Vox Sola

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Star Trek: Enterprise episode
"Vox Sola"
A symbiotic alien captures Enterprise crew members
Episode no.	21
Prod. code	122
Airdate	May 1, 2002
Writer(s)	Rick Berman Brannon Braga Fred Dekker Teleplay by: Fred Dekker
Director	Roxann Dawson
Guest star(s)	Vaughn Armstrong Joseph Will Renee Goldsberry
Year	2151
Stardate	unknown
Episode chronology
Previous	"Detained"
Next	"Fallen Hero"

Vox Sola (Latin for lone voice) is the 21^st episode (production #122) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.

[edit] Synopsis

When a strange, symbiotic alien creature boards Enterprise and captures several crew members, it's up to Hoshi to decipher the creature's complex language.

[edit] Plot

Teaser

"Captain's starlog, supplemental. I'm beginning to wonder if inviting the Kreetassans aboard was such a good idea. It's been a challenging morning, to say the least.".

Onboard the Enterprise, a party of Kretassans storms through the corridors towards the airlock, pursued by Archer, T'Pol, Trip and Hoshi. The Universal Translator isn't working properly and has resulted in the minor diplomatic incident. The Kretassan leader states loudly that the humans "eat like they mate", which confuses Archer. As the Kreetassan vessel breaks away, a transparent, amoeba-like entity crosses from their ship to the Enterprise.

Act One

Later, on the Bridge, Hoshi analyses the Kreetassan language and sees that their word for 'eat' differs from 'mate' by the stress on the first syllable. Hoshi says that a Kreetassan word can have a dozen meanings depending upon its context. She also notices high-frequency distortions that appear in static over the com system, something that two diagnostics fail to solve. Trip enters and promises to deal with the problem in the morning, before going to the Ready Room to see Archer.

Archer is not happy with the failed first contact, so Trip tempts him with a recording of the Water Polo finals, Stanford against Texas. In a Jeffries Tube, the entity moves through the ship's infrastructure.

In the Mess Hall, Reed, Mayweather and Hoshi debate the Kretassan's reaction. Hoshi decides not to stay for the film, Wages of Fear and goes to her quarters. En route, she hears the entity moving on the other side of the corridor inspection plates but decides that she is hearing things.

In Engineering, Crewman Kelly notices that the lighting and coms have gone out on D Deck, in Cargo Bay 2. Before the film starts, the screen shows a view of the Situation Room. Systems begin to malfunction on a ship-wide basis. Crewman Rostov goes to investigate and is trapped by the entity, which has now grown tendrils. Kelly interrupts Archer and Trip, who are watching the water polo finals, to tell them about the entity and Rostov.

Act Two

Archer, Trip, Reed and security officer Zabel go to investigate. Their flashlights appear to make the creature react. Rostov becomes aware of their presence and pleads with them to leave. Archer, Trip and Zabel are all caught by the entity, Reed managing to escape and snapping part of a tendril off in the door.

In the Situation Room, the entity is displayed on a monitor. It is growing and the bio-signs of the trapped personnel appear to be in synch. Mayweather believes that the entity came aboard with the Kreetassans. Mayweather suggests tracking the Kreetassans down to make enquiries regarding the entity and T'Pol agrees. In Sickbay, Phlox examines the tendril severed earlier. His bio-scans show that the interference Hoshi encountered on the com system matches the energy signature of the entity. Phlox suggests that the entity is intelligent. Hoshi asks to try to communicate with it but T'Pol prefers to neutralise it instead. Phlox adds that the entity is photosensitive, so light might stun it.

Reed and several security officers go to the Cargo Bay with EM emitters. The bursts of light cause the creature to scream in agony and the trapped personnel do too. Their bio-signs fluctuate simultaneously on the monitors in the Situation Room. Phlox orders the emitters shut off, saying that they could kill the personnel as well as the creature. Phlox says that the process of symbiosis is increasing, so if the personnel are not freed soon they will be too integrated for a successful procedure. T'Pol orders Hoshi to try to communicate.

Act Three

In Sickbay, Phlox tells T'Pol and Reed that they have only a few hours before the entity absorbs the trapped personnel. In the corridor, Reed suggests to T'Pol that a forcefield might hold the entity back if it continues to grow. On the Bridge, Mayweather tells T'Pol that the Kreetassan vessel has been located but is still out of com range. In the Situation Room, Hoshi says that the entity's neural patterns resemble calculus more than traditional language. T'Pol offers her assistance.

In the Cargo Bay, the personnel discover that they are linked together through the entity. Archer orders Trip not to struggle and to not lose hope.

In Sickbay, Reed arrives to test how much bio-electric stress the tendril can undergo for the forcefield charge. Phlox offers to run a micro-cellular analysis to avoid torturing the tendril, which he considers to be an intelligent creature.

In the Mess Hall, Hoshi and T'Pol work on the communication problem. Hoshi chastises T'Pol for constantly looking over her shoulder and T'Pol replies that supervision of the Bridge officers is part of her job. T'Pol goes on to say that she holds Hoshi to a high standard as she knows that Hoshi is capable of achieving that level.

Alone on the Bridge, Mayweather answers a hail from the Kreetassans. They speak English after studying the human database. The Kreetassan Captain knows of the creature and transmits the coordinates of its homeworld to the Enterprise after Mayweather apologises. The offense was caused in the Mess Hall as Kreetassans eat alone, eating in company something that they consider close to mating.

T'Pol, Hoshi and Reed all finish their research and make their way to the Cargo Bay to attempt communication when Phlox informs T'Pol that Crewman Kelly's bio-signs have dropped to a critical level.

Act Four

In the Cargo Bay, Reed assembles the forcefield emitters, which operate properly and protect him from the entity's tendrils. Hoshi uses the Universal Translator to modulate a tone emitted on a frequency that the entity can understand. After several attempts, the entity responds. It gives them coordinates for a location on its homeworld. Phlox notices that the bio-signs of the trapped personnel are stabilising. The communication ends and the entity releases the personnel, shrinking back to its original size.

Act Five

On the entity's planet, T'Pol, Reed, Phlox and Hoshi land in a shuttlepod and release the entity at the coordinates given earlier. Phlox also releases the tendril severed in the Cargo Bay, which is reabsorbed. As the shuttlepod returns to the Enterprise, dawn breaks and the area is revealed to be covered with one huge organism.