Stratagem (Enterprise episode)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Stratagem" is the title of an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, from the third season.

1 Plot summary
2 Trivia
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

So this is what humans look like?

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

This episode begins three years in the future with Archer and Degra (the mastermind behind the Xindi weapon project) aboard a shuttle escaping from a Xindi Insectoid prison camp. Degra cannot remember being a prisoner, but Archer convinces him that this is due to the blood worms in his system (used by their captors because they excrete a truth drug). In fact he has one of Phlox's pets.

It transpires that they are in fact in a simulator inside Enterprise (and not 3 years in the future) and the whole set up is a ploy to find out from Degra where the weapon is being constructed. This is partially successful, and Degra inputs some coordinates into the navigation system, but then becomes suspicious during some malfunctions during which one of the windows shows itself to be a screen by reverting momentarily to static.

This leaves the crew with a problem; investigating the coordinates would take them 3 weeks, time they do not have to waste on a wild goose chase. Instead they again deceive Degra into thinking that they have utilised some of the Xindi technology to travel faster, and trick him into thinking that they have already arrived at the coordinates. Degra shouts in defiance that they will never be able to get through the perimeter guards and destroy the weapon, thus proving that the coordinates do in fact relate to the weapon. The episode ends with the ship heading for the weapon coordinates.

[edit] Trivia

This episode is based on the first season Mission: Impossible episode "Operation Rogosh", where mass murderer Rogosh - planning a terrorist attack on Los Angeles - 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 attack on Los Angeles), but during the mock trial a slip-up cues him in on the ruse.

Preceded by:
Proving Ground

Star Trek: Enterprise episodes

Followed by:
Harbinger