Lorian Lorian was the commander of a version of from an alternate timeline , in which " Enterprise " was thrown back in time from the year 2154 to 2037 . He was the son of Vulcan science officer T ' Pol and Human chief engineer Charles Tucker III , a conception made possible after Doctor Phlox found a way of combining the Vulcan and Human genome s . Lorian was influenced by both of his parents , and over his lifetime , he was able to balance emotion and logic . Lorian ' s father died when he was fourteen , but Lorian taught himself engineering by reading his father ' s old logs . While Captain Jonathan Archer was on his deathbed , Lorian promised the captain he would continue his mission to stop the Xindi probe from attacking Earth . Upon Archer ' s death , Lorian became the captain of " Enterprise " . However , Lorian was unable to stop the Xindi probe from reaching Earth when it launched in of 2153 . He had planned on ramming the probe with " Enterprise " , but hesitated , unable to give an order that would kill his entire crew . The moment passed , and by the time he had made his decision , the probe was gone , en route to Earth . With no other alternatives , he was forced to wait until " Enterprise " once again entered the Delphic Expanse in search of the Xindi weapon , in order to prevent it from entering a subspace corridor that would send it on its fateful journey through time . In February of 2154 , Lorian took " Enterprise " to meet the present version of the vessel just before it entered the subspace corridor . However , Lorian needed to provide an alternate way for the ship to reach its rendezvous at the Xindi Council planet , so he provided the present - " Enterprise " with Haradin schematics that would allow the ship ' s crew to modify their plasma injector s and increase speed to warp 6 . 9 for brief times . However , Archer rejected Lorian ' s plan on a recommendation from the elder T ' Pol , who demonstrated that there was a risk that if the ship exceeded warp 5 . 6 , the injectors would overload and destroy the vessel . T ' Pol ' s alternative was reconfiguring the impulse manifold s so they would not destabilize the corridor and send the ship back in time , but Lorian was not convinced it would work . He stole the plasma injectors of the present - " Enterprise " so that his ship could make the rendezvous ( as his own injectors were too old ) , but Archer talked him into assisting with T ' Pol ' s plan . With help from Lorian ' s ship , Archer ' s " Enterprise " made it past a group of Kovaalan ships which were between them and the entrance of the corridor . Lorian attacked the Kovaalan ships and kept them busy , allowing Archer ' s " Enterprise " to safely enter the corridor and successfully rendezvous with Degra , who proceeded to escort " Enterprise " to the Xindi Council planet . Lorian ' s ultimate fate , as well as the fate of the rest of his crew , remained unknown . It was speculated by Archer and T ' Pol that his ship was destroyed , was able to escape , or even that , due to both crews ' success in changing the timeline , his ship might have been erased from history . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Lorian was played by actor David Andrews . According to episode writer Mike Sussman , the name " Lorian " was an homage to the Elvish forest Lórien , found in J . R . R . Tolkien ' s novel " Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring " . Sussman speculated that Trip was a big fan of the , " " so when he had a kid with pointed ears , it made perfect sense . " " ( " NX - 01 File 09 " , ENT Season 3 DVD special features ) In the final draft script of " E² " , Lorian was described as " " a Vulcan man in civilian clothes " [ . . . ] " ( late forties , with light hair ) " [ . . . ] " He ' s a commanding presence , but he also has an edge . Although he appears Vulcan , he is half human , and at times can be emotional and impulsive " [ . . . ] " His human half emerges unexpectedly sometimes . " " In an ultimately omitted line of dialogue from the final draft script of " E² " , it was established that , according to the elderly T ' Pol , Lorian " struggled with emotions all [ his ] life " and occasionally became overwhelmed by them .