Azati Prime

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Star Trek: Enterprise episode
"Azati Prime"
Episode no.	70
Prod. code	070
Airdate	March 3, 2004
Writer(s)	Rick Berman Brannon Braga Manny Coto
Director	Allan Kroeker
Year	2154
Episode chronology
Previous	"Hatchery"
Next	"Damage"

"Azati Prime" is the title of an episode from the third season of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. It was the seventieth episode of the series and the eighteenth episode of the third season. "Azati Prime" first aired on 3 March 2004.

[edit] Plot summary

Daniels whisks Archer into the future to enlighten him on the situation.

Enterprise approaches the location where the Xindi are constructing a large weapon of mass destruction. After deliberating with his senior officers, Archer decides to use a small Xindi vessel they captured earlier to subversively obtain information about the weapon, and its construction, by getting physically close to it. Archer carries out the plan; he commissions Mayweather to operate the vessel's navigational controls, and Trip to collect the information. To prepare for possible confrontation with Xindi during the mission, Hoshi familiarizes herself with the language of the insectoids.

Despite taking time beforehand specifically to prepare for the mission by training himself in the operation of the vessel's navigational controls, it is obvious that Mayweather's handling of the vessel is, as T'Pol put it, "erratic". (There was an allusion later in the episode to the idea that the controls were not designed for an operator with anatomy and/or physiology similar to that of a human.) After a final dismissal by Archer, they depart for their mission. They pass through a Xindi defensive grid made up of satellites. Immediately thereafter, they are hailed by the Xindi and asked about their intended course of action. In response, Trip decides to masquerade as a Xindi, saying he was tipped slightly off course due to a navigational error, and that it is corrected now. The shuttle reaches the planet on which the Xindi weapon is being constructed, but the passengers realize that the weapon seems to be under the surface of a vast body of water. After deciding that their vessel should still function as a submersible, they dive in. Soon, they are amazed as they find themselves before what appears to be an underwater city. After an awestruck pause, Trip proceeds to conduct his surveillance.

During this time, Enterprise discovers a small Xindi facility on the moon the ship had been orbiting. The crew had not previously been aware of the facility because the bulk of the moon's mass had shielded it from the ship's sensors prior to rotating into view. Scans of the facility show only three crew, but Captain Archer realizes that now these Xindi are aware of the Enterprise's presence. He also concludes that with the moon's rate of rotation, the facility will be able to contact other Xindi in four hours. Despite T'Pol's voiced reservations, Archer orders the facility destroyed, and this order is carried out by the crew.

Trip and Mayweather are next seen back on Enterprise meeting with the rest of the senior officers and planning their next actions, suggesting that they encountered no difficulty returning from the planet. However, it becomes clear that to destroy the weapon, whomever was assigned to the task would not survive the mission. Without pause, Trip and Mayweather launch into an argument over who should be the one to take on the unfortunate job, but Archer makes it clear that neither will go; he intends to carry out the mission himself.

A sequence takes place in which Archer prepares to give up command of Enterprise, destroy the Xindi weapon, and die. This sequence is comprised of four primary scenes, containing the following events.

T'Pol practically pleads with Archer to not follow through with his suicidal plan.
Archer takes one last look at Porthos' face and hands him over to the care of Phlox.
Mayweather attempts to teach Archer how to fly the Xindi vessel. (During this scene, Mayweather asks Archer why he decided to select himself as the operative of this lethal mission, since he is the most "indispensable" crewmember aboard Enterprise. Archer responds by pointing out the series of deaths he had ordained during Enterprise's current extended mission in the Delphic Expanse; this decision to sacrifice himself was a way of ending that pattern.)
In a formal address on the command bridge, Archer bids farewell to the entire crew. In it, he puts forth the idea that no captain who would ever sit in the command chair of Enterprise NX-01 could ever be as proud of the Enterprise crew as he.

However, before he can embark, Archer unexpectedly finds himself on board the Enterprise-J, in the company Crewman Daniels, 400 years in the future. Outside the ship, a great space battle rages, as Daniels finally informs Archer about the nature of the United Federation of Planets (The Federation has not yet been founded in Archer's "native time".) . He explains that they are witnessing the final battle of a war in which the Federation defeats the Sphere Builders and drives them back into their transdimensional realm. Daniels then tells the Captain that he believes it is imperative that Archer convince the Xindi of two things; that humans do not pose a threat to them, and that in the future, they will be their only hope of survival. Archer is unequivocally opposed to the idea. However, in the hope Archer would change his mind, Daniels gives him an artifact that belonged to a Xindi serving aboard the Enterprise-J. Supposedly, this artifact could be useful when Archer attempts to make his case to Xindi.

Finally (back in the original timeframe of the episode), Archer departs for his mission to destroy the Xindi weapon. Later, as he approaches the "underwater city", he is captured. A following scene indicates he has been made a prisoner of war; in shackles, with a bloody face, he is interrogated by Commander Dolim, a Reptilian Xindi. Dolim obviously wishes to obtain information from Archer related to their war, but nonetheless, Archer manages to hold a conversation with him regarding differences and similarities of reptiles to primates and other mammals, and similar other trivial matters. Archer asks to speak to Degra, a primate Xindi with whom he is familiar, and uses his knowledge of this primate's personal life to get his attention. Meanwhile, T'Pol, now in command of Enterprise, has experienced an emotional breakdown (the reason for which would be explained in the next episode, "Damage"). At one point she decides to go on a suicidal mission to rescue Archer, and reacts with anger when Trip tries to stop her. An attack from Reptilian Xindi forces preempts this, though. As the episode concludes, Enterprise is sustaining heavy damages from the enemy vessels.

This storyline continues in the next episode, "Damage".