Hoshi lies on the floor next to an ominous chair. Head reptilian Dolum was impressed with her language skills and needs some encoded data translated. Got a minute? No? Prep for surgery then. Last week's shpod is now aboard; to Hayes Reed breaks the news about Hawkins dying under his command. Archer urges his Xindi pals to stop the Space Modulator stolen by the reps; if they help he promises to stop the spheres. T'Pol discovers that four of the spheres are "integral" in some technobabble way and wants to blow one up. Hoshi gets a head-hypo full of neocortex parasites ("Ceti eels, now in a can!") to make her want to help destroy Earth.

Aboard Degraship Archer contacts the aquatics. They dismiss him until, hands on glass, he describes the trannie wasteland soon to come. (Cool translator sequence audio both ways here.) In the Modulator Reactor Room drug-resistant Hoshi adds another layer of encryption and tries to kill herself unsuccessfully. Full of tempofoggery, the Borgodo won't or can't supply the code Dolum wants; he ups her dose. The aquatics decide to help the Great Diplomat Archer. Reed asks Hayes to assemble a rescue team. Porthos gets table scraps (steak!) as T'Pol considers an after-mission Starfleet career.

Reactor Room, ready to fire. Archer neglects to give the word to Reed. Eighteen ships vortex in and an enormous aquatic vessel launches NX-01, then covers it as they make bombing runs. Travis hits the steady button as a massive space-fight ensues. T'Pol detects Hoshi and Hayes' team beams in. They break into the brig and Hayes gets a handful of Hoshi tush. The Borgodoes start causing anomalies that bust up the aquatic ship in a spectacular leaking mess. As the sharks get in a hall fight the transporter acts up. Trip beams them out two at a time and stalls Hayes' retrieval long enough for him to get shot. Dolum orders the Modulator vortexed out, ten hours to Terra.

In sickbay Hayes dies rather than listen to Malcolm give orders. Reed breaks the news to the sharks and gets three volunteers for a raid. The bugs now refute Dolum's claims of good fortune; he rewards their wariness by destroying them. (As villains go, it's hard not to like Dolum.) No match for Phlox's osmotic eel, Hoshi needs sleep but Archer wants her aboard tiny little Degraship pronto. They undock to chase the Modulator as Archer orders T'Pol to keep Trip in line. She says she'll "do my best." We'll see next week!