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"Breaking
the Ice"
Production 008
11/07/2001
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Synopsis:
While the Enterprise crew researches a newly discovered
comet, Archer tries to deal diplomatically with a Vulcan
ship that is suspiciously watching them.
The Enterprise crew is thrilled to encounter the biggest
comet humans have ever seen, one that's 82.6 kilometers in
diameter with a spectacular tail. Learning the comet
contains large quantities of eisilium, an extremely rare
mineral, Captain Archer dispatches Commander Reed and
Ensign Mayweather to take a little "comet-walk" with a
drilling rig to collect samples. As they prepare for their
mission, a Vulcan starship, the Ti'Mur, approaches
unannounced. Archer hails the ship, and its captain, Vanik,
informs him they are not there to investigate the comet,
but rather to investigate Enterprise's interest in the
comet. Although irked, Archer gracefully invites Vanik to
stay and watch, but then he pulls T'Pol aside to find out
what they're "really" doing here. T'Pol has no answers.
Reed and Mayweather land a shuttlepod on the comet, eager
to experience the wintery world. Meanwhile Commander
Tucker is disturbed to discover that T'Pol has secretly
received an encrypted transmission from the Vulcan ship.
He reports this to Archer, and upon his orders enlists
Ensign Sato to decrypt the message.
The bridge crew takes a little time out to record a
message for Tucker's nephew's fourth-grade class in
Ireland, answering the students' questions about such
things as what they eat in space and how they talk to
aliens. Each crew member in turn responds to the topics
they specialize in, but Tucker is a little upset when
Archer picks him to answer the question, "When you flush a
toilet, where does it go?"
On the comet, Reed and Mayweather are setting charges in
the ice as the first step of their drilling operation, but
they can't resist taking some time to build a snowman —
with Vulcan ears. Meanwhile, Tucker reads the message to
T'Pol that Sato decrypted, and realizes it's nothing
incriminating, but rather an intensely personal letter.
Highly embarrassed, Tucker decides to confess to T'Pol and
apologize. She is uncomfortable with Tucker knowing about
her situation, although he agrees to keep it between
themselves. T'Pol will not even confide in Dr. Phlox when
she receives treatment for a tension headache and
sleeplessness, but the doctor advises that she talk to
someone about what's bothering her.
In a gesture to gain the Vulcans' trust, Archer decides to
invite Captain Vanik over for dinner with him, T'Pol and
Tucker. The dinner does not go well, however, as Vanik
just sits at the table without eating and barely responds
to attempts at conversation. Archer gets fed up and
abruptly asks why the Vulcans are spying on them. Vanik
condescendingly denies the accusation, and Archer send him
back to his ship.
After Reed and Mayweather blast a crater in the comet's
surface, they begin setting up the drilling rig. But the
blast shifted the comet's rotation, so Archer orders them
to pick up the pace because in two hours they will be
exposed to the dangerous heat of the nearby star. On the
ship, T'Pol decides to take Plox's advice to relieve her
stress by talking about her concerns with someone. In the
encrypted letter, T'Pol was given an ultimatum to return
to Vulcan immediately or her arranged wedding will be
cancelled. So she asks Tucker, the one person who already
knows the situation, whether she should honor her people's
traditions or her obligation to Enterprise. He tries to
convince her to think for herself and do what is right for
her, but she insists her family and heritage must take
precedence over "personal choice." She acts like her mind
is made up, but Tucker is not convinced.
Having collected a core sample, Reed and Mayweather are
removing their equipment when Mayweather slips back into
the blast crater and injures his knee. Their pace is
slowed as Reed helps the limping Mayweather back to the
shuttlepod, and sunlight begins to break across the
horizon. The ice begins fracturing beneath them as they
take their final few steps toward the shuttle. They make
it inside, but when they fire up the engines, the ice
collapses beneath the shuttle and it plummets into a
gaping chasm. They are now trapped, so Archer takes the
helm of Enterprise to navigate the ship close enough to
use magnetic grapplers to retrieve the shuttle. Captain
Vanik hails him to offer assistance, but Archer refuses.
Tucker manages to hit the shuttle with one grappler, but
the eisilium deposits disrupt the maglock and the shuttle
drops back down. Since the Vulcans' tractor beam would not
be affected by the eisilium, T'Pol convinces Archer that
to accept Vanik's help would be to prove him wrong about
humans being arrogant and prideful. He concurs, and Reed
and Mayweather are rescued by the Ti'Mur.
Archer tries to thank Vanik by offering to share the data
they collected, but Vanik gives him the usual cold reply,
and the Ti'Mur prepares to depart. Tucker asks T'Pol if
she's ready to leave with the other Vulcans, but instead
of packing, she sends a message to the Ti'Mur to convey to
her family, declaring her intention to stay aboard
Enterprise.
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:
William Utay as Vanik
Creative staff:
Director: Terry Windell
Written By: Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton
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