Khan Idea Kiva Audene

-Kirk's POV-

When the Federation's Council voted to unfreeze Khan from hibernation in order to "utilize the gifts and potentials of the genetic engineering program". I protested. Aggressively. I was overruled. When the council also voted to place Khan under my supervision, because my crew and I were "More experienced with his motives and behavior", I flipped a shit. The second time, I refused to be overruled. The second time, in order to be acknowledged by the council, I threatened resignation. Khan was better off next-to-dead, in my opinion.

Eventually, the council ruled that Khan was to be resurrected, but placed under the supervision of a handler, and assigned to a deep space crew. In the council's eyes, the handler was to watch over his every move, to ensure his cooperation, and the crew was selected specifically because they were deep space explorers. After all, their far-off location would allow for easy disposal if he became unmanageable. I knew that distance would not prevent Khan from seeking any kind of revenge, and I knew that Khan could manipulate any situation to his advantage. It was his nature. I warned the council of this, but my protests rang on deaf ears. The most acknowledgment I got was a request for a recommendation among potential candidates for Khan's handler. I chose the most hard-assed, paranoid, and organized candidate they had. I found out later that it mattered little, since the council left the final choice of handlers up to Khan himself.

He chose an over- and under-qualified female science officer on probation for assault on an inferior officer. Her academic record was flawless, making her overqualified for a babysitting position. However, her assignment to the deep space crew would have been her second assignment in the field, the first being the assignment in which her subordinate had been assaulted. She was also an average 5'5" in height and a slender thing of only 130lbs. The poor girl was a blind mouse sent to the wolf's den. I dismissed the case as nothing more than infuriating federation bureaucratic bullshit, and wrote it off as a ticking time bomb out of my control, and my care.

Until, that is, Khan sought me out. Me. In person. For help.

"What?"

It took the combined strength of two red-shirts, Spock, and Bones' aggressiveness to pin the deceiving lanky figure over the surface of one control panel. Even then, Khan appeared in control of the situation, as if he could force himself free at any time if he so chose. Despite Bones' bony elbow driving into the back of his neck, Khan's eyes, dark and soulless, locked with mine.

He screamed in frustration and spat. "Release me!"

"I'm really not so sure that I should." I sassed back. "Storming onto my ship isn't going to convince me you come on peaceful terms."

"I swear." He heaved. "On your puny federation or some other foundation you believe in that I will not harm you or your crew, despite past grievances."

"Then why did you force your way in here?"

"I needed your attention, and I couldn't waste time philandering with your communication formalities."

"Cut the crap, Khan. Why are you here!?"

"Because." He breathed out his nose, and dropped his eyes. "I need your help."

Barely five minutes later, I found myself experiencing deja-vu as Spock and I faced Khan once more through the glass screen of a containment cell. Just like last time, I felt like I was in control but struggling to maintain it. I felt skeptical, uneasy, but at the same time almost prepared to hear just why Khan, of all beings, needed my help. After all, I was the last person he should attempt to get forgiveness from.

"Well," Spock broke the tense silence, jump-starting the conversation without forcing me to relinquish power over the situation. "What is it that you so desperately need our help with?"

A heartbeat of silence followed, before Khan answered.

"In less than twenty-four hours from now, a science officer will be murdered by order of the standing captain. Officer Audene will be subdued, forced into a tampered spacesuit, and abandoned on an inhospitable planet to die. All, at the hands of her superior."

"Wait, her?"

"Yes, her. Science officer Audene is a woman."

"Why is her superior going to murder her?"

"Because of her association with me. We can make it in time if we reach light speed within the next few hours. The coordinates of the planet are in conjunction with-"

"Wait, you're telling me this science officer will be killed because of her connection with you? What kind of connection, Khan? Why did you come here for help? Why should I aid anyone who has any sort of association with the likes of you!?"

"So you would just let her die! After all that nonsense you spouted about the federation being your family."

"My crew is my family; I haven't even met this science officer!"

"Oh? So you'll just idly stand by while she dies simply because she's not your crew, your family!"

Khan and I screamed back and forth nose-to-nose on both sides of the trembling glass. "I never said that!" Taking a step back, I regained my composure and my control over the conversation. "Why should we go out of our way for this?"

Spock chimed in "What is the exact nature of your connection to Officer Audene?"

"And what aren't you telling us? I won't be played again, Khan. There is nothing stopping me from leaving you on a planet to die, let alone help you save someone just as evil as you from a fate like that."

Khan too, stepped back from the glass, and grappled with his hair. He appeared agitated, frustrated, unorganized, and nothing like his usual proud, all-knowing self. Something about him seemed bent, and haggard, and completely out of place.

"This is my only chance- to save her. And I waste priceless time arguing with the likes of you." He sighed, a ripping sound straight from his chest. "Science officer Audene was my federation assigned handler. But she became more than that. I claimed her…" Another torn breath. "I claimed her as my mate."

Shocked silence echoed the containment chamber.

"When her captain found out, he was furious, and promptly separated us by assigning me to a temporary station aboard another ship. He then used the opportunity to both harass and abuse Officer Audene and her position among the crew before attempting to kill her." Our eyes locked. "This is our only chance to rescue her."

"And why should I believe you at all, Khan?"

"What can I do to convince you I am telling the truth, and help me save her before it's too late?"

A moment of hesitation. "Get on your knees and beg."

I knew it would be the last thing he would ever do to me. I knew he would rather die than submit to such an embarrassing display. The Khan I had dealt with in the past would have spit at the very notion and claimed death were a better fate.

This Khan did as I demanded.

"Please," He bowed his head to the floor and suddenly his booming voice shattered quiet. "Please help her. Help me save her. Don't let her die."

I withdrew a few steps, noticing later that Spock had recoiled similarly. In our shock, we both stayed silent in awe at the unthinkable. If Khan was like the Kobyashi Maru, then he too could be defeated it seemed.

Moments beat by, I had never felt so shaken and unsure as a captain. What if Khan were telling the truth? Was there really a federation science officer about to be slaughtered for being so "claimed" as Khan said? More importantly, could I truly stand by and allow a murder at the hands of a captain like me take place?

Khan's hesitant, final plea decided for me. "Please."

"…Spock, get the coordinates of this planet and have us set a course for it."

"Captain?"

"Khan, I am going to verify everything you have just told me in the meantime, and if anything is not to my liking then I will drop this mission so fast-"

"I am not lying. How much you'll be able to verify I however, do not know. Much of my records were left with the previous captain and not filed with the federation. But, I swear to you, I am telling the truth. I would do anything just to get her back."

"…Anything?"

"Anything." A pause. "I would be in your eternal debt."

"…Spock, get those coordinates. Khan, look me dead in the eye." He complied, peering up from his knelt position on the metal flooring. "I want to make one thing very clear- I am not helping you. I am doing my sworn duty to protect the life of a fellow officer. If you pose any threat to my crew or the officer we're about to save, then I have no qualms of killing you myself. Are we clear?" A solemn nod. "Good. Then it appears we have a new mission after all."

A final command as I headed back to the bridge. "Get Uhura down here! I want her to put her new interrogation skills to use!"

Science Officer: Kiva Audene

Current Status: Probation Assignment to the U.S.S. Interstellar. Handler of Advanced Human Genetics Project: Khan. Probation assigned due to assault of inferior officer. Probation suspension: pending.

Khan wasn't lying about who his handler was, that was for sure. Her federation ID photo showed a somber girl with dark, short hair, and darker eyes. Nothing else on her, her assignment, or her relationship with Khan existed in the federation database just like Khan had said. While his truth was slightly relieving, it still made me uneasy. Unconfirmed incidents and reports are easy to forge or delete. If Khan really didn't want me to know something, it was possible he could have deleted it from the federation's databases himself.

"Be honest with me Spock. Do you think we're doing the right thing? Or am I letting Khan get in my head and heading straight into a trap?"

"Captain. Permission to speak freely?"

"Spock, you always have that, so stop asking."

"In all our experiences with Khan, he so far hasn't lied. He warned us about the federation starting a war with the Romulans and he did help us escape abandonment ourselves."

"But he also sabotaged the ship and left me to die."

"Well yes, he did that too."

"But you think he's telling the truth? There's really a science officer out there who's going to be murdered?"

"So far, I have no reason to think not. Khan, while so far truthful, has a habit of only revealing part of it. We may learn that there is more to this incident when it uncovers itself or he uses our ignorance for his own purposes."

"Just as I fear."

"But…" Here, Spock hesitated. "There does seem to be something… different about him this time."

"Different how?"

"I can't quite explain it." Spock got a perturbed look on his face, similar to the face he made when in deep thought or conflicting emotion. "He's just off, I wouldn't say otherworldly exactly, but there's a certain… foreign presence about him this time. Like he's himself... and yet not at the same time."

I squinted sideways at him. "Well when you figure out what that is or means, you just let me know."

"Will do, Captain."

"Chekov, how's our course for this deserted planet?" I swiveled around in my metal chair. Sometimes that was the only thing that helped me deal with the stress: the spinning.

"Ve are coming vithin range of the planet as ve speak, Captain."

"When we reach orbit, set a scan for life signs on the surface, and see if there are any other Federation ships in the area."

"Any ship in particular, Captain?"

"Search for the U.S.S. Interstellar, but don't make contact and don't let them know we're here."

"Aye-aye Captain."

I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers. God, I could use a nap. But it was not to be so.

"Captain?"

"Uhura. What else has our captive got to offer us?"

"Khan is most definitely hiding something, sir, but exactly what it is I can't determine, and he's being quite tight-lipped about it. However, he demands that he be sent down as part of the landing crew to retrieve the science officer."

An idea sparked. So there was a way to trap Khan in his lie after all, if of course, he was lying.

"Tell him his demands are acceptable, and arrange for him to be transferred to the transporter room."

"Is that really wise Captain? To send a lone crew onto a possibly hostile planet with a man we know to be violently aggressive?"

"I said he'd be going onto the planet, Uhura, I didn't say we'd actually be sending a crew with him."

Less than two hours later, the U.S.S. Enterprise found itself in orbit above an unnamed planet, scanning for signs of life both on the surface and in the space around it.

"No ships in sight, sir, but ve're getting a faint signal on the infrared."

"Bring it up to screen."

As predicted, a red human figure lay prone in a sea of blue. The red was outlined in a sickly shade of yellow: hypothermia was setting in on whoever was stranded on the planet's snowy surface.

"Can we get a better visual? Something in the visible spectrum?"

"I can try, Captain, but vith the current snowstorm raging below, I cannot confirm ve vill get a good visual."

"Get what you can get, Chekov. Scotty, how's our passenger doing? Can we lock him onto our living target and beam him down for collection?"

"Aye! Lock on target is pending though, once we get a break in the snow, we should be ready to go."

"How's Khan treating you?"

"Bloody bastard's done nothing but stare into the wall. I don't like him out of handcuffs, Cap, that I do not. Gives me the right willies."

"Hang in there Scotty and let me know when he touches down."

"Aye!"

"Captain, that yellow is looking uglier by the minute. If we're going to rescue the girl from the storm, we have to do it fast, or she'll be too far gone once she comes aboard."

"How much time would you say we have, Bones?"

"Twenty minutes tops, before the hypothermia takes her past the point of no return."

"And we have the supplies to revive her once she's aboard?"

"Saline treatment is heating as we speak."

"Good. Scotty! Get a lock yet?"

"Just did! Down he goes! And am I glad he's gone too."

"Captain, second sign of life confirms Khan's decent." Just as Chekov said, a second, more vivid splotch of red materialized a short distance from the first. "Ah! Here's our visual!"

The infrared image was quickly obscured by a white sea of snow. If it weren't for Khan's preference for black, flapping coats, he wouldn't have appeared in the camera feed at all, and as it was, his form was blurry.

"Now we watch." I said. The crew and bridge went silent. No audio followed the video: the raging winds of the storm would have both drowned out any voice and blown our ship's speakers with reverb.

Khan ate up the distance between him and the fallen figure rapidly. A few times, the winds seemed so strong that they would lift him by the lapels of his coat and carry him off, but by luck or pure Khan-like determination, he stayed on the ground and waded through the snow. Once upon the vague shadow of a buried person, he hurled himself to his knees and hassled with the helmet adorning the federation-standard suit.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's the wrong suit for a snow-covered planet! That's meant for escapades amid humid and toxic atmospheres! What the hell is she doing in that!?" Bones was irate, ever the stickler for protocol.

"Visual confirms: it's definitely Science Officer Kiva." Spock made the positive identification, seconds after Khan abandoned the task of properly disconnecting the helmet, wrenched the metal from the fabric with his bare hands, and hurled it away to be lost in the snow.

He fumbled for a pulse, suddenly and painstakingly careful with the neck of the frozen officer. Beats of silence echoed through the bridge. Was she still alive? Did we arrive in time?

Wind whipped snow in torrents through Khan's hair and with his long flapping coat and pale skin, his locks gave him a grisly halo. He was like an angel of death.

But death had not claimed the science officer yet. Khan gave a thumbs up signal towards the camera, and began gathering the officer in his arms.

"I've got a lock on them both, Captain!"

"Hold it Scotty! I want to see what he does if he thinks we aren't going to help him."

Once the officer was safely cradled, Khan gestured upwards twice to signal he was ready to be transported back on board. He took a moment to shuffle the officer so that her head rested against his corded throat and we could barely make out his lips moving as he seemed to speak to her, though she was obviously unconscious. He then paused and wildly tore around to finally realize he was alone on the desolate planet. A suspicious scowl stretched across his brow and he motioned again to be brought up. Heartbeats later and he knew he wasn't going to get what he wanted. I needed to see his reaction. I felt it was the only way to prove his devotion to the officer. Was she simply an important pawn? Or was she truly his claimed queen?

A stony mask settled over Khan's already chiseled features. Then, it shattered. The winter winds bent to his will, flying madly in response to Khan's sudden temperament. Lips contorted into a vicious snarl and the whole bridge could feel the reverberations of his tormented shriek. The wind tunneled around him in that moment, as if his voice powered them out and away and the snow rippled in waves. An angel of death, twisted in a true demon.

It was nothing like we'd ever seen before. It didn't even seem human.

Just as sudden as it had begun, the tantrum ended. The winds resumed their normal patterns and the snow receded. We watched, entranced, as Khan collapsed to his knees, pushed over by the resumed torrent. He released Officer Audene's body to grasp at her face. He stroked it with gentle fingers and rushed words through fevered lips.

"Captain, I truly hate to interrupt the movie, but if we don't get that officer off that god forsaken planet, we're going to lose her." So Bones' predicted twenty minutes were up.

I hesitated. However, Uhura's words decided my choice for me.

"Captain… I can partially read lips. And… he's apologizing to her. For… not being able to save her. For leaving her with her captain alone. For abandoning her. Captain, if you're looking for an honest reaction: I'll say that's it."

Silence.

"Scotty? You still got that lock?"

"Holding, sir."

"Beam them up."

Gold flecks interrupted the couple's snowy intimate moment, cutting Khan off mid-word. His eyes closed in relief, and his whole frame slackened before disappearing.

Chaos erupted over Scotty's connected mic to the bridge. Scuffling, an animalistic snarl, and finally, Khan's baritone rang through the audio.

"Play with my life all you like. But endanger her like that again, and I promise, Capitain. James. T. Kirk. That your death at my hands will be as slow and torturous as physically possible."

"Bones! How's that med-team on standby doing?"

But Bones was gone, traces of his commands to the medic team filtered through the com link as well as various medical information uttered by Khan as he supposedly helped with the medical ministrations.

Minutes passed, and Spock and I made our way down to the medical bay after leaving Chekov and the bridge with coordinates and orders to take the ship to the nearest docking station. We found Khan rigid and dripping outside the wide, platinum, double doors blocking us from the trauma room.

"Where's-?" Spock stopped at the sight of Khan's entire security detail slumped against the far wall.

"They tried to restrain me from staying with her." Came Khan's curt response. "However, your 'Bones' insisted quite intensely that I remain in wait for her recovery here."

"You listened to Bones?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course." Khan sneered. "I dare not piss off the man who is going to save my mate's life." He turned slowly, menacingly, towards me. "On that note, I guess I must thank you for choosing to rescue Officer Audene, even if you did hesitate." He dropped to his knee and bowed his head. "Thank you."

"I'll say it again; I didn't do it for you."

"Whatever your reasoning, she is here and has a chance to survive this, because of you." As he stood and swooped to hunch himself against the wall, I caught the faint sparkle of frozen ice drops collected on his skin, trailing from the corner of his eye. Khan slumped with his back against the wall, and slid into a bent sitting position against the floor. It had been the first time I had seen his in such a normal, compromised position. Fingers raked though his hair, tearing loose strands of both black and white, and he simply dropped his whole hand to the ground as if the weight of the world became too much for him to hold anymore. Eyelids slid closed and his head tilted back in exhaustion.

This was not the Khan I knew.
This was not the Khan I had come to hate.
This was something different entirely.

Hours passed. Security woke up, and was dismissed. Khan remained motionless, a statue in the time of silence and anticipation.

Until, that is, Bones crashed through the double doors. Khan was on his feet in an instant, but Bones was past him and in my face before either of us could blink.

"The next time you want to postpone the rescue of a frozen girl- hire a different doctor. She crashed on us-twice! All because you wanted to play hide and seek with string-bean's emotions here!"

For once, Khan looked put out, he'd never been referred to as a vegetable.

"And another thing-!"

"Bones, how is she doing?"

"Well Captain, no thanks to your interlude, she's doing fine. She responded well to the heated saline drip and her temperature is rising steadily to normal as we speak. As a precaution, I came to fetch a human hot water bottle, string bean'll do just fine for that, and it'll keep you two from each other's throats in the meantime." He grabbed Khan's arm roughly, but Khan allowed for it. "Now you! Strip! I won't have frozen clothes dragged in and ruining my patient's progress!" Bones dragged Khan past the double doors as he shouted brash commands.

Spock and I wandered over to the medical center, and by extension, Officer Audene's recovery room. We stood in the hall just outside the room and observed through the glass window at a humbled Khan in only a pair of light green medical scrub pants. He paused at the edge of the room, and just stared at Officer Audene. Though his posture demonstrated that he was not feeling vulnerable despite his state of dress, he still hesitated as if he felt out of place. Finally, he moved forward, toward the prone girl on the hospital bed. Every step set more weight on Khan's shoulders and the length in between each footfall increased. When he reached the bed, he merely stood there, his posture tense and stretched, and fumbled for her hand buried under the numerous layers of blankets. Once he found it, he pulled it towards his chest, over his heart, and caressed her scabbed and ragged fingers. He pressed two of his own digits to the inside of her wrist, reaffirming for himself what the heart monitor beeped. With a relieved sigh, he slid closed his eyes, kissed the back of her knuckles and kept her limb suspended there.

Officer Audene laid still and silent like the undead. She had pale skin and a smaller frame emphasized by the large bed. Her pale skin practically matched the white sheets, and the only breaks of color were the depths of her dark hair and the alarming red stitched wound to the front left of her forehead. Khan's queen would have shattered if too strong a breeze wafted through the corridors of the ship.

Ever one for spoiling darkened romantic and troubling displays, Bones made a reappearance.

"She's not going to get better faster by just standing there. Get in!"

Incomprehension clouded Khan's soulless pits of eyes. Uncertainty led him to grasp tighter to her hand, I noted.

"She needs natural body heat, genius, and since we've sedated her, she's not making her own fast enough. So you're going to share with her. Get in." Under his breath, he added "Genetically superior, my ass."

And still Khan hesitated, what was he so unsure about? Bones just about forced him under the sheets and into the bed. As if the aggression brought him back to his senses, Khan settled himself smoothly, and promptly wrapped himself around his frail mistress. He positioned her head to lay against his chest, just under his chin and propped the two of them slightly up against the pillows. He then adjusted the rearranged blankets back in order around Officer Audene's feminine shoulders.

"How is-?" Khan's question was cut off.

"Was wondering when you were going to ask about the little bundle of joy." Sarcasm was never lost on Bones, even as he was focused on the medical chart he was flipping through. "You got lucky. Her internal body temp stayed barely high enough to sustain. But we're waiting to see the stress' impact and to prevent further potential harm, we're keeping Officer Audene under sedation."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. My guess is that's why her captain wanted her dead." No response came and Bones showed himself out.

I doubted Khan even thought to look for observers to his private, one-sided reunion, because he acted like he and Officer Audene were alone. He whispered to her in murmurs, combed her hair with his fingernails, and several times unabashedly placed kisses on her forehead while avoiding her stitches.

Spock wandered back to the bridge after quite a while, and he only remained as long as he had because he was trying to politely wait for us to leave together or for me to dismiss him. Lost in my thoughts, calculations, and dark disbelief, I hardly noticed his presence. Hours passed in my pounding pulse.

Uhura padded in, quiet and consciously aware she was interrupting a sacred moment of one of the deadliest men in the universe. By this time, Officer Audene's body temperature had risen enough for the blankets to rest below her arms instead of over her shoulders. One of her arms draped over Khan's exposed torso as if they were cuddling and she happened to fall asleep.

"Can I get you anything?" Uhura's question was what drew Khan's attentions to her. "A bandage for her forehead perhaps? Or small bandages perhaps?"

"Khan smoothed a hand over dark silk hair. "She needs a forensics kit. There's DNA under her fingernails."

Uhura disappeared through a sterile metal door for a moment, to return with a small, pointed file and an index-size sealable manila envelope. She ran the file under what was left of the Science Officers torn and ripped nails. The white and red flakes were deposited into the envelope and sealed.

Uhura stood. "Anything else?"

A pause. "Leave the file." Instead of talking to the limp officer in response to Uhura, he actually looked directly at the communications expert. "You wouldn't happen to have nail polish would you?"

Surprise widened Uhura's eyes. "Any particular color?"

"Science division blue." A pause. "And black."

After Uhura left to answer the odd and unexpected request, Khan brandished the left behind nail file and cautiously but fastidiously began to blunt the chipped nails on Officer Audene's hand. He reached her ring finger by the time Uhura returned and placed the polish in his sight.

"Thank you." Never in my life did I think I would hear Khan utter those words. "When she's stressed, she bites. Blue calms her, helps her resist the habit."

Before dismissing Uhura, Khan asked for a comb and hair tie. When finished filing and painting Audene's nails, he combed black strands away to examine a second would on the back of her head. A bloody gap remained where hair should have been, as if someone had grabbed and pulled it out. Khan parted the hair and braided over the exposure, tying it off with the hairband. Domesticity opposed him, but there he laid, fussing over the broken girl's form and caring about things like bitten nails and calming colors.

Khan did not sleep, he stared. He played with Audene's hair. He murmured to her more. And he never stopped touching her. Not even once. It wasn't even anything sexually suggestive. He simply maintained physical contact with her at all times. He held her hand, kissed her forehead, smoothed his palms over her arms. He even twined their legs together in an oddly intimate gesture.

Audene's color returned to her slowly as her temperature rose. She no longer took on the appearance of a corpse- instead she truly began to look like she was sleeping.

Eventually, the sedative wore off, and she stirred. The action caused Khan to tense and all his muscles simultaneously became taut. A disgruntled groan could be heard before Audene's flickering eyes fully opened. She moved seconds before Khan did, tightening her grip around his chest and preventing him from sitting up and getting out of the bed.

"No, stay." She nosed at his left pectoral. "You're warm."

Dark eyes rolled upwards from her face was buried in his chest, and the side of her mouth quirked open to reveal a white canine in a satisfied smirk when Khan, reluctantly, chose to remain.

"Hmm." She sighed. "I missed this. I missed you." She continued, shakily propping herself onto her forearms in order to peer into Khan's face. "I'm still sleepy."

The upper corner of Khan's lips twitched. Was he capable of smiling after all? "You look sleepy." He stated as he pushed some of her fallen bangs out of her eyes.

Suddenly, she pitched forward, unable to hold her own weight. Khan chuckled, a deep rumble that quaked the toned ligaments lining his ribs. Officer Audene let out am impatient huff against his collarbone. Khan turned them onto their sides, so they could face each other without any strenuous effort, and thumbed along her sharp cheekbone. Her black eyes, hazy with fog, cleared through focus and the corners of her eyes wrinkled. "Khan? Are you alright? You look… exhausted. No, that's not it… there's something else."

The genetically advanced human, I'd forgotten he was still technically human, didn't answer. Instead, he turned the conversation back to her. "You still need to rest."

A tightening on the top of the bridge of her nose told me she did not see through his ruse, even if she accepted his statement. "Rest with me?"

"Sleep. I'll be here with you. You're safe now." Soothing, smoothing gestures eased out the wrinkles in her face, administered by the pads of Khan's fingers. When she had fallen back into slumber, he pressed his lips to the top of her head and whispered so quiet I almost didn't catch it. "My rest will come soon."

"Captain?" Spock ventured from the lift, interrupting my examination of the … unique… couple.

"Yes, Spock?"

"Contact has been made with the U.S.S. Interstellar. Sir, their communications officer assured me that Officer Audene was still on board."

"Then they're lying."

"Explicitly. But Captain… there is something else."

"Well then spit it out, Spock." I meant it to be gentle and teasing, but the stress of unraveling Khan hardened my intended meaning behind the words.

"Captain, they reported to me that Khan was assigned to a temporary mission on a sister ship to the Interstellar. Khan is supposed to be aboard the U.S.S. Martian as we speak."

"So he abandoned his post? Not surprising."

"Except I contacted the Martian personally, and they assured me that Khan was still aboard. In fact, they called him to the bridge, and I spoke to him."

My hand slammed against the small counter supporting the window frame to my view of the hospital room. "What? How is that possible!?"

"I'm not sure, Captain." He paused. "It is completely illogical to think of the possibility that there are two Khans, however, the evidence present supports only that conclusion."

"Is he still there, on the comm-link? I want to talk to him myself."

"As you wish, Captain. Uhura has maintained the connection with the U.S.S. Martian on the bridge."

"Thank you." I said as I swept into the left and we ascended towards the bridge together.

The lift installed in the Enterprise did not play any music, which sometimes caused awkward silences in conversation between crewmembers, however, this time I was glad for the quiet. It gave me something to stew in. Mere moments passed before the doors slid open and cleared our sight of the bridge. The urge to collapse into the Captain's chair and sleep through this mess was overwhelming, but my determination overrode any self-preserving actions for the moment. I steered myself to Uhura's side and lent over to peer at her computer screen. She indeed had left open the communications to the Martian.

"Is there any way we can bring up a video feed to the main screen? I want to see this tricky bastard face-to-face."

"Yes, Captain." She answered. "Bringing up the live feed now. I'll admit, he's been a bit impatient on the other end." I didn't give a vocal response to her additional comment, instead I decided to add a few of my own, unprofessional comments to my internal monologue. So what if Khan was impatient? He could go screw himself.

"Finally, what is it that you want, Captain Kirk." Khan's voice announced his presence on the bridge screen before the image of his face focused. "I am very busy at the moment, and I have no time for nonsense like this." His voice timbre was spot-on, and the visual confirmed his identity, despite the impossible. Behind him, several red and yellow-shirted officers sat or stood at their stations. Each and every one of them seemed to be distancing themselves from the "superior" human. The ship's captain did not appear to be in sight.

"Trust me, I have better things to do then spend any amount of time talking to you. Why the rush? Anxious to return to your frozen capsule?" I wanted him angry and attacked, maybe he would unknowingly give us answers that way.

Khan's eyebrows furrowed at the reference to his previous state of being and his face steepened in disapproval. "Hmm, I did so miss our verbal spars." Sarcasm, yes, sarcasm was desirable response. He snorted out a long sigh through his nose. "However, I do not have the flexibility to thoroughly bicker with you right now. Perhaps another time I will grace your taunt with a retort. Believe it or not, I am quite anxious to return to my station aboard the U.S.S. Interstellar so I must bid you, adieu, Captain." He motioned to end his end of the transmitting conversation, but I spoke up before we lost contact.

"Missing Officer Audene, are you?"

A raised hand to halt the termination of the transmission. The rest of Khan stood solid as a stone, glaring into my eyes through the screen and space separating us.

"What do you want with Kiva?" His tone dropped a few, chilling, octaves.

"Oh? On a first name basis, are we?" I waved nonchalantly, goading him. "Kiva and Khan, kind of a cute coincidence you've got going on there. I have to admit I like it. Catchy."

"What. Do. You. Want. With. Kiva?"

"What exactly is your relationship with Officer Audene?"

"She is my immediate, commanding officer, any other connection you have "surmised" is none of your business." He spat. Sore spot, was it?

"Oh I think it is my business," Was it really the time to show my cards? Too late, the words were already out of my mouth. "considering she ended up on one of our medical tables today."

Stony, severe eyes creased in their corners.

"What, haven't had any contact with your 'handler'?" I taunted, knowing that that was likely the case with the pair being separated.

A new voice chimed in. "No, he has not."

Khan's shoulder's grew tense, before he sulkily moved aside to reveal the previously absent Captain. Tall, black, and with a buzz-cut and goatee, he stood proud and formal in front of his captain's chair.

"Captain Kirk, I can assure you that as Captain of the U.S.S. Martian, Khan and Officer Audene have not been in any contact whatsoever during their separation," He sent a meaningful glance towards Khan. "Though attempts have been made."

The Captain continued. "How did Officer Audene come into your care, if I may ask, Captain."

"Captain… uh…"

"Deckard." He supplied.

"Thank you. Captain Deckard… We may be dealing with a 619." My subtle attempt to convey my concerns about the Captain of the Interstellar using regulation terminology, unfortunately, failed. I knew it as soon as I said it, because while Captain Deckard gravely nodded in acknowledgement, Khan's head whipped around towards me and his eyes pierced through the visual connection between starships. His proud, intimidating posture came back and he threw his head back in alert.

"We need to move. Now."

Captain didn't even glace his way. "No. I'm sure Captain Kirk can handle any situation should the need arise. If he has suspicions, he is perfectly capable of investigating them himself."

Khan paced back towards the rear of the Interstellar bridge, peering over his shoulder as he spoke. As he moved, the crew members around him, adjusted as if to put space between them. Hardened federation crewmates intimidated by a single man. There had to have been an earlier incident. "You don't understand; I need to get to the Enterprise immediately."

Captain Deckard, insulted at the direct dismissal of orders, turned sharply to face Khan's back. "I said no, you have your own mission aboard this vessel and you will see it through to the end."

A cynical, boiling chuckle. "You mean the pointless, bureaucratic errand your pathetic federation has outlined to keep me occupied? I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Captain."

"You will not be going to the Enterprise, Khan, and that is an order." At this, I closed my eyes, anticipating what was about to come. Khan, I knew, served no agenda but his own.

"I don't think you understand, Captain. You are not my handler, and I was only cooperating with you to satisfy my original handler, who I have just been informed, is personally compromised. Therefore, I will not ask again. I am going to the Enterprise."

"No."

Part of me wanted to turn away, but I knew I had to watch the unfolding events, in case I would be called upon as a witness to them later.

Khan reached out with a hand like lightning, and snagged the crewmember closest to him. The poor yellow-shirted blonde girl didn't stand a chance. With a ruthlessness original to Khan, he slammed the officer's arm into the computer panel with a sickening CRACK! He then spun, pulling the screaming, injured girl with him to lock eyes with the Interstellar's captain. He silenced his captive by sliding his arms around her in a headlock.

"Do not try and stop me, or the next broken bone will be her neck."

Without acknowledgement or dismissal, Khan dragged the squirming officer from the bridge before any action could be taken to stop him. As soon as he exited the doors to the hallway beyond, Captain Deckard's shoulders sagged. "Officers Orson and Ender, ensure that Miss. Lucy remains aboard."

"What about Khan, sir?"

"…Let him go."

"Yes sir."

As Orson and Ender exited, presumably on Khan's trail, Captain Deckard turned to face our visual once more. He let out a deep sigh and dropped a bit of his proud posture.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. I knew he was only cooperating because his hand had been forced. I hope you will not think less of me Captain Kirk, but we are a small vessel, and as such, are not equipped or staffed to handle a situation like this."

"I understand. You did what you had to do in order to ensure your crew's safety. The federation is the one not prepared for Khan."

"Then I will say I am glad to be rid of him for good. Good luck with him, Captain."

"Thank you. We may need it."

With a salute, the visual link buzzed out.

"Captain," Spock called to me as soon as the link was terminated. "We weren't prepared for one Khan…"

"Yes, Spock," I interrupted him. "I know. How are we going to handle two? Well, I don't know yet, so why don't we take this valuable, limited time to figure that out?"

"We are also forgetting something else, Captain."

I froze, dreading the worst. "And what is that, Mr. Spock?"

"In our last encounter with Khan, he acted savagely in an attempt to protect and rescue his metaphorical family. We can only imagine, then, how he will respond to a threat on his literal one."

"Don't remind me, Mr. Spock. It's something I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet."