Thus, Archer and Trip begin their work. Archer allows one of the aliens, named Goff, to eat and bathe, and Trip begins his repair work with the other one, Plinn, while asking Hoshi to translate some foreign words. Meanwhile, Archer asks Goff if he wants a lift, but Goff declines, since the woman's people aren't expecting her for five months.
The stasis pod then malfunctions again and the woman wakes up and begins kicking and screaming. An alarm goes off while the aliens, Archer, and T'Pol are dining, and Goff goes to check it out and finds Trip helping the woman out, so he knocks him unconscious. He calls Plinn over, and Archer messages Trip. When he doesn't reply, Archer has Malcolm escort Plinn back to his ship. When Goff sees Plinn being escorted, he fires at Malcolm, then undocks his ship. The Enterprise tries to give chase, but the freighter releases a compound called dilithium hydroxyl, which disables the warp core.
On the freighter, the alien woman begins beating Trip with a weapon and yelling an an alien language. Trip tries to communicate that he didn't kidnap her and will untie her, when Goff enters and demands he fix the stasis pod. Trip says it will "be a while", then when Goff leaves, Trip gets the universal translator to work. The alien woman explains that she was kidnapped after a diplomatic mission, she's going to be the "First Monarch of the Sovereign Dynasty of Krios Prime", and her name is Kaitaama. She suggests simply waiting until the ransom is paid, but Trip wants to escape in an escape pod.
On the Enterprise, Archer and T'Pol interrogate Plinn, who claims to also be a victim and that Goff made plans he's unaware of. Archer asks for the warp frequency, but Plinn claims he doesn't know, so Archer has him locked in the airlock. Meanwhile, Trip heads for an escape pod with Kaitaama in tow. She doesn't believe she's in danger of being killed due to her status, but Trip points out that they may kill him, and these situations are unpredictable. Thus, the two go into the escape pod and head towards a star system, arguing all the while.
Plinn is put in the mess hall for an impromptu tribunal, with T'Pol as the "judicial administrator", who intimidates him by implying she may have him executed and stating that she doesn't feel the need to contact his government, and Archer offering him leniency in exchange for information. Meanwhile, Trip and Kaitaama land on a planet that's hot and swampy, but inhabitable.
They land and begin setting up camp (after Kaitaama treats an injury Trip has), but argue over who should retrieve firewood, both wanting to be in charge. After a long, heated argument, she hits him, and they fall over and land in the water... and snog. Later, Trip and Kaitaama are asleep, and woken by the escape pod's subspace beacon. Trip smashes it, believing Goff to be the one who found them, and sure enough, he does arrive. They lure him with a fake Trip, then fight him and Kaitaama knocks him out. Then, Archer, T'Pol, and Malcolm come to the rescue. Back on Enterprise, Trip and Kaitaama exchange quips one last time before she leaves for her battle cruiser.
Tropes in this episode include:
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Kaitaama says that she was on a diplomatic mission when she was captured. Diplomacy is clearly not one of her talents.
- Banging for Help: Trip is alerted to Kaitaama's situation when she bangs on the inside of her stasis pod crying for help.
- Call-Back: When Kaitaama insists on remaining on the space pirate ship until the ransom is paid, Trip mentions being involved in a few Hostage Situations that had unexpected outcomes.
- Coming in Hot: Trip manages to crash-land the Escape Pod on Dagobah, despite barely being able to read the controls.
- Deadpan Snarker: Archer can't resist when he finds Trip and Kaitaama in the swamp, Trip in his undies and Kaitama in a torn dress.Archer: Trip?...This a bad time?
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Archer and T'Pol pull this on the subordinate pirate, with T'Pol as a ruthless "judicial administrator" and Archer willing to convince her to show leniency.
- Hanging Judge: Archer and T'Pol pretend that the latter is one to bluff Plinn into giving them the information needed to find Goff's ship. Archer even implies that she's had seven Enterprise crewmembers executed for dereliction of duty.
- Hates Being Touched: Kaitaama, as touching her is considered inappropriate. Of course, once she and Trip are stuck in an Escape Pod together, touching becomes unavoidable.Kaitaama: It's inappropriate to touch the First Monarch.
Trip: You're welcome to step outside until I'm finished. - Hyperspeed Escape: The kidnappers' ship pulls one after releasing a cloud of gunk that clogs Enterprise's plasma vents.
- Implied Death Threat: When T'Pol is pretending to be a judge of sorts, she asks Plinn his height and weight for what's implied to be his coffin or an urn and if his home planet has death rituals, implying she may have him executed.
- Nondescript, Nasty, Nutritious: The rations in the Escape Pod.Kaitaama: Is it...edible?
Trip: (chewing on the food item) Depends how hungry you are. - No-Sell: Trip punches one of the kidnappers in the face several times, but does no damage. Then Kaitaama grabs a hard object and gives him a Tap on the Head.
- Purple Is Powerful: Kaitaama (a princess/diplomat) wears a purple gown, which doesn't survive the episode unscathed.
- Royal Brat: Kaitaama, very much so.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Kaitaama tells Trip that when she becomes First Monarch of Krios prime, she'll be able to change the rules preventing her from dating.
- Shout-Out: To The Empire Strikes Back with the swampy planet Dagobah and the Belligerent Sexual Tension with a sci-fi princess.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Trip and Kaitaama. A round of swamp-water wrestling leads to a rather passionate snog.
- Space Pirates: The ones kidnapping Kaitaama, and they fumble this particular piracy pretty bad.
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Played absolutely straight.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Why Trip decides to escape—he doubts that the Space Pirates will keep him alive if he fixes the stasis pod.
