The ship was of a strangely organic looking design. A sandy kind of brown in colour, it's shape reminded Kirk of a bug. With a pair of pincers reaching out from a domed back, like an elongated scarab. And then, if he twisted his head another way, the ship sort of looked more like a fish. There was something haunting about the way it sat in the stillness of space, as though it were a thief lurking in the shadows.
"What are we looking at, Mr. Sulu?" Kirk asked, nodding at the view screen.
"I'm not entirely certain, Captain," Sulu answered carefully, "I believe it's a Cardassian ship."
"Cardassian? Like the drink?" Kirk's eyebrows went up. Cardassian sunrises were lavender in colour and, in Kirk's opinion, offered almost as much kick as a Shirley Temple. Impressive, dangerous people did not order them. Serious bars did not serve them.
"A Cardassian vessel should not be this far within Federation space. It is highly unusual." Spock advised the captain, standing at the science station with his hands behind his back.
"Could they be in distress? They're not moving. Or transmitting anything." Kirk checked the readings report that came through on the tiny station next to his chair. He started to run through scenarios in his head. The Cardassian crew could all be dead, and then they'd have a mystery on their hands. And every time they had a mystery on their hands, some poor kid from ops was horribly killed. If he wasn't so grounded, he might develop a guilt complex about it.
"It is possible…" Spock conceded. Having elected to study at Starfleet rather than the Academy of Science, he had never been granted access to the Vulcan libraries. As such, his knowledge of the Cardassians was limited to what he had learned from Terran records. They offered very little information. And yet, some instinct - perhaps a fragment of advice heard long ago - told Spock that caution was in order.
"Uhura, hail them." Kirk ordered. It was his experience that people and drinks had a lot in common. You could tell a lot about a person from what kind of poison they knocked back.
"Aye, sir." Uhura nodded, giving Spock a quick glance. Wordlessly, he told her to be careful. That she should prepare herself for the possibility of a negative outcome. She opened the channel and connected the view screen signal, "This is the USS Enterprise of the United Federation of Planets. Do you require assistance?"
Silence. No response at all. Uhura waited the standard amount of time before shutting the channel down for security purposes.
"No reply, sir." She informed the captain.
Kirk got a slightly spooky feeling, but shook it off. He was dealing with the originators of the weakest drink in the Alpha Quadrant. It's not like they were listed as aggressors, and he'd never heard of anybody getting trouble form them. Hell, he'd never heard of anybody running into them. If it wasn't for the footnote in the contacts guide, he wouldn't even have realized they had a Union. They were the ones with the Union, right?
"Okay. Run a scan for life signs aboard the alien vessel." If they were all dead, it was important to figure it out promptly.
"There is a crew of four hundred life forms, Captain," Chekov reported, "The scans also show low shield capacity. But it is likely to be the configuration of their wessel."
"Well, why the hell are they in Federation space?" Kirk was puzzled, "Uhura, try to get a hold of them again. Give them the serious warning message. You know, the business one."
"Unknown Vessel," She addressed the ship with stern tones, "You are within Federation borders. Identify yourself."
Uhura shook her head. Still no reply.
"Maybe their communications system has been destroyed," Chekov offered, "I have no readings on any internal systems. And our sensors cannot penetrate several areas of the ship…"
But before he could explain the rest of his theory, the view screen jumped with a quick flicker. And the bridge of the mysterious ship appeared before them.
The Cardassians were not what Kirk had been picturing. He wasn't certain what he'd expected, exactly, but he knew it what he was looking at wasn't it. Their bridge wrapped around in layers, like the inside of a seashell. Except it looked cold and black. Several officers stood at posts, but were not operating them. They waited and watched the Enterprise.
In the middle of everything sat their captain, or commander. Like all the others, his skin was grey and he had what appeared to be bone ridges protruding from the sides of his neck, and the center of his forehead and chest. He also seemed to have scales around certain areas. There was a definite reptilian quality, not only to his appearance but his demeanour. He held his shoulders low, and his chin high. His eyes were thoughtful and patient, like a crocodile's. They undermined the polite smile that curled his lips.
"Greetings, USS Enterprise," He said calmly, "I am Gul Manon of the Cardassian Union vessel Kornaire. Forgive our inability to respond to your attempts at hailing us. We were on a scouting mission when we were pulled through an anomaly. It has caused malfunctions in many of our systems, including our sensors. We were not aware that we had entered into Federation space. I apologize for the trespass."
Chekov gave Sulu an I told you so kind of look. Sulu flashed him back a wary expression. That explanation sounded distinctly like bullshit to him.
It sounded distinctly like bullshit to Captain Kirk as well, but there wasn't much he could do about it. The ship wasn't posing any immediate threat to the Enterprise or anything else that belonged to the Federation. It was just sitting there. And that added up with the story, because if they'd found a safe quiet place they could kick back and repair everything. But the whole thing seemed pretty shady.
"I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble," Kirk said evenly, "We could send over some engineers to assist you with repairs…"
"That is quite alright," Manon put his hand up as he cut him off, "Our technology differs greatly from your own. Perhaps you could send us a starchart of the region, however. We are very far from home. I do not believe our cartographers have even entered this system."
"We can provide you with a direct heading that will return you to Cardassian space." Spock said, without being asked. It wasn't his intention to undermine the captain, but he didn't want to be onboard the ship that accidentally turned maps over to invading forces.
"Even better." The Cardassian's smile widened.
"How long do you estimate repairs on your vessel to take?" Kirk asked. The Enterprise was due at Centaurus, but they had about half a day to play with.
Gul Manon looked over his shoulder at one of his officers. His neck twisted like a snake, and Kirk was surprised at how flexible the ridges seemed to be. Maybe they were cartilage, not bone.
"Seventeen hours." The officer answered sharply.
"Then we'll wait with you. In case anything goes wrong."
"How kind of you. We appreciate your helpfulness." Manon said swiftly, and the view screen reverted to showing stars and space and the Cardassian ship.
Kirk let out a grateful sigh. He'd practically been holding his breath the entire time. He'd only been a captain for six months, he didn't need to start wars.
"Hard to believe those guys invented the Cardassian sunrise." He mumbled, mostly to himself.
"Captain," Spock began in correcting tones, "The Cardassian sunrise was invented in Philadelphia by an Andorian bartender. It is unlikely that an actual Cardassian has ever consumed the beverage."
"Really?" Kirk seemed surprised, "Well then, what the hell do those guys drink?"