drink. But thinking about it, this Cpt. Keene's rather keen on drinking -- is that such a good idea after he's just come out of a coma? I think I'm in a coma.
week, the temporal war is brought up again as they get a visitor from nine hundred years into the future, as well as an appearance from our old friend Salik the Suliban. Looks like we're in for some awesome special effects in the "temporal observatory."