Title: Between the centuries (working title)

Author: KUgirl

Category: General, Romance

Spoilers: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Enterprise and her crew are stranded in the 24th century we know from ST:TNG, DS9 and VOY

A/N: The last episode this story takes into account is "The Aenar". Everything that happened afterwards is speculation. Note though that as a European the last episode I got to see was "E2". All information about the events afterwards are from the Internet. I apologize if something is not quite right. In addition, English is not my mother tongue, so bear with me please. And as this is my first fanfic ever, I haven't found a beta yet - contact me if you're interested in doing it! Now, on with the story!

Reviews are appreciated. No flames pls!

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Enterprise NX-01 was floating in space. All life on board had come to a halt, the silence was incredible. That was not important though as nobody was able to hear it. The bridge was dark as were engineering, sickbay and all corridors. There had not been light aboard for more than two centuries now. That did not matter either. Nobody had opened his eyes during the same amount of time.

That was about to change though and the sleeping crew was in for a surprise that would change their lives.

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USS Virginia, NCC 75632, somewhere in the Beta Quadrant in 2377

Cmdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker woke up from another chaotic dream. For a few seconds, he didn't know where he was, only that these were definitely not his quarters. Then it came crushing back on him. His dreams might have been chaotic, but most of them were close enough to reality: 2377. The USS Virginia on her way to a more or less unknown region of space. With the incredible speed of Warp 17.8 or 9.7 according to their scale. Hoping to find the NX-01 in a nebula nobody had ever penetrated before. Hoping that all stasis cellules were still working. Hoping that his friends could help him adjust in this new time and regain his equilibrium. Hoping he would not have to live without T'Pol.

The Virginia was a nice enough ship. Trip had yet to adjust to its dimensions. His own quarters were bigger than Enterprise's bridge. He loved Engineering: After two weeks of interviews, tests and examinations, Starfleet had cleared him for all sections of the ship and for access to most of the files a normal Starfleet officer could have a look at. So, he had spent most of the last four weeks in Engineering getting to know the new technology and exchanging views with Virginia's chief engineer. He had been surprised when he found that he could actually talk to the man although the technology he knew was 223 years old. It never seized to amaze him how patient the young Lieutenant Commander was with him. And how excited he could get explaining the most basic things.

When Trip wasn't in Engineering, like now, he was in the mess hall with Virginia's diplomatic officer, Commander Karen Veneta. She had agreed to introduce him to her century. To their technology, to Starfleet's new standards, to the last 223 years, to new races they had encountered and regions of space they had explored. She always found something to tell him that brought his attention away from his misery if at least for a few minutes.

"So I was really lucky that you didn't find me 18 months ago or I would have ended up in the middle of the worst war the Federation has ever known?"

"Yes, in fact. Although of course we only found you because Virginia was back at exploring instead of patrolling the borders. We would've never had a look into the nebula had we not been on an exploring mission. She might be one of the best scientific ships Starfleet might have but we had not done anything else than patrolling since we deployed from Utopia Planitia."

"Utopia Planitia?" he asked. It had become kind of a tradition that she would tell him about something and when he heard something he didn't know, he interrupted her.

"Starfleet's main shipyard. Most of our starships are either from there or from Jupiter station." she answered without hesitation.

"All right. Utopia Planitia." he took a sip of the beverage that stood on the table before him. Its taste surprised him once again. "What was this called again?" Veneta only laughed at that. "Raktajino. It's one of the few positive things that came out of the war with the dominion. Our relationships with the Klingons are good enough to trade this with them."

"So this is basically Klingon coffee?" he asked baffled.

"Yeah. Surprising, hm? But there are a lot of fascinating things about the Klingons that most of us have yet to discover."

This made Trip think back to his situation. There was still a lot for him to discover about Vulcans as well. And now, that he and T'Pol had finally been back on track in their exploration of a possible relationship, Trip refused to think that she might be dead and this might be all over. Karen picked up the change of his mood immediately.

"What are you thinking about?" she inquired, sincerely interested.

It took him a few seconds to focus back on her and some more to decide how much he was going to tell her. "Nothing in particular. Just thinking about my friends back on Enterprise. And how much they are missing out." he finally answered smiling. She didn't buy it for a second.

"You're worried they might not be alive anymore." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes." Trip answered with a sigh. "I'm aware that the data you found at the station you found me in gives a good indication that the cellules might still be functional and that the ship was not damaged, but the doubts don't go away. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be stranded in a foreign century without anybody I know?" He had no idea why he confided into the woman he'd only known for a few weeks, but it made him feel slightly better and until now, she had not given him any indication that she was not worth his confidence.

"No. I haven't." she answered truthfully. "Maybe it will help if you tell me a few things about them. It will also make things easier as soon as I meet them."

He smiled at that. She seemed a lot more confident than himself that they would find his crew alive. "What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you have to tell me. All I know is that your Captain was Jonathan Archer, that your first officer was one of the first Vulcans in Starfleet..." "T'Pol" Trip interrupted her and noted with mixed feeling how good it felt to just say her name. What he didn't notice was that Karen interpreted his interruption correctly as well. It was pretty obvious to her that he felt special about the woman. She decided to store away that information for later but didn't inquire more about her for this moment. Apparently, this was one of the things that hurt him most. "Right, T'Pol. Why don't you tell me more about Enterprise's senior officers and then you start with Captain Archer." she offered smiling slightly.

They spent the next two hours with stories about the Enterprise crew, Captain Archer and some of the aliens they had encountered. All the time, Trip carefully avoided saying more about T'Pol than necessary.

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It took the USS Virginia another two days to arrive at the nebula where they suspected the Enterprise and her crew in cryo-stasis.

"Prepare to enter the nebula, Ensign." Captain Marc Laplace ordered his helmsman. Turning to his science officer, he inquired if she could detect something on the sensors.

"No, sir. But it ought to get better as soon as we enter the nebula." Lt. Cmdr. V'Shal answered.

"You heard the man, Ensign Carlton, get us in!" the captain ordered. Almost as an afterthought, he added "Commanders Veneta and Tucker to the bridge." "We're on our way, sir." came the positive reply.

TBC... Tell me what you think!