Title: Future Tense

Author: M

Feedback: Yes please but go easy on me. :-p

Fandom: Enterprise crossed with Titan.

Pairing/characters: Riker/Troi. Blink and you'll miss it implied T/T'P

Rating: eh...if you've hit puberty, you're good.

Disclaimer: Trip (either Sim or the original) isn't mine. Will Riker isn't mine. Deanna Troi isn't mine. The USS Titan isn't mine. Kitara, Soleta, Ren, Drew Tucker, Sara Reed...they are. Sort of. And no, Soleta isn't Peter David's Soleta. :-p I got to using the name when I created this character years ago never thinking the other Soleta would get ressurrected. So...Trek Fen, it's not that Soleta. K:-p

Summary: Well...they say no one ever really dies in Star Trek...they're not wrong.

Author's Note: Okay, so this is the WIP that won't die. I kid you not. It's due today as it's for the Metamorphosis challenge infooxoniensis put off. She assigned me the title of the Enterprise episode Future Tense and I remembered what I wanted to Future Tense to incorporate. It sort of did but didn't and then the premise I came up with didn't fit with the episode events so I did as the challenge suggested and wrote a fic based on the title not the ep. It's not beta read yet but I have a beta all lined up I just mixed up the dates on when the challenge was due (I thought next week) so it will be betaread before it's posted on my site. Course, I have to finish resurrecting my site yet but...:-p details.

This story could also be considered a sequel/prequel (don't you just love time travel?) to my Enterprise fic Infiltrator. And yes, it is both sequel and prequel all in one. Hence the time travel crack. :-p

And without further ado...

"Future Tense"
by M.

Prologue:

Time is such a mercurial task master. A universal constant, all species whether affected by it or not, are aware of it and it's passage. To step outside of it as the Prophets do does not eliminate its presence or its hold on the universe. To exist within it as humanity, and other such races, do is to see time as linear. Immutable. Unable to be changed. To be lived through and to follow along with as one follows the current of a river.

However, time turned out to be not as linear as humanity believed for so long. Accidental discoveries proved time could be changed and with that, time lost it's immutability in humanity's eyes. Time became defined by perception and the perception of it was fragmented. Time became moments. Moments where a captain in one century makes a decision that will change the lives of people living centuries ahead of him. Wars are touched off, fought and resolved, great moments in history endangered and saved, and all of it because of the perceptions of those within it...

Time has become a story defined by it's characters and heaven help us all if the characters realize it...

Chapter 1:

The USS Titan, Starfleet's latest best and brightest, streaked space at high warp, her gleaming lights a stark contrast against the blackness of space. She was the pride of her new captain and crew and had more than lived up to the expectations placed upon her. Starfleet had expected her, and her captain, to perform to the high standards they'd set and perform she had. Though fresh from spacedock with an untested crew, her captain had proven himself more than apt in his selection of his command staff and together, the ship, crew, and captain were already beginning to make a name for themselves. A name outside of the one Captain Riker had made for himself as First Officer of the USS Enterprise.

It was an accomplishment Will was more than a little proud of. Now, if he could manage to find time for a night alone with his wife, his life would be complete. And to that end, he'd spent weeks planning just such a night. All that remained, was the execution of said plan. Which, Will was beginning to learn, was easier said than done.

"Absolutely no interruptions. Remember that." Holding up his forefinger, the captain directed it at the Klingon woman sitting in the chair before his desk and grinned. "None whatsoever. I don't care if Q shows up with the Borg Queen and demands to play a hand of poker, no interruptions."

"There will be no interruptions whatsoever, sir." She promised gravely, a twinkle of laughter hidden in her sharp eyes. "Understood. The bridge duty officer has been ordered, that for nothing short of the warp core actually breaching is he to call you." With a slightly feral grin, she added, "I even made him swear a blood oath upon the head of his firstborn son."

"Now you're just patronizing me, Kitara." He complained, getting up from desk and walking toward the door.

"Begging the captain's pardon, no I'm not," she argued, rising to join him.

Will slanted a look across at her as they left his Ready Room and crossed the bridge to the waiting turbolift. "Kit..."

She grinned again as she stepped into the lift with him. "Hmm...maybe just a little. " Holding up her fingers, she demonstrated. "But only a little."

"Hmph." Was the captain's response. "Deck Five." He looked over at her. "Did it get here?"

"Mmhmm..." Kitara nodded once then gave her destination before continuing. "Deck Three - I had Radowski beam it directly to your quarters. The designated coordinates you gave me." She looked faintly amused. "He about had a coronary event when he saw exactly where those coordinates were. Not that I can blame him, you really had him beam it into your closet?"

"I did." He affirmed. "I checked the coordinates myself. They're good."

She shook her head. "They'd better be. Otherwise, we're going to have the devil's own time getting it out of the wall and you have to explain it to Drew."

Riker chuckled. "I thought that's what I had a First Officer for."

"Oh, no. I'm sorry to inform you, sir, my duties do not extend to covering up the Captain's screw ups when they're committed in the execution of a romantic endeavor."

"So much for Klingon loyalty." He teased.

She smirked. "I am half-human."

"Oh sure, use that excuse."

The lift came to a stop at Deck Three, the doors sliding open to let the Commander out. Not entirely done, she turned back to her captain with an almost cheeky grin. "Why not? It's always worked before."

The lift's doors slid shut on the Captain's answer.

"Will, what have you done?" Walking into the spacious quarters she shared with her husband, Deanna Troi realized just exactly why her sense of him had been so clouded as of late. She'd assumed it had more to do with the bustle and distractions of settling in on the Titan and the subsequent missions Starfleet had assigned them. Things had been more hectic than she could ever recall them being and she hadn't been surprised that Will's thoughts had been a jumble to her. Now, standing in the middle of the living area, looking at the room around her...she had another reason. Will had been distracted but she wasn't sure exactly how much of his distraction could be attributed to the Titan and how much of it had to do with this. It was glorious.

An amazed smile played about her lips as she took it all in. The lighting was set to the lowest level and he'd supplemented it with candlelight, there was jazz music playing quietly, and the coffee table was decked out with a fine variety of her favorite foods. A fluffy, sinfully comfortable throw that had been a wedding present from Beverly was decorating the floor by the coffee table and the sofa that had previously occupied the space was nowhere to be seen.

Her smile turned wicked when she realized almost all the foods were finger foods. A good choice, she knew that well enough, they'd never be able to keep their hands off each other long enough to actually eat a full meal.

'Planning ahead, Imzadi?' She couldn't resist teasing. "How long have you had this in the works?"

Stepping out of the shadows, Will returned the grin and pulled her into his arms. "A while." He leaned down to kiss her, taking his time in doing so. "Kitara helped a bit. We've been so busy lately...I thought we needed time alone." He brought her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss over her wedding ring before planting a kiss in her palm. "I think I was starting to forget what you looked like."

Deanna laughed. "As if you ever could." She kissed him again then slipped free to sample the waiting dishes. One caught her eye and she reached out to skim a finger across its surface, bringing it too her mouth for inspection. "Alderian chocolate pudding?" She turned with a delighted smile. "Will..."

"Look closer." He instructed, walking to her. "You'll notice there's not a dish on the table that isn't chocolate related."

She looked again and sighed. "I knew there was a reason I married you." Turning in his arms, she reached for him with body and mind. 'And with all the planning you've put into this...I think I'm going to have to work very hard on thanking you.'

Will chuckled low in his throat, the rumbling sound never failing to thrill her. 'I was counting on it, Imzadi.' He promised, hands stealing over her body and finding his favorite places. The sensations his touch evoked in her traveled from her to him and back again, the feelings they brought out in each other, echoing back and forth until neither one knew from which they first came. Neither one cared. They were all that they were and where one began and where one ended mattered little to the sum of the whole.

Slipping her arms about his neck, Deanna pulled herself closer as her uniform fell away from her body and the thought skittered through their minds, though neither one knew who thought it, 'Absolutely no interruptions...'

Though there was no night or day in space, all Starfleet vessels maintained a day and night schedule. The enforced artificial night meant the lighting in the non essential areas on the lower decks were kept to a lower level and the shifts had a smaller assigned compliment of crew. Most importantly, the command staff got their rest. Or, at least, in theory they did. The bridge duty officer operated under strict regulations so that in the event the ship encountered something that met those requirements, the captain and first officer were notified immediately.

Before officially turning the bridge over to the Beta shift's duty officer, Kitara had cautioned him yet again as to the conditions of that night. She'd made it quite clear in no uncertain terms that the captain was not to be disturbed if something did arise. She was to be called first - which was a matter of protocol anyway - and then she would make the decision as to whether or not to call the captain. She had hoped nothing would require their attention that night but she also knew Will and Deanna had brought the Enterprise curse along with them when they'd taken postings on the Titan.

Everyone in Starfleet had heard of the Enterprise curse. It had begun with Jonathan Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 over two hundred years before and continued on with every successive Enterprise since. The fantastical became normal and tended to happen at the exact moments one wished they wouldn't. More than one Starfleet officer had remarked it almost seemed as if the universe were controlled by an outside force hellbent on keeping the crews of the legendary vessels on their toes.

Kitara believed it. But then again, she was half-Klingon and such ideas weren't out of the realm of rationality to Klingons. Thus, she lingered up not wanting to get ready for bed only to be called out of it by the Lieutenant on duty. Her mother, a rather mercurial woman from Ireland, had oft talked about the proverbial watched pot. Her daughter had teased her about it more than once but if she hadn't believed it before, she did when - seconds after her head touched the pillow - the comm chimed and the bridge duty officer's voice echoed through the air.

"Bridge to Commander Kitara."

She groaned and muttered a Klingon oath that would've had her father cuffing her about the ears. "Yes?"

"Sorry to wake you, Ma'am," the Lieutenant - Conrad, her mind belatedly supplied - apologized, "but you said you absolutely didn't want the captain disturbed and..."

"No, we don't want the captain disturbed." Kitara agreed, quirking a wry grin, throwing back the covers and getting up. No, they definitely didn't want the captain disturbed. Will couldn't have made that one any clearer if he'd tattooed it on her forehead. Which, she quite firmly believed, would have been his next step if she'd dared teased him one more time. She couldn't really blame him. Newlyweds deserved more time together than Starfleet had bothered give them. They'd been hard-pressed in the first few months of the mission to find anytime together and, like any good executive officer would, Kitara had been only to happy to conspire with her captain to arrange some time. "What is it?"

"Well..." Even over the comm, Conrad's hesitation was apparent and caused his commanding officer to stop in her tracks. A feeling of foreboding crept up her spin as she listened. "That's the thing, ma'am. We aren't entirely sure."

Kitara closed her eyes, pushing a hand through her thick black hair. She had a suspicion that while the warp core wasn't breaching, she was going to be calling the captain out of bed. She only hoped Will was in a forgiving mood when she did. Conrad was still half-terrified of her but he was a competent officer and not the type to disturb her on a frivolous matter. He'd demonstrated almost Klingon determination to perform his duties without aid of his superiors. "Lieutenant, exactly what aren't you sure of?" She prompted, propelling herself forward to her dresser again.

"You're going to need to see this one for yourself, Commander," he answered finally. "There's no real way to explain this...I mean, I'm not sure exactly what to make of this myself. No one is at the moment."

She sighed heavily at that and nodded even though he couldn't see her. "All right, I'm on my way. Kitara out." Reaching for her uniform pants, she shook her head. "One night. All he wanted was one night."

Damn curse.

"Kitara to Captain Riker."

The regretful voice of his first officer intruding into the darkness made both husband and wife groan in dismay. So much for their night off.

Will gave Deanna a tender kiss of apology on her bare shoulder then, out of years of habit, looked ceiling-ward as he answered, "Yes, Commander?"

Deanna laughed at the brisk, but embarrassed, voice of the Klingon woman when she began to explain. "Sir, I hate to disturb you but...we've found something and you're going to want to see it."

Much as his exec had done a scant few hours before, Will groaned, threw back the covers and got out of bed. "Exactly what is it I'm going to want to see, Commander?" He asked as Deanna slipped out of bed as well and went to get a fresh uniform for him. She returned to his side a few moments later with it in hand and began helping him into it, her fingers slipping teasingly over his skin. He grinned at her and stole a quiet kiss.

"The night shift's found something rather interesting -- a torpedo tube." The first officer answered crisply as though she were standing in his Ready Room, giving him the morning briefing.

Will stopped in the midst of fastening his shirt to share a bewildered look with his wife. "A torpedo tube?" He'd made it expressly clear to Kitara that he hadn't wanted to be disturbed. She'd assured him that she would disturb them for nothing less than a full scale red alert and she'd called them over a torpedo tube? "Kit..." He began in warning.

"Yes sir," she agreed crisply, cutting him off. "A torpedo tube from the NX-01, sir. The Enterprise."

"The NX-01?"

"Archer's Enterprise?" Deanna's eyes widened with the realization, her reaction echoing her husband's feelings on the matter. "Are you absolutely sure, Commander?"

"Without a doubt," the first officer affirmed. "Checked and rechecked."

"Still not seeing the urgency here, Kit." Will said, smiling at Deanna as - still nude and heedless of it - stepped forward to help him with his jacket. She stayed that close and emergency or no, he wasn't leaving.

"Well, Captain," his XO sounded almost smug as she responded, "we've detected a life sign aboard it. That urgent enough?"

Deanna grinned at him, sharing Kitara's mirth, and he scowled. At who, he didn't ask himself. Women.

Laughing openly, his wife stretched up to kiss him. "Go," she urged gently. "He's on his way, Commander. Riker out."

"You," Will informed his wife, as soon as the channel was closed, "are terrible." He gave her a lazy grin, his hands sliding along her bare arms, thumbs rubbing in small circles over her skin.

"Mmmhmmm..." Deanna smiled wickedly and melted closer for a kiss. "I am...Always." They traded leisurely kissed for some moments then she stepped away in search of her favorite robe. Without asking, Will knew she was getting ready just in case they'd need her and he had a feeling they would. Whoever it was in that torpedo tube had been there for two hundred years. If they made it...if they survived...they were in for one hell of a shock.

Two hundred years was a long time to take a nap.

Kitara met him at the turbolift. A tall woman, she was easily eye to eye with her captain and Will didn't miss the apology warring for excitement in hers. He hid a grin as the doors slid open and they stepped in. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl over the discovery but hell if she'd ever show it. Back on the Enterprise he'd had some dealings with the half-Klingon, she would have been - in fact - his first officer on the Melbourne if either one of them had taken the assignment. Kit, as he'd discovered in that time, was hardly what anyone expected her to be and delighted in that fact. She'd admitted as much to him. She found it advantageous in the execution of her duties to continually keep some people on edge. It made things interesting as well as being highly useful.

Will had found he was coming to depend on that skill as well as the deceptive calm she presented to the world. Deanna had remarked on the illusion of still waters more than once when it came to his first officer and seeing Kitara through his wife's eyes, he was inclined to believe it. Heaven help the person who ever stirred those waters. "Don't say it." he warned with a wry smile as she turned to face the doors, a tiny grin playing about her mouth.

"Say what?" She echoed innocently. "Deck 22." The aside comment to the computer went unacknowledged as she continued, "I wasn't going to say a thing."

"Sure you weren't." He agreed affably. "Sorry, Commander, but innocence and Klingon brow ridges just don't mix."

Kitara grimaced and nodded reluctant agreement. "You got me there, sir. Never worked on my mother, either."

He chuckled at that. "So, life sign you say?"

"Life sign." She affirmed. "We scanned it to verify then, when it was cleared, transported it to Sickbay. Just as soon as Engineering figures how to open the thing, Ren's on hand to examine whoever's in there. Hopefully, we'll be able to entirely revive them. The vitals seem stable enough - in stasis we think - but there's no guarantees."

"We haven't opened it yet! Why not!"

"Well," his XO scowled, making herself look more ominous than usual, "the damn thing is what Mom would call booby-trapped. One of Ren's assistants tried to open it and received a nasty little electrical shock for his trouble. Second degree burns to go with it. He's fine but that convinced me to get Drew and Soleta out of bed. They've been working on it ever since and if they're getting nowhere..."

"It's highly likely somebody doesn't want that tube opened." He finished for her as the lift came to a stop, the doors opening to deposit them on the designated deck. "Or, at least, not opened by the wrong person."

"What I can't figure out is where the damned thing came from. I studied the NX-01's missions at the Academy and I don't remember them ever having a burial in space and certainly not in this sector." Kitara frowned again, falling into step with her captain. "And I'm quite certain I don't reading about them accidentally shooting a live crew member into space."

"You and me both," he agreed thoughtfully. "Of course, if our guest was alive when he or she -- "

"Or it," she supplied.

"Or it," he acknowledged with a quick grin, "was put in there...and nothing about it went into the Captain's Log..." he frowned, echoing her expression, "the question has to be...Why?"

"I can't think of anything good." She put forward after a moment's thought, continuing to keep pace with him as they neared sickbay. "Didn't he have a run in with the Khans?"

"An offshoot of them." He agreed. "You don't think..."

"I hope not."

"You wouldn't be the only one. Imagine Starfleet Command's reaction if we had to tell them that..." Entering Sickbay, Will looked for his Chief Medical Officer and found her leaning against the doorframe of her office, watching the bustle of activity across the room. "Anything, Doctor?"

Taija Ren, a friendly looking Trill, lifted her free shoulder in a half-shrug. "Soleta and Drew are still working on getting the tube open. I can't tell you much beyond the fact we're dealing with a human biosign in there. It's faint but stable."

"Captain," though she didn't raise her voice, Soleta's call easily carried across the spacious room as she greeted them, "Commander, we have discovered something...intriguing."

"Something intriguing." Will observed lightly to his XO as they crossed the room. "Must be Jonathan Archer himself in there for her to be that excited."

The Vulcan quirked the expected eyebrow at him in silent answer to the teasing comment as they came to a stop across from them. "Commander, I believe you wished to explain?" She commented dryly, deferring to the man at her side. "Please do."

Fairly dancing in excitement, the Chief Engineer blurted out, "Isolinear circuitry -- the torpedo tube's casing has been altered to conceal isolinear circuitry. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, sir, the significance of that."

"No, you definitely don't." Will stared in shock at the glossy surface of the tube but it yielded no answers to his probing gaze. If anything, all his mind came up with was more questions. "Isolinear circuitry wasn't even a design concept two hundred years ago, much less in practical use."

"Indeed, and this will further intrigue you sir," Soleta reached out to lightly tap a stylus against the end of the tube nearest to her. "When Mr. Aless attempted to open the tube and received the shock, he inadvertently triggered what I believe to be the pre-programmed response to any sabotage." She lifted her dark gaze to the captain's, giving Will a peek at the restrained excitement in its depths. "The tube is now emitting a subspace signal." Whether it was for dramatic effect or not, he didn't know, but the Vulcan woman paused before adding, "It is addressed to you."

"To me!" Will and Kitara shared a shocked look before turning back to Soleta again. "Are you..." He let that question die unfinished on his lips. Of course she was sure. She'd served in the Science department on the Enterprise for years and in all those years, he'd learned a lot about her. She was more like her father than she would believe and she never said anything if she didn't believe it was worth saying. She sure as hell didn't make statements like that unless she was sure. "Okay, anything else?"

She handed him a PADD in response. "The bulk of the message is encrypted however there is some content which is not. Enough to suggest you will have little difficulty deciphering the rest."

Reading the information on the screen, Will immediately began to understand. "Sara."

"Commander Sara Reed." Turning the console on Ren's desk, Will sat in her chair - having happily commandeered her office - and watched Deanna and Kitara read the information. "We knew each other at the Academy. She was recruited into Intelligence not long after we graduated. Last time I saw her..." He frowned. "Can't remember the last time I actually saw her. She'd drop a subspace message on occasion but...That was it."

"Do you think she's the one in the tube?" Deanna asked, sitting across from him in a visitor's chair.

"No." He shook his head. "The message said pretty much along the lines of me taking care of something for her. Not a lot if information in it but...if it was Sara herself in that thing, she'd've out and out said so."

"When did Starfleet Intelligence get into the business of time travel?" Kitara wondered aloud, still staring speculatively at the personnel record. "That tube is definitely two hundred years old and definitely from the NX-01. It's been sitting out in space ever since it was fired from the Enterprise in 2153. The modifications had to have been made at that point in time." She looked up, her gaze traveling from the counselor to the captain. "What in the name of the gods was - is - a Starfleet officer from the 24th century doing in 2153?"

"Whatever it is," Will mused quietly, sharing a considering look with his wife, "Starfleet isn't likely to share it over subspace." He frowned. "They might not even want to admit she's actually still in the 'Fleet."

"In all likelihood," Deanna began thoughtfully, "Sara has already included everything you need to know in the tube. She's always been an extremely methodical officer. I can't imagine she'd go through the trouble of taking the time and risk to prepare the torpedo tube without making certain you had all the information you would require."

"If she did, she certainly made certain it wouldn't be easy to get at." He complained good-naturedly. "Soleta and Drew have been at that for..."

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!" The loud exclamation from the main area of sickbay instantly drew their attention. There, through the lightly frosted glass, they could make out the Chief Engineer looking utterly astonished.

"Think they found something." Will observed wryly. He rose, leaving the office with both Deanna and Kitara following along. "Commander? What's all the fuss?"

Raking a hand through his short hair, leaving it in utter disarray, the younger man looked at his approaching commanding officer sheepishly. "Sorry, cap'n," he apologized immediately, "but Soleta managed to access the computer systems in the tube and..." he shook his head, "well, she can tell you."

"The commander is less than enthused to discover he has spent the past few hours engaged in the pursuit of wild game." Soleta put in, her choice of words bringing wry grins to the other officer's faces.

"A wild goose chase?" Deanna translated around a laugh.

"Precisely." The science officer nodded then handed her PADD to the captain once more. "When I accessed the systems concealed within the tube, I discovered a vocal activation subroutine."

"You mean..." Will stared in disbelief, he was beginning to feel that a lot it seemed, at the PADD's display. "Oh you have got to be kidding me."

Reading over his shoulder, Deanna laughed. "All you have to do is tell it to open..."

Kitara took the PADD from the captain's numb fingers and gave it a quick scan. "It's a little more complex than a simple voice print but, essentially, that is all he has to do." She chuckled. "Oh."

"Next time I see Sara, remind me to wring her neck." Will remarked tiredly to his wife.

And, with that, something within the tube beeped in acknowledgment and broke the seal, air hissing out in a rush as the tube unlocked.

Trying to restrain the urge to laugh again, Deanna looked up at her husband 'It looks like Sara knew how you'd react, Imzadi.' She observed, knowing he felt her amusement whether she laughed or not.

When Soleta dryly remarked the same of Sara's intentions moments later, the Counselor couldn't quite hold back a giggle anyway, the Science Officer responded with a knowing, and somewhat amused, look in the Betazoid's direction.

"Commander Kitara," The Vulcan continued, addressing the First Officer, "your assistance is required."

Kitara immediately stepped forward then hesitated, warning, "If I get shocked across the room, understand Commander, I won't be too happy when I wake up."

"Understood." Soleta affirmed serenely. "Doctor, you may wish to prepare for the necessary treatment."

"Oh I'm ready." Ren assured, holding up her medical tricorder in acknowledgment. "Hurry up and move the cover so I can get to work."

"I don't think she's talking about our guest, Doctor." Will commented with a little grin.

"I was not." Soleta affirmed. "If Commander Kitara is injured, I may find myself suddenly arriving very near death's door." Feigning ignorance as to the reasons for the laughter around her, she looked to the executive officer once more. "Ready?"

Kitara nodded and they stepped forward. Laying their hands on the cover, both tensed as if expecting a shock to race through their bodies but it never came. "Safety protocols must've been deactivated when it opened." She observed, the muscles in her arms barely flexing as she and Soleta lifted the heavy cover away to reveal a youthful man in the uniform of a 22nd century Starfleet officer.

The group of officers stared in silent surprise at him for a long moment. Whatever they had been expecting in the case, all were quite sure this wasn't it.

"Son of a..." It was the stunned voice of the Chief Engineer that broke the hush and in the silence of the room it sounded as loud as a phaser blast.

"Commander?" Will prompted automatically, when Deanna nudged him, her mind communicating to him what she'd sensed from Drew. "Something to share?"

"Yes, Sir." Drew - Andrew - Tucker lifted his head, tearing his gaze away from the man lying before them. "I know him, sir." He explained as Ren moved forward, tricorder open and at the ready to take further readings.

"He is Commander Charles Tucker the third." Soleta supplied calmly. "Chief engineer of the NX-01."

At her words, Will groaned and closed his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."

TBC