10 No-Win Scenarios In Star Trek (And How They Were Resolved)
7. Sim's Right To Life
Scenario: Without Trip Tucker, the campaign to contact the Xindi will not reach completion before a devastating weapon destroys Earth, but the artificial clone created to save his life doesn't want to be killed either.
Resolution: Captain Archer is forced to make a devastating choice here, though he does it without hesitation. Trip has to live and for once, it has next to nothing to do with friendship or loyalty... he is the Chief Engineer of Enterprise, without whom the ship won't be able to run at the level it requires. Phlox's idea of cloning Trip and using the clone's 'spare parts' to heal the man is both brilliant and highly controversial.
The face-off at the close of the episode is inevitable. Archer begins the drama with one man almost sure to die. He finishes the drama with a man who is definitely going to die. The choice was never whether or not he would be able to escape without blood his hands it was simply over which death he could live with.