The Catwalk

"The Catwalk"
Star Trek: Enterprise episode
Trip & T'Pol take shelter.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 12
Directed by	Mike Vejar
Written by	Mike Sussman Phyllis Strong
Featured music	Jay Chattaway
Production code	212
Original air date	December 18, 2002 (2002-12-18)
Guest stars
Scott Burkholder - Tagrim Zach Grenier - Renth Aaron Lustig - Guri Elizabeth Magness - Female Crewmember Danny Goldring - Alien Captain Brian Cousins - Alien Lieutenant Sean Smith - Alien Crewmember
Episode chronology
← Previous "Precious Cargo" Next → "Dawn"
List of Star Trek: Enterprise episodes

"The Catwalk" is the 38th episode (production #212) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the 12th of the second season.

Plot

As Captain Archer prepares to lead a survey team to an uninhabited planet, Enterprise is suddenly hailed by a trio of aliens seeking refuge. The aliens warn Archer that a deadly neutronic wavefront is quickly approaching. After conferring with the crew, Archer surmises that everyone must take shelter somewhere protected in order to survive the storm's deadly radiation. Chief Engineer Trip Tucker suggests that the one heavily-shielded place on board that might suffice for the eight-day ordeal is the cramped quarters of the catwalk, the maintenance shaft that runs the length of each nacelle. Only one problem – the temperature in the catwalk can reach 300 degrees when the warp coils are online, so Commander Tucker will have to shut down the main reactor and set up a makeshift bridge in one of the catwalk compartments.

The crew and their alien visitors evacuate to the catwalk, and as the days wear on, tensions run high among them. The storm envelops the ship, making for frequent, sudden bouts of turbulence. Also, the alien trio doesn't do much to endear themselves to the Enterprise crew, and even endangers the crew by trying to cook their food near a plasma manifold. To make matters worse, Tucker and Archer discover a problem in Engineering – the matter and antimatter injectors have come online, endangering the crew's safe haven in the catwalk. Tucker cannot shut the injectors down from the catwalk, however – outfitted in an EV suit, he must make the trek to Engineering. The suit will only protect him for 22 minutes, so he has to work fast.

Once Tucker reaches Engineering, he notices something even more peculiar – alien intruders, who appear to be interfering with the ship's systems. He manages to hide from them, and attempts to ascertain what they're doing aboard Enterprise. As he peers out a window, he notices an alien ship docked alongside Enterprise. He also manages to activate a monitor and witnesses the aliens on the bridge – oddly enough, they're the same species as the trio of aliens taking refuge in the catwalk. Tucker returns to the catwalk and relays his findings. Dr. Phlox runs a scan on the alien visitors, deducing that the aliens are actually immune to the effects of radiation. Angered, Archer demands to know what's going on. The trio confesses that the aliens Tucker saw are actually looking for them – they're considered fugitives. They explain to Archer that they were officers in the Takret Militia, but they escaped when they learned that the commanding officers were corrupt. The trio apologizes for lying to Archer, and tells him that these alien intruders have a history of seizing vessels like Enterprise and murdering the crews.

Security Chief Malcolm Reed reports that the alien intruders are trying to re-initialize the warp reactor, putting the crew in danger. Realizing that he must act quickly, Archer formulates a plan. He, Sub-commander T'Pol and Lt. Reed suit up and head down to the main area of the ship. While T'Pol and Reed work to shut down the warp reactor, Archer distracts the alien leader, claiming to be the only survivor on board Enterprise. He demands they leave, or he'll destroy the ship. He then breaks contact, and orders Ensign Mayweather to change course, heading straight for a destructive plasma eddy. As T'Pol and Reed finally succeed in shutting the reactor down, the alien leader realizes that Archer is serious, having set Enterprise on a suicide course towards the plasma eddy. He and his men flee the ship, and Mayweather manages to steer clear of the eddy just in time.

Soon after, Mayweather maneuvers Enterprise out of the storm, and the crew is able to return to their quarters. The alien visitors, meanwhile, apologize for all the trouble they've caused, and head for the Gyrannan System. Relieved that the whole ordeal is over, Archer wishes them luck and bids them farewell.

Continuity

• A female crewman doing a crossword puzzle asks Archer who the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth was and he replies he believes it to be Solkar. Solkar was the name of Spock's great-grandfather as established in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Given the long history of diplomatic achievement in Spock's family – Spock and his father Sarek were also veteran Vulcan ambassadors – it possible that the man Archer mentions and Spock's great-grandfather are one and the same.

• This is the only episode to show "Chef," the ship's cook, though only from the waist down.

External links

• The Catwalk at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Catwalk" at TV.com
• The Catwalk at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• The Catwalk at StarTrek.com