Desert Crossing

Star Trek: Enterprise  Season 1 Episode 24

Air Date: 5/8/2002

After a brief detour, Enterprise and its crew are back on their way to famed pleasure planet Risa. Everyone is eagerly anticipating a long overdue shore leave ... until they pick up a distress call from an unidentified vessel, and vacation is once again delayed. After figuring out that the vessel's warp injectors are simply clogged with plasma residue, Trip gets to work repairing the engines while Archer enjoys a visit with the ship's captain, a ruggedly charismatic alien named Zobral. Hailing from a nearby desert planet, Zobral invites Archer and Trip to his home for a dinner in their honor. Though Archer is reluctant to accept the invitation since it means delaying shore leave yet again, he eventually relents, charmed by Zobral's persistence. Later, Archer is surprised to find Trip unenthusiastic about the invitation. The chief engineer confesses that he's hated desert environments ever since their harsh survival training in the Australian outback. Archer, however, manages to convince Trip to come along.