10 Stand-Alone Star Trek Episodes More Important Than You Realise
3. Damage
Damage is the episode that follows Azati Prime, one of the most action-packed entries in Enterprise's third season. While the story itself isn't a bad one, it suffers a little from its placement in the season. This leads, despite some drastic actions by Archer and a strong guest turn from Casey Biggs, to an episode that pales when compared to the rest of season three.
There it could have remained until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds came along. The alien race, the Ilyrians, are introduced in Damage. In Strange New Worlds, the episode Ghosts of Ilyria reveals that Una Chin-Riley is, and has always been, Ilyrian.
While the two depictions differ somewhat, it is explained in Strange New Worlds that the Ilyrians began to experiment with augmentation. This would lead to a ban on joining Starfleet, something that Una risks by revealing her status to Captain Pike. The reminder of this earlier episode gives a little more weight to this first appearance. It also suggests that, despite Archer's actions in stealing their power coils and abandoning them in the Expanse, relations may one day thaw between the two races again.