From atop a shuttlebay gantry Archer addresses his smudged underlings. He dedicates the remainder of their mission "for the eighteen" lost under T'Pol's stuporous command. Ten hours away from a cryptic rendezvous with Degra, Archer asks Trip to write a letter home to Crewman Jane Taylor's parents. Trip tries sniveling out but Archer remains firm. T'Pol visits Phlox regarding her emotional "Jeannie" being out of control. (Didn't we already suffer this scene almost word for word?)

Rendezvous point; Degra appears and pages Hoshi to follow. The two ships zip into a sphere bubble and dock. Degra's dragged Slothy out to see Archer's "proof" and since we can't launch the weapon for a few days, how about now? Thankfully Enterprise's morgue remains pristine, containing three Reptar corpses that persuade Degra about uniting with Earth to oppose the sphere-builders. Slothy's not quite persuaded, convinced his time traveler can beat up Archer's.

T'Pol picks off pepperonis and worries about Trip not sleeping. The hull pops and vents green steam (creating another NX-01 casualty). T'Pol tattles to Phlox who relieves Trip (of duty!) so he can dream about Crewman Taylor nagging him about the letter. Trip goes off on Degra (1) and T'Pol intervenes. The venting gets worse; of course the valves are only accessible via EVA. Trip and Reed enjoy impressive visuals of an active warp nacelle looming above them and Reed overheats. Six minute countdown, very boring. Back inside Trip flies off on Degra (2) and Archer intervenes.

Degra and Archer share notes about the spheres so Enterprise can proceed as a ship of exploration (yea!). Then a Reptar warship gatecrashes and orders Degra to undock, presumably to destroy NX-01. He does so but soon blasts their pretty ship into bits, truly a sad sign of mutinous internal Xindi affairs. Degra shows Archer a shortcut and requests that he meet the counxil in three days. T'Pol brings a Xindi can for Trip to kick (3) as his emotions regarding his sister confront him. He procrastinates until Starfleet notifies the parents then sends a letter telling them how it's all about him.

Director Levar Burton reheats authors Black and Goodman's leftovers into an occasionally moving hour. (Can we just forget "Damage"- with its working sinks- ever happened and continue from there?) I do wish Archer had conspicuously asked Degra to secure a spare coil for the poor saps he screwed last week. But thank goodness Trip's bad ass-acting may finally be over now that his sister's picture-frame has gone from busted to fixed.


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