Spock eyed the rapidly approaching spacecraft skeptically. His logical mind quickly sifted through all the ships ever known in history, quickly ruling out Romulan and Klingon and a thousand other possibilities. A space freighter, maybe? He queried himself. No, it obviously moved in a different way that was unknown to him. Plus, there was the fact that it had seemingly materialized in front of the ship.
"Spock, what does your wonder-computer tell you?" Captain Kirk, or as Spock was allowed to call him, Jim (although he didn't often do so), asked, peering over at where Spock was standing.
"It's an unknown ship, Captain. Nothing matches our databases." Spock always answered crisply, his tone as unemotional as a rock's. "It also seems to have some type of obscurer that makes it unseen to our scanners, and moves with an unknown propulsion system. It is quite fascinating."
Jim pondered the information, looking back at the view screen. "Well, that doesn't help."
"On the contrary, Captain. We know that it most likely isn't an enemy ship of the Klingons or the Romulans, therefore, it may be an opportunity to gather new scientific information."
"Well, obviously, Spock." Jim swiveled his chair to face his first officer, looking at him like he was trying to give Spock a message.
"Sir?" Spock raised an eyebrow.
Jim sighed and turned back to the screen. "Slow to warp 3, Mr. Sulu. Lieutenant Uhura, try to reach the unknown ship. Tell them we come with peaceful intentions. Chekov, make sure that there aren't any neighboring planets with life forms far enough in evolution to build something like this. Spock, keep up the research."
A chorus of "Yes, sir"s followed Jim's orders. Spock turned back to his computer, searching for an answer. "Captain!" Sulu suddenly shouted. "It's picking up speed!"
"Uhura, red alert. Chekov, report," Jim ordered, his mouth tightening into a grim line. "We have to find out if they mean to do us any harm."
"Still no evidence for any inhabited planets at all, sir," Chekov reported in his Russian accent, his eyebrows knitting together. "Where could this craft had come from?"
"Sir! I'm getting a message, video!" Uhura put her hand to her earpiece. "Should I put it on the viewscreen?"
"Yes, quickly," Jim ordered. The entire bridge seemed to be holding their breath, except Spock, since holding your breath without any reason to was very illogical, as Uhura pressed buttons. A grainy message suddenly appeared on the screen, but there didn't seem to be anyone in front of the camera, just a milky white film. A staticky voice began to speak, garbled with bad audio.
"Captain…KSHHHHH…. James….Kirk…?"
"I am James T. Kirk, commander of the USS Enterprise," Jim replied, cocking his head. "Who are you? Do you come in peace?"
"That…..not...important...KSHHHHHH," The voice replied, briefly interrupted by a burst of static. "Atmosphere…. my ship…KSHHHHHH... sustainable… beam… down… alone...KSHHHHHH...now…" The screen dissolved into static and a high pitched whining sound filled the bridge, sending everyone but Spock, who was able to resist the throbbing of his eardrums due to his Vulcan education, to their knees with their hands over their ears.
"Spock…. Turn it off!" Jim grunted, but Spock was already on his way, walking over to the communications console and swiftly turning off the noise just as Dr. Leonard McCoy entered the bridge. Dr. McCoy was the head doctor of the Enterprise, who Jim lovingly and teasingly at the same time called "Bones". Although Spock considered McCoy his only close friend other than Jim, he simply chose to call McCoy "Doctor", because Leonard didn't seem quite right and because "Bones" seemed too personal. McCoy especially loved to tease Spock about Spock's ears, green blood, and abundant use of the words, "fascinating, interesting, and illogical". Spock, due to his plethora of research on humanoids and other creatures, knew that this was a sign of friendship to the humans, although he didn't understand how saying something with a smile or a smirk made it a sign of affection. Actually, there was plenty that Spock didn't understand about human behavior, but seeing how illogical humans were, that wasn't a surprise.
McCoy blinked at the sight of the crew getting back into their seats, groaning. "What just happened? Seems like there's always an emergency going on!" The doctor's voice was that of a southerner, his accent showing most when he was agitated or anxious.
"In fact, doctor, what happened was-" Spock began to report, but McCoy cut him off with a "Save your pointy ears, Spock." Spock raised an eyebrow but allowed the doctor to continue.
"Jim?" McCoy questioned.
Jim relayed the information, and ended with "Come on, Bones, I want you and Mr. Spock to beam down with me in ten minutes. He, whoever that is, told me to come alone, but I won't do that."
"Captain, if I may." Spock stood with his hands behind his back. Jim waved a hand for him to continue. "Are you positive that you want to beam onto the unknown ship? We don't know the intentions of this… creature. It may be working with the Klingons or Romulans. I suggest that we should-"
Again Spock cut off as Kirk and McCoy ignored him and headed for the transporter. Hands clasped behind his back, he walked after them, pondering their mission. He knew Jim's love of danger, but it was illogical to have the captain to beam himself onto an unknown and possible enemy ship with two of the highest ranking officers on board. It wasn't as if Spock was unwilling to go, but his logic told him that it was not a good decision. Still, he followed. He was a loyal officer and had to do his duty.
Chief Engineer Scott, the almost operator of the Enterprise, met them in the Transporter Room. He immediately started questioning Jim, Spock, and the doctor about what they were doing, where they were going, and how could the Enterprise be affected by this. Spock took charge of answering these questions; in a logical and easy to understand way, of course.
When Spock was done, the Scotsman shook his head. "If anything happens to my baby"- he patted the control affectionately- "I won't be happy."
"Me neither, Scotty." seconded Jim.
Spock didn't understand "happy" but he knew that the Enterprise mattered to Scott and especially Jim, who always claimed that he was "married to the Enterprise." Again, Spock didn't understand how somebody could be married to a ship, but then again he knew it was only a strange figure of speech.
"Marriage." He thought. Vulcans had a drastically more... senseful way of doing things. Their lives weren't ruled by emotions, only pure and simple logic.
"Well, here we go." McCoy stepped onto a transporter platform. "Beam me down, Scotty."
*Thank you, everyone, for all the reviews! I hope to have second chapter done soon! :)
*Also, sorry for the mistake~ I wrote that Scotty is an Irishman- how could I! I hate myself! But I fixed that error, so hopefully I have redeemed myself :)