me trainin’, but I’ve this congenital dislike o’ bein’ rushed. Especially when it involves new weapons systems and potential warp core breaches. Letting those things on the Enterprise is the last straw.”
Kirk frowned. “I’m missing something, Mr. Scott. What was the first straw?”
“What was . . . ?” The chief engineer struggled to contain himself. “There are plenty of straws. A middle straw was Starfleet confiscatin’ my transwarp equation and now some madman’s using it to hop across the galaxy. Where do you think he got it?”
Kirk was running out of time as well as patience. “Put your personal issues with Starfleet aside, Scotty. As you yourself just pointed out, this is not a typical mission. We have our orders.”
“That’s what scares me. The more atypical a job, the less I trust it. This is clearly a military operation. Those torpedoes make it so. C’mon, Captain. I mean, six dozen torpedoes? Of an entirely new type? In addition to our standard compliment of weaponry? Is this what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers, I thought we boldly went where no man has g—”
Knowing his chief engineer as well as he did, Kirk also knew this unresolved debate could go on for hours. He did not have hours. He was charged with taking the Enterprise out now. Nor did he want to linger and perhaps give Starfleet Command the opportunity to countermand Marcus’s directive. While he understood Scott’s position and empathized with his concern, he would not give in to it. Like everyone else on board, the chief would simply have to find a way to cope with an unusual situation.
“Mr. Scott, I’m not interesting in arguing the matter any further. Sign for the torpedoes. That’s an order.”
“An order, sir? You’re asking me to violate me own principles, t’go against me own judgment?”
“Don’t make such a major issue out of it, Scotty. It’s just a palette of new weaponry. Such deliveries are made all the time.”
“I kinna sign for them.” The chief folded his arms across his chest. “I’d be twa bubbles aff the center if I did.”
Kirk was equally adamant. “You will sign for them, Mr. Scott. You have no choice in this matter.”
“Is that so, Captain? You’re right about one thing: I do have no choice. No choice but t’resign me duties.”
It was the one response Kirk had not anticipated, and his surprise was evident. “Scotty. Come on, you can’t be serious.”
“As you say, you leave me no choice, Captain.”
More frustrated than angry, Kirk consulted his own quietly beeping information tablet. It was filling up fast with queries, requests, and demands for decisions only the ship’s captain could make. “You’re not leaving me a choice. I don’t have time—”
“D’you accept me resignation or not?”
Kirk tried one more time. “Will you as chief engineer sign for those torpedoes?”
“I will not.”
“Then I accept your resignation. You are relieved of duty, Mr. Scott.”
The chief looked shocked. This quickly gave way to a flush of anger, which he repressed, and finally to unabashed concern, which he did not.
“Jim—for the love a’ God, whatever happens, do not use those torpedoes.”
With that, Scott handed over his work tablet, turned, and strode away without so much as a backward glance. He did, however, throw a murderous glare in the direction of Keenser. There being no need for additional explanation of the chief engineer’s mood or meaning, Keenser likewise turned in his tablet and fell in beside his superior.
Kirk was left to wonder what he had just done. There wasn’t a better chief engineer in Starfleet than Montgomery Scott, and he had just accepted the older man’s resignation. Where was he going to find even a halfway suitable replacement? He had only moments in which to do so, not days or weeks. Even a competent chief would need time to familiarize himself with the Enterprise. Though platforms were unified across classes of ships, each vessel had its own peculiarities, its own modifications and upgrades that were specific to it. Furthermore, if he put in a request now, scarcely moments before scheduled departure, Starfleet was going to want to know why. Conflict between a captain and his chief engineer was unlikely to inspire confidence, and if word of Scott’s resignation got out, it might jeopardize the entire mission.
What was it Marcus had recalled that Pike had said about James T. Kirk? That he was impetuous? Had he just demonstrated that particular flaw?
Time. Dammit, he had no time. Especially for nonsense like this. No matter the