The Andorian Incident

Caution: May contain spoilers!

The Enterprise see that a Vulcan sanctuary is near to their course, and decide to visit it. When they get there, they are greeted by a Vulcan, saying that everyone was in meditation at the moment, and they would have to leave. They discover almost by accident that the colony has been taken over by the Andorians (first seen in Star Trek: The Original Series). Archer, T'Pol, Trip and a couple of other crew members are taken prisioner along with the Vulcans.

The Andorians have their antennae in a knot because they are convinced that the Vulcans are spying on them and have a sensor station hidden in the colony somewhere. This of course preposterous to both the Vulcans and the Enterprise crew, and they are beaten several times defending them. While being "questioned" the crews communicators are destroyed. One of the Vulcans mentions that there is a very old radio down in the hidden tunnels below the colony where they keep their cultural treasures. Trip makes short work of it, and lets Reed know not to arrive with an armed invasion party. They do have a plan though.

Reed and some armed security guards beam down into where the prisoners are being held and hide in the tunnels. They have found that one of the underground passages ends up right where the Andorians are, and blow that out, taking them by surprise. Two Andorians escape into the underground passages and Archer and T'Pol take chase to try to catch them, and prevent them from (among other things) destroy some of the Vulcan antiques. They of course end up in a fire fight and amidst the destruction they create, a tapestry is half cut down and a strange metal door is partially revealed.

Strange a door is there, in a room that supposedly hasn't been entered in years don't you think? And what about all the lit candles all over the place. Well, everyone ceases fire and they open the door to find... a listening station! Seems that all this time the Andorians suspicions were correct, and the Vulcans were lying. Archer gets T'Pol to take pictures and readings, gives them to the Andorian they were in the fire fight with, and sends him on his way.

Personal Commentary

Another good episode that gives a bit more character development to Archer. He could have dealt with this situation very differently, but he didn't. He was almost Kirkian in kicking ass, and then deciding to do the Right Thing. It was also interesting to see T'Pol, faced with loyalty to her people or to her crew, choosing to follow the Captains orders. It wasn't clear whether she knew about the listening station or not, but she happily (ok, now literally happily) handed over this very private Vulcan secret/embarrassment to the Andorians.

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