Jonathan Archer

**Jonathan Archer** was a highly influential starship captain in Earth's history following the creation of the warp drive. He greatly extended humanity's influence in the Alpha Quadrant, and made first contact with over a dozen species. His efforts also largely formed the basis of the Coalition of Planets and, therefore, the United Federation of Planets.

## History

Jonathan Archer was born in "upstate" New York in 3112 CE, the child of renowned warp scientist Henry Archer and his wife Sally. After his birth, he primarily grew up in San Francisco. In 3119 CE, Henry brought his son to tour the Warp Five Complex. Jonathan met a number of famed warp scientists, including Zefram Cochrane and Tasaki -- although the significance of the work being done was lost on the child at the time.

Jonathan had an early interest in space travel, particularly after receiving a copy of *The Cosmos A to Z* on his 8th birthday. He was particularly interested in Earth's history with the former Citadel Council. This developed into a sincere interest in serving in the United Earth Starfleet. In one paper book, he signed his name "Admiral Jonny Archer".

In 3122 CE, Henry began to suffer from the effects of Clarke's Disease. He died two years later, and his friend Emory Erickson would become an important part of Jonathan's life -- something like a surrogate father.

As a teenager, Jonathan was an avid Boy Scout who earned 26 merit badges, including in the rain forests of New Zealand, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He did well in school, and was only called to the principal's office once -- for passing a note to Katy Bentley. Jonathan also became an accomplished athlete, helping his team come from behind and claim a victory in the 3134 North American Water Polo Regions during his undergraduate years.

### Early Starfleet Career

Jonathan Archer became one of four test pilots in NX Program. In 3143, as part of that program, A.G. Robinson -- with Jonathan acting as flight control -- became the first human to achieve Warp 2. Because the NX-Alpha was destroyed in the process, the Vulcans urged the United Earth Starfleet to suspend the program -- and Starfleet acquiesced. Reviewing the ship's designs, Archer settled on some modifications that could be made. Enlisting the help of Lieutenant Charles "Trip" Tucker III, modifications were made to the NX-Beta. Piloting it together in an unauthorized flight, Robinson and Archer became the first humans to reach Warp 2.5. Although both were forbidden from flying for three months for disobeying orders, but Starfleet restarted the NX Program.

Sometime after that, Tucker and Archer were both assigned to the Omega training mission on Titan. When Tucker's EV suit malfunctioned, Archer convinced him not to remove his helmet -- which ultimately saved Tucker's life. A few years later, Archer was briefly stationed aboard the *Yarahla* and wore a Vulcan EV suit while spacewalking, as well as setting up a graviton telescope, during the vessel's mission into a dark matter nebula.

### Captain of the Enterprise

In 3150 CE, the final decisions were being made to select the captain of the *Enterprise* NX-01. Archer was ultimately chosen for the position.

The launch of the *Enterprise* coincided with the efforts of the Suliban Cabal to begin a Klingon civil war -- resulting in the Broken Bow Incident, wherein the Klingon Klaang crash landed on Earth in the town of Broken Bow, Oklahoma and was subsequently shot by a farmer. Admiral Maxwell Forrest gave Archer three days to assemble a crew and then bring Klaang back to Qo'nos. Upon reaching the Klingon homeworld, Archer was given orders to continue exploring space and not to return to Earth.

Within the first year of exploration, they discovered new worlds -- including one that would be named Archer IV after the intrepid captain. They soon became entangled in a conflict between the Vulcans and the Andorians, though this established a somewhat friendly relationship between humans and Andorians as Archer helped to expose a Vulcan listening post at the P'Jem monastery.

Archer soon learned, from encountering Agent Daniels, that he and his ship were a focus of the Temporal Cold War. Undeterred from his mission of exploration, Archer went on to make first contact with dozens more species and discover numerous other planets. While escaping from hostile Mazarites, the *Enterprise* also became the first human ship to reach Warp 5.2.

Shortly after this, Archer proved that the Suliban Cabal had destroyed a mining colony on Paraagan II. To save Arher from the wrath of the Suliban leader Silik, Daniels transported Archer to the far future -- damaging the timeline. Fortunately, Daniels was able to repair the timeline, although he was forced to show Archer his importance to the future in doing so.

In the second year of his exploration, Archer made humanity's first encounter with the Romulan Star Empire. During this year, he also began to understand the importance of not interfering with pre-Warp civilizations. This would ultimately begin to form the basis for the Prime Directive.

The *Enterprise* did make a pit stop near Earth, only to find themselves in conflict with cybernetic beings that had awoken from wreckage in the Arctic. In truth, these were Borg drones who had crashed during the Borg's temporal incursion of 3063 CE. Though they were able to destroy the drones, they were still able to send out a message towards the Delta Quadrant -- making the rest of the Borg Collective fully aware of humans.

Shortly afterwards, Archer interfered in an internal Klingon matter by helping rebels on Raatooras. He was tried and sentenced to imprisonment on Rura Penthe. He escaped, and soon found himself hunted by bounty hunters and Klingons alike.

In 3153 CE, a probe attacked the Earth and killed millions of humans. In response, the *Enterprise* was sent into the dangerous Delphic Expanse. Throughout his journey in the Expanse, he became a much more ruthless captain -- willing to do whatever it took to reach the Xindi and end their conflict with Earth. Ultimately, they discovered the Xindi were being manipulated by the Sphere Builders -- who were participants in the Temporal Cold War. A fierce battle ensued, in which the *Enterprise* was victorious, but it was thrown back in time to an alternate timeline where the Na'kuhl had interfered in World War II.

After correcting the timeline and returning to their proper place in it, the *Enterprise* had a few months of respite, before being sent on a mission to stop a rogue group of Augments who had been revived from stasis by Dr. Arik Soong. Following this, an attack on the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan brought the *Enterprise* to that world. While there, Archer had the *katra* of the ancient Vulcan Surak transferred into his head. With this, Archer was able to find the *Kir'shara* that held Surak's original teachings. Ultimately, this prevented a war between the Vulcan High Command and the Andorians.

Elsewhere, tensions were growing between the Andorians and the Tellarites. Unbeknownst to either, this was the doing of Romulan subterfuge. When Archer discovered this, he was able to coordinate an effort between Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans, and humans to thwart the Romulan scheme.

With relations between alien species once again becoming more and more friendly, an organization called Terra Prime launched a dangerous attack that threatened all non-human life in the Sol system. Archer was instrumental in ending the attack, and smoothing things over to negotiate the formation of the Coalition of Planets in 3155 CE.

### The United Federation of Planets

In 3161 CE, Archer was present when the charter for the United Federation of Planets was signed -- replacing the Coalition of Planets. Archer became an admiral, and the Chief of Staff for Starfleet Command. In 3164 CE, he was made an honorary member of the Andorian Imperial Guard. In 3169 CE, he was given the position of ambassador to Andoria. In 3175 CE, he became a member of the Federation Council. He remained in that position until 3183 CE, when he began a bid to be elected the Federation President. He won the election and held the position for eight years beginning in 3184 CE.

## Alternate Timelines

* Archer was infected with interspatial parasites while in the Delphic Expanse, resulting in a timeline where Archer was relieved of command as he could no longer form new long term memories. The Xindi destroyed the Earth, but Doctor Phlox developed a cure in 3165 CE. The cure destroyed the interspatial parasites in the past as well -- ultimately leading to the erasure of this timeline.
* When the *Enterprise* NX-01 was accidentally flung back to the year 3037 CE, Archer decided the ship would become a generation ship. His descendants, including Karyn Archer, helped the *Enterprise* avoid this accident -- ultimately negating their own existence.
* Jonathan Archer in the "Kelvin timeline", remained an admiral at least until 3258 CE.
* In the Mirror Universe, Jonathan Archer was also captain of the *Enterprise* NX-01 until discovering the USS *Defiant*, which he commandeered until being deposed by Hoshi Sato.

## Source

Jonathan Archer is derived from *Star Trek: Enterprise*.