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"The
Andorian Incident"
Production 007
10/31/2001
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Synopsis:
When Archer and his crew pay a friendly visit to an
ancient Vulcan monastery, they stumble into an
interstellar conflict between the Vulcans and their
militaristic rivals, the Andorians.
As Enterprise warps through the depths of space, Captain
Archer decides to take the opportunity to visit a nearby
ancient Vulcan monastery called P'Jem, a sanctuary for
meditation and "Kolinahr," or purging of emotion. T'Pol
briefs Archer and Commander Tucker on the proper protocols
for such a visit, and the three of them take a shuttlepod
to the 3000-year-old temple. Something seems amiss as the
trio enters, finding it suspiciously unoccupied with
damage to the building and the artifacts. A Vulcan Elder
informs them they are interrupting Kolinahr and must
leave, but Archer notices a reflection in an urn of a
strange alien hiding with a weapon. He and Tucker rush the
intruder, but then find themselves surrounded and captured
by a group of militaristic blue-skinned aliens.
The antennaed invaders reveal their paranoid nature as the
leader, Shran, interrogates Archer and accuses him of
being involved in a conspiracy with the Vulcans. Left
confined in a meditation room with a group of Vulcan
monks, Archer learns that the invaders are Andorians, a
suspicious and volatile species from a neighboring system
who believe the Vulcans intend to invade their homeworld
despite a treaty between the two races. The Andorians
think the monastery is hiding a long-range sensor array,
but the Vulcan Elder insists they have no technology
there, and chides Archer for amplifying their suspicions.
Meanwhile on Enterprise, Lt. Malcolm Reed detects an alien
vessel on the ground that is not Vulcan. When he tries to
contact the landing party, Shran answers Archer's
communicator and proclaims the captain a prisoner of the
Andorian Imperial Guard, and warns that any attempt to
intervene will lead to the hostages' deaths. Reed has no
intention of standing idly by, so he researches the
Andorian race while preparing a rescue mission. On the
surface, Archer presses the Vulcans for options, so the
Elder confesses to the existence of an old transmitter
within the catacombs underneath the temple. A young
Initiate leads Tucker through a secret entrance into a
dark maze of passages filled with ancient relics and
Vulcan mummies, to the dusty transmitter which Tucker sets
out to fix. He manages to send a message to Reed to sit
tight while they work out an escape plan themselves.
Despite the Vulcans' resistance to any form of violence,
Archer learns the layout of the underground tunnels and
formulates a plan. He gets the Andorians to bring him into
the atrium with the promise of "information," but then he
just babbles useless trivia under the ruse of needing to
get away from the Vulcans. Actually he's there to slip a
tiny artifact through an orifice in a large face sculpture
in the atrium wall. Archer gets brutally beaten by the
Andorians, but when Tucker finds the tiny artifact he now
knows which passage leads to the atrium. Reed and two
other crewmen beam down into the meditation room and go
underground to plant explosives behind that face
sculpture. The Andorians detect an energy surge and new
bio-signs, but before they can react the atrium wall
explodes and they get into a firefight with the rescue
team. Reed manages to stun two Andorians, but Shran and
one other escape into the catacombs. Archer arms himself
and leads his people in pursuit, with the Vulcan
Initiative insisting on going along. They track the
Andorians to the Reliquary, where the temple's most sacred
artifacts are kept, and enter over the Initiate's
objections. They come under attack by the Andorians, with
many relics getting destroyed. In the midst of the chaos,
Archer finds hidden behind an ornate curtain a high-tech
door that seems very incongruous in a place that's
supposed to have no technology. Archer finds the controls
to open it, and calls for a ceasefire. The humans and
Andorians — and T'Pol — are all astonished at what they
see: a massive complex filled with sophisticated
surveillance equipment and several Vulcan technicians.
Obviously the monks have been lying all along about the
sensor array, so Archer orders T'Pol to take pictures with
her scanner and hand it over to the Andorians, as evidence
the Vulcans violated their treaty. T'Pol complies, and
also orders Enterprise to allow safe passage for the
Andorians. Shran takes the scanner, and on his way out
tells Archer they are in his debt.
Cast:
Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Charles Tucker III
Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Lt. Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi Sato
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox
Guest Cast:
Jeffrey Combs as Shran
Bruce French as Vulcan Elder
Steven Dennis as Tholos
Jeff Ricketts as Keval
Richard Tanner as Vulcan
Jamie McShane as Tactical Crewman
Creative staff:
Director: Roxann Dawson
Teleplay By: Fred Dekker
Written By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Fred Dekker
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