Taldrenites > Starfleet Command Fan Fiction

When the Going Gets Tough...

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CaptJosh:
Well, y'all asked for it, so here's my first new story attempt in years. I'm basing it roughly on the early days of the TNG era Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and I hope I can get this going right. I'm writing on the fly here.


When the Going Gets Tough...
Chapter 1

Lieutenant Commander Jack Baker walked through the corridors of the Federation Surplus Depot Z15 toward the shuttle bay, still wondering why he had been summoned here for a new assignment. However, he didn't have much time to wonder before he arrived at the shuttle bay and the transport craft he had been ordered to report to. He tapped the control to open the hatch on the antique 23rd century shuttle and climbed in only to be confronted by...
"Captain Scott?!" Jack asked startledly once he managed to pick his jaw up off the floor.

"Aye. In the flesh. Ye seem surprised, lad," the old engineer responded.

"They didn't tell me I was going to be working for you, sir," Commander Baker answered.

"Well...tis nae so much workin' for me as ah'm tae brief ye on yer new assignment, laddie," Captain Montgomery Scott replied. "Come on. Seal the hatch, lad. We've a great deal tae do and precious little time tae do ut in," Scotty finished as he turned to the console to finish his preflight checks.

"Aye, Sir," Baker acknowledged as he turned to close the hatch on a shuttle that was probably as old as her pilot.

"Before ye ask, laddie, let me explain what's going on. As ye may know, Ah'm involved in reconstitutin' the ol' Starfleet Corps of Engineers."

Jack merely nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

"Well, your name and personnel jacket were put on my desk...dinnae interrupt lad. Let me finish. Along with a note from your former commanding officer. Captain Erika Benteen has issued a formal recommendation that ye be promoted and given an independent command, Commander Baker," the old engineer finished with a grin.

"Sir?" the newly minted Commander Jack Baker asked incredulously as Scotty affixed a new pip to Jack's uniform collar.

"Call me Scotty, lad. Ye've earned it."

"Yes Sir! er, Scotty. Damn. This is going to take some getting used to..." Jack trailed off. "So what's my assignment?"

"We're comming tae that now, lad," Scotty said and pointed as he opened the panel on one of the old windows.

"A salvage operation?"

"Nae exactly..."

"Scotty..." Jack said with a warning, questioning tone.

"Aye, lad. She's all yours. The U.S.S. Howard Hughes. Miranda class."

Jack pulled up the ship's information on a console on the shuttle and his eyes widened. He turned to Captain Scott, "Ca...Scotty, I realize you're trying to get the S.C.E. out there as quickly as possible, but you're not doing us any favors like this."

"Laddie, if you cannae work with that ship, then maybe ye're nae the man ah want around here," Scotty rumbled, his brogue thickening.

"I can work with this ship, but she's a wreck!" Jack pointed to the information on the console screen, "I'll have to get her engines up just to get her to the spacedock I saw on my way in on my transport! To get this ship operational, by the book, I'll need two months just to get started! But of course we don't have two months, so I'll have to do it in two weeks."

"That's the spirit, laddie! Dinnae let this old man gie ye any guff. Ye be an engineer and she's your ship. But remember, you're her skipper noo, th' man in the center seat. Dinnae be tryin' tae do everything y'self. That's what ye'll be hae'in a crew for."

"Aye, sir..." Jack trailed off looking at his new command through the viewports on the shuttle as they moved into dock, shaking his head in disbelief. The Howard Hughes looked like she'd been through an asteroid field at medium speed with no deflectors.
'What am I supposed to do with this old hulk?' he mused to himself as Scotty docked the shuttle...

EDIT: Continuity issue fixed. Commander Baker didn't know who he was going to meet, so he should have just been heading for the shuttle bay, rather than to meet with anyone specific, which is how it now reads.

EDIT 2: Changed the language a bit at the end. Replaced "thought" with "mused" for a more polished feel.

Jaeih t`Radaik:
A very good first shot, Josh. You even manage a more-than-decent Scottish accent. :wink:

However, just being promoted to commander--and without any other background data--isn't enough IMHO to call Captain Scott "Scotty". What exactly has he earned?

PS. Your story is fine, this is just a pet peeve of mine.

Capt_Bearslayer_XC:
I like it so far... Scotty was never much for formality.

Just out of curiousity though... are you a Robotech fan there, Josh?

Jack Baker is the name of a young hotshot pilot from "Robotech: The Sentinels" also.

CaptJosh:
Picked it almost completely at random. I once used the name for a charcter in an IRC rpg called a sim group. While I like Robotech, I've never read the Sentinels. I've never gotten farther than reading through the Second Robotech War.

As for the informality, I based that on Scotty's telling Geordi LaForge, a man he hardly even knew, to call him Scotty in the TNG episode "Relics". This, by the way, is set after "Relics". Captain Erika Benteen might be familiar to you as the Captain of the U.S.S. Lakota in the DS9 episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost", where she started out as aide de camp for Admiral Leyton, who then promoted her so he'd have a loyal captain around for his scheme to get Earth under martial law and keep it that way for the duration of the Dominion War.

KAT Chuut-Ritt:
Looks good Josh keep writing!

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