The Star Trek: Enterprise: The Expanse

-- William Shakespeare

"The Vulcan Science Directorate has concluded that time travel is impossible."

-- T'Pol

The Starship Enterprise NX-01 has carried its crew farther into the reaches of space than any human has ever travelled. Commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer, they have charted new stars, explored planets, and made first contact with races previously unknown to even the Vulcans. And while it's true that they have made mistakes along the way, the crew of Enterprise have tried to live up to Starfleet's creed -- to boldly go.

The Paraagan deep-space colony was just another first contact, unusual only in two aspects: it was a matriarchal society, and the planet's upper atmosphere was filled with a highly volatile gas. But the officers of Enterprise knew how to handle their shuttlepod, and they understood the Paraagan landing protocols. As the shuttlepod descended into the planet's atmosphere, they closed the plasma vents, certain that nothing could escape and ignite the gas.

Thirty-six hundred colonists were vaporized in the blast. Every building, every living thing, everything on the surface was destroyed in the fireball. But how could it have happened? Every reading shows that the pod's vents were shut. Nevertheless, it could only have been the Enterprise crew who caused the destruction.

Recalled to Earth, Archer knows that the Vulcan High Command has convinced Starfleet of what they have long insisted. Humans are not ready for deep-space exploration. True, it was an accident. But considering the catastrophic loss of life, Starfleet must agree that deep-space exploration must wait just a little longer, perhaps another twenty years...or longer.

before Picard and Kirk...

It Is the twenty-seoond century...and the dawn of mankind's boldest adventure. Thanks to the amazing breakthroughs in warp technology, an era of true Interstellar exploration is about to begin, and a whole new universe, full of astounding wonders and unparalleled dangers, has just opened up for humanity.

Someone has to lead the way, and that someone is Capt. Jonathan Archer of the first Starship Enterprise, NX-01. Archer and his crew, including Vulcan SubCommander T'Pol and the enigmatic Dr. Phlox, will face challenges previously unimagined as they truly go where no man has gone before.

But they must also survive first contact with a fearsome extraterrestrial race known only as the Klingons.

Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the Starship Enterprise™ find their way forward blocked by a mysterious alien vessel, piloted by a race they will soon come to know as the Antianna. Unable to decipher the alien ship's transmissions, unwilling to risk a battle, Enterprise is forced to veer from its planned course.

Almost immediately, they find themselves in the heart of space ruled by the Thelasian Trading Confederacy, who have also had dealings with the Antianna. The Thelasian leader, Governor Maxim Sen, is in fact in the middle of organizing a war against the Antianna, to eliminate the threat they pose to the Confederacy's trading routes.

Archer suspects Sen has other motives as well. He also suspects that there is a reason for the Antianna's seemingly hostile posture. But with the assembled races of an entire sector against him, he needs more than just suspicions. He needs facts. And only one woman can give them to him: Ensign Hoshi Sato. If she can translate the Antianna language, peace may just be possible. If not, war -- a devastating sector-wide war -- will soon result.

Forcibly removed from their ship, imprisoned and brutalized by their captors, Captain Archer and crew soon find themselves confronting an even more immediate challenge than escape -- subtle biochemical differences in this universe that make their continued survival an impossibility. Every hour they spend in this parallel continuum brings them closer to death.

But on the eve of her maiden voyage, a maintenance engineer, Ensign Charles Tucker III -- "Trip" to his friends -- discovers a flaw in Daedalus's design. When he confronts Brodesser, the scientist -- as charismatic as he is brilliant -- eases Trip's concerns. The ship launches on schedule, and as Trip watches in horror, it explodes in a catastrophic ion cascade reaction, killing all aboard.

In this golden age, two old friends are drawn together. They seek to understand, and wonder how what they have long believed, what they have been taught, was never so.

Over two hundred years ago, the life of one of Starfleet's earliest pioneers came to a tragic end, and Captain Jonathan Archer, the legendary commander of Earth's first warp-five starship, lost a close friend. Or so it seemed for many years. But with the passage of time, and the declassification of certain crucial files, the truth about that fateful day -- the day that Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III didn't die -- could finally be revealed.

Why did Starfleet feel it was necessary to rewrite history? And why only now can the truth be told?

Only the Starship Enterprise is fast enought to stop the production of a second Xindi weapon. But the crew cannot do it alone, and Captain Jonathan Archer accepts a contingent of Military Assault Command Operations personnel -- battle-hardened soldiers known as MACOs -- on board his ship.

Starfleet and the MACOs are two very different services sharing a common goal, but divided in their views of how to attain it. It is a culture clash that echoes across centuries of military service. The men and women on board the Enterprise understand that somehow they must succeed in working together or the price will be paid in blood -- failure is not an option.

Chastised by the cataclysm that they had unleashed, the governments of Earth came together. Humanity vowed to put an end to war and to strive for the betterment of every living creature. A united Earth created Starfleet, an interstellar agency whose mission was to explore the cosmos, to come in peace for all mankind. It was a naïve wish that was battered by interstellar realities, yet man persists in the belief that peace is the way. Banding together with other powers to form a Coalition of Planets, humanity hopes that the strength each can offer the other will allow for peaceful exploration.

However, the rise of the Coalition strikes dread within the Romulan Star Empire. They feel its growing reach will cut them off from what is rightfully theirs. The Romulans know that the alliance is fragile, that the correct strategy could turn allies into foes. Perfecting a way of remotely controlling Coalition ships and using them as weapons against one another, the Romulans hope to drive a wedge of suspicion and mistrust between these new allies.

One Starfleet captain uncovers this insidious plot: Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise. Determined not to lose what they have gained, outmanned and outgunned, the captains of Starfleet stand tall, vowing to defend every inch of Coalition space until the tide begins to turn.

The Romulans now plan to strike at what they see as the heart of their problem. With nothing left to lose, the Romulan Star Empire engages in all-out war against humanity, determined once and for all to stop the human menace from spreading across the galaxy.

Pulled, once again, into one of Captain Archer's dangerously impulsive attempts to make first contact, the sub-commander finds her life threatened. T'Pol reacts, draws her phase pistol and kills. It was a simple act of self-defense. But is killing ever simple? Has she forsaken the teachings of Surak?

Bad enough that Ensign Alana Hart is dead. Worse still that she died while attempting to sabotage the Enterprise -- and at the hands of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, the ship's armory officer and her nominal superior. Even as questions swirl around Hart's death, Archer, Reed, and the rest of the Enterprise crew find themselves caught squarely in the middle of another tense situation- a brutal war of terror between two civilizations.