Disclaimer: Not making any money... and, sadly, the boys still do not belong to me.
AN: Big thanks to Gabi and T'eyla for their insightful comments and suggestions!
This story will be posted in two parts; the second part should be coming up in a day or two.
Warning: This fic does not take place in the Mirror Universe; however, it is AU (alternate universe). Archer isn't the nice dog-loving guy we're used to. I don't normally write Evil!Archer, but in this one he's mean. Beware.
Oh yeah – as always, feedback will be hugged and kissed!
Part I
"What are you gonna do with him?"
Archer, sitting on a flat rock next to the campfire, stretched out his legs and crossed his feet.
"Well..." He paused. "I'm not planning on getting rid of him, you know."
Trip looked over at the dark silhouette who was sitting, head bowed, a few meters away on the grassy ground next to the small tree. When they had decided to stop here for the night, Archer had sought it out, testing its trunk for its sturdiness before he had made his prisoner sit down next to it. Then, he had tied one end of the rope around it, making sure the other end was still fastened tightly around the man's neck. He had tied the man's hands in front of him, lashed his ankles together with another rope, and had then left him to his own devices. The man had let it happen, although Trip had caught his quick, calculating glance when Archer had wrapped the rope around the tree. Of course; given enough time and an opportunity, the man might be able to free his feet and untie himself. If he thought that Archer was being careless, however, he was mistaken; the Captain and Trip would take turns standing guard all night. If the prisoner tried anything, one of them would notice immediately.
No, Archer had no intention of letting this one go, that was for sure. Trip could see it in his eyes, in the way they flickered over to where the man was sitting. There was lust in those eyes, lust and triumph; a hunter sizing up his prize.
Trip said nothing, remembering their strange encounter today that had resulted in this man becoming their prisoner. Archer's prisoner, to be exact. There was no doubt about the fact that the Captain regarded the man as his property, even now. And it was no surprise, given how they had found him...
Trip followed Archer down the narrow path, silently cursing the Captain's stubbornness. They had to get back, not run into the woods on a wild goose chase. Archer wanted to take a swim... well, he could do so when they were back on Enterprise. All Alliance ships were perfectly equipped when it came to luxurious amenities for their crews, including a sauna and two large, heated swimming pools.
When Trip had pointed this out to Archer, however, the Captain had only waved an impatient hand.
"It's not the swimming, Trip," he had said. "I want to be outside for a while, get a little fresh air. I've been cooped up inside for far too long."
And he had continued down to where he thought he had seen a glimmer of water through the bushes. As the ground under their boots turned muddier, Trip had to admit that Archer was probably right; judging by the vegetation and soft surface, they were approaching a pond or a small lake. Still... it wasn't as if they had time for this. Back on the ship, the other reconnaissance teams were waiting for them to arrive for the debriefing, and they might be getting just a little worried when the Captain didn't return on time...
"Trip!"
Archer's voice interrupted Trip's silent rant. For some reason, the Captain had spoken in a whisper, frozen on the path as if he had caught sight of a dangerous animal. When Archer touched his arm and pointed, however, Trip saw that it was not an animal that had caught the Captain's attention.
It was a man. He was naked, kneeling on a narrow strip of sand in front of the water, his back turned to them. He was washing his face and arms, scooping up some of the water in his cupped hands and bringing it up to his mouth. Trip could hear a soft slurping sound as the man drank a mouthful or two, then continued washing.
He took a moment to look at the man. He wasn't tall, his skin carrying only a light tan on his arms and neck. The rest of his body, back, buttocks and legs, were pale, although not in a sickly way; in this man, it looked sort of... elegant, as did his lean, muscular body. His hair was dark brown and curled into a little lock at the nape of his neck; otherwise, it was straight.
Trip knew at once who this man was, even though he had never seen him before. There were the simple, ragged-looking clothes the man had laid out next to him on the ground, the quiver filled with arrows and the bow; but most important of all, there was the feeling that this was not someone who had grown up in an Alliance colony. A descendant of those left behind on a depleted Earth during the Great Departure... a person who had not been genetically enhanced before birth, who had never seen a replicator or a transporter or any sort of technological equipment, who might not even know that there was a way to travel to the stars. Subhuman, Trip had often heard them called. An evolutionary remnant, not part of the new race mankind had made of themselves.
A man kneeling at the shore of a lake.
Archer moved his head, and Trip understood at once. Archer wanted him to go a few steps to the left so that they would be able to stalk the man from two sides. Trip could see Archer's intention in his eyes; he wanted to catch this man, and he wanted him alive. Why, Trip wasn't sure at the moment, but it wasn't as if he had any choice. Disobeying Archer was not an option.
Slowly, step by quiet step, they began to approach the man, who was now carefully washing his neck, scrubbing it until it turned a slight pink under his fingers. Trip noticed a thin white scar on the man's back, as if someone had slashed him with a knife.
"They're primitive," he remembered his eighth grade ethnology teacher saying. "They live off the land, hunting and gathering. Many of them don't know how old they are, or even the name of the planet they live on."
"Like wild beasts," Steve Cartwright had commented.
"Yes," the teacher had said, sounding a little sad. "That's more or less what they are, I'm afraid."
As he slowly approached the kneeling figure, Trip wondered if this man knew how old he was. He was only about six meters away from the lakeside when the man moved so suddenly that Trip barely saw it happen. Quick as lightning, his hand shot out and grabbed bow and quiver, then he pushed himself off the shore in a shallow dive, disappearing into the water without so much as a splash. The whole movement had been as fluent and secure as that of a big strong animal, rather than that of a man.
"Dammit!" Archer took several quick steps towards the lake, as if hoping to grab the man still in time. Trip almost laughed; there was no chance in hell Archer would have been there fast enough. The man had apparently heard them coming right from the beginning, and had only been waiting for the right moment to make his getaway.
"Where is he?" The Captain narrowed his eyes and surveyed the lake. The water was as still as if there had never been anyone there in the first place. "He's hiding somewhere."
"Cap'n..." Trip sighed. "Let's go, okay? He's gone, and I don't think we're gonna-"
"Shh!" Archer froze again, staring at a bed of reed growing about two meters away from the shore. "I think he's in there," he whispered. "I've seen something move."
"Jon," Trip used the Captain's first name, a rare privilege he had been granted when they had become friends several years ago. "I don't think this is such a good idea. We've gotta get back. Just... let's just go, okay? What would we want with him, anyway?"
It was the wrong thing to say, and Trip knew it the moment the words had left his mouth. Archer's eyes hardened. He said nothing, then, almost as quickly as the man had grabbed his bow, pulled out his phase pistol, raised it and fired a shot into the reed bed. A bird squealed and fluttered up in panic, and at the same time the man emerged from the water where he had been hiding. Quickly, he started to wade through the water that came up to his thighs, not running even though Trip could see that he would have liked to. If he had started running, he would have gotten no further than a couple of steps before falling down. What the man didn't know, of course, was that he didn't stand a chance no matter what he did.
"Stop!" Archer called, and when the man showed no sign of slowing down, fired again, this time missing only by inches.
As the red beam hit the water next to him, the man gasped. Then he whirled around, raising the bow with an arrow poised and ready. He cried something and fired, and it was more Archer's luck than anything else that he managed to duck just in time. The arrow whizzed over his head and hit a tree, where it stuck quivering. It had been aimed right at Archer's heart.
Archer stayed remarkably calm and simply raised his phase pistol again. This time, he hit his target. Without so much as a sound, the man crumpled into the water. His hand had let go off the bow, which floated on the surface next to his unconscious body.
Quickly, they pulled off their boots and took off their phase pistols and backpacks, then waded into the water and over to the place where the man had collapsed. His head had gone under the surface and when they grabbed his arms and pulled him up, a flood of water came out of his half-open mouth. Now that he saw his face for the first time, Trip noticed that the man was about his age, maybe a little younger. He had long, dark lashes, high cheekbones and very pink lips, although Trip wasn't sure if it was from the cold or if they always looked that way. A leather thong was tied around his neck, holding a dark, smooth pebble.
Together, he and Archer pulled the man ashore, leaving the bow and quiver in the water. Once they had reached the lakeside, they laid him down on the grass next to the sand. Trip glanced at Archer out of the corner of his eye and saw a strange gleam in the Captain's eyes as he eyed the unconscious man. As if they had just hunted down a particularly strong and fast deer, Trip thought, and suddenly felt disgusted.
"And now?" he asked, surprised by his own harsh tone. "We gonna wait here till he wakes up?"
Archer's eyes were still on the man. He shook his head. "No. Give me the backpack."
Once Trip had handed it to him, Archer opened it and pulled out the standard survival kit. Among other equipment, there was a knife and a ball of thin, strong rope inside. Archer cut off a piece which he used to tie the man's hands in front of him, then another one to tie his feet. When he was done, he packed the survival gear away again and began to pull on his boots.
Trip watched him, wanting to shake his head in disbelief. "What are you doin'?"
Archer said nothing. He strapped on his phase pistol, then nodded at his backpack. "I'll need you to carry that."
"Cap'n, what-"
He broke off when Archer bent down and grabbed the man under the armpits.
"Give me a hand here, will you?" Archer frowned when Trip only stared at him. "I can't lift him on my own, he's too heavy."
"Jon," Trip began again, struggling to sound calm. "Don't you think it might be a better idea if we just untied him again and left him here? I mean, what do you-"
"I gave you an order, Commander."
Archer's cutting tone left no room for argument. Silently, Trip helped Archer lift the man's limp body onto his shoulder. Archer staggered a little under his weight, but then he straightened and turned to look at Trip, eyes still alight with that strange expression.
"Let's go."
Trip glanced at the lakeside. "What about his clothes and things?"
Archer shook his head. "He won't need them anymore," he said. "Those rags of his are falling apart anyway, and as for his bow, well, I don't exactly want to wake up with an arrow in my chest."
He turned around and began to walk, striding swiftly despite his heavy burden so that Trip had to hurry to catch up. After putting on his boots and weapon belt, he picked up the two backpacks and quickly went after Archer, who was already halfway down the path from where they had come.
Archer held his captive with a possessive grip, his back and shoulders soaked from the water that was trickling down the man's body and dripping out of his dark, wet hair. Trip knew that Archer had not been quite truthful about the man's clothes; they had been worn, but not anywhere close to falling apart. There was probably another reason why Archer wanted to leave them behind, and it had a lot to do with the way his hands were exploring the pale wet skin they were touching. Again, Trip felt an unfamiliar revulsion for the man he had known for so long.
They had been walking for maybe half an hour when the man woke up. He gasped, flinched, and then began to retch – which wasn't surprising, given that Archer's shoulder was digging into his stomach. Archer quickly set him down and the man leaned forward, retching and heaving until a small stream of water and a few chunks of something unidentifiable came out of his mouth. After the vomiting had stopped, the man remained in this position for a moment, his still-damp hair falling across his forehead and hiding his eyes.
Finally, Archer broke the silence. "Feeling better?" he asked, not unfriendly.
The man straightened up again, and now Trip could see his face. Anger was warring with fear in his eyes, and fear was winning, although the man was doing his best to conceal it. In a soft, quiet voice, he began to speak, stringing words together that sounded vaguely familiar to Trip, but made no sense at the same time. Gray eyes locked first on Archer, then on Trip, and the man raised his bound hands, holding them out to them. His voice grew more urgent, and he turned his head, jabbing his chin at the way they had come.
"I think he's askin' us to let him go home," Trip said quietly. They had left the UT on board, but the desperation in the man's eyes needed no translation. "Cap'n..."
"He's not going anywhere," Archer interrupted him harshly. "But he can walk on his own, now that he's awake."
He opened the backpack again and took out the ball of rope again, this time cutting off a longer piece. He tied the end around the man's neck and fastened the knot tightly at the nape of the neck, just below that dark, curly lock. Trip was beginning to feel physically sick.
"Take a hold of his arms," Archer ordered him, and when Trip didn't move, barked, "Now, Commander!"
Trip did as he was told, holding on to the man's arms as Archer untied the rope around the slim wrists. He felt the man's muscles harden under his grip and held him tighter.
"Don't," he said quietly.
Archer seemed to have noticed the slight movement as well. He lifted the piece of rope right in front of the man's face and nodded at it, frowning.
"If you even think about kicking me when I untie your feet, you'll regret it."
As if to demonstrate, he made a striking movement, letting the rope whistle through the air. The man's eyes widened slightly. Archer nodded grimly to drive home his point, then knelt down to untie the rope around the man's ankles. The man held still, regarding Archer with barely concealed hate when the Captain straightened up again. If Archer had noticed at all, then he ignored it. He handed the piece of rope to Trip.
"Tie his hands behind his back. Make sure he can't reach the knots."
"Cap'n..." Trip was still holding on to the man's arms, and suddenly noticed that he had pulled him closer, almost as if to protect him from Archer. He deliberately loosened his grip. "Don't you think we should give him some clothes, at least? It'll get colder, and-"
"Okay okay." Archer held up his hands in defeat. "Give him your shirt. I think I've got a spare pair of boxers left in my backpack, he can have those." He grinned a little. "A shame, covering up such a nice ass."
The man had obviously noticed Archer's look and went crimson. This only caused Archer to laugh harder and Trip to turn away quickly, ostensibly in order to remove his black undershirt. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to hide his disgust this time well enough for Archer not to notice.
The man almost drowned in the boxers, and the shirt hung loosely off his small frame, but he seemed to feel decidedly better, now that he didn't have to parade about naked anymore. He stood quietly while Trip tied his hands behind his back and made no move to struggle. When Trip was done, the man unexpectedly turned his head and said a few soft words, his gray eyes searching Trip's face.
"I'm sorry," Trip said, trying for a friendly tone and expression. "I don't understand you, and I'm afraid you don't understand me."
"Understand a little," the man said in a heavily accented voice.
Trip stared at him. Archer had turned his head as well.
"You can understand us?" he asked.
The man ignored him, still looking at Trip. "Thanks - clothes," he said.
Trip nodded carefully. "You're welcome."
"Hey," Archer said, "those boxers are mine, not his. You should thank me." He tried to sound playful, but failed miserably, sounding irritated and annoyed instead. The man turned to look at him.
"My home," he said slowly, frowning as he struggled with the unfamiliar language. "By water. My – my people. Please-," His voice cracked a little. "Please, I go. Please."
Archer looked at him and Trip saw a strange expression play across his face. For a moment, he believed Archer would nod, free the man of his bonds and let him go. Then, however, the Captain's face hardened again.
He ignored the man, who had now switched to his mother tongue and was rapidly pouring out the words, reached into the collar of the black shirt and pulled out the end of the rope he had tied around the man's neck. He took it firmly into his hand, then gave the man a slight push in the back.
"Come on, move it. And you can stop the jabbering, we don't understand you anyway."
The man seemed to have understood the gist of the words, if not their exact meaning. After another, desperate-sounding utterance he became silent and, prodded by another push from Archer, slowly began walking. He lowered his head, but not before Trip had seen tears in the gray eyes.
At that moment, Trip wished more than anything else that he and Archer had never walked down the path to the lake in the first place.
Part II coming up soon... please let me know what you think!
