Twilight

I could apologize for the length of this recap, but as I've been called "vitriolic," "notoriously hard to please" (hee, I'm "notorious," just like Ingrid Bergman!), and that reading my recaps are like "drinking gasoline" -- none of these complaints, I hasten to add, are anything new to any of the TWoP recappers, so y'all really should try to come up some more original sentiments ["and stop drinking gasolinethe hell?" -- Sars] -- I'm not going to bother. Why? To prove that I can be as pleased as spiked punch when the current Treks In Charge come up with something amazing that is completely, unabashedly, and unreservedly worthy of high praise.

And now for my defense of the biggest issues people had with this episode.

Clara Vulcan, Founder of the Red Cross

Was it sexist? Probably. Do I care? Not really. How else would Trip had been made the captain that so many of you adore? I also think it was more about T'Pol feeling very strongly that she owed Quantum a serious debt -- he was suffering because he stayed to save her life -- than it was about T'Pol = female, thus T'Pol = nursemaid. Could they have made one of the male members of the crew owe Quantum that same life-debt? Sure, but let's face it, it wouldn't have been as interesting when we're talking about finally breaking down a Vulcan-human wall. Plus, there have already been many "nice moments" of camaraderie between Reed and Quantum or Trip and Quantum

T'Pol Operating at Full Vulcan Strength

When Quantum ran out of Sickbay in the final battle of the episode, T'Pol tried to stop him, but he easily pushed her away. First of all, this is not the first time that this particular Vulcan's famous strength has failed to impress. But in this specific case, I put it to you this way: T'Pol let him go. I'm not kidding -- I just don't think she tried that hard to stop him. She knew she couldn't keep the erstwhile captain stagnating in a hospital bed while his old ship fell about his ears. After all, the guy had already lost so much of his personal dignity in the intervening twelve years. She had to let him go, and I respect her all the more for realizing it and acquiescing to what she knew he needed to do.

Quantum sleeps. The ship shakes. Quantum wakes. You know, I felt that like that just the other night. I thought it was an earthquake, because, you know every slight jar in California could be an earthquake, right, Mathra? Anyway, I got up to check and discovered it was just three weirdoes moving a couch down the stairs. Seriously, who moves a couch at 12:30 AM on a Sunday night? Weirdoes. I don't think "weirdoes" should be spelled with that "e" on the end, but spell-check does, so it just looks weird. "-Oes." Since comming the Bridge doesn't get him anywhere, Quantum tries to leave his cabin and is stopped by a guard at his door, who tells him that he's under orders from "the captain" not to let him leave. Quantum's all "the hell?" and punches the guy out.

Bridge. The ship is rocked with more blasts, and Reed calls out that they're losing hull plating. T'Pol -- looking AWESOME in a Starfleet uniform, and I am sorry but I am just going to have to take that as a shout-out -- gets up from the captain's chair and gives orders. A shirtless and pajama-bottomed Quantum storms the Bridge and demands an explanation. T'Pol waves her hand and orders that "someone take him back to his quarters." Two guys grab him. The ship shakes some more, Reed announces their weapons are offline, and Hoshi draws their attention to the viewscreen. Kick-Ass Effects are dancing all over the screen as a huge sphere, flanked by two smaller ships, drops out of warp in this sort of materializing-by-expanding effect. The sphere -- oh, I've got to describe this -- is belted by two flat bands that rotate across its surface. The surface of the sphere is the best part, though. It's pimpled with red things, but it looks like there's another sphere sliding under a latticework of metal, that rests on top of the first sphere but is under the bands. It's so hard to describe, but as with all amazing Star Trek effects, it looked like a toy you could buy in a science museum gift shop. The sphere, which MUST be the Xindi's Weapon of (Kick-) Ass Destruction, draws close to Earth and, mimicking the Psycho Bocce Ball, fires a frickin' laser beam at the big blue marble. Oceans boil up and land crumbles as seismic fissures open and blaze forth with molten lava. In a full shot of Earth, deep angry red cracks appear all over the globe before it blows apart in a fiery mass. Wow. That planetary destruction makes the one in Generations rend its garments, cut off all its hair, and swear never show its face again. Let me make you understand: a television show effect was worlds (hee) better than a multi-million dollar movie effect of the same exact event. Quantum pants and twitches with a weird tic. So does the Evil Dr. Mathra, but his tic is a tic of delight. Do you know what that tic means? It heralds the coming of the Delighted Dr. Mathra, the Evil Dr. Mathra's alter ego!

We were so blown away by that opening (no pun intended) that we stopped the tape in the middle of the theme song and rewound to watch it all again. Three times. Best part was, we completely lost the theme song in all its tambourine-shaking non-glory.

Quantum, with the grey hair that does nothing more than make him look like Ambassador Soval's twin, wakes up under a down comforter. He gets out of bed, rubs his lower back, and stretches in his bugly futuristic civvies from J. Jill. With sunlight streaming through the window, the room is clearly not on Enterprise, but that damn water polo ball is still on his shelf. Quantum catches sight of himself in a mirror and notes -- with surprise -- the grey in his hair and eyebrows, along with Bakula's own wrinkles that they've been careful to fuzz out in every other episode. Hearing a noise, he wanders out and sees T'Pol with a long ponytail -- which inexplicably makes her look more bald than the bowl cut -- wearing a red wraparound tunic and pants, making breakfast. Recognizing Quantum's confusion, P'Tail comments that he's up early, and says she knows this all seems unfamiliar and she will answer all his questions. When Quantum asks where they are, P'Tail says, with a touch of weariness, "Jonathan, please sit down. I'll answer all your questions." Hmm, "Jonathan." P'Tail tells him it's a big day, and asks him the last thing he remembers. Quantum remembers leaving the Command Center and joining her in a corridor. P'Tail breaks it to him that that happened twelve years ago.

Flashback. In a corridor, Quantum asks T'Pol if she's going to Movie Night, and when T'Pol shows disinterest, Quantum responds with "I can make Movie Night mandatory for senior officers." Didn't he threaten her once before with that "punishment"? T'Pol looks at him. "You'll enjoy it -- Rosemary's Baby, it'll scare the hell outta you," Quantum coaxes. Do Vulcans even have a devil? The ship shakes. Reed, in the captain's chair, reports that there's an anomaly afoot. May-Dead-Again can't take them out of warp, but there are a ton more anomalies ahead, so Reed orders a new course. In the corridor, an anomaly comes burping down the corridor. T'Pol and Quantum make a break for it. They are thrown in opposite directions, and T'Pol's got a large piece of fake bulkhead on her leg. Quantum can't shift the plastic, and metallic sounds of an approaching anomaly makes T'Pol cry that he has to get out of there. Quantum finally gets T'Pol free as the anomaly bubbles toward them. He reaches for T'Pol's hand to get himself out of the way, but the anomaly hits him, ripples the floor, and knocks him out. Amid some rocks from the broken bulkheads. I think it's so funny that rocks and rubble always appear whenever sets on any Star Trek are "smashed."

Sickbay. Quantum wakes up and tells Phlox he feels like a sh'pod landed on his head. Under the impression that only a few hours have passed, Quantum tries to go to the Bridge, but Phlox tells him he's been in Sickbay for three days. That stops him in his furrows. Phlox also tells him that his brain has been affected by some parasites left by the drive-by anomalying, which make him unable to form short-term memories. Quantum is able to remember everything before the event, but he can't retain memories after the event for more than a few hours. It's sort of like Jake 2.0 in reverse -- Quantum's the ultimate human downgrade! Although he hasn't found a way of removing them yet, Phlox promises to continue working on a way to free the captain from the parasites.

T'Pol's voice-over tells Quantum that Phlox worked for weeks on the cure, and in the meantime, she and Trip tried to keep Quantum apprised of their mission. There's a scene of the Captain's Table where Quantum suggests some upgrades. He's so childishly excited about his discovery as T'Pol and Trip sit there like worried parents. Quantum reads their faces and determines that he must've made the exact same suggestions before. After Trip tells Quantum that he made the suggestion a week ago and that the upgrades are working fine, he clears his throat uncomfortably and excuses himself. It's clear that he's having a hard time dealing with this altered Quantum. Trinneer kicks acting butt. Quantum feels like he's wasting their time with their little mealtime get-togethers, but T'Pol assures him that even if they don't depend on his memory, they do depend on his experience. T'Pol also brings up the fact that he wouldn't be in this sorry state if he had ditched her in the corridor before the anomaly blew through him. "Fortunately, I don't take orders from you," Quantum smiles, and starts to walk out. That's kind of cute, because obviously, in the altered future, T'Pol becomes the captain, so he does take orders from her. T'Pol stops Quantum from leaving and says she never expressed her gratitude. "I suppose there's not much point in thanking me. A few hours from now, I won't remember it," Quantum says. He doesn't look at her again as he clamps his lips together and leaves. Damn, that's sad. And DAY-UM, Bakula was great in that entire scene. I mean, he's still furrowing like a bad boy, but the stuff that's happening around the furrows is vastly improved.

T'Pol is called to the Bridge to talk to Starfleet.

In the future, P'Tail tells Quantum that the call was from Admiral Forrest, and she was not looking forward to it. Of course she wasn't, because he's evil. The result of the communication relieved Quantum of duty and put T'Pol in command. "Forrest made you Captain," Quantum says, clearly having a hard time with that. "I guess congratulations are in order -- even if they are belated." "You've congratulated me every day for the past twelve years -- STOP IT ALREADY!" the Delighted Dr. Mathra chortles. P'Tail explains why the parasites still haven't been removed: "Phlox discovered that the organisms are from a domain outside normal space-time. They exist in a state of inter-spatial flux. None of his treatments had any effect on them." Quantum asks what happened with their mission to find the Xindi weapon. P'Tail tells him that they looked for months and finally learned where the weapon was being created. However, the Xindi knew they were getting warmer.

Back to flashback. Two Battlestar Galactica-type ships fire on Enterprise. On the Bridge, Cpt. T'Pol crouches to a fallen May-Dead-Again. He looks pretty dead. Again. This fails to answer the question: how many times can you "kill" a character before you finally fire him?

A Xindi ship locks onto a docking port, and Snake Eyes storm in. There are shoot-outs. Two Snake Eyes find Quantum's quarters, enter, and look around. Quantum jumps out of the bathroom and fights them. He knocks one out and grabs whatever's handy to do battle with the second one. Do you want to know what was handy? No, not that damn water polo ball -- he uses AN ACTION FIGURE! He plunges AN ACTION FIGURE right in Snake Eyes's throat and kills him! On my bookshelf, Quantini puffs himself up and looks very proud. Until Hunca Munca hooks him down and drags him under the couch to do unspeakable things to him. The Delighted Dr. Mathra called it a Heisman Trophy, but I'm convinced it was a Quantini.

Bridge. Reed announces that they've lost weapons. Cpt. T'Pol squares her shoulders and looks straight ahead, asking, "Is their ship still docked with us?" Reed confirms that it is. T'Pol takes over the pilot's seat and grabs the joystick. Enterprise plus the docked Xindi ship faces off the other Xindi ship. T'Pol guides Enterprise toward the other ship. "RAM THEM!" the Delighted Dr. Mathra shrieks, hopping around the living room. T'Pol, in an awesomely gutsy move, uses the docked Xindi ship as a battering ram and smashes it directly into the other Xindi ship. The collision shears off the docked ship, and the starboard nacelle flickers off. "Both ships are disabled," Reed announces. "Both ships are SLICED OPEN!" the Delighted Dr. Mathra screams, turning purple.

Situation Room. Phlox reports they lost thirteen crewmembers and twenty-two more are injured. As Trip glares over his shoulder, Reed reports that they've taken nine Snake Eyes as prisoners, but they need to put seven of them somewhere else, as they seem only to be equipped with a brig built for two. "Blow 'em out the airlock," Trip says with calm ferocity. Hoshi stares at him. Shouldn't a larger brig have been one of the ship's upgrades last season before they took off on their mission? I mean, they didn't exactly think the Xindi would be warm and fuzzy, right? See, this is exactly why I think Admiral Forrest is EV-IL! After telling Reed to put the overflow into crew quarters with a heavy guard, Cpt. T'Pol asks about the repairs. In staccato tones, Trip reports that they'll have hull plating and weapons soon, but the starboard nacelle is FUBAR and will take six months to fix. "The best I can give you is warp one-point-seven," he grits. Cpt. T'Pol dismisses everyone distractedly. Trip stays. "How can we keep going with one warp engine?" he demands. Cpt. T'Pol tells him they have no other option. "What in the world were you thinking when you rammed that ship?" Trip hammers at her. Instead of telling Trip that she was thinking that it's November sweeps and they need ratings, Cpt. T'Pol tells him it was the only logical choice. Plus, it won her major cool points. Trip tells her that she's a screw-up for a captain. See, I don't understand his attitude. They didn't have weapons, the ship was crawling with Snake Eyes, their shields were failing, and the other Xindi ship was facing them down -- what else could she have done? I'm totally behind bold actions like that. They may not get very far very fast, but at least they didn't lose the entire crew. Cpt. T'Pol tells Trip to take up his issues with Admiral Forrest. If he's not off at Evil Camp.

Back in the grey-haired future, Quantum asks how they ever found the Xindi weapon without warp engines. P'Tail says carefully, "We located the facility where the Xindi constructed the probe but it had already been deployed." "Earth," Quantum states. "Destroyed," P'Tail responds. Quantum struggles with this concept, much as Arthur Dent did. Once he comprehends that all the McDonald'ses are gone, he's really going to freak. But at least P'Tail has been holding his towel for him. As Quantum staggers around, P'Tail continues, "They didn't stop at your homeworld. They attacked every human outpost they could find -- Mars, Alpha Centauri, Vega Colony -- all were destroyed." Quantum reels and finally asks, "How many of us are left?" "Less than six thousand," P'Tail tells him. Quantum bends over and moans. God, she's got to watch him go through this agony every day. Quantum throws himself upon the circular Hobbit door and runs outside. He leans against a wall as the camera pulls up and shows us a small shantytown settlement in the Hollywood hills.

After the commercial break, P'Tail joins Quantum outside. "We're on the fifth planet in the Ceti Alpha system," she tells him. "It's far from the Expanse." Although it's been said many times many ways, "THIS IS CETI ALPHA FIVE!" the Delighted Dr. Mathra yells, clapping two paper plates to his chest in an attempt to pec-ulate like Montalban. Quantum asks after the crew, and P'Tail tells him most of them are still on Enterprise, which is orbiting the system and patrolling. She explains that all the other people got to Ceti Alpha V by way of ship convoys. "One of them was led by Enterprise," she says as we get a shot of many ships trailing Enterprise. It's a very cool shot -- the fleet reminds me of something out of Star Wars, but better. And living on Ceti Alpha V before it develops dry rot? Brilliant. Kisses.

Bridge in the past. Cpt. T'Pol gets a comm from Ambassador Soval telling her he needs to speak with her. Cpt. T'Pol receives Soval in her Ready Room. "That uniform doesn't suit you, Captain," Soval sneers. He's just disappointed not to see her dinners putting in an appearance. Cpt. T'Pol supposes he didn't come all this way to give her a Fashion Dos and Don'ts lecture. Not in that caftan, he didn't. The upshot is, Soval wants her back on Vulcan. I think he just wants her. Period. Think about it: he's constantly bugging her to come back with him, and now he'd displeased that she's not in her skin-tight catsuit. It all smells like a mid-life Pon Farr to me. Cpt. T'Pol refuses to leave, saying the crew needs her. Soval argues that it's for her safety, as they received a distress call from the Mutara system -- man, Wrath of Khan references all over the place! It's like they knew what I was giving the Delighted Dr. Mathra for his birthday tomorrow! -- but when they reached the coordinates, all they found was debris. The Xindi were to blame. Yeah, yeah, yeah -- dead people aside, was there a nebula? Did they find a nebula? Soval wheedles that Cpt. T'Pol will get her rank back from the High Command. "I won't leave them," T'Pol says. "'Them' or 'him'?" Soval asks. Cpt. T'Pol just stares him down. Soval offers Vulcan specialists for Quantum. "You'd take him too?" Cpt. T'Pol asks. "If you return to Vulcan," Soval says. "Where I can bed you," the Delighted Dr. Mathra adds. Cpt. T'Pol ponders. Sensing a crack in her resolve, Soval rehashes the whole "the stupid humans weren't ready to leave Earth on a warp vessel" argument and that, in addition, the Vulcans owe the humans nothing. Since he can't remember where he left it, Cpt. T'Pol takes Quantum's mouthpiece and says the Vulcans held the humans back for too long, and that instead of doing that, they could have helped them develop faster ships, better defenses, and, in the end, possibly save humankind. "Your emotional attachment to Archer is clouding your logic," Soval snaps. He tells her they'll be around for another day if she should reconsider.

Bridge. Oh, my GOD! Malcolm has a very wide goatee! In the dark corridor, I thought he just had torpedo grease on his face. It's so thick, it's almost handlebars! He's Mirror Malcolm, but without being bad to the bone. I think he grew it to hide all evidence of lipgloss. Reed reports picking up signatures that could be a ship. Trip orders them to check it out.

Engineering. Quantum lies in an open SCAT tube with a "Spock's Brain"-like contraption on his head. Thanks to akg, I recently saw the uncut version in all it's awfulness. T'Pol and Phlox take readings. Phlox increases the power on Quantum's Brain and watches some scans as dark areas disappear. Quantum winces and twitches a bit. Oops! You didn't need that frontal lobe, did you? Phlox and T'Pol remove the headpiece and help Quantum up.

Bridge. They approach a ship that doesn't appear to be Xindi and has one bio-sign aboard. Trip asks the ship what it wants. There's no answer, but the ship moves away. They follow and fire on a nacelle as it tries to escape. The nacelle of the other ship flickers off, and Trip orders it dragged to the launch bay.

Sickbay. Phlox is pleased with the results of Quantum's treatment and intimates that P'Tail might be joining him on his voyage home. P'Tail tells Phlox that she plans to stay at the settlement for the present, as Quantum may need her help during recovery. Phlox grins, and I get a load of his long, stringy, greasy curls -- YUCK! Phlox, what were you thinking? Hockey hair can-NOT be all the rage on Denobula! "Have you told the Captain how you feel about him?" Phlox asks. P'Tail stares at Phlox, who gleefully points out that she's obviously become attached and it's nothing to be ashamed of: "Vulcans experience the same emotions as other species. They're just better at hiding them." P'Tail protests that she's not hiding anything: "He risked his life to save me, I'm merely repaying a debt." "I can only imagine what that must have been like. Spending all those years in that house, learning so much about him, yet he remembers nothing about you beyond the day that he became ill. If we're successful, perhaps things will be different," Phlox grins. They've added age spots to his face, and he looks really ghoulish with that hair. Plus, there's something yellow going on with his teeth. As is her usual defense, P'Tail turns back to her scans. She notes a discrepancy. "What is it?" Phlox asks, stepping closer, grin completely gone.

Brig. Trip and Reed's goatee question a Yridian, who insists that he was waiting for a buyer for his Rigellian flamegems. Trip and Reed don't believe him, since they've learned that his species is known for trading in information, and demand to know who hired him. When the Yridian isn't forthcoming, Trip orders Reed to literally tear apart his ship until they find anything or nothing. The Yridian doesn't want his ship destroyed, so he admits that he was hired to follow Phlox. Phlox? Why? To stop him from curing Quantum? To lead the Xindi right to Quantum since they've wanted him dead since we first saw them? Or maybe it's the Suliban..."HIRED BY WHO!?" Trip yells. "By whom." The Yridian doesn't know, and starts to say, "I was paid to follow the Denobulan if he ever left his homeworld..." but Trip lifts him up by his shirt and bangs him against the wall. "What did you tell them?" he demands, going red in the face. "Answer me!"

Sickbay. Trip storms in and asks what the problem is. Phlox complains that the engineers won't let them continue with Quantum's treatment. P'Tail and Phlox explain that curing Quantum will literally solve all their problems and save humanity and Earth. "Earth's gone," Trip points out flatly. Great delivery. Just a restatement of the fact, with no emotion left to care what the words really mean. Phlox explains that when he got rid of the parasites -- which look like a bunch of little jacks that you play Jacks with -- in Quantum's hippocampus today, their presence also disappeared from scans he had taken over the twelve years of Quantum's affliction. Duuuuuude. That's an awesome way out of this timeline! "By destroying the organisms in the present, we appeared to have neutralized them in the past," T'Pol explains. Phlox says the parasites exist outside of time, and that it's possible that destroying all of them will mean that Quantum's disease will never have happened in the first place. "History may be altered. Captain Archer will have remained in command of Enterprise and our mission in the Expanse could have an entirely different outcome," P'Tail says. And now my brain's gone cross-eyed. They plead for a diversion of power, but Trip won't okay it, as they need all the power for the weapons. P'Tail says that if the Xindi are on the way, there's little they can do to stop them. Trip acknowledges this, but refuses to go down without a fight. Hoshi calls him to the Bridge. Trip promises that they'll talk about all good things later.

Bridge. Hoshi says their probes are reporting that six Xindi ships have entered the system.

Reed charges weapons as Enterprise joins up with other ships. I think those are Xindi? Trip confirms that "everyone is in position," and Reed reports that the Xindi ships are within weapons range. Enterprise fires. The ship shakes, and Reed says, "Our shields are holding. Nice to know they work in combat." "Remind me to send a thank-you note to General Shran," Trip responds. Shields!? And -- General Excedrin PM? Oh, this episode is far too good to be true! Enterprise leads two Xindi ships away as the other four continue heading toward the planet. Two Earth ships come from behind the Xindi ships. At least one looks exactly like Enterprise, and the other looks like the Reliant, which means they did an awful lot of shipbuilding in twelve years. Or nine, I guess, if those ships weren't made until after Earth and the Earth colonies were destroyed. The Intrepid and the Reliant clone fire on the Xindi ships. Reed reports damage to the Bug House ship and that it's losing power. Enterprise takes out the other ship's engine, and Reed reports that the other four ships are changing their course away from the planet. I can't take my eyes off his facial hair -- it's a really bushy growth! Honey, here's a tip: if your goatee throws shadows, it's time to trim it back. With hedge clippers. Trip sits down in his chair and says, "I think we're going to find out how much of a beating these new shields can take." I love this episode and all, but you gotta wonder why other species -- Andorian, Vulcan, Klingon, and more that we've met in the past three years -- aren't jumping in to defend humans against what could very possibly be a dangerous foe for all of them. Shran's been made a general, which could imply wartime if it weren't for the fact that we know Andorians to be "war-like," which means they probably just give each other military titles for fun.

Sickbay. Quantum staggers to his feet and, avoiding P'Tail's protests, says he's not going to stand by while "they destroy what's left of humanity." Phlox stays in Sickbay and P'Tail runs after her husba-- er, "patient."

Shields are at forty-two percent, and Quantum can't get on the turbolift. It's not that he can't remember how it works, it's just that it's not working at all. He takes an access tube, and T'Pol follows. Can we really, in all good faith, ignore the sexual overtones of them climbing through a tube together? I didn't think so.

The ship that looks like Intrepid is fired on. Its port nacelle cracks and falls off. Dude, that's bad. But oh, it's so GOOD! Hoshi reports that the Intrepid has taken a direct hit. Sad -- that's Malcolm's ship! Why isn't he on it? He's now captain, right? Trip orders Intrepid to withdraw. Reed says Enterprise's phase cannons are down.

P'Tail and Quantum climb through tubes. I hope she's on birth control.

Reed shouts that their forward shields are collapsing, and Hoshi shouts back, "Hull breaches on B-deck! C-deck!" Reed yells, "They're targeting the Bridge!" "Hard to port!" Trip orders. Outside, the Xindi ships fire repeatedly at the Bridge until the entire section is cut out and you can see inside. Wow. I just got major pricks behind my eyes (for once it's not Quantum) and goosebumps all over. Reed, Trip, and Hoshi are dead.

P'Tail almost falls off the ladder, but Quantum helps her back. He gets to a computer and checks the ship's status. "The Bridge is gone," Quantum breathes. P'Tail comms Phlox to meet them in Engineering to finish the procedure. Because now that Trip's dead, they might as well disobey his orders. Quantum says they don't have time to worry about his parasites, but P'Tail tells him he's wrong and leads him away to explain.

Three Rent-a-Redshirts carry a wounded Rent-a-Redshirt down a corridor. A nest of Snake Eyes transports in and shoots all of them.

Engineering. In a very high voice, Phlox reports that the Quantum's Brain chamber has been damaged. Quantum's parasites allow him to remember, "Didn't you say we could destroy the parasites with a subspace implosion?" "Yes, but that would --" Phlox starts to say, but Quantum interrupts to ask P'Tail, "Can we create one?" P'Tail says they need to overload three plasma injectors. "You'll destroy the ship!" Phlox says. Quantum says it doesn't make much of a difference anymore. Quantum leaps around and tells Phlox and P'Tail to get to the sh'pods: "They're only after humans. If this doesn't work out, you'll still have a chance!" Not necessarily. I don't think the Xindi are the type to just ignore those working with the humans just because they happen to have non-red blood. P'Tail joins Quantum at the warp core. Quantum looks at her and then back at Phlox: "That's an order!" "With all due respect, sir," P'Tail says quietly, "you were relieved of command." Damn straight! And he's a much better actor because of it. What is it with the episodes that show Bakula at his finest being the ones where he's not really acting Captain Quantumly? Something to ponder.