"Mission Impossible" meets "Twilight" without the amnesia. Degra the Bomb Builder wakes on a small warp-driven two-seater with a pony-tailed Phelps. Phelps tells Degra they've been Xinsectoid prisoners for three years, offering forearm tattoos and long hair as evidence. Degra's memory loss is blamed on truth serums used in captivity. Phelps explains old Xindi rivalries flared again after destroying Earth, and Degra found himself on the outs. Phelps proposed to Degra in their cell (!) that they escape so they stole a cargo ship. Some surgical male-bonding and they start swigging back ale, dreaming of long baths in cold lakes. (It's OK though, Rollin administered an anti-intoxicant since he knows his captain can't hold his liquor.)

Secretly the two-seater is a ruse, a simulator setup on jacks by the IMF. THREE DAYS EARLIER NX-01 returned to the prototype area and captured Degra's ship. Studying the Xindi ship revealed the target planet Azati Prime and a very Scottyish Barney drools over their funky vortex-hopping technology. Rollin develops a memory-wiping drug as fast as Superman flies while Cinnamon snoops into Degra's private mail. Denobulan dermal art and hair follicle stimulation accompany a Regulan bloodworm injection (perhaps soft, definitely not shapeless) along with a hilarious admonishment: "Try not to injure it, they're difficult to replace." Other Xindi ships approach and Paris moves Enterprise back into the debris field. Inside the simulator Phelps fakes a distress call yet wily Degra enters the comm channel frequencies directly (since Phelps is an unconvincing liar).

Degra explains his peaceable history trying to reunite his people, until learning about the Earth threat. Their ship is hailed by Cinnamon using a voice mangler, yet again wily Degra enters the coordinates manually. Phelps orders STAND BY but a bunkum field overload from "debris radiation" overloads the simulator hydraulics. Degra suspends his suspension of disbelief as Phelps can't satisfy Degra's familiar inquiries so Degra cuts him with a secret knife (since Phelps can't defend himself even after a warning).

Never entirely fooled, Degra admits humans are skilled at deception but sasses that he only "gave you what you thought you wanted." No matter- Phelps says they've adapted the Xindi's "phased deflector pulses" and will pop to Azati Prime in no time. The ship almost shakes apart but Willie inverts the warp field or crosses the streams or something and the red giant appears. Degra desperately runs off at the mouth, confirming the information he's spilled. Ha! Stupid Xindi get tricked again as the final leg of search for their weapon begins.


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