Title: Flipside

Author: Eleia Kenobi

Summary: Captain Kirk's voyage to the Alternate Universe wasn't the first one…Commander Tucker, Ensign Hoshi Sato and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed are thrown into a universe not their own…

Category: Drama/Adventure

Rating: PG

Prologue

"Get back to work!"

The whip snaked down and connected with his back, ripping open a half-healed cut. He cried out, long past the point where he cared anymore. The load in his arms fell, and he scrambled to pick them up again.

Too late. The whip came down once more, this time creating a gash that led from his left ear to his upper back. Luckily, he contained his scream this time, and limping along the assembly line, cradling the raw materials in his arms.

Behind him, his aggressor laughed. Black-haired and blue-eyed, he spoke with a Terran accent. "Move!"

The whipped man struggled along, shuffling his feet under the weight of his cargo. Beside him, a young boy stood, face blackened like his father by the poor health conditions of the work camp around him. The boy also struggled with a heavy load, one that most likely weighed more than the boy himself.

The father gestured for the boy to stop, and, quickly enough so not to get a beating, took upon him some of the boy's burden.

The black-haired Terran stopped laughing. "Boy!" he called out, grabbing the attention of several slaves. "Come here!"

Unwillingly the boy complied. He came over, blue eyes contrasting deeply to his dirt-stained skin.

"What's your name?" asked the man.

No response.

"I said, what's your name?!" he exclaimed, whipping the boy once across the back.

The child cried out and fell to his knees onto the ground. His father jumped up, and started to run over, when a fellow worker reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"No." the other worker whispered. The father understood. He then anxiously watched as his son struggled to his feet once again.

The black-haired man leaned in. "What is your name, boy?" he hissed.

The child mumbled something incoherent.

"What did you say?"

"Avery." the boy repeated, this time louder.

"Avery…Well, Avery, seeing how your father has so kindly taken some extra work, we can now give you more, hmm? Let's see… That'll do it, I think." he said, placing twice the amount of the boy's original load into his arms. Avery sagged under the weight, his knees shaking beneath him. Avery's father clenched his teeth in anger.

"You may go now, Avery." said the man, grinning a cruel smile.

The boy made it five steps before collapsing under the weight. His father screamed and ran forwards, dropping his own load onto the ground. "Avery!" the man cried, "Avery!"

Avery's breaths were shallow but steady. The load had fallen onto his left leg, crushing the still-forming bones. It was doubtful that he would ever walk properly again.

The Terran guard, the one that had whipped father and son, soon called for a medic, but not before relishing in the pain of the two relatives. "Oops." he said cruelly as the boy was carried off on a stretcher.

Avery's father clenched and unclenched his fists, but managed to restrain his anger. He promised himself the he would get the man that had injured his son; the one that had stripped young Avery's hopes away. Oh yes, Charles Tucker would have his revenge, if there was any justice in this universe.

To be continued…..