"The Fairest One of All." CHAPTER FOUR



Trip Tucker was having a lousy day. No, it was more than that. It'd been a lousy week, and the prospects for the future didn't look any brighter. Not as long as he stayed on this ship. The last five days had been nothing short of a living nightmare. A nightmare that began the moment he re-materialized on the transport pad and saw... himself.

At first he thought he must be suffering from some sort of delusion, but it didn't take him long to be convinced that the wild story that his counterpart was telling him was true. One glimpse of the Jonathan Archer in this universe took care of that. The man in charge of this ship was not his friend.

Trip knew he didn't really have any choice but to help Charlie save his baby by taking his place. Trip would never have imagined it when he was pregnant, but when the Xyrillian's removed his fetus from his body, a feeling of emptiness was left in the child's wake. A feeling much stronger than he expected. Once or twice he'd even caught himself regretting that he gave his daughter up so easily, and with that regret came more than a little guilt.

But now he had a chance to make up for that. It may be too late to change the decisions he made regarding his own little girl, but he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that her counterpart had a chance to survive.

Which was why he was sitting here in what would be a cargo bay on his own ship, but over here it had been turned into some sort of macabre banquet hall. There were four long tables that formed a square around the edge of the room. This was where the members of the crew "lucky" enough to be invited to one of these special dinners ate. One of the tables, reserved for the captain and his friends, was raised higher than the rest. Archer wanted to make sure he could look down at the rest of the crew during the dinner.

In the center of the room a circle, which outlined a space called the arena, was drawn. Charlie had given Trip a quick rundown on the after dinner entertainment that occurred inside that ring and it made the engineer cringe. Trip certainty wasn't looking forward to seeing the type of spectacles that Charlie described and hoped that there would be no "entertainment" that night.

The door to the bay cracked open. All of the guests climbed to their feet and started to applaud as Archer and his buddies entered the room. Trip noted that most of the regular crew were clapping with less than full enthusiasm, but the engineer could see how politically correct it was to play along. If you didn't you could end up dead.

Tucker studied the leaders of this Enterprise. Archer, Malcolm, Travis and their bodyguards were wearing hooded robes, clearly designed to denote their rank and status on this ship. The robes were elaborate and a stark contrast to the drab robes and jumpsuits that the rest of the crew were forced to wear.

They looked so different from his friends, Tucker thought. Malcolm's face was covered with scars from the many fights that he had obviously fought, and both he and Travis had long, shaggy hair and beards, but it was Archer that caught Trip's attention. When the captain pushed back his hood and surveyed his domain before sitting down, Trip saw that there was a hardness to the man. He emitted a sadistic presence that totally surrounded him, a presence that Trip prayed his Jonathan Archer would never know.

Apparently Malcolm and Travis were the captain's closest allies, because they had seats of honor right next to Archer. All were wearing weapons and no one had bathed in at least a week. The smell was the worst part of being on this ship, Trip reflected. Even after five days he still hadn't gotten used to the stench.

Archer made everyone else stand for a few moments longer than was necessary just because he could, then he motioned for the others to sit.

Trip took his place with a sigh, careful not to bump the bulge under his shirt. Charlie had thought of everything and had constructed a prosthesis that Trip could wear which would simulate his pregnancy. The device strapped on and felt to the touch like real human skin. It even had a bio-generator inside to simulate infant Xyrillian bio-signs. Trip thought that the invention was brilliant, even though it was uncomfortable to wear.

After much wiggling Trip finally got settled into a tolerable position, just in time for dinner to be served. If you could call the slop that was ladled onto his plate dinner. Trip was so hungry that he was willing to down the gruel, no matter how bad the taste, but his portion was so small, the engineer knew he'd be just as ravenous after dinner as he was before.

Still, he remembered the ferocious hunger that he had felt when he was pregnant and once again reaffirmed that he was doing the right thing. There was no way that Charlie and the baby could survive on these meager rations, and Trip was so glad that they were safely on the other side, probably enjoying one of Chef's scrumptious meals right now.

Scrumptious wasn't a word that applied to Trip's repast however, and he forced himself to pick up his fork. Then a voice frantically hissed in his ear to stop. Trip froze. The warning came from Danny, Charlie's friend. The medic was the only one who knew Trip's real identity, and was the only one Trip could count on for help.

"The captain's share." Danny whispered. Trip nodded his thanks and took his hand away. He'd forgotten about this particular ceremony.

The engineer watched in growing anger as the stewards came by once again. This time to scrape half of everyone's rations back. They piled the food on one plate and placed it before the captain. It was more food than Archer could possibly eat, even if he wanted to. Which he didn't. Archer stared at the plate for a minute, then he deliberately pushed it off of the table. It flipped over in midair and fell to the floor with a splat. The starving crew could only stare in dismay as half their meal had been destroyed right before their very eyes. This little ritual was a stark reminder, designed to prove to the crew that Archer and only Archer could give food and take it away. Trip fought to contain his rage and made himself look away before Archer could read the defiance in his face.

Then the captain clapped his hands and the stewards pushed in a spit with a freshly roasted pig on the skewer. When Trip looked closely he saw that the pig wasn't all that roasted. There was fresh blood dripping down the sides. That didn't stop the captain and his friends though. Leading the way Archer hopped down from his seat and ripped one of the legs off of the pig and started to devour it in front of the hungry crowd. Trip watched with horrified fascination as blood actually dribbled down his chin.

Suddenly sickened, Trip forced himself to concentrate on his own meal. In comparison his gruel looked awfully good, however it only took a few bites of this slop to convince Trip that he had it made back home. Compared to this, re-sequenced protein was an epicurean delight. The engineer vowed right then and there to never complain about replicated foods again.

It didn't take long to finish eating his "delightful" entree, and of course, no one could leave until the captain and his friends were done. Since they had decent portions of food, that took quite some time. After what seemed like hours Archer put his fork down, leaned back in his chair, patted his stomach and declared that he was full.

Finally, Trip thought. He pushed his plate away and made to get up when Danny held him back, hissing about the entertainment.

Oh yeah. Trip nodded his thanks and settled back down. He'd been hoping to be spared witnessing this ritual, but apparently he wasn't so lucky. Tucker's heart sank when he glanced at Danny. From the look on the medic's face Trip had the feeling that the games weren't gonna be any fun at all.

Actuality it wasn't all that bad, not at first anyway. There were just a couple of fights among the crew, then Rostov, an engineer on Trip's own ship, actually wrestled with some sort of animal brought aboard for that very purpose. Rostov won eventually, but not before he was cut up by the creature's claws. Danny mumbled his apologizes and went for his med kit. The medic always had to work during these affairs, but he was grateful that this time Rostov's injuries weren't that serious.

It didn't take the medic long to patch up the combatant, then he rejoined Trip. Tucker thought the worst was over, but quickly learned that the worst was yet to come. Archer gave the signal, then a number of young women dressed in scanty clothes walked into the center of the ring and started to dance. Trip was shocked when he recognized Hoshi as one of the young women. Danny had told him that the only women on this ship were slaves and concubines. That meant that Hoshi... A burst of rage flowed through the engineer. He hated the thought of Hoshi being used this way. Something had to be done.

Danny clearly saw the anger on Trip's face and grabbed his arm. "Please keep still. You don't want to attract attention to yourself."

Trip nodded, but it was hard to just sit and watch as Hoshi and the others were forced to put themselves on display like that in front of everyone. The leering looks the women were getting from Malcolm and Travis, not to mention Archer made it even harder to keep his anger in check, but the engineer forced himself to relax. He had to keep quiet for Charlie's sake.

The dance continued for several more minutes until Archer called "enough." Then the captain left his seat on the dais and hopped down onto the floor. The captain walked to each of the women and looked them up and down, critically inspecting them closely, as if they were only a slab of meat.

Trip ground his teeth as he fought to control himself. He couldn't stand to see those women being ogled in such a degrading way. Then Trip's self restraint was put to the test when Archer stopped in front of Hoshi. Trip prayed that she wouldn't be the once chosen, but no such luck.

Archer eyed Hoshi, then a wicked grin spread across his face, enhancing his features which made him look even more depraved than usual. "Hello there lucky lady. I think you will be my companion this evening. Would you like that?"

In answer, Hoshi flinched away at his touch. This enraged Archer and the captain grabbed her, hard and pulled her toward him. "So, you think you can reject me, do you? Well, I'll teach you a lesson in manners." He raised his arm back and slapped her, hard in the face.

"No!" Trip cried. This was too much. Danny tried to restrain him, but Trip brushed his hand off of his arm and jumped to his feet. "Let her go!"

Surprised, Archer turned and stared at Trip. The engineer had never shown such spirit before and the captain didn't like it. "Ah, my Little Mother has found his backbone, has he?" Archer let Hoshi go with a shove. The dancer scrambled to get out of the way as the captain turned his full attention to Trip. "You don't approve of my dating methods, do you Little Mother?"

"I think you should pick a partner who's more willin'." Trip answered, trying to control his anger and failing. "Forcin' yourself on someone is no fun."

"You should talk." Archer glanced down at the bulge protruding under Trip's shirt. Trip flushed at the implied insult and stepped forward. Archer took this to be an insult of his own. "You're not actually claiming the right of the Captain's Challenge, are you Little Mother? I didn't know you were that brave."

"Or that stupid." Malcolm's voice sailed over from the table.

Captain's Challenge? What the hell was that? Trip looked at Danny who was frantically signaling with his eyes. Whatever a Captain's Challenge was, it couldn't be good. Trip sighed and relaxed his offensive posture. "No, Cap'n. I'm not challengin' you."

"I should think not." Archer felt pleased, his superiority restored. "Never the less, you did ruin my number one plan for my entertainment this evening, so I guess you'll have to be my second choice."

Malcolm and Travis started to chuckle, knowing what was in store. Trip paled as he knew Charlie would at the implied threat to his baby, but he didn't resist as Archer pulled him around the table and into the circle.

Archer's crowd started cheering as the captain threw a right hook at Trip's face. Tucker had no trouble ducking out of the way, but it was hard to keep from fighting back. Now was not the time. He was outnumbered five to one and even if he defeated Archer, the captain's friends would finish him off.

So Trip played the avoidance game. Dodging Archer's blows while pretending to protect the baby, Tucker used the opportunity to study Archer's fighting technique, which to be honest wasn't that good. The captain fought like the bully he was. With no skill or style. Like a bear who was used to winning because he intimidated his opponents. Such a man would not fare that well in a fight with a real opponent and Trip planned to be that opponent. One day soon he was going to take great pleasure in knocking this Archer on his ass.

But he had to survive this encounter first. The crowd's laughter increased every time Archer scored a hit and this caused the captain's ego to swell. In response Archer's attacks increased in ferocity. Fighting to keep from fighting back, Trip backed away from the assault until he was pinned against a table. Trapped, he had no place to go.

"That's a bad move my Little Mother." Archer grinned his evil grin. "How are you going to protect that baby of yours now?"

Trip became desperate. If Archer decided to attack the "baby" he could discover the deception and then the engineer would really be in trouble. He had to find a way out. Looking around Tucker noticed a plate of gruel with a fork sticking out of it right next to him on the table. Acting on impulse, he slammed his hand against the base of the fork, catapulting the slop right into the middle of Archer's forehead.

There was a collective gasp and silence descended into the room. Archer began to wipe the goop from his eye when a small chuckle could be heard. Someone had the gall to actually laugh at the captain! Infuriated, Archer leapt on Trip. Realizing that he made a tactical error, Tucker tried to lunge out of the way, but he didn't get far before Archer had him in his grip.

"Make fun of me, will you?" The captain growled as he started to pound the living daylights out of Tucker. "You'll pay for that."

And Trip knew he would. Concentrating on keeping Archer from discovering the prosthesis, he just managed to keep the device in place while Archer punched at the pod over and over again. Archer's intent was now clear. He didn't just want to punish Trip, he wanted to kill the baby.

Collapsing under the onslaught, Tucker was able to hang onto the bulge until Archer tired of that and started to attack other parts of Trip's body. Archer threw a punch to the engineer's head and that was that. As he was passing out Trip wondered if he'd ever wake up again.

To be continued.....

 

 

 

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