Disclaimer: I don't own the movies or its characters. They belong to their rightful owners and I only borrow them for this non-profit story.

~ Her place aboard the ship ~

Lt. Danara Williams knew her place aboard the ship. Or at least she had known until the Narada incident.

Chief of Engineering.

That was what she was destined to be. She wasn't just any woman working down in engineering but the one supposed to take control over it.

She had made sure that everything would work out just like she had planned. She had even manipulated Olson's parachute, but that idiot had managed to get himself killed on his own. Stupid thrill for adventure. Well… even if he had opened his parachute on time… it wouldn't have worked.

She had been so certain that she would get to be the next chief engineer. And then? Then the new captain had found that noisy and annoying man down on Delta Vega.

Montgomery Scott. Some damn Scotsman who had managed to beam the two of them on board while the ship had been travelling at warp speed. Wow! He thought he was so brilliant for achieving something anyone could have done sooner or later. Williams hated that man. She hated him for saving the ship while she was in sickbay. She hated him for being so goddamn smart. And she hated him for being the new CEO.

When Kirk had announced his new officers, she had been sure that her name would be called out. But he'd called his name.

"Are ye alright, lass?"

That voice. That accent. It made her blood boil. But she could play her part in this. So, Williams put on her best smile and turned around to face her new commanding officer.

"Aye, sir. I am. Just excited for the ship's newest mission to start."

They should accompany some ambassadors to a planet just a few lightyears away. It was an easy task. An easy mission. But she would make sure that it was the last mission for Scott.

"Me too. I still cannae believe that the captain made me CEO. I've been dreaming of it all my life!"

Just like she had. But her dream had been crushed by that man coming into her life.

"Congratulations, sir. I wish you all the best."

Smile. Look innocent. Ignore the growing anger in your stomach.

"Thanks, lass. I wish you all the best too."

A grunt came from that little disgusting creature that Scott had brought with him. That pathetic alien was supposed to be a lieutenant? Williams still couldn't believe it. The grunting sounded quite impolite. And apparently it was, for Scott scolded his companion.

"Hey! Be nice!"

He turned back to Lt. Williams.

"I'm sorry. Keenser's just not used to people."

Or maybe he knew what she was up to. Anyway… he wouldn't interfere with her plans. He was just a little alien. What could he do to stop her?

"It's alright. I wish you all the best, Mr. Keenser. Mr. Scott, I have to take my post now. But I'm sure we'll meet again."

She said her goodbyes and walked away, the faked smile slowly fading from her lips.

'I will be chief engineer. No matter what.'

Montgomery Scott still couldn't believe that this was actually real. He was the new CEO. And not just of any ship but of the USS Enterprise, the most gorgeous lady he could imagine. The last few days had been ups and downs. Officially he had not been allowed to leave the outpost on Delta Vega, but… he had helped saving the world! And obviously that was enough to get off the bloody ice planet and right onto a star ship. Still, Kirk had spent a lot of efforts to convince the admirals that Scott was the right one for the job. And they had even confiscated his equation! But at the moment, he couldn't care less.

"See? I always told ye I'd get us off that bloody planet," he said to Keenser as they entered the CEO's office. He had promised the wee man months ago. And he had kept that promise.

Yet another grunt came from Keenser. Over the past months, Scotty had learned to understand his friend quite well.

"Yes, I know that I'm awesome!"

Keenser rolled his eyes at that. Apparently, he hadn't meant that.

"What? What is it?"

Another grunt.

"Oh, come on! That woman was very nice. There's no reason to be so impolite."

What was it with Keenser and Lt. Williams? She was a very friendly young lass. And Scotty didn't understand why his best friend didn't like her.

"If ye'd excuse me now. I 'ave work to do."

Oh yeah, he would make sure that his silver lady would give the captain and crew everything she got. That was his new job after all.

He had made a list of everything important. And while he checked the last few points, his comm bleeped.

("Mr. Scott, ready for departure?")

That voice was still music to his ears. Captain James T. Kirk was not only earth's hero but his very own too.

He smiled as he gave an answer.

"Ready, Captain."

And only moments later he could feel it. The ship was moving. Brilliant! Not the slightest bit of problem in sight. After all, he had been the one to double check everything.

He sat down at his chair and placed his feet on the desk. This would be a cake walk.

Never would he have known what was going to happen on this very first mission.

Merely two hours later he was called to one of the lower decks. What the heck was going on? Keenser wasn't with him at the moment, working at the warp core, so he had to go alone. He rushed down to the deck and was shocked at what he saw. There was smoke coming from one of the consoles! Two young lads were already trying to fix the problem, but apparently that didn't work out.

"Damn it! What happened?!"

He rushed over to them and knelt down next to the console, opening it, only to reveal more smoke. He coughed violently and covered his face before sparks could hit his eyes.

"We don't know, sir. Probably a short circuit."

Scott sighed. Probably? Were these lads only children? Well, they sure looked like kids.

He focused on the problem instead of thinking about that, but soon enough one of the ensigns dragged him away from the console.

"Sir, watch out!"

That was the moment it happened. The console imploded!

Scotty and the two ensigns were already pressed down to the floor, covering their heads.

A few cuts and burns, nothing too serious. That were Dr. McCoy's words when he released them from sickbay two hours later. But it could have ended up way worse if Ensign Balden hadn't pulled his chief away from the explosion.

Scott couldn't help but shrug when Keenser asked him what had happened in the evening. So what? A little accident a day. Nothing to worry about.

The next incident happened two days later. Scotty was working at one of the consoles, head lost in thoughts about his theory and how to improve it. He only heard the strange sound above his head in the last moment. Right above him was a pipe. And… it was falling straight to the floor!

As fast as he could, the engineer scrambled to his feet and tried to get out of the way. However, he stumbled and fell to the ground, the pipe hitting his left leg, burying it beneath the metal. He screamed out in pain. Damn it! That hurt!

He managed to get out his comm and called sickbay instantly.

Help arrived within minutes. Dr. McCoy gave him an annoyed look. Well… the captain – Jim – had told Scott that his best friend was always grumpy. Especially when he saw patients a lot of time.

"Mr. Scott. What brings you here?"

Now that was just mean! The doctor could obviously see that his leg didn't look like it was supposed to look. It was twisted badly.

"I…"

Before he could finish, a hypo was already slammed into his leg. He suppressed a loud scream and just groaned at the pain.

"Just because you're head of your department doesn't mean you have to take all the injuries on yourself," the doctor snapped. Wow, he really was sarcastic, wasn't he?

"No bedside manners," another voice interrupted. Scott looked over at the door and saw his captain standing there.

"Captain!"

Thank goodness! That man would make sure that he'd get comforted instead of scolded.

"I do have bedside manners. But I would appreciate it if our CEO would be more careful."

"I am careful! It was just an accident."

He was very careful actually. No one should get hurt under his command. He tried to make sure of that.

"And accidents happen down in engineering, Bones. We both know that."

The doctor just rolled his eyes before he started to run a medical device over Scott's leg. It would fix the broken bone.

"Just try and stay out of sickbay for some time, will ya?"

Scotty couldn't help but smile. Despite him being so grumpy, the doctor still seemed to care for his patients very much. That's why he had given him something for the pain first before treating the injury.

"Aye, I will, doc."

"So, what exactly happened down there, Scotty?"

That was the nickname the captain had given him. And Scotty liked it very much. It sounded way better than Mr. Scott.

"I'm not sure, sir. I thought that I had checked the pipe properly."

He had! It shouldn't have fallen down.

"You thought?" Dr. McCoy asked, obviously even more annoyed by that choice of words.

"I was pretty sure."

Right? He was pretty sure. Or… maybe he had been too lost in his thoughts? No… that was impossible. Safety first! That was the most important rule!

"I'll let security check on it," Jim said and Scotty gave him a nod.

"Alright, you're ready to go to work again, Mr. Scott."

McCoy patted his shoulder and Scotty was still impressed how fast medical devices worked. He didn't want to imagine how it had been in the dark ages where people had to wait for the bone to heal by itself. Weeks without work? A horrible scenario!

"No more accidents today, okay?"

Scott gave him a thumbs up and then left for engineering again. He had work to do.

The captain called him an hour later. Apparently, a rope hadn't been properly attached to the pipe. But… how was that even possible? It wouldn't have happened to him! He was no rookie after all.

With that in mind he chose to revisit the place where it had happened. He looked at the place where the pipe had been hanging. There was no way that the rope had loosened by itself, was there?

He ran his fingers along the railing and looked down at the place where he had worked. Damn it… if he hadn't heard the sound, the pipe would have crushed him. A horrifying image and he shuddered at the pure thought.

"Mr. Scott. Is everything alright?"

He looked up to see a familiar officer walking over to him.

"Oh, hello."

It was Lt. Williams. She looked worried.

"I've heard about what happened. I hope you are, alright?"

He gave her a nod.

"Aye, just a broken leg, but it was healed quite quickly."

"I'm glad to hear that."

She came to a halt right next to him and looked down.

"After all, what would we do without our chief engineer?"

Scotty shrugged. He had heard about what had happened to the old one. A horrible death.

"I suppose the captain would have to find a new one."

Williams nodded at that.

"Well, I sure hope that it won't happen too fast again, sir. No one could replace a great engineer like you who was able to beam onto a ship traveling at warp."

Scott felt his cheeks blush at these words. He wasn't that much of a genius… or was he? He had to admit that his equation was quite awesome though!

"Thanks, lass."

"Well then… see you, Mr. Scott."

She passed him, brushing his arm slightly and Scott instantly felt awkward. He looked after her. Of course, she was a bonnie lass… but she was way younger than him. There was no way that a girl like her could be interested in him.

"See you," he called after her, before he looked down again.

Dalara was slowly going insane. Two accidents and this guy was still walking around! Then she'd have to try it differently. It wouldn't be too hard to seduce that engineer. He was just a man after all and she was pretty. She just needed to use what her mother had given to her.

The following two days she tried her best, no matter how much she was disgusted by it. But Scott didn't even seem to notice! God dammit! How blind could someone be? It was like he only had eyes for the ship.

Well then… she would use that ship to reach her goal.

On day three of her unsuccessful tries she found Scott working in the transporter room. He was fixing one of the pads, sitting right on top of it. The perfect chance! All she would have to do was beam his body into the vastness of space. And later on, she would make it look like an accident.

She slowly walked over to the control panel, but just as she was about to enter some coordinates a grunt caught her attention.

Damn it! That little monster!

"Keenser! Ye've scared the hell out of- Oh, hello Lt. Williams. What are ye doing here?"

Shit! There went her plan.

"I thought I could help you, Mr. Scott. And I didn't want to interrupt you, so I just walked in."

Would he believe that story?

"Oh, thanks, lassie. But the panel is just fine. No need to fix it."

Now, he really was naïve. But that was good for her, wasn't it?

Lt. Keenser however didn't seem too convinced. He walked over to her and pushed her out of the way.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see if I am needed elsewhere then."

She waved goodbye and walked out of the door. She stopped when she was out of sight, but hid next to the door to eavesdrop what they were talking.

"Ye know what? I… kinda think the lass is following me. And… she's… flirting?"

Okay… so he had realized it. Then why didn't he take the bait? What was wrong with him?!

There was a grunt she couldn't understand.

"I don't know, laddie. It's not like I want something from her. She's way too young and… ye know that I'm more into… the other sex."

Now that was interesting. And it explained why he made no efforts to get closer to her. Okay… so she had to go back to her original plan of a work accident. Or maybe… a drug incident?

The day had ended quite fast. And Scotty was just lucky that he could finally get to his quarters to get some sleep. Work had been quite exhausting.

He was surprised when he found something in front of his room. A sandwich! Now that was something! There was a card next to it. Apparently, it was from… Dr. McCoy? Scotty couldn't believe it. He read the message over and over again. The doctor wanted to apologize for his bedside manners last time. Well, what better way to apologize to Scott than with a sandwich!

Scotty quickly entered his code and got into his room. He'd enjoy that dinner very much. He sat down on the couch and quickly bit of a piece of the food. Oh man! That was awesome!

"Blasta!" he exclaimed in his native language and ate it up, maybe a bit too fast. But it was just so delicious! He lay down in his bed, but suddenly he got thirsty. However, when he tried to get up again, he felt nauseous and it didn't take long for his legs to give in beneath him. He collapsed but managed to get one hand on his communicator. He hailed sickbay, but before he could say anything, he blacked out.

Scott woke up in sickbay. He couldn't tell what time or what day it was. But he felt like he'd been run over by a train. Damn it!

He could see someone looking at his vitals and couldn't help but groan.

"That was one hell of an apology, doc," he grumbled and the man turned to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Scotty nearly rolled his eyes. As if McCoy didn't know what he was talking about.

"That sandwich? The one that probably got me here?"

The doctor raised an eyebrow before he shook his head.

"So… I have no idea what sandwich you're talking about, but… you are here because of that overdose of sleeping pills you took."

Sleeping pills? He didn't take any pills. He sure as hell had no problem sleeping!

"I do nae take any meds."

Now both of them looked confused.

"Well, you can be lucky that you called sickbay right on time. Or else you'd be dead now."

Dead? But…

"Yet another accident."

"I don't think so, Bones."

They both looked over to the door where Kirk was standing. A card in his hand. Scotty knew it.

"There! That's yer apology!"

McCoy snatched the card away from Jim and looked at it.

"Well… first of all, I don't write like that. And second? I would never apologize."

The captain nodded in agreement.

"Trust me. I know."

Okay… then why had there been the sandwich with the message?

"But… who placed that sandwich and the card in front of my quarters?"

Scotty was obviously confused.

"The same person that tried to kill you over the last days."

What? K-Kill?

"I cannae follow ye, sir?"

Jim sighed as he walked over to Scott's bio-bed.

"The console… and the rope. According to Lt. Hendorff they've been manipulated."

What? So… the accidents… had not been accidents at all?

"But… who would do that?"

He didn't understand why someone would want to kill him. He was new to the crew. He hadn't done anything to any of them.

"This woman apparently."

Kirk turned around to reveal Lt. Williams who was held back by two members of security.

"Lt. Williams?"

No… that was impossible. She had flirted with him. She… wouldn't hurt him, would she?

"But… no, she wouldn't."

But the woman just glared at him.

"Oh yes, I would."

The anger in her voice scared the hell out of Scotty. What had happened to the friendly young officer?

"Lt. Keenser found these in her room."

Kirk held up a bottle of sleeping pills while the small alien stepped into the room, looking quite proud. After all, he had told Scotty from the start that he didn't like that woman.

"Why?"

Scott looked at Lt. Williams in disbelief.

"It was me! I was supposed to be the chief engineer! I was next in line after Olson died!"

All of that… just because that girl wanted to be the new CEO? She had tried to kill him because she wanted to have his rang?

"I could have saved the ship! We didn't need you! I… I would have made my family proud."

Her family? Later on, Scott would find out that everyone in Williams' family had been CEO on a ship. She had wanted to follow in their footsteps. Over his dead body… and the one of the former chiefs of engineering.

When Lt. Williams was taken away by security, he couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what that woman had wanted to do to him. Suddenly everything made sense. Her following him. Her trying to flirt with him. She had tried to trick him.

But one man had seen past this. A wee hero.

"Keenser… I…"

This was the hardest part. He hated to admit that the alien was right… but he had to.

"Thanks, laddie."

Keenser just ran over to him and hugged his arm tightly. Obviously, he was just glad that Scotty was okay. And he would make sure that it stayed like that. For he was his best friend.