10 Best Star Trek: Enterprise Episodes Not About The Main Cast
9. The Shipment
The Shipment is the first episode in the Xindi arc to truly display some disharmony between the various facets of the Xindi races. Gralik Durr, a Xindi Arboreal, is tasked with mining and providing kemocite to Degra. This kemocite, Durr believes, was needed for research. It is only when he encounters Archer and T'Pol that he discovers the true intent for the material: it is essential to the superweapon.
The episode provides a little backstory for the Xindi as well. There was another facet that has gone extinct, the Xindi-Avians. They were all killed in the Civil War, which has spurred the remaining races to work together. Even as Archer attempts to display that humanity is not the aggressive enemy they have been painted as, Durr meets with Degra, who confesses the kemocite's true purpose.
The Shipment gives this new alien race something more than a one-dimensional thirst for destruction, as it shows that not every member of the species is bent on the attack against Earth. Gralik Durr may be the first friendly Xindi face that the crew of Enterprise meets. At this point in the season, it was unsure if he would end up being the only one.