Archer, Malcolm, Phlox, and Travis board the ship and are greeted by the bridge crew, except for Keene, who was injured in the attack. They claim not to need help, but Phlox insists on treating Keene and Archer insists on sending repair teams over. Ryan begrudgingly agrees, then they walk away and it's revealed they're keeping a Nausicaan prisoner.
Travis gives Ryan a tour of Enterprise and they swap stories— it turns out that Ryan was also born on a freighter, but the freighter was destroyed by pirates and his parents were killed shortly after his birth. Travis also suggests updating the Fortunate's warp drive, which Ryan turns down, and in the mess hall, he accuses Travis of betraying his family by joining Starfleet.
On the Fortunate, T'Pol notices that the crew has disabled the internal sensors, which makes her suspicious and she plans to scan the ship when she gets home. She tells Archer, who calls Ryan to his ready room. Initially, he claims he wants to discuss the repairs, but then admits he knows about the Nausican prisoner and confronts Ryan about it. Archer demands the Nausican be handed over, but Ryan refuses, pointing out that Starfleet has no jurisdiction on his ship. Archer has Trip to remove the new components from the Fortunate, which would leave her stranded.
Ryan seemingly gives in, but then tricks Archer, T'Pol, and Malcolm into entering a cargo module, and they enter a firefight. Then, Ryan and his accomplice blast a hole in the wall, thereby separating the module from the rest of the ship. The Fortunate then disables Enterprise's sensors and warps away, and Travis decides to make a plan to find the Nausicaans.
Meanwhile, Ryan interrogates the Nausican prisoner and demands to know the shield frequency of his ship so that he (Ryan) can destroy it. When he gets the data, he prepares for the attack, but one of his crew, Shaw, expresses reservations about Ryan's tactics, believing they're too violent. However, Ryan claims that violence is necessary since the Nausicaans were violent to them.
As the Enterprise chases the Fortunate, Travis feels conflicted and asks Archer whether they should interfere with Ryan's actions or not. Archer maintains that, due to Ryan's immorality and the fact that he wants to kill so many Nausicaans, they do need to interfere. The Fortunate chases the Nausicaans to an asteroid, only to find that the captive lied about the shield frequencies and there is a Nausicaan base on the asteroid. Ryan wants to destroy the base, the others don't... and then the Nausicaans disable and board the Fortunate.
Enterprise shows up and hails the Nausicaans. The Nausicaan captain initially believes that the Fortunate crew needs to be killed in revenge for their attacking the Nausicaans. He then threatens to kill the Enterprise crew, but Archer points out that Enterprise has superior weapon power. The captain then agrees to let both ships go, but only if the prisoner is returned unharmed.
Archer tries to talk Ryan into freeing the Nausicaan, but he refuses, since the Nausicaans will continue their piracy after the fact unless they send a "message" to them. However, Archer and Travis reason that Ryan already surrendered the moral high ground, and provoking the Nausicaans would just make their attacks more violent, thus putting many people in danger. Ryan finally surrenders.
Later, Archer talks to Keene, whose treatment is working. Archer offers to take Ryan to Earth so he can be tried, but Keene decides to punish Ryan himself by demoting him to able crewman. Both captains regret the events of the episode, Keene plans to do the updates that Ryan didn't want, and they shake hands.
Tropes
- Appeal to Tradition: Ryan refuses to consider using an engine that goes faster than warp 1.8, simply because that's the speed they've always used. Keene, on the other hand, grudgingly acknowledges that new technology is going to change the game, and failing to embrace it will put them out of business. Still, he recognizes that life on a freighter is going to change, and is obviously melancholy about it.
-
Broken Aesop: The end of the episode seems to be building up to a discussion over the issue of piracy, and what measures can justifiably be taken by captains who cannot easily rely on others for help. However, Mayweather's Patrick Stewart Speech in the climax veers off in a completely different direction and turns the episode's aesop into one about how it's wrong to expect that things will stay the same forever, and to begrudge people for wanting to go their own way in life. The only real message that the episode does deliver on the issue of piracy is that it's a bad idea to try attacking a heavily fortified military installation with a light, barely-armed freighter, and an even worse one to do so when you're suffering a major case of Revenge Before Reason. - Continuity Nod: Admiral Forrest enjoyed seeing pictures of Archer's Comet.
- Cruel Mercy: At the end of the episode, Archer is fully prepared to haul Ryan back to Earth and have him put on trial for attacking the Nausicaans. Keene asks Archer not to do that... so that he can punish Ryan himself by demoting him to being the ship's lowest-ranking crewmember. Granted, Ryan would probably have enjoyed coming across as a martyr had he gone on trial, so having him rotting away cleaning the hydraulic pumps has the added bonus of keeping his actions under wraps.
- A Day in the Limelight: A rare occasion for Travis. He gets a lot of screentime, some background on his life, and a chance to offer his perspective on events.
- Devil's Advocate: Travis admits that Ryan might be right and that Starfleet should stay out of their business.
- End of an Age: A recurring theme. This episode introduces the "space boomer" way of life, where ships are essentially a closed, frontier society, locked together on voyages lasting years, and with only themselves to rely on if there's trouble. The faster engines represented by the Enterprise mean that trips will take much less time, both assistance and interference will be closer, and and the rough-and-tumble life of space is going to change. Travis muses that Ryan is particularly on edge because he knows that is inevitable.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The Nausicaan captain has the low-pitched voice of recurring character actor Danny Goldring.
- Exact Words: T'Pol happens upon a girl playing hide-and-seek. When asked by another kid if she's seen Nadine, she tells the truth that she doesn't know which child is "Nadine."
- Gunboat Diplomacy: Enterprise is only able to keep the Nausicaans from shooting everyone on the Fortunate by virtue of superior weaponry.Archer: You're not sneaking up on an old freighter this time. This is an NX-class starship. Take a good look, because you'll be seeing more of them. Now, you can reconsider my offer or you can take your chances.
(Beat)
Nausicaan: If you think you can convince them to return our crewman, do it quickly. Otherwise we'll be forced to take our chances. - I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Ryan's crew think it's too dangerous when he suggests destroying the Nausicaan base.
- Innocuously Important Episode: The episode establishes more NX-class ships are on the drawing board, setting up the eventual creation of the Columbia.
- Insane Troll Logic: The freighter crew claim reducing their long cargo runs from several years away from friends and family and any aid to a mere several months with even a basic Warp Three engine is bad, because 'it won't let them enjoy the trip' and comes across as grasping at straws to denounce progress.
- I Work Alone: Freighter crews are implied to have a fiercely independent culture. They're reluctant to accept help from outsiders, and hate the idea of being told what to do on their ships.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Ryan's way of extracting information from their Nausicaan prisoner. It turns out, however, that Torture Is Ineffective, as the Nausicaan gives him incorrect information.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Ryan had a point that the Nausicaans started this fight and that fighting back is the only thing they understand. On the other hand, he tortures one Nausicaan for information, starts a shootout with Archer's crew, and nearly gets his own crew killed in a fight they had no chance of winning.
- Loophole Abuse: Ryan tells Archer that Starfleet has no right to interfere in how he runs the Fortunate. Archer admits that's true, but he adds he has say over all that Starfleeet tech that Trip just installed and can order it removed at a moment's notice.
- Mystery Meat: Implied with the nutri-packs that boomers are used to. Ryan even says that the steak he eats on Enterprise is the first real one he's had in months.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The three boomers re their attitudes to the changes in space travel.
- Nice: Travis, who eagerly jumps on the Starfleet bandwagon.
- Mean: Ryan, who hates Starfleet and considers Trav a sellout.
- In-Between: Keene, who isn't thrilled with the changes but grudgingly accepts them.
- Noodle Incident:
- The run-in that Travis' parents had with Nausicaans.
- Whatever happened to the North Star that Ryan survived, but his parents didn't.
- Number Two: Ryan. Captain Keene was injured in the initial attack and is unconscious for most of the episode.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Which sways Travis to Archer's point of view.Archer: Human beings have a code of behavior that applies whether they're Starfleet officers or Space Boomers. And it isn't driven by revenge. Just because someone wasn't born on Earth doesn't make them any less human.
- Permission to Speak Freely: Travis says this before questioning Archer's way of dealing with Ryan.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Downplayed. The Nausicaan Captain is willing to just leave the Fortunate be and take back his crewman, but only because Enterprise has superior weaponry and would win against even three Nausicaan ships. Of course, the Nausicaan Captain says he'll still take his chances if Archer can't convince Ryan to give up.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Captain Keene tells Archer that Ryan has been demoted all the way to bottom. Ryan will be spending the rest of the current mission purging the ship's hydraulic pumps. That said, he also implied that, with time, he will be given another chance.
- The Resenter: Ryan dislikes Travis for turning his back on their way of life and because he's certain more Boomers will eventually do the same.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Ryan is out for blood against the Nausicaan ship that attacked the Fortunate. Travis even calls him on it.
- Shadow Archetype: Ryan has two.
- First, to Travis. Both are Boomers, but Travis gave up that life for Starfleet (effectively playing by the rules). While Travis can still see his side of the whole thing, Ryan crosses lines that Travis never would.
- The ending reveals Ryan's also one to Captain Keene, who truly believes in Boomer attitudes (like looking out for your own). Keene's not happy about the coming change, but instead of being stubborn and lashing out like Ryan, he can at least accept that it's happening and is willing to adapt.
- Space Pirate: The Nausicaans. Travis mentions running into them on the Horizon.
- Subspace Ansible: Forrest's message has a lot of static, a sign that Enterprise needs to deploy signal amplifiers.
- Supreme Chef: Travis describes his father this way, as well as Enterprise's own chef.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ryan, as Archer points out during the ending Aesop.
- Worf Had the Flu: The Fortunate is able to disable Enterprise's sensors with a well-timed blast, which allows them to evade the much faster NX-01 longer than would've been possible otherwise.
