“Azati Prime” is episode eighteen of season three of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Enterprise has arrived at Azati Prime, which is surrounded by a detection grid. They hide behind a planetoid as a convoy approaches the grid; the lead ship is Degra’s. Degra is proposing a toast to his colleagues; it may seem odd to celebrate the completion of a weapon designed to destroy a planet, but without a world of their own they are like children lost in the wilderness and their work here will ensure they will never be lost again.
Xindi councillors are meeting with Degra; the Primate and Arboreal are congratulating Degra but the Reptilian, Dolim, wants to wait until the humans are annihilated.
Reed reports that he can’t find a weakness in the detection grid. Trip suggests disabling part of it but T’Pol says it’s made of thousands of satellites; when one goes down, another fills the gap. The captain suggests using the Insectoid shuttle from the previous episode, “Hatchery”. Travis points out they are not exactly experts at flying it and Trip says they’ll need a couple of hours to get up to speed.
Their initial attempts result in Travis finding reverse; Trip thinks they need to fly in forwards. T’Pol checks on how Hoshi is coming with the Xindi Insectoid translator. Finally, the captain arrives at the Insectoid shuttle to give Trip and Travis a last briefing. Get in, get the information and get out. The information doesn’t help if they don’t bring it back. And good luck.
The Insectoid shuttle departs Enterprise and T’Pol states their flight path is somewhat erratic. An understatement. The shuttle ends up heading back to Enterprise and grazing the ship, before Travis and Trip finally get a hang of things. They pass through the detection grid and get hailed in Insectoid. Hoshi’s translator works and they pass through.
On Enterprise, T’Pol reports that she’s lost the shuttle; the grid is putting out too much interference. Then Reed reports they are being scanned; T’Pol reports that there’s a small monitoring station on the moon they’re orbiting. The moon’s rotation brought the station into view. There are three Xindi biosigns, but the station hasn’t sent a transmission; they aren’t in communications range and won’t be for four hours. The captain orders the station destroyed. They can’t risk leaving it intact.
Trip and Travis haven’t found the weapon yet. There isn’t much land on the planet below and there’s no life on what little there is. Trip wants to head down; he’s possibly seen something. The shuttle is capable of heading into the water, and that’s where they find the construction facility and the weapon. Trip wants a look inside and they follow other ships in.
Back at the command centre, and the captain, T’Pol and Reed are told that the weapon is in the final stages of construction. Reed thinks a charge detonated in the right place would set off a chain reaction. A couple of photonic torpedoes will do it. They would have to be put on the Insectoid shuttle. A one-way trip, and Travis and Trip are arguing over who will fly the shuttle until the captain announces he’s doing it himself.
The captain steps into a turbolift but arrives somewhere else. Where Daniels greets him. This is the Enterprise-J. 400 years into the future. Outside, there’s a battle going on in space that looks like the region first encountered in “Harbinger”. Daniels says it’s 50,000 light years across and growing. Daniels confirms the conclusions that Enterprise had already come to. The battle outside is of Procyon V; the Federation is engaged in battle against the Sphere Builders. Dozens of species in an alliance, and they win.
The Sphere Builders have the technology to examine alternate timelines, and they wanted to change the battle’s outcome. So, they contacted the Xindi and convinced them that humanity was a dangerous threat. No humans, no Federation. It was humans who protected the Xindi from the Sphere Builders. If Enterprise destroys the weapon, the Xindi will build another and Captain Archer is the only one who can convince them otherwise. It’s crucial he doesn’t sacrifice himself. Captain Archer says he has no choice, but before sending him back, Daniels gives him a family medal belonging to a Xindi crewman on the Enterprise-J.
On Enterprise, T’Pol doesn’t think Archer should go ahead. And she’s no longer so sceptical about time travel, thanks to “Carpenter Street”. She also doesn’t want the captain to die. It’s not necessary. Archer wishes that were true.
Things have been going well. Then they start going very badly wrong.