staying aboard.
I'm sorry, Will.
No, Admiral,
I don't think you're sorry.
Not one damn bit.
I remember when you recommended me
for this command.
You told me how envious you were
and how much you hoped...
you'd find a way to get
a starship command again.
Well, sir,
it looks like you found a way.
Report to the bridge,
Commander, immediately.
Aye, sir.
Transporter room!
Come in! Urgent!
Redline on the transporter,
Mr. Scott!
Transporter, do not engage!
-It's too late. They're beaming now.
-Do not--
Do you read me, Starfleet?
Override it! Pull them back!
Unable to retrieve their pattern,
Enterprise.
Give it to me.
Starfleet, boost your matter gain.
We need more signal.
More signal!
- We're losing their pattern!
- Oh, no, they're forming.
Starfleet, do you have them?
Enterprise, what we got back
didn 't live long, fortunately.
Starfleet, Kirk.
Please express my condolences
to their families.
Commander Sonak's can be reached
through the Vulcan embassy.
There was nothing
you could have done, Rand.
It wasn't your fault.
Yeoman, turboshaft 8?
Back that way, sir.
We have to replace
Commander Sonak.
I'd still like a Vulcan there,
if possible.
None available, Captain.
In fact, there's no one
who's fully rated on this design.
You are, Mr. Decker.
I'm afraid you're going to have
to double as science officer.
That's all we know about it...
except that it is now
53.4 hours away from Earth.
Enterprise is the only Federation
starship that stands in its way.
Our orders are to intercept...
investigate and take
whatever action is necessary...
and possible.
Bridge to Captain.
Priority signal from Epsilon 9.
- Put it on viewer.
- On viewer, sir.
Enterprise, the cloud is definitely
a power field of some kind.
Measures-- My God--
over two AU's in diameter.
Must be something incredible
inside there generating it.
We're transmitting lingua code
friendship messages...
on all frequencies.
No response.
have a null reading
at the center of the cloud.
Definitely something inside there,
but scans are being reflected back.
- Some kind of power surge.
- Receiving an odd pattern now.
Enterprise, they could be mistaking
our scans as a hostile act.
They seem to be reactingto our scans, sir.
Deflectors, emergency full!
- We are under attack.
- External view.
Viewer off.
Prelaunch countdown
will commence in 40 minutes.
Transporter system fully repaired
and functioning normally, sir.
Dock signals clear, Captain.
Reply we are holding position,
awaiting final crew replacements.
Aye, sir.
Transporter personnel reports...
the navigator, Lieutenant Ilia--
She's already aboard
and en route to the bridge, sir.
She's Deltan, Captain.
Lieutenant Ilia
reporting for duty, sir.
Welcome aboard, Lieutenant.
- Hello, Ilia.
- Decker.
I was stationed on the lieutenant's
home planet some years ago.
Commander Decker?
Yes, our exec and science officer.
Captain Kirk has
the utmost confidence in me.
And in you, too, Lieutenant.
My oath of celibacy
is on record, Captain.
- May I assume my duties?
- By all means.
Starfleet reports our last six
crew members are ready to beam up...
but one of them is refusing
to step into the transporter.
Oh? I'll see to it
that he beams up.
Transporter room.
- Yeoman?
- Yes, sir?
- What was the problem down there?
- He insisted we go first, sir.
Said something about first seeing
how it scrambled our molecules.
Has a familiar ring, doesn't it?
Starfleet, this is Captain Kirk.
Beam that officer up now.
Well, for a man who swore
he'd never return to Starfleet--
Just a moment, Captain, sir.
I'll explain what happened.
Your revered Admiral Nogura
invoked a little-known...
seldom-used
reserve activation clause.
In simpler language, Captain,
they drafted me!
They didn't.
This was your idea.
This was your idea, wasn't it?
Bones, there's a thing out there.
Why is any object we don't
understand always called a thing?