A Night in Sickbay - Plot

Plot

After a five day away mission spent apologising on the planet Kretassa, Archer, T'Pol, Hoshi, and Porthos the dog need to decontaminate. Unfortunately Porthos has acquired an unknown pathogen on the planet surface and must be quarrantined. Back on board, Archer learns from Tucker of the ship's need for an extra plasma injector, but negotiations break down after it is discovered that Porthos had urinated on one of the aliens' sacred alvera trees, offering an insult to the Kreetassans yet again.

Archer, tired and frustrated at the sensitivity of the Kretassan culture, reacts poorly to the news. He is also especially annoyed by the long list of demands to be met in order to apologise. He and Dr. Phlox then tend to Porthos, and Archer is consumed with worry and he ends up spending the night in Sickbay to be with his pet. Throughout the night, as Porthos' autoimmune system weakens, Archer experiences the other side of life in Sickbay - the feeding of the lab animals, the doctor cutting his toenails and scraping his tongue, and catching an escaped alien bat. He also is 'informed' of his apparent sexual frustrations, and the way he tends to 'overfocus' on Sub-commander T'Pol's comments and opinions.

During the night, as he dreams of Porthos' funeral, Archer also deals with unresolved and suppressed sexual tension about his first officer, T'Pol. He also relates to the doctor how he met Porthos, and how he was the last in a litter of four male puppies, the 'Four Musketeers'. Through it all, Archer struggles to reach an emotional understanding with Phlox and T'Pol, as the two alien senior-crew members have little grasp of the human-pet relationship, and Phlox keeps offering Archer unsolicited advice about dealing with his apparent feelings for T'Pol. T'Pol, working out in the gym, also keeps urging Archer to apologize to the Kreetassans for Porthos' behavior, but Archer resists doing this because he blames them for Porthos' life-threatening illness.

In the end, Porthos recovers from his illness, following a pituitary transplant from an alien chameleon. Finally swallowing his pride, the captain then goes down to the Kreetassan capital city and delivers an intricate ritual apology which involves slicing a tree trunk with a chainsaw, arranging the pieces of wood in a complex pattern on the ground, and chanting phrases in the Kreetassan language. Having successfully apologised to the Kreetassans, the Enterprise crew finally manage to procure not one, but three plasma injectors prior to their departure.