Vox Sola ( episode ) A symbiotic alien comes aboard " Enterprise " and captures several of the starship ' s officers in its web . Hoshi struggles to communicate with the alien invader in an attempt to save the trapped officers . Summary . Teaser . On board , a first contact with a new species called the Kreetassan s has gone terribly wrong , with the aliens leaving the ship in anger , quickly . Captain Jonathan Archer , his first officer , T ' Pol , Commander Charles Tucker III and Ensign Hoshi Sato are running down the corridor trying to find out what ' s wrong . However , the universal translator seems to be malfunctioning and Sato cannot figure out what they are so mad about . The Kreetassan captain and his crew make their way to the ship ' s airlock and demand to leave . Archer tries to settle the situation by apologizing for whatever they have done . The Kreetassan captain refuses to budge , so Tucker opens the airlock door and the Kreetassans leave . However , just as the ship ' s outer airlock door is closing to the Kreetassan ship , a strange web - like creature enters " Enterprise " . . . Act One . With the disastrous first contact over , the crew returns to duty . On the bridge , Sato is depressed about being unable to translate the Kreetassan language and make the aliens stay on board and feeling like it was all her fault . T ' Pol , however , does not make Sato feel better about her failure , saying that she should practice more so her next first contact will be successful . Tucker enters the bridge , and Sato asks him to repair a communications device so the annoying static will be taken out . Tucker promises that he ' ll look at it first thing in the morning . He then makes his way to T ' Pol ' s science station and asks about the captain ' s mood . T ' Pol replies that seeing him now is not a good time . Tucker ignores T ' Pol ' s advice and make his way to Archer ' s ready room . The door chime sounds and Archer , while looking at Vulcan starcharts , angrily says " " it had better be important . " " Tucker comes in and tells Archer that Chef will be serving prime rib with real horseradish . Archer is not interested and says that he ' ll ask the ship ' s steward to send some up . Tucker then suggests that they play some pool and that Archer can start off first . Archer declines again , then Tucker takes a computer card out of his pocket and says that he was going to save it for a rainy day , and tells Archer that it is a water polo match , Stanford vs . Texas . Archer immediately stops reading the starchart and asks Tucker if it is the finals . Tucker tells him that it was freshly transmitted from Earth . This breaks Archer out of his depression and he agrees to watch it with Tucker later in the evening . In Archer ' s quarters , his dog Porthos is laying on his bed , seemingly bored . However , a strange noise grabs his attention and he starts to bark . Inside a conduit above the captain ' s quarters , the strange web creature flows through . In the mess hall , Sato , Ensign Travis Mayweather and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed are eating food , discussing the first contact and what could have possibly gone wrong . Seeing that Sato is uncomfortable with the subject , they both drop it . Reed asks what is playing on movie night on the ship . Mayweather replies that it is a classic French film called " Wages of Fear " . At first , Reed does not want to go , but Mayweather insists that he ' ll like it because things blow up . Reed then reverses his stance and says that it sounds good . He asks Sato if she ' ll come to the film , saying that they might need a translator , given that the subtitles go by very fast . Sato says that she has had enough communication failures for one day and leaves . Sato walks down a corridor , where she hears a strange noise , as Porthos had . She leans her head into the corridor so she can hear better , and unknown to her , the web creature is moving right through the interior of the corridor wall . She dismisses the sound and walks away . Act Two . In engineering , two crewmen , Michael Rostov and J . Kelly , are working during the midday shift . Rostov is impatient , asking if they can go to the film now . Kelly says to Rostov to wait one minute while she does the warp core maintenance . Rostov gets more impatient and Kelly says that Rostov could always watch the movie in his quarters , since it is in the ship ' s database . He claims that it is not the same , since he does not want to see part of the movie in the mess hall , then see the beginning later , which he claims makes no sense . Kelly laughs , then , on her computer screen , she sees that there is a power failure in one of the ship ' s cargo bays . Rostov says that it can wait for the night shift . Kelly replies that Rostov can fix it in less than ten minutes . Meanwhile , in the captain ' s private mess , Tucker and Archer are watching the polo match while having beer and pretzels , while some members of the crew are watching " Wages of Fear " . Just before the film starts , the screen begins to display images of " Enterprise " , and it shows the bridge and sickbay . Reed goes to a communications panel and asks for a maintenance team to come and see what is wrong . Just then , Rostov enters the cargo bay . As he is moving through with his flashlight , he sees a white substance on the floor with webs surrounding some cargo containers . Rostov activates his communicator , but before he is able to speak into it , something grabs him . Kelly , in engineering , answers his call , but he is not responding . In the captain ' s mess , Tucker and Archer are enjoying themselves while watching the polo match . Tucker tells Archer that he should get ready to compose himself , because Texas is going to defeat Stanford . Archer then asks Tucker if he has seen the whole transmission , which Tucker sarcastically replies that he has not . Kelly arrives in the cargo bay and sees the webbing and Rostov enveloped in it . She activates her communicator and contacts Archer , and she tells him that there is a strange creature in the cargo bay ; before she can finish her sentence , she is also cut off . Tucker and Archer leave the mess hall quickly . Act Three . Archer , Reed , Tucker , and a security officer head down to the cargo bay , fully armed with phase - pistols , while the security officer is armed with a plasma rifle . They enter and see the creature which has two crewmembers inside . Archer talks to Crewman Rostov , who tells them to leave before they become trapped as well . But it is too late : As Archer and Tucker are grabbed by the webbed creature ' s tentacle s , Tucker tells Reed and the security officer to leave now . Then , the web sends more tentacles toward Reed and the security officer . The security officer is pulled in , but Reed manages to escape , and , in the process , severs a piece of the tentacle . On the bridge , T ' Pol , Reed , and Sato assess the situation in the situation room . On a call coming from the ship ' s decontamination room , Dr . Phlox comes up with a solution . Upon examining the tentacle , Phlox believes the creature appears to be sensitive to EM radiation . However , Sato has a different idea . She tells T ' Pol about some of the data Phlox has collected about the creature ; its emissions seem to be similar to math equations and could possibly be a language . T ' Pol refuses Sato ' s suggestion since time seems to running out and asks Reed to assemble EM emitter s . Meanwhile , in the cargo bay , Archer , Tucker , and Rostov are the only people conscious while in the creature . Rostov asks Archer , because of the situation they are in , if the movie will likely be moved . Archer tells him that he will see what he can do to show it again . Just then , Reed and a few security officers enter the cargo bay , armed with EM emitters . T ' Pol orders them to activate the devices . Phlox , on the bridge , notes that it is working . However , the crewmembers are beginning to feel intense pain . Phlox tells them to shut the EM emitters off . Phlox comes to the conclusion that the creature has linked the members of the crew together , and therefore they can feel the same pain it can . T ' Pol , seeing that there is no other solution , tells Sato she has limited time to learn how to communicate with the creature . While walking down a corridor with T ' Pol , Reed reveals that Starfleet has been working on creating a stable force field for a number of years . Reed believes that he can build a few for use in the cargo bay . T ' Pol tells him to begin working on it . Act Four . Sato , with little time , begins to learn the language , but she is having a difficult time with it . Since she cannot do it alone , she asks T ' Pol , who regards math to have its own language , to help . Meanwhile , while the rest of the crew are busy dealing with the situation , Ensign Mayweather is the only senior officer on the bridge . Then , the ship receives a hail . Mayweather activates the hail ; it is the Kreetassan captain . The Kreetassan captain is speaking English , noting that it was not hard to learn . Mayweather talks to the captain and learns that the reason that they left quickly was because they saw that crewmembers were eating in public , which they see as much like mating for them . He states that they also eat with their mouths , but do so in private . Mayweather makes an apology , which the captain accepts . Mayweather then asks if the captain has seen the web creature before . He replies that he has and sends " Enterprise " the coordinates for the creature ' s homeworld . Meanwhile , Sato has figured out the language with help from T ' Pol , and enters the cargo bay with Reed , T ' Pol , Phlox , and a security officer . Sato begins to tell the creature to let the crewmembers go . The creature then tells Sato the exact latitude and longitude for its location on its homeworld . The creature slowly releases Rostov , Kelly , the security officer , Tucker , and Archer . Then , Reed , Phlox , Sato and T ' Pol head down to the symbiotic lifeform ' s homeworld in a . They release the creature back to its " people . " When the pod leaves , it is revealed that the organism covers nearly the entire planet . Memorable quotes . " " " You eat like you mate ? " " " " " You sure that thing ' s working ? " " " " Well , this is one for the books . Briefest First Contact . " " " " Are you staying for the movie tonight ? " " " " What ' s playing ? " " " " Uh , " Wages of Fear " . Classic French film . No , you ' ll like it . Things blow up . " " " " Oh . Sounds fun . " " " " Reed to Bridge . " " " " Go ahead , Lieutenant . " " " " We ' re trying to watch a movie down here , but instead we ' re being treated to a view of you . So unless you plan on giving us a little song and dance maybe you could see what ' s gone wrong . " " " " That will be " quite " enough ! " " " " I was going to save this for a rainy day , but . . . Stanford vs . Texas . " " " " The finals ? " " " " Captain ? " " " " Yeah ? " " " " I imagine in a situation like this , they ' d cancel the movie ? " " " " At some point in the very near future , there won ' t be six lifeforms in that cargo bay ; they ' ll only be one . " " " " Starfleet ' s been working on creating a stable EM barrier for the last five years . " " " " A force field . " " " " Right . They just haven ' t found a way to control the particle density . All the specs are in the database . I ' ve been trying to jury - rig a prototype of my own . " " " " And ? " " " " I ' ve got it stable enough to absorb a phase - pistol blast 60 percent of the time . I think I can improve on that . " " " " As soon as you give up , the game ' s lost . " " " " Correct me if I ' m wrong , but isn ' t our mission to try to better understand unique forms of life ? " " " " Not if they ' re trying to kill the captain . " " " " We don ' t know anything about this creature ' s intentions . " " " " I admire your interspecies ethics , but until Hoshi tells me she ' s found a way to communicate with it , I have to assume its intentions are hostile . " " " " If you want information to help you construct your force field , you ' ll acquire it under my supervision . " " " " I ' m sure I don ' t have to remind you , Doctor , I am the ranking officer . " " " " Not in my sickbay , unless the captain says otherwise . " " " " The captain is in no condition to offer an opinion . " " " " Precisely . " " " " When Zefram Cochrane . . . talked about new life and new civilization . . . you think " this " is what he meant ? " " " " With all due respect , we ' re not dealing with nouns and verbs . " " " " You don ' t think I belong on " Enterprise " , do you ? " " " " On the contrary . It would be a great loss to Starfleet if you were not a part of this crew . If you feel I ' ve been unfair to you , I apologize . But I hold you to a high standard , Ensign , because I know you ' re capable of achieving it . " " Links and references . References . Andorian language ; calculus ; ; decryption matrix ; dialect ; docking port ; ejection ; electromagnetic radiation ; force field ; foul ; horseradish ; interspecies ethics ; Neethian cradlefish ; nine - ball ; noun ; phonology ; photosensitivity ; prime rib ; senior year ; shock ; Stanford University ; swimming ; syllable ; symbiotic lifeform ; symbiotic lifeform ' s planet ; tentacle ; tissue sample ; translator ; universal translator ; University of Texas ; verb ; " Wages of Fear " ; warp trail ; water polo ; water polo players Unreferenced material . Myalgia