North Star ( episode ) Archer and the crew try to discover why a 19th century - era Human settlement has been placed in the middle of the Expanse . Summary . Prologue . A group of men on horseback take another man and lynch him . They refer to the hanged man as a " Skag " . They shoot their guns in the air and ride off . Act One . While searching for the Xindi in the Delphic Expanse in 2153 , discovers a planet inexplicably inhabited by Human s in a setting that resembles the late - nineteenth - century American West . Wearing period dress , members of the " Enterprise " crew visit the planet surface and learn that the Humans are descended from American s abducted from Earth in approximately the 1860s by a species called the Skagaran s who , after bringing them to this planet , used them as slave labor . T ' Pol , Tucker , and Archer scout out the town to find useful information . Reed , back on " Enterprise " , informs the captain that there is a smaller town filled with aliens only ten kilometers away . Archer tells T ' Pol and Tucker to go to the town and find out what they can , while he heads off to a local bar . Tucker and T ' Pol go off to find the town , but Tucker thinks getting a horse first will speed up the journey . Tucker finds a horse dealer and offers him his gun ( a relic from the nineteenth century period ) as security , along with his harmonica for the use of a horse for a few hours . T ' Pol asks Tucker about his experience handling the creature and Tucker says he has seen every John Ford western . While at the bar , Archer finds out that a man called Cooper Smith ( who the bartender proudly claims as an ancestor ) was the man who liberated the Humans from the Skagaran . He meets the deputy sheriff Bennings and stops him from harassing a Skag , Draysik , who also was his waiter . When the sheriff comes in to see what the trouble was , the deputy informs him that Archer butted into a conversation he was having with the waiter . The sheriff , MacReady , asks what Archer ' s business is in town , and tells him it is too hot for coffee , a drink he got free from the bar . Archer says he is passing through on his way down south , to meet his brother who was herding bluehorn . Once Archer leaves the bar , the sheriff tells his deputy to " keep an eye " on Archer . Archer goes to the house of a teacher who he saw earlier in the day , standing next to a dead Skag in a coffin . After a short conversation with the teacher , asking him why he barged into her home , he says he would like to know more about the Skagarans . She replies that everyone knows about the Skagarans . Archer says in response that up north quite a ways , where he lives , there are none . He goes on to say that his actions in the bar were because he doesn ' t think that the Skagaran life is any less valuable than his . The teacher asks Archer if he would like to meet more of them and , when Archer nods his head in agreement , they go off in a carriage to Skag town . On the way the deputy and some men come out of an alley way and watch the pair leave . Act Two . When the teacher and Archer arrive at the town , the teacher quickly informs the Skagarans that Archer is not a threat . While Archer walks through some metal archways , apparently the remnants of a ship , he spots T ' Pol and Tucker . He calls the teacher , Bethany , over and introduces them . Bethany leaves to lead a lesson in the Skagaran language , but not before inviting Archer to stay for it . He intends to learn what he can about them firsthand , so he accepts , and sends T ' Pol and Tucker back to the ship to get more information . They had found some data log s retrieved from the wreckage . Tucker is concerned about Archer staying , but he responds he " doesn ' t want to miss [ his ] first day of school . " Bethany starts to teach six Skagaran children , among them Yral and Kret , multiplication tables . She says next week they will start long division . Bethany then invites the children to start telling Archer about their history . One of them is able to finish saying that their ancestors abducted the Humans for forced labor when the deputy , Bennings , and some men , Nash and , then come out from the shadows to arrest Bethany . She tells the kids to run home , since she knows what will happen . She states that no one is hurt , and Archer notes that Bennings could bend the law ( like he said earlier in the bar to the Skagaran waiter ) , but Bennings is clear he doesn ' t care . He has her arrested . Archer intervenes when it seems she is hurt , but Bennings comes up behind him , knocks him down , and arrests him , too . While in jail , Bethany tends to Archer ' s head wound and tells him more of the story . Shortly after the Humans ' arrival , they had revolted against their Skagaran oppressors , led by Cooper . The aliens were overthrown , however , Bethany described Cooper as ruthless , not only killing the oppressors but whole families . Cooper further created laws as a further means of keeping the Skagarans – or " Skags , " as they were disparagingly referred to – subjugated . The liberated Humans had made it illegal to teach successive generations of the alien s to read , write , or even marry . The sheriff then calls Archer to his office . Offering some Skagaran whiskey , he challenges Archer on his actions and appeals to him , saying the laws are necessary to keep the Humans free . He gives Archer an hour to leave town , however , Archer also learns Bethany will received a minimum ten - year prison sentence and incarcerated . Feeling responsible , Archer quietly accepts the deal and leaves , but then goes to help Bethany escape from jail , subduing Bennings in the process . The sheriff finds him and they both get ready to hunt the two . Archer takes her away by horse , but , during the effort , Bethany is shot and seriously wounded by Bennings . With Bethany incapacitated and facing the deputy ' s gun himself , Archer is forced to beam himself and Bethany up to the ship in full sight of the locals . Act Three . On board the ship , Dr . Phlox treats Bethany ' s injuries while T ' Pol expresses her concerns about Archer ' s public transport . Phlox believes Bethany will survive , however , he also found that she is one - quarter Skagaran . Archer goes off to talk with his senior staff next , where the Skagaran logs , are discussed . They ' ve been translated and confirm Bethany ' s story . The crew finds out more about how the Humans were abducted from America ' s rocky desert regions because they were best adapted to the new planet ' s identical environment . Archer decides that the planet ' s inhabitants deserve to know that Earth has not abandoned them and decides to make themselves known . Meanwhile , on the planet , Bennings has a debate with the sheriff about the recent event . He is convinced that Archer , although evidently Human , is a Skagaran sympathizer , and recalls stories of the Skagarans ' ability to disappear into thin air . The sheriff , however , gives him the benefit of the doubt and isn ' t yet convinced he ' s " working with them . " Bennings , convinced there ' s an uprising about to occur , wants to kill all the Skagarans once and for all . He then questions the sheriff ' s handling of the Skags altogether . When the sheriff insists they are not going to murder , but uphold the law , Bennings hands in his badge and walks out the door . Later , Archer leads T ' Pol and a security team to the planet in a , in full view of the town . Wearing their twenty - second century uniform s , Archer exits the shuttle and approaches the sheriff , with MACO s guarding the group . In private , Archer explains to MacReady that he is from Earth , which MacReady had almost come to believe was a mythical place . Archer informs the sheriff that unfortunately the " Enterprise " isn ' t equipped to take the entire colony of 6 , 000 Humans to Earth but promises to send help later . Archer also informs the sheriff that Humans have evolved past bigotry and the subjugation of other sentient species . His people will have to let go of that if they want to live normal lives on Earth . Archer and the sheriff leave the building and go to the shuttlepod . Once there , Archer introduces MacReady to his first officer T ' Pol . As Archer says that they were going to take MacReady up to " Enterprise " , former deputy Bennings shoots MacReady and demands they drop their weapons . Act Four . Archer tells Bennings he is from Earth and asks to let him prove it . However , one of the other men decide to provoke a shot from Reed . The firefight starts , dropping a few of the Humans while T ' Pol drags MacReady to safety . , Money and Woods stun several of the Humans . Archer advances to take out a couple others , but is shot by Bennings , who has hid behind the building . Bennings pursues Archer to the stable , who then jumps on him from behind and they fight . He ultimately subdues him , despite having temporarily lost the use of one arm due to his injury . Meanwhile , T ' Pol is captured by one of Bennings ' men who came from behind . Bennings ' man tells Reed that he will kill her if Reed does not put his gun down , but Reed simply stuns T ' Pol with his phase - pistol , confusing him , and then turns to T ' Pol ' s captor and shoots him , too . The shuttlepod departs the planet and returns to " Enterprise " . Once on " Enterprise " , Archer talks to Bethany , reassuring her that the Humans on the planet will be able to change before ships come to rescue them . Once Bethany returns to the surface , " Enterprise " leaves orbit , leaving behind a more enlightened community and some historical materials . Bethany , now openly , teaches a classroom of students , Skagarans , Humans , and Sheriff MacReady about the Wright brothers ' first powered flight , which had taken place forty years after her Human ancestors had left Earth . Memorable quotes . " " Do you have any experience riding these animals ? " " " " I ' ve seen every John Ford western . " " " " Who ? " " " " Let ' s raise a glass to the dearly departed . To dead Skags . " " " " Excuse me . Do you think I could get some more coffee before you shoot him ? " " " " I saw you this morning at the undertaker ' s . What ' s your business here ? " " " " Just passing through town . " " " " It ' s a little hot for coffee today , don ' t you think ? " " " " . . . Maybe you ' re right . " " " " You must think we ' re barbaric . All the things Humanity ' s accomplished – building ships like this , traveling to other worlds – and we ' re still down there shooting each other . " " " " The progress on Earth , it didn ' t happen overnight . " " Links and references . References . airplane ; alien abduction ; Ancient West ; Apothecary ; arithmetic ; barber ; bartender ; Assenede ; bluehorn ; buffalo ; butcher ; cemetery ; checkers ; coffee ; cowboy ; crime ; data module ; dentistry ; deputy ; DNA ; Earth ; feather ; ; interspecific reproduction ; harmonica ; heat exhaustion ; horse ; Human ; Human history ; local ordinance ; long division ; lynching ; MACO ; mathematics ; mile ; multiplication table ; New York ; North Star ; Ohio ; Pacific Ocean ; parlor trick ; particle rifle ; prejudice ; projectile weapon ; quantum scan ; reading ; recessive gene ; revolver ; rot - gut ; San Francisco ; shave ; sheriff ; ; Skagaran ; Skagaran colony ; Skagaran language ; Skagaran starship ; Skagaran whiskey ; Skag town ; slate ; slavery ; smoking ; spittoon ; ; stablehand ; ; sun viper ; teacher ; toast ; tooth extraction ; Undertaker ; United States dollar ; Van Hoorebeke ; ; western ; ; ; Xindi incident