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Enterprise experiences a catastrophe when a “Shockwave” seemingly kills over 3,000 colonists on an alien world. Grief-stricken, Archer and the crew are called back to Earth by Starfleet to answer for their misdeeds. The Vulcans are anxious to pin the blame on Archer, and Archer is having a hard time disagreeing with them. Suddenly, Archer finds himself in the past, the night before Enterprise launched on its maiden voyage. Daniels appears and tells Archer that the timeline has been altered and instructs him on how he should reconcile the timeline and stop the Suliban from achieving their aims. After a brief action sequence, Archer uncovers the truth but is tracked down by Suliban warships. Before Archer can turn himself over to the Suliban, he finds himself in the distant future with no way home.
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Shockwave”:
While visiting an alien mining colony on Paraagan II, a shuttle accidentally sets fire to the large amounts of tetrazine in the atmosphere, instantly incinerating the 3,600 colonists on the surface. Despite Lieutenant Reed’s precautions, Captain Archer personally puts full blame on himself for all the deaths caused. He doesn’t argue with Starfleet‘s Admiral Forrest when Enterprise‘s mission is officially cancelled, and the ship is ordered to return home (on the advice of Vulcan Ambassador Soval).
Later, Archer is suddenly transported back 10 months in the past. He then encounters Crewman Daniels who warns him that the Suliban are trying to sabotage Enterprise‘s mission. He wants to help Archer discover the truth, because events must go on to preserve the timeline. Using information from Daniels, Reed finds a cloaked Suliban device on the shuttlepod’s engine manifold, and Archer directs Commander Tucker to build advanced quantum beacon detectors. Enterprise then travels back to an asteroid field near Paraagan II where a Suliban ship is hiding. They quickly cripple and board the ship, finding computer memory chips with proof of the Suliban’s plan.
As Enterprise makes its escape, they are able to prove that the explosion wasn’t their fault. Sub-Commander T’Pol is, however, still skeptical about the time travel explanation, as Vulcan scientists have proved it is impossible. Later the ship starts experiencing warp field problems and soon detects 20 or 30 Suliban cell ships in pursuit. The ships decloak, and Silik orders Archer to surrender himself. Archer puts T’Pol in command, but he never makes it to the Suliban shuttle, as he is time transported again, this time to a derelict 31st-century building overlooking a devastated cityscape. Daniels appears behind him telling him that bringing him into the future to protect him caused this dramatic change in the timeline. Archer asks to be sent back to repair the damage, but since all the time travel equipment is gone, they are both trapped. Shockwave!
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss the episode that closes out Enterprise’s first season and how it serves as a bookend to “Broken Bow”. Plus! They talk about Mark Zuckerberg’s hair, hand waving away time travel, and how time travel seems to work in the Enterprise universe.