Observe and Honor

The mid-22nd century.

Before the United Federation of Planets was born and before the dreams of humanitarians and statesmen became a reality that spread throughout the stars, there was war. A war waged with subterfuge and cunning that cost the lives of millions.

Major Balthazar Edison was a soldier, born and bred to take on those who sought to harm mankind and all that he held dear. First came the Xindi and he and his fellow warriors had risen to the challenge and helped save Earth and all of humanity from the greatest threat that they had yet encountered. Now it was the Romulans. A mysterious power known mostly by rumor and reputation but dedicated to disrupting the balance of power throughout known space and expanding their own enigmatic and sinister Star Empire.

Major Edison and his unit of soldiers didn't feel at home aboard the exploratory vessels of United Earth's Starfleet nor did they agree with the protocols observed by their crews. But they knew that if these Romulans were to be defeated and Earth and her way of life protected that they'd have to adapt and work with the differing opinions and philosophies of the scientists, technicians and explorers who crewed those ships.

Captain Jack Greene, the young and brash commanding officer of the recently-launched Atlantis NX-05, was one such explorer and a man whose commitment to destroying the Romulan threat ran just as deep as those of Major Edison and his men. His ship was one of the five most advanced and well-armed in the entire Starfleet, a cutting-edge vessel capable of traveling faster than any other spacecraft ever designed and built by human hands. But there can be only one source of authority aboard Atlantis, and if both men were going to complete their missions one was going to have to learn to yield and trust the other.

And trust is often the first death in war.