Malcolm Reed

Malcolm Reed's History

Major Malcolm Reed was a male Terran of the 22nd century Terran Empire. In the 2150s, Reed was commander of the Military Assault Command Operations detachment on the ISS Enterprise (NX-01), as well as second officer, tactical officer, and armory officer.

Reed was particularly ruthless as the tactical officer, eager to kill suspected traitors and invented the agony booth along with Dr. Phlox to keep order. When Commander Jonathan Archer briefly took control of the Enterprise, Reed followed him and escorted Captain Maximilian Forrest to the brig, musing that an "accident" might occur during. Captain Forrest regained control of Enterprise, however, and took revenge on Reed by having him placed in the agony booth for several hours, an ironic situation.

Although Archer respected Reed's abilities as a soldier and officer, he didn't fully trust Reed, noting that he tended to be overly ambitious and insubordinate at times. It was for these reasons that when Archer seized command of Enterprise, he made T'Pol first officer, even though Reed was next in line under the ship's chain of command.

When Archer commandeered the USS Defiant, Major Reed again served as tactical officer and commander of the MACO detachment. When it was determined that a Gorn named Slar was responsible for key engineering components being stolen and for the violent death of one of the engineers, both Archer and Reed led a team of MACOs handpicked by Reed to kill Slar. Like his counterpart in the prime universe, Major Reed tended to show a suicidal sense of self-sacrifice. This was demonstrated when Reed was severely injured by Slar during the hunt. Reed said apologetically to Archer, "I've failed you, captain."

Dr. Phlox later commented to T'Pol that Reed only had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving his injuries. Phlox also noted there would probably be several "discreet celebrations" among the crew should he die, suggesting he was not at all popular among the crew.

Reed survived, albeit severely disfigured, and continued to serve on the Defiant under the command of his former subordinate Travis Mayweather.