Xindi incident The Xindi incident , also known as the Xindi crisis , was a series of events lasting nearly a year , from 2153 to February 2154 , involving an attempt made by to save Earth from destruction by the Xindi . It was a major turning point in the Temporal Cold War , and the incident also helped pave the way for the creation of the Coalition of Planets , a precursor to the United Federation of Planets . Preemptive strike . In March 2153 , acting on false intelligence provided by the Sphere - Builder s , the Xindi launched a surprise attack on Earth . The Xindi , who had been without a homeworld since the 2030s , had been informed by their protectors that , in the 26th century , Humanity was going to destroy their new homeworld . Because of this , the Xindi - Primate scientist , and Xindi Council member , Degra had been working for several years on a weapon capable of destroying Earth . ( ) It was the first prototype of the weapon , a small one - man vessel crewed by a Xindi - Reptilian soldier , that carried out the first attack on Earth . It utilized a powerful particle beam to carve a swath of destruction from Florida to Venezuela , killing seven million people . The vessel subsequently self - destructed ; portions of this vessel were recovered by a Vulcan ship in Central Asia . ( ) As a result of this attack , Starfleet recalled " Enterprise " NX - 01 , which at the time was on a deep - space exploration mission . The tragedy on Earth was of a personal nature to one of " Enterprise " s crew ; Commander Charles Tucker ' s sister , Elizabeth , had been killed in the attack . ( ) On the way back to Earth , however , " Enterprise " was intercepted by a Suliban Cabal fleet . Suliban soldiers boarded " Enterprise " and seized Captain Jonathan Archer from the bridge , transporting him to see Silik , one of the leaders of the Cabal . Archer initially suspected Silik may have had something to do with the attack , but Silik took Archer to the temporal chamber to talk with his master from the future . The Suliban benefactor told Archer that Earth had been attacked by the Xindi , operating on behalf of a new faction in the Temporal Cold War . He told Archer the reason for the attack : they had been told that Humanity was going to destroy the Xindi homeworld in the 26th century , and they wanted to stop this from happening . To do so , they were constructing a much larger weapon , capable of destroying all of Earth in one stroke . He also gave Archer a set of coordinates , telling him the Xindi would be found there . Archer was extremely skeptical , but the mysterious figure told Archer to quantum - date the wreckage of the probe . After this , the Suliban returned Archer to his place on " Enterprise " . " Enterprise " returned to Earth on April 24 , 2153 , where it was greeted by three Earth ships , including the starship " Intrepid " . Captain , the commanding officer of the " Intrepid " , hailed " Enterprise " and welcomed them home after their long journey . Once at Starfleet Command , Archer relayed the tale the Suliban benefactor had told him . Admiral Maxwell Forrest and Vulcan ambassador Soval were initially skeptical , but Archer proved at least part of the mysterious figure ' s story by showing that a portion of the probe had been built in 2573 . Soval remained unconvinced . He revealed to Archer that the coordinates he had been given were those of the Delphic Expanse , a dangerous region of space . Trying to stop Archer from proceeding with his mission , Soval showed the captain footage from the Vulcan starship " Vaankara " , whose crew had suffered severe psychosis while on a mission in the Expanse . Archer and Forrest were unswayed by Soval , however , and Forrest authorized " Enterprise " s new mission . ( ) Search for the Xindi weapon . In preparation for its new mission , " Enterprise " was heavily upgraded . A new weapon developed during the ship ' s journey of exploration , the photonic torpedo , was added to its arsenal . A new command center was installed , replacing a storage bay for conduit housings . This center possessed an advanced computer system for coordinating any information " Enterprise " might find on the Xindi . An upgrade to the universal translator was also installed . ( ) None of the senior staff opted to leave the crew , not even Doctor Phlox , a Denobulan , or Sub - Commander T ' Pol , a Vulcan , despite the fact that this mission supposedly did not directly concern them . T ' Pol , in fact , resigned her commission in order to accompany " Enterprise " , as the Vulcan High Command had ordered her to return to rather than accompany " Enterprise " into the Expanse . ( ) A significant addition to the crew was provided by General , at the request of Archer : a full contingent of Earth ' s most elite ground forces , the Military Assault Command Operations ( MACO ) group . " Enterprise " s contingent was commanded by Major J . Hayes . " Enterprise " chief armory officer Lieutenant Malcolm Reed greatly resented the presence of the MACOs , believing that the need for this " extra muscle " reflected poorly on his security staff . ( ) It took " Enterprise " seven weeks at warp 5 to travel from Earth to the Expanse ( the ship arrived in August ) , and even then six more weeks passed while the ship began to fruitlessly comb the Expanse for any reference to the Xindi . The crew turned up only one lead : a freighter captain who had once taken a Xindi passenger to a trellium mining planet . During this time , " Enterprise " had its first encounter with mysterious spatial anomalies that peppered the Expanse . ( ) " Enterprise " arrived at the trellium mine in September . Captain Archer bartered with the mine ' s foreman and was permitted to see the Xindi Kessick in exchange for a quantity of liquefied platinum . Kessick , however , did not match the genetic reconstruction of what the Xindi corpse – recovered from the probe – might have looked like , originally . Kessick was a Xindi - Primate , one of what he revealed to be five species of Xindi . Phlox determined that the different Xindi races shared over 99 . 5 % percent of their functionally - important DNA , making them more similar to each other than Humans were to chimpanzees . Kessick was killed while trying to help Archer and Tucker escape the mine ( they were rescued by the MACOs ) , but with his dying words he managed to communicate the coordinates of the Xindi homeworld . Arriving at the coordinates , however , " Enterprise " found nothing more than a debris field ; the planet had been destroyed approximately 120 years ago . With no further leads at that point , " Enterprise " set a course deeper into the Expanse . ( ) " Enterprise " next entered the Orassin distortion field , where it began to experience ever - increasing amounts of anomalies . After being incapacitated by one , " Enterprise " was boarded by Osaarian pirates , who raided the vessel for valuable supplies . Following the trail of the Osaarian ship , " Enterprise " discovered a massive cloaked sphere generating waves of gravimetric energy ; it was this sphere that was responsible for all the anomalies nearby . " Enterprise " managed to recover its missing valuables from a cache inside the sphere . The ship ' s crew also managed to download a Xindi database from the Osaarians , who had originally acquired it from a Xindi - Arboreal ship they had pirated . ( ) " Enterprise " followed the trail of the ship in the database as far as the Loque ' eque homeworld , but turned up no useful information . Shortly thereafter , " Enterprise " stopped at a deuterium station on Norellus , where Captain Archer spoke to a V ' radian chemist named B ' Rat Ud . Archer had learned from the Osaarians that the mineral trellium - D could be used for protection against the anomalies in the Expanse , and was interested in acquiring some for " Enterprise " . Archer arranged to rendezvous with B ' Rat at his shop on the Xanthan homeworld in a few days . ( ) First encounters with the Xindi . Arriving at the Xanthan bazaar , Commander Tucker acquired the formula for synthesizing trellium - D from B ' Rat in exchange for spices from Chef ' s galley . While Archer was at the bazaar , he was accosted by a dealer in sex - slaves named Zjod . Archer refused to buy any , but as he left , one of them ran after him , and Archer assisted in her escape . Archer offered to transport Rajiin to her home planet of Oran ' taku , but she abused his hospitality , taking biometric scans of many of the crew using her telepathic abilities . When Archer realized what she was doing , he had her locked in the brig , an action which precipitated " Enterprise " s first encounter with the Xindi . Two Xindi - Reptilian ships attacked " Enterprise " , and a strike team from one boarded the ship and recovered Rajiin despite a valiant defense by the MACOs . It turned out that Rajiin was a Xindi plant , compiling information so the Xindi could build a bio - weapon as an alternate method of destroying Humanity . ( ) " Enterprise " continued deeper into the Expanse , still searching for a way to acquire trellium - D , as B ' Rat Ud ' s directions had proved useless . The ship discovered a trellium asteroid field , and Commander Tucker and Ensign Travis Mayweather were successful in mining enough trellium to line the hull . However , the discovery of the Vulcan starship " Seleya " in the field showed that trellium causes Vulcans to undergo mental collapse ; because of the threat to T ' Pol , Archer elected not to line " Enterprise " s hull with trellium and had the material placed in a bio - hazard locker . Later on , however , the hull of was lined with trellium to enable it to take detailed scans of spheres . ( ) Following a tip from the telepath Tarquin , " Enterprise " arrived at a Xindi - Arboreal colony in October . This colony was home to a kemocite refining facility run by Gralik Durr ; the kemocite mined here had been used in the probe and , in fact , Degra was shortly to visit the colony to pick up his final shipment . Archer explained the situation to Gralik , who was shocked that his people would try to destroy a planet after what had happened to Xindus ; he told Archer of the sixth Xindi species , the Avians . Gralik sabotage d the kemocite shipment , and T ' Pol and Hoshi Sato altered a canister ' s radiolytic signature to allow " Enterprise " to track it . ( ) In November of 2153 ( after " Enterprise " had encounters with a lost Human tribe and a polaric field ) , Captain Archer was once again contacted by , an operative in the Temporal Cold War who had assisted " Enterprise " on several previous occasions . Daniels informed Archer that the Xindi attack on Earth was the result of a temporal incursion whose effects had not yet reached his own time , so he would be unable to assist in the search for the weapon . ( ) Daniels did , however , bring word that three Xindi were present in the year 2004 on Earth , where they had been operating for two months . Daniels sent Archer and T ' Pol backwards in time to deal with the threat . Archer and T ' Pol discovered that Xindi - Reptilian scientists were assembling a bio - weapon to wipe out Humanity in the past ; later information would show that after the Rajiin incident the Xindi Council had banned further research into the bio - weapon and that the Sphere - Builders had taken the biologist Damron and his team into the past to covertly complete their work . Archer and T ' Pol successfully stopped the bio - weapon from being deployed and returned to 2153 . ( ) In December , " Enterprise " finally managed to reacquire the radiolytic signature of Gralik ' s kemocite shipment . Degra was testing a second prototype in the Calindra system , but as " Enterprise " approached the location , it was nearly disabled by a dense anomaly field . " Enterprise " was rescued by the " Kumari " , an Andorian vessel under the command of Shran . Shran pledged help in finding the weapon ; when the Andorian Imperial Guard had heard of the attack on Earth , the " Kumari " had been dispatched to assist " Enterprise " and tracked the vessel through the Expanse with its faster warp drive . ( ) The " Kumari " and " Enterprise " ( after witnessing a failed test of the weapon ; the failure no doubt caused by the sabotaged kemocite ) were able to work together to steal the prototype weapon . The Andorians attempted to make off with it for themselves for use as a deterrent in their conflict with the Vulcans , but Captain Archer triggered its self - destruct rather than let the Andorians keep it . The " Kumari " subsequently returned to Andoria , but " Enterprise " remained in the system to investigate further . Degra ' s shuttle was detected in the system , examining the effects of the test , and he and his assistants were captured by " Enterprise " personnel . ( ) Doctor Phlox wiped Degra ' s memories and through an elaborate subterfuge , Archer was able to convince Degra that the two had spent years together in a Xindi - Insectoid prison after the destruction of Earth . Archer managed to get Degra to reveal the coordinates of the Azati Prime system , where the weapon was being built . Degra and his assistants were placed back on their ship , their memories wiped again , and none of them the wiser that anything had ever happened . ( ) Showdown with the Xindi . " Enterprise " s journey to Azati Prime took some time , as the Earth vessel was not equipped with the subspace vortices Xindi vessels used to move quickly across the Expanse . During this journey , " Enterprise " discovered a mysterious alien adrift in a small pod in a transdimensional disturbance ; the crew quickly discovered he was somehow related to the builders of the spheres . The alien was dying as he could not survive in the conditions of our universe . ( ) Back in November , " Enterprise " had encountered a species called the Triannon s who worshiped the Makers of the spheres . They claimed that the Makers were using the spheres and the anomalies they generated to reshape the Expanse ; given the discovery of this " test subject , " it appeared that the Triannons had been partially right . The alien attempted to sabotage " Enterprise " before disintegrating entirely ; before he did , he revealed a link between the Xindi and the Sphere - Builders , claiming his people would triumph when Earth was destroyed . ( ) On course to Azati Prime , " Enterprise " negotiated another transdimensional disturbance in January ; afterward , it came upon the crash site of a Xindi - Insectoid ship . The crew recovered a shuttle from the wreckage , which was brought into " Enterprise " s launch bay . ( ) In February of 2154 , " Enterprise " at long last slipped into the outskirts of the Azati Prime system , behind a . Using the stolen Insectoid shuttle , Tucker and Mayweather were able to determine that the weapon was being built underwater on Azati Prime ; they also learned that it was undergoing the final stages of construction . Captain Archer concocted a plan to destroy it : he would take the Insectoid shuttle in , loaded with photonic torpedoes , and blow it up . Before he could do this , however , Daniels returned , whisking Archer away to the Battle of Procyon V aboard the in the 26th century . He revealed that at this time the Sphere - Builders were making a push to invade the Milky Way Galaxy , but at this battle the forces of the United Federation of Planets defeated them , pushing them back into their transdimensional realm . With their ability to look into the future , the Sphere - Builders foresaw that these events would occur , and manipulated the Xindi into their plan to destroy Earth , so that the Federation would never be founded , and the Sphere - Builders would face no opposition in the future . Daniels tried to persuade Archer not to go forward with his plan , but rather pursue a diplomatic solution , as Archer was an integral component in the founding of the Federation , and undertaking a suicide attempt would jeopardize the future . Archer was not persuaded , however . He went ahead with his plan anyway and was captured by security forces under the command of Commander Dolim . Archer , using information he had acquired during his subterfuge at Calindra , secured an audience with Degra and managed to communicate Daniels ' story . ( ) Meanwhile , " Enterprise " came under heavy attack by Xindi forces , causing massive damage to the vessel . Fortunately , Degra managed to force the Xindi Council to order Dolim to call off the attack , and he secured the return of Archer to his ship , arranging a secret rendezvous in three day ' s time so Archer could show him evidence that the Xindi were being manipulated by the Sphere - Builders . ( ) Unfortunately , the ship ' s primary warp coil had been damaged during the attack , rendering the ship unable to travel at warp speeds , meaning it would never be able to reach the rendezvous in time . " Enterprise " was assisted in its repair efforts by an Illyrian vessel that had been disabled by an anomaly field ; " Enterprise " helped the Illyrians in turn . They were unwilling , however , to part with their warp coil because not having it would mean a three - year journey home . Believing the rendezvous with Degra necessary to the survival of Humanity , Archer and the MACOs boarded the Illyrian craft and stole their warp coil . In return , " Enterprise " transported food and trellium - D to the Illyrian craft . ( ) " Enterprise " rendezvoused with Degra as well as Arboreal councilor Jannar behind the cloaking barrier of one of the spheres , where Archer showed them evidence of the Guardians ' treachery : the bio - weapon recovered from 2004 , the bodies of Damron and his associates , scans of the Sphere - Builder test subject , the ship ' s database on the spheres , and more . Degra thought that Archer deserved a chance to bring his case before the Council and arranged a rendezvous on the other side of a subspace corridor in the Kovaalan nebula . Degra went so far as to destroy a Reptilian vessel trying to bring him back to the Council . ( ) " Enterprise " traversed the corridor , but not without difficulty ; the ship battled the Kovaalans and very nearly traveled to 2037 , but eventually made it to the rendezvous early . Degra brought Archer before the Xindi Council , where he presented his case . The Arboreals and Primates were swayed , but the Reptilians and the Insectoids were so outraged by the presence of Archer that they walked out . Archer still needed the support of the Aquatics to obtain a delay on the weapon launch ; he obtained it when he persuaded Councilor Kiaphet Amman ' sor to vote for it with a biometric hologram of the Sphere - Builder test subject . However , an enraged Dolim murdered Degra and had the weapon stolen , operating on instructions from a Sphere - Builder who promised that the Reptilians would be at the head of the Xindi in the future if they acted against Earth immediately . Dolim was assisted by the Insectoids . ( ) The weapon required launch codes from three of the five species to be armed ; as he possessed only two of them , Dolim kidnapped " Enterprise " linguist Hoshi Sato and used Xindi neural parasite s to force her to decrypt the third code . As the weapon could not arm while in flight , and this delay allowed Archer to convene an alliance of Primates , Arboreals , and Aquatics to stop the weapon . Amman ' sor promised her forces ' support only when Archer promised " Enterprise " would try to disable the sphere network . ( ) The combined assault team managed to destroy most of the weapon ' s defensive forces , but thanks to Sphere - Builder interference , the weapon was able to enter a vortex bound for Earth , armed and ready , accompanied by both a Reptilian and an Insectoid vessel . Hoshi Sato was eventually rescued , though Major Hayes was killed in the operation . However , on their way to Earth , Dolim ordered his ship to destroy the Insectoids ' ship after the Insectoid councilor said he was considering Archer ' s evidence . ( ) The only ship left that was capable of catching up to the weapon in the vortex was Degra ' s . So Archer , Reed , Sato , Jannar , the other Xindi - Primate councilor , and a MACO strike team boarded the ship in hot pursuit . They caught up to the weapon near Earth , though not before the Xindi destroyed the Yosemite 3 research station . Degra ' s lightly - armed ship was no match for the Reptilian vessel guarding the weapon , and they could not get close enough to beam aboard . Luckily , Shran and the " Kumari " showed up at that moment to run interference for Degra ' s vessel ; the Andorian ship had tracked them through the vortex . While the " Kumari " distracted Dolim , Archer and his team transported on board the weapon . The MACOs killed all the Reptilians on board as Archer started the inversion sequence that would deactivate the power to the weapon . Meanwhile , Dolim realized what the " Kumari " was doing and ordered his ship to return to the weapon . ( ) After killing the Reptilian squad aboard the weapon , Archer ' s strike team transported back to Degra ' s shuttle , as Archer successfully overloaded the weapon ' s reactor . However , a determined Commander Dolim transported to the weapon to reverse the damage done just before Archer was slated to beam off himself . The two then fought each other in hand - to - hand combat as the weapon began to explode around them . Meanwhile , the " Kumari " destroyed Dolim ' s vessel , leaving him with no way to get off . As the weapon continued to disintegrate , Archer placed an explosive charge on Dolim ' s back and blew him up . However , Archer was not able to transport off in time as the weapon completely exploded in Earth orbit . Degra ' s vessel returned to the Expanse to rendezvous with " Enterprise " . ( ) Aftermath . Meanwhile , " Enterprise " had been making good on Archer ' s promise to Amman ' sor by using a deflector beam to damage one of the spheres ' interspatial manifold s that linked each sphere to one another . Without energy , the spheres collapsed in upon themselves , and the Expanse started to re - align with normal space . " Enterprise " met up with Degra ' s shuttle , and an Aquatic carrier returned " Enterprise " to Earth . However , as " Enterprise " approached Earth , it received no return signals from Starfleet . A shuttlepod sent down to San Francisco was attacked by P - 51 Mustang s , a World War II fighter aircraft . Meanwhile , Captain Archer awoke in a Nazi field hospital in the presence of a Na ' kuhl SS officer . ( ) It became apparent that " Enterprise " was in fact in the year 1944 in an alternate timeline where the Nazis were able to the United States of America ' s eastern seaboard . The Temporal Cold War had escalated to an all out conflict and the 22nd Century that they knew of no longer existed . " Enterprise " had been brought back to the past by Daniels to defeat Vosk and members of his faction in the temporal war . Once Vosk was defeated the timeline subsequently returned to normal . Daniels sent the ship back to 2154 , where a large armada of Earth ships had assembled and escorted " Enterprise " home . ( ) " Enterprise " received a hero ' s welcome at Earth , a thought that caused Captain Archer some distress , as twenty - seven crew members had died and he himself had committed some morally questionable acts . Despite what reservations he may have had , high schools were being named after him , and his crew was lauded with praise and admiration for what they had done . ( ) Unfortunately , the conflict had also caused increased xenophobia among Humans towards non - Humans , resulting in support for the extremist group Terra Prime . The group attempted to derail negotiations for a Coalition of Planets by attempting to force all non - Humans to leave the Sol system , but failed due to " Enterprise " s intervention . Ironically , it may have had the opposite effect , as the incident made the resolve stronger and eventually resulted in the creation of the United Federation of Planets . ( ) Casualties . " Enterprise " lost twenty seven crewmembers during their mission in the Expanse . These included : Appendices . Background information . Following its introduction in ENT Season 2 finale , the Xindi Incident was told as a season - long story arc in , running the course of ENT Season 3 . In the lead - up to that season , there were some rumors in the " Star Trek " fan community that the forthcoming arc would be about the Earth - Romulan War and that the initial strike , shown in " The Expanse " , was by the Romulan s . In the opinion of co - creator and Executive Producer Brannon Braga , however , the vastness of the story arc meant using the Romulans as the villains would have been " a big mistake " , as they would have become old - hat . ( ) In , Balthazar Edison says that Humanity " " lost millions to the Xindi and Romulan wars , " " which might be taken to imply that " Xindi war " is an additional term to refer to the conflict . However , there are other ways the line might be interpreted ; for example , he might be talking about a separate , later conflict , or he might have meant " to the Xindi , and [ to the ] Romulan Wars " .