As the flagship of Starfleet and part of many dangerous missions, ISS Enterprise's briefing room tended to be full. The same flags from World War 3 and before were there, and so were the exact same people. A group of people dressed in blue and grey waited for their captain and first officer.

One of the people in grey was Major Malcolm Reed, commanding officer of the Military Assault Command Operations team aboard Enterprise. As usual, he looked rather tense. "It must be something pretty serious."

The chief engineer, deformed by delta radiation, was next to enter. Tugging his blue Starfleet uniform, he asked, "What's going on?"

"The Captain wants to talk to us," Reed said without looking at his archenemy.

"About what?"

"He's speaking to Admiral Black," said the one person who otherwise knew everything Captain Forrest knew. Lieutenant Hoshi Sato added, "It's the third time in the last hour."

"Well, something's obviously up."

A war criminal named Doctor Phlox then commented, "I can't remember the last time he asked me to join the senior staff for a briefing."

"Maybe it has something to do with Veylo," Reed suggested, to some laughter amongst the crew. Then the doors opened.

First Officer Archer was the first to enter alongside one of the MACOs, Corporal Elizabeth Cutler. Sergeant Travis Mayweather then ushered in Maximilian Forrest. The balding commanding officer paused for a moment and then told the crew, "There's been an attack on Earth

Tucker was the first to speak. "What do you mean, attack?"

"A probe," said Archer. "They don't know where it came from. It fired a weapon that cut a swath four thousand kilometres long from Florida to Venezuela. There may have been a million casualties."

"A million?"

"We've been recalled."

"Did they say why?"

"I didn't ask," said Forrest.

Behind Forrest, the usually quiet Mayweather helpfully pointed out, "It'll take a while to get back, sir."

A summons from the bridge sent everyone to their stations. Admiral Black was calling again.

"Understood," said the captain. "Set a course, Archer. Warp five."

In the capital city of Vulcan, the people woke up to see Terran Starfleet soldiers and MACOs patrolling in addition to the usual Vulcan High Command troops. Whenever someone asked what happened, they got the same reply: "Away!"

Koss, a young architect, was one of those Vulcans. "T'Les," he told his companion, "We should go."

The older Vulcan, who was an instructor at the Science Academy and the mother of Koss' fiance, shook her head. "I'm a Syrrannite. They'll let me through."

"Stop! Move back!" shouted a Starfleet officer.

Koss had never seen a Terran before that day. Before that day, most Vulcans would never see a Terran in their day-to-day lives. Now they were everywhere. Koss obeyed.

T'Les did not. "I am a Syrrannite!"

"Not enough. Move back!"

The mother of T'Pol saw the emotion in the Terran. She'd realised that the driving emotion of Earth was not arrogance or greed, but something more primal. The Terrans didn't want another World War on their planet. They did not want to be the subjects of anyone again. They were scared. The Terran Empire was an empire of fear. "It's..."

VOOL!

Koss jumped back from the smoking body of T'Les. He looked at the Terran and saw she was now aiming at him. "Move back."

The architect left. As Admiral Gardner had ordered Captain Hernandez, any Vulcan who wasn't in the High Command who approached the High Command building was to be turned away at gunpoint. 5 disobeyed. 5 died.

"This was going to happen," Reed muttered to himself in his quarters. "This was always going to happen. Someone went too far."

"You think?" asked a slow, strained voice.

The Major sneered and looked at his cupboard. "Capturing your mongrel race's ship wasn't not going too far, Veylo. The whole Empire thinks you Vissians are disgusting."

"Open the door and tell me to my face!"

Reed this just that. As always, he was ready for the blond alien to jump him and as always she was still chained up. "Your treatment of your cogenitors condemns you. Even the Tellarites agree with us. You kept them inside, forbade them to have their own names, and didn't even allow them the pleasure of reading. You are just like the traitors in that book Tucker showed you. Remember, slave, I saved your life by sheltering you here."

"What, so I wasn't dissected or served as stew?"

"Those rumours are unconfirmed, and I hope they're not true because I had some very strange stew after finishing with you lot. Most of your crew except senior staff were returned to Vissia alongside our assault fleets. Your time in my cupboard is almost over."

Veylo snorted and turned away. "And then what? What will you do now you've got all I know about weaponry and let all your friends and Tucker play with me?"

Reed turned her head back around. "Join Starfleet, return to Vissia, jump out of the airlock, I don't care. We have a crisis here and if you interfere, you'll spend the next decade in my cupboard."

Archer had chosen a particular spot on E Deck as his quarters as it gave him an excellent view of the ship by the deflector. Behind him, his attack dog Porthos slept. Someone had attacked the home of the Terran Empire. Already, the core worlds of Denobula, Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar were in lockdown. Starfleet, MACO, the Imperial Cargo Service, and the Terran Empire Space Probe Agency had taken direct control of each world. The Vulcan High Command and the Andorian Imperial Guard were shown to be the puppets everyone knew them to be. The rage of Earth would only abate when someone was punished.

BEEP!

"Come in."

"Excuse me, Commander," said a rather sombre Tucker.

"Commander."

"When you two spoke to Admiral Black, did he say what part of Florida was hit?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"She may have been away. Architects take a lot of trips."

The first officer wondered in his mind why Tucker was telling him this rather than Forrest. Yes, all of them had worked on the NX Project together. Yes, Tucker had been closer to Archer, with Captain Forrest having considered someone else for chief engineer. Was this a sign Tucker considered him a friend? "Older or younger?"

"My baby sister. When we were in school I made sure all the boys in her class got a good look at me. None of them ever messed with her."

"Maybe she was away."

Tucker thought it over. He shook his head. "Anything you can tell me about what the Admiral said?"

"The number of casualties has been revised. It's up to three million."

"Why would someone do this?" Tucker said. He realised why someone would do this immediately. The Terran Empire had plenty of enemies.

BEEP!

In came the senior alien aboard, Commander T'Pol. She ignored the way Tucker stood behind her very close, almost to the point of touching. "I spoke with Captain Forrest. A TESPA ship located the pod in central Asia. They retrieved it and brought it to Starfleet Headquarters."

"What do they know?"

"Very little. There was a pilot, killed on impact."

Whispering in the conscript science officer's ear, Tucker asked, "Who the hell was he? What species?"

"They don't know."

"They say anything about what part of Florida was hit?"

"No."

"Tucker's sister lives in Florida," Archer pointed out.

The tactical alert alarms blared as soon as Archer finished the last syllable. It turned out there were 8 Suliban ships approaching at high warp.

"They're not responding," said Hoshi as she fiddled with her bridge station.

"Try again," said a frustrated Forrest.

The lights went off. The lights came back on. Archer was no longer at the helm or on the bridge at all.

"Commander!" Reed shouted.

Forrest's fists slammed into the sides of his chair. "When will you Temporal Cold War scum remember that I am the Captain of Enterprise, not Archer!"

"Sir, are you angry that you don't keep getting abducted?"

Inside the reddish cell ship, Archer oriented himself and then snarled when he saw a green, scaly humanoid enter.

"There's someone who needs to speak with you," Silik told him.

"Silik! I knew you'd have something to do with this."

"Do with what?"

"Millions of people. You killed millions of people!"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

Archer was up and nose-to-nose with the Suliban instantly. He was ready to punch him to death.

"That wouldn't be wise, Commander."

"What the hell am I doing here?"

"There's someone who needs to speak with you. He has information you should find helpful. Don't worry, you won't be harmed."

"Information about what?"

"Something to do with your species. It's in great danger."

Archer nodded and tugged his Sam Browne Belt. He then strolled into another chamber where a shadowy figure stood motionlessly.

"Your planet was attacked," said the Humanoid Figure.

"I'm aware of that."

"What you're not aware of is why. The probe was sent by the Xindi. They learned that their world would be destroyed by Terrans in four hundred years."

Archer rolled his eyes and looked at Silik. "How would they know what's going to happen in four hundred years?"

"They were told by people from the future. People who can communicate through time."

"Are they the ones the Suliban are working for?"

"The Suliban work for me."

"So you're the one who tried to start a civil war in the Klingon Empire, the one who's manipulated our mission from day one."

"The people who have contacted the Xindi belong to another faction. The probe was only a test. The Xindi are building a far more powerful weapon. When it is completed, they will use it to destroy Earth."

"Annihilate us before we can annihilate them. Why are you telling me this?"

"The Xindi were not supposed to learn of their future. If they deploy this weapon, it will contaminate the timeline. You must not let that happen."

Archer jumped forward, almost nose-to-nose with the projection. "Why should I believe you?"

"You have no choice but to believe me."

Captain's Starlog, April 24th, journey home has been very difficult. We've now learned that over seven million people were lost.

Earth's sun was the first thing the bridge crew saw. Was there any way to spoil the moment?

"A vessel's dropping out of warp," said Reed.

Forrest turned around. "Where?"

"Two hundred kilometres off port," said Archer.

"Who are they?"

DING! DING! "They've fired some kind of..." began Reed.

The bridge swung to one side. A few sparks flew around and the lights flickered.

"That one took out both forward phase cannons."

"Torpedoes!" shouted Forrest.

T'Pol raised an eyebrow as she got a good look at the hostile. "It's a Klingon bird of prey."

Another blast rocked the bridge. The nacelles on the displays flashed red.

"They want Commander Archer," said Hoshi. "They're saying they won't destroy Enterprise if you surrender to them. Archer's an enemy of the Empire. He must be brought to justice if honour's to be regained."

"Our assault fleet is coming," said Reed.

On the viewscreen, the Warp Deltas and ISS Intrepid swooped on the Klingon ship and gave it everything they had. The Bird-of-Prey ran off.

"It's Captain Ramirez, sir, on the Intrepid," Hoshi announced.

An image of the other captain appeared. "What the hell was that all about?"

"A Klingon named Duras," said Forrest. "He has a grudge against my first officer."

"Welcome home, Captain. I wish it was under better circumstances."

Suddenly, the crew got a glimpse of Earth. A huge scar went from North to South America. A huge scar...

Tucker stared with growing horror. Up close, the scar was worse. If the water hadn't been blocked off, there'd be a huge, deep river. Instead, there was just ruins.

"I regret this has happened to you," said T'Pol. Both officers were in civilian clothes, which meant the Vulcan female felt unusually warm.

"The house was over there. Less then a kilometre. See over there?"

T'Pol, who was only allowed on Earth because Tucker had appealed to Forrest and Archer, glanced down at a wreck by the edge.

"That was the old movie theatre," Tucker explained. "When we were kids, if I didn't take my sister with me she'd scream like a banshee."

"Perhaps she was elsewhere at the time."

"Someone would have heard from her."

Despite commanding 20 marines and Starfleet soldiers, Reed sometimes got the impression that he, Sergeant Mayweather, and Corporal Cutler were the only MACOs aboard Enterprise. Regardless, they weren't on Enterprise but rather in central London. As always, Regent Street's tall buildings had Sword-Earth flags hanging between them over the road. They were also in civilian clothes, though all 3 had stuck with drab and utilitarian. "This place is calm," said Cutler. "You'd think there wasn't an emergency."

"Of course it's calm, it's British," said Reed. "We're just coming to All Souls..."

"What's happening over there?" asked Mayweather, pointing towards a crowd building near a park.

The MACOs rushed across the street, stopping in their tracks. There was shouts of "Death to xenos!" and "Purge the unclean!"

Someone had thrown a rope over a lamppost. At the bottom of the rope was a struggling Tellarite.

"Sir?" Mayweather whispered.

"Is that creature one of ours?" asked Cutler.

"Not as far as I can tell," said Reed. "Anyway, we were coming to All Souls Church. I find this an excellent example of monotheistic architecture..."

"I hope Phlox is alright," said Cutler. "Where is he?"

"You really like him, don't you? He's in San Fransisco, in Starfleet Command. Safe. Anyway, look at this memorial for World War 3. If you look closely..."

The other MACOs were too polite to tell Reed at any point through the tour that they weren't interested. They heard police sirens whilst inside, along with gunshots and shouting. "The police must have saved the Tellarite," said Cutler.

"Isn't that what we should have done?" asked Mayweather.

"We're military, not police," Reed replied.

The moment they got out, Cutler blurted, "Major, where's Veylo?"

"Up on Enterprise, Corporal."

"Enterprise is deserted."

"So it is. Oh dear."