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Archer, Tucker and T'Pol partake
in a spicy dinner with an exotic alien trader named D'Marr,
discussing with him their needs for raw materials to patch up
Enterprise. In exchange for a few kilograms of an Earth beverage
called "coffee," D'Marr reveals the location of an old vessel
that crash-landed years ago on a nearby planet, a shipwreck that
no one else has salvaged because it's "haunted." The crew
locates the derelict ship and goes to take a look, joking that
maybe they should calibrate their sensors for ghosts. Breaking
into the spooky wreckage, Tucker and T'Pol look for engineering
while Archer and Mayweather try to find clues as to what
happened to the ship. As Tucker uncovers dilithium crystals he
says are in perfect shape, T'Pol sees the reflection of a
humanoid figure, who disappears immediately when she turns.
T'Pol reports that someone is there, despite the fact that
scanners show no bio-signs. She and Tucker spot the figure again
and follow him, but find themselves at a dead end. Tucker uses
his phase-pistol to cut open the bulkhead, and they discover a
lush airponics bay behind it — hidden to their sensors by a
dampening field. Exploring the oasis, Tucker is stopped dead in
his tracks by an attractive humanoid woman, who immediately
rushes away. Tucker and T'Pol chase her into a cargo bay, where
they come face to face with 18 aliens pointing weapons at them.
Archer and Mayweather join
their crewmates and speak with the Kantare, who inform the team
they were a supply ship who came under attack nearly three years
ago from unknown assailants and forced to make a crash landing.
They didn't send out a distress call for fear the raiders would
find them and finish them off, so they opted instead to hide
behind the dampening field. Tucker believes he can get their
ship flying again, and the Kantare hesitantly agree to the help.
While Tucker is working in their engineering section, he is
startled once again by the young woman he encountered in the
airponics bay, whose name is Liana. She is the daughter of Ezral,
the ship's engineer, and she gives Trip some advice about the
ship's systems. Her mother, Maya, tries to keep her away from
Tucker, but Liana is intent on getting to know the human and
learn about his world. As Tucker makes progress on the engines,
the ship's captain, Kuulan, asks him and T'Pol to help repair
the computer core's optronic relays. Tucker needs to get some
diagnostic gear from Enterprise, so he asks Liana to come with
him. Her father initially forbids it, but she promises "not to
say anything." Meanwhile on the starship, Archer, Reed and
Mayweather examine a schematic of the Kantare ship and find
discrepancies in their story — for instance, no indications of
damage from weapons, and the fact that the airponics bay is not
big enough to feed all those people. Archer decides to take a
look at a data module they recovered earlier. Tucker is giving
Liana a tour of Enterprise when he's called to the captain's
ready room. Archer and Reed inform him what they've uncovered:
the Kantare ship was brought down not by an attack, but rather
an internal malfunction — and it happened nearly 22 years ago!
On top of that, they launched several escape pods, and one has
been found. Rattled that Liana would be part of such a big lie,
Tucker accompanies his fellow officers to the Launch Bay to open
the retrieved escape pod, and there he recognizes the desiccated
corpse of Shilat, a Kantare he saw alive on the surface just an
hour ago.
Archer, Reed and Tucker bring Liana back to the planet and set
out to get an explanation. But then the Kantare confront them
and confiscate their weapons, demanding that repairs be
completed before they'll let Tucker and T'Pol leave. Tucker is
forced to work on the optronic relays, held at gunpoint by
Shilat. Tucker asks point-blank how a dead man can be guarding
him. Liana comes in, orders Shilat to step out and begins to
confess the truth. Meanwhile Archer, Reed, Mayweather and a
security team embark upon a rescue effort. They invade the
derelict ship and get into a firefight with the Kantare, but
they are at a disadvantage because the Kantare can appear and
disappear at will, and phase-pistol shots pass right through
them! Tucker, now knowledgeable of the situation, convinces
Liana to stop the firefight. She begins removing datachips from
a console, causing each Kantare in turn to shimmer out of
existence — except for herself and Ezral.
Ezral confesses to creating holographic versions of his dead
crew to provide his daughter with a family to grow up with. He
believes himself responsible for the catastrophe that downed
their ship, because after an ion storm overloaded the plasma
conduits, he left his station to protect his young daughter
rather than make repairs, and an explosion resulted, killing
half the crew instantly including his wife. He and Liana
ultimately were the only survivors, and for years he tried in
vain to repair the ship while watching his daughter grow up, so
he decided to bring his wife and friends back through
holographic technology, and the resulting "oasis" became the
only home she's ever known. Archer and Tucker understand his
quandary, but they urge Ezral to consider his daughter's best
interests, that perhaps this life is not enough for her. Later
Ezral visits Archer on Enterprise and, though reluctant to leave
the home he created, acknowledges he should stop being so afraid
of change, and asks Archer to help him get his ship flying
again. Tucker completes repairs and sees Liana off, getting a
kiss from her as she looks forward to her new life.
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