Plot

Enterprise has been in the Delphic Expanse for six weeks and have yet to get any intel about the Xindi. Strange anomalies affect the ship, sending cargo flying violently through the bays, pockets of atmosphere losing gravity and other incidents defying the known laws of physics. T'Pol helps Trip's insomnia with an intimate Vulcan therapy. Archer and Trip find another race of Xindi imprisoned in a mine.—Meribor

Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula); Sub-Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock); Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III (Connor Trinneer); Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating); Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park); Ensign Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery); Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley);

As Enterprise travels deeper into the Delphic Expanse, a secret council of aliens discuss what to do with the lone human spaceship. Some aliens think this is the beginning of an invasion, in response to the council launching the probe against Earth. They also discuss that the weapon will be ready shortly. Meanwhile, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) directs Enterprise (who has been in the expanse for 6 weeks already) to a mining penal colony within the Expanse. He then strikes a deal with the mine's foreman (Stephen McHattie): in exchange for a half-liter of liquid platinum, Archer and Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III (Connor Trinneer) will be allowed to meet a Primate worker (Suspected to be a Xindi) named Kessick (Richard Lineback). The Assault team on Enterprise is led by Major Hayes (Steven Culp), including Corporal Romero (Marco Sanchez), Corporal Chang (Daniel Dae Kim) and Sergeant Kemper (Nathan Anderson).

Archer requests the coordinates of Xindus, the Xindi home-world, from Kessick. But the alien refuses to help unless Archer helps him escape. Archer declines, but he soon learns that the foreman (Stephen McHattie) of the mine had ulterior motives, since he has ordered three warships to overpower Enterprise and enslave his crew. Kessick claims to know how to escape the mine, but asks for Archer's help in return for guiding the Starfleet officers. Archer reluctantly agrees, and Kessick leads him and Tucker through the mine's sewage removal system. Kassick also says that the Xindi are 5 distinct species and each claims to be dominant. However, the group is soon detected in a conduit, and the foreman floods the system with plasma in an effort to kill them. They narrowly escape being killed (By entering a maintenance hatch in the conduit), but quickly fall into the hands of the mine's security forces.

Meanwhile, Sub-Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) persuades Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) to allow the newly assigned MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations) to attempt an extraction. Reed wanted to go down himself to rescue Archer, but Hayes argues that if the 3 warships arrive before the rescue is completed, then Reed and his men are better suited to deal with the boarding party. Led by Hayes, the MACOs perform remarkably well in combat, and manage to rescue Archer, Tucker, and Kessick (But Kessick shot just as he was getting into the shuttle and is fatally wounded). Enterprise then leaves orbit just as the warships arrive. Kessick dies while being treated by Phlox, but not before providing coordinates for the Xindi home-world. When the ship reaches this position, there is nothing but a 120-year-old field of space debris (the field is spread across millions of Kms and was a planet). Someone is perhaps hiding behind the Xindi to attack Earth. Archer decides to go deeper into the expanse.

At the alien council, the ant like creature is adamant to attack the Enterprise, but the others want to remain hidden.