Engage

"Scotty," said the captain. "A moment of your time."

"Aye, sir?" The engineer looked wary.

"I've been reading up on warp engines recently. I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. I was hoping you could give me a little... tutoring, I suppose? Practical demonstrations?"

Scotty cast his gaze down. "Well, sir, I'm afraid I've got to come clean with you. There's no such thing as warp engines."

"Come again?"

"It's magic, sir. Sacrificial goats and black rites. Engineers are all wizards." He shrugged. "Didn't you ever notice the explanations don't hang together from one crisis to another?"

First Contact

The speakers growled and chattered gibberish. "Someone tell me what I'm listening to," said MacMullan.

"Well, we keep watch on a number of frequency bands, as you know..." Vittier began.

MacMullan snapped his fingers. "Skip it. Digest version."

"It's a signal that appears, to our best calculations, to be originating from somewhere in Ontario." Vittier pointed to the map. "We're not sure how they boosted the signal so much. It's aimed at SZ104.5.12, an A-class main sequence star. It... it seems to have been answered. We intercepted a response."

"Someone's communicating with ETs?"

"Yes, sir." Vittier coughed. "In Klingon."