Episode Two: 'Talons in the Prey'

(Teaser act)

T'Pol is calling to the Captain as the Romulan ships are approaching; she walks over to him and says 'Captain Archer' then slaps him across the face. 'Captain you need to snap out of it!' at that moment Archer looks at her and says in a sullen voice 'yes, of course your right'. Trip then breaks in over the intercom and say's 'Partial warp drive is restored'. T'Pol (not Archer) orders the ship to go to warp. The Enterprise flies right past the Warbirds as it goes to warp. The pursuing Warbirds turn and go to warp chasing the Enterprise...

Opening Sequence
(The 4 remaining acts)

So basically the episode has two Warbirds chasing the damaged Enterprise. The Romulans have cloaked so the Enterprise cannot see them. Malcolm comes up with the idea to see if they can adjust the Suliban cloak detector (see Shockwave) to see the Romulans. They are successful and can now see the two Warbirds. Archer decided to use this to his advantage he knows that the Romulans do not yet know the Enterprise can see them, so the Enterprise drops out of warp and as the Romulans draw closer he aims what is left of his weapons at one of them, the Warbird is destroyed but the other one de-cloaks and the Enterprise has no more weapons left.

The Enterprise once again goes to warp, and the Warbird pursues. Archer, dwelling on Erika remembers her last words 'We will always have Solaria'. Archer then has an idea he asks Malcolm if there is any Nebula's around (since Solaria is too far away now), Malcolm says the Kerada Nebula is 3 light years away. So the Enterprise heads for the nebula with the Warbird hot on its tail.




Upon entering the nebula Archer has a special mission for Mayweather but he will need Trip to go with him. Mayweather and Trip are to take a shuttlepod and attach a bomb (attached to the shuttlepod's side) on the Warbird that is trying to find the Enterprise in the Nebula. Since the sensors are mostly useless in the nebula, the idea is that the Warbird will not detect the small shuttlepod. T’Pol urges Archer not to send Trip, Archer and Trip are both puzzled as to why T’Pol is insisting on this.



Trip does go, however, and they are successful in planting the bomb. The bomb does not destroy the Warbird though, but does damage it a bit, as the Enterprise and the wounded Warbird exit the nebula the Warbird goes to warp and escapes. Archer orders the Enterprise to head back to what's left of Salem-One to pick up survivors then to head straight to Earth so he can debrief Starfleet.

At the very end of this episode Archer is in his quarters at his desk, he picks up Zen Xi Tou's book of poetry that Captain Hernandez gave him, he flips through the pages for a few seconds the gets up, pats Porthos (who is on the bed) and goes to window, as you see the stars flying by you see the reflection of Archers face in the window as the camera zooms in you will see a tear running down Archers face.

The end

Episode One: 'For I Have Chosen the Path Unseen'

Episodes
By Thomas Moore

There will be 20 episodes in season 5, with a small mid season break to space things apart. Basically the tone I am looking for in season 5 is to have a similar feel to season 4 but have the urgency and heavier emotional expression as season 3. By the end of the season a lot of the crew may need counseling. I am going to lay out the episodes and the tentative plots and titles I would like them to have. Of course a lot of things may be tweaked before the finally product is out. Some episodes (especially the first one) have more of a summary than others since there are specific directions I would like them to go in.

Teaser act

We open with the Enterprise and Columbia sitting in space docks near each other over Earth. Archer is having dinner with Captain Erika Hernandez in her quarters on the Columbia. They laugh and talk about some of the experiences they have been through over the past 3 years and the beauty of the Solaria Nebula that they jointly explored over a year ago. Archer comments on how nice it has been to be able to see Erika on and off and that it has brought some happiness to his life. Archer sees a book of poetry on the table and asks Erika about it. She says it is a book of poetry written my Zen Xi Tou, a famous poet from the 2040s. She states that she has just finished reading it and offers the book to Archer. Archer replies that he does not read poetry, Erika replies by saying it will enlighten you, here let me read you something'. Archer says sure ok, Erika opens the book up and says here we go, Captain's Legacy, and starts to read:

Heart of fire, mind of ice
Oh brave Captain, the sacrifice
And while my plight, others may not know
Thus my, spirit to boldly go
In hindsight, I have challenged my dream
For I have chosen the path unseen

Very nice says Archer (with a devilish smirk on his face) and takes the book from Erika and puts it down on the table. Archer walks to the controls on the nearby desk and soft jazz music starts playing, he grabs Erika's hand and they start to slow dance, Archer and Erika draw closer as they dance and they eventually kiss...Scene fades.

At that point we cut to the scene of T’Pol standing in an open white space, there we see Trip enter in (he looks very sad and his face seems drawn). T’Pol asks Trip what he is doing here; he says he does not know, things are a blur to him. T’Pol is a bit confused as this type of interaction had not happened for quite a while. T’Pol asks Trip if he remembers anything, Trip says all he can remember is a little girl who is Andorian but not Andorian. At this point T’Pol is very confused. Trip also states that he feels cold and very lonely; Trip puts his hand out to touch T'pol's hand, right before his hand touches her she wakes up as the communicator built in the headboard is beeping.

She answers the hail, it is Malcolm on the bridge, Malcolm says sorry to wake you but we are receiving a priority distress call from Starfleet. T’Pol asks were the captain is, Malcolm say's he is on the Columbia, this late? She implies as she raises one eyebrow, she then says I will be right there. T’Pol gets to the bridge and Archer and Hernandez are already on the view screen from Columbia's bridge, 'Good evening' Archer says to T’Pol, T’Pol replies 'good morning' to you as well (with a hint of cynicism in her voice) The screen does a spilt as they have a three way conversation with Admiral Gardner. Admiral Gardner states that Starbase Salem-One (still under construction) is being attacked and he needs both ships to respond immediately. As soon as the transmission with Gardner is over, Archer looks at Hernandez and says with a whimsical tone in his voice 'heart of fire' Erika smiles as Archer exits the bridge.



The next 3 acts

In act 1 will open with a nice scene of Enterprise clearing the space dock with Columbia and together they go to warp heading to Salem-One. The next two acts will have to do with things happening en route. I will let fans flesh out the middle part here but basically I need T’Pol to query Trip about any weird dreams he may have had. Of course he has had none. Afterward I want T’Pol to have another dream, this time Trip reveals that he is dead but only remembers that he died on duty, he implores T’Pol to not let him die, at that point T’Pol reaches out to touch Trip's hand and is again woken up.

After this point we will see T’Pol start being a bit protective over Trip. There needs to be a scene that introduces Nurse Angela Vanson. My thought is the first time we see her she is having an argument with Phlox over where he is keeping his animals in sickbay. Also, I want to have a scene in the mess hall were we get a brief introduction to Leroy. We see Leroy attempting to make small talk with Malcolm and Malcolm finding a way to avoid him.

The last act

In the last act we see the ships getting to Salem-One and seeing a mangled super structure. As the ships draw closer we see a single Romulan Warbird emerging from behind the mangled structure. The two NX ships go to Tactical alert. The Enterprise is hailed by the Romulan ship, it is audio only. The Romulans state that the Humans have spread like plague and are now attempting to establish their presence in Romulan space. This will no longer be tolerated says the Romulans. We declare that all humans will be eradicated and stop your plague once and for all. Of course, Archer tries to tell them that that we not told it was Romulan space, but his claims fall on deaf ears. Archer also asks he may see who he is addressing, the Romulans reply by saying that Humans are too insignificant to be honored by our image.



The Romulan ships fires on both the Columbia and Enterprise while retreating past the mangled Salem-One. Archer talks to Hernandez on the view screen and says we should be able to handle this one together, Hernandez says what's the worst that can happen? At that point our fair captain finds out how worse it can be. The Romulan ship turns around, all of a sudden two more Romulan ships de-cloak near the first one and two more de-cloak behind the NX ships. Captain Hernandez comes on the Enterprise's view screen 'Jonathan should we retreat?' 'We might not be able to' says Archer, Hernandez replies 'heart of fire'? Archer responds 'No, hearts of fire!' Hernandez states back 'You got it! Let's get to work' (with a smile on her face).

So the two NX ships engage in battle against 5 Warbirds, together the NX’s are able to take out the first Warbird but the two ships are receiving a pounding. During the battle there are some explosions in engineering and Chief Engineer (TBD) gets killed, luckily trip is there to keep things running. The Enterprise manages to blow the nacelle off the second Warbird but in doing so the flying nacelle hits the Enterprise and knocks out weapons and warp drive (for the moment). The three remaining Warbirds reposition together and head for the NX ships. The Columbia is in far worse condition she has impulse, but her weapons are gone, there is a fire on the bridge and worse the warp core is going critical.

Hernandez orders everyone to the escape pods, Hernandez's first officer Cmdr Stiles, implores the Captain to come along since the core will breach in less than a minute but Erika insists 'I'm not done yet, now get the hell out of here!’. Back on the Enterprise we see the Columbia flying ahead of the Enterprise on the view screen, aware of their warp breach situation Archer says out loud ‘what the hell is she doing?’. Archer barks at Hoshi to hail the Columbia, as the screen comes up the bloodied face of Hernandez appears on screen, Archer yells at her 'get out of there is nothing you can do' Erika relies back 'that's not true and you know it'. Erika further replies 'Goodbye Jonathan, we will always have Solaria'. Archer yells 'Erika!' then the view screen cuts to the shot of the Columbia flying next to the 3 Romulan ships.

Two of the flanking ships start to veer off, just then there is a huge flash of light. Archer, shocked, stumbles backward and falls into his chair. As Archer stares blankly ahead, he says in low key 'In hindsight, I have challenged my dream, For I have chosen the path unseen' the bridge crew looks at him funny yet sympathetic, then on screen it appears that the two flanking Warbirds have survived and are headed towards the Enterprise. Malcolm say's 'Captain what should we do' Archer does not reply then T’Pol says 'Captain, Captain, Jonathan' Archer, unfazed, is still staring directly ahead..............




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