By Diane Carey

It is the twenty-second century... and the dawn of mankind's boldest adventure. Thanks to an amazing new breakthrough in warp technology, finally an era of true interstellar exploration is about to begin. Captain Jonathan Archer has been chosen to command the groundbreaking starship Enterprise NX-01. But before the ship can leave Earth's orbit, a mysterious alien – a Klingon – fleeing the attack of another race of aliens is nearly killed on a farm in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The Vulcan Ambassador Soval suggests that in light of these events Enterprise's departure be postponed. A Vulcan ship, he assures Starfleet Command, will take the body of the Klingon home. Pointing out that the Klingon is still alive, Archer counters that Enterprise is ready and that he will see the Klingon home – alive. Starfleet gives Archer the assignment with one proviso: a Vulcan observer, Sub-Commander T'Pol, will work as his science officer. Eager to get under way, the captain reluctantly agrees. It should have been a quick and easy mission, but when the Klingon is snatched out of the ship's sickbay by the Suliban, Enterprise is pulled into a conflict that not only reaches across star systems, but centuries as well.