"Some sort of displacement wave just dissipated, sir."
Federation Starfleet Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu sits in the chair in the bridge, looking at the large viewscreen. It display sa picture of deep space, with various stars in the background.
"We are detecting a signal," says a bridge officer. "Getting a fix."
"Can you put it on audio?" asks Sulu.
"Yes, sir."
He and the rest of the crew hear a series of beeps from the bridge's speakers, which play in some sort of pattern. "It seems to be artificial," says the lieutenant.
"I have a fix on the velocity and position," says a yeoman clad in a red shirt.
"Take us on an intercept course."
The helmsmen presses some buttons, and the Enterprise changes course to intercept the source of the signal, impulse engines sending the interstellar ship on a new trajectory.
Sulu listens to the bridge personnel. So far, everything is okay. All of the crew remain alert. Whatever the source of the transmissions, it is heading somewhere dangerous.
"The source is identified," says a bridge officer. "It is a ship."
"Magnify," says the lieutenant.
Sulu looks at the viewscreen and sees the ship. It looks like a bunch of polyhedrons joined together within the boundaries of an invisible box. He hears the crew give further description- 120 meters in length, 25 meters in beam, about twenty life forms on board.
And the ship is on an inbound trajectory towards a black hole, about thirteen times the mass of Earth's sun, a black hole that the Enterprise has been orbiting for the past day on a survey mission.
"Captain to the bridge," says Sulu. "We have a situation here."
Minutes later, Federation Starfleet Captain James Tiberius Kirk walks through the door to the bridge, clad in his yellow command uniform.
"Situation, Mr. Sulu," says the captain.
"We detected a ship that appears to be spiraling into a black hole. The power seems to be out. Tractor beams are ready, and an intercept course is laid in. We have ten minutes before the tidal forces become dangerous to that vessel."
"Then let's do it," says Kirk, sitting in his chair.
The Federation vessel approaches the alien craft closer and closer. The bridge crew pays attention to the various dials and screens, especially the readouts that have to do with shield strength and hull integrity.
"We're within range," says a crewman. "Tidal stresses are well within tolerance."
"Let's save them," says Kirk.
"Activating tractor beam," says Sulu, pressing buttons on his console. Kirk looks at the alien craft as it goes further towards the black hole. At least it is a black hole, and not what astrophysicists now call a red hole. Red holes are much more dangerous; they had affected the life of James T. Kirk since the day he was born.
The Enterprise approaches, and its tractor beam locks on the alien craft. It pulls the craft away from the black hole as the bridge crew keeps watch on the instruments and dials. Both ships get further and further away from the black hole.
"We should be safe," says Sulu. "Shutting down tractor beam."
The two ships orbit the black hole at about forty Schwarzschild radii from the center.
"Sensors indicate the ship has a near total loss of power," says the lieutenant. "Without life support…."
"Sick bay," says Captain Kirk, "prepare a quarantine; we're beaming survivors in."
Ooooooo
Mux feels tingling, and he finds himself in completely unfamiliar surroundings. He glances around, seeing his fellow crewmates.
"We seem to have been transported, sir," says Jalven. "Just like before."
"Acknowledged."
"We got wounded," says one of the crewmen.
Mux and the others look at the other side of this glass pane. There were people on the other side, covered head to toe in these suits. They had two arms and two legs, judging from the shape of the suits. They could hear speech in a language unfamiliar with them.
"The skipper's dead," says another crewmen.
Mux lowers his head in grief. He had known the skipper for fifteen years. He briefly recalls the many adventures they had together, the alien artifacts they recovered, their celebrations in taverns on various worlds, his attendance of his wedding in Ytrol.
"What do we do now?" asks Jalven.
"We wait. And hope they are not pirates."
oooooooooooo
Captain's log. During a scan of a black hole, a ship appeared out of nowhere and was nearly torn apart by the black hole's tidal forces. We rescued the ship and her crew was transported to the quarantine area next to sick bay. Lieutenant Uhura is working on coming up with a translation for the aliens' language, based upon their conversations.
"The translation matrix is ready, Captain," says Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, the chief communications officer for the Enterprise. "I'm patching you to the quarantine area."
"Copy, Lieutenant," replies Captain Kirk, sitting inside his ready room. The screen shows the quarantine area. He takes a look at the aliens. They have a humanoid shape. They all have bone ridges along their jaw and one ridge eack extending from the eyes to the top of their heads. Their skin has spots. These particular aliens are dressed in rough clothing.
"This is Captain Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise," he says. "We have rescued your ship from the black hole. Is there anyone there who speaks with authority."
Kirk sees the aliens speak to each other. He can hear snippets of words in English, as the aliens speak to each other.
"I am Mux," says one of the aliens. "I am..now Captain of the Gronte. We thank you for saving us."
"You are welcome, Captain Mux. Listen, our medical staff will check you and your crew for any pathogens that may be hazardous to our ship. In the meantime, we have an engineering team at our disposal to help you fix your ship. If we can fix your warp drive, you can head to the nearest friendly world or starbase."
"I see," answers Mux. "Jalven is chief engineer now. He should be able to help."
"Listen, Mux, the Federation has never encountered your language before. We should do some talking. Our translation matrix can learn your language, allowing us to understand each other better. Scotty is going to need that when he and your chief engineer beam to your ship."
Oooooo
"I don't know if I can do this," says Jalven. "I've only helped the chief."
"You are the chief now," says Mux. "Just like I am a Captain." He whispers in Jalven's ear. "Be very careful of what you say."
"Okay, Mux," says the man calling himself Captain Kirk. "Where are you from?"
"My world is called Rinax," says the captain of the Gronte. "It is a moon, orbiting its planet Talax. I lived on Rinax colony. My ship's homeport is on a deep space dock in that same system."
"What is mission of your ship?"
"Well, Captain Kirk, we are a merchant ship. We ply our wares in many places like Trabus and Banea. We also do salvage work. It is quite a lucrative business, especially in our part of the galaxy."
"And where is that?" asks Kirk.
"Actually, I don't know, now. Perhaps accessing the Gronte's nav systems will let us know where we are. So what does your Enterprise do?"
"we are on a five year mission to explore the galaxy, seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."
"Very similar to what we do. Us merchant crews have to explore the unknown to find new opportunities."
"I'm sure your engineer wants to check on your ship."
Ooooooooooo
Several shimmering lights appear inside the now dead cabin of the Gronte, and several people, all in space suits, materialize.
"Can ye tell me where the engineering section is?" asks Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, the chief engineer of the Enterprise.
"We'll lead you there," replies Jalven. They walk along the dark corridors, with magnetic clamps allowing their feet to stick to the surface.
"We can't use the left, so we'll have to use this ladder."
One by one, the engineers of both the Gronte and the Enterprise descend down a ladder. Scotty looks around with his flashlight, seeing yet another piece of alien technology.
Even so, he recognizes damage when he sees it, with wires and conduits hanging loose from the ceiling.
The chief engineer sees a weird glow on his space suit.
"There is the antimatter tank," says Jalven. Scotty looks at it, an upright, glowing cylinder.
Jalven then removes a panel and hands it to an engineering assistant, as ther gravity system is offline. He looks at a piece of mangled, charred equipment, with pipes and wires broken.
"Oh, this is bad," he says. "These relays are fused beyond repair. We're going to have to fabrticate a new assembly."
It's worse than that," says an engineering assistant, pointing a hand.
Both Scotty and Jalven look at the direction. They see a hole in the bulkhead, opening to empty space.
They both know the ship would have be towed into a spacedock for full repairs.
"let's access the nacv records," says Jalven.
Ooooooooooo
Commander Spock enters the bridge of the Enterprise. The bridge is the nerve center of this ship, with consoles where crewmen and officer oversee and operate the ship's systems.
"Captain," he says, "we found something from the navigation records of the Gronte.
"We'll speak in my ready room," replies Kirk. "Sulu, you have the bridge for now."
"Yes, sir," replies Sulu.
The two men go into the captain's ready room adjacent to the bridge. The two men had known each other for three years. Their first meeting had been at Starfleet Academy, when Kirkm was a cadet and Spock was an instructor. Due to unusual circumstances, Kirk became captain of the enterprise shortly afterward.
"Okay, Spock, what did we learn about our new guests."
"Well, Jim, due to the hull breach in the Gronte's engineering section, we can not make the ship spaceworthy here. It will be necessary to either tow the ship to the nearest friendly starbase or summon a repair ship."
"That I'm not worried about. We're not too far from friendly territory. We might be able to call in a favor."
"We know where the ship came from. We compared the Gronte's navigational data to our own star charts."
"And what did you find?"
"The Gronte's home port in the Talax system is in the far end of the Delta Quadrant, about seventy thousand light years from Earth. And from what we can tell, they traversed this distance in less than one day."