Trip and Malcolm's excellent adventure sours as the Romulan drone-ship disguises itself as NX-01 to attack a Rigellian ship. Travis needs 128 ships to search for the drone that looks nothing like a bird of prey, painted or otherwise. Shran visits Talas, dying from phase pulse infection. (It's simply marvelous watching the Andorian antennae move.) Archer approaches Shran with a plan; if it involves killing Tellarites he's all for it. On Romulus a snooty Senator inquires about the drone, threatening someone will pay if the drone fails.

Vulcan and Earth can't provide enough ships so Archer plans a four-species alliance to search for the drone. He's concerned if the Romulan drone escapes then more will follow (same reasoning in "Balance of Terror"). Gral and Shran insult each other but Archer asks them to start behaving like humans ("And you said you wouldn't be insulting"): When faced with a common threat humans put differences aside and cooperate. Maestro Trip uses a service junction to shut down warp, but the Romulans seal him in amid seven minutes' worth of deadly green radiation. Malcolm reconnects the drone's warp over Trip's order and joins him in the junction. (The Romulans overhear the humans, perhaps explaining how they speak English so well.)

Shran gives Andorian codes to Archer while comparing naval history ("Have you served on all these vessels?"). Archer says there's no reason we can't be allies and they shake hands. Talas' death provides a reason; after a moving eulogy Shran challenges her Tellarite killer to a duel. No duel, no precious alliance. Malcolm, "good at blowing things up," double-crosses the double-crossing Romulans by overloading his phase pistol in the drone's bridge. It explodes magnificently, blowing holes in the drone. Shran refuses to cancel the duel so Archer, "the only one that can be killed," subs for the Tellarite. T'Pol complains, using a Vulcan saying: "One man can summon the future" (interesting contrast with "Mirror, Mirror").

Wearing gauntlets tied together, using sharp ice-cutting tools, Archer and Shran fight (my son comments, "Archer can fight?"). Archer amputates one of Shran's antenna; as Hoshi and Mayweather discovered, the matter is resolved satisfactorily. Enterprise finds the drone darting around erratically yet destroys its holographic emitters. Malcolm and Trip jump out the hull as alliance ships appear and fly past (way cool!). Enterprise recovers them and Tucker teases Reed about disobeying orders. Among stories of Andorian and Tellarite cooperation, the four "ambassadors" start the conference early. To be continued: Uncovered on Romulus, an albino Andorian pilots the drone.