Kirk looked back at the ship on the view screen, shrugged.  “I’m not sure that we really should…but leaving this ship here with a crew that may be dieing could potentially become a problem.”  He moved to Spock and added, “Especially if someone else somehow got a hold of her and began tearing up the time line with it.”

Spock nodded.  “There is a potential risk to the timeline, so I suggest that we keep the away team small.”

Kirk agreed; even though temporal mechanics was theory now, he knew that damaging the timeline more than he might have already in the past could cause serious problems.

“I want you with me,” he said.  “I also want Chekov and Bones with us.  Otherwise that should be all.”

“As a note,” Spock added, “We’ll have to take a shuttle over, as our transporters will not penetrate their hull in its present condition.”

Kirk frowned at that statement.  “Do you really think, though, that our old codes will still work on that thing?”

Spock furrowed his brow, then responded, “I am uncertain.  It would be logical to keep them the same in case of any problems, but it also would be logical to alter them in the event that an enemy force acquired older codes.”

Kirk narrowed his eyes at Spock.  “So what you’re trying to say is: ‘we won’t know until we try it.’”

Spock nodded.  “I believe I just said that.”

“At the current rate of tachyon decay,” Spock said from his seat in the shuttle craft, “our scanners should be able to penetrate the hull in a few hours.”

Kirk stared at the ship from the window, behind Chekov’s pilot seat.  “I don’t want to wait that long.  Is there a way to get our subspace command signal through to open the shuttle bay?”

Spock examined his readings for a moment, then looked up at Kirk.  “I believe so.  There appears to be a small emergency receiving array right next to the bay doors.”

Kirk nodded, then looked at McCoy.  “The only problem is, what if there’s someone inside of the shuttle bay,” McCoy said, eyeing Kirk.  “If so, we could have a problem…”

After a moment of thought, Kirk nodded.  “You’re right.”  He turned back around to look at the ship.  “Have the Enterprise ready to beam anyone aboard that may fly out.  I don’t want to wait for answers, not when the people aboard could be injured, even dieing.”

Spock nodded and moved to transmit.  Kirk continued to stare out the window, wondering what brought this ship here…wondering why it hasn’t moved and why the crew hasn’t attempted to contact, even if only to warn them from coming aboard…

The shuttle began to pass over the bow, and as it did, Kirk noticed the difference in hull structure.  He didn’t see any sort of phaser nodes anywhere on the hull.  However, like the Enterprise, this ship had grid lines that he assumed was the shield grid.  A large array of devices was inset in the hull just in front of the registry, and he could only guess as to what it was.  Although it almost looked like a very large and bulky sensor unit…

The windows on the top three decks were huge, or at least the forward facing ones were, allowing the crew an easy view inside.  As they passed close by, right next to the bridge dome, they could see a few people inside of the second deck…but they were all lying on the floor, apparently unconscious.

“Well, we know why they haven’t responded to hails,” McCoy commented, now next to Kirk, staring out the window as well.  “I tried to look up effects of tachyon radiation…but there is nothing in the database.”

Kirk shrugged, staring as they now passed by the bridge.  “Well, we’ll have a chance to find out now…”

Chekov pointed his hand at the starboard nacelle.  “That looks like a Starfleet delta sign on the nacelle.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.  “Those looked like humans in the window, a Starfleet marquee…I think it really has become safe to assume that this really is a Federation starship.”

After a few more moments, the shuttle finally passed by the ship, the four trying their best to keep looking at the ship until it was out of view.  A moment later, Chekov rotated the shuttle one eighty degrees and centered the front on the shuttle bay, bringing the shuttle to a stop.

Kirk looked at Spock, then nodded.  “All right, Spock…let’s see what happens.”

Spock nodded, then began transmission.  They waited impatiently for a moment, anxious to see if they would be able to get on board or not.  It was safe to assume that if the codes didn’t work on the shuttle bay, they wouldn’t work on the cargo hatches either…so this was their only trial run.

Finally, after a moment, a confirmation tone sounded.  A moment later, the bay doors began to slowly open upwards, similar to how the bay doors on a Miranda class starship worked.

“I’m reading a static energy field encompassing the bay door frame,” Spock reported.  “If I understand its nature, it is meant to keep oxygen and pressure inside the bay while allowing craft to enter and leave…”

Kirk felt his eye brows raise in surprise.  “An atmospheric force field…now why don’t we have anything like that yet?”

He looked at Spock, who frowned at the question.  “To create a stable field that keeps pressure in, but allows vessels to pass through simply is not a possible engineering feat in our time.”

Kirk smiled, then looked back at the open doors.  “That looks like a shuttle inside of it.”

After a moment, Spock confirmed.  “It appears so, though it has not suffered the level of tachyon radiation that the ship has.  I am also reading…a very small warp reactor in the shuttle.”  He looked at Kirk with utter awe…an emotion.  “The technology is far superior to our own.  The shuttle appears to have half of everything our shuttle has, but is capable of the same warp power.”

He definitely understood what Spock was saying: who ever these people were, they definitely possessed great technology.

“Chekov, set us down just inside of the bay,” he ordered.  “Let’s keep it as close to the exit as possible.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The shuttle began to move forward again, giving them all a clearer view of the future shuttle as they went along.  It looked very streamlined, and most definitely looked like it was designed by the same designer as the future starship itself.  Even the warp nacelles appeared to be the same.

After a few moments, they began to pass through the atmospheric force field, which flared to life as they passed through it.  However, once they were through and were a couple meters in, Spock confirmed, “There has been no drop in pressure.”

A moment later, the shuttle settled to the deck with a dull thump.  Once everything was confirmed, Chekov began the shut down sequence.

Kirk moved to the back of the shuttle and was about to open it when he paused.  He turned back to the other three and looked each in the eye.  “What we’ve already witnessed and what we are about to witness must never leave the four of us.  We are to share it with no one.  That is a direct order.  If anyone can not agree to that, you will remain here on the shuttle.”

As he had expected, everyone nodded their heads, eliciting a smile from him.  “OK, then…let’s do this.”

He turned around again and finally pressed the command to open the back.  Slowly, the back opened and rotated down to form a ramp onto the deck of the Dragon.  Kirk stuck his head out and looked around.  Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, he walked down the ramp and onto the deck.

McCoy and Spock quickly followed, tricorders already out and scanning about the place.  As Chekov joined them, placing a phaser in his belt holster, Spock commented, “Tachyon radiation is still high enough to disrupt our tricorders.  They are effective up to a radius of three meters, though that will slowly increase as time passes.”

Kirk nodded.  “All right, then, first thing’s first.  Let’s find someone and revive them.”  Kirk stared out the open shuttle bay doors for a moment, at the stars, marveling at the force field technology.  Then, he moved.  “Let’s try to keep our noses out of what they don’t belong in.”

The group proceeded around the shuttle and further away from the aft of the Dragon.  All marveled at the future shuttle as they passed by it, the registry number of the Dragon across its beautifully curved hull line.

“I wish our shuttles were as streamlined as this,” McCoy commented.  “But then this one doesn’t look quite as roomy as our standard shuttles…”

Kirk shrugged.  “Maybe in the future, humans don’t mind cramped quarters.”

He looked at McCoy, who shrugged.  “Maybe, or maybe the Starfleet designers from the future are like ours and only care about efficiency, not human comfort.”

Kirk smiled, then came to a stop at the doors, which had just parted for them.  The double doors seemed extremely heavy duty, probably meant to create a seal between the shuttle bay and the rest of the ship.  At least engineers are still smart enough to be cautious…

“OK, it probably won’t take us long to find someone,” he said.  “When we do, it may be a species far different from what we’re used to.”  He thought for a moment.  “It could even be a Klingon, what with all of these peace talks.  So try to remain…diplomatic.”

He waited another moment, then passed through the double doors into the corridor.  The ship seemed a lot more advanced in even the corridors, and they even seemed somewhat more comfortable than the Enterprise did.  Kirk marveled as he saw many lit interfaces that appeared to be much more advanced than anything he’d seen even on Starbases.

It didn’t take them long to find the first person, who was a woman with small ridges on her nose.  She wore a black and grayish uniform with a yellow collar with one small disc on her collar.  What caught his attention was the delta symbol on her chest…  McCoy immediately kneeled next to her and started taking tricorder readings.

“Well, Jim, she’s a species we haven’t encountered just yet,” he said.  “Near as I can tell, though, there’s increased tachyon saturation all over her nervous system.  It’s dissipating faster than the radiation on the hull.”  He stood up and stored his tricorder.  “I’d say she has another couple of minutes before she regains consciousness.”

He nodded.  “All right, then, let’s get to the bridge.  I want to be there when they all regain consciousness.”

“Scotty!” Uhura said, getting his attention from the command chair.  I hate commanding…  “We’re receiving an emergency hail from Starfleet Command.”

He quickly stood up from the chair and moved forward.  “Let’s see it.”

The view screen immediately changed to show Admiral Bill Samson.  “Commander Scott!” he said, showing his surprise.  “Where is Captain Kirk?”

“He took an away team over to the ship we found,” Scotty said.  “You did get our message, did ya not, sir?”

Samson nodded.  “I did, but I have to order you away from the ship.  An unidentified vessel traveling at high warp was just reported in your sector by a small cargo ship.  The last report from the vessel was that the ship altered course to intercept the cargo ship.  We’ve not heard from them since.  Considering the incidence’s proximity to your location, we assume it’s related to the anomaly.”

Scotty frowned.  “Wouldn’t our sensors have picked up weapons fire if it was so close?”

Samson shook his head.  “We’re guessing that your proximity to the anomaly’s previous location is disrupting your sensors.  Can you get your away team back onboard?”

He shook his head and stepped forward once.  “No, sir.  The unidentified ship’s hull is still saturated with tachyon radiation, we can’t even get a transmission through to tell them to bring their shuttle back.”

The Admiral sighed and nodded.  “All right, I’d rather not have you leave your team there by themselves.  The Bozeman is the only other ship in the region.  Send all information you have about the anomaly and the ship you’re investigating to her.  Starfleet out.”