10 Incredible Times Star Trek Ensigns Saved The Day

Hoshi Sato’s journey to self-confidence is certainly one of the greatest of any Ensign. She was always a prodigious linguist, mastering several languages and picking up new ones with apparent ease. Later in Enterprise’s mission, she would make major improvements to the universal translator, and developed the linguacode translation matrix that was still in use centuries later.

In the beginning, Sato’s nerves and lack of self-esteem were often a hurdle for her to overcome. This struggle is most visible in the Enterprise season one episode Fight or Flight. Despite her reservations, Archer convinces Sato to join the away team that was to board an unresponsive, and seemingly damaged, alien vessel. When the team find a string of alien bodies hanging upside down, Sato has a rather visceral reaction. (Wouldn’t you, though?)

A sense of embarrassment and doubt follow her from the incident. When Enterprise is attacked, the universal translator struggles to process the language of the alien race in a position to come to the crew’s aid. Searching for synonyms that don’t arrive, Hoshi is understandably more and more frustrated. Archer suggests that she forget the UT and communicate with the aliens directly. Whilst trepidatious – she hasn’t even had time to learn the language’s basic conjugations – Hoshi accepts. Doing what she does best, we see her confidence grow with each line she speaks. The alien is convinced and saves Enterprise from the hostile species, all thanks to the exceptional skills of a gifted ensign.