The Brave and the Bold Book One
Chapter One
"Captain, I believe you should come down to see this."
The captain of the Enterprise smiled at what almost sounded like enthusiasm coming from his Vulcan science officer, filtered through the intercom speakers in his quarters.
"See what, T'Pol?" Captain Jonathan Archer asked. He was currently kneeling on the floor, scratching his beagle Porthos behind one floppy ear.
"I believe that we have found evidence that this planet is, in fact, the homeworld of the Zalkat Union."
The planet to which the Vulcan sub-commander referred was Beta Aurigae VII. Enterprise, the still largely experimental flagship of Earth's nascent Starfleet space service, had been given a mandate to explore new worlds, and the Beta Aurigae system was full of them. The seventh planet even had an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere (what the Vulcans referred to as a "Minshara-class" planet), so Archer had authorized T'Pol to lead a team to explore the surface -- after a thorough scan, naturally. Archer had made the mistake of not making sufficient preparations for visiting an Earth-type world once ... read full excerpt from: Star Trek: The Brave and the Bold Book One ebook
