“The Shipment” is episode seven of season three of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Degra is talking to two Reptilians that they’re going to test the weapon, a holo of which is floating in front of them, on an uninhabited planet, but they need another shipment of kemocite to do so, at least 100 kg. If the test is a success, they can deploy the weapon in a matter of weeks.
Captain Archer, T’Pol and Reed are in the command centre, looking at details on the planet that supposedly has a Xindi colony involved in the weapon’s construction, as Tarquin told them in the previous episode, “Exile”. They can’t see any defences, but it’s possible it has defences they can’t detect. It’s also possible the information is wrong. There are energy readings that might be a weapon complex, or might not. They have to investigate.
Enterprise stays on the far side of a moon whilst Archer, Reed and Major Hayes head down in a shuttlepod, landing some distance away from the source of the energy. Approaching it reveals it is a Xindi-run complex. Arboreals, as is later revealed.
The captain contacts Enterprise and tells T’Pol what they’ve found. She says an assault team is standing by but the captain wants to try infiltrating the complex first. The three get inside and discover a chamber with what Reed says is a radiolytic compound, one that doesn’t match any in their database. Three Arboreals enter as they hide, talking about the compound; it sounds like there was a problem with the batch.
After all three Arboreals leave, one canister is beamed onto Enterprise for analysis. Reed says that they can finally do something about the weapon by putting this complex out of commission; Hayes suggests two spatial charges from orbit. The captain says it will set the Xindi back for a while but their main objective is to find out where the substance is being shipped as it could lead to the weapon.
An Arboreal leaves the complex and enters a small dwelling, where Reed, Hayes and the captain confront him. They have questions. The Arboreal is Gralik Durr and the captain introduces himself. He’s from Earth. Gralik says that means nothing. The captain wants to know about kemocite; Gralik says it has many uses. The captain wants to know about Degra; Gralik says that’s none of his concern. Wrong, as it happens. Archer wants to know what Degra is using the kemocite for; Gralik doesn’t ask his clients what they plan to use it for. The captain says it’s being used to create a weapon to exterminate his people; Gralik doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Trip and T’Pol are analysing the kemocite and Trip asks for permission to take apart the Reptilian rifle they got in “Rajiin”; it has the same quantum signature as the kemocite. Reed congratulates the captain; three months ago they knew nothing and now are about to destroy a weapons facility. The captain would prefer not to start a war, or confirm the Xindi’s worst fears. He doesn’t want to take out the settlement as well and will deal with Gralik when the time comes.
Trip beams down part of the Xindi probe which the captain shows to Gralik; it’s part of a weapon that murdered 7 million of his people. The pilot was Xindi, the alloy is Xindi and the quantum signature manufactures the kemocite that Gralik produces. They’re building a weapon to destroy a planet. Gralik knows nothing about the weapon, humans or Earth.
Gralik says that many species use kemocite. Degra requested highly refined material and they celebrated because of the wealth it would bring. They never asked what it’s for. Degra isn’t a Reptilian; he’s a Primate. Degra and his people are always fair and truthful; when Degra said it was for research, they believed him. Perhaps he’s as untrustworthy as the Reptilians. When the captain mentions five sentient species on the same world, Gralik supposes that’s true. Now. There was a sixth, the Avians; none managed to flee the destruction of their planet. A hundred-year war. No-one could remember why it started but all remembered how it ended. Their planet was geologically unstable and desperate Reptilians and Insectoids detonated explosives near seismic fissures. The surviving Xindi are scattered across the Expanse.
Degra and Reptilians are on their way to collect the kemocite. It seems that many Xindi don’t know what the Xindi council is planning; they haven’t even heard of humans. Which means not every Xindi is the enemy.