The only problem when Spock, or anyone else for that matter, brought new things on board the Enterprise, was the chance it could mess with the systems, or the systems could mess with it. Worse was when both happened at once; it made isolating the problem difficult. As if the pressure wasn't enough from Kirk, Scotty also knew that two of his best friends were about to freeze to death on that bloody planet. A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek and he swatted it away with the back of his hand. Keenser sat next to him, his dark eyes scanning the panel under the transporter as he did. "Well, it all looks fine but I know it isn't," he said. He scanned the panel once more and shook his head. Keenser shrugged his shoulders and kept his face bland.
Scotty shut the panel and snorted, "The malfunction must be somewhere else, there is no way this is where the problem is." Keenser just shook his head, "What do you mean you don't know you're an engineer aren't you." He climbed to his feet, "You can bring the box."
A quick walk across the busy corridor brought them both to one of the transporters main power panels. Scotty flopped down and removed the panel. The problem was there glaring him in the face. Half of the wires were missing. He isolated them before making any further moves. Once this was complete, he pulled one away and looked at the end, "Look at his!" he said showing the broken end, "It looks as though something has eaten this." Keenser nodded, his black eyes shining as he examined the end. "But what though?" he said, "I don't know of anything that could eat this."
Keenser made a keening noise, not unlike a cats purr.
"No chance, we don't have any Tribbles on board anyway! Besides, we'd have seen some by now." Keenser shrugged. "It's people bringing strange aliens on board that's what it is. I best tell the Captain this is going to be out for a while."
The response Scotty got from Kirk was the exact one he had expected; a whole lot of bluster with the reminder that Chekov and Sulu were still down on the planet with the likelihood of freezing to death growing with every second. As Scotty returned to the engine room, he was bombarded with junior engineers all clamouring for his attention. Hands and noise filled the room as he did his best to cross it. When he reached the other side, he turned and shouted, "Silence!" The noise ceased. "One at a time, please."
"Sir, there's something wrong with the resequencer on the fourth deck."
"And the processor in the rec-room isn't working either." Someone added. "The coolant system seems to be fluctuating Sir."
"Showers on deck-"
"But what about the-"
"Shuttle craft 4 is-"
"Enough!" Scotty roared, "Does anyone have a reason for it?"
"I thought some of the wires had been eaten!" A young ensign, Cooper if Scotty remembered it right, said.
"Cooper! Show me. Keenser, stay here and find out from the rest of these fine folk what is wrong with their equipment." Keenser rolled his eyes but did as he was asked. Scotty fell in beside Cooper as he led him away.