Jim didn't let the signal interfere with his duties over the following three days, thus Spock thought it prudent to let the topic lie until they were ready to warp to the binary system. On their third evening at the molecular cloud, Uhura expressed regret that she'd made a comparison to anything Praxidian, because she knew all too well how touchy a subject they were around the captain. Spock assured her that she'd been right to do so, because the last thing they wanted or needed was to stumble into the Praxidi (or anything related to them) unprepared. He also explained that he had no intention of letting anything untoward come of their investigation, and pointed out that he could rely on Dr. McCoy to help him in that regard. This earned him a wry laugh and a kiss.

They set out for the signal's source at the start of the following alpha shift. The system components were mismatched in a peculiar way, with one extraordinarily weaker than the other, something almost every chart made a note of. No one had ever come this far out to look at them, and between that and the peculiar nature of the signal that had drawn them to the system, they had no good ideas of what to expect. Accordingly, Jim instructed Sulu to bring them out of warp a healthy distance from the larger component with their shields up.

They'd examined two pulsars in the last eight months, so the sight that greeted them on the viewscreen was familiar: a tiny, dim star with a dark, cracked crust through which white-orange light bled out in wild patterns as it revolved. Unlike their previous finds, this one didn't pulse, and it was spinning far slower than they had (which was still a dizzying revolution every second).

Chekov's eyes widened at the initial scans as they came in. "Captain, the star's field strength is over a thousand times stronger than the other neutron stars we have recorded." He tapped at his console, and a map of the magnetic fields overlaid their view. "I think-I think this may be a magnetar, sir."

Jim drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Are we safe at this distance?"

Sulu said, "We should be, Captain, but it wouldn't hurt to reconfigure the scanners and check the star's surface for stress levels. With these kind of readings, it could be in danger of a surface quake."

"Do it. Kirk to Engineering."

"Here, Captain."

"Mr. Scott, this neutron star's a little different than the last two. Chekov thinks it might be a magnetar."

"Oh isn't that lovely." Spock heard a distinct note of sarcasm in Mr. Scott's voice. "We'll start some diagnostics, but nothing looks out of sorts at the moment."

"Thank you, Mr. Scott."

Spock narrowed his eyes at the viewscreen's display. "Mr. Chekov, where is the second component?"

Chekov panned and zoomed on his console. "I'm...not sure, sir. It should be right here."

While Chekov attempted to locate the other star, Spock watched the movements of the magnetic fields. "There is something compressing the field along one side."

"Oh, yes, I see it, Commander. One moment." Chekov adjusted the long-range scanners, and the viewscreen pulled back from the magnetar. As it did so, a second set of magnetic field lines drew in. They were minuscule compared to the star's, and they tracked the path of a flickering object orbiting it about half of the way in from the Enterprise's position.

"Is that the other star?" Sulu asked, peering down at his display.

Jim was staring hard at the object. "Zoom in on it. As far as we can."

"Yes, Captain." The viewscreen adjusted a handful of times before it began to fully resolve, though by the third pass it was obvious what they were seeing.

"A station," Sulu murmured, and it was like no space station Spock had ever seen.

The structure was composed of an inward-curved ring, measuring seven kilometers across and one kilometer deep, encircling an elaborate, spherical cage structure about the size of the Enterprise. The cage held a brilliant light source that flared red and white in a consistent pattern which suggested it might be rotating, and was anchored to the ring via a set of flat spokes that ran from its equator to the ring's inner backbone. Various structures lined the ring's arced interior (Spock was reasonably certain they were all buildings), and the facility was constructed of a charcoal gray material that made it hard to distinguish from the darkness of space save for the flashes from the object at the center and small, scattered light sources on the structures.

Chekov frowned. "At that proximity nothing should be able to function or survive. The star's magnetic field would disrupt everything. How is it even there?"

Sulu pulled up an enhanced display of their meager information; the magnetar was throwing the scanners off in all kinds of ways. "Look at this." The viewscreen drew a toroid graphic around the station, with the flaring light source in the empty center and the borders just touching the edges of the station's magnetic field. "This could be some kind of shielding system. See how the star's magnetic field distorts the shape?"

One of Jim's hands formed a fist. "Sulu, how long will it take us to reconfigure the scanners so we can get better data?"

"If you can spare someone from the physics lab I think we can work something out in under an hour, Captain."

"Talk to Marcus. I want as much on that thing as possible. Uhura, what do you have for us?"

Uhura had been adjusting the communications array at a furious pace since they dropped out of warp. She grimaced at something and swept at her console. "I'll need to run some tests to be sure the new settings are accurate, sir, but it looks like the signal is coming from that station."

"Try hailing them. Make sure to send the part of the distress call we decrypted."

"Yes sir."

Jim turned to Spock. "Could that station be what everyone's always assumed was another component?"

"It is a possibility, though that would indicate the facility is at least several thousand years old."

Jim folded his arms. "And in that case, who exactly is it that's calling for help." He was quiet for a brief time, then said, "Work with Chekov and see if you can get confirmation on the other component. The last thing I want is for us to blunder into it if anything happens and we have to get out of here."

"Yes, Captain." Spock went back to his station. In his peripheral vision he saw Jim take up a tablet and settle into the chair, his expression unreadable.

Four hours proved more than enough time to make some startling revelations, thanks to Marcus and Sulu's hard work recalibrating the sensors and Spock and Chekov's examination of the results. It was good they had something to report, because despite Jim's outwardly calm demeanor, Spock could see the lack of response to their hails was frustrating him.

"We believe the light source at the center of that facility is what has until now been assumed to the second component of the star system," Spock said. As he spoke, Chekov pulled up a variety of statistics and tables. "Our new data are consistent with those from a variety of Federation observatories. We have searched for other candidate bodies that could be an appropriate distance and still qualify as the lesser component, but none have been found. This gives the station an approximate age of seven thousand years, based on the earliest known measurements of this system."

Jim watched the figures as they played out on the viewscreen. "What's the light source made of, then?"

"Unfortunately at this range we cannot take accurate enough scans to determine its composition. It produces a great deal of interference, in addition to the interference already produced by the magnetar. We may obtain better results with probes."

Jim nodded. "Is it providing the facility with power?"

"The spokes attaching the enclosing structure to the facility do appear to carry energy from it to the various sections. That it is powering facility seems to be a reasonable assumption."

"What about the station itself?"

Sulu said, "The materials lab has never seen anything like it. It's definitely a metal-ceramic composite, and the preliminary results suggest it might be resistant to temperatures up to 10,000 Kelvin."

Jim made a low sound. "I guess that might explain how it's sitting this close to a neutron star. Thank you, Mr. Sulu, let me know when they have more."

"Aye, sir."

"Uhura. Any updates from Engineering on the data payload in the signal?"

"Nothing yet, sir."

Jim's eyes narrowed as he watched the viewscreen's display of the station tracking along its orbit. After several seconds of observational silence, he said, "Thank you, Lieutenant," got up, and walked to Spock's station.

By the look on Jim's face, Spock knew the next thing he said was going to be contentious, and braced himself.

Jim pitched his voice so that it wouldn't carry. "There's at least one thing we could try."

It took Spock a moment to catch on, and then he found himself considering the idea with all due seriousness. He gave himself time to think it over, and Jim waited, uncharacteristically still and silent.

The captain was referring to the contents of a small, flat, copper and blue-black box he'd received from a Praxidi messenger some months ago, and although the chance it might work was low, Spock couldn't deny it was worth examination.

Only he and McCoy had seen the device contained in the box. McCoy had recommended the captain throw it out an airlock as soon as the messenger had departed; Spock had suggested he set it aside, maybe in a storage closet that was out of the way.

Jim had simply nodded at them, saying nothing. The box was now sitting on the desk in his quarters, and Spock was reasonably sure it had remained unopened and untouched since Jim had first received it.

Spock said, "There is the possibility it will only serve to attract their attention, Captain."

"You heard what Uhura said about the signal. If they've picked it up, I promise you, they're on their way here, right now, at maximum warp. The least we can do is try to figure out what's in that data layer before they get here."

"To give us an advantage in our interaction once they arrive?"

"Or to warn them if it's not what it looks like."

If it had been any other race, Spock might have found the captain's intent laudable. "We cannot be entirely certain of the Praxidi's intentions, despite our most recent meeting with them, as it regards a situation such as this."

Jim ducked his head. "No one knows that better than me, Spock. But the longer we sit here waiting the closer they're getting."

"Any success in this endeavor should not come at additional personal expense to you, Captain. Physical or otherwise."

Jim gave Spock a small smile. "I'll try to let someone else pick up the rest of the tab. This part may have to be mine."

Spock resolved himself to holding Jim to that, and nodded. Jim moved away from Spock's station.

"Kirk to Professor Riley."

"Riley here."

"Professor. Do you have a minute?"

"I do, Captain."

"We'll be right down." Jim made for the turbolift. "Mr. Spock, if you could please accompany me. Mr. Sulu, you have the conn."

"Yes sir."

Spock had never told Uhura about the device (that was Jim's to tell), but she'd been present for the meeting with the Praxidi messenger, and more than anyone else she'd been a witness to the captain's perilous interactions with them. Thus, Spock was unsurprised when she gave him a critical look just as the turbolift doors shut.