Title: Between the centuries (working title)
Author: KUgirl
Category: General, Romance
Spoilers: none really
Disclaimer: I still 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: There you are, I'm updating NOW. Thank you all for the reviews. It really helps to know what's not clear and I like to get compliments ;-). I'll leave it to Trip himself to explain Archer (and you) how he got on the Virginia. I might also include characters from the other shows, but I still have to think about that. desy, why don't you write down what you had in mind with the Enterprise crew being in the 24th century, it'd certainly be interesting to see how others would handle this...
Reviews are appreciated (and wanted) once again. No flames pls!
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The first thing Jonathan Archer heard were quiet voices and some chirping he couldn't quite place. The next was that this time he really felt as if a shuttle pod had landed on him. It took an incredible effort to at least open his eyes.
„He's awake, sir." he heard a woman with a strange accent say. The voices stopped talking immediately and he could see something moving into his blurry field of vision.
„Jon?" he heard Trip's voice asking. It made him trying to focus harder. „Trip?" he finally brought out. His voice cords felt as if they hadn't been used for years. He had no idea how right he was with this observation.
„Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?"
„Groggy. You're back, what happened?" the last thing Archer remembered was trying to get to terms with the fact that Trip might be dead after he had been missing for over a week without the slightest hint where he could've been gone. Relief flooded him knowing that his friend was safe.
Then the woman with the strange accent was back. „It would probably be best if we let him sleep and rest for another few hours. His body has been through a lot."
„Yeah." Trip answered her. And turning his attention back to his captain he added „Rest a bit, Jon. We're gonna talk later." Archer wanted to protest but being weak as he was, he never gathered enough strength before he felt something press against his neck, heard a hissing sound and lost consciousness within seconds.
-
Several hours later, Archer felt much better. He opened his eyes once more to a ceiling he was unfamiliar with. Puzzled, he tried to push himself up. Trip stood a few metres away and talked to a woman he had never seen before. „Trip." Jon called, noticing that speaking was easier although it still felt as if he hadn't talked for quite some time. The chief engineer and the woman he had talked to quickly came over to him. She was the first to speak.
„Good afternoon. How do you feel now, Captain?"
„A lot better. Where am I? What happened?" Jon answered looking around and finally settling his gaze upon Trip. „Where have you been?"
„What do you mean?" Trip asked puzzled. He didn't remember having been away.
„You'd disappeared. We've been looking for you for over a week. We thought you were gone for good. We had no idea what happened." Archer explained already feeling tired again but determined to find out what had occured.
Trip sighed. „I'm not sure myself what exactly happened, but you'd better prepare yourself for a crazy story."
The captain only looked at him, silently urging him to go on.
„This is sickbay, Jon. The USS Virginia's sickbay in fact. This is Dr. Johnson, the ship's chief medical officer." he answered indicating the woman next to him. Archer nodded at her.
„I've never heard of a ship called Virginia. You're human, aren't you?"
„In fact, I'm a quarter betazoid and three quarters human." she answered smiling and then held up a hypospray „This is a slight stimulant, it will help you stay awake while Cmdr. Tucker explains everything to you." She didn't wait for his consent but held it against his throat. Jon felt the effect almost immediately.
„Trip, what is going on here?" he inquired this time more forcefully, daring his chief engineer to once again evade an answer.
„Alright. The Virginia is a Starfleet ship." Trip held his hand up before Archer could say something. „Let me explain. I'm really not sure what exactly happened but what I know is that I went to bed one day and woke up in this sickbay the next. I'd been abducted by a race that calls themselves V'For'tiran. That's about all we know about them. They put me in cryo-stasis. And you and the rest of the crew, too."
This time Trip hesitated long enough for Archer to interrupt him. „Cryo-stasis? Why?"
„I have no idea. The Virginia found me about 7 weeks ago in a stasis cellule on a starbase that was hidden in a nebula. Pretty far away from home by the way. They have no idea where those V'For'tiran are from or why they put me in cryo-stasis but they found a map in their computer which indicated where we could find the ship I was from – Enterprise. We'd been hoping you were still alive. And you are. All crew members are fine. They even put Porthos in stasis." he explained, smiling a bit at the last sentence.
It suddenly occured to Jonathan Archer that he had no idea how much time had passed since he had been put in cryo-stasis. He trusted his chief engineer, deciding that if this was a trap of some kind he could find out later. But the thought that a lot of time could have passed made him wary. He didn't know that the question he was about to ask was the one Trip dreaded. „Trip, how long have we been in cryo-stasis?" He was not prepared for the answer.
„223 years." Trip answered sounding apprehensive, afraid, excited, sad and angry all at once.
For some time, nobody said anything, Trip waiting for his captain to process this new piece of information, Archer processing it and the doctor watching the two of them trying to imagine what it must feel like to be told something like this.
„Please tell me this is a joke." Archer finally said in a hopeful voice knowing well that he was just kidding himself. Trip only shook his head. For a few seconds they just looked at each other. Their silent communication was interrupted when the doors hissed open. Trip turned his head. A man and a woman in uniforms similar to the doctor's entered. The woman smiled slightly when she saw that Archer was conscious.
„Welcome aboard, captain." she said to him and then turned to Trip. „Does he know?" her eyes seemed to ask. The engineer interpreted it correctly and nodded his head with an unreadable expression on his face. „I'm Commander Karen Veneta, Virginia's diplomatic officer." She went on turning back to Jon. „And this is our captain, Cpt. Marc Laplace." The man nodded his head and smiled. "Welcome on Virginia, Captain. I know, this must be a shock for you."
"Indeed, it is. Why do you all have such a strange accent?" Enterprise's captain had decided that for now, he would concentrate on banal things instead of thinking seriously about this situation. He didn't know that Trip had done the same and that the officers in front of him had been prepared for this reaction.
"More than 200 years have passed, sir. The languages have changed slightly since then. You will get used to it." the young woman answered gently.
"Hoshi will have a field day with this." Trip added smiling, trying to lighten Archer's mood, knowing exactly how he felt. It took him a few moments of looking inside himself to realize that he had not yet processed this completely either.
The doctor finally brought them back to business, reminding them that Captain Archer still needed to rest after all that happened. He didn't even protest, almost thankful for the prospect of having some time to himself to think this through.
"Do you think you will need something to sleep?" she asked him. For a few seconds he entertained the thought of saying yes and returning to oblivion if at least for some time. But if this was real, he'd have to support his crew. "No, thanks. I'd rather try myself." he answered knowing he wouldn't fall asleep but needing to come to terms with the situation so he could help his crewmen.
Trip understood this, too. "I'm going to come back later. I'd like you to be there when we wake Malcolm and T'Pol. They are next." he told his captain.
"Alright." he nodded.
"Sleep well, captain." Veneta added and then left the room with Trip and Virginia's captain.
TBC...
A/N: How do you like it? I hope the situation got a bit clearer. It was difficult to describe Archer's reaction, but I thought that such an information would make him pretty baffled and not make him ask one question after another. Also, I thought that denying it would be a fitting first reaction.
About the thing with the language – I didn't try to write down the changes that could've happened as I'm no linguist and it would also be difficult to try and change a language that isn't my own. But it always bothered me that they would speak the same language in the 24th century we speak now, just have a look at books that are 100 or 200 y/o. The language in them is slightly different but still understandable (Goethe in German for example). That's why I put it in there.
Oh, right, I had to put the shuttle pod remark at the beginning. I just loved it when he said it in "Twilight"!
One thing more: should I also describe how the others wake up or skip it and go directly to the senior crew's adventures AFTER they found out what happened?