The Empire never forgets.

A Tellarite bounty hunter kidnaps Archer to collect the price on his head for escaping Rura Penthe, meanwhile, T'Pol makes everyone very uncomfortable aboard the Enterprise.

===

Cold Open

Archer and Trip’s exploration of an uninhabited planet is cut short when a Tellarite vessel drops into the neighborhood and offers to show them all its natural amenities. He gets an invite over to Enterprise, but upon arriving, he immediately shoots Tucker and the Captain.

Act I

The Tellarite ship breaks free from the Enterprise, and sends a blast into their nacelle to prevent it from following. Archer tries his best to figure out why he’s been kidnapped, and eventually learns he’s being returned to Kronos to face punishment for his big prison break. T’Pol and Phlox have picked up a nasty microbe on the planet, and are forced to chill out in decon rubbing each other while Acting Captain Tucker directs the Enterprise to follow the Tellarite’s warp signature.

Act II

That warp signature turned out to be a decoy, so Reed blows it up. Archer tries convincing the Tellarite not to turn him over to the Klingons because it would mean a certain death sentence. Turns out the bounty on Archer’s head has interested multiple parties as a ship starts firing on them, demanding he be turned over. He convinces the Tellarite to let him out of his cell so he an assist, and they make an emergency landing on a nearby planet. In the decon room, T’Pol is getting increasingly emotional until she ultimately confides in Phlox that she is experiencing Pon Farr and will need to mate with someone or she’ll die.

Act III

On the surface, Archer and his captor are having a heart-to-heart about fugitive hunter’s dreams for the future. They leave the planet and swing by a station in the hopes of acquiring some supplies, where the bounty hunter learns that the ship he’s been saving up to buy back has been cannibalized. The Enterprise follows the Tellarite warp signature to the planet and learns from the crashed ship’s captain that Archer is being taken back to Klingon space. T’Pol is getting increasingly frustrated as Phlox continues to thwart her efforts to jump his bones. When he tries to sedate her, she knocks him out and escapes.

Act IV

Security eventually track down T’Pol and knock her out after she fails to seduce Reed. The Tellarite and the captain rendezvous with the Klingons, who provide the bounty hunter with 30% less than the agreed upon reward. Archer escapes his cell and commandeers an escape pod. Just as the Klingons are about to recapture it, the Enterprise arrives and saves the day. As the Klingons retreat home, the Tellarite captain calls over happy to see the lock pick he provided works. He warns Archer that the Klingons might double the bounty now, and he can’t promise he won’t try to collect. They laugh and laugh and laugh.

Star Trek: Enterprise 02x25 - Bounty
Directed by Roxann Dawson
Written by Rick Berman and Branon Braga
Guest Stars: Jordan Lund, Robert O'Reilly

There Are Four Mics is a weekly Star Trek podcast discussing the Star Trek episodes and movies in stardate order. Join Jason Allen and Joe Heiser as we discuss the 25th episode of season two of Star Trek: Enterprise, Bounty.