"Mr. Sulu, set course for the co-ordinates received from the Federation", Kirk ordered.
"But Captain, I haven't--- Setting the course"
"Captain, may I ask you why we are headed to a planet in the uncharted space?" Spock added his speculation upon seeing the co-ordinates on Sulu's screen. The last time they went on a rescue mission into the uncharted Nebula the Enterprise was destroyed. The ship's crew resumed their five-year exploratory mission on their new ship the USS Enterprise-A. The mission remained unaltered until Captain James Kirk received an intel from the Federation.
"The Federation has received a distress signal - call it a 'cry for help' - from that planet and we are closest to it. So, they ordered us to take a look at it before they engage", Kirk finally unraveled the mystery behind the intel he received.
"The apparent reluctance in your voice suggests that you are enforced to carry out this command", Spock pressed on for more details.
"The Federation has denied to provide any additional information regarding the distress call and to hear my speculations about it. It seems that they are desperate about finding the source of this signal, whilst putting us in unknown danger."
"Danger?? But, we have been to uninhabited planets without any intel before. Ain't this any different?" Uhura expressed her uncertainty.
Kirk and Spock exchanged nervous looks for a moment and then Spock broke the silence, "That is because we always warp to a known location and continue exploring. But-"
"The Federation wants us to warp exactly to those co-ordinates and report back", Kirk finished. "They stated that this location is far deep in space that without warping to this exact location we will be wandering around in space because the Federation has no space station or a known habitable planet nearby."
The monitor, Chekov was working on, has beeped, he ran a calculation for the distance of this unknown location and his eyes were widened upon seeing the result. "Captain, the location is about 250 light years away from here and warping there will consume almost 55% of the fuel left."
"Chekov, check for the nearest space station to that location."
"Nothing is charted for about 100 light years from that location in the Federation's archives."
"Unbelievable! It seems we will be on our own on this expedition."
The ambience aboard the Enterprise-A had been quite for about two years but this apprehension disturbed the peaceful lives of the crew. For about an hour, they had been debating on how to save the fuel on this voyage. Evidently, the Enterprise-A was not designed for such long voyages. Kirk and Uhura were keenly listening to Spock's theory for reaching the location economically and early, but it was cast aside by Kirk.
"Captain, you mentioned you had speculations about this voyage. What were they?" Spock asked out of oblivion.
Kirk wasn't sure why that mattered the most now to Spock but decided not to judge his decision. "They weren't disclosing the contents of the message they received. Moreover, it wasn't the Admiral of the Starfleet Command that issued this order, it was directly from the President of the Federation. Apart from the Federation, no system has long range communication beyond 300 light-years. If they intended the Federation to receive the message then they know about us. Placing a Starship, this starship, with brilliant navigational system in the entire fleet, amidst nowhere endangers the ship as well as it's crew."
Spock admired Kirk's intellect and also ridiculed his approach on a matter this small. "I say we have a probability of 18% of endangering our lives. Taking your argument into consideration, we can also receive the same message by tuning into different frequency ranges. But that will consume a lot of time which we do not have if what you say the message was 'cry for help'."
Kirk was amazed to see Spock not being aboard with his suspicion. He chose what is best to do for now. "Lieutenant Uhura, scan all the frequencies and check whether we can receive any distress signal. Mr. Sulu, warp us there whenever you are ready."