1.10 "Fortunate Son" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nausicaans

Captain Keene and his XO (Executive Officer) Matthew Ryan are in one of the holds (modules) of their cargo ship throwing a football in low gravity when the attack comes. Keene calls for a report immediately, and the bridge officer who answers him says that the Nausicaans are attacking again.

Captain Keene was played by Charles Lucia, and XO Ryan was played by Lawrence Monoson.

Answer: Admiral Forrest

It was Admiral Maxwell Forrest of Starfleet that oversaw the NX Project (as a Commodore) that eventually resulted in the NX-01 Enterprise being built. And it was Admiral Forrest that authorized the Enterprise's first mission to return the Klingon Klaang to Qo'noS ("Broken Bow: Part 1").

The recurring role of Admiral Forrest was played by Vaughn Armstrong, while Captain Jonathan Archer was played by Scott Bakula.

Answer: Ensign Travis Mayweather

It was already established earlier in the series that Ensign Travis Mayweather is a 'boomer', meaning that he did not grow up on a planet, but rather was born and raised in space. This episode acts as a bit of a back story for Mayweather, as he is forced reconcile his life and career choices in the face of criticism from XO Matthew Ryan of the Fortunate.

Anthony Montgomery played the part of Ensign Travis Mayweather.

Answer: Archer, Reed, Mayweather and Phlox

The number 24 already begins to pique the interest of Captain Archer, as the ECS Fortunate is only supposed to have a crew complement of 23, but as Ensign Mayweather attests, sometimes children are born during the long cargo runs.

Captain Archer's choices for the away team are most logical: Ensign Mayweather for his experience with cargo ships; Lieutenant Reed (Tactical Officer) for security purposes; and Dr. Phlox to deal with any medical issues.

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was played by Dominic Keating, while the role of Dr. Phlox was acted by John Billingsley.

Answer: An alien prisoner

XO Ryan accepts both medical and technical help from the Enterprise, but is obviously hesitant in doing so. He claims that they are an independent bunch, used to fixing their own problems, and that they do not want to become beholden to Starfleet in any way, but his furtiveness is as plain as day.

Sub-Commander T'Pol comes to the Captain and informs him that her scans have picked up an alien lifeform on board, and Captain Archer demands that Ryan show him their prisoner, on pain of having all of their repair work undone.

Sub-Commander T'Pol was played by Jolene Blalock, and D. Elliot Woods acted as the Nausican Prisoner.

Answer: He caused a breach in the cargo module's hull.

Once the Enterprise away team realized that they had walked into a trap, a firefight erupted with the crew of the Fortunate. Before sealing them in, Ryan fired directly at the hull until a small breach occurred, causing the module to slowly decompress.

Firing on the Enterprise damages the ship's long-range sensors, and by the time a rescue of the away team is effected, the Enterprise is unable to determine exactly where the Fortunate is going.

Before they can pursue the Fortunate, Archer, T'Pol, Reed and Phlox (who all went to attend to the prisoner) are rescued from the module by shuttle.

Answer: Three

With information tortured out of their Nausicaan prisoner, XO Ryan plans to use the captured codes to circumvent the pirate's shielding, and reclaim their property at the least, and possibly even destroy the pirates. When they catch up to the pirate ship that attacked them, however, they do not expect to find the actual pirate lair, complete with MORE pirates to counter them.

With three ships attacking the Fortunate, it is quickly (once again) disabled, and the Humans find themselves at an extreme disadvantage.

Answer: No

With Ryan refusing to stand down and release the prisoner, the Nausicaan pirates continue their attack, in spite of Captain Archer's threat to use his superior firepower to counterattack. But knowing that an escalation would only cause further problems in the future, Archer attempts to convince Ryan to give up his prisoner.

Answer: Ensign Mayweather

With Mayweather's history as a boomer, he is able to get through to Ryan and help him see that his actions are fueled by a personal vendetta, and not by any reasoned out course of action designed to prevent further pirate attacks. And that, in fact, violent action here would only make things worse for every OTHER freighter out there, including Mayweather's own parents' ship.

Once Ryan backs down, he lets the prisoner go, and the Nausicaan boarding party returns to their own vessel without any bloodshed.

In the aftermath, recovered from his injuries, Captain Keene informs Captain Archer that Ryan has been demoted, and that anything further will be dealt with internally, as befits an independent freighter crew.

Answer: LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton (Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr.) directed his second "Enterprise" episode with "Fortunate Son", his first having been the sixth episode "Terra Nova". While the various "Star Trek" series were still on the air (including and after "TNG"), Burton directed episodes in each series, and has the most episode direction credits of all of the various "Star Trek" cast members who have turned their hand to directing.

As mentioned in the question, Burton is also known for hosting the children's television show "Reading Rainbow", which aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006.