Chief engineer Montgomery Scott was beside himself with anger and his eyes flashed as he face Kirk across his computer terminal. "You're bloody mad Captain if you think I'm going to let this man anywhere near the Enterprise's engines. She'll blow if you push her above what she can handle. Get down from there!" This last was directed towards the small alien creature who was Scott's constant companion who was perched on some high railing. It made a face when Scott shouted at it and scuttled off into a corner.

Mckay shifted uncomfortably. "I can assure you that I have plenty of experience in reprogramming machines." Kirk and McCoy winced and inched away from Mckay. There were something you just didn't say in Scott's presence.

Scott's face turned purple and he drew himself up to his full height. "How dare you! The Enterprise is not a machine to tinker with whenever you feel like it. She is a top of the range ship who is so reliable that I would trust her to get me safetly through Klingon territory in one peice. She certaintly does not need to be insulted by some, some..." He flailed his arms as he searched for a suitable insult. "crackpot!" He bellowed finally. "I doubt he's even heard of warp engineering let alone have a degree in it like I worked three years to get."

Mckay quailed beneath the Scot man's rage and glanced towards Kirk in a plea for help. Kirk shrugged in reply, after all it wasn't he who had fired the chief engineer up. He cleared his throat. "I'm only trying to help...I thought you would be grateful. And for your information your technology is woefully behind the stuff we use in this universe."

Scott swore loudly and took a step forward. Kirk tensed, ready to leap forward should Scott try to swing a punch. "You take that back ya bastard." He demanded, his scottish accent becoming thicker the angrier he became.

Seeing that the situation would only continue to develop in this way Kirk moved to block Scott's path to Mckay. Scott glared at him but it was less fierce than before and he remained silent, biting back the nasty comments he was desperate to give voice to. "For goodness sake Scotty, he's trying to help us get home and all you're doing is being confrontational. Don't you want to get home or do you enjoy being trapped in a different universe." He asked, exasperation plain in his voice.

Scott held up his hands in surrender. "No Captain I would much rather be at home. But if any of the Enterprise's systems blows I am blaming you." He answered, stepping reluctantly away from his computer and crossing his arms. "Please look after her." He said to Mckay

Hesistantly, still wary of Scott, Mckay stepped up to the console. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her." He replied.

The Chief Engineer huffed loudly and slumped back against the wall to wait for something to fail or broke as he expected. Silence fell in the engine room then, broken only by Mckay's fingers racing over the keys of the main computer and everything remained that way until Kirk groaned loudly and staggered sideways into McCoy who gripped his arm to stop him from falling to the ground.

"Woah." McCoy cried. "We'd better get you to the infirmary." He brushed away Kirk's weak protests that he was alright and lead him from the engine room.

Mckay didn't glance up from where he was concentrating on the final few commands because a slip at this stage of the proceedings could potentially be very dangerous. Then with a final flourish he stood back and hit a button on the keyboard to activate the new programming. "There, the Enterprise is now running on Hyper speed." He said with a grin.

Scott didn't look impressed. "Don't look so smug just yet. We still need to fire her up and see what happens." He said before he flipped open his Communicator and spoke to the bridge. With a loud rumble the engines hummed to life.

"Enterprise entering Hyper space." came Uhuru's voice over the ships intercom.

Scott crossed his fingers and sent out a silent plea to whoever might be listening that everything would run smoothly. As the Enterprise leapt forward a great shudder ran through the ship which knocked many of the people in the corridors off their feet. In the infirmary McCoy steadied himself against a wall and muttered darly under his breath about how stupid this whole idea had been and that they were all going to die horribly. Despite his panic the Enterprise quickly and smoothly settled into Hyper speed on a direct path to Atlantis. Mckay released the breath he'd been holding. He was faintly surprised the ship hadn't simply broken apart under the strain. Scott spun towards him and he flinched, expecting another angry tirade from the engineer. Instead he found himself enveloped in a tight hug.

"See! I told you she could do it!" Scott crowed joyfully.

Mckay didn't think it appropriate to point out that he had said nothing of the sort.

Before an hour had passed the Enterprise arrived in orbit above the surface of the watery planet that the city of Atlantis called home. Mckay was overjoyed, he couldn't believe it had actually worked. He couldn't wait to get home and tell the others all about it. Carefully he set the Enterprise's programming back to their original state.

Behind him he heard Scott clear his throat. "I'm sorry I was so harsh on you Doctor Mckay." He said, stretching out his hand.

Mckay shook it. "Please, call me Rodney."

Together, chatting the entire way, the two of them walked towards the transporter bay were Kirk was waiting to see Mckay off. "Thankyou so much, the crew of the Enterprise owe you for this." Kirk said.

Behind him McCoy snorted. "Don't thank him yet until he hasn't killed us with his crazy machine."

Kirk rolled his eyes and lightly shoved the doctor. "Ignore him, he's grateful really."

Mckay's smile was underlined with sadness as he shook his head. "You owe me nothing Captain Kirk because if my device works we'll never see one another again." He said, stepping onto the transporter pad and turning to smile at the crew of the Enterprise who were there to see him off. He had time for a single cheery wave before in a swirl of incandescent light he vanished from the deck of the Enterprise.