Six earth hours later we were still stuck. We could only use maneuvering jets/thrusters; and even that still caused the distortions to hit us. We had to rethink how we did this.

"Captain; sensors are showing an object moving towards us," said Xon. "Specify." "Unable to comply as yet..." He put it up on the viewer. We were all thinking a ship of some kind; as it had changed course. This could be our first, first contact scenario. Of course we also noticed how these potential alien life forms were navigating this area with ease. Obviously they were adapted navigators too. "It is a ship of some kind," said Amanda. "Its construction is native to this region." Donatra said, "Why can't we see it?" "It's because it's partly phased out of our space time continuum. It's using some kind of modified dark energy engine or equivalent to navigate the region." "Can you highlight it so we can 'see' it better?" "Yes captain; I can use reverse EM labeling to achieve that." Amanda's non Q wizardry came through. It was definitely an alien ship; non humanoid too. The ship was a large flat triangle; too small for humanoids to move around in. Other than that it was geometrically familiar.

"The object - ship - is coming to a stop now," said Xon. It stopped a few hundred meters away from us; it still remained phased out of our space time. "Tactical analysis," said Donatra. "I am unable to say commander," said Xon. "There is no frame of reference upon which to base this." I stood. "Open a channel." "Open." "To the alien vessel off our bow - I am Captain Diana Prince of the Federation starship Excelsior; we are peaceful explorers seeking first communications with you. Please respond."

Xon said, "They are captain." I nodded. A floating spherical being appeared on the screen (totally non humanoid like the exotic/intriguing Sheliak/Tholians; I loved it!). The front of it was covered in several dozen eyes or similar. "Greetings," it said in many voices; at least that was how the UT rendered it. "We are the Nax." Short/sweet; I like that. It seemed to be a collective intelligence. I was new to first contacts in Starfleet service but hardly as WW; as the latter I'd made countless similar encounters. "To whom am I speaking?" "Nax; we are all Nax." Definitely collective intellect. "Nax - you seem very adept at navigating this region. We are having difficulties..." "Yes; we of Nax can see that. We can help with that." "Anything you can do would be helpful; it would also go a long way to building a bridge between our peoples." "Yes; we of Nax understand this. We believe in kindness." Huzzah for that! The multiversal constants were mathematics and love, I always said.

Xon said, "We are receiving a complex data stream captain; it is in sequential numerical code." As I said - mathematics. "Is the UT translating it well enough?" "Yes captain." Amanda tapped into the data stream. "It appears to be a dark energy revision to the Cochrane equation. The core constants are still the same but with twenty new variables. This will affect our navigation completely from impulse to warp. Captain - this is a hell of a find. It might have taken us decades to have uncovered this equation variant naturally."

"Thank you Nax." "Of course. You are...individuals?" "Yes. You are a collective intelligence?" "Yes. We are individuals too but we've always been Nax too. Ultimately we will always be Nax." "I'd love to meet you in person but there are vast physical differences between us." "Yes. You are too large for our ship and we are not fully in your space time continuum." Of course we could Q workaround some of that if needed to better facilitate diplomacy here. "Yes that is true; but at least we can still communicate." "Yes indeed; one called Captain Prince."

"Are there many other life forms such as yourself in this region?" "Yes; several dozen. They, like us, are all non humanoid." "Are they peaceful?" "Most; but the feline Talanath should be avoided." Sounded like "talon". Whether or not that tied in was hard to say. Felines typically had claws. It was as I tried to think of these potentially dangerous Talanath that nemesis Cheetah entered my mind... "Do you have any data on these Talanath or others that you are wiling to share?" "Of course. We are not explorers as you are. We are typically content staying close to our homes." "Understood. Thank you for your help; and for this enlightening first meeting." "Of course captain. We should like to meet face to face but that should be delayed for now." "Agreed Nax. I'm sure your help will prove invaluable." "We hope so as well. We of Nax wish you a pleasant journey!"

They moved off. Thankfully they were gentle/peaceful. Amanda said, "That was a hell of a first contact, captain." "Yes. Now, about our engines...?" As though right on Q cue, Wesley entered the bridge tapping away at a tablet. "Captain - Amanda sent me the Nax engine data. This is incredible! The variables take the Cochrane equation beyond its original dimensions. These new variables take into account dark energy, subspace and overlapping cosmic gravity fields. Bottom line - we should be back in the game." "That's what I like to hear." He walked down to join me in the command area. "I reviewed the first contact too..." "Offer your input Mister Crusher; your Enterprise/traveler experience is considerably relevant here." "Nothing but heaped praises captain. You handled it well. But as Nax said, there are many others; and then there are these Talanath..."

Donatra said, "They should be our focus for now. At least until we know what we are dealing with." "Agreed," said Xon. I hadn't expected any disagreement there from the tactical staff. "Mister Crusher, based on the Nax data how soon can we get back to warp?" "I already have my staff working on it. We estimate low factors within the hour; possibly higher ones gradually after that."

I nodded. "Good. We might have just gotten lucky here. Let's prevent it from happening again if we can help it." This wasn't directed at my crew; how could it be? But now that the Nax had illuminated our regional understanding we had to be more on our guard given what they had shared. Yet everything made it seem that our mission here was still doable. Thus we would move forward with that modified view in place until proven different.