Stratagem (episode)

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"Stratagem"
ENT, Episode 3x14 Production number: 066 First aired: 4 February 2004
←	65th of 97 produced in ENT	→
←	65th of 97 released in ENT	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 97 released in ENT Remastered
←	694th of 726 released in all	→

Teleplay By Michael Sussman Story By Terry Matalas Directed By Mike Vejar
December 12, 2153
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Enterprise captures Degra, the mastermind behind the Xindi superweapon project, and Archer tries to trick him into revealing the location of the final weapon.

1 Summary
2 Background Information
3 Links and References

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

Captain Archer, not in his normal uniform, is onboard an unusual shuttle with a grey-haired Xindi-Primate, who is unconscious on the floor. As the Xindi wakes up, the shuttle rocks, and Archer tells him that the ship is being attacked by Xindi ships. Startled and disoriented, the Xindi looks out a portal, and sees two Xindi-Insectoid patrol ships firing at them. He demands that Archer let him communicate with the attacking ships, because they will listen to him.

Archer - "Its been a long time since any Xindi has taken orders from you..."

[edit] Act One

After raising the shields and eluding the attacking ships by dumping warp plasma into their intake manifolds, the Xindi demands to be told what is going on - he can't remember anything. Archer tells him his name is Degra, and that, by working together, they've just escaped a Xindi prison camp where they've been held for over three years. Degra isn't convinced, and he demands some proof. Archer rolls up his sleeve, and reveals Xindi prison script on both of their forearms. Degra still isn't convinced that a Xindi and a Human could've put aside their differences and become friends so easily. Archer explains about how they used to try and kill each other, but then decided there was no point - both of their species had lost the conflict.

Degra is told that the Xindi superweapon had been launched against Earth, with the desired effect - Earth had been destroyed. However, since then the old Xindi rivalries had re-emerged, with the Xindi-Insectoids coming out victorious after having stockpiled weapons and ships during the building of the weapon. Many colonies of other species of Xindi had already been wiped out.

Just then, a section of the shuttle's hull ruptured, and coolant gas was expelled into the cockpit. Degra and Archer worked together to fix the leak before settling down for the night. After a few hours of sleep, Archer got up and used a hypospray on Degra, then opened the shuttle door. As Archer steps out of the shuttle, its revealed that the shuttle is in fact some type of simulator, and they are actually inside the Enterprise.

[edit] Act Two

Archer, Trip, T'Pol, and Hoshi discuss the tricking of Degra. Archer say he needs more time with Degra. Three days earlier, the crew of the Enterprise returned to the weapon test site (ENT: "Proving Ground") and incapacitated a Xindi-Primate ship. After boarding, they found only three Xindi, and that any useful data had already been deleted. They took the three Xindi and searched the ship for anything useful.

Archer tried to convince the lead Xindi, known as Degra, to tell him where the weapon was being made. After failing, he decided to try to trick him into telling him. Doctor Phlox tells the captain that he can use Regulan bloodworms to selectively wipe their short-term memories. With this information, Archer decides to create a simulation of a shuttle, and use Degra's wiped memory as an advantage. Captain Archer was implanted with a MACO subdermal transceiver so he could covertly communicate with the Enterprise crew.

Back inside the shuttle, Degra is woken again by a sudden jolt. The Captain tells him that they're entering a region with high concentrations of spatial anomalies. Apparently the ship's hull was not lined with trellium-D. Archer convinces Degra to send out a distress message to his collegues, hoping that it won't be intercepted by a Xindi-Insectoid ship.

In the command center, Hoshi and T'Pol are working to gain any information from Degra and the garbled data they recovered from the Xindi ship. Hoshi intercepted Degra's 'transmission', and began to formulate a reply.

[edit] Act Three

Archer and Degra were sharing a bottle of Andorian ale when their message alert sounded. It was a response to their call for help. After clearing it up, Degra managed to identify the voice as a friend of his. Hoshi was using a voice synthesizer of some sort, presumably after having sampled the voice of one of the Xindi prisoners in the brig. She told Degra that his wife Naara was safe, and so were his daughters (they'd managed to get some data from a personal log).

T'Pol is told by Lieutenant Reed that another Xindi ship was approaching the system, about six hours away. Hoshi reminds T'Pol that Xindi sensors are more advanced than those of the Enterprise, and that they'd probably notice them a long time before they arrived in the sector. With that, T'Pol orders the Enterprise back into the debris field of the test moon.

Archer tells Degra that the best place to go would be to find his family on the planet they are staying on. Degra is convinced to enter the coordinates of the system, and does so. Just afterwards, the Enterprise experiences ship-wide power fluctuations from the debris field that affect the shuttle enough for Degra to notice the windows aren't windows, but computer screens. After asking Archer some questions to validate his story, Degra lunges forward and attacks him with a knife. The Enterprise crew bursts into the shuttle just in time, and take Degra back into custody.

[edit] Act Four

The crew discovers that the coordinates that Degra input lead to Azati Prime, a red giant that will take three-weeks to reach, which could be a critical waste of time if Degra was lying and the weapon isn't located there. Archer puts another plan into action, involving the entire ship this time.

Reed bursts into the ship's brig, and demands that two of the Xindi, including Degra, follow him. The ship is being rocked and jolted as they race to Engineering, where Archer explains that they've adapted the Xindi technology from their ship to open one of the Xindi's subspace vortices. After Travis inverted the warp-field and brought them back into normal space, Degra was led with Archer up to the bridge.

Once on the bridge, Archer shows Degra a red giant on the main viewscreen. The other officers on the bridge confirm Xindi ships in the sector, along with high levels of kemocite. This is enough evidence for Degra to shout out:

You'll never get close to the weapon! Our defense perimeter will destroy you!

Archer slowly turns round to Degra, and reveals that it has been another hoax, and the viewscreen reverts to show the test site. A stunned Degra is led back to the brig. "Thanks for your help", Archer says.

After wiping all three Xindi's memories, returning them to their ship, and faking a plasma leak to explain their loss of consciousness, the Enterprise leaves the test site for Azati Prime, on what Archer hopes to be the final leg in their search for the Xindi weapon.

[edit] Background Information

This episode bears similarities to the first season Mission: Impossible episode "Operation Rogosh", where mass murderer Rogosh (played by Fritz Weaver) is knocked out by the IMF. When Rogosh "wakes up", he is made to believe he is in a cell in a prison in his own country, three years later, and about to be executed as an American agent. To "prove" his loyalty to the cause, Rogosh has to spill the information on his secret operation – his planned terrorist attack on Los Angeles – but during the mock trial a slip-up cues him in on the ruse.