“Proving Ground”
Page 3 of 7that they need to investigate and not attack yet.
Later Shran is in a corridor and meets up with Tucker. Trip asks him for some equipment which would improve the engines. Shran offers his condolences concerning what happened to Earth and to Trip’s sister. He’s surprised that Trip doesn’t want revenge but wants to stop it from happening again. He agrees to Trip’s request.
At the Xindi Council chamber, the Xindi are impatient to see the weapon tested. Degra orders the test to begin when a ship appears in the system. They stop the test and Degra cuts contact to the chamber. The ship hails the Xindi vessel. Shran introduces himself as a representative of the Andorian Mining Consortium. Degra tells him that he has entered restricted space and to leave. Shran says they are there because they’ve scanned the area and found *Archerite*, a rare element they seek. Degra threatens to destroy the ship if they don’t leave. Shran orders that they stop the scan and leave the system but not too quickly and retorts: “The Andorian Mining Consortium runs from no one.”
In the Command Centre, T’Pol, Shran and Archer are looking over the scans. They find that something is emitting strong radiation. T’Pol states that it is emitting the same quantum signature as the Xindi weapon that was used before on Earth. Shran suggests they let them test the weapon so they can see how powerful it is. Archer wants to get the weapon as Starfleet may be able to develop a defense against it.
Back in the Armory, Reed and Talas are ready to reset the emitters. She asks Reed for the frequencies. Reed denies her request. She accuses him of not trusting her and he quips that he wouldn’t trust his mother with them. She finds this odd and tells him that her mother has a higher security clearance than she has. They discover that they are both from military families. Reed leaves and she appears to do something to the emitters.
On the Bridge, T’Pol tells Archer that the Xindi are about to deploy the weapon. They watch as part of the moon it is aimed at crumbles.
The Xindis back at the Council chamber ask why the moon wasn’t destroyed. Degra says they had to power down the weapon as it was overloading and that he’ll need time to analyse the data.
T’Pol tells Archer that the weapon was more powerful than the one used on Earth but she thinks it wasn’t fully deployed. Shran asks T’Pol if the test was a failure and she agrees. Archer tells them it was because of Gralik (from “The Shipment”) sabotaging it. Shran asks why the Xindi haven’t retrieved the weapon and T’Pol tells him that it is highly radioactive. Archer wants to get it before the Xindi do. T’Pol tells him that it wouldn’t be safe to bring it on board before the radiation dissipates. Shran offers to take it on his ship. He can use a force field to hold it till it can be safely transferred to the Enterprise. Archer calls Reed and asks
