Enterprise, its crew and the additional MACO contingent find themselves in a dangerous region of space known as The Expanse on a desperate mission to prevent Earth being destroyed by a Xindi weapon.

Given the stakes involved in this mission the crew are eager to achieve results, so when they hear of a trader who has a trading history with the Xindi they feel this is a lead they simply cannot afford to ignore.

So the Captain, Malcolm and a number of MACO troops under the command of Major Hayes head down to Kaletoo. They take the trader Trahve prisoner and attempt to use him to find out as much as they can about the Xindi – including most importantly the location of the Xindi homeworld and the base where the weapon is being developed.

Whilst they are on their mission the rest of the Enterprise crew detect signs of a ship having passed nearby – and so a second mission with Ensign Merriweather and MACO troops heads off to investigate.

This is a tale set in the early part of the Enterprise's year-long quest to find the mysterious Xindi and prevent their attack on Earth. In some ways this does rather remove an amount of the suspense that might otherwise be present in one of these novels. The Xindi arc was explored throughout an entire series of the TV show, so we know going into this that nothing startling will result from the actions of this book.

This worried me a little when I picked this up. It took just a few short pages though to completely forget this and get immersed in a very exciting read.

The individual plots here (Archer's and Merryweather's) are enjoyable, but are just a bit of a backdrop for the character interactions that are superbly handled.

Archer and Reed find there is a difference of opinion between them when it comes to the handling of the interrogation a prisoner and the needs of their mission. Whilst Merryweather and his MACO roommate have clashed since the moment the MACO came aboard - now with them being together on an away-mission they must find a way of co-existing.

There are a couple of oddities in the book. There are sections that take the reader back into the life of Malcolm Reed in England. The authors have set this period in Malcolm's life in Leicester - a city that was my home for four years, and unless I am very much mistaken Leicester does not have a dockside district.

The second of these oddities is the very end of the book – the section after the end of the main story is a pleasant fun and very Trek-like epilogue, but something about it is not quite right. I will not spoil your fun reading by including the detail, but rest assured neither this nor the dock at Leicester spoil what is an excellent Star Trek: Enterprise novel.

Synopsis
Without warning or provocation an alien weapon appears above Earth and unleashes a blast that kills millions across two continents. A second such weapon could destroy the entire planet. In a desperate bid to save Earth and its people, Starfleet must change its mission from one of peaceful exploration to one of military service. 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.