Jonathan Archer may go down in Federation history a hero, but right now the captain considers himself a failure. Right under his nose the Romulans attacked and destroyed a helpless human cargo ship, the Kobayshi Maru, and there was nothing Archer could do the save the Maru without losing every member of the crew, and his ship.

The captain knows that the Romulans are done testing the waters, they have perfected a way of remotely controlling Coalition ships and using them as weapons against each other, thus succeeding in driving a wedge of suspicion and mistrust between these new allies. The Romulans now are going to strike at what they see as the heart of their problem, Earth.

Can the fragile Coalition of Planets hold up to an all out war?