“Babel One” is episode twelve of season four of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Shran digs himself out of the rubble of his bridge. He gets no response from engineering and starts broadcasting a distress call to Imperial Command, saying they were attacked by a Tellarite vessel, when the computer warns of a warp containment breach in two minutes. He orders all the crew to escape pods to abandon ship.
On Enterprise, Hoshi is yelling and complaining at Captain Archer. He does the same right back. At the end, Hoshi smiles and compliments his last insult. Archer can’t believe he’s supposed to speak to the Tellarite ambassador like that; they were practicing. Hoshi says Tellarites have a litany of complaints; it’s how they start arguments with people they just met. Failing that, they just insult them. You have to respond in kind or they will be insulted. And keep Porthos out of sight; Tellarites consider canines a delicacy.
Enterprise is heading to transport the Tellarite ambassador to a neutral planet, called Babel, where Earth mediators will try to settle a longstanding trade dispute between the Tellarites and the Andorians. The captain is speaking to Trip, who asks why they are transporting the Tellarites. Because Babel is on the far side of Andorian space and the Andorians will not allow Tellarite ships through their territory. This trade dispute could turn into a shooting war. The Tellarite ambassador, Gral, is met in the launch bay. He seems pleased with the captain’s insults.
Archer arrives at the mess hall where the Tellarites are being greeted. Trip likes them more than he thought; they don’t take anything back. It’s refreshing. The captain jumps on his response and tells him to change his uniform. Trip thinks the captain is practicing for the Tellarites. The captain gives him a look. Only smiling when Trip leaves. Archer speaks to Gral, who seems uncertain as to the neutrality of Earth, given the Andorians helped them during the Xindi crisis. And humans have no experience in interstellar affairs. The captain says his people want peace and it doesn’t seem like there are many other options.
Archer then gets called to the bridge, where they hear a fragmentary distress call from Shran. They’re two hours away, and the Andorians don’t have anything nearby. The captain orders their course changed. They arrive at a debris field, most likely from an Andorian combat vessel, and locate some escape pods.
Phlox is treating the surviving Andorians when Archer and T’Pol arrive to speak to Shran, who says they were attacked by Tellarites. They were escorting the ambassador. His ship was destroyed and theirs crippled. Shran has never seen a Tellarite ship manoeuvre like that; he thinks they’ve been improving their warships. Look for his data recorder; the sensor logs will show the attack. It was fortunate Enterprise was close by. Archer explains why they are there. Shran wants to have words with the Tellarites, but the captain stops him.
Shran’s ship shows damage consistent with Tellarite weapons and the recorder, though damaged, shows a Tellarite ship attacking. The captain speaks to Gral, who says his people had nothing to do with it. He’s shown the sensor logs, but says Andorian technology is more advanced. One Tellarite cruiser would not stand a chance against one Andorian. He wants rid of the Andorians.
Archer dines with Shran, who reminisces sadly about his ship and crew. He’s also in a relationship with Talas; it was mate with her or charge her with assaulting a superior officer. Andorian women are forceful. Shran doubts war will be avoided this time. Andoria has lost ships to the Tellarites. Then T’Pol contacts the captain from the bridge; an Andorian ship is approaching.
Archer and Shran arrive on the bridge. The Andorian ship doesn’t respond to hails, then opens fire. It doesn’t respond to Shran either. Enterprise‘s phase cannons don’t do much damage, because of the shields. Shran shows Reed how to target the shield generators. Which doesn’t drop the shields. Torpedoes cause the other ship to move off, due to fluctuations in the power grid. Though Reed didn’t target that.
Gral suggests some of the Imperial Guard don’t want a peace treaty. Shran says the attacker might have been Tellarite; the Andorians have had several warships go missing over the years. This meeting degenerates.
T’Pol discovers something about the Andorian attacker. The power signature is identical to that of the Tellarite that attacked Shran. They appear to be the same ship, though they clearly look different. The Tellarites are getting paranoid, the Andorians want to make the Tellarites pay and Captain Archer is worried Earth might be in over its head. Because there’s something else going on.
The story continues in the next episode, “United”.