Genre: Sci-Fi/Adventure
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Writer: John Malone
Cast: Jason Clarke, Lily James, Josh Pence, Hugh Laurie, Kevin Grevioux, Annabelle Wallis, Michael Stuhlbarg, Corey Hawkins, Rila Fukushima, Alessandro Nivola, Arnold Vosloo, Peter Menshah
Plot: In San Francisco 2121, a young boy named Jonathan Archer paints a model of his father's spacecraft.
Thirty years later, a Klingon ship is being pursued by a Suliban ship. The Klingon ship crashes down in a cornfield in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, with the Suliban ship crashing not far from it. Klaang (Michael Jai White), the Klingon, is chased from the wreckage by a pair of Suliban soldiers. Klaang flees into a nearby silo. One of the Suliban soldiers uses one of his genetic enhancements to slide under the door. He then opened it, from the other side, for his companion. However, Klaang hurriedly exited the building from another door, near the top of the construction, before racing a few feet away from the silo and firing at it with a disruptor he has with him. This causes the silo to be destroyed in a methane explosion which incinerates the Suliban and creates shock waves that hurtle Klaang to the ground. As Klaang picks himself up, he is shot by a farmer, sending him flying backward.
Aboard inspection pod, Orbital 6, Jonathan Archer, now a captain in Starfleet, and Commander Charles Tucker (Josh Pence) inspect the prototype NX-xlass starship Enterprise. Archer is urgently called back to Starfleet Medical for a meeting where a group of high-ranking Starfleet officers, including Admiral Forrest (Hugh Laurie), discuss Klaang with several Vulcan dignitaries: Ambassaror Soval (Arnold Vosloo) and Sub-Commander T'Pol (Lily James). Archer also meets with Dr. Phlox (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Denobulan doctor taking care of Klaang. It is decided that Enterprise will launch ahead of schedule on a mission to return Klaang to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS, despite the Vulcans disagreeing with this, as they worry that the volatile nature of humans will complicate contact with the Klingons so soon. Archer convinces Forrest to approve the mission over Soval's protests. After the Vulcans leave, Forrest tells Archer not to screw up the mission.
Aboard Enterprise, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Alessandro Nivola) and Ensign Travis Mayweather (Corey Hawkins) discuss the vessel's transporter, a brand-new piece of equipment first installed on their ship. Meanwhile, Archer travels to Brazil to recruit linguist Hoshi Sato (Rila Fukushima) as his communications officer. Sato is reluctant at first, but Archer plays a Vulcan recording of Klingonese, and tells her to think that she would be the first Human to talk to these Klingons. Another addition to Archer's crew is Sub-Commander T'Pol, whose assignment for the position of executive officer and science officer is required by the Vulcans in exchange for Enterprise's use of the Vulcan star charts. Along with T'Pol – whom Archer sees as a Vulcan "chaperone" – the doctor he met before, Phlox, at Starfleet Medical, is also added to Enterprise's crew. At Enterprise's launching ceremony, Admiral Forrest makes a speech and remarks there is no better person to captain the first warp 5 starship than the son of its inventor, Jonathan Archer.
Meanwhile, in a strange chamber aboard an alien complex, a Suliban officer confers with a mysterious silhouetted figure and promises to recover evidence that the figure requires. This evidence apparently was in the hands of Klaang when he was pursued by the Suliban.
During a test of the ship's warp reactor, a verbal conflict between Hoshi Sato and T'Pol arises. When Ensign Sato insults T'Pol in the Vulcan language, the science officer retorts that she herself was instructed to speak English during her assignment aboard the ship and expects Sato to do the same. Later, the vessel loses main power while Archer, Sato, and Phlox are in sickbay, trying to interrogate Klaang. Alien soldiers board Enterprise and attack the Starfleet officers. Klaang recognizes the aliens as Suliban and, although Archer manages to shoot one of the aliens, the Klingon is abducted from the ship.
On the bridge, an irritated Archer asks his crew why the Suliban were not detected by Enterprise's new state-of-the-art sensors. When Lieutenant Reed tells him that the starboard sensor logs did record a spatial disturbance, the captain orders the bridge crew to conduct a full investigation into the incident. T'Pol advises Archer to consult the astrometrics computer in San Francisco, believing that he himself has no hope of finding Klaang. However, the captain decides not to take her advice and forbids T'Pol from contacting Starfleet. In sickbay, Phlox shows Archer the corpse of the alien soldier that was left aboard Enterprise. The doctor has learned that the alien has Suliban DNA, but its anatomy has been radically altered by very sophisticated genetic modifications.
In engineering, T'Pol helps Tucker to review the sensor data. Archer and Sato soon enter. Using both Sato's translation of Klaang's words as well as T'Pol's reluctant assistance, Archer learns that Klaang visited Rigel X just before his scout ship crashed on Earth. The captain contacts the bridge and orders Mayweather to set course for the tenth planet in the Rigel system. Meanwhile, an alien officer aboard the Suliban complex interrogates Klaang in Klingonese. This Suliban officer asks Klaang where he left a particular unnamed item, but the Klingon claims ignorance. He tells the officer that he was sent to meet a Suliban woman named Sarin (Annabelle Wallis) on Rigel X but that Sarin did not give him anything. As Enterprise approaches the planet, Archer and T'Pol brief an away team in the ship's launch bay. Archer informs the officers that Klaang was a courier and tells them to find the person who gave the Klingon whatever he was carrying, so they might find out why the Suliban have captured Klaang.
The team travel to Rigel X in Shuttlepod 1 and search in a trade complex on the planet's frozen surface. Archer and Sato meanwhile catch a fleeting glimpse of a group of Klingons. Soon after, the entire away team is attacked and captured by Suliban. Sato, T'Pol, and Tucker are imprisoned by the alien soldiers in a section which is sealed by a force field. Archer is taken to a woman who looks Human but who changes her appearance after she kisses the captain. The woman's name is Sarin – the same Suliban female that Klaang met on Rigel X earlier. Sarin was once a member of the Cabal, the Suliban military. She informs Archer that the Cabal are following orders from a faction in the Temporal Cold War, a conflict which is being fought through time. The Suliban are promoting internal strife within the Klingon Empire, making it appear that one house is attacking another and Klaang was transporting evidence of this back to Qo'noS to prevent a civil war.
Sarin offers to help Archer find the Klingon, but agents of the Suliban Cabal discover them and open fire. Sarin frees the Starfleet officers but is killed in the fight between the Cabal and her small group of renegade Suliban. Archer, injured while on the run, manages to escape in the shuttlepod. With a damaged thruster, the shuttlecraft ascends into the atmosphere as T'Pol contacts Enterprise and announces that she is taking command of the ship. When Captain Archer starts to lose consciousness, he dreams about himself as a child flying his model spacecraft on a beach with his father. He is disappointed when the model crash-lands in the sand, and his father tells him that he can't be afraid of the wind.
After Shuttlepod 1 has returned to Enterprise, T'Pol and Tucker use the decon chamber to rid themselves of a protocystian spore they picked up on Rigel X. Here, Tucker questions whether he should take command rather than T'Pol, because she was only assigned to the ship as an "observer". The engineer worries that T'Pol will not continue the search for Klaang if she takes command.
Six hours later, Archer regains consciousness in sickbay. Phlox removes, from Archer's leg, an osmotic eel that the doctor used to cauterize the captain's wound. T'Pol and Tucker visit and the Vulcan informs Archer that they have tracked a Suliban ship that left Rigel X just after the captain was injured. Archer is surprised that T'Pol didn't order a course back to Earth, but the Vulcan states that, as acting captain, she was obligated to anticipate Archer's wishes. Archer responds that, as acting captain, she could have done whatever she wanted.
Archer hears the warp drive changing and looks out his window to see that the ship has dropped out of warp. He contacts T'Pol, who asks him to come to the bridge.
There, a class 7 gas giant is displayed on the viewscreen. T'Pol tells Archer that the Suliban craft entered the planet's radiation belt a few hours ago, scattering the vessel's warp trail. T'Pol instructs Reed to run a spectral analysis on fragments he has detected nearby. The bridge crew finds that the fragments were left from fourteen different ships. Realizing that Enterprise has found an area used frequently by the Suliban, Archer orders Reed to activate the ship's weapon systems and to polarize the hull plating. The captain then directs Mayweather to lay in a sixty degree vector that will take the ship into the planet's atmosphere.
Aboard the alien complex, the Suliban officer talks with the mysterious figure. The officer is unsure whether Sarin gave the Enterprise crew anything, but he knows that Enterprise has followed a Suliban ship and is nearby. He promises the figure that he will destroy the Human vessel before it locates the helix, the complex that he is currently on. The figure says that he didn't intend for Humans or Vulcans to become involved yet, and demands that the officer must stop Sarin's message from reaching Qo'noS.
In the atmosphere of the gas giant, Enterprise almost loses the warp trail. T'Pol estimates that the ship's condition should improve, shortly before the bridge starts to shudder. She uses a viewer at her station to determine that the quakes are being caused by unexpected liquid phosphorus. When the ship's condition improves, the officers detect two Suliban cell ships and the helix. Sato reads more than three thousand bio-signs aboard the alien station, but is unable to find Klaang with the ship's sensors. When Suliban ships start attacking, Enterprise returns to the phosphorus layer, where the enemy vessels can't find the Starfleet craft. T'Pol reports that the helix seems to be comprised of hundreds of other vessels, locked together by magnetic seals. When Sato finally detects Klaang aboard the complex, Reed suggests using the transporter to get him out but Archer finds Reed's plan too risky. The captain decides to use Enterprise's grappler to retrieve one of the attacking cell ships and bring it aboard Enterprise.
In the situation room, aft of the bridge, Mayweather questions Archer and Tucker about the workings of the captured Suliban vessel. As the engineer seems to be slightly unsure of the craft, Mayweather believes that he would make a better pilot. Archer replies that the ensign is needed on board Enterprise and Tucker believes that piloting the Suliban vessel won't be as hard as it seems.
In the captain's ready room, T'Pol attempts to discourage Archer from leaving. She suggests that he appeal for support from a nearby Vulcan ship. The captain suspects the Vulcan is displaying emotional concern, but T'Pol claims that the Vulcan High Command will hold her responsible if anything happens to Tucker or the captain. Reed enters, carrying two cases into the room – one holds a magnetic device and the other holds two newly-designed weapons called phase-pistols. According to the lieutenant, the weapons have two settings – stun and kill. He advises Archer not to confuse the two.
Archer and Tucker leave Enterprise and use the captured cell ship to travel to the helix, where they eventually locate Klaang. Although the Klingon is initially hostile, Archer threatens the alien with his phase-pistol so he will cooperate with the captain's orders. Together, the three men move through the helix and attack any Suliban guard that approaches them. The captain instructs Tucker to return to the cell ship with Klaang while he stays behind and tries to separate the helix using the magnetic device. After doing so, Archer contacts Tucker and tells the engineer not to return for him, but to take Klaang to Enterprise. Tucker complies as several of the drifting enemy ships surrounding the commandeered cell ship collide.
Tucker ignites the cell ship's thruster exhaust, giving Sato, on board Enterprise, the opportunity to tell T'Pol what to look for. When T'Pol detects Tucker's position, she thanks Sato in the Vulcan language.
Aboard the helix, Archer fights with the alien officer. The alien nearly kills Archer with his own phase-pistol, but the captain moves out of the way just in time. The alien chases Archer into another room where a strobing, pulsating light throbs. Just as the alien shoots again, Archer is beamed aboard Enterprise. Tucker apologizes for using the transporter, but claims it was the only way to recover the captain. Enterprise immediately leaves the gas giant at warp speed.
After arriving on Qo'noS, Archer, Klaang, Sato, and T'Pol enter the Klingon High Council Chamber. As Klaang addresses the High Council in Klingonese, Sato tries her best to interpret his words. According to the linguist, Klaang says something about disgracing the Klingon Empire and mentions that he's ready to die. The Klingon Chancellor (Peter Mensah) approaches Klaang and makes a small cut in his hand with a jagged dagger. The Klingons then pour some of Klaang's blood into a vial which they examine with a large scientific device. The extracted DNA from his blood contains a wealth of Suliban information. The Klingons shout in gruff approval, but soon quiet again. The chancellor approaches Captain Archer and, holding the dagger against the captain's throat, says something in Klingonese that Archer interprets as a thanks. Once the Chancellor leaves, Sato comments that the captain's interpretation was incorrect, and claims that Archer wouldn't want to know what the Klingon actually said.
Aboard Enterprise, Archer tells his crew that the starship's mission is to continue forward. Tucker begins work on repairing the starship as Archer orders Mayweather to set a course for an inhabited planet nearby. Although there is an ion storm between the starship and its destination, the captain tells Mayweather that they can't be afraid of the wind. He orders Enterprise to engage at warp four.
Archer remembers himself as a child, standing beside his father as his model spacecraft flew across the sunny morning sky.
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