The Catwalk (episode)

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When a deadly neutronic storm threatens the ship, the crew must take refuge for eight days inside the maintenance shafts of the warp nacelles.

Summary

An away team, led by Captain Archer with Commander Tucker and Ensign Mayweather, is preparing for a survey of a planet that Archer describes as "teeming" with plant and animal life. Archer and Tucker talk excitedly about the mission as they board Shuttlepod 1. Tucker remarks that there is a gorge on the planet five times bigger than the Grand Canyon, and suggests "a little river rafting." He adds that there will be plenty of daylight, because there are only 4 days of night in an entire month due to the planet's binary suns. Archer estimates the survey will take at least a week, adding that there should be time for some R&R. T'Pol radios from the bridge that an alien vessel approaches and is hailing Enterprise. Rellus Tagrim appears on the shuttlepod's display, introduces himself, expresses relief and asks permission to come aboard as soon as possible, because a neutronic storm is "almost here." Tucker checks the Enterprise sensors, which do not detect anything. Rellus says that the sensors won't detect the wave for a few minutes because it is travelling at high warp speed, and that they should go to Warp 7 as soon as he and his crew are aboard. Archer informs Rellus that his top speed is Warp 5.

Act One

T'Pol announces that the wavefront spans for more than half a dozen light years, and tells of a Vulcan starship that encountered a similar class 5 storm over a century ago and was nearly destroyed. Enterprise has 4 hours until the arrival of the storm. Reed claims that with the proper reinforcement the ship can survive through it, but Doctor Phlox warns that even if the Enterprise survives, the crew will not, as the storm is saturated with deadly radiolytic isotopes. Phlox suggests that Sickbay could be a safe place, but it will not hold the entire crew. Tucker reminds the senior staff about the catwalk in the warp nacelles, one of the most shielded areas of the ship, but warns that when the warp coils are online, the temperature in the catwalk area can reach over 300 degrees. Archer orders the evacuation of all personnel to the catwalk.

Archer goes to the sickbay to speak with the visitors once they're board. The captain informs them that he understands they’re from Takret, a distant system. Rellus says that their work often takes them far from home, and his partner says that they’re a group of stellar cartographers. Archer asks if they could help to update Enterprise's starcharts after the storm. Rellus readily agrees.

In all areas of the ship, the crew start removing essential equipment to the catwalk. T'Pol goes to sickbay to see why Phlox is behind schedule. The doctor says he understands that she has allotted him 15 cubic meters for medical supplies, which means there's only enough space for two-thirds of his animal cages. When the subcommander suggests that some of the creatures share the cages, he replies it's impossible as they'll eat each other. Phlox says that the creatures are vital to both his work and the health of Enterprise's crew, and although unaccustomed to making emotional appeals, he urges that T'Pol not ask him to choose between them. She allots him an extra five cubic meters of space, for which the doctor thanks her on behalf of his Edosian slugs.

Already in the nacelles, Commander Tucker apologizes to Rellus' group that the accommodations are not first-class. Rellus says he and his group are very grateful for Enterprise's hospitality. After Trip leaves, one of Rellus' partners, Guri, tells him that he doesn't know anything about stellar cartography, and won't know how to answer if the earthlings start askingg questions on the subject.

Archer is packing his bags when he sees the approaching storm through the window. T'Pol enters his quarters and he confesses that did not expect it to be beautiful, and regrets that there will not be time to take scans of it. She points out that as they will be in the catwalk for nearly eight days, it'll be possible to take as many scans as he wants. She also mentions Lieutenant Reed has completed his modifications, and Archer says that he is a little nervous about shutting down the power grid. T'Pol replies that a single neutronic surge could overload the grid and damage critical systems. Archer tells her that he's done some research in the Vulcan database, and has learned that when the Vulcan starship T'Plana encountered a class 5 storm a century before, it resulted in the loss of its entire crew, contradicting what T'Pol said earlier. T'Pol simply says that she must have remembered incorrectly.

Archer enters the bridge to transfer the main systems controls to the temporary command room at the nacelles. Commander Tucker gives the green light and the captain do it. He also orders to Lieutenant Reed to shut off the Enterprise's main power. After seeing the bridge with the lights off, Archer leaves to the nacelles. Once in the temporary command post, he checks if the entire crew is safe, and make a brief speech to his subordinates:

"All hands, this is the Captain. This catwalk is going to be our home for a while. A week, maybe more. You may not be comfortable, but you'll be alive. We have the best crew in the fleet and the sturdiest ship. I promise you, we'll get through this."

With the hull plating polarized, the Enterprise turns around and get direct into the wavefront, and confronts a huge space turbulence. After this, the worst the crew expects already have been past.

Act Two

Neutronic storm approaching Enterprise — The class-5 neurotronic wavefront reaching *Enterprise*

Archer passes through the catwalk to check how his crew are dealing with the situation. First he helps a third class crewman with her crossword puzzle – the question is "who was the first Vulcan ambassador on Earth," and he guesses that the answer is Solkar. He then talks to Ensign Sato, and opines that this experience should cure anyone of claustrophobia. He finally reaches where the guests are, covered with several clothes, right at the side of Commander Tucker's place. Archer asks him how the visitors are doing. Trip says he doesn't know; one of them came out a few hours before to complain about the Enterprise crew making too much noise. The captain suggests giving them a little time to adjust with the situation.

Lieutenant Reed approaches Phlox in a hesitant manner, asking if he can depend on doctor-patient confidentiality. Phlox asks if this has anything to do with gastrointestinal distress, as he saw an annotation about an unfortunate incident during zero G training in Malcolm's file. Reed tells him that was the EV simulator at Lunaport, also known as "the vomitorium." The doctor says there is nothing to be embarrassed about, as he has already treated a number of crewmen for motion sickness, and applies a neurospray that should last about 12 hours. Reed thanks him and leaves the "sickbay," as the captain arrives. Archer says to Phlox that some of the equipment in his area could be relocated, but the doctor says there's no need, since he finds close quarters rather comforting. It reminds him of conditions on Denobula, where twelve billion people share a single continent.

In the temporary bridge, Archer checks with Travis if the course is ok, and lies in the "bed" to get some rest, with T'Pol opposite him. He starts to watch a water-polo game but stops when this bothers her and tries to sleep. T'Pol continues to use a PADD, which is a little distracting to Archer, and she stops too. Archer tells her that this situation has a bright side, as it’ll bring the crew closer together, almost like a camping trip, and asks if T'Pol has ever gone camping. She tells him about the kahs-wan ritual when she was taken to the desert and left to survive for ten days. He comments that she hasn’t left the command area all day and suggests that she might want to get to know the crew, beyond simply knowing their names. He considers it would be good for her to fraternise a little. T'Pol asks if that’s an order as she is not skilled in fraternizing. Archer thinks she now has a chance to learn.

Travis, Sato, Reed and Tucker play cards, and discuss the need of a shower which, in Malcolm's view, was neglected by Trip, and about the movie that will be shown in movie night. Meanwhile Travis smells something burning, and Trip angrily finds Rellus and his fellows cooking on top of a plasma manifold. Rellus apologizes and tells him they’ve had trouble digesting human food. Trip says that he’ll see if Chef can cook for them. Archer requests Trip’s presence at the temporary bridge.

Once there, Archer tells him that there is a problem in Engineering, the antimatter injectors have come online, but Trip thinks that could be a glitch. While checking the systems, he complains to the captain about Rellus and his partners' behaviour, but Archer points out that Enterprise owes them for the warning about the storm. Tucker realizes that the matter and antimatter injectors are online, which removes the possibility of a glitch, and the only way to shut them down is by going to Engineering.

Trip puts on an EV Suit that can protect him for only 22 minutes, in the Engineering, he notices some odd things and hears noises, hiding himself afterwards.

Act Three

While Trip is hiding out in Engineering he sees some people walking by. When the intruders go far, he leaves the place, but in his way, he sees more of them. He manages to get in T'Pol's quarters to be able to see the docking port, and there is a ship docked with Enterprise. Tucker accesses the camera in the bridge, where there are aliens making a mess. He makes a close-up of one of them and is able to see that he is from same species as Rellus.

Takret Militia ship docked with Enterprise — The Takret Militia ship docked with *Enterprise*

The aliens' leader is reading the Enterprise crew profiles in the captain's ready room, when Lieutenant Paltani informs him they can't find any sign of the fugitives, and that the Enterprise crew appear to have deserted. The leader believes that Archer may intend to return, since the humans have travelled over than 100 light years from Earth, and asks about the status of the warp engines, but there is some difficult to them with the dilithium matrix. Paltani leaves and his captain starts listening to more of Archer's starlogs.

In the nacelles, Phlox confirms that Rellus' species are immune to radiolytic isotopes and the storm was never any threat to them. Archer asks Rellus who the intruders are and what they're doing on Enterprise. Rellus tries to deny any relation between his group and them, but the whole situation is too full of coincidences for this to be true. Guri gives up and says that the aliens are officers of the Takret Militia, who've been pursuing them for weeks. They had hoped to evade them by hiding aboard Enterprise but the officers must have detected their vessel in Enterprise's launch bay. Archer asks why they are in pursuit, and Renth continues the explanation. They were members of the Militia's lower ranks, but after a year they realized that the commanding officers were corrupt, seizing alien vessels without provocation, murdering the crews and taking anything of value. Rellus' group tried to resign to their commissions but the Militia wouldn't allow it, and they became deserters. Rellus says they'd have told Archer the truth but were unsure if he would help. Guri says that if the Militia find him and his partners, they'll be executed. Rellus apologizes, but warns the captain that if the officers find them they won't leave, and have captured less impressive vessels than Enterprise.

Reed tells the captain that the Militia officers are trying to re-initialize the warp reactor, which shows that they’ve already decided to help themselves to Enterprise. T'Pol says that they obviously don't realize that the crew are in the Catwalk, and if they find out the crew will be in danger.

In the Engineering, Paltani tells the Takret captain that the dilithium matrix is active and the warp reactor is ready to initialize. The Takret captain orders him to bring the warp engines online, but Paltani can't manage the helm controls, the navigation relays aren't responding, one of his officers is working on it but without any time prediction.

Coming back to the nacelles, T'Pol states that Enterprise's crew may outnumber the Militia, but they only have three EV Suits. Reed recommends that he takes a security team to get more, but Trip doubts he’d get far as there are a lot of Takrets in the launch bay. Meanwhile they realize that the warp engines are online, and Tucker says although it’ll take a while for the warp coils to charge, there are no more than 20 minutes before the nacelles superheat.

Act Four

A suited team of T'Pol, Reed and Archer prepares to go down, and receives a briefing from Trip and Sato. In the Bridge, the Militia Captain asks about the helm controls, but his office had yet not make any progress, and thinks that they should leave Enterprise taking what they can carry because they could lost their ship during the storm. Captain does not want to know about it, and orders him to get helm control.

The team splits up, with the captain going to the kitchen where he starts to use some panels. Meanwhile once T'Pol and Reed arrive in a maintenance corridor, Trip gives instructions to them about how to shut off the injectors. On the bridge, the Militia are hailed by someone inside the ship: Archer. He tells the Takret captain that his crew were killed by the storm and he is the only survivor, and demands that the intruders leave Enterprise. The Takret captain says he can’t because he’s detected a vessel in the launch bay belonging to three fugitives. Archer says he’s been watching the Militia seize Enterprise, and refuses to let it happen. The Takret captain replies that Enterprise has been impounded under the authority of the Takret Militia, and once they return to their homeworld Archer will be charged with criminal conspiracy. Archer says he has orders to stop any attempt at an enemy takeover, and to that end he’ll destroy Enterprise. The Takret captain sneers that he doesn’t believe him, as Enterprise is Earth’s first Warp 5 starship, driven by his father's engine. Archer defiantly tells his counterpart that he’d be surprised, and closes the channel.

In the temporary bridge, Archer tells Travis to changes the course heading to a plasma eddy. When heading back to the catwalk, the captain is intercepted by aliens, and starts a shooting at the kitchen. On the other side of the bridge, T'Pol and Reed are having trouble to disarm the engines, but the nacelles' temperature continues to increase. on the real bridge, the Takrets realize that Enterprise is changing course, to a plasma eddy with an ETA about 8 minutes. The Takret captain wants the helm control, but Paltani doesn't believe that is possible recomends that they lEAve. the Takret captain still thinks that Archer is bluffing. T'Pol finally managed to stop the warp reactor. Under intense turbulence, the Takret captain is forced to tell his soldiers to retreat, orders everyone to go to the docking hatch, and they leave. In the temporary bridge, Archer confirms that the intruders left, and tell Travis to get out of the eddy.

After a while, the crew is watching a movie night of a western film. Trip doesn't understand why one of the characters shoots one of his own men, but T'Pol explains that the dead man was secretly working for Sheriff Boggs, and that is obvious. Archer tells the crew that Enterprise will leave the storm soon, and Trip invites T'Pol to join the next movie night. When everyone is getting out of the nacelles, Rellus apologizes to the captain for the trouble and tells him that he and his fellows intend to go to the Gyrannan system, whERE should be safe. Archer wishes themgood luck , and with T'Pol's help, closes the door that leads to the nacelles.

Log Entries

Captain's Starlog, September 18th, 2152. We have entered orbit of an uninhabited planet. Our scans show it's teeming with all sorts of plant and animal life. I will be leading a survey team to the surface.

Captain's Starlog, supplemental. We seem to have passed through the worst part of the storm. But it will still be a while before we can leave the Catwalk. The crew is in relatively good spirits considering they haven't had a change of uniform in eight days.

Memorable Quotes

"Would you like to try out the Captain's chair?"
(Camera pans to a cargo container)
"Maybe later."

- Trip and Archer

"You're the captain. Can't you order the storm to calm down a little?"
"I'll see what I can do."

- Hoshi and Archer

"I understand we're explorers and we're supposed to keep an open mind about different cultures, but these guys are driving me crazy."

- Trip

"What I wouldn't give for a shower right about now. When this hand's over, maybe you can look into building one."
"Would you like a sauna while I'm at it?"
"You knew we'd be stuck in here for over a week. You might have given a little thought to making it tolerable."
"I only had four hours, Malcolm. You're lucky we've got a toilet!"
"Well I obviously underestimated your peoples' abilities when it comes to indoor plumbing."
"You want to take a shower? Build one yourself."

- Reed irritably complaining to a sarcastic Tucker

"Did that guy shoot one of his own men?"
"It's hard to tell them apart in those ridiculous hats."
"The dead man was secretly working for Sheriff Boggs."
"How do you know that?"
"Isn't it obvious?"

- Charles Tucker, Malcolm Reed, and T'Pol, watching an episode of Kung Fu on a movie night

Background Information

The concept for the episode originated from a magazine article read by writer Mike Sussman, about the radiation dangers faced by astronauts on any future Mars mission. Sussman noted that: "[it] seemed to me that the crew of Enterprise [...] would be vulnerable to something like an ion storm, and there might be some kind of radiation-proof chamber they could evacuate to". (Star Trek Monthly issue 108)
Scott Burkholder previously played Hilliard in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "When It Rains...". Danny Goldring also starred on DS9 as Legate Kell in "Civil Defense" and Chief Burke in "Nor the Battle to the Strong".
T'Pol mentions to Captain Archer that she participated in the kahs-wan ritual in which she was taken to the desert and left to survive for 10 days, a reference to TAS: "Yesteryear".
This is the only episode that Chef is really seen, albeit with just his legs and his hands.
The playback of Archer's log is taken from "Fallen Hero".

Links and references

Starring

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest Stars

Co-Stars

Stand-ins

David Keith Anderson as stand-in for Anthony Montgomery
Evan English as stand-in for Dominic Keating
Louis Ortiz
J.R. Quinonez as stand-in for John Billingsley
Richard Sarstedt as stand-in for Scott Bakula
Jessica Vash as
- Stand-in for Jolene Blalock
- Stand-in for Elizabeth Magness
Mark Watson as stand-in for Connor Trinneer
Cricket Yee as stand-in for Linda Park

References

ambassador; antimatter injector; Archer, Henry; barbeque; Boggs, Sheriff; broccoli; camping; catwalk; Chef; neutronic storm; claustrophobia; crossword puzzle; Day the Earth Stood Still, The; Denobula; Denobulans; dilithium matrix; doctor-patient confidentiality; Earth; Edosian slug; EV simulator; EV suit; galley; gastrointestinal distress; Grand Canyon; grav-plating; gravitational shear; Gyrannan system; Horizon, ECS; kahs-wan; Kung Fu; latrine; Lunaport; Mazarite; monitor; motion sickness; movie night; neutronic radiation; neutronic wave front; osmium; PADD; pineapple cobbler; plasma eddy; plasma manifold; playing card; poker; pot roast; power grid; power transfer module; rafting; Shuttlepod 1; stellar cartography; Solkar; spatial turbulence; storage locker; strawberry shortcake; T'Plana; Takret; Takret Militia; Takret starship; Takret system; Tanner; toilet; V'Lar; "Vomitorium, The"; Vulcan; Vulcan database; warp coil; water polo; Zero-gravity training

Previous episode:
"Precious Cargo"

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 2

Next episode:
"Dawn"