Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [96]
His combadge chirped for his attention, followed by a female voice. “Captain Scott, please report to Briefing Room 23 immediately.”
“Aye, lassie,” he said as he tapped the badge, “and since we last spoke, where did ya think I might be goin’?”
The question went unanswered. “I’ll tell them you’re still on your way, sir.”
“Scott out.” He sighed as he severed the connection. Whatever it was that awaited him in Briefing Room 23 must be important indeed to have his assistant page him twice in as many minutes.
Probably some politician with his nose all out of joint .
Scotty didn’t break stride as he turned toward a pair of doors that parted at his approach. As he entered the briefing room, the first person he saw was a man wearing civilian clothes and the puckered expression he normally associated with a typical Federation diplomat.
Ach. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed , he thought as he braced himself for what was sure to be a long day. As he made his way to one of the empty chairs surrounding the conference table, Scotty put on his “admiral’s smile.” It was the one that allowed him to bite the inside of his cheek when a politician inevitably said something to irritate him.
In addition to the civilian eyeing him impatiently, Scotty noted the unfamiliar Starfleet commander also seated at the table. An Andorian, the commander’s rich blue skin contrasted sharply with the dark colors of his uniform. Scotty decided that the commander, like a growing number of officers he ran into these days, looked like he’d just graduated from the Academy.
Does his mother know he’s playin’ Starfleet?
As quickly as the thought surfaced, Scotty admonished himself. Not everyone could be an eighty-year old captain with fifty or more years in Starfleet, after all.
“Good morning, Captain. Thanks for joining us on such short notice,” said the third person in the briefing room and the only one Scotty recognized, Admiral William Ross.
The admiral presented an imposing figure dressed in his dark Starfleet uniform. Jet black hair, cut short and liberally speckled with gray, added to a severe expression dominated by piercing blue eyes. Ross was one of the few flag officers Scotty respected implicitly, due primarily to the fact that the admiral had risen through the ranks while serving in the fleet instead of occupying staff positions. He had commanded vessels and people in peace and in war, and he had earned the trust of those he led.
Ross also knew that most issues faced by commanders in the field rarely if ever resembled the tidy tactical problems presented to cadets at the Academy. It gave him a wisdom shaped by experience that Scotty usually found lacking in other officers in similar positions. It also made Ross in high demand at Starfleet Headquarters, especially during critical situations. If the admiral was here now, then something big had to be brewing.
“Aye, Admiral,” Scotty said as he settled into one of the conference chairs. “What have ye got?”
“We have a developing situation that requires not only your department’s expertise, but your own as well.”
Ross indicated the Andorian and the civilian. “This is Commander Grelin, our liaison with Starfleet Intelligence, and this is Mr. Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps.”
Considering the presence of Grelin and Marshall, Scotty hardly believed whatever was happening was going to be a routine matter for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the department he had been appointed to oversee by Ross himself.
The assignment had come as part thoughtful gesture and part impassioned plea, with the admiral seeing a singular opportunity to take advantage of Scotty’s vast experience and unique perspective. After all, how many other officers could lay claim to having served aboard Starfleet vessels more than a century ago?
After his rescue almost eight years before from the wreck of the U.S.S. Jenolen , where he had been suspended in a transporter beam for seventy-five years, Scotty had flirted with self-pity at being removed from his friends and loved ones by nearly a century. It hadn’t taken