Montgomery Scott is a miracle worker (warp_speed) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-06-21 21:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gaila, montgomery scott |
"I couldn't make you stay, not forever!"
Who: Gaila, Scotty
What: On a normal basis, touching Scotty's machine babies are a bad idea. Sabotaging the machine babies and him catching the saboteur? That's grounds for dismissal.
When: Nowish
Where: Scotty's repair shop
Rating: PG(13)? Forget if there's language in there or not, but I think probably not. Just being safe with the rating.
Status: Complete!
Gaila was tinkering with the engine. She knew if she adjusted things just so it would fail to achieve the necessary power output, and the rocket wouldn't lift off. It wouldn't endanger anyone, but it would...well what would it do?
She dreamed about Orion again. She didn't want to go back. She envisioned what would happen to her. When the truth came out about Ensign Giles. She wanted to believe Janice, she was just terrified she couldn't.
So, in her tired, dream addled mind, if the spaceship didn't work? Then their return to their timeline would be delayed, and she could be human for that much longer.
That is the scene that Scotty walked in on. Gaila messing with the engines.
There was one thing in Scotty's life that reigned supreme: Machinery. Anything he worked on, became like a child to him. It had to be nurtured and guided along with frequent tuning, and upkept so that it would probably last longer than his own lifespan. To him, all things that consumed power and resulted in propulsion was that which was almost holy in origin. He almost had a love affair with the Enterprise, and it was his pride and joy that he got to run around inside of his ship, taking care of her and making sure that the bampots up on the bridge didn't kill both the ship and everyone else on board.
So, needless to say, it was probably one of the grandest betrayals one could strike against him. It was akin to stabbing him in the back, especially considering he knew that she was a spy...but he'd hoped...prayed...that if she realized that, she wouldn't act on it, anymore. And yet, there she was, doing that very thing.
He was beyond pissed off. He was livid. He wasn't seeing stars, he was seeing molten lava. And he wanted her damn hands off his creation, right this damn minute.
"Whatever yuir dewin'..." Scotty said, his voice full of unfiltered Scottish rage and warning, "...I suggest ye stop this instant, lass. Get yuir hands off the engines, get yuir things, an' get oot."
He gave it about ten seconds, before he added in a very loud Scottishly pissed off, "NEW."
That was Scottish for NOW, of course.
Gaila knew this. She understood it. But such was her fear at going back that she went ahead anyway. It wasn't like she was making it blow up. She was familiar with sabotage. It wouldn't be the first time. Another reason to never, ever go back.
She was almost done, before Scotty's voice cut right across her spine, and stabbed her in the heart. Clearly she was rusty, in her other life, she would never have been caught.
She put down her equipment and turned, "I can explain." Please, let me explain!
It was the principle of what she was doing that was at the heart of the matter. She should've changed, enough to know never to do such a thing. Especially not to him. She could've talked about it, and got it out of her system.
She went ahead and did it anyway. Setting things back now, possibly by weeks. And, frankly, that right there was the straw that not only broke the camel's back, it damn well split the entire camel in two pieces.
In fact, she wasn't a MECHANIC. She wasn't an ENGINEER. She could've endangered ANYONE with just one minor sabotaged adjustment gone awry, and that was another thing that gnawed on him.
He actually, for once, was so angry...so outraged...his well of sympathy felt like it had run dry. Especially since it was coming from someone he thought he loved and they supposedly loved him back.
People who loved each other didn't do these things to each other, and that was what he was telling himself, as he pointed to the door.
Standing his ground, eyes fiery and his mouth set in a thin line, Scotty was clearly, stubbornly and angrily, standing his ground. The icing was already spread in a very ugly manner all over that cake, and he could guess the reasons why already.
"What is it, lass? Ye didnae want tae go home, so ye ruin the chances of those who might have wanted tae?! I might have even stayed with ye, but nae new I'm nae! I thought maybe ye couldae changed an' I could trust ye! Get oot! Get yer things an' get oot! I'm nae having this, an' now I've got tae fix it! OOT!"
He wanted to go back. She knew this in her heart and in her soul, but she'd never been the best at thinking things through. He wanted to go back. She didn't want to lose him. Ergo, prevent him from going back, for at least a little longer. Engage plan, without thinking beyond the immediate outcome.
She wasn't worried about safety. She knew enough from her dreams now, what to adjust and what not to touch. Her skills had extended well beyond just the computer realm.
Chest clenching up, Gaila hugged her hand to herself, "I...Just wanted more time!. You know I couldn't make you stay, not forever! I just wanted time!"
He felt a stab in his chest, and he knew it wasn't just heartbreak and it definitely wasn't a heart attack. It was anger. Her skills didn't rival his, there was no way they could, because well beyond wasn't highly intricate, and that was what that pieced together engine was. Highly intricate. Anything can and could go wrong, even with it being the way it was before she had touched it.
He was also still pointing toward the door. That had not stopped, ceased, paused, faltered, or anything. She wanted time? Guess what. She just gave herself a whole heaping bunch of the stuff, because Scotty a.) didn't play that sort of business, not under his nose & b.) he didn't put up with anyone's shit, unless their name was Kirk and he had a direct order to practically break things to save everyone's collective arses.
It didn't help matters that during training scenarios, he also was the sort to use photon torpedoes as diplomatic devices, during mexican standoffs.
"Guess what then, Gaila?" he said, his voice surprisingly even despite the circumstances. That was gone in an instant, however, because it went spiraling up toward the stratosphere, "Ye want tae SABOTAGE THINGS? YUIR SUCCESSFUL! YE GOT YUIR TIME! GET OOT!"
Gaila slipped around him, and ran upstairs. She tried to think rationally. Give him time to cool off, to think. But that never worked in the past, he always stewed on it. Still, she packed a bag, while trying not to cry.
She couldn't let him stew on it. For once in her life, Gaila wasn't going to run away without a fight. Coming down the stairs, she folded her arms, practically staking her feet into the ground and engaging Irish Stubborn mode 2.0.
"I'm not leaving, Scotty. There's no way in hell I'm going to prove you right and let you stew about this. See? I listened. To what you said. About us, about how you deal with things! I'm not going to...leave without a fight."
Scotty stared back at her, in full on Scottish anger and obstinacy, version 10.5. Meaning that it literally looked as though an egg could be cooked on his forehead, in under 10.5 seconds. He also looked absolutely, positively, without question, totally serious about what he was saying, when he next said it.
"Oh no, I want ye oot. You didn't just risk things with the engine, throwin' wrenches intae it. Ye pretty much threw a wrench intae us, for the last time. Ye might as well have clocked me upside the head with the wrench tae, while ye were at it! If ye want tae gew aboot, sabotaging things? Ye got the whole wide world tae dew that tae!"
He pointed toward the door again, like it was a huge major clue that she should get her butt through it.
"I cannae dew it...this...anymore. I cannae love someone who'd dae this tae me, or tae the people who're supposed tae be her friends. Ye havenae changed at all! I thought I could trust ye, an' I know now...watchin' ye dae that...that I cannae. That was selfish and self-centered an'...I'm tired of it. I thought ye'd change when ye told me what ye were but I can see...ye arenae changing at all! Up tae the same things! New get oot. Maybe someday I can forgive ye, but it'll be a good long time, after all the time an' effort an' work I put intae that...before I forgive ye again. Ye can gew be sneaky and wreck things, all ye want!"
He was giving it to the count of thirty before he went and got her bag, himself, and threw it out the door.
A vein throbbed in Gaila's head, and she gripped the railing of the staircase as her voice rose three octaves and gained an Irish brogue "I was'n trying tae wreck anythin!"
He had to believe her, he had to, she didn't know what she'd do this time if she'd really, truly ruined things. She was too stubborn to beg, and that probably wouldn't work anyhow.
"I love you and I'm stupid and selfish but I love you!"
"WELL YE DID! YE DID WRECK IT! I HAVE TAE GEW FIX WHAT YE DID! DEW YE UNDERSTAND THAT?!"
He really, truly, was fed up. She didn't seem to understand it was pieced together, it wasn't even up to the spec that it would've...should've...been, in their own timeline. It was pieced together, and even when they found the fuel source to make parts of it do what he hoped it would do...to see if it could be done...everything...EVERYTHING in there was volatile. That's why people in spaceshuttles happened to go BOOM sometimes, if they so much as lost a few thermal panels in the wrong spot, or there was a fray in the wiring, or a booster went awry...or an of 1001 reasons that things could end up with someone getting hurt and killed.
And she had the nerve to say she wasn't trying to wreck anything? She's certainly wrecked more than just an engine, this day.
"I loved ye, but right now...I dinnae want tae see ye again. Send for the rest of the things ye want, but yuir oot. I mean it...that was very stupid an' very selfish...it was a completely BAMPOT thing tae dew!"
He went storming past her, grabbed her bag, and went storming past her again, heading to the door. Once there, it was thrown open and he threw the bag out, huffing and puffing angrily, and making a mental list in his head what to check over on the engines, to get an idea of the sort of things she might have done, so he could begin the process of quadruple checking things...all over again.
He waited by the door, glaring at her, holding it open, so he could slam it closed after her.
Foregone conclusion: Scotty's machinery? You don't touch it. Not unless he's there to supervise. The end.
The past tense 'loved' sunk in a little bit, and she grew ashen. Or a pale sickly looking green, as the case might be. Stiffly, she walked past him, unable to look into his eyes, unable to even walk naturally. She was afraid she'd keel right over, if she so much as glanced in his direction.
In a shaky voice, she whispered, "You can keep Computer."
"It's nae mine, ye can send for it or I'll move it intae the pub," he said, not wanting to look at her either. It would be lying if he didn't say he felt horrible, and stabs of regret, but that...that was really that. He couldn't keep going on with someone who just wasn't going to change, and who would possibly put people at risk. People who were his friends. His first duty had always been to the crew and the ship, and not even someone he loved before was ever going to get in the way of that, or endanger those things. So it really was crossing a line that shouldn't have ever been crossed. "Goodbye, Gaila."
"No, you keep it." She hazarded looking at him, unable to stop the tears that streaked down her cheeks, "I don't deserve it, and you need it more. She prefers you anyway."
Gaila picked up her bag, and started walking. She didn't say good bye. She couldn't. The word wouldn't come and she refused to believe that this was it.
He watched her go for a moment, and then closed the door with the sort of finality that was like closing a book after reading the last chapter. While he was sad at the same time, he kept telling himself that it needed to be done...he couldn't have her there, in that sort of proximity, if she would continue doing things like that.