"Secret Shuttles, Part III" (sub-titled "Persistence") was the twenty-sixth episode of Star Trek: Phoenix-X. It was the first episode and season premiere of the second season, and was the third of a four part episode arc.
Summary
Persistence
The crew on the top two Vector's of the Phoenix-X follow the now recovered Klokian and his Timeship further back in time, to the year 2374. There, Meloneus intends to save his wife from dying in a plasma explosion. Meanwhile, back in the other universe, and trapped in the year 2375, the crew and Seifer on Vector 3 lose out on an escaping James and Lex. They find themselves, rather, encountering a Jem'Hadar-like species called the Nega'Jem. With quick thinking, they use the Iso-Star to return to their original universe - unfortunately, the Nega'Jem are brought along with them. Back in the year 2374, Shane follows Meloneus onto the 2374 Phoenix-X, where he thwarts the Cardassian's plans to save his wife. In a great escape, the Timeship jumps back into the present year of 2377, followed by the top two Vectors of the Phoenix-X. Here, they find the USS Xena and the Scorpion waiting for them. Deciding to escape this as well, Klokian and Meloneus set the Timeship to jump further into the future - but unfortunately, they are beamed out and onto the Scorpion before they can jump with the Timeship. Matt and Shane beam over to the Timeship, instead, and are brought 23 years into the future, the year 2400.
Background information
- This episode takes place within the episode "Missed the Mishap". It also illustrates the events leading up to that episode.
- In most early Season 1 episodes, the Phoenix-X was consistently misspelled as "Pheonix-X" until the end of the episode "Warfare". Since this goes back to that episode, all references, in this episode, to the (past) 2374 Phoenix-X are intentionally misspelled "Pheonix-X" and all references to the 2377 Phoenix-X are intentionally correctly-spelled "Phoenix-X".
- During the course of this episode, Vector 3 is trapped in the other universe - which is referred to as the nega-universe within the episode. In the Season 3 episode "Mirrorlyness!" it will be established that this is the Mirror Universe.
- When Shane distracts Meloneus from saving his wife, it further pushes Meloneus' hatred for Changelings. This hate would be revisited in "BaKardi Slang", where it would be established that Meloneus' early attempt in "Missed the Mishap" to capture Daniel, was to find the Changeling homeworld.
- This episode also illustrates Night Seifer's obsession with getting the Gotens symbiont back. The obsession would later be revisited in "Avalon Battlefield, Part I".
- At the end of this episode, Vector 3 and the crew on it, including Daniel and Night, even though returned to the proper universe, are still trapped in the past year of 2375.
- The "Secret Shuttle" series of episodes would be the only Star Trek: Phoenix-X episodes with subtitles - "Secret Shuttles, Part I": Commencement, "Secret Shuttles, Part II": Furtherence, "Secret Shuttles, Part III": Persistence, and finally "Secret Shuttles, Part IV": Conclusion. This series of episodes would be the only four-parter in the series to date.