You know the drill. Who’d win?
Scotty: “I canna hit a lady!”
Kaylee: <rolls eyes>
Scotty: “That’s what the stun setting is for!”
<ZAPP!><Thud>
Scotty. Both of them are terrific innate engineers, but Scotty also has the training and “book learning” (remember in “Trouble With Tribbles”, when Kirk confines him to his quarters, Scotty beams that he can spend the time catching up on his technical journals).
Win what? Like, a fight? Scotty, pretty clearly. He’s a guy who gets in barfights with Klingons. If you’re talking about who’s a better engineer, Kaylee gets the edge there because she can fix things without relying on imaginary particles.
Kirk would clearly fall in love with Kaylee, but you know how it goes. She’s not staying on board once the episode ends. She’ll be killed off, become president on her planet or turn out to be her own alternate dimension twin or something.
Kaylee. In a heartbeat.
You’re confusing Scotty with Geordi. He offered the token protest each time, but he pretty much did what was asked of him without explaining exactly what he was doing like later Trek engineers.
If you mean in a physical fight, Scotty.
If you mean a competition of some sort where each gets to use tech from their respective shows, Scotty, big-time.
If you mean both having to work with Star Trek tech to accomplish a goal, Scotty, obviously.
If you mean both having to work with Firefly tech to accomplish a goal, Kaylee… assuming it’s the kind of thing that can be won in less than an hour, otherwise Scotty will have figured it all out by then.
In a whiskey guzzling contest, Scotty wins.
On the other hand, Kaylee wins when it comes to eating strawberries.
Scotty was actually pretty nice-looking, except for all those tattoos. She sure could weld, though. But, for whatever reason, they dropped her from Mythbusters after the first season.
So, Kaylee.
Swimwear competition. With slightly warm lubricating oil.
Scotty would multiply his repair estimate by a factor of four and spend the extra time drinking Kaylee under the table. +1 Scotty
Kaylee’s hotter than Scotty by a wide margin. By TV rules, that lets her win 99% of the time.
I’ll be in my bunk.
As far as engineering goes, Scotty was more concerned with making himself seem impressive, while Kaylee was more concerned about actually keeping her ship in the sky. Sure, Scotty did his job, but it was an easy job, which only seemed hard because he told everyone it was, and nobody knew better. Kaylee, though, was working with (no offense) a pile of junk, and a captain who wouldn’t budget her even basic supplies and maintenance. That catalyzer that broke in Out of Gas? She’d been complaining about it since the pilot, and Mal was too tight-fisted to get a replacement. Did we ever see Scotty recognize that a part was failing, but then manage to keep it working for months without replacement anyway?
He did pretty well with a crashed shuttle and a faltering transporter. It managed to keep him alive for multiple decades.
Man what is WITH all this Scotty hatred? See if YOU can realign the dilithium matrix with only have the necessary reactants and an immersion blender!
No way. He padded his estimates to keep up his reputation as a miracle worker, but even if he didn’t, he’d still be known as a maker of wonders.
Scotty ALSO had a lot of help in assistant engineers, and could at worst call to Starfleet for advice or supplies.
Kaylee had just herself-nobody else on the ship knew squat about keeping it going.
Kaylee has tits. Game over.
They’d get along famously and thus, everyone wins.