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Hoshi's target practice with Reed is interrupted when Enterprise drops
out of warp to investigate a Class-9 gas giant. A probe is launched into the
planet's massive atmosphere and to the crew's surprise, it detects a disabled
alien vessel with several bio-signs aboard. T'Pol, Reed and Hoshi are dispatched
in a shuttlepod to investigate. When they board the "shipwreck," Hoshi
recognizes the writing on the bulkhead: it's Klingon. They immediately draw
their weapons and search for the survivors. Entering the dark, spooky bridge,
they find several unconscious Klingons. T'Pol recommends leaving before they
come to, because the Klingons would kill them rather than face the dishonor of
being rescued. But Reed refuses to leave without helping. When they contact Enterprise,
Archer decides to give them 20 minutes to see what they can do, because in about
half an hour they'll sink to a point where the atmospheric pressure will exceed
the shuttlepod's tolerance. Soon after, though, the boarding party is ambushed
by a Klingon woman who managed to escape unconsciousness. The Klingon then bolts
for the airlock hatch and escapes in the shuttlepod, stranding the three crewmen
on the doomed vessel.
The bridge crew sees the shuttlepod approach, and upon hailing it they hear a
Klingon voice. The woman, Bu'kaH, is calling her people for warships, declaring
that Enterprise has attacked them. Enterprise captures the
shuttlepod with the grappler and brings it aboard. Bu'kaH won't be taken easily,
though — she puts up a fierce struggle before being knocked out by a
phase-pistol. Meanwhile the stranded party decides their only course of action
is to restart the Klingon ship's engines and pilot it out. However, using
Hoshi's linguistic skills to read the instruments, they realize they're dead in
the water. And Archer's plan to bring Enterprise down for a rescue hits a
snag when the shipwreck falls to a depth even the starship can't withstand.
In Sickbay, where Bu'kaH is now awake but restrained, Dr. Phlox determines
there's a neurotoxin in her bloodstream that will kill her in a day or two.
Apparently she escaped unconsciousness because she hid in a cold place on her
ship, delaying the effects of the toxin. Archer asks Bu'kaH for her guidance in
getting her ship restarted, but the belligerent Klingon accuses him of raiding
her vessel and poisoning her crew. Meanwhile Mayweather and Tucker search the
Vulcan database and learn the Klingon ship is a Raptor-class scout vessel — it
has a very thick hull, but it won't hold up forever under the pressure it's in.
Tucker has the idea to reinforce a shuttlepod with duratanium braces in order to
mount a rescue; Archer puts him on the task while telling Mayweather to keep an
eye out for other Klingon ships. On the Raptor, Hoshi finds a log entry from the
ship's captain, which reveals the Klingon crew was fighting a race called the
Xarantines and hid in the gas giant to make repairs; but the captain did not
know why the crew was falling ill. The team also learns the port fusion injector
is damaged, so they set out to find engineering. As Reed works there, he becomes
dehydrated. Hoshi and T'Pol look for the galley to find water, but instead come
across live targs and other Klingon food including a delicacy of live worms
called gagh. As Hoshi's anxiety rises, T'Pol takes her hand and guides her
through a mental exercise that calms her down. But then the ship shudders as the
hull begins to buckle.
Running out of time, Hoshi suggests trying the weapons, and Reed concurs.
Meanwhile Archer approaches Bu'kaH again, this time using some Klingon reverse
psychology. After informing her that her crew was infected by a toxin in the
Xarantine ale they drank—part of the spoils of a raid—he convinces her that
she would be letting her crew die a very dishonorable death if she didn't
cooperate. She reluctantly lets him take her on the reinforced shuttlepod toward
her ship, along with an antidote to the neurotoxin. On the Raptor, Reed is
launching the ship's torpedoes one or two at a time in an attempt to stop its
descent, but not having much success until Hoshi bravely proposes they fire all
remaining six torpedoes at once. The risky tactic works—the ship takes damage,
but the shockwave pushes it to a tolerable altitude. Archer and Bu'kaH board the
Raptor and he coerces her to work with his crewman until the engines are fixed.
The job is done just in time for Archer's team to return to Enterprise
before two more Klingon ships arrive. They get a hail from the recuperated
Klingon captain, but instead of saying thank you, he orders them to surrender.
Archer faces him down, pointing out his ship is weakened and he's fresh out of
torpedoes, and he better take what honor he has left and go home. The Klingon
obstinately relents. T'Pol, Hoshi and Reed now get to relax in the decon
chamber, happy to be away from the smell of a Klingon vessel.
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