Title: Last to Know
Author: Looneyluna
Rating: R
Code: R/S, M/Mc, AU
Summary: I wrote this a couple of months ago and forgot I had it. Spoilers for E2. Enterprise was still thrown into the past despite their descendants' warnings. Hoshi searches for the father of her children.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Kathy Rose and PJ for beta reading.
--
Staring at the pictures of her parents, Hoshi wiped the tears away. The mission had failed. Earth was as good as destroyed. They never made it to the rendezvous with Degra. History had repeated itself and they were thrown back in time, just like Lorian had predicted.
All the debate and all the modifications were for nothing. They came out of the vortex one hundred fourteen years in the past, the only difference was the knowledge of their descendants.
Having attended the senior staff meeting, Hoshi still grieved. Either way, her parents were dead. In the future, the weapon would wipe them out. Here, they just didn't exist yet. T'Pol had argued that history wouldn't repeat itself by virtue of the knowledge they had of the other Enterprise. They would be able to "get it right" this time around.
It was amazing. For a person, who hadn't believed in time travel, T'Pol was a veritable wealth of information on the subject. She and the captain had argued back and forth. He wasn't interested in repeating history and had ordered that all copies of the other Enterprise's database by destroyed. The fact of the matter was that the original attack had occurred. History hadn't changed and seven million people had died.
The captain was adamant in his belief that the knowledge of Lorian's Enterprise could corrupt the alternate timeline the crew was in. He couldn't have his crew peeking into their future and possibly changing it. They had to minimize any alterations.
That was easy for him to say. Most everybody had glanced at their future. There were very few who hadn't. People were already starting to treat each other differently and pairing off. Why oh why hadn't she gone all the way and looked up the father of her children? Maybe he knows who she is. Her pick of men were few…narrowed down to those on board. Trip, Malcolm, Travis and the captain were definitely out.
Trip and T'Pol…guess the rumors are true. Travis is supposed to marry Corporal Mckenzie, and the captain…
"Oh God! What if I wind up with an alien like the Captain did? I'll never find the father then," she said worriedly to herself.
"Malcolm's out of the question." She stood up and started pacing, remembering how upset his was over his impending bachelorhood.
Hoshi sat back down on her bunk, more tears threatening as she grieved for her future children. Saying a silent prayer, she lay down. "Please God. Let him find me."
--
Hoshi stifled a yawn over her oatmeal, letting Travis fill her in on the rumor mill.
"Crewman Rostov already proposed to Crewman Kelly and she said yes," he said with a big grin.
She mentally checked Rostov off her list. No great loss there. Blowing on a spoonful of oatmeal, she smiled.
It was a little difficult to gossip with welding sparks flying around the mess hall, and Hoshi leaned in toward Travis to hear the rest of what he was saying. Hoshi didn't see Corporal McKenzie approach the table.
With an "accidental" nudge to Hoshi's shoulder, McKenzie made her presence known and sat down at the table. Hoshi frowned as the corporal glowered at her, then she realized…McKenzie knew Travis was to be her husband.
Travis looked nervously between the two women. "Uh, hi, Corporal McKenzie," he greeted her with his trademark grin.
Hoshi saw some movement behind Travis and glanced over his shoulder. A group of MACOs stood there, watching the interaction. Smiling knowingly, she scraped her chair back and walked up to them.
"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" Hoshi asked loudly, trying to block their view of Travis and McKenzie.
Sergeant Kemper coughed and peered over Hoshi's shoulder, and Hoshi moved to block his view again, jumping in the air to do so.
Corporals Chang and Romero laughed and motioned for Kemper to join them in leaving.
"No problem here, ma'am," Chang stated calmly, walking past her.
Hoshi nodded as they walked past her, only Kemper deviating from their path long enough to bend down and whisper something into McKenzie's ear.
Hoshi smiled. She had never seen a MACO blush before.
--
Argh! Another mind-numbing paradox meeting. The banter between the captain and second-in-command was too much for her. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her forehead.
"Are you okay?"
Hoshi jumped at the sound of the brisk British accent.
"Yes," she whispered back, not wanting to stick out. "Not really", she wanted to add, feeling like banging her head on table and knocking herself out so she wouldn't have to go through another time travel discussion.
"You have lost your focus, Captain," T'Pol shouted irritably.
The room went quiet and everybody looked at the Vulcan, wondering about her sudden emotional outburst.
"We need to complete the necessary repairs, then worry about…the future." The Vulcan's eyes flitted over everybody and settled on Trip.
Clearing his throat, Trip stood up too. "T'Pol is right, sir. We need parts -- parts I don't have. Lorian said we'd make alliances and trade with other species. I just hope we get to it before we invite anymore trouble."
Hoshi watched the captain back away from the table and run a hand through his hair in frustration.
"The damage is done, sir. People have already started pairing off," Trip stated hesitantly.
Archer walked over to a window and bowed his head.
An uneasy silence settled over the meeting.
Then the captain did something totally unexpected. He started laughing.
"Sir?" Malcolm was the first to question, wondering if his commanding officer had finally snapped.
"If anybody had told me I would be captain of Noah's Ark three years ago, I would have laughed in their face," Jon announced with a laugh, then sighed. "You're right, Trip. We need to focus on repairing Enterprise. Make it a priority. T'Pol, scan for habitable planets. There's no time like the…present."