Crossover - Michael Jan Friedman [76]
Heading for the panel beside the door, he pressed his palm against it. To his relief, the mechanism wasn’t security-coded; it just opened. And a moment later, he was inside, with the others following close behind.
“Up on the platform with ye,” he told them, making his way toward the control bank.
“I can do that,” said Geordi.
“I’m sure ye can,” Scotty returned. “But nae this time.”
“So how did you escape?” asked Riker.
Scotty fiddled with the instruments, which weren’t as familiar to him as he would have liked. “I guess the Romulans never held a Starfleet engineer in one of their cells. It was nae all that difficult to pry off a bulkhead plate and access the circuitry underneath.” He nodded appraisingly as he fiddled some more. “Once I disabled the energy barrier, I made m’self scarce. And nae long after, the Romulans saw a transport ship take off—then fail to answer their hails. When it exploded, they thought I was dead. But I was never on that ship in the first place.”
“Then how—” Geordi stopped himself in mid-question. “Autopilot?” he asked.
“Aye,” the older man admitted. “I sent the transport out as a decoy—so I could lie low until the warbird was gone. Unfortunately, when the three of ye were captured, that was nae longer an option.”
“Nonetheless, a clever ploy,” Data ventured.
“Nice of ye to say so,” replied Scotty, completing his preparations. Tapping one last padd, he came around the control bank and hopped up onto the platform beside the others.
“Next stop, the Yorktown,” he announced.
That’s when a squad of Romulans came running into the room, weapons drawn. One of them barked a desperate order and they all aimed their disruptors at the quartet on the transporter platform
Before they could press the triggers, however, Scotty and his comrades fired their own weapons. Some of the Romulans fell.
But the ones that were still standing unleashed a barrage of dark blue fury. Scotty cringed, bracing himself for the bludgeoning impact.
But it never came.
His friends from the Enterprise looked a bit surprised, Scotty noted. But then, they’d probably expected the same punishment he had—and here they were on the bridge of a starship instead.
“Welcome to the U.S.S. Yorktown,” said the voice of the ship’s computer. “Enjoy your starship adventure. And please, take all wrappers and other refuse with you when you leave.”
The Enterprise officers looked at him. Scotty shrugged.
“Nae matter what I do,” he complained, “I canna seem to turn the damned thing off.”
Of course, they had more important concerns right now. Life and death concerns, one might say. And before they could do anything about them, they had to figure out who was in charge.
Riker must have been thinking the same thing. “You’re the one who got her this far,” he told Scotty. “Why don’t you take the center seat?”
Scotty nodded. “I’ll do that.”
As he assumed the captain’s chair, he saw the first officer take the helm, while Data sat down beside him at navigation. As if by instinct, Geordi made a beeline for the engineering station.
Scotty turned to him. “Activate the cloak, Mister La Forge.”
The engineer looked at him. “You’ve got a cloak on this ship?”
Scotty shrugged. “How do ye think I got here, laddie?”
Shaking his head, Geordi worked the necessary controls.
Next, Scotty fixed his attention on the android. “Chart us a course for Constanthus, Mister Data. And get us there as quick as ye can. With this cloak of ours, there’s nae need for us to sneak about.”
“Acknowledged,” the android replied.
But before Data could act on the order, Riker turned around in his chair and eyed the older man. “Are you sure that’s wise?” he asked.
Scotty looked at him. “Am I sure what’s wise?”
“Heading for Constanthus,” the first officer explained.
The older man held out his hands in an appeal to reason. “I came out here to fetch Spock home, lad. And I cannae do that without paying Constanthus a visit—now, can I?”
Riker frowned. “My point is that you may have come out here to rescue Spock—but we came out here to rescue you. We didn’t have any discussion