Chapter Text

All The Time in The World

San Francisco
May 2356

The fog had come out of nowhere and now old Golden Gate was almost entirely drowned by the thick white mist that served as a well-recognized trademark of The City by the Bay almost as much as the iconic suspension bridge itself.

Only the two tall, red pillars and connecting cables were still clearly visible from the window of his room. The view was marvelous on almost any given day and even a foggy morning like this held an undeniable charm.

But Cadet Michael Owens—no, ensign, he reminded himself—looked out onto the snowy white sight with little excitement. And yet there was much to be excited about. After four long years at the Academy, some hard and challenging, others filled with pure exhilaration, his time as a cadet had come to an end. He had graduated, his final grades were in, his new rank confirmed, and even his first assignment decided on.

His father, an important man working at the very core of Starfleet Command had known the news before he had. He had been proud, of course. Seeing his son following his footsteps had been a lifelong dream of his. Michael had only joined Starfleet to please him. Even though it had been Matthew—his older brother—who his father had initially singled out to be the one to follow in his footsteps.

Owens Senior had been close to obsessive about the notion, working hard to discourage any ideas that he could find his future in marine biology and become an oceanographer like his mother had been. Her unexpected death had ended both brothers’ desires of one-day exploring distant oceans at her side.

Michael had never understood why his father had been so determined to see his sons following his own path. In the end, Jon Owens had pushed too hard and Matthew had packed up his bags and left home.

Michael, too young to leave, had remained alone with his father in a large empty house nestled in the Wisconsin countryside. A house made even emptier by the Starfleet officer’s long absences from home. With Matthew out of his reach, his father had focused all his efforts on his younger son and Michael had eventually given in, making the day he joined Starfleet Academy, the happiest day in his father’s life. Or so he had claimed.

It had been tough on Michael at first. Unlike most cadets, Starfleet had never been his first choice. He had been shy and mustered up just enough motivation to pass his classes at first. But Michael Owens was to be transformed into a different kind of man over his four years at the Academy, and now, on the eve of his departure, he could imagine no other path for him. He seemed destined to make the leap to the stars, to discover the unknown, and most importantly, to become what he wanted most in life.

A starship captain.

“U.S.S. Saber, experimental prototype, brand-spanking new, just a few days out of Utopia Planitia,” said a distinctive feminine voice, interrupting Michael’s thoughts.

Michael caught her reflection in the glass and turned to see Amaya Donners stride into his quarters unannounced. She had always tended to do that much to his roommate’s frustration.

He didn’t quite understand why Jarik minded, Amaya was a knock-out. Perhaps it was because he was half-Vulcan. Or perhaps because he had always assumed that there was something more going on between him and the dark-skinned beauty from Shreveport, Louisiana. After all the two of them spent a great amount of time together, best buddies and all, but he had always insisted that their relationship was purely platonic in nature.

Jarik was too smart to not see through that lie.

She had a large smile on her face, baring her pearly white teeth, as she playfully waved a padd in her hand. “And guess who’s going to pilot her?”

Michael nodded slowly and walked over to his bed where he had started to pack his belongings into a large carryall. “Congratulations.”

Amaya’s smile widened as she mistook his tone as a sign of pure jealousy. Rivalry had been like a sport to them over the years. “Yeah, let me see you top that one.”

“On the table,” he said while he placed another shirt into his bag.

She noticed the padd and quickly picked it up to read its content. She froze in place. “Son of a –“ she finished the colloquialism in her mind only. “The Fearless?” she said with all too obvious surprise. The ship was quite famous in Starfleet. It was one of the most requested assignments throughout the fleet. Not only was an assignment to a deep-space explorer a guaranteed path to a quick promotion but the ship and her crew were also renowned for the many discoveries they had made both in the Alpha and Beta quadrants.

She was probably well aware that the ship was currently in the system, awaiting another mission into uncharted territory that was sure to only add to her fame and glory. “How the hell did you pull that one off?”

He merely shrugged.

Michael didn’t need to tell her that he was well-connected within the Fleet, although many cadets had relatives who were current or former Fleeters. Her parents both served in the Border Service.

She did like to tease him about his father’s position and his barely concealed obsession with seeing his son succeed. He was glad that she suppressed the urge.

She took a step toward him, still holding his padd. “This is incredibly good news, Michael,” she said with a tone entirely devoid of envy. She could do that quite well.

“You would think so,” he said and stopped packing. “You would think that people would be happy for me. That they would encourage me to follow my dreams and give me their full support.”

“What’s the problem?”

He turned to face her. “Problem? Who said there was a problem?” he said and snatched the padd out of her hand. “This is what I want and I’m going to get it. And I tell you something else, I’m going to be good at it, and people will take notice and I’ll climb up that ladder all the way to the top. I’ll see things nobody has ever seen before but eventually,” he paused. He didn’t sound excited when he spoke. Instead, his speech had a very tense, almost angry edge to it. “I’ll come back,” he added much softer and then looked straight at her. “Right?”

She nodded slowly, after all, they had both been looking forward to this for a long time. To finally leave the Academy behind and venture out into the galaxy. To end their existence as nameless cadets and join those legendary explorers who really mattered in the grand scheme of things. Delusional fantasies perhaps but not entirely.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

Michael caught another glance of the bay’s most remarkable landmark, still blanketed into glistering fog. “It really did come out of nowhere, didn’t it?”

She followed his glance but couldn’t find the answers to her question out there.

*        *        *

It had been another sunny and beautiful day in the Bay Area. The weather forecast had announced temperatures of up to twenty-six degrees Celsius and some light fog in the late afternoon. Only hours later would the inhabitants of the Northern Californian metropolis realize how far off the mark the prediction had been. Weather was a tricky thing and it still held the power to catch everybody by utter surprise, even in the ultra-modern age of the twenty-fourth century

Michael was not worried about the weather as he strolled down the wide walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge. His mind was occupied with something else entirely. He had received his new orders only minutes before and he couldn’t have hoped for a better assignment. His life as an adventurer would finally begin and he could hardly wait.

He found the person he was looking for at her favorite spot, just a few meters from the first pylon and standing close to the railing.

It was the exact same place he had first seen her nearly four years ago. He had been immediately smitten by her long black curls, her dark, intense eyes, and her exotic beauty.

He had been way too shy back then to speak to her right away. What he had not realized was that Jana Tren was a Betazoid and that she had easily picked up on his feelings.

A few days later they had met again, by complete coincidence. He was a freshly minted cadet and she was the daughter of an Academy instructor. Over the following days, he found it difficult to keep his mind off her and he had come up with several clever ways and excuses to see her, including managing to be invited to Professor Tren’s private home.

And yet it had been she who had taken the initiative and had opened up a conversation with him, admitting that she had taken notice of the shy cadet and had been waiting for him to make a move. Their relationship took off quickly after that and even though Tren was two years his junior, and still in school at the time, she eventually joined him at the Academy even though she never showed the same interest and excitement about Starfleet as many other cadets did.

It became quickly obvious that they had much in common. Like him, she too had joined Starfleet because of her father. It was her support and unwavering confidence in him that had brought along his transformation from a shy adolescent to the young adventure-seeker he had become.

“The whales in yet?”

Jana turned to consider him with a smile on her lips. “Any day now.”

Michael nodded. A group of humpback whales were making their way to San Francisco Bay every summer, usually arriving at about this time of the year. For a long time, Earth’s oceans did not have whales as they had become extinct due to the environmentally reckless habits of twenty-first-century humans. But according to an old story, a courageous Starfleet crew had reintroduced the huge sea mammals to the aquatic population by bringing them back from a trip into the past, and in turn, saving the entire planet from destruction.

His marine biologist mother and his Starfleet father had always enjoyed telling him this story when he had been a child. The whales had been released right here in the bay and that seemed to be the reason why they liked to return to this place.

Jana had spent half her lifetime in the city, and she had never missed the whales’ homecoming.

Michael joined the sophomore cadet by the railing, looking out into the Pacific. She was out of uniform, which was no surprise to him. She didn’t much care for it and he had rarely seen her wear it off campus.

“You’re in a good mood,” she said, picking up on his emotional state immediately.

There had been times when it had been difficult to be in a relationship with a Betazoid, especially at their age. Fortunately for him, she wasn’t as well-trained in the art of telepathy as most of her kin due to her life among non-empaths. She couldn’t read his every thought but there had been occasions where he had wished for a less perceptive companion. Today was not one of those days.

He grinned broadly. “What gave me away?” he said as he casually leaned against the barrier next to her.

“You’re positively radiating. I don’t think a person in a fifty-kilometer radius could miss it.”

Michael nodded slowly, his grin still on his face. “I got my assignment, Jan.”

“Oh?”

“It’s the Fearless.”

Jana kept her eyes on the azure-colored sea below. “Do you know when you’re leaving?”

“Next week, I think,” he said. “We’ll have some time to celebrate.”

She didn’t look like celebrating. Instead, she offered a curt nod in reply as her gaze remained unchanged.

Michael moved around her. “This is fantastic news, Jan. You know how much I wanted to get onto an explorer. And the Fearless? I mean it doesn’t get much more explorer than that.”

“I guess not.”

“You’re not happy for me?”

She turned to look at him. She didn’t speak right away. Instead, she seemed to probe him, her dark eyes drilling into his. He knew that look. He knew what she was doing and he didn’t like it one bit. She sighed and turned back to the bay. “I’m happy for you, Michael. This is what you want.”

“Hang on a minute,” he said. “We talked about this and you were perfectly fine with me getting a starship assignment. Your exact words I think were ‘It would be an amazing opportunity’.”

“For you,” she said. “An amazing opportunity for you.”

He frowned.

She turned away and began to slowly walk down the bridge. Michael quickly followed her.

“What happened to Jupiter Station?” she said without looking at him.

He sighed. It was true that he had suggested it as a possible destination once he had graduated. He had an uncle who served on the station orbiting the solar system’s largest planet. He knew that going there would have kept him close to Jana who was still two years away from leaving the Academy but the idea of serving on a starbase, so close to home no less, had never really appealed to him.

“I would look pretty foolish if I were to decline a posting on the Fearless to serve on Jupiter Station. They don’t hand out these assignments like candy, you know?”

Jana stopped. “So that’s it then?”

“Huh?”

“Us I mean. Just like that.”

Michael stepped in front of her, both shocked and outraged by her suggestion. Of course, he understood that their relationship would suffer from his decision to leave. But he had never had any intention of ending it. He was in love with her, always would be, or so he told himself.

“Of course not. Just because I’m taking a deep-space assignment doesn’t mean we have to stop seeing each other.”

“Last time I checked, transporters don’t work across quadrants. Even subspace communications are useless once you venture into the unknown. Kinda tough seeing each other when you’re out of reach.”

“Jana I –“

She cut him off. “I tried to tell you before, Mike. This is exactly how it starts. You go off to see a far corner of the galaxy and after a few months, I’ll never hear from you again. It’s a story as old as Starfleet, probably older.”

Michael shook his head, not willing to believe. “I’ll be back, Jan.”

“Sure, you will,” she said. “Someday. And then what? You’ll be a different person, you might even have met somebody else or–“

“I won’t cheat on you.”

She offered him a small smile. “I didn’t say cheat. But it doesn’t matter. Even if you don’t, you’ll just find a new assignment somewhere else. You’ll travel from one distant star to the next. It’s who you are, Michael,” she said and stepped around him to continue down the bridge.

He stood there for a moment, alone, considering her words carefully. He had never thought about it that way. Some of what she had said he knew made sense. But he also knew that he could make this work. They were both young and able, he had graduated Starfleet with high honors, his instructors had promised him a glorious future, and he was determined to have it. And he wanted Jana at his side, too. He knew it could be done.

He quickly caught up with her again. “You have to give it a chance, Jan. I love you, you know that. I will fight for us, why won’t you?”

She sighed. “Your father.”

Michael froze in place. “What the hell does he have to do with any of this?” he said with irritation. His father was the last person he wanted to think about now.

“He was in love with your mother too, wasn’t he?”

The answer of course was yes but he chose not to say it out loud.

“He made her the same promises you are making me now, didn’t he? And how often did you see the two of them together, Michael?”

“They—”, he wanted to come up with a good response but he could not think of one. She was right. His mother may not have been a lonely woman but the person who had mattered the most to her had hardly ever been around, that much he knew. “My father is a very bad example, Jan,” was the answer he finally settled on.

“Oh, yes? Then how about mine? How about every other wife or husband of a Starfleet officer? Is that how you see our life together?”

“What would you have me do, Jan? Leave Starfleet? You know I’m not going to do that. This is where I belong.”

She nodded. “I know you do. And I know what you truly want. And it isn’t me.”

“That’s not fair.”

“It’s the truth,” she said and continued toward the other side of the bridge.

“We are both still young, Jan,” he called after her. “We can make this work. We have all the time in the world to make this work.”

A few passing pedestrians shot him curious glances. Some seemed to have a touch of concern in their eyes, feeling sympathy for the frustrated young man. Others simply looked upon the scene with almost complete indifference. As if they had seen it a million times before. Yet another relationship falling apart because of the sacrifices demanded by the exploration of deep space. Here, at the very heart of Starfleet, it happened every other day.

“Goodbye, Michael,” Jana nearly croaked. She didn’t look back however; she didn’t want him to see the tears in her eyes.

*        *        *

“All the time in the world,” Michael whispered to himself, his eyes still focused on the fog-covered bridge.

Jana was wrong, he thought, if she believed that he was going to let her go this easily. Yes, he would take the assignment on the Fearless and go where no man had gone before but he’d be back and he would be with her again. After all, his life had only just begun.

“Michael?”

He turned from the window to see Amaya’s worried expression. He had almost forgotten that she was still there, so deep had he been in his thoughts.

She glanced back out of the window and a knowing look crept onto her face. She knew of Jana Tren. She could not exactly claim that she was best friends with the younger woman but that was mostly because they traversed in different circles.

Once upon a time she had considered what it be like to be more to Michael than just a good friend but she had seen how much he had been in love with Jana and she knew better than to come between them. She also remembered that they liked to stroll up and down Golden Gate together.

“Are you okay?”

Michael smiled. It looked forced. “Of course, I am. I’m going to be on the Fearless,” he said. “I’m better than okay.”

She nodded reluctantly and was about to add some encouraging words when he beat her to it. He put his arm around her shoulder and dragged her toward the door.

“Let’s get to celebrating.”

Just before they left the room, Michael allowed himself one last glance over his shoulder and out of the window. He just knew he would see Jana Tren again.

What he didn’t realize then, was that it would take eighteen years for that to happen.