With Paxton aiming his array on Starfleet Command in San Francisco, Archer backs the Enterprise off – and the ship still suffers damage when Paxton blasts a low-power warning shot toward it, demonstrating that he’s more than capable of destroying a target on Earth. Trip and T’Pol are trapped with Paxton, who confesses that he created the baby with samples of their DNA to serve as a scare tactic to recruit more humans for his Terra Prime movement. Archer tries another approach, leading a team from the Enterprise to reach Mars by hiding a shuttlepod in the wake of a nearby comet, but that mission almost becomes a disaster – someone aboard the Enterprise has sabotaged the shuttle’s systems. Mayweather is able to bring the shuttle in for a smooth landing under manual control, but even if Archer and his team can thwart Paxton’s plan, will the threat derail the conference on Earth?
teleplay by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Manny Coto
story by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Andre Bormanis
directed by Marvin V. Rush
music by Jay ChattawayGuest Cast: Peter Weller (John Frederick Paxton), Harry Groener (Nathan Samuels), Gary Graham (Soval), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Adam Clark (Josiah), Peter Mensah (Greaves), Johanna Watts (Gannet Brooks), Derek Magyar (Kelby), Joel Swetow (Thoris), Josh Holt (Ensign Masaro), Amy Rohren (Tactical Officer)
Notes: Guest star Joel Swetow appeared as Gul Jasad in the two-hour premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and later as a Yridian information merchant named Yog in the First Born episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dr. Phlox confirms here that human and Vulcan DNA are compatible in a natural mating – Paxton’s genetically-engineered child was created with flawed cloning techniques. Jay Chattaway‘s music was somewhat reminiscent of a score he composed for another television program involving Mars, the 1992 PBS documentary Space Age; Chattaway joined the Star Trek franchise in 1990, scoring the third-season Next Generation episode Tin Man, which also guest starred Harry Groener, and this was his final musical score for the series.
LogBook entry by Earl Green