Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

17. Change of Heart

Kate, still carrying her bags of supplies for med bay, jogged to catch up to Jim and Scotty.  She was anxious about what they could possibly be talking about.  Scotty didn't sound happy earlier, and Jim was on edge.  It couldn't possibly be a good combination and she hoped she would be able to do something before either of them did something they would regret.

As she caught up to them, she heard Jim say, "I need you to approve those weapons."  The weapons must be the torpedoes that Marcus had been talking about, and they also must have been what Scotty was yelling about when they arrived on the Enterprise.

Scotty motioned to the warp core in front of him and asked, "Do you know what this is, Captain?"

She saw Jim sigh and shake his head as he said, "I don't have time for a lecture, Scotty."

Scotty repeated himself, "Do you know what this is?"

Jim didn't seem any more likely to answer this time, so Kate nudged him slightly and said, "Jim, just answer him.  You know he's not going to let it go."

Jim shook his head again as he replied, "Yeah, it's a warp core."

Scotty nodded vigorously as he clarified, "It's a radioactive catastrophe waiting to happen.  A subtle shift in magnetic output from, say, firing one or more of six dozen torpedoes with an unknown payload could set off a chain reaction which would kill every living thing on this ship.  Letting those torpedoes on board the Enterprise is the last straw."

Kate was confused by several things.  First, why wasn't Scotty looped in on the torpedoes.  He was the chief engineer, so Marcus had to know that Scotty would need specifications to be able to approve them coming on board.  Why wouldn't Marcus just loop him in?  It was something that made Kate more suspicious of Marcus's intentions when it came to killing Harrison rather than capturing him.

Second, what else had gotten Scotty so upset?  She hadn't heard of anything else, so she asked, "What was the first straw, Scotty?"

Scotty seemed  taken aback by her question and replied, "What was the?  There are plenty of straws.  How about Star Fleet confiscating my transwarp equation?  And now, some madman's using it to hop across the galaxy.  Where'd you think he got it from?"

Kate felt her brain swirling, thinking of what Scotty was implying.  Harrison had gotten away from his crimes by using an equation that Star Fleet had taken from Scotty.  He had every reason to be this upset.  Jim seemed to soften a little, but said, "We have our orders, Scotty."

Scotty shook his head and, in a moment of complete honesty, admitted, "That's what scares me.  This is clearly a military operation.  Is that what we are now?  Because I thought we were explorers."

Kate nodded and touched Jim's arm gently as she agreed, "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along, Jim.  This goes against everything I've ever learned in Star Fleet.  You have to be able to see that."

Jim pulled away from her and said, "You should be in med bay, Kate," then turned back to Scotty and said, "Sign for the torpedoes, that's an order."

Kate's stomach dropped.  She never imagined Jim stooping that low, to order someone to do something they wholeheartedly disagreed with.  Scotty seemed just as surprised and said quietly, in a defeated tone, "Right, well, you leave me no choice but to resign my duties."

Kate shook her head and argued, "Scotty, you can't."

Jim turned to her again and said, more forcefully this time, "Go to med bay, Kate," then turned back to Scotty and said, "Come on, Scotty," pleading with him to reconsider.