The Badlands (Book One)

THE ENTERPRISE dropped out of warp and slowed to full-impulse speed. As the warp field collapsed, the streaks on the viewscreen turned to twinkling lights. A blur of red and orange obscured the majority of the starfield on the screen.

James T. Kirk, captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise, sat forward. He had never seen anything quite like this before. Layer upon layer of red, orange, and opaque white clouds.

"What is it, Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Enhancing sensors." Spock bent over his monitor and viewed the phenomenon through the computer readouts. The monitor reflected a green light into Spock's face, accenting his pallor and his upswept Vulcan brows. "It appears to be a plasma storm, Captain."

"I've never seen one this big before," Kirk murmured.

"There is no record in our database of such a phenomenon," Spock agreed.

The image grew larger, and now the individual ribbons of color could be seen, twisting and wrapping around one another. The storms glistened with an inner light, which meant only one thing to Kirk -- power. Power enough to cause disruptions in their warp field and make them drop from warp six to three, then to one as they approached the rendezvous coordinates provided by Starfleet Command. The Enterprise had left Federation territory days ago.

"The plasma mass is approximately eighty-four parsecs in width." Spock's voice was slightly muffled, as he was absorbed in reading the scanner. "It is roughly spherical in shape, and exerts a strong gravitational pull."

"Approximately eighty-four parsecs ... ," Kirk repeated in wonder.

"Most curious." Spock turned to examine the viewscreen. As usual, his expression was impassive. "I cannot obtain a precise measurement of the phenomenon. There appears to be a disruption in the scanner readings caused by the plasma emissions at this proximity to the storms."