4.16: Divergence

[Dave]

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from Trek Today

Enterprise and Columbia may see battle duty together.

According to a report at TrekWeb, in the episode "Divergence" - the second of a two-parter involving the Klingons that begins with "Affliction" - viewers will be treated to "a multiple-starship action sequence that's never been seen before", in the words of writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

As previously reported, "Affliction" tells the story of why Klingon foreheads looked so different in the era of Kirk's five year mission than during the periods before and after. According to the official production report, during the course of that episode, Dr. Phlox is abducted in the hope that he can cure a threat to the Klingons.

In "Divergence", Phlox creates a vaccine, but he's uncertain that it will be successful and explains that the procedure must involve human hosts. Then ship that is transporting him comes under attack.

In the multi-ship battle that ensues, Captain Erika Hernandez brings the Columbia into action, giving the order to fire at will upon a weakened enemy.

 

[Dave]

from StarTrek.com

To summarize the story without giving too much away, Enterprise is on a quest to learn why Phlox was kidnapped and where he was taken (per the last episode). As the show opens, however, the crew must grapple with sabotage to the ship's systems which threatens to blow up the warp reactor. After resolving that situation with the help of Captain Erika Hernandez and the newly launched Columbia NX-02, Archer learns that Phlox is located deep in Klingon territory, so the two ships take a dangerous turn together in that direction. Meanwhile Phlox decides to cooperate in addressing the affliction which is ravaging the Klingon population. Like in the previous episode, we will get to see the beginnings of the new breed of Klingon, the smooth-headed kind seen in the original Captain Kirk era.

 

[Dave]

from the official site

With the help of Captain Hernandez, Trip and the newly-launched starship Columbia, Archer pursues the kidnapped Phlox deep into Klingon territory, as Phlox decides to cooperate with finding a cure to a virus ravaging a Klingon outpost.

Meanwhile, Archer demands that Reed disclose his secret orders when his ties to a mysterious intelligence organization are revealed. Later, when Trip temporarily returns to Enterprise, T'Pol tries to broach an uncomfortable subject with him.

Spoiler

Apparently, Reed is put in the Brig, and Archer gets Klingon ridges

That latter development does not fit with my previous ideas for this virus, so I'm no longer sure how they are going to explain this.

 

[Mariel]

The Klingons that boarded Enterprise leave a virus that affects the warp reacter. Trip is brought on board Enterprise(while traveling at warp 5) to fix the engines. He does and Enterprise and Columbia travel into Klingon space to rescue Phlox. He finds a cure to the virus and when Archer arrives Phlox uses him to help make the cure. Phlox injects Archer with the Klingon virus to produce antibodies and Archer grows cranial ridges in the process(just little bitty ones).
Enjoyable two episodes
:blpaw:

 

[Dave]

Columbia becomes involved because only Trip can remove the Klingon subroutines from the Warp computer. Trip can only be brought aboard by a dangerous manuever involving matching Warp speeds, and which requires Reed to be released from the Brig.

My first thought was "What ever happened to Networking?" but the removal of the subroutines was subsequently shown to be an incredibly manual job for 22nd Century technology, and it required Enterprise to remain within Columbia's Warp field for the duration in a little homage to the film 'Speed'.

I did wonder how, if Enterprise was heading away from Earth to Qo'Nos at Warp 5, Columbia could possibly catch them up, but I guess the contrived storyline was worth it for the tension and excitement it allowed.

Section 32 was never explicitly mentioned, but clearly implied in this episode. I never thought that it would have existed in this time period, but Harrison drew Archer's attention to some obscure paragraphs of the Articles of Federation.

I didn't like the idea of Klingon doctors. In 'Ethics' TNG, Worf practically said that they didn't exist. Though, the 'healer' did say that his family disowned him.

Apart from that, another good episode. Not many left now