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After “Proving Ground”, Star Trek: Enterprise returns with yet another Xindi episode, “Stratagem”. It appears that the show is moving into a different phase of storytelling as it is now halfway to the end of season 3. “Stratagem” features a Mission Impossible-esque plot where the crew of the Enterprise capture Degra, the designer of the Xindi weapon, and initiate a long con to get him to divulge information.
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Stratagem”:
Three years in the future, Captain Archer and Degra (the scientist behind the Xindi weapon project) are aboard a shuttle escaping from an Insectoid prison camp. Degra cannot remember his time as Archer’s cell-mate and friend, and remains suspicious despite having a prison tattoo and long greying hair. Archer convinces him that this memory loss is due to the blood worms in his system (used because they excrete a truth drug, but sometimes causes the victim to suffer amnesia afterwards), and removes a live worm from Degra’s arm.
They are in fact inside a simulator aboard Enterprise (and still in December, 2153) and the whole set up is a ploy to learn where the weapon is being constructed. Degra and his crew, had been captured near the test site of the weapon, the worm was inserted by Doctor Phlox, and the fake ship was constructed by the crew. The ruse is partially successful, and Degra reveals information about his family, and inputs coordinates into the navigation system. He later becomes suspicious after a malfunction in which one of the windows of the simulator briefly glitches due to ship-wide power fluctuations, and attacks Archer.
This leaves Archer with a dilemma; travelling to the red giant star, Azati Prime, would take them three weeks, time they do not have to waste on a wild goose chase. Instead they again deceive Degra into thinking that they have used Xindi warp technology to open subspace vortices, and trick him into thinking that they have already arrived at the coordinates. Degra shouts that they will never be able to breach the base’s defenses, thus proving that the coordinates do in fact relate to the weapon. In a final deception, Degra and his crew are mind wiped and returned to their ship.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Stratagem” and solving a problem without fighting. Plus! The guys chat about sticking around, blaming the Insectoid Xindi for everything, and not having any other choice.