Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Saying of the Day: May the roof above you never fall in, and may the friends who gather below it never fall out.

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Hell in Heaven

By Kalika

Chapter Four: Not Again!

Jon was pacing back and forth in his room. Trip was supposed to have been here by now. What was taking so long? If the Magistrate was trying to hold out for something else, she was going to regret it.

The chimes brought Archer back to reality and he hurried over the open the door. It wasn't Trip. It was Magistrate Shazal and she looked decidedly upset.

"Where's Trip?" Jon glanced past Shazal quickly to make sure that his lover wasn't behind her. He looked back and could tell by the Magistrates expression that this wasn't going to be good news.

"He's gone. One of my men was a traitor. He knocked out the other guard and took your officer. We don't know where they've gone. By the time Machet woke up there was no trace of either of them." Shazal was close to tears. This is all my fault. What was I thinking, having the Commander taken captive?'

"He's gone? Do you have any clues as to where he was taken? Do you know who took him?" Fear made Jon's voice crack as he asked his next question. "Do you think he'll be killed?"

Archer cursed himself viciously. If an activist had taken Trip because he had helped the Magistrate . . .. If Trip were killed, Jon would never be able to forgive himself. How could I have been so stupid? I'm sorry Trip.'

"We have a few leads as to where they may have gone. I have people looking into it as we speak. I don't think that he will be killed. The man who took him was not an activist. That's why this was so unexpected. We cannot understand his motives."

"Not an activist," Jon whispered to himself. "That's good. Wait a minute, you still haven't said who took him. Do you know?"

"We are not sure, but we believe that it may have been Belzial. He is one of my guards and he hasn't been seen anywhere since this morning."

That information just floored Jon. One of her own people had taken Trip! He was glad that it wasn't an activist out for revenge, but was still worried. What could this Belzial want with Trip? Archer didn't have anything to give him if his was fishing for a ransom. All contact with Enterprise was still being blocked and Archer would be unable to meet any demands that were made.

"Please believe me Captain, my people will do everything in their power to help you find your crewman and ." The Magistrate broke off at the look of absolute fury in Archer's eyes. "Um I'm going to go and get my men on it. Now. We'll let you know as soon as we find anything."

*****

Once again, Trip woke up to a splitting pain in his head. He was lying on a hard cement floor on his side. His arms were still secured behind him and his shoulders were starting to cramp up.

"Good morning my slave." Trip felt himself pulled up from the cold floor. Belzial was giving the engineer a most unnerving leer.

Viciously, The large man buried his hand in Trip's short hair and forced the engineer's head back painfully. Trip tried to pull back as Belzial's mouth engulfed his own, but was held firmly in place by unyielding hands.

Trip began to panic as Belzial's tongue thrust into his mouth. Desperately, he kicked out and connected with the other man's knee. Belzial cried out and released his hold on his prisoner. The Commander tried to make a run for it but was stopped roughly when his hand's, still bound behind his back, were grabbed. He was spun around and ended up face to face with his captor. Belzial backhanded Tucker across the face while still holding onto the wrist binders with one hand.

Trip cried out in pain as his arms were wrenched painfully. He barely had time to clear his head before he was pulled back and hit again, this time with a balled fist that cracked against his jaw. He was knocked to the side, and his arms felt like they were on fire. Trip could feel a warm wetness on his hands and was relatively sure that his wrists had been cut on the binders that were holding them. It now felt as though someone was jabbing hot needles into his palms and fingers. His left shoulder burned like it had been dipped in acid.

Trip didn't even registered the second punch and was surprised to find himself lying on his side on the floor. He felt himself pushed over onto his back and moaned as his body weight pressed down onto his arms, which were now bound beneath him. Trip looked up and saw Belzial pull a knife out of his boot. The large man dropped down and straddled the engineer's hips as he began to cut his captives clothing off.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and Belzial was gone. Gentle hands pulled Trip up into a sitting position. He felt his arms being freed and heard a single rather vicious swear before the pain caused him to pass out.

*****

Jon had never been so angry in his entire life. He had entered the room and when he saw Belzial straddling a half-naked, very bloody Trip, his vision had turned red. He had fired immediately and had never even cared that the weapon had been set on kill.

It had seemed to take him forever to reach his lover. When he got there he kicked Belzial's body out of the way without a second though and set to making sure that Trip was all right. Gently, he helped the battered engineer to sit up and reached behind him to undo the wrist binders.

"Fuck!" Jon gasped as he got a good look at Trips wrists. The skin had been torn open and on the right wrist he could see a pale hint of the bone that was hidden beneath all of the blood. Jon looked up alarmed as Tucker began to sway and caught the injured man as he collapsed.

"Trip! Trip. Answer me. Trip, wake up." Carefully, the captain lay his partner back on the ground and set to dressing the injured wrists with strips of cloth from the slashed shirt that was laying on the ground beside them. Trip was losing a lot of blood. Any other wounds were going to have to wait for the time being.

"Here." Shazal was kneeling beside him now and offering a large soft blanket. Jon took it and very gently wrapped it around Trip.

"I am so sorry. I swear, I thought Belzial could be trusted. I never meant any harm to come to your friend. I didn't. I just wanted your help and I didn't know what to do." Shazal watched Trip the entire time she was apologizing. His breathing was strong and his injuries wouldn't be life threatening as long as they stopped the blood loss. They might cause problems if they got infected. Still she winced at every bruise or cut that could be seen on the engineer. "Please allow my people to help. I promise that he will receive the best care."

"I'd rather have my doctor take care of him back on my ship." Jon's voice was cold despite how much worry shone in his eyes as he stared at Trip's face. "But until the storm clears up I guess your people will have to do."

"Alright then, let's go. I had the emergency transport brought. It's waiting outside. If you would like to return to the compound with me you may. It's been a hard few days and the hospitals are full. I can have my personal doctor look after him" Shazal said as she walked over to the door to call for help in carrying Commander Tucker out.

Jon waved them off when they came inside he lifted Trip up into his arms carefully and began to carry him out to the transport himself. When he reached the door he stopped and turned to the Magistrate. "Thank you." He growled sarcastically. "I'm going to stay with Trip while the doctor sees him."

*****

To Be Continued