I didn't realize you spoke slug.
I wish I did.
She doesn't look any better, does she?
She? We haven't been able to determine its gender, if it has one.
- I should've left her where I found her. - Nonsense.
You're on a mission of exploration.
There's something to be learned from every life form.
She wasn't meant to be in this environment.
I promise to do my best to keep it alive.
He's gonna make you all better.
Actually, I was thinking more about my Pyrithian bat.
He won't eat anything once it's dead.
We've routed some more power to Sickbay.
- Let me know if it's enough. - This should do fine.
How's Sluggo?
Dr Phlox thinks this argon lamp should help...
...but she has barely moved all day.
We've been out here for two weeks, and the only first contact we've made...
...is with a dying worm.
Come in.
The scans of the sectors ahead...
Hear that?
- Hear what? - A squeak.
Something's squeaking.
I think it's coming from under the deck plating,
but every time I get close to it, it stops.
If I can't isolate it, I'm gonna have to tear the whole flooring up.
That would be unfortunate.
The scans of the sectors ahead indicate little chance
of finding inhabited planets.
Well, how about the Vulcan star charts?
We have limited data on the course that Starfleet assigned you.
There are thousands of star systems along this path.
There must've been something that piqued your people's interest.
A sentient species, a trinary star cluster.
We don't select our destinations by what piques our interest.
Vulcans always need a logical and pragmatic reason.
My people don't share your enthusiasm for exploration.
Space is vast, captain.
I'm sure you're aware that only one out of every 43,000 planets
- supports intelligent life. - I took exobiology.
I know the statistics.
But we're travelling at warp 5. There's gotta be someone out here.
Come in.
I'm sorry...
I'll leave you to your exploring.
Trip tells me that Sluggo's not faring too well.
No, sir. But the doctor's doing the best he can.
Sir, my quarters are on E Deck, starboard section five.
- Yes? - The stars are going the wrong way.
Wrong way?
On both my training tours, I had portside quarters.
I'm having trouble sleeping.
- Because you're on the wrong side... - The wrong side of the ship. Yes, sir.
Ensign Porter said he'd be willing to switch with your permission.
You got it.
Can't have my com officer...
...falling asleep on the bridge.
Appreciate it, captain.
- Is there something else, Hoshi? - No, sir. Thank you.
Ready?
Fore and aft target scanners are aligned.
Activating simulation J-6.
- Target acquired. - Simulated launch.
Five seconds to impact.
Three, two, one.
Wonderful.
- We're only off by three metres. - Only three metres.
That could be the difference between hitting a weapons port and a warp core.
Instead of disabling a vessel, we'd end up destroying it,
and probably ourselves in the process.
We'll get it right.
All this should have been dealt with before we left Earth.
Have they detected any inhabited planets or vessels?
- Not yet. - Good.
I hope you don't expect everyone we run into out here to be hostile.
In 23 years, I don't think my folks ran into problems
more than a half dozen times.
I don't believe you were ever out quite this far.
You think that makes a difference?
All I do know is that until we get these targeting scanners working properly,
the farther we are from everyone else, the better.
Seems like everybody else onboard is itching for a first contact.
- How's it going? - Not well, sir.
We've corrected the problem, but we're still off by.02 percent.
It's unacceptable.
Are you sure it's not the simulations that are off?
There's only one way to find out.
How long would it take to arm a few torpedoes?
Moments, sir.
- Archer to T'Pol. - Yes, sir.
Prepare to drop out of warp.
- It's time for a little target practice. - Acknowledged.
- Thank you, captain. - Come on, Travis.
We've gotta find Mr Reed something to blow up.
Load another one. Let's try again.
Rotate the targeting axis by.5 microns.
Point-five microns.
Mr Reed.
If I refocus the infrared scanner, I might be able to compensate.
- How long will that take? - The better part of a day.
Resume course, ensign.
Sir.
We're not gonna sit on our butt for 24 hours.
Make your modifications, we'll run another test first chance we get.
- Anyone sitting here? - No.
Please, sit down. Sit down.
- Sluggo any better? - I'm afraid not.
Try the potatoes. They're delicious.
- Resequenced protein. - Yes.
The flavour's remarkable.
On my homeworld, people would never think of speaking during a meal.
Considered a waste of time.
It's taken me a while, but I've grown quite attached to it.
Wasting time seems to be all we've been doing.
- Starting to get a little antsy. - Antsy?
Restless.
We've been on the move for two weeks and haven't seen a damn thing.
Every moment's been an adventure for me.
Humans are so unpredictable.
Have you seen the quantities of food Crewman Namod consumes?
- Not really. - Have you smelled Ensign Socorro
after she exercises?
She gives off a fragrance not unlike the adrenal gland of a Nausicaan.
And Crewmen Bennett and Haynem over there. Do you see them?
If I'm not mistaken, they are preparing to mate.
Do you think they might let me watch?
It's good to see you're enjoying yourself.
Bridge to Captain Archer.
- How big is it? - Approximately 92 metres in length.
- Doesn't seem to be moving very fast. - It's not moving at all.
That's odd.
- Where's the nearest star system? - Almost three light-years away.
They could be running some kind of a deep-space experiment.
Maybe we should go have a look.
If you insist on allowing your curiosity to dictate your actions.
We insist.
Range, 5,000 kilometres.
The vessel's hull is comprised of tritanium and disilicon polymers.
I'm not getting anything on their propulsion system,
but it may be off-line.
- Something, isn't it? - If they have weapons,
- they're not charged. - Any com activity?
No, sir.
Run this through the translation matrix.
My name is Jonathan Archer.
I'm captain of the starship Enterprise.
We're on a mission of...
...peaceful exploration.
We come from the planet Earth.
We're sending you a pulsar grid that should help you locate our star system.
- Did you rotate the frequencies? - I'll try it again.
No response, sir.
Captain, mind if I push in on the venting ports around that hatch?
Go ahead.
Are those venting ports or hull breaches?
Bring us in a little closer, Travis. Let's get a look at the other side.
Those look like scorch marks.
The residue indicates oxidation and thermal shock effects.
It could be the result of a high-yield particle impact.
- You mean weapons. - Possibly.
Are we close enough to scan for bio-signs?
Yes, but scanning their ship's interior might be seen as a violation of privacy.
Anything?
Anything?
If there is anyone home, you can bet they know we're out here.
Then why haven't they responded?
Not everyone chooses to answer the door when they hear a knock.
It would be best to resume our previous course.
See if you can find another hatch.
- Diameter? - Point-nine metres.
Scan for bio-signs.
There are a number of life forms aboard.
- Humanoid? - Their cellular activity is below
the threshold of your sensors.
Maybe they're in trouble. Sick or something.
Maybe they're not interested in visitors.
- Mr Reed, how long to prep a shuttle? - Half an hour.
There are a number of protocols we haven't tried.
Get started.
She may have a point. I could try hailing them
- on the theta-band frequencies - Suit up, ensign.
Me, sir?
The ship is yours.
- Is there a problem, commander? - I wanna go with you.
I'm bringing a translator and a security officer.
Why would I need an engineer?
What makes you think you can open the hatch,
- or turn the lights on for that matter? - We've got beacons, Trip.
It could have a lot of decks.
You might need someone to help you figure out the turbolifts.
Okay, I've got a better reason why you need an engineer.
Your engineer signed onto this mission of exploration
so he could do a little exploring.
He didn't sign on to sit in Engineering while you three
- get to break into that ship. - We're not breaking in.
We're just going to see if everything's okay.
You're chomping at the bit to find what's in there.
- Why should I be any different? - We just got out here, Trip.
There's gonna be plenty of time to go exploring.
Right now I need you on Enterprise, down with your engine.
This ship's a little young to be without her chief engineer.
When I used to dream about this mission,
the last thing I envisioned was having a Vulcan onboard
who continuously sucked the air out of the room.
Well...
...she's right.
Whoever's on that ship might not want us nosing around.
But I can't assume that's the case, can I?
Maybe they could use our help. Computer, pause.
You know... Hey. You know that you and cheddar don't get along.
Resume personal log.
Before we left, Admiral Forrest said
we'd be making history with every light-year.
But we're not gonna do that sitting on our hands.
Computer, pause. Come in.
- Ensign. - Sorry to bother you, sir.
It's not a problem. Cheese?
No, thank you.
- Everything work out all right? - Sir?
- With swapping quarters. - Yes, it's fine. Thank you.
I was thinking, captain,
I might be a lot more helpful to you if I stay here and keep an open comlink.
That way, I'll have immediate access to the linguistic database.
Can't you tie your universal translator into the database through the com?
It's not the same. The lag time is tripled.
Well, I'd rather wait a few seconds if it means having you on-site.
For all we know, the UT won't work.
You'll be our only backup. Anyway, it should be exciting.
Half the crew would give their eye-teeth to be going over there.
What's wrong?
The environmental suits, they make me a little claustrophobic.
Claustrophobic?
- And you took a job on a spaceship? - You talked me into it, remember?
I don't recall reading about any problems during your zero-G training.
Well, I just... I bit my lip and got through it.
Well, you're gonna have to bite your lip again.
I need you over there.
Yes, sir.
What is it, Hoshi?
Is something else wrong?
No, I'd better get back to the Launch Bay.
Hang on. I'll come with you.
That's the last time, Porthos.
- Going to war, lieutenant? - Can't be too careful, sir.
You've seen too many science-fiction movies.
We just need the three phase-pistols. Put the rifles back.
- What are you rated for? - I've been cleared on EM sidearms
and class three pulse rifles.
I've never seen one of those.
Malcolm will check you out on it first chance he gets.
Don't worry. It handles pretty much like an EM-33.
- Is this necessary? - Just a precaution.
Just our luck. No release.
Shouldn't be a problem, though.
I can place micro-charges here and here.
Hold on a second, Malcolm.
- Sorry. - Enterprise, we've got access.
We're boarding the vessel.
Well, at least we know they're bipeds.
- What gives you that idea? - The ladder.
Come on.
Nitrogen-methane atmosphere.
And it's cold, minus 20 degrees.
There's power going through here, but not much of it.
Captain.
Molecules look like amino acids.
Blood?
Some sort of hydraulics.
Whatever it is, it hasn't been here very long.
- Hoshi, where are you going? - I don't think you need a translator.
Stay here.
Their bodies are being flushed out with some kind of fluid.
- Are they all...? - All dead, sir.
I'm afraid so.
They're clean.
- How many? - I don't know.
- About a dozen. - Fifteen.
They're being drained of something.
Whoever did it went to a lot of trouble.
My guess is, they're coming back.
We should leave.
There are 15 dead people over there.
We can't leave.
Your reason for boarding that vessel was to provide assistance,
if assistance was required.
Clearly, it no longer is.
You're telling me that we should just leave them there?
What's the alternative?
Your intentions were admirable, captain.
But nothing can be done for that crew now.
And if we remain here, your crew could be put in jeopardy.
- Archer to the bridge. - Mayweather here, sir.
Go to warp 3.
- Resume course. - Aye, sir.
Not long after I became a physician, there was an explosion
on a cargo ship orbiting my homeworld.
I was part of the first medical team to arrive.
There were 17 bodies on the bridge alone.
I'd never seen that many dead people in one place before.
Very disturbing.
You have nothing to be ashamed of.
I screamed like a 12-year-old.
We're all frightened by unfamiliar things.
You should be grateful that your body of experience doesn't include
rooms full of corpses.
Nobody else screamed.
- Has she been eating? - Not so far.
She has been under a great deal of stress.
But I'm hoping this protein concentrate whets her appetite.
I'm a translator. I didn't come out here to see corpses hanging on hooks.
It goes without saying that you're going to encounter the unexpected.
Not corpses on hooks.
Have you considered that you might be happier at the university, teaching?
I did it for years. It was quite rewarding.
I'm an exo-linguist.
I graduated second in my class,
I spent three years in Starfleet training,
I was Jonathan Archer's first choice for this mission.
Every inhabited world we come to is going to be filled with language.
Some will have hundreds of them. He needs me here.
If she doesn't take these nutrients, I'm afraid she won't survive.
- Are you sure that's what she eats? - It's close enough.
I shouldn't have brought her onboard.
Maybe I could ask the captain to try to
find a planet with an argon-rich atmosphere.
It might be easier just to feed her to my bat.
She needs to get back to an environment that is more suited to her.
Perhaps someplace where she could teach.
What kind of pasta is this? It's great.
Chef told me, I don't remember.
- Not too spicy for you? - It's fine.
Malcolm's anxious to run another weapons test
especially after what happened.
- Tea? - No, thank you.
- Captain? - Sure, thanks.
I heard they were humanoid.
- Is that right? - Humanoid.
- Did they look anything like us? - They were in uniform.
- But you didn't recognize the species? - They were crewmen.
Murdered on their own ship. Fifteen dead crewmen.
I detected a stellar nursery along our present course.
I saw one once through the big lens outside Anchorage.
A closer view might alleviate some of the crew's tension.
What's the matter? The tension bothering you?
Not in the least.
Must be great not to let things bother you.
No remorse. No guilt.
What if they were Vulcans?
Think you would have reacted the same way?
They weren't Vulcans.
I said, what if they were Vulcans.
Would you have just left them there, hanging like slaughtered animals?
Don't you think maybe you would have taken them down?
Tried to figure out who they were,
made some effort to contact their families?
We don't know where they came from.
It would be very difficult to locate their families.
We didn't even try.
What about you? What if they were humans?
Would you stick your tail between your legs and run, leave them there to rot?
Am I the only one who's having a problem with this?
You said it yourself, sir.
Whoever killed those people are probably coming back.
So we should avoid confrontation at any cost.
Is that what you're saying? Is that what you Vulcans do?
Bury your heads in the sand and then just fly on by?
We Vulcans would've never gone onboard that ship in the first place.
You got an answer for everything, don't you?
We have a code of behaviour, and we try to obey it.
You may not believe this, but humans have a code of behaviour too.
It took a few thousand years, but I think we're starting to get it right.
I can't believe I almost ignored it.
We've reversed course, sir.
We should be back at the coordinates in five hours.
You have a problem with the environmental suit?
- Not at all. - Good.
We're going to need you to examine the bodies, try to identify their species.
It also wouldn't hurt if you can figure out what's being done to them.
I'll see what I can do.
You wanted to see what's going on over there. Now's your chance.
There's no better way to find their people than through their com system.
You're going to need to get it up and running.
Aye, sir.
Hoshi will decipher their language and compose a message.
- Hopefully, it'll make sense. - Captain...
- I'm sorry, ensign. - I'll bring a security detail.
There's no one over there who can hurt us.
Stay here and work on those targeting scanners.
Prepare to suit up at 1400 hours.
Dismissed.
- How were they killed? - Different ways.
This one was given a lethal dose of chloraxine.
The first three back there were shot. Particle weapons, I believe.
This fellow hasn't suffered as much cellular decay.
He's our best candidate for a post-mortem.
Care to assist?
Yeah.
Maybe it's a log. What do you think?
Beats me. Could be a laundry list.
Or instructions on how to conquer the universe.
The grammar sounds bimodal.
Their transceiver's intact.
Let's hope the next time we make first contact,
- it isn't with a roomful of corpses. - Let's hope.
"Ship."
"Ship."
- Just what I thought. - What?
A zymuth gland.
It releases triglobulin into the blood.
That's what all these tubes and pumps are about.
Whoever did this is trying to collect triglobulin.
- What for? - Oh, any number of reasons.
To create medicines, vaccines.
Some species have even been known to use it as an aphrodisiac.
- Aphrodisiac? - It's quite a common practice.
I'm surprised you're not familiar with it.
Humans used to collect the bile of black bears,
grind down rhino horns, things like that, but not people.
It's worth noting that triglobulin is very similar to human lymphatic fluid.
How long before the transceiver's online?
A minute or two.
I can't get enough of this.
An alien spaceship sending off a message to who knows where.
The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get back to the ship.
It's your second away mission in two days.
Yeah, great.
I wish I had an ear for languages.
Captain's gonna need a translator with him a lot more often than an engineer.
"Distress."
Two other teachers and I once took a hydro-skimmer out onto
a small tributary in the Amazon. You know, to see the wildlife.
Sloths, pink dolphins, all kinds of snakes.
- Wow. - It gave me the creeps.
If I didn't like being around anacondas, you can imagine how I feel
about Suliban or whoever butchered the crew of this ship.
I'm going to ask the captain to take me home.
- You serious? - I should've never left the university.
I'm not suited for this.
Give it a try. You'll be fine.
You weren't here yesterday.
I saw those bodies and fell apart.
The captain needs a translator he can count on, someone who shows
a little grace under pressure. That isn't me.
- You can't be sure of that. - Oh, yes I can.
"Distress."
"Distress."
I think I've got it.
"Ship in distress."
- T'Pol to Archer. - Go ahead.
There's a vessel approaching, captain.
Its power signatures match the scans you took of those bio-pumps.
It appears that whoever killed that crew has returned.
Time to go, doc.
Trip, Hoshi, docking hatch, now.
Distance, 60,000 kilometres.
- Bridge to Armoury. - Armoury.
We have a potentially hostile vessel approaching.
Are you prepared to defend the ship?
That depends. How long till it gets here?
Ten minutes, maybe less.
Then the answer is most likely no.
The scanners are still out of alignment.
Look, if you wanted me to hit a stationary dairy barn,
then I could accommodate you. But not a moving vessel.
Do the best you can. But I need you on the bridge in five minutes.
Archer to T'Pol. Deploy the docking arm.
- Arm extended. - How close are they?
- Eight thousand kilometres. - What kind of weapons?
Our sensors can't penetrate their shielding.
- Have you tried hailing them? - Yes.
- There's been no response. - Try again.
The pod's on the arm.
T'Pol to Archer. They're still not responding.
They're charging weapons.
They're targeting our engines.
We're almost in. Stand by to jump to warp.
Doors.
Archer to the bridge. It doesn't feel like we've gone to warp.
Our port nacelle has been damaged.
Have Malcolm arm the torpedoes.
- Report. - We're dead in the water, sir.
They seem to have stopped firing. They're closing on our position.
- Malcolm? - Both forward tubes loaded and ready.
- Stand by starboard tube. - Yes, sir.
Fire.
Stand by port tube.
- Ready. - Fire.
Trip, warp status?
The nacelle's been completely depolarized.
I'm afraid we're stuck here for a while.
- What was that? - Submolecular bio-scan.
You've been probed, ensign.
We've all been probed.
They've no doubt discovered that your lymphatic systems contain
some useful compounds.
Get to the Armoury. Start distributing hand weapons.
Post security teams at lev...
Sir, another vessel just dropped out of warp.
- They're on an intercept course. - Let's see it.
- They're hailing us. - Put it up.
- Captain? - He's from the same species
as the murdered crew.
They must have picked up your distress call.
Tell him the ship above us killed the crew of the cargo vessel.
They're about to do the same to us.
I told him what you said, sir, but I doubt it made any sense.
- What do you mean? - This isn't exactly Spanish
we're dealing with here. I'd be lucky if I'm getting half the vocabulary right.
They've locked onto us with some kind of stabilizing beam.
Use the impulse engines. Get us the hell out of here.
I can't, sir. Their beam's disrupting all our propulsion systems.
It seems he got the part about killing the cargo ship crew,
but he believes we did it, sir. At least I think he does.
Tell him we sent the distress call.
Why would we kill his people and then do that?
I think I understood this one. He says the distress call
- came from his ship, not ours. - We needed their frequencies.
Going there was the only way to find them.
Something about DNA scans.
He wants to know why we were there two years ago.
- Two years ago? - He probably means two days, sir.
The phonetic processor's still having trouble locking on.
I'm not certain, but I don't think he's gonna help us.
They're 50 metres above us.
Forty-nine.
The pumps.
Tell them to run scans on the bio-pumps hooked up to the corpses.
They'll see they're not our technology.
Have them compare the power signatures
to the ship that's about to land on our roof.
Where are they, Malcolm?
They've stopped at about ten metres.
I'm having trouble with the word "pump," sir.
I've got the processor searching for synonyms.
The translator's not making a lot of sense to him, sir.
He's getting frustrated. I think he's running out of patience, captain.
Then forget the translator. Do it yourself.
- Do what myself? - Talk to him.
That's impossible, sir.
I haven't even learned their basic conjugations.
Talk to him, Hoshi. It doesn't have to be perfect.
You don't understand. I don't even know how to say "pump."
I'll get it all wrong, it'll just make things worse.
- Things can't get much worse. - Sir.
Captain, they've started drilling into the hull.
Hoshi. Hoshi, I need you to do this.
We all do.
That's why you're here.
Again.
What did he say?
Ensign.
They're targeting the vessel above us.
- We've got impulse back. - Move us away.
Captain, I may be wrong, but I think I've got the scanners aligned.
- Permission to launch a torpedo. - Granted.
Nice of them to wait till we got clear.
All stop.
I think we may have just made a friend.
Thanks to you.
Captain's starlog. May 6th, 2151.
After helping them recover their dead crewmen,
we had a chance to spend some time with the Axanar.
Turns out they're androgynous and live over 400 years.
I look forward to meeting them again, under better circumstances.
Before we resume our course, I've agreed to make a brief detour.
This isn't exactly like the place you came from,
but it's close enough.
It's not that hard to adapt.
You're gonna do just fine here.

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