Spock glanced over to his Captain to see him reading his PADD for the fifth time since he had come onto the bridge, which had only been twenty minutes ago. Slightly concerned by the Captain's illogical behaviour, Spock wandered over to him. "Captain, is something troubling you?" Kirk looked up to face the Vulcan, "It's these new orders I received from Star Fleet command, just before my shift. I'm trying to comprehend them." Spock raised an eyebrow, before asking if he may read these new orders for himself, to which Kirk simply handed him the PADD. The Vulcan's eyebrow only raised higher as he read, it wasn't long before he had finished. "I will admit, I find these orders completely illogical. Couldn't they issue them to another Star Ship?" He asked as Kirk took back his PADD. "Nope, they want the Enterprise and I can't really argue with them, can I?" Kirk sighed before standing up from the Command chair, "Spock you have the com, I'm going to get Bones' opinion on the matter." Spock nodded as he sat down, as Kirk walked off the bridge. It didn't take him long to arrive at Sick Bay, he only hoped that McCoy wasn't too busy. As Kirk entered he saw McCoy just heading back into his office.
"Bones, you busy?" He called quickly; McCoy took a few steps back so he could see Kirk's face. "Not at the moment Jim, thank god. What's up? Spock doing ya nut in again?" McCoy joked as he wandered back into his office, closely followed by Kirk. "No, he ain't doing that, yet. I need your opinion on something, and it ain't a medical one." McCoy didn't really want to ask, but knew he didn't really have a choice. Kirk then handed him his PADD to read, "These are our new orders from Star Fleet." McCoy hadn't finished reading them, but already he knew this was a bad idea. "Have you told him yet?" He questioned; Kirk tilted his head. "Who? Scotty?" McCoy rolled his eyes, "Who else would I be referring to Jim? Of course I mean Scotty." Kirk shook his head, McCoy sighed. "He ain't gonna like it Jim, you know how he feels about that place." "But I can't ignore a direct order Bones, I've already tried to convince them to send another ship, but they want us to go. I know Scotty's going to hate the idea, but I don't have a choice." McCoy knew he was right, so offered to come with him when he broke the news to their Scotsman, which Kirk appreciated.
The two of them headed down to Engineering, when they walked in they were greeted by a familiar face. "Hello Lexie." Kirk called. "Hi there Captain, McCoy. What brings you down here today?" She replied friendly, "We came to talk to Scotty, do you know where he is?" Asked Kirk, Lexie nodded. "Sure do, I'll get Keenser to get him for you. Keenser!" Lexie called over to another Engineer, who quickly ran over to her. "Could you go and get Scotty for us please? Tell him that the Captain wants a word." Keenser nodded before running off. "So, how have things been with you?" Kirk asked, since they were waiting for Scotty he decided to catch up with Lexie. "Good, thanks." She replied, McCoy then asked about Delta, Lexie's digital companion. "Delta's great, he ain't with me today, he spent most of last night with Pavel, since he was teaching him how to play 3d chess." For some reason that made both McCoy and Kirk laugh, just the mental image of Chekov teaching a tiny robot how to play chess. By the time, the two of them had stopped laughing, Keenser had come back with Scotty following closely behind him. "Hello Captain, the lad said you wanted a wee word with me?" Kirk gulped quietly to himself, he really didn't know how Scotty was going to react.
"Yes Scotty, I received new orders from Star Fleet which I think you need to see, because I can guarantee you won't like them." Kirk stated as he handed his PADD over to the Engineer, who just stared blankly at him. But, he took the PADD from his Captain's hand and began to read what was on the screen. It wasn't long until he jolted his head back up to face them, "You've gotta be joking me?! They can't be serious?!" Cried Scotty, his Scottish accent thicker than before. "Sadly, it's no joke Scotty, those are Star Fleets orders." Kirk replied calmly. "After everything I've done, they want to send me back there?!" "You're not going to be left there Scotty, they have asked us to investigate, that's all." Scotty sighed loudly as he handed the PADD back to Kirk. "Sorry Jim, but it will take more than an order from Star Fleet to get me to go back to that hell hole. Now if you excuse me Captain I have work to do." Scotty then turned on his heels and preceded to walk away, not without yelling at Keenser to get down from a pipe that ran high above the floor.
Lexie was in shock; she had never seen Scotty act that way before. Especially towards his Captain, he always showed Kirk the up most respect. "Captain, may I ask why these new orders have made Scotty so upset?" She asked, Kirk nodded. He knew she had a right to know. "Star Fleet has asked us to investigate a Federation out post, after several officers who had been posted there reported strange things happening, so strange that they all demanded for a change in post." Lexie still wasn't sure why Scotty would be so upset, that was until McCoy told her the name of the planet. The outpost in question was on Delta Vega, a place that Lexie knew Scotty wasn't a fan of. "I see now why he's a little on the touchy side, but surely Scotty doesn't need to go down to the planet itself. Can't he just stay on the Enterprise?" Lexie's question made both McCoy and Kirk rub the back of their necks nervously. "In their orders they included a list of the officers they want to beam down to conduct the investigation, both Scotty and Keenser were on it, since the two of them were posted at the outpost they know the most about it."
The only word that Lexie could think to reply with was "Oh." Since she wasn't too sure what to say. "I'll go and talk to him Captain, maybe I can convince him to agree." She stated, much to Kirk's delight. "That would be great, thanks Lexie. If anyone can get him to change his mind it's you." Lexie nodded at him before turning around to head off to find Scotty. "Rather her than me." McCoy joked; Kirk couldn't agree more. "I know I'm his Captain, but I really do think he listens to Lexie better than me sometimes." McCoy patted him on the shoulder. "I think we all listen to her better than you Jim." Kirk couldn't really argue with that one, so instead the two of them decided to return to the bridge and wait on news of Lexie's talk with their Scotsman.
Despite Engineering being overly gigantic, it never took Lexie long to find the Chief Engineer. Since she just followed the sound of Gaelic cursing, which Scotty was known for speaking while he worked, more pronounced when he was annoyed. She soon came across the Scotsman, laying on his back under one of the dilithium chambers, still muttering to himself. Lexie could only understand a handful of Gaelic, but wished she could understand every word, since she believed it would be pretty funny to hear what Scotty was going on about. Lexie gently tapped Scotty in the foot to get his attention. "Would ya stop kicking me Keenser, ya wee beggar!" Scotty called out, his voice somewhat muffled, Lexie chuckled quietly to herself before speaking. "I kinda feel offended." The was an audible bang from underneath the chamber and a string of Gaelic curse words (Lexie assumed they were anyway) just before Scotty clambered out, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry Scotty, I didn't mean to startle you." Lexie said softly as she helped her friend to his feet, "It's alright lass, I just wasn't expecting you to be the one tapping me." He replied still rubbing his head, "That bloody hurt!" He thought to himself. "You ok?" Lexie asked, Scotty nodded in reply with a smile on his face. "What brings you all the way over this end of Engineering?" Lexie smiled faintly, "The Captain told me about the new orders that we've had."
Scotty's smile instantly vanished. "And I suppose he sent you over here to talk me into going?" He muttered angrily, Lexie went to place a hand on his shoulder, but the CEO simply turned himself away. "Well you're wasting your time; I refuse to go back there!" Scotty cried. But Lexie wasn't going to simply walk away and she knew Scotty didn't mean to yell, he was just angry at the situation, not her. "Scotty, we've got to find out the reason for these reports. I know you don't like the idea of going back, but I'll come with you." Scotty quickly turned back in shock. Lexie reached out and placed her hand gently on his shoulder as if to comfort him. "You stood by me when I had to face things from my past that I despised, so I'll do the same for you." Scotty's anger seemed to just melt away. "OK, I'll go back. Only if the Captain allows you to come down to the outpost, if not. Then I ain't going." Lexie smiled as she hugged him. "I'm sure he'll allow me to go Scotty, because I won't give him a choice."
Somehow convincing Scotty to tell Kirk himself that he would go, they were now on their way up to the bridge. On their way there Scotty was thinking about how Keenser would take the news about them going back to Delta Vega, he assumed that the little guy would be ok with it since he did live there for several years. They soon arrived on the bridge and made their way over to Kirk, who was sitting in the command chair with McCoy at his side. "Captain, do you have a moment?" Lexie asked him, Kirk turned his chair around, he was only expecting to see Lexie standing there, so it was a complete surprise for him to see Scotty standing with her. "Of course, what can I do for the two of you?" Lexie gestured over to Scotty, who looked like a guilty child, "Scotty has something to say."
Kirk's eyes fell upon Scotty who was stood with his hands behind his back. "Firstly, I want to apologize for yelling at you Captain, I was out of line. Secondly, Lexie has convinced me to reconsider." Kirk just blinked at him. "Basically Sir, I'll go to Delta Vega, there is only one condition." Kirk asked what that condition was. "Lexie comes down with me." McCoy and Kirk exchanged a look. "That's fine with me Scotty, I could almost guarantee that Lexie would go with you even if I said no." The look that Lexie had on her face said it all. So Kirk was more than happy to agree. "Mr Chekov, set a new course." The Navigator turned around to face him, "Where to Captain?" "Delta Vega, best possible speed Mr Sulu." Both the Helmsman and Navigator nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to their stations to fulfil their orders. Scotty still couldn't believe what he had gotten himself into.