Crossover - Michael Jan Friedman [28]
The operation, which established a link between the shuttle’s computer and that of the Yorktown, took less than a second to complete. Scotty had designed the computer interface from memory, and he was pleased by how well he had done.
Still, he made a few quick modifications now, based on what he had observed in his short time on board the Yorktown. Pronouncing the interface complete, he got up and headed for the bridge.
For each day of its nearly thirty years of active space duty, the Yorktown had required a full crew to run her effectively. In a few minutes, from the bridge, Scotty would slave the starship’s primary functions to the shuttle’s computer, which would handle them all with plenty of processing power to spare.
Then he would establish access to the shuttle’s computer via the Yorktown’s bridge stations. At that point, he would have full control over a vessel that had once been the pride of Starfleet. And it would only be possible because of a shuttle that was smaller than a cadet’s stateroom.
Entering the bridge, Scotty found it didn’t have quite the same effect on him this time. The initial surprise was gone, he supposed. And besides, he didn’t have the time to wax nostalgic.
Of course, he still felt the ghostly presence of his friends around him. But now they seemed to hover in the background, cheering him on.
Taking Sulu’s position at the helm, Scotty routed all ship’s functions to the shuttle. He was about to complete the last part of the process, transferring control of the shuttle to the starship’s bridge, when the proximity detector flashed on his board.
“Computer,” Scott said, “identify the vessel now in sensor range.”
“Working,” the computer replied. “Vessel is the U.S.S. Intrepid, Galaxy-class. Thank you for your inquiry and enjoy your starship adventure on the U.S.S. Yorktown.”
Damn, Scotty thought. They must have been scanning for his energy signature. Checking his sensors, he saw the ship approaching fast. It had just come into sensor range a few seconds earlier, and it was already almost on top of him. What’s more, the ship was on an intercept course.
“Well, that’s it, then,” Scotty told himself.
If the phasers were on-line and the photon torpedoes were loaded with antimatter—neither of which was the case—he might have thought about putting up a fight and trying to escape. It would have been a long shot, but he would have had a chance.
As it was, he was out of luck.
After all, as fine a vessel as the Yorktown was, she was no match for a modem starship. Hell, she couldn’t outrun even a fast shuttle these days.
Still, out of sheer stubbornness, he continued to try to complete the command setup before the Intrepid came into weapons range. Scotty could see the light on Uhura’s station indicating that the Intrepid was trying to hail him, but he couldn’t stop his work to answer the call.
Finally, the circuitry diagram on his monitor went from red to green. He had control of the shuttle and the shuttle had control of the ship. All functions were available through the helm.
Scotty felt a flush of pride at his accomplishment. Even at over a century old, the ship was a powerful force, and he’d found a way to harness it. However, it didn’t look like he was going to get a chance to put her capabilities to the test.
“Computer, what is the status of the Intrepid?” Scotty asked.
“Working,” the computer told him. “The Intrepid is hailing this vessel and focusing its tractor beam.”
Scotty felt the thump through the ship as the beam latched onto the Yorktown.
“Tractor engaged,” the computer added helpfully. “Thank you for your inquiry and enjoy your starship adventure on the U.S.S. Yorktown.”
It’s done, Scotty remarked inwardly. I’m done.
“Computer, put the Intrepid on the main viewscreen.
“Even as he spoke, the engineer found it hard to admit defeat. Had everything he’d done been for nothing?
Clearly the Yorktown wouldn’t be moving another light-second under his control. That meant his attempt to rescue Spock ended here as well.
And perhaps worst of all, he would never get a chance to reprogram