Her worst fears came true. From her communications earpiece, Leiutenant Davies heard the chirp of a communications hail. A quick analysis of her panel couldn't reveal its source. She slowly turned to Commander Kirk. In a low voice, she said, "Commander we're being hailed. I don't know from where. It's audio only."
As if some unseen band director had given them a queue, everyone on the bridge turned to Elaine at the same time. Kirk swallowed. "I guess they went for the bait. Put them through." She clicked a few buttons, then nodded. Kirk sat up straight. "This is Commander Kirk of the USS Nightengale. With whom am I speaking?"
The voice was higher pitched than Kirk figured. It was rough, however. It spoke in broken English and with some kind of impediment. "You are a long way from home, little starship." The voice said simply.
Kirk walked over to T'Nia's station. She was staring at her console intensely. He tapped her on the shoulder, pointed to his eyes, then the speakers, then her console. She correctly interpreted that as 'can you see them from?' She shook her head.
Doubts raced through Stephen's mind. Was the tacheon burst working? Could their cloaking technology have defeated tacheons? Was he really ready for this? He closed his eyes for a moment. This was not the time for doubts. In as stern a voice as he could muster, Stephen replied. "We are exactly where we are supposed to be. Is this the captain of the Rapier I am speaking to?"
"It is." the voice replied. "Your presence in the Neutral Zone is a violation of our treaty, Commander."
As the voice spoke, Kirk looked to Leiutenant Davies and put two fingers to his lips, the 'mute' sign. She complied, then responded, "Muted, Commander."
Kirk nodded and looked to Tony. "Is the tacheon burst working?"
Tony had already been looking over the program. He looked up from his console and shrugged. "It's working fine, Commander."
The voice continued, "Your presence here could be considered an act of war."
"Commander," T'Nia started, "the scanning range of the tacheon burst is much more limited than normal sensors. It's entirely possible the burst is working fine, but they are out of range."
"We have to find them," Kirk stated flatly. He looked to Davies. "Is there any way you can get us in the general viscinity of that ship?
She thought a moment, the fear of their present situation pushed to the back of her mind. "If we had any type 3, 4, or 5 probes, I could use one of them."
Kirk shook his head. "We don't have any probes. Any other ideas?"
"You should turn that little ship of your around or you may start an interstellar incident." There was laughter heard in the background.
She thought some more. "Well, as long as they don't move, if we got closer to them, I could track the signal strength. That would get us in the area... until they moved, anyway." She tried to look hopeful.
"I tell you what, Commander. If you give me the name of your spy on Remus, we'll forget this ever happened. What do you say?" Even though the communication was audio, everyone knew the Reman captain was smiling.
"Bristol," Kirk spun around to his helmsman. "use the maneuvering thrusters. Turn us back towards Remus. Let's go under the assumption that we were on the way."
"Aye, aye, Commander." Tyler put the commands into his console. Ever so slowly, the vessel complied with the new instructions.
"Commander," Elaine started. "I need them to talk so I can trace them."
"Right. Turn us back on." He thought for a moment while Davies unmuted the system. "First of all, you must be as dumb as you are ugly for thinking we'd believe a lie like that. Second, we're not quite as defenseless as you think." Kirk smiled.
The gruff voice sounded quite upset. "How DARE you? I will smash your ship to pieces, then take what I want! I see what you're doing. You're trying to home in on our conversation. I'm about to make it a little more difficult for you. Enjoy your last few moments of life, Commander. You have just sentenced your crew to death!"
"Commander," Elaine interjected quickly. "They're coming closer. I guess you got their attention."
"I guess so," Kirk replied with a smirk.
Suddenly, a loud beep came from T'Nia's station. "Commander," T'Nia exclaimed, "I have them...bearing 1-5-6 mark 0-1-9, twenty-five thousand kilometers and closing on a tangent."
The Reman captain's voice sounded amused. "A tacheon field. I am surprised."
Kirk's smile turned somewhat evil. "Oh, you have no idea." He turned towards Leiutenant Moreaux. This was almost too easy. "Leiutenant, drop the mask. Battlestations!"