The BLTS Archive- Montgomery's Shock
Fourth in the Edge of Forever series
by S.R. Benjamin (phil@temples.com)

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Dear Len:


I know you've been wondering what I'm doing here.  Thought the
Enterprise was in my blood, her engines were as much fueling my life as
hers.  Well, that was almost true.  But I had a shock I wasn't prepared
to get over, not on board.  So I transferred.  Or am I repeating things
you already know?

You are a more flexible man that I am, Len.  So I'm not worried about
telling you.  Hell, you probably know already.  But maybe you can
understand that I wasn't willing to accept it.  How in the galaxy do you
run a ship with that going on, eh?  I could never see it.

Well, no use trying to be gentle.  You'll either understand or not,
accept what I have to say or not.  Either way, I'd like a reply.  Like
to know where I stand.  Plus, the U.S.S. Loch Lomond won't be puttering
around nearby space forever.  These prototype transwarp pods need
testing, and we'll be ready within days.  After that, I don't know how
you'll reach me.  Classified flight plan and all, you know.

So I'll tell you why I left before we loose touch.  Do you remember the
awful time we had of it with V'Ger?  The two of them out there like
fools, one sneaking off and the other right behind, and protocol be
damned.  We were just lucky no one got killed.  I remember you
commenting on the way they were practically falling all over each other
in sickbay.  Thought you were just joking, thought it only had to do
with a brush with death.  You always were a damn sight more perceptive
than you liked to let on, McCoy.

I forgot it until I was repairing the hull bubble V'Ger had burned into
the junction between the rim seal and the aft observation port.  Popping
clear windows into beautiful, functional hulls just never made any
design sense to me.  The junctions can warp.  Anyway, I was outside the
port, near the rim seal, when the corridor door opened.  It was the
Captain and Spock, and I didn't think anything of it.  Just continued my
work.  They were talking, I guess -- could see their forms reflected in the
glass as they moved.  I reckon I blocked out too few stars for them to
see me.  After all, we were sublight, moving through the solar system,
and the sun was ahead of us, eclipsed by the saucer.

I almost jumped when it happened.  I had no warning, no thought that I
was looking at anything other than the conduct of ship's business.  I
couldn't hear them now, could I?  So I just plain dropped the sealer gun
when I saw the reflections of the Captain and Spock turn toward each
other, reach with their hands to touch each other's faces, and dammitall
if they didn't kiss right there in front of me!  I watched the sealer
gun rotate end over end as it drifted away to the end of its tether and
started to bounce back.  This was a pretty mess.  I couldn't just stop.
It was absolutely necessary to finish the job, once started.  Just what
we needed, to have the vacuum etch the fresh sealant and create a hull
breach for sure.  So there was no way I was going anywhere until I had
finished repairing the ship and destroying my confidence in her senior
crew, and that's what happened.

It was impossible to work without seeing them.  It wasn't just kissing,
not for long.  I saw the red privacy lock beacon begin to glow against
the glass.  And the two of them were feeling each other up and down,
still kissing, mouths open and arms tight around each other like they
were never coming up for air.  But finally they did, and what does your
Captain do?  He slides off the couch, and moves his hands to the
waistband of Mr. Spock's trousers.  I was busy removing the outer seal
juncture, and there he is, pulls down Spock's pants right there and
all.  Bends his head.  Spock closes his eyes, reaches his hands into the
Captain's hair.

It doesn't go on for long, before Spock pulls the lowered head back and
kneels himself to pull the Captain's pants down.  Soon he's doing the
same thing as was done to him.  The back of a gold shirt sways back and
forth, just the edge of blue sleeves striped with First Officer's braid
and the Vulcan's hands visible clinging to the pale fabric at the
waist.

Your Captain then lays down on his back and pulls Spock on top of him,
both with their trousers down around their ankles.  No wonder Komack was
so negative about the time the Captain diverted the ship to Vulcan, just
for Spock.  I always wondered what that was about.  Seemed too much for
mere courtesy to a fellow officer with a personal crisis.  Anyway, Spock
smears something from a tube onto-well, you can figure.  He then lowers
himself over his prone Captain and enters him.  Can you believe that?
Nogura would have the heads of every soul on this ship and use 'em to
line the fence around the Academy.  By this time I've lubricated the new
rim seal and slipped it into place.  Almost done.

The Captain is grabbing Spock's shoulders, and Spock throws his head
back, eyes closed, and strains against the body below his.  I get the
bolt tight in the rim seal bolthole, and sealant spurts out.  Done.
Everyone's wiping up.  I've done a good job, they've ruined the entire
chain of command on this ship.

I posted the transfer 12 hours later, by which time the Captain and
First Officer, reviewing ship's business, had noted the log entry of
repair time on the exterior rim junction of the aft observation port,
over my signature.  The Captain signed my transfer request without
meeting my eyes.

So now you know, Len, as if you didn't know already.  Probably treated
'em for some shared venereal infections thrice over by now.  Well,
you're a better man than I if you can tolerate a ship being mistreated
that way.  And that's all I have to say about it.


Montgomery Scott
Chief Engineer
U.S.S. Loch Lomond
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The End