AN: This is a one shot. It was in my head begging to be let out.
This takes place during the Star Trek: Enterprise episode Harbinger, S3E15. And is named after the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Yesterday's Enterprise, S3E15 (total coincidence).
I didn't like that Trip died on the show. There's a good book called The Good That Men Do where it's revealed that Trip's death was faked and he went undercover on Romulus. I'm using that as the references to his future.
I don't own 'em, I just like to play with them.
"Don't move," the man with the gun pointed at her head ordered.
"Wasn't planning on it. Can you not point that at my face?" she asked. The man glanced over to, what she assumed, was his commander. The other man in dark camouflage nodded and the weapon was lowered to her chest. The woman sighed in semi-relief. This was exactly what her best friend was always bitching about when the transporters were acting up and she should've listened to him.
"Thank you," she said. "Any chance I could talk to the person in charge around here?"
"That would be me," a man coming down the corridor said. Jim had to do a double take. She knew that voice and face. It was a bit older where she's from but still. The woman looked around and she knew exactly where she was. The big question was when she was.
"Oh, fuck. What year is it? 2153, '54?" she asked the captain who she knew would become a great many things as she dropped her arms.
"2153. Who are you?" Archer asked.
"It's a bit complicated... but considering you're in the middle a temporal cold war, you might actually believe me," she offered.
"You're from the future?" the man next to the captain asked. Tall and attractive with a southern accent, she knew he was Chief Engineer Charles 'Trip' Tucker as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Yes, Commander, I am," she said. Captain Archer looked at her and she sighed, "I'm Captain Jim Kirk of the Federation starship Enterprise. This… all of this… is a little over a hundred years in my past," she told them. The two men and the Vulcan woman -she recognized as T'Pol- looked at each other.
"That's crazy," Tucker muttered.
"So is fighting a war with a group of terrorists from the twenty-eighth century but you guys got that covered," Jim countered.
"Oh, I like her," the engineer said with a chuckle.
"How do you know about that?" Archer asked.
"I lived a few doors away from Hoshi when I was a kid. My dad was fleet, killed in action, she kept an eye on me. Told me all kinds of stories. You are still on active duty at HQ. I can't wait to tell you that I met younger you… you're gonna get a kick out of this," she told the man she knows in a little over a century. "Can you tell the MACOs not to shoot me? I'd like to get back to my time sans injuries. My chief medical officer won't be very happy if I go back hurt."
"How did you get here?" T'Pol asked as Archer ordered for the men with the weapons to stand down.
"I don't actually know. I was on an away mission waiting for a beam out and I ended up here," she told the Vulcan. "Could be a transporter malfunction or a temporal distortion, maybe. Are there anomalies in the area? Other than me of course."
"There was nothing of note on the scanners, Captain," T'Pol said. Jim wasn't sure if the woman was addressing her or Archer but it didn't matter. "I will endeavor to find out how Captain Kirk got here and how to return her to the appropriate time."
"I guess we have a mystery to solve," Archer said. "Captain Kirk, since it looks like you're gonna be here a little while we should probably have a talk."
"Even a hundred years in the past and it still feels like getting called to the principle's office," she muttered.
"You're staring at me," Hoshi said from across the table.
"You uh… you saved my life when I was thirteen. It's just weird reconciling the old woman who taught me how to curse in Klingon with you," Jim replied. The truth was that she missed the woman who died protecting her all those years ago.
"Good point," Hoshi said with a smile and went back to eating her dinner. "I really taught you how to curse in Klingon?"
"Yep. My uncle got a kick out of it," Jim smiled.
She had been on the NX-01 for seven hours and they were no closer to figuring out how to get her home now than they were then. T'Pol was working on it and Jim knew all too well how Vulcan first officers can be when they set their minds to something.
"Can we join you, ladies?" Trip –as she was told to call Tucker- asked. The engineer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed sat down when Jim and Hoshi gave them a nod.
"So, how are you liking this Enterprise?" Malcolm asked.
"It's a good bit smaller then mine but I like it. The MACOs keep flirting with me though," she told him.
Other than the senior officers and the two MACOs from earlier, no one on the ship knew who she really was and none of them were brave enough to ask her. It might have something to do with the fact that Archer had someone get her a uniform, complete with command gold piping and her rank. As far as this crew knew, she was a visiting Starfleet captain, which was essentially true.
"Can't say that I blame them," Trip muttered. "Woman as beautiful as you."
"Oh, so that's what they were talking about," Jim said with a smile. "I never thought I'd actually see the ladies' man at work."
"What, I don't flirt in the future?" he leaned closer and whispered.
"I wouldn't know. We've never really crossed paths," she told him. Jim was not telling the man that he was believed dead by most and went undercover for Section 31. No way in hell. "Which is crazy when you consider how much time I spent in the Tucker Building."
"The Tucker Building?" Reed asked.
"It's actually the Charles Tucker Engineering and Propulsion Building. Houses the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and a bunch of labs. We all just shorten the name," she only told them half of it since it was actually a memorial building for the not-so-dead officer.
"You hear that… I got a building named after me," Trip said with as much charm as he could fit into the room.
"There's stuff named after all of you. My presence here is proof that the cooperation and unity that Archer talks about, it actually happens. Yea, we have our fights but we are, for the most part, one. The United Federation of Planets. It was this ship, this crew, that helped make it happen," Jim told the three officers sitting with her.
"Well, I'll be," the engineer muttered.
"I wouldn't touch that, it's…" Trip started but Jim cut him off.
"The housing for the plasma injectors," Jim said.
"You know your way around an engine," he was a little surprised.
"I do. My mom is an engineer… or she will be. Anyway, I preferred wrenches over dolls and shopping, still do. I had blueprints of this ship on my walls, I might know her better than you," she said as she leaned against the ladder that lead up to the second deck.
"Maybe," Trip sighed.
"What has you up in the middle of the night?" Jim asked the tall southerner.
"Nightmare about my sister," he muttered as he worked on the panel in front of him.
"She was killed in the Xindi attack. I'm sorry. I know how it feels… My brother," she sighed.
"Tell me yours, I'll tell you mine," Trip offered.
Jim smiled. "Hoshi actually told me... tells me yours in 2245 but I'll tell you as much as I can about mine without breaking every rule in the book about time travel. George, I'm the only one who called him Sam thanks to his middle name, was my older brother. We lived on a colony far from Earth, virus came through killed all the plants and crops. The governor had half the colony executed to have enough food for those he deemed worthy. Me and Sam saved a bunch of other kids and kept them alive for months. Sam died scouting for food, shot in the head execution style by one of the governor's men. Starfleet saved the rest of us a week later."
"Wow. I'm sorry," he said.
"Don't be, I wouldn't be me without Sam or what happened. I have my good days and bad days like everyone else but I choose to focus on the good. I do my best so that what happened to him doesn't happen to someone else," Jim said with a sigh.
"That's noble," Trip said.
"Is it? Some days I'm not so sure. I uh… I should probably go to bed. I agreed to train with Hayes' team tomorrow," she told him.
"I'll be there," he told her. "So, I guess I'll see you then. Goodnight, Captain."
"It's just Jim. 'Night, Trip," she said before she walked out of engineering.
"What's going on?" she asked as the ship rattled. She was in engineering with Trip. It seemed to be the only place on the NX-01 where she didn't feel completely off. The bridge wasn't her bridge and the chair wasn't her chair.
"Don't know yet," Trip said.
Just then, Archer called down that helm wasn't responding and they needed full reverse right away. Jim knew enough about this ship to help Tucker get helm control back online. She wishes she could say that was it but it wasn't even close. They managed to pull a pod out of the disturbance. After Jim, Reed and Trip got it onto the ship, Archer ordered them to open it. Inside, they found an alien hooked up to all kinds of electrodes.
"I guess ships named Enterprise really do find the craziest things," Jim muttered. Trip and Reed helped Archer get the Alien out while she helped Phlox try to get a read on him. His cells were degrading rapidly and if Phlox couldn't revive him, there was a good chance that Archer wouldn't get any answers.
"Take a look at the pod. If we can't wake the alien up, it might be our best source of information. I'll send T'Pol down to give you another set of hands. Reed, you have somewhere to be," Archer told them. Even though Jim wanted to go with the tactical officer to hand-to-hand training, she would be of better use staying to help Trip.
"You mind if I stick around. This is more important than getting me home. I'd like to help, if I can," she offered. Archer nodded his assent before leaving the room with Reed, Phlox and the alien.
"I think you just want to stay with me," Trip teased when they were alone.
"I have a thing for southern gentlemen," she told him. "When you find one, let me know." He gave her a nudge as they went to work on the pod. Jim did like Trip, he was like a mix of Bones and Scotty, two of her favorite people.
"I think it's a transmitter," he said after they'd been working for a while. "I just can't pinpoint the frequency."
"Better than what I got. These electrodes were collecting biometric data from the alien. Unfortunately, the data isn't stored locally," Jim said just as T'Pol joined them. They relayed what they found so far to the ships first officer as she began to scan the pod's computer. Jim chuckled.
"What?" Trip asked.
"My first officer, Spock, is Vulcan. If he were here, he'd go straight for the computer too," she answered. Jim and Spock were actually good friends after the whole Admiral Marcus/Khan/Jim dying thing. She misses him. She misses all of them.
"We need to get this data to the Captain immediately," T'Pol said suddenly. Trip helped Jim get down from where she had climbed into the pod and they followed the Vulcan to Archer. They squeezed into Archer's ready room. How Trip doesn't hit his head in half the places on this ship, she'll never know.
"The pod's hull contains the exact combination of alloys we found on the surface of the spheres," T'Pol told Archer. Jim knew they were talking about the Xindi spheres. That was not good.
"You remember the Triannon creation myth?" Archer asked. Trip and T'Pol nodded but Jim shook her head. Archer smiled, "They believe that the spheres were created by divine beings who would one day return to the Chosen Realm. And that the spheres were reshaping the Expanse into a paradise for the faithful."
"Perhaps Triannon mythology has a basis in fact," the Vulcan offered. "It appears the pod was designed to transmit data regarding the alien's physiological status. I believe he was inserted into the disturbance so someone could monitor his exposure to the environment."
"He's a canary," Jim said, remembering something Archer taught her in one of the advanced tactical courses at the Academy. T'Pol gave her that look that Spock does when he doesn't understand one of her Human sayings.
"On Earth, miners used to take canaries into the tunnels with them. If the canary didn't die, the miners knew the air would be safe to breathe and they could proceed," Archer told his first officer. "I'm gonna go talk to him again. T'Pol with me. Trip, Major Hayes has weapons training on deck."
"Sounds good. You in, Jim?" the chief engineer asked.
"I'm gonna outshoot you," she told him.
"My ego can take it," Trip asserted.
"We'll see."
"We developed this specialized training system at Jupiter Station a few months ago. The goal is to hit as many targets as you can in ten seconds," Major Hayes told the officers. He looked at Reed, "Lieutenant, if you're up for it?" Reed nodded and Hayes made the whole group step back. "Start him off at Level Two." The system started and Reed hit four targets in ten seconds. It wasn't bad for a first time and Hayes said as much. Reed just looked pissed off. "Kick it up to Level Four," Hayes called to the MACO operating the system.
"They don't like each other, do they?" Jim whispered to Trip. The engineer shook his head slowly but never took his eyes off his friend.
"Understatement of the century," he muttered.
"Nine hits. That's a mid-range score. Corporal Cole here has the record: fourteen hits at Level Four," Hayes declared.
"I was having a lucky day," a brunette woman on the other end of the group said with a chuckle.
"Okay, let's do some shooting. We'll start at Level Two and work our way up. Who'd like to go next?" Hayes asked. Trip stepped up and took the offered weapon. He got seven in ten seconds.
"That's pretty good," the engineer said as he rejoined the group. "Whatcha got, Kirk?"
Jim knew it wasn't fair since she their specialized training was outdated in the next sixty years and she had her time's version of advanced training. Jim already warned Trip and he still egged her on. She asked for Level Four and Hayes nodded. She tied Cole's record.
"That's not even my best, I just don't wanna show off," she whispered as she took the spot next to the chief engineer.
"Fair enough," he muttered.
"Your room's a lot bigger than mine," Trip told her. According to Hoshi, guest quarters were the biggest berthing areas on the ship. The Captain's quarters were only slightly smaller.
"I had nothing to do with it. Come on in," Jim said. "This is normal in the future. This room is a little smaller than my quarters. I guess it'll take some getting used to if I have to stay."
"We'll get you back to the right time," he said as he pointed to the Starfleet emblem sitting on top of her uniform. She gave him the okay to pick up the small piece of alloy. "T'Pol doesn't give up when she has a mission."
"Sounds like my first officer," she said.
"You miss him," the southerner said.
"He's my friend. We used to hate each other. Then his mom died. My mentor died. I died. You tend to get over petty shit real quick," Jim told the other officer.
"You died?" he asked.
"I got better. My chief medical officer is a relentless bastard. He brought me back and bitched at me about it. He's my best friend, so I let him rant. Usually means he's worried," she said. God, how long as it been since she's been without Bones for more than a few days since they met? Her favorite medical professional was gonna kick her ass when she got back. And she was never gonna hear the end of it about the damn transporter.
"Sounds like Phlox," Trip quipped. Jim nodded, it did sound like the Denobulan. Trip sat next to her on the couch. "You're worried, aren't you?"
"Not that I don't like it here, but I'd like to go home," she told him.
"Staying here wouldn't be the worst thing, would it?" he asked her.
"No. It's just… I spent my whole life looking for a place to belong. I found it. My chair on my bridge on my ship with my crew. I worked for it. I fought for it. I died for it. The idea that it's just gone…" Jim didn't finish the sentence.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked. She nodded. "Is there someone… special in your time?"
"You mean other than the flagship with a crew of eight hundred? No. Why?" Jim was curious where he was going with this.
"Because I'm gonna kiss you and I don't wanna step on some future guys' toes," he told her. Jim had feelings for someone but she was sure that they were one-sided.
"You wouldn't be stepping on any toes," she breathed.
"Good," he whispered right before he pressed his lips against hers.
She gripped the front of his uniform and pulled him closer. Trip wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her onto his lap without breaking the kiss. His lips were soft and warm against hers, yet demanding as they left her breathless. She moaned into his mouth, she couldn't help it. Trip chuckled as he pressed kissed along her neck and collarbone. Jim's hands moved into his hair, holding him against her. His hand resting at the small of her back pulled her even closer before Trip looked into her eyes.
"If we don't stop now, I won't be able to," he whispered, his voice rough.
"Good," Jim said with a smirk before she brought their lips together again.
"What happens to me?" Trip asked as his fingers ran along her spine. "You talk to everyone else like you know them but you're evasive when you talk about me."
"I don't know if I should tell you," she whispered against his chest.
"I'm probably dead. We're talking about a hundred and ten years from now. Unless I die sooner than that." When she didn't say anything, he looked at her. "I do, don't I?" he asked.
"Trip… you did something that was necessary for your crew. And for the Federation. I did meet you once when I was a kid but I can't tell you more," she told him.
"I can live with that, I guess," Trip said before kissing the top off her head. "Sleep." She could get used to this even though she knew she probably shouldn't. It's been while since she took comfort in another person like this. The pair snuggled closer and she drifted off the sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
"Tactical alert. Senior officers to their posts," Archer announced over the intercom. Jim and Trip hopped up and pulled on their clothes as fast as humanly possible before sprinting to engineering. Systems all over the ship were going haywire. The alien was wandering the ship causing power failures all over the place.
"Archer to Engineering," the captain called down.
"Tucker," Trip answered just as one of the main power conduits exploded and sent him crashing into a bulkhead.
"Trip! Trip," Jim called as she got to him. She put her hand on his neck and was rewarded with a strong pulse under her fingertips. Jim pulled him from the middle of the floor and got back to work. If they didn't stabilize the power, the whole ship was done.
"Lieutenant," she heard Major Hayes call to Reed as they ran into engineering. He was pointing up and she looked. Jim noticed that the alien from the pod was up and about just fine. She also noticed that he was phasing in and out, which explained the problem they were having with the ship systems and why they couldn't catch him. The alien was climbing into the warp drive. As soon as he reached inside, every system she was monitoring went batshit crazy. They all got tossed on their asses as the ship shuddered.
"Magnetic containment is fluctuating. He'll blow the ship," she told Reed and Hayes as she read the panel in front of her.
"We need to reverse polarity on the plasma coils. We got to turn the T-valve the other way. Kirk, on the controls. Hayes, with me," Reed ordered.
The tactical officer and the MACO leader moved to either side of the valve and turned it all the way to the left while Jim entered in the commands to trigger a feedback pulse. The alien screamed as the pulse turned the alien solid and tossed him to the floor. Reed and Hayes were right there, weapons pointed at the alien's head. Jim chuckled, guess they don't hate each other anymore.
"Morning," Jim said as Trip blinked his eyes open open.
"Hey. I'm guessing we won," he said as he carefully pushed himself up.
"Oh, yea. We might've left engineering in a bit of a mess," she said before she told him what happened after he got knocked out.
"Can you knock me out again?" the engineer asked. Jim raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. Do you know how long before we can get underway?"
"About a day," she answered. "I did what I could and your team is pretty good. It'll be okay."
"That to convince me or yourself?" Trip asked.
"Both, I guess. T'Pol figured out how I got here but she doesn't know how to get me back," Jim sighed. "Might have to get used to the twenty-second century."
"You know the captain would probably keep you aboard. We could always use good officers out here and you know more about this universe than we do," he told her.
"I know. I'll worry about it later," she said as she stood up. "Wanna grab breakfast? We got a lot of work to do." Trip nodded and they left the room. They were just outside the galley when Archer called them up to the bridge.
"We're reading a massive ship heading this way," Ensign Mayweather said just as Jim and Trip walked onto the bridge.
"No configuration I've ever seen, Captain," Reed offered.
"They're hailing us," Hoshi said. Jim smiled as Spock, Bones and the Bridge of her Enterprise came up on screen.
"Spock! Bones! You guys found me," she said with a smile. The whole bridge crew perked up at the sound of her voice.
"You're trying to give me a heart attack, kid," her best friend grumbled at the same time Spock spoke.
"I'm pleased to see you, Captain," her first officer said with the faintest smile. She could see the relief all over his features.
"Alrighty, lad. Give it a go," Scotty told Trip. The pair of them got the warp drive back into working order in a flash. Jim stood off to the side with Archer and watched.
"We're good to go, Captain," Trip reported to his commanding officer.
"I guess I should round up the others," Jim said.
Only the senior staff members of the NCC-1701 were allowed to come over. They were given strict orders not to talk about the future, or what happens to anyone on the NX-01. Bones was in sickbay with Phlox. Nyota chatted up Hoshi. Chekov and Reed were comparing notes. Spock and T'Pol were doing the science required to get them all in the proper times. Sulu was on the bridge talking shop with Travis.
"Aye, lass. We gotta get back to where we belong," her chief engineer said.
After changing into her uniform, she set about getting all her officers to the transporter. It wasn't nearly as easy as she thought it'd be on such a small ship. Jim completely understood why, this ship was a part of their history. Fortunately, her people understood that they were working on a limited time frame.
"I guess I'll see you later," Hoshi said before giving Jim a hug. She nodded but couldn't think of anything to say so she gave her future friend a squeeze. Various farewells were had before she was faced with saying goodbye to Trip.
"Guess this is it," he said.
"I guess so. Do me a favor and stay safe out here," she told him.
"I'll try," Trip said before he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. "Too bad you're a hundred years younger than me. I'd ask you out in the future."
"A hundred and twelve years, actually," Jim said with a smile. "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'll miss you too. It's time for you to get back to where you belong, when you belong. I'll see you in a century." He gave her a tight hug and let her go.
"Mister Spock," Jim said to her first officer. He opened his communicator and called Lieutenant Kyle back on their Enterprise. A few seconds later, the familiar swirl of the transporter surrounded the group of officers from the future.
"You okay?" Bones asked when he walked into her quarters.
"Yea, I'm good, Bonesy. You know me," she answered as he dropped into the chair by her desk. It was mostly true. They found their way home through the subspace distortion that took her to 2153. Luckily, her crew had only been without her for a few hours and not the nearly three days she had been on the NX-01.
"You miss Tucker," he muttered. The young captain stared at her friend for a long minute when it hit her.
"You're jealous," Jim declared. Bones opened his mouth to lie but she gave him a look and he sighed. "Why? You… you actually date people and you're jealous… of Trip Tucker. We're… uh… You and me… You like like me? Since when?"
"Since the Academy. You were my only friend and I didn't want to mess that up, so I kept quiet. Then the Narada showed up and you got tossed a ship. I figured you needed time to sort all that out. Then Pike died and you died and there hasn't been a right time," the southern doctor told her. "I guess I'm just tired of pretending. Sorry to drop that on you after the few days you just had."
"Bones, I…" she was trying to figure out what to say. How the hell does she fit the last seven years into a sentence?
"It's okay, Jim. You don't have to say anything. I should let you get some rest," he said, rising to his feet.
"I love you too, idiot," Jim whispered. The fact that he stopped dead in his tracks told her that he heard what she said. "I wish you would've said something."
"Yea, well, I just said something," Bones said. "What now?"
"That is the million credit question," she said before she stood in front of him. Bones ran his hand along her jaw and smiled.
"I'm sure we'll have fun figuring it out."
AN: I was asked why she didn't warn them about Tarsus Four, Nero, the aliens that 'kill' Trip, Khan and everything else. Well, there's a regulation for that. The Temporal Prime Directive.
"All Starfleet personnel are strictly forbidden from directly interfering with historical events and are required to maintain the timeline and prevent history from being altered. It also restricts people from telling too much about the future, so as not to cause paradoxes or alter the timeline." From Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek Wiki.