Doctor's Orders

Star Trek: Enterprise  Season 3 Episode 16

Air Date: 2/18/2004

En route to Azati Prime, Archer and his crew encounter another roadblock: a trans-dimensional disturbance. To pass through it could prove deadly for the crew, but going around it means another two-week delay. Luckily, Phlox has a solution. He will place each crewmember in a comatose state, so as to protect their neocortexes while they traverse the anomaly. Because Phlox's Denobulan physiology is immune to the effects of the disturbance, he plans to remain conscious and watch over the ship and crew. As there's no way of knowing what effects the disturbance will have on Enterprise's warp drive, Trip recommends leaving the ship at impulse, meaning Phlox will have to keep the crew sedated for at least four days. Phlox is briefed on how to perform various tasks in case of an emergency — Mayweather gives him a quick helm tutorial while Trip instructs him on checking the warp engines. Various crewmembers express their concern about Phlox running the ship, because he lacks Starfleet training, but Archer is confident the doctor can handle things.