An unknown ship flies through space. It has several large semi-cylindrical pods along its length. Inside, a pair of hands catch a football. The hands belong to a tough-guy type who throws the ball again. It sails through a large empty enclosed space, its trajectory and speed indicating a low gravity environment. An older man on the other end of the room catches it, and jokingly claims to have made a touchdown. With raised voices to indicate just how far they are from each other, they trade pointless banter. An explosion rocks the ship. “Bridge to Captain Keane! We’re under attack!” announces the intercom. “It’s the Nausicans.” The older man responds, but before he can give many orders, the ship rocks again, knocking him over and making the other one drop the football. Outside, a small vessel scores several hits during its attack run along the length of the cargo ship.

Porthos is awakened by the intercom chime on the first ring. Archer responds after the second. Admiral Forrest from Starfleet Command has called in the middle of the night, so you know it’s important. Archer gets up and gets decent before answering. I think the need to get dressed is the main reason videophones haven’t caught on yet. That and lazy housekeeping. The signal is choppy, which Archer explains. “We’re getting ready to deploy the first subspace amplifier. It should clear up reception a bit.” Niceties over, Forrest explains that Starfleet received a distress call from a ship called the Fortunate, which Enterprise can reach in a day and a half. The next closest ship is three weeks away. Enterprise is ordered to go see what happened and why no one is responding to communications anymore.

T’Pol gives a briefing about the Fortunate. It can only go Warp 1.8, and has a crew of 23. Mayweather pipes up, “Not including newborn babies.” In his youth, Mayweather was a “boomer,” someone who lived his life riding a cargo ship among the stars rather than on a planet. As such, he is able to provide much-needed sociological background during this episode. Also, according to the preview, he’s going to disagree with Archer’s handling of the situation soon to unfold and become insubordinate. That should be interesting. Whether it actually will be is another matter entirely. Anyway, Mayweather explains that on the long trips between worlds, folks have a lot of time on their hands and not much to do besides each other. T’Pol inquires of him, “Do you have any *helpful* information on this vessel?” Reed specifically asks about the weapons. Mayweather explains that a plasma cannon comes standard, but any captain worth his space salt would upgrade at the first opportunity for anti-pirate defense. Enough with the backstory already.

Enterprise pulls up beside the Fortunate, which is broken in fourteen important ways. It is not, however, blown into bite sized portions as the teaser suggested. Archer hails them, to no effect. Hoshi suggests that their radio is busted. T’Pol scans the ship and detects 24 life signs. But the crew complement is only 23. Looks like someone’s been getting busy. Archer, Mayweather, Reed, and Phlox head for the shuttles.

Roddenberry invented the transporter because it was too expensive to film a shuttle launch and landing sequence. In this tradition, they show the same shuttle launch sequence we’ve seen every time they’ve ever gone anywhere. You’ve come a long way, baby. Inside, everyone is busy scanning the debris hanging around the ship. Reed describes, “Some of it doesn’t appear to be from the Fortunate.” Phlox adds, “On the bright side, I’m only picking up inorganic material.” No bodies. Which means whatever left the debris either got away or was manned by robots. The main hatch is ruined, so Mayweather suggests they use the auxiliary hatch that he knows is there because he grew up on cargo ships, unlike everyone else who knew because they saw the schematics two scenes ago. He pilots them over and docks.

The away team enters the Fortunate and are met by a grubby group of men led by the young tough from the football-tossing scene. His name is Matthew Ryan. He explains what happened. “Nausicans. They tried to board us. We managed to fight them off, but not before we took a few bruises.” Archer, who slept through remedial alienology, has never heard of Nausicans, a species other humans have obviously come into contact with. Even Mayweather has heard of them. The big-lipped leader of the traders is interested in Mayweather’s boomer past. Archer offers to help patch up the Fortunate, but Ryan tries to refuse. “We can handle this ourselves, Captain.” Reed asks why they sent a distress call if they didn’t need help. Ryan explains that one of their newbies set off the emergency beacon in a panic and they couldn’t countermand it because their radio is broken. He goes on to say that the Fortunate’s captain was wounded in the attack, and that he’s temporarily in charge. This was a mistake on his part, what with Fix-Anything Phlox standing there. “If your captain or anyone else is hurt, it wouldn’t be right for me to leave without seeing them.” The others say, “Yeah, that’s the ticket!” Archer adds that as long as the Enterprise came all this way, they might as well help. Ryan flares his lips at his visitors in an attempt to scare them away, then reluctantly accepts their interference, I mean assistance.

In the Fortunate’s sickbay, Phlox declares the captain alive. “The Nausican weapon disrupted his neural pathways.” It’s going to take two or three days to reformat him and reload the operating system. Archer repeats his offer of technical help, which Ryan rejects. Archer makes a speech. “I understand you’re used to doing things on your own. But we’re here. Use us.” He offers to upgrade the hull plating, add glass packs and a turbocharger, paint flames on the sides, really cherry the whole thing out. Ryan lets Archer badger him into accepting this.

Ryan and some other crewman enter Place Number 4, I guess a cargo pod. Ryan explains to the other guy that he’s only agreed to let a few engineers come over. “We can’t have people crawling all over the place,” the other guy says. “What if they find him?” Find whom? Are these guys hiding something? “What do you want me to do, throw him off the ship?” Ryan asks in reply as they navigate the barrels stacked all higgledy piggledy across the room. They turn a corner to reveal an ugly alien tied to a girder, with a couple of humans standing over him. This must be a Nausican. Why wouldn’t he want to throw the pirate off his ship? A brisk walk in the vacuum would do wonders toward reforming his criminal ways. Ryan leans in close to a face that could bite you without opening its mouth and snarls, “I want those codes.”

Mayweather walks with Ryan along the corridors of the Enterprise, carrying a piece of equipment so old no one builds it anymore. He assures Ryan that they’ll be able to fabricate a new one. “We’ve got our own machine shop,” Ryan points out, meaning, “We don’t need your help.” They walk past the transporter, which turns out to be in an alcove on one side of the hallway rather than any sort of secured location. Ryan asks if Mayweather has taken the ride yet. “Most of the crew’s afraid, but I’m kinda curious to try it out.” He’s looking forward to the thrill of bi-location. Ryan asks why Mayweather left the cargo ship he was born on to join Starfleet. “I had to figure out where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t on the Dralax-Vega run.”

In Engineering, Trip examines the part it took both Ryan and Mayweather to deliver. He suggests Ryan take a tour of the ship while he fixes it. Ryan claims to have seen it. “You missed the best part,” Trip says with pride. “The only Warp 5 engine in the fleet.” Mayweather points out that once the faster engines are commonplace, freighter runs will take months instead of years. Ryan counters, “[The slower speed] works just fine for us. Any faster, and there’d be no time to enjoy the trip.” So, being able to do six cargo runs in the time it now takes to do one, and making six times the cash, doesn’t appeal? Must be a cultural thing.

Ryan and Mayweather stop off at the cafeteria for lunch. Ryan gets a steak as big as a dinner plate while Mayweather reminds us that a chef cooked this food, not a replicator. Ryan hasn’t had a steak in 18 months. “All we have left are hydroponics and nutripacks.” They bond over memories of bad food. Ryan reveals that his parents were aboard the North Star, whose fate was unpleasant and ill defined. Ryan was one of the survivors of that horrible, nebulous event. Mayweather asks him, “You ever think about doing something else?” Mayweather makes a pitch for Ryan to join Starfleet, which he instantly suspects was the whole purpose for their outing. Mayweather denies premeditation, but points out that, “There are three more NX class ships on the drawing board. They’re going to need experienced people.” Ryan asks who’ll be left to run freighters if everyone joins Starfleet, using Mayweather as a handy example. “You think leaving the Horizon was easy for me?” Mayweather snaps in his first real show of emotion ever. Ryan presses him, “Why did you abandon your family?” I don’t think they’re bonded anymore. Mayweather insists his family supported his decision to leave the freighter life. Ryan suggests they were just saying that. He then gets up and walks out, leaving Mayweather clutching the table and flaring his nostrils in controlled rage.

Meanwhile, on the Fortunate, some kids come out of a room and run down a corridor past T’Pol, who is working on some wall-mounted circuitry. She walks over to a freighter crewman and asks, “Why is power being re-routed from internal sensors to the weapon systems?” Crewguy tells her it was done during the battle and never reversed. She offers to undo it, but he tells her not to worry about it. T’Pol walks over to a panel and opens it, finding, to her surprise, a kid installed there. As that girl gives T’Pol the “Hush” sign, another kid runs down the hall asking if anyone has seen Nadine. T’Pol tells him, “I’m sorry, I don’t know which child is named Nadine.” Which is true, but misleading. T’Pol scans some more and finds something that makes her eyes widen. She calls Archer, telling him repairs are almost complete, “but there is something I need to talk to you about. In private.”

Later, T’Pol and Ryan are gathered with Archer in his office. Archer quizzes him to see if everything is satisfactory, which Ryan agrees is the case. Ryan then rushes to get out of the room. Before he can make it, Archer hits him with the big one. “Are there only humans on board your ship?” Ryan tries to claim an alien pet as the only exception, but he’s busted. “T’Pol’s scanner picked up a Nausican biosign.” Ryan’s Plan B is to claim the Nausican as an unknown stowaway. I hope his Plan C is better. T’Pol reveals, “My bioscans indicated this Nausican was injured.” Ryan decides to come clean. “There is a Nausican aboard. He’s my prisoner.” Archer wants to see the prisoner. “What are you going to do, take him back to Nausica? They’d probably give him a medal.” Ryan refuses to tell what his plans for the alien are. “Starfleet doesn’t have any jurisdiction over what goes on aboard my ship.” Yeah, but Starfleet does own all those new parts you just had put in. Archer calls Trip and orders him to remove all the stuff they just installed. “You wouldn’t do that,” Ryan growls. “Watch me,” Archer growls louder.

Next thing we know, Ryan is leading Archer and his gang into Cargo Pod 8. Earlier, the Nausican was in Pod 4. Could this be a trick or trap? Archer, T’Pol, Reed, and Phlox all saunter in like the trusting lambs they are and let Ryan lead them into an ambush. As Ryan’s clever ploy of having a guy hiding in there with a gun is revealed, Archer begs for his life. Reed then preemptively opens fire and starts the action sequence. There’s lots of ducking, bobbing, weaving, and shooting. Reed and Archer try to move to forward positions flanking the ambushers, but their foes head for the door. Ryan stops just short of the exit and blasts a small hole in the bulkhead, through which air starts escaping. Ryan then steps out of the cargo pod, seals the hatch, and shoots the door controls. As Archer futilely attempts to open the door anyway, there is a loud thump of docking clamps de-clamping followed by motion outside what should be a stationary window. The cargo pod has been jettisoned!

On the Enterprise bridge, they see the cargo pod drifting away and are understandably confused. Hoshi scans it and finds the away team inside. Trip calls the captain, who tells him they’re okay for now, and “I don’t want the Fortunate leaving.” Trip tries to hail the Fortunate to tell them not to leave, and gets fired on in response. Trip orders the Fortunate’s engines targeted even as they prepare to warp away. The torpedoes are launched and almost reach the target before the Fortunate does that zip away into infinity thing that ships do when the warp drive kicks in. They were nice enough to drop off the Enterprise’s shuttle before they left. Archer orders Trip to chase after the Fortunate, until T’Pol reminds him that they are in a leaky can and will die soon. He then requests a shuttle to pick them up. Good thing they carry a spare.

Having made the save, Enterprise is off to the chase sequence. They have a rough idea what direction the Fortunate was going when it left, but the long-range sensors were blown out when Fortunate shot them, so they can’t pinpoint them now. Mayweather shocks everyone by making a relevant observation. “We know who they’re looking for. The Nausicans. Ryan’s after revenge, sir.” T’Pol claims revenge is irrational, but Mayweather asserts it is the only rational course of action from Ryan’s point of view. “If we want to find the Fortunate, we need to find the Nausicans.” Not knowing where either one is, I’d think both options to be equally difficult.

On the Fortunate, Ryan has gone back to talk to the Nausican again. “What are the frequencies?” he demands. First it was codes, now it’s frequencies. Make up your mind. The Nausican derides Ryan’s interrogation technique, and gets a boot in the chest. “You know my shipmates will come for me,” the Nausican warns. “I’m counting on it,” Ryan retorts. As Ryan proceeds to beat the living crap out of the prisoner, Ryan’s number one lackey looks on, ashamed and a little grossed out.

Ryan and the lackey walk down a hallway, Ryan pleased with himself for pounding the information he wanted out of the Nausican. “Remodulate the weapons,” Ryan orders. Ryan decides to keep the Nausican around in case they need other information, but the lackey wants him off the ship as soon as possible. “How?” Ryan asks him. You got an airlock? These guys are on their way to blow up a whole heap of Nausicans, but they don’t want to space just one of them. Lackey wants to shoot him off in an escape pod. He is generally uncomfortable with the whole taking hostages concept. “If we don’t show them that we’re serious, they’re never going to leave us alone,” Ryan explains, using emphasis in place of reason. Lackey asks him, “How would the captain want us to handle this?” Ryan reminds him that he’s in charge now and is doing what is best for his ship and all freighters everywhere.

On the Enterprise, they’ve picked up a warp trail, but can’t yet tell if it belongs to the Fortunate because the sensors are still broken. For some reason, Mayweather has been transferred from the bridge to Engineering to help Trip fix them. As they work, they chat. Trip points out that by firing on a Starfleet ship the Fortunate bought itself a whole new world of trouble. Mayweather explains that on a freighter, self-sufficiency is the rule. “You took care of your own. If Starfleet suddenly showed up and started telling my father what he could and couldn’t do on his own ship…” “Times are changing,” Trip replies. “Ryan’s just gonna have to figure that out.” Mayweather thinks he already has, and that that’s the problem. The sensors suddenly get better, and as Trip walks off, Mayweather stares thoughtfully at nothing.

Mayweather walks into Archer’s office and asks to speak to him. This is it! The big insubordination scene. The defining moment in Mayweather’s young character development. I can just taste the impending drama. “I’m worried that we’re not handling the situation the right way.” A little slow to start. He’s probably building up slowly. Archer turns suddenly stern, knowing the powder keg is about to go off in his face. “Maybe Ryan’s right. Maybe this isn’t any of our business.” Bam! He slams headfirst straight into his point. Archer asks, “So you think we should just let Ryan take on the Nausicans?” Mayweather agrees with that assessment. “What happens to the Nausicans?” Archer continues. He asks Mayweather what the Fortunate would do if they found the Nausican ship. “Blow them out of the sky,” Mayweather concludes. Archer doesn’t like that idea, because humans aren’t supposed to act that way. “You’re right, sir,” Mayweather relents. “Thank you, sir.” Thank you for overturning all my long-standing beliefs with a two-minute speech, sir.

Back on the Fortunate, they’ve picked up the hull signature, whatever that is, of the Nausican ship they’ve been hunting. Ryan orders the ship to combat ready status as they drop out of warp. The target ship is 100 kilometers away next to an asteroid. As they watch, the other ship starts accelerating away. Ryan orders the Fortunate to intercept them. At 20 kilometers, the Nausicans start shooting. Just as the Fortunate gets close enough to shoot back, the Nausicans go behind the asteroid. The Fortunate chases them, and as they come around to the far side of the asteroid, a large artificial structure is revealed built on and into the rock. That’s no asteroid; it’s a space station! “I’m getting us out of here,” says Lackey, in the first smart move he’s made all episode. Ryan orders him not to do that, thinking their knowledge of the enemy’s shield frequencies will be enough of an advantage to win the day. Lackey fires. “No effect,” he announces. Gee, y’think maybe the Nausican prisoner lied? Two more Nausican ships launch from the station and open fire on the Fortunate. “Go to warp!” Ryan orders, but it’s too late. All the engines are broken. Instead of giving the freighter the death it so richly deserves, a Nausican hails them. “Our scans show you have one of our crewmen aboard. I assume you’re here to return him.” I guess Ryan was right about not jettisoning him after all. When Ryan refuses to hand him over, the Nausican ship latches on to the Fortunate in preparation for boarding.

The Enterprise closes in on the unfortunate Fortunate. “Long range scans are detecting weapons fire.” They set course toward the violence.

Two Nausican ships circle the Fortunate while the third invades her. Lackey lists all the decks where the aliens are while Ryan paces behind him, wondering precisely how screwed he is. “Pass out weapons,” Ryan finally orders. Lackey grows a spine. “We know what they’re after. Why not just let them have him?” Um, because he’s the only reason you aren’t orbital debris right now? Ryan is committed to his “repelling the boarders” plan.

Four freighter crewmen set themselves up at one end of a long hallway at the other end of which a group of Nausicans is scheduled to appear. If you ever saw Star Wars you know what’s about to happen, and about how well it works out for the ambushers. The aliens stroll around the corner and get shot at, badly. They return fire as they duck behind cover, stunning one of the defenders. This breaks the morale of the others, and they all flee back the way they came. One wonders why they thought that was such a spiffy spot to fight from in the first place. Wait, my mistake. The humans were making a last stand to keep the invaders from entering the cargo pod with the prisoner inside. That makes slightly more sense. The Nausicans advance and, unable to operate the door-opening button, proceed to burn their way through with their laser guns.

The Enterprise arrives, detecting the Fortunate and the three Nausican ships. They drop out of warp too far away to be immediately useful. T’Pol reports, “There are four Nausican biosigns aboard the Fortunate.” They couldn’t spot one Nausican when parked right next to the Fortunate for three days, but can see four from 200,000 kilometers distance within seconds. Sounds like T’Pol’s getting a little lax with the initial scans. T’Pol also detects the discharge of the weapons the Nausicans are using to cut into Cargo Pod 4, but she doesn’t know they aren’t shooting people. “Hail the Nausicans,” Archer commands. Which ones? Any of them.

Ryan, Lackey, two other crewmen, and the prisoner are all crouched near the door of Cargo Pod 4, listening to the guys outside burning their way in. The Nausican laughs at them, and Ryan threatens to flash-fry his head.

“We are involved in a rescue operation,” the Nausican on the screen explains to Archer. “We want our crewman back.” Mayweather makes an ill-timed but valid point. “He wouldn’t be there if you hadn’t attacked them in the first place.” After an awkward pause, Archer tries to BS his way out of this. “Perhaps we have an opportunity here to improve relations between your people and mine.” The Nausican likes their relations the way they are. Archer proposes that if he can get the prisoner off the Fortunate, then the Nausicans will let the freighter go on its merry way. The Nausican isn’t interested until he hears Reed’s back-of-the-envelope tactical analysis. “Fore and aft plasma cannons. I doubt those shields of theirs would hold up to our torpedoes.” Archer presses the point. “You’re not sneaking up on an old freighter this time. This is an NX-class starship. Take a good look, because you’re going to be seeing more of them. Now, you can reconsider my offer, or you can take your chances.” Tough call. The Nausican decides to let Archer try it his way, but not for long.

The Nausicans on the Fortunate cut through the cargo pod hatchway, and more shooting ensues. Just then, Archer calls. “Why don’t you think about what’s best for your crew and let us help you?” Ryan is cynical. “What a relief,” he stage whispers. “Starfleet’s come to save the day.” Archer explains the deal he cut with the Nausicans. “What about next time?” Ryan asks. Archer avoids the question. The Nausicans start targeting the Enterprise. “This has gone on long enough,” Archer declares. “Now you’re putting my crew in danger.” Meanwhile, the shooting continues. Mayweather breaks into the conversation. “What are you going to do? Kill him?” Ryan is not pleased to hear Mayweather’s voice. Mayweather asks Archer’s permission to tear Ryan a new one. “Just shut up and listen to me. I don’t give a damn about you anymore. I’m just thinking about my family.” Mayweather claims that every other freighter is going to pay for the harm Ryan is doing right now, as Archer stands to the side and nods as if to say, “That’s that I was gonna tell him.” Ryan claims he’s doing all this for their benefit. “The hell you are! This isn’t about protecting cargo ships…. This is about revenge, nothing else.” The Nausicans start shooting at the Enterprise, so they shoot back. There’s good chance lots of people are about to die. “If you don’t let your hostage go,” Mayweather says, having to resort to small words and simple sentences, “the Nausicans are going to kill you. And your crew.” Which would help erode the cargo hauler way of life, which is what Ryan is fighting for in the first place. Ryan sees the light. The tosses the prisoner at the invaders and tells them, “Take him!” The humans all stand ready to shoot back if they need to. The Nausicans retreat. The other Nausican ships stop shooting at the Enterprise and fly away. Mayweather sits back at his post, strangely somber for a guy who just saved the day.

Later, Archer visits the now-recovered Captain Keane. Keane offers Archer a drink, which he refuses. “I’m reducing Mr. Ryan’s rank to Able Crewman,” Keane tells Archer. Archer offers to take Ryan off his hands, but Keane refuses. “We take care of our own.” Isn’t that the attitude that started this whole mess? Keane explains the boomer mentality for those who weren’t paying attention for the last hour. “The ones who grew up out here feel they have some special claim, that this particular stretch of space is theirs. They see another ship within ten light-years, they get jumpy.” Archer replies, “They’re going to start seeing a lot more ships than they’re used to.” The times, they are a-changing. Keane muses wistfully, “I’m going to need at least a warp 3 engine just to stay in business.” Archer points out, “At warp 3, help’s a lot closer then before. You won’t have to go it alone.” “Going it alone is all we’ve ever done…. We’ll adapt. But things won’t be the same.” Which is why you need to adapt.