"Ve are coming out of varp speed," Ensign Pavel Andreievich Chekov announced.

The smeared glass of space gliding around the ship slowly dissipated until the individual shining stars were visible once again. Captain Kirk absently tapped his fingers on the edge of his seat, lost deep in thought. The scanners had suddenly picked up a fast approaching planet where none had been before.

The large planet loomed in the distance.  It was a depthless crystal black with swirling dark grey clouds. Large seas of crimson red covered the rest of the surface. From the display window, five of the seven moons were visible orbiting the marble black planet. 

The Enterprise was unable to acquire readings of the surface. If the planet housed any indigenous life forms, they had no idea how technologically advanced they were. Rather than suddenly "appear" just outside the atmosphere, it would be best if they approached gradually, giving the ship less chance of being attacked by a startled civilization when they suddenly appeared uninvited out of the black.

"Sir," Lieutenant Uhura said, breaking the captain out of his contemplation. "I'm picking up an incoming transmission," she paused for a moment, quickly double checking her display to ensure she was not mistaken. "It's from the planet surface, sir."

"On the screen," Captain Kirk told her, rising to his feet.

The dark space outside was instantaneously replaced by the enlarged image of a humanoid alien.  It had a fairly human like facial structure. But that was where all, if any, of the similarities ended. Its skin was a scaly dark color, almost a black hue of purple. Its eyes were like cloudy, pale blue marbles adhered to the skin. It's nose was sat squished deep into the face, the nostrils separate and far apart.  The lips were split down the middle, following a jagged suture that ran the length of its cranium.

When it briefly turned its head to the side, Kirk could see that its skull was elongated in the back. It turned back to the camera smiling, hundreds of yellowing teeth that were long, about the width of a piece of straw, and gleaming in the dim light.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise—" Captain Kirk began, but was quickly cut off by a loud hiss as the alien began to speak. Kirk and the rest of the crew winced as the audio system loudly transmitted the alien's speech. The alien cleared his throat.

"U- Ess-Ess Enterprisssse," It said, tilting his head to the side. "A Federation ship," He spit out the words as he leaned closer, his face filling the entire display. "There issss a Federation ship approaching the planet.

Kirk nodded. "We are with Starfleet, a—"

"Ssstarfleet?!" The alien spat. "You are Ssstarfleet?"

Kirk nodded. "Yes, we—"

The alien grimaced, the long rows of thin teeth filling the screen. "My planet hass been long awaiting your arrival!" He said, his voice taking on a deep, hissing quality. "Ssstarfleet." He repeated, tilting his large head curiously to the side, his small pale blue eyes studying the screen carefully. "Ssstarfleet, my people have ssssufered a long time. We are in dessperate need of your immediate assssistance!"

"The Enterprise is—"

"You mussst come to my planet at once." The alien continued, cutting off the captain once more. "You musssst bring all you can to help, we are in...desperate need of Starfleet assistance. Many of my people are in danger."

"In danger?" Captain Kirk repeated. "If you would care to elaborate more on the situation-"

"I shall sssend you coordinates on where you are to appear, in your...teleport beam...?" The alien hesitated a moment as it searched for the correct term. "Transsssporter..." It hissed to itself, finally finding the right words. "We will all be waiting for your arrival." The alien paused then leaned closer, baring his teeth. "Do not delay," he warned. "Or many will perissshh. Hurry."

The communications abruptly ended. The screen that was just a moment ago filled with the image of the strange alien returned to the blackness of space. Captain Kirk continued to stare through the empty window. A heavy silence settled over the crew on the bridge as they waited for the captain's next orders.

"Commander Spock, a word," Kirk said. Spock stood. "Sulu, you have the conn."

"Yes sir," Sulu said.

"Continue our course towards the planet." Kirk ordered.

"Aye sir!"

"Keep her crawling forward," Kirk continued. "Be prepared to raise shields if need be. Have the crew on full alert."

The crew quickly returned to their various jobs as Spock and Kirk headed towards the door. Uhura exchanged a quick glance with Spock, the concern evident in her deep brown eyes.

"This is a highly unusual situation," Spock said as soon as the doors to the turbolift slid shut behind them. "Continuing a course to the planet may be incredibly dangerous as the indigenous life forms are already knowledgeable about our existence. It is very likely that we are being lured into a trap."

"Yep, I know, Mr. Spock."

"Starfleet regulation 157, section 3, paragraph 18 prohibit the interference with—"

"He was able to communicate with the Enterprise to ask for help, meaning we have to assume they have at least some form of advanced technology and they also have knowledge of Starfleet. It wouldn't be considered a violation of the prime directive, " Captain Kirk said, interrupting his first officer as they exited the elevator and continued to walk down the hall. "And that's another thing I don't get. If we're the only Starfleet vessel to venture this far into the nebula, how did they know we were part of the Federation?"

"Perhaps the species had knowledge of the Federation through other means," Spock replied. "The individual was not a species the Federation is familiar with, however it is unwise to assume this is the species first contact with the Federation. Starfleet sent out approximately twenty-seven Magellan probes to chart the unknown regions of space residing within the Necro Cloud nebula. Perhaps this individual did as Captain Balthazar Edison on Altamid, and was able to reverse the emitting signal of the probe in order to receive information on the Federation and Starfleet."

"But why ask for our help? I mean all the way out here in uncharted territory, most people just want to be left alone. It just doesn't make sense."

"I too feel unease about this situation," Spock commented.

Kirk looked at him, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "Really?"

"I was merely using your vernacular in order to convey a concept," Spock said as Kirk looked away rolling his eyes. "There was certain aspect of the communication that—"

"—that felt a little off, right?" Kirk said to himself.

Spock looked at his friend, the faintest traces of a smile pulling at the edge of his lips. "Precisely."