Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and Ensign Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery) devise a surveillance grid that will require the coordinated effort of 128 spaceships. After seeking help from Earth and Vulcan, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) realizes that he will need to obtain Andorian and Tellarite support too. Archer's attempt hits a snag when Lieutenant Talas dies from the phaser wound sustained earlier. A devastated Commander Shran (Jeffrey Combs) openly challenges Naarg (Kevin Brief) to a blood-duel using Ushaan-Tor, an Andorian ice-miner's tool. Realizing that a death will derail trade negotiations, Archer announces himself as the Tellarite's substitute. The duel proceeds and Archer is fortunately able to win, and spares Shran's life after severing an antenna. With the duel completed, Shran promises continued Andorian support for the grid, and the Tellarite's Ambassador Gral (Lee Arenberg) does the same. Enterprise, as a flagship, soon relocates and re-engages the drone. Reed and Tucker, caught in the crossfire and unable to be transported out, narrowly escape death by ejecting themselves into open space. A mixed fleet of "allied" vessels then arrive, forcing Vrax and Valdore to recall the drone at warp speed to Romulan space. Archer then invites the Andorians and the Tellarites to begin their negotiations early. On Romulus, the drone's pilot is revealed to be an Aenar, another species of the Andorian race. Production "United" forms the second of a three part story, beginning with "Babel One" and concluding in "The Aenar". It was written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, who were newly hired writers for the fourth season of Enterprise. It was their third script after "The Forge" and "Observer Effect". Manny Coto, the showrunner for the series, devised the story for "United". David Livingston directed the episode, his third of the season after "Borderland" and "Kir'Shara". Livingston said he went into the fourth seasons with the assumption that the show was not going to get a fifth season. After completing second unit shooting to fill out the episode he walked out of the stage thinking "It's over. It’s been a great run, but that's the last Star Trek shot I'm going to do." Filming for the episode took seven days between November 11 and November 19, 2004, with half the shoot taking place on the standing ship sets representing the Enterprise itself, and the remainder on the Romulan drone and command center sets which had been created for "Babel One".