Xindi superweapon
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The Xindi superweapon was a massive, mobile particle beam weapon designed to destroy entire planets. There were actually three weapons built.
The weapons were built by the five Xindi species in cooperation, at the instigation of the Guardians, who had informed the Xindi that Humans would be responsible for the destruction of the future Xindi homeworld in the 26th century. The weapon's primary goal was the destruction of Earth.
Certain steps were taken to prevent any one species from controlling the weapon. It required activation codes from at least three of the five species in order to function. However, it could be fired instantly if all five codes were used. It could not be armed while the propulsion system was online.
Building the weapons
The weapon was designed primarily by Degra, a Xindi-Primate scientist and member of the Xindi Council, and constructed by the Aquatics. Most of the weapon's components were built by the Xindi, but at least one came from 2573. Another key component of the weapon was the mineral kemocite, which was provided by Gralik Durr's refining facility.
Research on the superweapon was very dangerous. In September 2153 there was an accident in Degra's laboratory. Nearly all of his laboratory was destroyed, and three of his researchers were killed. The loss of the data caused the weapon's development to be set back by months, which induced the Council to consider developing a bioweapon.
Probe
The first manifestation of the superweapon was a small, one-man prototype. It was launched against Earth in March 2153 as a test, arriving in Earth orbit through the use of a subspace vortex, allowing it to bypass Star Fleet and the defense grid. It wiped out seven million people, carving a swath of destruction from Florida through Cuba to Venezuela; as it did so it transmitted telemetry back to the Council. Afterward its Xindi-Reptilian pilot set it to self-destruct; the debris landed in Central Asia where it was recovered by a Vulcan transport and then analyzed by Star Fleet.
The pilot of the probe was a soldier in Commander Dolim's regiment, handpicked by Dolim himself.
The success of this probe could have been stopped by an alternate timeline version of the Enterprise. This version had been present in the timeline for 117 years prior to the launch of the probe (it had arrived in 2037) and its crew knew of the exact date of launch. The alternate Enterprise was in the area when the probe was launched and could have intervened by plotting a collision course with it, destroying both ships. However, its captain Lorian decided not to sacrifice his crew and thus allowed the probe to be launched. This second Enterprise's existence in the expanse is the one that led the Xindi to believe that there were several Earth ships in the Expanse since their presence was not explained.
Second prototype
The second superweapon prototype was unmanned and test-fired in a "proving ground" in the Calindra system inside the Delphic Expanse, under the supervision of Degra himself in December 2153. The tests did not go as planned, as the weapon's materials had been sabotaged by Gralik on behalf of Jonathan Archer of Enterprise. The weapon was subsequently stolen by the Andorian warship Kumari. The Andorians had hoped to take it home to use as a deterrent against the Vulcans. It was destroyed when T'Pol entered the activation codes and issued an overload command. The Kumari jettisoned the prototype before it exploded, but the shockwave caused significant damage to the power and engine systems.
V'Las would later use recorded footage of this test to justify preparations for a pre-emptive strike on Andoria to the rest of the Vulcan High Command.
Final weapon
The final version of the weapon was substantially larger than its two predecessors and was designed to be manned by a skeleton crew. It was constructed in secret on Azati Prime, though when the Enterprise discovered it there, it was moved to the Xindi Council planet. When it became apparent that Captain Archer was becoming successful in convincing the Council to delay the attack on Earth, Commander Dolim's forces, working in concert with the Insectoids, hijacked the weapon. They also kidnapped Enterprise linguist Hoshi Sato (External Link) and brainwashed her into decrypting the third activation code.
Enterprise, along with forces of the Primates, Arboreals, and Aquatics, attempted to stop the weapon from entering the vortex to Earth, but were repelled by a Reptilian and Insectoid fleet. The Reptilians and Insectoids were assisted by the creation of numerous anomalies by the Sphere-Builders, and one ship of each race escaped into the vortex with the weapon. The insectoid ship was very shortly destroyed by the Reptilian one, however, when its commander questioned Dolim.
The weapon emerged in Earth orbit ten hours later, but very close behind it was the vessel of the late Degra, manned by Enterprise personnel including Jonathan Archer, Malcolm Reed, and Hoshi Sato, as well as a MACO squad. The Kumari ran interference for Degra's lightly-armed vessel, enabling the Enterprise team to board the weapon and destroy it by overloading its reactor. Captain Archer was thought killed in the attempt. The only known way to deactivate the weapon was to turn a set of white tubes to cut power. Explosives could then destroy the turning sphere at the core of the weapon.
