“Hatchery” is episode seventeen of season three of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Enterprise is in orbit around a planet where a crashed Xindi ship has been discovered. It’s not Reptilian or Primate, there are no biosigns, no atmosphere and no-one else in the system.
Captain Archer orders a team goes down. Inside the crashed ship they discover a couple of Xindi Insectoid corpses, which the captain orders be taken to Phlox for autopsy. T’Pol and Trip find a computer interface, then Reed finds a reinforced hatch. He and Trip enter; the hatch then shuts and the chamber pressurises with a breathable atmosphere. There are faint biosigns. The captain and Major Hayes are checking out an armed Xindi shuttle when Trip contacts the captain and tells him he needs to come.
The chamber they found contains eggs; T’Pol believes they are the crew’s offspring. 31 eggs are viable, but the chamber is losing power and Trip doesn’t know where to start to repair it. The captain orders the Xindi shuttle be taken back to Enterprise to analyse its tactical systems. He asks about a bridge and T’Pol states she doesn’t believe there is one. Then Archer is sprayed by an egg.
In sickbay, Phlox states it seems to be a mild neurotoxin. The captain tells him about the incoming bodies and T’Pol states they’ve located the armoury and Hoshi is working on the database. They will be ready to leave orbit as soon as the shuttle is onboard. Reed and Hayes are carrying the bodies in a shuttlepod and towing the Xindi shuttle; Hayes is making certain the Insectoids are dead. Insects on Earth have been known to hibernate. Hayes wants to schedule more target practice; Reed is still a bit prickly.
T’Pol and Trip see the captain in his ready room; the Insectoid ship fractured a nacelle coming out of a subspace vortex. Phlox says the crew suffocated; they transferred life support to the hatchery. That will only last another day or so. The captain orders a team to repair it. They’re sentient beings; they can’t just be abandoned. Trip has half a mind to take a plasma torch to the place. Archer asks him what if the infants were Primates? Would he still be so willing? The Xindi think humans are ruthless; this is their chance to prove them wrong. He will lead the engineering team whilst Trip and Travis work on the shuttle.
The shuttle is proving uncooperative and Travis and Trip are talking to Reed in the mess hall. Reed thinks it’s odd they’ve been a day already trying to save the Xindi. Trip says the captain thinks it’s the right thing to do and a day or two studying Insectoid tactics might be useful. The captain himself is in sickbay, being briefed by Phlox and what the doctor has discovered about Insectoids. Phlox thinks the eggs will be mature in a week.
T’Pol heads down to the Xindi ship, finding MACOs guarding the hatchery on the captain’s orders. The captain says they’re posted because there might be predators after the eggs. T’Pol points out they’ve discovered nothing but microplankton. Trip and the captain try and power up and an egg explodes. The captain sees the dead insectoid and reports a medical emergency. Trip and T’Pol exchange looks.
In sickbay, Phlox tells the captain there was nothing he could do. Archer tells T’Pol that when Hoshi has deciphered the Xindi database he wants it searched for burial rituals. Trip contacts; he thinks he’s figured out the problem. But to solve it the Insectoid ship needs antimatter. And the captain tells him to transfer as much as is needed. Phlox and T’Pol exchange looks.
Trip tells Reed and T’Pol it will take a third of their antimatter. Not leaving much for torpedoes. Or engines. He wanted to run this past them first. T’Pol tells him to delay the transfer; she will speak to the captain.
The captain is behaving increasingly erratically. But, whilst he does have a point about changing Xindi perceptions, to say he’s going a bit far is an understatement. And as for his logic – well, T’Pol says Captain Archer is behaving illogically, even for a human.