Stratagem ( episode ) " Enterprise " captures Degra , the mastermind behind the Xindi weapon project , and Archer tries to trick him into revealing the location of the final weapon . Summary . Teaser . Captain Archer , disheveled , long - haired , and not in his normal uniform , is on board an unusual shuttle with a grey - haired Xindi - Primate , who is unconscious on the floor . As the Xindi wakes up , the shuttle rocks , and Archer tells him that the ship is being attacked by Xindi ships . Startled and disoriented , the Xindi looks out a portal , and sees two Xindi - Insectoid patrol ship s firing at them . He demands that Archer let him communicate with the attacking ships , because they will listen to him . After raising the shields and eluding the attacking ships by dumping warp plasma into their intake manifold s ( and thus , Archer reports , overheating their engines ) , the Xindi demands to be told what is going on – he can ' t remember anything . Archer tells him his name is Degra , and that , by working together , they ' ve just escaped a Xindi prison camp where they ' ve been held in the same cell for over three years . Degra isn ' t convinced , and he demands some proof . Archer rolls up his sleeve , and reveals Xindi prison script on both of their forearms . Degra still isn ' t convinced that a Xindi and a Human could have put aside their differences and become friends so easily . Archer explains about how they used to try and kill each other , but then decided there was no point – both of their species had lost the conflict . Act One . Degra is told that the Xindi weapon had been launched against Earth , with the desired effect – Earth had been destroyed . However , since then the old Xindi rivalries had re - emerged , with the Xindi - Insectoids coming out victorious after having stockpiled weapon s and ships during the building of the weapon . Many colonies of other species of Xindi had already been wiped out . During the discussion , Degra mentions his family , staying in a colony near a red giant . Archer asks the coordinates but Degra dismisses it as too risky , since they are being followed . Just then , a section of the shuttle ' s hull is ruptured , and coolant gas is expelled into the cockpit . Degra and Archer work together to fix the leak before settling down for the night . After a few hours of sleep , Archer gets up and uses a hypospray on Degra , then opens the shuttle door . As Archer steps out of the shuttle , it is revealed that the shuttle is in fact some type of simulator , and they are actually inside the . Act Two . Archer , , T ' Pol , and Hoshi Sato discuss the tricking of Degra . The red giant mentioned by him could be a red herring and would not necessarily mean that it would be the construction site of the weapon ; however Archer insisted that his family would certainly live in close proximity to where Degra worked . Another problem is that there were seven red giants in that vicinity . Archer dismisses T ' Pol ' s advice to ask Degra directly and tells them he needs more time with him . Three days earlier , the crew of the " Enterprise " had returned to the weapon test site and incapacitated a Xindi - Primate ship . After boarding , they found only three Xindi , and that any useful data had already been deleted . They took the three Xindi and searched the ship for anything useful . Archer tried to convince the lead Xindi , known as Degra , to tell him where the weapon was being made . After failing , he decided to try to trick him into telling him . Doctor Phlox told the captain that he can selectively wipe their short - term memories . With this information , Archer decided to create a simulation of a shuttle , and use Degra ' s wiped memory as an advantage . Captain Archer was implanted with a MACO subdermal transceiver so he could covertly communicate with the " Enterprise " crew . T ' Pol also helped Archer work out the details of the backstory . Phlox created tattoos on Degra ' s arm as prison markings and injects him with a ( harmless ) Regulan bloodworm , which Archer tells Degra are a means of interrogation and are the explanation for his memory loss . Back inside the shuttle , Degra is woken again by a sudden jolt . The captain tells him that they ' re entering a region with high concentrations of spatial anomalies . Apparently the ship ' s hull was not lined with trellium - D . Archer convinces Degra to send out a distress message to his colleagues , hoping that it won ' t be intercepted by a Xindi - Insectoid ship . In the command center , Sato and T ' Pol are working to gain any information from Degra and the garbled data they recovered from the Xindi ship . Sato intercepts Degra ' s " transmission " , and begins to formulate a reply . Act Three . T ' Pol is told by Lieutenant Reed that another Xindi ship is approaching the system , about six hours away . Sato reminds T ' Pol that Xindi sensor s are more advanced than those of the " Enterprise " , and that they would probably notice them a long time before they arrived in the sector . With that , T ' Pol orders the " Enterprise " back into the debris field of the test moon . Archer and Degra are sharing a bottle of Andorian ale when their message alert sounds . It is a response to their call for help . After clearing it up , the voice claims to be Thalen , one of Degra ' s colleagues . Sato is using a voice synthesizer of some sort , presumably after having sampled the voice of one of the Xindi prisoners in the brig . " He " , tells Degra that " he " is safe on Azati Prime , to which Degra responds by asking if his wife Naara and his daughters are " still there " . Degra is convinced to enter the coordinates of the system , and does so , being intercepted by Hoshi . Just then , the " Enterprise " experiences ship - wide power fluctuations from the debris field that affect the shuttle enough for Degra to notice the windows aren ' t windows , but computer screens . After asking Archer some questions to validate his story , Degra lunges forward and attacks him with a knife . The " Enterprise " crew bursts into the shuttle just in time , and take Degra back into custody . Act Four . The crew discovers that the coordinates that Degra input lead to a red giant that will take three - weeks to reach , which could be a critical waste of time if Degra was lying and the weapon isn ' t located there . Archer puts another plan into action , involving the entire ship this time . Reed bursts into the ship ' s brig , and demands that two of the Xindi , including Degra , follow him . The ship is being rocked and jolted as they race to engineering , where Archer explains that they ' ve adapted the Xindi technology from their ship to open one of the Xindi ' s subspace vortices . After Travis Mayweather inverts the warp field and brings them back into normal space , Degra is led with Archer up to the bridge . Once on the bridge , Archer shows Degra a red giant on the main viewscreen . The other officers on the bridge confirm Xindi ships in the sector , along with high levels of kemocite . This is enough evidence for Degra to shout out : Archer slowly turns round to Degra , and reveals that it has been another hoax , and the viewscreen reverts to show the test site . A stunned Degra is led back to the infirmary . " " Thanks for your help , " " Archer says . After wiping all three Xindi ' s memories , returning them to their ship , and faking a plasma leak to explain their loss of consciousness , the " Enterprise " leaves the test site for Azati Prime , on what Archer hopes to be the final leg in their search for the Xindi weapon . Memorable quotes . " " Too bad he didn ' t go for the Andorian ale . That would have loosened him up . " " " " By capturing us , you ' ve accomplished nothing . " " " " On my mark , initiate a sharp jolt to starboard . " " " " How sharp do you want it ? " " " Sharp . " " " The captain ' s certainly drinking a lot . " " " " The doctor gave him an anti - intoxicant . " " " " When it arrived in your star system , I watched the incoming telemetry with the other members of the council . Seven million lives . . . were extinguished in front of my eyes . I asked myself how many of those were children ? I suppose I ' ve told you this before . " " " " Actually , you " haven ' t . " " " Thanks for your help . " " Links and references . References . Andorian ale ; anti - intoxicant ; Azati Prime ; ; bloodworm ; brig ; Calindra system ; computer core ; coolant tank ; debris ; defense perimeter ; Degra ' s ship ; Delphic Expanse ; Denobula ; dermal art ; deuterium ; dilithium ; ; Earth ; engram ; flight school ; flight simulator ; grasshopper ; hair follicle ; Human ; hydraulics ; intake manifold ; Jaina ; kemocite ; kilometer ; liter ; lymphatic system ; Maarek III ; MACO ; Malosian ; Malosian cargo shuttle ; memory engram ; military habitat ; Naara ; navigational log ; navigational deflector ; neural pathway ; neurophysiology ; phase deflector pulse ; Piral ; plasma conduit ; plasma network ; plasma tank ; pylon ; reactor coolant ; red giant ; red herring ; Regulan bloodworm ; respirator ; sensor drone ; sensor ; shields ; spatial charge ; subdermal transceiver ; subspace transceiver ; subspace turbulence ; subspace vortex ; tactical alert ; trellium ; truth serum ; warp field ; warp nacelle ; warp plasma ; warp reactor ; Xindi - Aquatic ; Xindi - Arboreal ; Xindi Council ; Xindi identification tattoo ; Xindi - Insectoid ; Xindi - Insectoid patrol ship ; Xindi - Insectoid prison colony ; Xindi - Primate ; Xindi - Reptilian ; Xindus