They arrive in an encampment in the middle of a desert, and they talk over a (rather disgusting by human standards) meal and Zobral offers them a tapestry. Archer declines because it's too big, so Zobral gives the two human men a Suliban artifact instead. Then, they play a ballgame called Geskana.
Meanwhile, a Torothan chancellor contacts Enterprise and tells T'Pol that Zobral is a terrorist. She contacts Archer and passes on the info, so he tries to leave, but Zobral reveals that he knows about the Torothan message and convinces Archer to stay. He takes Archer and Trip to his house and reveals that his people were persecuted by the Torothans and are now at war, and that he wants to use Enterprise in the war. Zobral also brings up Archer freeing some Suliban, but believes it was thousands rather than simply a few dozen.
The encampment is then bombed by Torothans, so Archer and Trip hide in a bunker, where Archer points out that the Suliban prisoners wouldn't be in their current situation if not for Archer's help. Trip says that this is different and they shouldn't go to war after Zoral tricked them, then a bomb collapses the bunker, so Archer and Trip decide to leave, on foot since going in the shuttlepod would risk them being detected.
On Enterprise, the communication link between the ship and Archer is blocked, and the Torothans warn the crew that they'll see any attempt at rescue as an attack. Meanwhile, Archer and Trip decide to head towards an abandoned camp and shelter in there, but Trip becomes woozy from heatstroke, so Archer forces him to drink some water.
Enterprise detects Zobral's shuttle, then Zobral explains that the Torothan sensors have a gap in their range that a shuttle could pass through. T'Pol convinces him to help save Archer and Trip, who then reach the abandoned camp, but there is no food and the only water is dirty. Archer lights a fire with a phaser, which he uses to boil the water (thus sterilising it, thereby making it drinkable) and decides to keep Trip awake (since him falling asleep with heatstroke could cause a coma) by talking.
T'Pol and Zobral, along with Malcolm, head out in a shuttle to save Archer and Trip, then the Torothans start bombing the abandoned camp. Luckily, however, the rescue team follows the explosions and finds them. The two men are sent back to Enterprise, where Archer explains that they could have never helped Zobral in the war. T'Pol says that things such as this are the responsibility of governments rather than starship captains, and Archer agrees but thinks Zobral's cause is good.
Tropes in this episode include:
- All Deserts Have Cacti: According to Zobral, there's a cactus (or, at least, the alien equivalent) on the planet that's used to make wine.
- Artistic License – Geography: Despite having undergone survival training on Earth, Archer and Trip ignore the first rule of crossing the desert: don't cross it during the day, cross at night. Trip even points out that this was what they were told.
- Broken Pedestal: Zobral thinks that Archer is a mighty warrior because of the events of "Detained," the story of which has gone from "Archer helped a few Suliban escape an internment camp" to "Archer defeated an entire army and freed thousands of Suliban." He's not happy when T'Pol and Malcolm set things straight, revealing that his efforts were All for Nothing.
- Call-Back: Archer tells Zobral about the alien attack that prompted the Mid-Season Upgrade of their weapons.
- Continuity Nod: To a deleted scene from the pilot, where Archer and Travis play "Geography." The dialogue is almost exactly the same.
- Crossing the Desert: Duh.
- Dangerous Drowsiness: Trip's tiredness is seen by Archer as a sign his heatstroke is getting serious, so he doesn't let him fall asleep unless he becomes comatose.
- Hard-to-Light Fire: Using a phaser makes it a lot easier.
- Humble Hero: Zobral pegs Archer as this when he's not certain how he can help.
- Idiot Ball: Archer and Trip's failed execution of their desert survival training. Not just for the reasons stated above, but also for the fact that their shuttlepod apparently wasn't equipped with any survival gear given how they emerged from said shuttlepod to set off on their desert trek armed only with two handguns and two small flasks of water.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Trip telling Archer to leave him behind. Naturally, Archer doesn't listen.
- The Oner: When Archer is trying to keep Trip awake by talking to him, instead of cutting between the actors' faces (as is typical when filming dialogue), the camera instead keeps them both in a medium shot as Scott Bakula and Connor Trinneer deliver their lines. This scene runs for 3 minutes and 41 seconds, and does not contain a single cut; it is the longest unbroken shot in the entire Star Trek franchise.
- Sea of Sand: The desert is mostly sand.
- Shirtless Scene: Shirts vs skins during a game of alien lacrosse.
- That's an Order!:
- Archer orders Trip to have some of his water, "or I'll knock you on your ass and pour it down your throat."
- He then orders Trip to name the main components of the warp reactor in order to keep him from falling asleep.
- Thirsty Desert: The desert makes both men sweaty and thirsty and it gives Trip heatstroke.
- Weird World, Weird Food: Blood soup, with "the essence of the male." Trip and Archer struggle to not spit it out.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Chancellor calls Zobral and his men "terrorists", but Zobral says that he and his brethren are the ones being terrorized.
