Reptilian rifle technology. Archer approves his idea to reverse engineer a rifle, but Tucker unknowingly triggers a self-destruct sequence and the weapon is beamed into space, where it explodes. On the planet, Archer decides not to destroy the kemocite mining complex as he does not want the Xindi to think of them as aggressors. Gralik explains that Degra told him that the kemocite was for research, and explains how the Avian race were assumed to be made extinct in the Xindi Civil War. A Reptilian shuttle arrives early, carrying Degra, to collect the final shipment of kemocite. Gralik takes the away team to a cave that will protect them from scans, but they are soon discovered by robotic drones sent by the Reptilians. When Gralik returns home, he is confronted by Degra, who reveals the true purpose of the kemocite, to build a weapon to destroy a ruthless alien species. T'Pol in the meantime has modified the canister of kemocite so that the ship can track it. Archer manages to sneak it aboard the Xindi shuttle and after the Reptilians leave, Archer thanks Gralik for his trust and help. Production Filming of the episode started on August 29, 2003, overlapping with the final day of the shoot for the episode "Exile". As the final scenes to be shot for "Exile" only required Linda Park from the main cast, the remaining cast were freed up to shoot scenes for "The Shipment". The first scenes to be filmed were those concerning the subplot of the episode where Tucker attempts to take apart the Xindi rifle. Filming resumed on the day after Labor Day with all of the main cast involved. Most of the sets used were the Enterprise standing sets, but additional sets were required to represent Gralik's home, the Xindi complex and a forest and cave area. During the shoot, live footage was shot of the sets and was presented by Scott Bakula for Good Day Live in order to promote the series three premier "The Xindi", which aired that evening. It was the second episode of the season for director David Straiton after the second episode, "Anomaly", and his sixth episode of the series overall. Chris Black and Brent Friedman wrote the episode together. They were both producers on the show; Black a co-executive producer and Friedman a consulting producer. They had each written episodes of the series separately with