Detained (Star Trek: Enterprise)
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Detained is the 20th episode (production #121) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. It may be noteworthy for reuniting Scott Bakula with Dean Stockwell for the first time since the series "Quantum Leap".
Synopsis
Archer and Mayweather are detained by the Tandarans in a Suliban internment camp. Learning of the Suliban's persecution by the Tandarans, Archer enlists the aid of Enterprise and his crew.
Plot
Teaser
Mayweather awakens slowly in a prison cell. He sees Archer next to him, unconscious. Mayweather gets up and goes to the door, opening it cautiously. He sees two Suliban walk along the corridor outside and ducks back.
Act One
Mayweather explores the prison area and finds at least 30 Suliban in a food preparation area before returning to his cell to report to the now-conscious Archer. Archer asks if there is a clue as to who attacked their shuttlepod but there is none. Archer assists Mayweather to look out of the windows, set high in the wall. Mayweather sees a five-metre high wall with a guard tower.
Archer and Mayweather leave their room and encounter a Suliban. She doesn't know why they have been captured. At that moment, an alarm sounds and the Suliban in the other cells assemble in the corridor for inspection. A Tandaran officer, Major Klev, enters the cell area and orders Archer and Mayweather to follow him. They are led to the office of Colonel Grat.
Grat introduces himself in a polite manner, inviting Archer and Mayweather to sit. Grat asks why their shuttlepod was in the Tandaran military zone. Archer explains that they detected some unusual energy readings and were investigating when they were intercepted but had no idea that it was a security zone. Grat continues by saying that the Tandarans had to be sure that they were not Suliban, so they tested their DNA. He asks if the Enterprise has had any experience of the Cabal, genetically engineered Suliban soldiers and Archer replies yes.
Grat says that he doesn't have the authority to release Archer and Mayweather, so they will have to appear before a magistrate on Tandar Prime in three days, where Grat will testify as to their innocence. Grat also refuses to allow Archer to contact the Enterprise but says that he will do so and explain the situation on their behalf, before summoning Klev to escort them back to their cell.
Later, Archer goes to get water from the kitchen area and speaks to a Suliban called Danik, assuming him to be a member of the Cabal. Archer asks what Naara, Danik's daughter, has done to deserve imprisonment and Danik tells Archer that none of the Suliban are Cabal members. An alarm sounds for curfew and Klev enters on his rounds. Danik is taken to isolation for breaking curfew.
Act Two
Colonel Grat contacts the Enterprise and apprises them of the situation, as promised. Grat scrambled the carrier wave to avoid detection. Trip advocates an escape attempt, while T'Pol prefers to wait for the hearing and to avoid provoking the Tandarans further. T'Pol orders the Enterprise to Tandar Prime.
In the prison kitchen area the following morning, Archer and Mayweather approach Danik, now released from isolation. Archer asks what is really going on in the prison, as he feels that Grat isn't telling the whole story. Danik takes them back to his cell for a meal. Danik says that they are in Detention Complex 26, an internment camp for Suliban. The Tandarans imprisoned the Suliban when the Cabal began attacking the Tandaran Sector eight years previously, telling the Suliban that they would be freed when the Cabal was defeated. The Suliban cannot appeal to their government as their homeworld became uninhabitable 300 years ago, forcing the Suliban to become either nomads or to integrate in to other cultures, such as Tandar Prime.
They are interrupted by another Suliban male called Sajen, who delivers a note to Danik. The note says that Danik's wife has been refused approval to transfer to Complex 26. The alarm sounds for midday inspection and Klev removes Archer from the lineup to speak to Grat alone.
In his office, Grat warns Archer not to interact with the Suliban. Grat then asks Archer about the events of Broken Bow and their delivering of Klaang back to Cronos and why he was being chased by the Suliban. Grat demands information about the Cabal - their genetic enhancements, ship deployments and their chain of command. Archer wonders why innocent Suliban are being held prisoner and Grat says that if they were allowed to go free the Cabal would turn them all in to genetically-enhanced soldiers, so they are better off in prison. Grat asks about Silik and the Temporal Cold War and Archer says nothing. As Archer leaves with Klev, Grat warns that prolonging the conversation could result in Archer missing the transport to Tandar Prime, the next one being in sixty days.
Act Three
Grat explains that the hearing has been delayed to the Enterprise. Reed manages to isolate the carrier frequency and Hoshi locates the source of the signal. T'Pol concurs with Trip and orders the Enterprise to Complex 26.
In the Complex, Archer tells Danik that the reason why he won't give information to Grat is because he doesn't approve of coercion nor of the internment of the Suliban, which surprises Danik. Archer says that the Enterprise will come looking for himself and Mayweather and that the Suliban could use the opportunity to escape. In the kitchen area, Mayweather tries to speak to Sajen, who is writing a journal. He says that Mayweather sees no difference between the Cabal and ordinary Suliban, which Mayweather denies.
That night, a communicator is beamed in to Archer and Mayweather's cell. Archer tells Trip not to transport them out as he wants to help the Suliban escape as they are innocent too. Archer tells Danik and Sajen about the plan. Danik says that the Suliban can pilot their ships to the Niburon Colonies, away from the Tandar Sector. Sajen won't take the risk, calling it suicide.
The following morning, Archer again refuses to give information about Silik to Grat. Grat summons Klev in to his office, who brings a beaten-up Mayweather with him. Grat produces the communicator that Mayweather was hiding. Archer continues to say nothing so is sent to isolation as punishment.
In the Situation Room onboard the Enterprise, Trip and T'Pol plan the escape strategy. T'Pol hails Phlox, who says that he has nearly finished with something. At that moment, they are hailed - it is Grat, using Archer's communicator to warn T'Pol not to try anything or risk being fired upon.
Act Four
Mayweather cleans up the blood on his face and is approached by Sajen who asks after Archer. Mayweather says that he is in isolation because he cares about the Suliban and goes on to say that Sajen should see past his preconceptions about people who look like Tandarans.
Grat hails the Enterprise and T'Pol answers. She jams the Tandaran frequencies by sending copies of the human and Vulcan databases along with a copy of the Starfleet charter. T'Pol hails Trip, who is finishing transporting someone. The Enterprise leaves orbit when this is achieved.
Mayweather answers a knock at the door and admits a Suliban, who turns out to be Reed in the disguise prepared earlier by Phlox. He hands Mayweather a phase pistol and sets charges for the breakout. Later, Danik discusses the breakout with the two of them as the alarm sounds for the inspection. Reed hails T'Pol to say that the guards are ahead of schedule and that they should "speed things up a little.".
Act Five
In orbit, T'Pol uses torpedoes to ward off the Tandaran defence ships before clearing Trip to launch in a shuttlepod. In complex 26, Mayweather distracts Klev to allow Reed to activate the charges and begin the escape.
In isolation, Reed frees Archer before being stunned by Grat. Grat rants that the Suliban will all go to join the Cabal as they have nothing else to live for. Archer says that Grat doesn't know the Suliban very well, despite having been in charge for a long time. He then locks Grat in isolation before escaping.
In the shuttlepod, Reed asks that Phlox meet them upon arrival as his disguise is really starting to itch. Mayweather wonders whether the Suliban will make it. Archer replies that they will get out of Tandaran space without difficulty but after that, who knows?