What's Past_ The Future Begins (Book 2) - Michael Schuster [30]
So his fears had not been unfounded. Had he been a cynic like McCoy, he’d have been happy about that, at least. Still, there was no reason to immediately spill all the beans. “What are you talkin’ about?”
“Oh, don’t play the innocent here, Scotty,” Ross said impatiently. “I know what the Gorkon’s mission was said to be. I also know what her mission really was, and I know that Alynna doesn’t think as highly of you as she did before you set foot on her ship half a year ago.”
“Oh, she doesn’t? That’s a pity.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, you know that?”
“I happen to think otherwise, but let’s stop the small-talkin’. You know what she ordered—forced me to do. All right. Still, what is it to you? Are you goin’ to expose her for what she really is: a threat to the Federation?”
“Honestly, no. I can’t do that.”
Scotty harrumphed. “I should have known.”
“Probably, yes. But tell me, if her orders went against everything you believed in, why didn’t you simply disobey them? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Kirk do the same repeatedly, not caring about what happened to him and his career, because he did what he thought was right?”
“Don’t lecture me on what Jim Kirk did, Admiral, I know that better than you. Better than most of today’s SFHQ, even. I was serving in Starfleet before their grandfathers were born, so—”
“Don’t give me that speech again, Scotty! I’ve heard that so often now that I’ve lost count. You’re older than I, that’s right. You’re even older than Admirals Akaar and Mondolen. So what? Does that give you the right to be obnoxious and stubborn?”
“It bloody well should,” Scotty grumbled, angry at Ross for preventing him from complaining about the inadequacies of today’s Starfleet top brass.
“Let me tell you something. People were making mistakes even in your time. Does the name Cartwright ring a bell?”
Scotty nodded silently.
“How about th’Zhalin? T’Vreen? Usbek-Wran? Almodóvar? Ortolappin?”
“I know a few of them.”
“Good. Suffice it to say that Alynna Nechayev is only one in a long line of people doing seemingly ‘bad’ things for the good of the Federation, and I—”
Scotty’s disgusted snort caused Ross to interrupt himself.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you think that she gave you the order because she wanted the Federation to survive this war?”
“Is our survival a good enough reason to sacrifice our principles? Where would we be if those in charge did what they thought was necessary, disregardin’ everythin’ from common sense to general standards of morality and everythin’ in between? This is wrong, Admiral, and I will not accept it.”
Ross observed his outburst in silence and then said, “You still haven’t answered my question, Scotty.”
“Hm? What question?”
“If you found those orders so appalling and downright wrong, why didn’t you disobey them? Surely the result of such a decision could not have been worse than what you actually did shortly afterward. In both cases, the result would have been the loss of your Starfleet commission.”
“So I have to defend myself against you now, is that what you’re aimin’ at?”
“No, it isn’t, and you know it. Granted, I’m no psychologist, but I believe that you did what you were told to—instead of telling Alynna where to put her orders in a not very polite manner—because deep down you felt it was necessary, even though you tried to convince yourself of something else. Maybe now your bad conscience is trying to punish you for not listening to it then?”
“Oh, that’s a load of dreik, Admiral, and you know it!”
“Do you have a better explanation?”
“Of course I do, but I don’t see why I should tell you.”
Ross sighed. Scotty was close to doing the same, but he held himself back.
“Captain Scott,” Ross began, using the formal address as if to underline the importance of what he was going to say, “let me tell you a story.”
“I hope it’s a short one,” Scotty said in a low voice.
“I’ll certainly try to make it as short as possible. So. There once was an idealistic Starfleet officer rising through the ranks, on his way