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Serenity returns to Persephone in search of work. Simon tries to help River through one of her bouts of erratic behavior. Inara agrees to accompany Atherton Wing, a young noble, to a ball, while Badger approaches Mal with an offer. Sir Warwick Harrow wants some cargo shipped to his holdings offworld on Jiangyin, despite Alliance regulations to the contrary. Badger needs someone of a certain bearing to make contact with the noble - at the very same ball where Wing is asking Inara to remain with him permanently. Mal brings a very excited Kaylee to the party, but his negotiations are interrupted by an argument with Wing. When Wing insults Inara, Mal punches him and thus inadvertently challenges him to a duel with swords. The highly skilled fencer accepts, and Badger sends his men to Serenity to ensure that none of Mal’s crew interfere and somehow damage Badger’s reputation. With only an evening of lessons under his belt, no one gives Mal much of a chance. But Mal isn’t going to go down without a fight - and he doesn’t necessarily promise it’s going to be a fair one.

written by Jane Espenson
directed by Vern Gillum
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Mark A. Sheppard (Badger); Edward Atterton (Atherton Wing); Larry Drake (Sir Warwick Harrow)

Notes: Mal’s prior dealings with Badger, referenced in this episode, took place in the episode Serenity. A new introduction narrated by Mal appears at the beginning of this episode.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

The Vulcan High Command secretly contacts T’Pol to give her new orders. One of a small number of criminals wanted by the Vulcans has been spotted near the Enterprise’s current position, and T’Pol’s duty - as a former security officer for the Vulcans - is to track him down. Starfleet is contact to ensure that the Enterprise will be diverted to T’Pol’s destination, but nothing else is revealed to the crew. Archer is annoyed by the secrecy until T’Pol takes him into her confidence to explain the mission. The last time she encountered this criminal, she acted swiftly and even managed to kill an accomplice who was trying to do the same to her, but her quarry escaped. However, when Archer and T’Pol go undercover to catch up with her target, he claims to be an innocent man - a man whose business partner T’Pol murdered in cold blood.

written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Livingston
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Bruce Davison (Menos), David Richards (Dockmaster), Vincent Hammond (Huge Alien), Coleen Maloney (Vulcan Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Serenity lands on Jiangyin to deliver their cattle cargo. In an effort to ensure things go smoothly, Mal sends Simon and River to take a walk into town while he concludes the deal. This being one of Mal’s ideas, things don’t quite go as planned. Simon manages to insult Kaylee, and while she’s giving him what-for, River wanders off. Mal’s trading partners are wanted for murder; the local law shows up, and the suspects don’t go quietly. In the shootout, Book is wounded. Zoe manages to stabilize him, but he needs a doctor. Unfortunately, Simon and River have been kidnapped by an outlaw community with much the same need. Mal orders Serenity to take off and rendezvous with an Alliance cruiser. The Alliance captain is hesitant to offer aid until Book’s ident card earns him the VIP treatment, for reasons the Shepherd won’t explain. Simon thinks back to the life he left behind in order to find his sister - a lifestyle his parents weren’t willing to endanger - but he fights through the frustration to try to help those in need. But when River starts reading the locals’ minds, they accuse her of witchcraft. And they have an old-fashioned solution for that particular problem.

written by Drew Greenburg
directed by Michael Grossman
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Isabella Hoffman (Megan Tam); William Converse-Roberts (Gabriel Tam); John Thaddeus (Stark); Gary Werntz (Patron)

Notes: Mal contracted to deliver the cattle in Shindig. This episode features Mal’s introductory narration.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Archer, Hoshi and Malcolm return from a mission to a pre-warp civilization riddled with paranoia - and on the brink of war between two major political powers. But as they prepare to leave the planet behind, Malcolm realizes that he left his communicator behind. Archer and Malcolm go back to retrieve the communicator, trying to prevent not only cultural contamination but a sudden technological advance that could forever affect an entire world. But when they’re captured in the process - carrying more advanced technology - Archer can either contaminate the planet’s cultures by breaking the news to his captors that he and Malcolm are aliens…or they could die trying to protect that secret.

teleplay by Andrè Bormanis
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by James Contner
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Francis Guinan (Gosis), Tim Kelleher (Lt. Pell), Brian Reddy (Dr. Temec), Dennis Cockrum (Alien Barkeep), Jason Waters (Soldier)

Notes: Fittingly enough for someone who shares a name with the Enterprise-D’s bartender, Francis Guinan is no stranger to Star Trek, having appeared in the early Ex Post Facto episode of Voyager. Fellow guest star Tim Kelleher was an ill-fated crewman in the final episode of Next Generation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Serenity brings Inara back to Ariel, a planet in the Core Systems, so she can complete some necessary paperwork to maintain her license as a Companion. Mal’s instinct is to stay quiet and stay in orbit until Inara’s ready to be picked up. Things change when River suddenly slashes Jayne with a kitchen knife. Mal confines her to quarters and tells Simon that unless he can keep her in check, Mal will have to rethink their arrangement. So Simon decides to hire the crew for a job - he’ll provide them with the know-how to break into the hospital stores and swipe medicine with considerable value on the frontier, and in exchange the crew will get him and River into a neural diagnostic lab to give Simon a chance to figure out what’s really wrong with his sister. It’s a very clever plan, and the only thing that might screw it up is one of the crew deciding to go freelance. And that might turn out disastrous for everyone. Just because River’s not quite sane doesn’t mean she doesn’t have good reason to fear the Alliance and their men in blue.

written by Jose Molina
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Blake Robbins (Agent McGinnis), Jeff Ricketts (Man of Blue #1), Dennis Cockrum (Man of Blue #2), Tom Virtue (Doctor)

Notes: This episode features Mal’s introductory narration.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

As the Enterprise approaches a triple star system, Archer is forced to bring the ship to a crawl to avoid the unusual gravitational stresses. The crew looks forward to taking things easy for the duration of the flyby at impulse power. Lt. Reed proposes a battle-readiness status for both the ship and crew, though Archer is initially a little dubious for the propsal for a “Reed alert.” But as T’Pol works on a sensor sweep of the three stars, she notices that the crew is becoming irritable and obsessive. Dr. Phlox sees the signs of the growing problem after conducting tests on Ensign Mayweather all night - but he, too, is too absorbed in all the possible implications of that discovery to innoculate the crew against the immediate threat. In fact, T’Pol is the only member of the crew immune to the effects, which she links to unique radiation interactions among the stars. She plots the only possible course out of the system…only to find that it’s one she can’t fly solo.

written by Chris Black
directed by Patrick Norris
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Matthew Kaminsky (Cunningham) and Porthos

Notes: This episodes does indeed show the beginnings of red alert on Starfleet vessels, as well as Trip’s accurate assessment that Reed’s early ideas for an audible alert signal sounds like “a bag full of cats.”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Hoshi and Trip’s investigation of alien ruins is cut short by the arrival of a violent storm system. With the atmosphere too unstable to relaunch their shuttle, they’re forced to use the transporter to return to the Enterprise. When she arrives safe and sound aboard the ship, Hoshi feels odd, and she even thinks her fellow crewmembers are having difficulties seeing or hearing her; even the ship’s control panels don’t seem to respond to her touch. Dr. Phlox is convinced she’s in perfect health, but when Hoshi’s entire body begins passing through solid doors and walls, she fears that the transporter hasn’t properly reassembled her. And when Archer and the rest of the crew can’t see her any more, and refer to her in the past tense, it confirms her worst fears…so why can she still see them?

written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Straiton
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Keone Young (Hoshi’s Father), Gary Riotto (Alien #1), Morgan Margolis (Crewman Baird), Ric Sarabia (Alien #2), Carly Thomas (Crewman Rhodes)

Notes: Keone Young previously appeared in the first season Deep Space Nine episode If Wishes Were Horses as Commander Sisko’s baseball idol, Buck Bokai.

LogBook entry by Earl Green