The wrong Enterprise (open)

[tript]

Anyone familiar with the history of Starfleet - at least when it came to uniforms - would recognise that the man who appeared in Ten Forward was from two hundred years ago. His uniform was a lot like a blue boiler suit, with red stripes, three pins denoting his rank of Commander, and a lot of pockets.

Commander Charles Tucker III was confused. A moment ago he'd been on Enterprise and now he was somewhere else. It looked like it could be a bar, but the stars outside and the feeling beneath his feet of a warp engine, told him it was a starship. So this was a mess hall, perhaps. He didn't feel like he'd been transported. And if something had wiped his memory his shoulder would have improved. He moved his left arm experimentally in its sling. No, definitely no memory wipe and he'd definitely just been on Enterprise.

Trip unzipped a pocket and came across a hyper spanner. "I wondered where that went," he muttered to himself. He put it back and pulled out his communicator. Flipping it open he said, "Tucker to Enterprise." There was nothing - not even static. It was as if Enterprise was not in range, but if that was the case how did he get here? If only he had two hands free and the right tools, he'd take the communicator apart to check it was working. He tried it again, not really expecting an answer this time. "Tucker to Enterprise."

Comments

[tript]

He nodded. The under the counter stuff was always better. He could imagine a bar on a starship not having a big stock of hard liquor. Not that he'd ever imagined a bar on a starship before.

He'd assumed that being new and drinking whiskey was what they were staring at. He hadn't thought he'd be recognized. Archer, maybe, but not him. He frowned at Jim. "I'm not that famous," he protested. "What did you do that gets you recognized?"

[original_fine]

"Not now," Jim said. "I mean, when you're from. But you're part of something people will still be reading and talking and teaching about hundreds of years later." He took a sip of his own drink. "I'm Captain of the Enterprise in my own time. People keep coming up to me and congratulating me on my 'historic' mission. Which... hasn't ended yet."

[tript]

He chuckled. "I think I'd rather be remembered for a historic mission than for stopping the Xindi." Not that it hadn't been important, but exploring had been a lot less stressful. "That was more the captain than me, but then it's the captains that get all the honor. And all the responsibility."

[original_fine]

Jim shook his head. "I don't think you understand. It's not just that. It's the historic mission, as a whole. It's the romance of the unexplored. There's always an unexplored, but... I think those of us who are of that bent envy those who were the first to see, say, the American West, or the moons of Jupiter, or Centauri VII. Besides," he says, nodding slightly towards the ensigns who were now looking anywhere but, "one of those is from Engineering."

[tript]

Trip looked over as well, accidentally catching the eye of one of the Ensigns, who blushed and studied his drink.

"I guess," he said, turning back to his own drink. "It is something, to step on a planet that no other humans have ever been on before. I'm not too keen on the shuttles they used to go to the moon in the 20th century, but imagine being the first person to set foot on the moon." He certainly romanticised the unexplored himself.

"Doesn't this Enterprise explore new civilizations too?"

[original_fine]

So far, Tucker was exceeding expectation. If Jim had ever anticipated meeting the Commander, that was. Which he hadn't. The more they spoke? The more Jim became convinced the two times were more alike than not.

Despite some very important socio-political differences.

"From what I've been told? Yes. Just further out than you or I reached. Or, well..." Jim paused, musing. "I think there are a few instances which would give them a run for their money, but whenever my ship reached the edge of the unknown, it was usually due to outside influence. Some part of me hopes that there will always been an unknown, or we'll cease to be what we are." He smiled. "Then again, shoved into the future as I am? I very much feel a relic."

[tript]

"The galaxy would be a boring place if we'd explored it all." But maybe by then humans would have worked out how to get to other galaxies. There always seemed to be a new frontier to explore.

He sipped his drink, while considering what being in the future would be like, once he'd been here for a bit longer. "Even being from the past you've got some useful skills. The first man on the moon wouldn't have a clue about the warp drive, but I bet he'd be better than anyone here in zero g."

[original_fine]

This was the most positive Jim had felt in some time. He laughed at Tucker's comment, nodding. "How are you with internal combustion engines?" he said. "I had to drive one awhile back, and I have to say... I'm glad there's no holovid record."

[tript]

"That bad, huh?" he asked with a grin. "I was never that great at driving one myself - I much preferred tinkering with them." Once he'd discovered the joy of making something go, any engine would do. "I eventually got better at putting it all back together after I'd taken it apart," he added, laughing.

[original_fine]

Jim laughed back, as much at himself as anything. Though, yes, the fact he was talking to Tucker was still making him slightly giddy. "Me? It was always the going that got to me. I never wanted to stay still. Ask my mother. Horses, boats, spaceships--it didn't matter. As long as it got me somewhere else." He shook his head. "I don't think I've ever even been running from anything."

[tript]

Trip chuckled at that. "This is a faster spaceship than you'll get at home. Will they let you fly her?"

[original_fine]

Jim huffed a bit at that. "I've never felt so much like cargo in my life. They say rank has its privileges, but in this case, respect hasn't translated to any sort of job."

And Jim so hated to be jobless. It made him restless.

"Honestly, I think they're just trying their damnedest to figure out how to get us all back."