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After a brief detour, Enterprise and its crew are back on their way to
famed pleasure planet Risa. Everyone is eagerly anticipating a long overdue
shore leave ... until they pick up a distress call from an unidentified vessel,
and vacation is once again delayed. After figuring out that the vessel's warp
injectors are simply clogged with plasma residue, Trip gets to work repairing
the engines while Archer enjoys a visit with the ship's captain, a ruggedly
charismatic alien named Zobral. Hailing from a nearby desert planet, Zobral
invites Archer and Trip to his home for a dinner in their honor. Though Archer
is reluctant to accept the invitation since it means delaying shore leave yet
again, he eventually relents, charmed by Zobral's persistence. Later, Archer is
surprised to find Trip unenthusiastic about the invitation. The chief engineer
confesses that he's hated desert environments ever since their harsh survival
training in the Australian outback. Archer, however, manages to convince Trip to
come along.
The two officers take a shuttlepod to Zobral's village, where they are
greeted warmly by Zobral and his aides. Dinner is served, and Trip and Archer
enjoy the myriad of exotic tastes while Zobral showers them with hospitality.
Zobral also makes a curious remark about the Suliban — a remark that indicates
he knows the Enterprise crew has encountered the alien race before.
Before Archer can question Zobral about this, a bell rings, signifying the start
of a Geskana match. This futuristic game is something like lacrosse, played with
a glowing ball of energy and two large goal hoops. While Archer and Trip are
enjoying the brutally physical match, the crew on Enterprise is hailed
by a city on the far side of Zobral's desert planet. T'Pol finds herself
speaking with Chancellor Trelit, an abrupt city official who wants to know why
the shuttlepod from Enterprise traveled to Zobral's village. T'Pol
explains that they were invited. Astounded, Trelit informs T'Pol that she will
most likely never see the officers again.
T'Pol immediately contacts Archer, interrupting the Geskana match, and
informs him that the Chancellor claims Zobral and his men are terrorists,
responsible for numerous attacks on civilians within the city. Based on his
impression of Zobral so far, Archer doubts the validity of the Chancellor's
claim, but still opts to play it safe and politely makes his excuses for him and
Trip to exit the match and return to Enterprise. Sensing Archer's ruse,
Zobral confesses: his people have been oppressed by the Chancellor's people for
years. Zobral has been fighting a losing battle for their freedom, and he wants
Archer's help. It seems that Zobral already knows of the captain, having talked
to some Suliban who were recently liberated from a detention camp by a heroic
and cunning warrior named Jonathan Archer. As Zobral is explaining his plight,
attack cruisers from the city begin bombarding the village. As their shuttle
would be an easy target, Zobral convinces Archer and Trip to take refuge inside
his bunker. Unfortunately, the attack intensifies, destroying the bunker and
forcing Archer and Trip to head out into the desert wasteland.
Back onboard Enterprise, T'Pol argues with the obstinate Chancellor,
who suspects Enterprise of assisting the terrorists in their war. The
Chancellor threatens that any vessels launched from Enterprise will be
considered the enemy and fired upon. Additionally, Reed's sensors are rendered
useless by an orbital dispersion field.
The next morning, Trip and Archer traipse through the vast desert, attempting
to find shelter before the heat gets worse. Trip, who bruised some ribs in the
Geskana match, is having a much harder time with the trek than Archer. When a
large cruiser from the city suddenly passes overhead, the two men hide
themselves from its sensors just in time, and the threat of detection forces
them to keep moving, even though Trip needs rest. As the two men continue their
journey, Archer notices that Trip is slowly becoming delirious from heat
exhaustion. The two officers, however, must press on.
Meanwhile, a vessel hails Enterprise — it's Zobral. With no other
option, T'Pol allows him to dock. After Reed sets the record straight about what
happened at the Suliban detention camp, Zobral realizes Archer is not the
invincible warrior he was told of. Reed, who has been trying to come up with a
way to reach the surface undetected, learns Zobral's shuttle came through a
narrow gap in the orbital detection grid, which occurs every 46 minutes, but
only lasts for a short time. After Zobral insists the technical maneuvers to
navigate the gap without detection are very difficult, T'Pol tries to convince
him of his responsibility to help them find Archer and Trip.
Down on the planet, Archer and Trip finally make it to an abandoned structure
in the desert. As Trip fights off heat stroke and dehydration, Archer attempts
to keep his friend talking, hoping that Trip won't lapse into a coma. Their
conversation is interrupted, however, when their shelter comes under attack and
begins to collapse. Meanwhile, T'Pol has convinced Zobral to help her locate the
missing officers, and along with Reed, they're scanning the surface in a
shuttlepod. Reed picks up weapon fire, which they realize is meant for Archer
and Trip. Flying low, the shuttlepod fires on the alien weapons, and then
locates the two officers. T'Pol helps them into the shuttlepod, and they take
off. Back on Enterprise, T'Pol and Archer bid Zobral farewell. Though
Archer feels Zobral's cause is worth fighting for, he knows that they cannot get
involved. As Zobral leaves, T'Pol assures Archer that he made the right
decision.
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