MONDO EXTRAS

Kirk logs that they are following the alien ship into an unexplored section of the galaxy. Meanwhile, Kirk tries to get info out of the Cestus III survivor. Given that all the other beds in sickbay are empty, he must have been the only one. The survivor doesn't know anything. The aliens attacked without warning and without explanation. The survivor gets so beside himself with overacting that Kirk tells him to calm down. Man, you know you're playing it too broad when Kirk tells you to ease up. Either that or you're stepping on too many Shattoes. Kirk confirms that the messages they received from Cestus III were all faked. Look here, Kirk and Spock already told us that -- why the reconfirmation accompanied by You Must Get Scared Now music?

"It was a trap! Getting the Enterprise to come to Cestus III, getting us and our whole crew to come ashore!" Kirk announces in his kwarters. Okay, let's be real here -- your "whole crew"? It was you, Spock, Bones, and three tacticians -- that's not even a tenth of your crew complement of eighty-some, so stop exaggerating, Kirque de Soleil. Kirk insists that the massacre at Cestus III and the attempt to put the Enterprise out of business point to only one answer: invasion. I guess he means of Earth, but he doesn't exactly say -- wait! I've got it -- it's the Xindi, isn't it? They've come to stop a destruction in their past that could happen in their future if they don't turn around, hop on one foot, and spit over their left shoulder in the present, right? Right? Spock tries to argue that there could be other explanations for such an attack -- yes, mine! -- but Kirk has already taken off his listening ear. I sense a Kirktasrophe on the schedule tonight. Finally, Spock amends that there is only one thing to do: make sure that the alien ship never reaches its home plate. Kirk agrees, and orders Sulu to overtake the alien ship. He then orders phasers loaded and primed for his firing orders. A siren goes off, and Spock looks disappointed in his captain's inability to see anything beyond the kill. Except for that bit of obviousness at the beginning, which wasn't really his but more the writers' fault, I love Nimoy's subtlety in this episode. "All hands, this is the Captain. We are going into battle. All hands to battle stations. Red alert, I repeat, red alert. This is no drill, this...is...no...drill!" Kirk announces to the ship. Can someone tell me if this is a drill?