Fight or Flight (Star Trek: Enterprise)
"Fight or Flight" is the second episode (production #103) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.
Overview: The Enterprise encounters an alien ship that's their first chance of first contact, but find hull breaches and no activity. Captain Archer, Ensign Sato, and Lieutenant Reed board the ship to investigate. On the ship, Hoshi faces her fears.
Plot
Teaser
Hoshi is in sickbay, worrying over a slug that she brought back from an Away Mission. Hoshi debates about taking the slug out of its natural habitat. Phlox assures her that it will be fine and that he will do his best to keep it alive. Trip enters to tell Phlox that he has routed more power to sickbay. He laments with Hoshi that the ship's first contact in two weeks has been with "a dying worm".
Act One
T'Pol joins Captain Archer in the Ready Room. Archer interrupts her report to ask her if she can hear squeaking. If he can't locate it, Archer will have the whole floor torn up. T'Pol continues with her report: there are few inhabited planets along the flightpath assigned to the Enterprise by Star Fleet. Archer asks if the Vulcan star charts have any more details. T'Pol reminds him that only one out of every 43,000 planets supports intelligent life, then leaves. Hoshi enters and tells Archer that she is having trouble sleeping because of the location of her quarters (E deck, starboard section 5). Archer gives Hoshi permission to change quarters with Ensign Porter.
Reed and Mayweather are in the Armoury, running simulations for Forward and Aft scanners. The test has a discrepancy of three meters, which annoys Reed. Archer joins them to check on progress, then orders the ship to drop out of warp in order to find a suitable target for a live test. The sensors are still awry, resulting in a failed test. Archer orders that the Enterprise resume course while Reed undertakes the modifications. Trip joins Phlox in the Mess Hall. Trip complains that he is restless after not seeing anything in the last two weeks. Phlox counters by saying that every moment has been fascinating for him, mixing with humans. Phlox compares the smell of Ensign Socorro after she exercises to a Nausicaan adrenal gland, and wonders whether Crewmen Bennett and Haynem will let him watch them mate. Trip says ironically that it's good that Phlox is enjoying himself.
T'Pol picks up an Axanar vessel on sensors, unmoving and nearly three light years from the nearest star system. The Enterprise drops out of warp to investigate. The ship has no detectable comms signals, weapons or engine signatures. Archer hails it but receives no response. A closer visual inspection shows evidence of particle weapons fire on the hull. T'Pol recommends leaving the ship and resuming course. A scan reveals a number of bio-signs aboard the vessel. Archer orders a shuttle prepped and that Hoshi be a part of the Away Mission with him.
Act Two
Trip walks with Archer and pleads to be assigned as well. Archer states that Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer, which Trip accepts. Archer makes a personal log entry in his cabin; he debates about T'Pol's motives for recommending non-interference. He knows that she recommends the right course of action but he is keen to have a break from the monotony of travel too. Hoshi enters and tries to leave the Away Mission. Archer asks why and Hoshi says that she suffers from claustrophobia.
The shuttle arrives at the alien vessel; it has a nitrogen-methane atmosphere and is at -20C. Blood spatters are spread around the walls. A new bio-pump is located in a darkened chamber. Hoshi screams when she sees the crew, suspended upside-down with tubes attached to their chests, all dead. Back on Enterprise, T'Pol recommends leaving the area to avoid the return of the murderers and keep the ship safe. Archer concurs and orders the ship back on course at warp 3.
Act Three
Phlox tells Hoshi about the first time he saw a number of dead people in one location, just after he became a doctor. He found it 'disturbing'. Hoshi is embarrassed about being frightened. Phlox asks if Hoshi would be better suited back at University, in a teaching role. Hoshi defends herself, as Captain Archer's first choice for the mission. Phlox tries to feed the slug with a new protein supplement. Hoshi still wonders whether she did the right thing, removing the slug from its habitat: "She needs to get back to an environment that's more suited to her." "Perhaps some place where she could teach?", replies Phlox.
Archer, Trip & T'Pol are eating in the Captain's Mess. Trip discusses the Away Mission. Archer is troubled by leaving the alien vessel. He isn't happy at leaving the Axanar ship without doing anything for the crew. T'Pol argues for the Vulcan code of behaviour. Archer shows irritation towards the Vulcan attitude to non-intervention and orders the ship to reverse course.
The Away Mission consists of Phlox, Hoshi, Trip & Archer. Phlox conducts a post mortem on the least-decayed body. Trip bring the comms system back online. A log entry is replayed and Hoshi starts to decode the Axanar language. Phlox finds that the bodies are being drained of triglobulin, a molecule that is used to create medicines, vaccines and aphrodisiacs. It is very close to human lymphatic fluid, notes Phlox. Archer gives him a worried look.
Hoshi is making progress on decoding the language. She tells Trip about a visit she paid to a tributary of the Amazon with two other language teachers, to see the wildlife. She says that she found it stressful, before telling Trip that she is going to ask Archer to take her back to Earth. The Universal Translator reports her success with the language.
T'Pol hails Archer to report that a ship is approaching. Its power signatures match the bio pumps on the alien vessel. Archer ends the mission and shoots the pump before leaving.
Act Four
The alien vessel drops out of warp 60,000 km away. Reed tells T'Pol that the targeting scanners are not ready. T'Pol tells Reed that he is needed on the Bridge in five minutes and to do the best he can. The new ship fires on the Enterprise, damaging the port nacelle and preventing warp drive. Archer orders the torpedo tubes charged. Reed fires, but they prove ineffective. The ship scans the Enterprise and Archer orders the crew to arm themselves to be ready to be boarded.
Another Axanar vessel drops out of warp and hails the Enterprise. Hoshi signals that the aggressive ship killed the Axanar crew, not the Enterprise. The aggressive ship then locks on to the Enterprise with a tractor beam. Archer tells Hoshi to signal to the Axanar Captain that he should compare the bio-pump power signatures to the hostile alien ship above. The Universal Translator isn't successful, so Archer tells Hoshi to talk to the Axanar Captain herself. Hoshi lacks self-confidence. Archer convinces her to try. Hoshi is successful and the Axanar Captain targets the hostile vessel, freeing the Enterprise.
Act Five
"Captain's starlog, May 6th, 2151. After helping them recover their dead crewmen, we had a chance to spend some time with the Axanar. Turns out they're androgynous and live over 400 years. I look forward to meeting them again under better circumstances. Before we resume our course, I've agreed to make a brief detour."
Hoshi and Phlox walk across a rocky plain of an M-class planet, with Hoshi carrying a box containing the slug. She puts it down, frees the slug and says that it will adapt to live on its new planet and that it "will do just fine here."
External links