Fight or flight (thing)

Caution: May contain spoilers!

In this episode, the Enterprise and her crew come across a vessel that is dead in space. There are life signs on board, but no response to hails or the approach of the NX-01. The captain decides to board the ship to investigate. Sub Commander T'Pol is of course against all of this, saying that Vulcans mind their own business. In typical human fashion though, Archer continues on.

The away mission (where we find that prepping a shuttle for launch takes a half hour) includes the translator / communications officer Hoshi in an attempt to try to decipher their language. On board the ship, they find the entire crew dead, suspended from the ceiling with matter from their bodies being drained by alien technology that is different from that of the ship. The doctor tells them that the material being drained is similar to some of what is in a human body. Hoshi freaks out and screams like a little girl.

While this is all going on, the chief engineer is attempting to get the photon torpedoes and their targetting working properly. Hoshi also really wants to go home, convinced that she can't cut it out in space.

As there is really nothing they can do, T'Pol convinces Archer to continue on. After a while (and a minor speech) the captain decides the right thing to do is to head back to the ship to try to do something more than just leaving them out there in space. They decide to try to contact their families and Hoshi eventually deciphers enough of their language to send a distress message using their equipment.

The aliens that were responsible for their deaths show up and scan the Enterprise (no doubt discovering that they too will provide a nice supply of whatever material they are collecting). With the photon torpedoes still not quite up to snuff, and after getting a couple of hits from the alien ship, the Enterprise has nothing left to do but sit and prepare to be boarded.

Then a ship similar to the one they found shows up, and after Archer convinces Hoshi that she can do it, she persuades the second alien ship that it was not them that killed the crew, but the ship attacking them. The right message is eventually recieved, and the day is saved.

Personal Commentary
Well, at least this wasn't another time travel episode. I'm a bit dissapointed that another of the "new technology" items (the photon torpedoes) is almost part of the regular show though. I mean, a few of the things that I was looking forward to in this new series was the lack of transporters, photon torpedoes, phasers, high warp capabilities and universal translator. In the first episode they used a transporter on a human, got phase pistols and have a mostly working universal translator. Episode two had a fair amount about how they didn't have working targetting scanners for the photon torpedoes, but now they look like they are working too.

This episode also seemed to show that Hoshi should never have gotten into starfleet at all. She is clostraphobic and cracks under pressure. Why would someone like that be let into a military type operation?

This is part of the Enterprise Episode Guide, hopefully well maintained. Please message me with corrections or any important details I left out].