“E²” is episode twenty-one of season three of Star Trek: Enterprise.
A Vulcan enters a cabin where what appears to be a very old T’Pol is meditating. He tells her they couldn’t stop the probe; it’s on its way to Earth. Everything is happening as it did before. T’Pol tells him he has no choice. He has to find Jonathan Archer.
Trip arrives at T’Pol’s cabin. He says he’s having problems sleeping; his insomnia has come back. It’s weeks since they did neuropressure and he thought it would do them both good. T’Pol was thinking of discontinuing it; she’s taught him all she can. Trip admits the truth. He’s sleeping fine, but he’s worried about her. She’s been avoiding him ever since they were intimate and has been withdrawn, even for her. She helped Trip get through a rough patch; he wants to do the same. T’Pol claims she’s fine.
In the command centre, Reed says there are more than the one or two Kovaalan ships in the nebula that Degra warned them about in the previous episode, “The Forgotten”. T’Pol says there are at least half a dozen. They’re going to have to try and sneak past them to the subspace corridor.
Degra and Jannar are meeting with the Primate councillor. He’s not happy they gave the council’s coordinates to Archer; there may be other Starfleet ships around. Degra says that hasn’t been confirmed. The Primate tells Degra he won’t be allowed to bring Archer before the council. Degra won’t bother asking permission then. These allegations are too important to simply dismiss. Jannar doesn’t think Archer told them everything, but he can’t explain the evidence. Degra says that if Archer is telling the truth, all the council’s efforts are for nothing. He’s warned that the Reptilians will destroy Enterprise. Degra says they will protect Archer. The Primate asks Degra what makes him think the Reptilians won’t fire on them.
Enterprise is getting ready to enter the nebula when another ship, a Starfleet ship, drops out of warp. NX class. Not the NX-02. The NX-01. Enterprise. A heavily modified and repaired Enterprise. They’re hailed by the Vulcan from the beginning. They need to reverse their course; there’s no time to explain.
The other Enterprise docks; the Vulcan is Lorian, its captain, and introduces Karen Archer, his first officer. Lorian wants to talk and wants T’Pol to join them. In the conference room, Lorian says if Enterprise enters the subspace corridor, it will go back in time 117 years. This has already happened; Lorian wants to make sure history doesn’t repeat. The Kovaalan attacked Enterprise when they entered the nebula and they arrived in the past; it’s thought that their impulse wake destabilised the corridor. T’Pol determined it went only in one direction. Enterprise became a generational ship.
T’Pol says Enterprise wouldn’t have the fuel or provisions. Lorian tells his mother she’s hardly changed. They made alliances with other species, traded with them and acquired a few alien crewmembers. They tried to stop the probe, but their weapons were no match for the Xindi. In order to make sure Enterprise makes her rendezvous with Degra, Lorian has schematics to modify the ship to make warp 6.9 briefly, and reinforce her structural integrity. The captain is still not convinced but Lorian wants him to start on the modifications. Karen Archer suggests going to sickbay and getting Dr Phlox to confirm who they are.
And he does. Karen is Archer’s great-granddaughter; Lorian is T’Pol’s son. And his father is human. T’Pol says that’s impossible; humans and Vulcans have never been able to reproduce. Apparently, Phlox found a way. Lorian’s father is Trip.
Trip and Lorian are modifying the engines. Trip makes a comment about Lorian having his mother’s ears. Then accuses Lorian of smiling. Lorian explains he was raised differently from most Vulcans; he balances emotion and logic. He’s even been known to tell a joke. Lorian learnt about the engines from studying Trip’s logs. Trip hopes he gave some hands-on advice too. Lorian is sure he would have. But he died when Lorian was 14.
The captain is with Karen on the other Enterprise; quite a lot of the crew are descended from Phlox. Karen, who is part alien, explains where it came from; Archer’s wife, who they rescued from an anomaly field. The captain thinks their ship explains a few things. Like why the Xindi kept questioning him about other Starfleet vessels in the Expanse. Karen takes Archer to see T’Pol first. They talk and then she hands him a PADD for his science officer.
The T’Pol of the future isn’t certain that Lorian’s modifications will be successful. Which is a problem. Which leads to more problems.