Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek

A/N: I've had the idea for this story for awhile, and I finally sat down and decided to write it. I'm hoping to update at least once a week, and I do know exactly where I'm going so I should be able to keep up. Enjoy!.

Stowaway

Prologue

A Moment to Mourn

Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott sat alone in his quarters, staring up at the ceiling above as the ship moved through space. He could feel the faint vibrations and hear the soft hum of the engines, but the sensations brought him none of their usual comfort. Not today, not with Lieutenant Kyle somewhere on Tenair IV, most likely dead.

The very thought made Scotty bristle with anger once again at the hopelessness of it all.

He'd tried to go back for Kyle when the scans turned up nothing, he'd insisted that the Captain form a search party; but Mr. Spock and his Vulcan brain had reasoned the odds not only of surviving another trip to the planet, but also the chances of finding Lieutenant Kyle alive, and Captain Kirk had conceded the point.

There'd been a ceremony, the Captain had spoken, but it still seemed to Scotty that no one really felt the weight of the loss. No one but him. They had lost a colleague and friend, certainly, but Scotty had been closest to him. Closer than even Uhura, with whom Scotty shared most things, knew.

So as the listened to the hum of the ship, Montgomery Scott allowed himself a moment to mourn in his own way before duty called him back to engineering and the task of tending to the Enterprise.