The hangar was empty and practically void of light when she entered the vast room; the only thing occupying the large space –seventy-three cryogenic sleeping chambers. Each held a unique person; housing forty-three men and thirty women of various ethnicities and shapes and aged physically somewhere in the range of thirty to forty. They slept away peacefully in their cryotubes, unaware of the woman passing by in the near darkness, the only light being from the half opened doors she had come through and the eerie light blue glow from each chamber. Her hand traced along every tube she passed as if caressing the most magnificent of jewels, her touch as gentle as a feather.

At last she came to the end of the room and ultimately to the last cryochamber of the line. She stopped and if it were possible her touch became even more loving as she stroked the glass separating her from the man's face within. As peaceful as he seemed, even in sleep his features were still chillingly intimidating and cold –it was the face of a man who committed crimes of the worst kind with no remorse or guilt. The sight of him shot a shiver down her spine not only in fear, but admiration as well. He was a terrifying man to behold and she was only grateful he was not awake and staring into her soul with those all-seeing intense eyes of his.

One day, she believed, he would look upon her with the same admiration she had for him for the things she would do for him. He was her God; the one thing she would worship for the rest of her life and for that he would be grateful and reward her with his attention. Her heart fluttered at the thought and compelled by her foolish thoughts, her hand reached out to stroke at the glass again, her warm fingers leaving streaks of fogged glass that quickly disappeared a moment later.

"I will do whatever you wish of me," she whispered, her tone laced with the unconditional love she harboured as she ducked her head to place her warm forehead against the cold hard glass. "I am yours, Khan."

Of course, the frozen man made no reply and she smiled sadly as her hand drifted down to the control panel. Her eyes never left his features as her fingers deftly entered a sequence of numbers upon the panel. A lighthearted beep sounded as the code was accepted and a low hum began to emit from the device as a countdown began from five hours. Her hand returned to the glass and she tilted her chin forward to place a tender kiss above where the man's lips lay.

"We will be together soon, my love. Soon, you will have everything you ever dreamed of… and more."

Retracting from the device, she backed away, her eyes never straying from the cryochamber until she was too far away to see his face. Spinning on her heal she made a mad dash back to the hanger doors and cast one last longing glance inside before they fell shut and the locking mechanism was back in place.

Commander Aubrey Shepherd was punctual and on time as she usually was, arriving at the security desk of floor B15 of Starfleet's main base in San Francisco, PADD in hand and dressed in her white lab uniform. Her red hair was tied at the back of her head in a simple ponytail, the thick locks tumbling over one shoulder in soft curls and her bangs swept gently to the right side. Her glasses were, as always, propped on her nose and protected her mossy green irises that were not lined or enhanced by any kind of makeup. Her lips held a light smile as she approached the desk and without having to be told to do so, removed her glasses to allow the facial recognition scanner to verify her identification.

"Going to be another late night, Doc?" asked the officer behind the desk with a knowing smirk as he looked over at the redhead. His name was Harold Williams, a kind older man and one of Bre's friends down below in this dull underground facility. She returned a wider smile when the scanner approved her access and the glass shield blocking the security entrance from the large hallway beyond slid open, her kind dark eyes shining from behind her glasses when she perched them back daintily on her straight nose.

"You should know the answer to that by now, Harry," she chuckled as she looked over her PADD and started towards the hallway, waving over her shoulder with her free hand. Behind her, Harold laughed good-naturedly, his slightly long greying brown hair brushing his forehead as he shook his head.

"You work too much. Before you know it, you'll be as old and grey as I am!" he called after her.

Bre turned and looked up from her PADD to smile at the older man. "Come now, you're not that grey," she teased with a wink. He was only ten years her senior, but still a handsome man by most women's standards. He had a roguish look to him that many found appealing, but Bre had only ever thought of the man as something closer to an older brother; of course, this never stopped him from flirting.

Harold laughed again and shooed a hand in her direction. "Ah, go on, you."

Laughing, Bre did as he said and started down the hallway once more as the glass barrier slid shut behind her. Her low heels made rhythmic clicks that echoed in the steel-lined expansion as she made her way through the complex, nodding greetings and such to her fellow coworkers and security officers.

Upon entering her office, she was met with an unexpected guest; Tanya Smith, a talented albeit naïve young Lieutenant. As soon as Aubrey made eye contact with the young woman, she stood hastily from her seat, her back ramrod straight and her chin tilted up, her brown eyes straying away from the Commander. Though Aubrey had been a Commander for some time now, she still hadn't quite gotten used to when Lieutenants stood at attention for her in private and even went as far as to avoid her gaze at all costs out of irrational fear of her rank. Of course she knew the respectable stance was Starfleet regulation, but that didn't change the fact that it made her slightly uncomfortable.

Rounding the desk to her own seat, Aubrey placed her PADD down on the desk and laced her fingers before her, Lieutenant Smith still at attention and stiffer than a board. "You may be seated," she finally told the woman and she confirmed with a 'yes, ma'am' before taking her previous seat, her eyes still refusing to meet Aubrey's. "Is there something that you needed, Lieutenant?"

"I have the status report for Hangar 16," replied the younger brunette and it was only then that Aubrey noticed the PADD in her hands. Wordlessly, she held her hand out across the desk in a gesture to take the device from Smith and the woman hesitated for only a second before passing it over. "All is clear, Ma'am."

Despite the Lieutenant's assurance, Aubrey took it upon herself to read over the data flickering across the PADD with her brows furrowed slightly. She was a little put out that the Lieutenant, who was practically her assistant, had taken it upon herself to get the specs on the Augments being held in Hangar 16 as it was Aubrey's job to do. Neverminding the fact that in other circumstances this meant that she could cross off one of the number of things she would have to do this morning; all she had to do was check at noon and before she left for the night. However grateful she was though, the Lieutenant had entered the hangar without her permission which was unacceptable. She'd have to go over the specs again to make sure the Lieutenant hadn't screwed anything up.

"Tell me something, Lieutenant," Aubrey started, placing the PADD down next to her own to level Smith with a stern stare. "Did I ask you to get the specifications?"

Lieutenant Smith blinked and she momentarily met Aubrey's gaze only to look away just as suddenly. "U-um, no, Ma'am. I just thought –"

" –That you would enter the hangar without your Commanding Officer's permission?" Aubrey interrupted. Smith visibly gulped in nervousness. She honestly didn't mean to be so hard on the girl, but rules were rules and had she been caught by anyone else it would have been on Aubrey's head too.

Tanya was ashamed enough to drop her chin slightly. "I'm sorry, Ma'am. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Promises mean little when the mistake has been made twice, Lieutenant," Aubrey sighed.

Smith looked stunned. "Commander? I'm not sure I follow."

This was the second time that Smith had been in that hangar without permission. Two weeks ago a security guard that had left his post for a moment to simulate a cup of coffee spotted her leaving the hangar on her own. He had mentioned it in passing to Aubrey one day at lunch, assuming she had sent the young Lieutenant in for the specs while she was otherwise occupied. At first she was furious, but when she calmed down enough to think about it rationally, she decided to give the girl another chance. Many people were curious and frightened of the Augments and she knew better than most that if she was younger and had less to lose, she'd be sticking her nose in that room more than was necessary. Already when she analyzed them she noticed she was more interested than she should have been.

She saw Tanya as a younger version of herself in some sort of way and thus had let the first incident slide. She was still somewhat knew to the whole secrecy game and let the curiosity get the better of her, much like it had for Aubrey on many occasions, but those were times when she was not in a top secret facility beneath Starfleet Headquarters.

"You know very well what I mean, Lieutenant. I have received word that you have been in that hangar once before without my permission. As it so happens, I know that curiosity can sometimes get the best of us," she said gently and watched at Tanya bowed her head in shame. Out of the Lieutenant's sight, Aubrey worried her lower lip, hating what she had to ask next. "Tanya…" She looked up slowly as her Commander addressed her. "Have you been in that hangar without my permission more than these two occurrences? I will remind you that lying to your Commander is an offense against Starfleet and should I not take your word for it, I will check the security feed for evidence of your statement."

The woman looked just about ready to cry and Aubrey sorely hoped she wouldn't have to call anyone to drag a blubbering woman from her office. However, Smith nodded, obviously too overwhelmed to speak. Aubrey sighed again and frowned as she leaned back in her seat, hating her next words. "Then I have no choice but to relieve you, Lieutenant Smith," she said softly as she leant over to retrieve her communicator to contact the security desk. "Harry, I need two security officers to come to my office and escort Lieutenant Tanya Smith to Sector 4 to await trial."

Harold's voice responded almost immediately. "Right away, Commander."

"Thanks, Harry."

With that Aubrey shut her communicator off and looked back at the young woman on the other side of the desk. The poor girl was trying her hardest to stop her tears from falling and her breaths were shallow, even her hands were clenched in her lap. Aubrey felt sorry for the girl; she was too young to have been given the responsibility of secrecy and now she was probably going to be kicked from Starfleet and God only knew what would happen to her after that. Aubrey knew that anything she attempted to say to the girl in comfort would do little to appease her sorrows.

The room was silent while they waited the few minutes for security to arrive and when they did, they escorted Tanya out wordlessly. The woman still would not meet Aubrey's eyes and stumbled along with the two large burly men out the door. As soon as she was alone again Aubrey removed her glasses from her nose and placed them on the desk to rub at her eyes, her once steely posture slumped forward.

It wasn't even 0600 yet and the mounting stress and frustration was already getting on her nerves. Coffee. She needed coffee. Lots of it.

But first, to Hangar 16. She needed to get that check out of the way before Admiral Archer came down there and sacked her along with the Lieutenant.

After replacing her glasses on her nose with more force than was necessary and snatching her communicator and the PADD Smith had given her from her desk, she exited her office, the lock automatically engaging behind her with a reassuring hiss. The heels of her boots clicked dully along the hallway as she made the annoyingly long trek to the Hangar Bay. She busied herself with flicking through the information the Lieutenant had given her and noticed that she had missed something in her original glance over it –something she kicked herself mentally for. There were odd readings on one of the cryotubes; so odd that she thought her eyes were maybe playing tricks on her, but upon another look –and after several astounded blinks –she found that they hadn't changed.

One of the cryotubes –Khan's to be exact –seemed to be warming up and there had even been slight movement when Smith had taken the reading; it was very little, but still there. There must have been a malfunction with the tube, she realized with another frustrated huff; just another thing to add to her already terrible day. Flicking out her communicator as she picked up her pace, she switched the dial to the engineers' section of the underground base.

"Commander Matthews, this is Commander Aubrey Shepherd; come in."

It took only a few moments for a male voice to reply. "This is Commander Matthews."

"Commander, I have some reason to believe there might be a malfunction in Hangar 16," she replied evasively. Not everyone in the facility knew where the Augments were, or even that they were still alive, so she had to keep her mouth relatively shut on an open channel. "I'm not entirely sure yet, and I'm sure it's really nothing to worry about, but I'd like you to come down to check it out just in case."

There was a pause on the other end that Aubrey thought slightly odd. Commander Thomas Matthews was a damn good engineer –almost as good as Montgomery Scott –and a good co-worker, they had gone to the Academy together and Aubrey would have called him a close personal friend if she could afford herself the luxury of such relationships. She didn't like to have attachments, especially not in the workplace. It just made things easier and she wouldn't get caught up in any of that other stupid office gossip that she had no interest in being a part of.

She was brought out of her internal thoughts when Matthews' voice came back over the com. "I have some things I need to finish up here, can you give me 20 minutes?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied without hesitation. Like she said, it was probably nothing. "I'll head in and see what's going on and I'll inform you when you arrive."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Commander?" The engineer seemed a tad apprehensive and though he wouldn't have been able to see it, Aubrey raised her brow anyway as she rounded the last corner to Hangar 16, a small smile quirking the corners of her lips. Just because she wasn't attached, didn't mean she didn't appreciate it when someone was concerned for her safety.

"I'm sure. I'm a big girl, Matthews, I can handle a simple malfunctioning piece of machinery," she chuckled in return. "See you in 20 minutes, Commander." With that, she closed the communicator and cut off the conversation before he could say anything else. Just in time too as she came up in front of the Hangar doors.

The security officer next to it was standing rigid with his hands clasped in front of him which caused the muscles in his arms to bulge even more than they already did and effectively made him more imposing than he really was. His name was Jonathon and a regular guardsman that Aubrey had taken an appreciation for. He was never late, only left his post when absolutely necessary and was a complete sweetheart. If Aubrey was looking for a man, Jonathon would be one of the few at the top of her list.

"Mornin', Commander," he greeted with a warm bright smile and a merry salute that made her smile widen. Jonathon was an Irishman and she was pretty sure that any words coming from his mouth would sound beautiful; pair that with his strong physique, messy dark brown hair and chiselled features and he was quite the heartthrob. She was pretty sure plenty of women ogled him on a daily basis.

"Good morning," she replied. She clipped her communicator back to her belt and tucked the PADD under her free arm as she began typing in the codes to open the hangar doors. "Go for a break, Jon. I'll be in here for a while and will keep an eye on things. Come back by 0630 at the latest. I should be done by then."

"Ya sure?" he asked, but Aubrey could tell he perked up just a bit more at the idea. Poor guy worked harder than a lot of people she had the displeasure of knowing and still had the smile of an angel through all of it. When she nodded, Jon's grin was so bright Aubrey was sure she would have swooned if she were a lesser woman. "Thanks, Commander. I'll see ya at 0630."

Aubrey laughed softly and shook her head as the man skipped off to the central lounge area on their floor. When all her codes were finally accepted on the panel, the huge hanger doors gave a muffled thud and clank as the locks were pulled back and she was allowed to push the doors open with some difficulty. As soon as she was inside, the doors only partially closed behind her to leave a small crack of light from the hall and she was left in the relative darkness with 73 dully glowing blue lights.

"Activating code 0067309, Commander Aubrey Shepherd," she said loudly into the blackness.

"Code accepted," came the automated female voice that echoed around the room.

"Lights on," Aubrey commanded, her tone a little quieter, and the lights high above her in the rafters of the hangar flickered on and lit up the large room. Now that she was able to see properly, she made her way down the line of cryotubes towards the back, deciding she should get the malfunction hassle out of the way first.

However, the closer she got to the back of the hangar, the more apprehensive she felt. She was sure she was being watched, but dismissed it as paranoia over the whole fiasco. From a distance it seemed there was nothing wrong with the tube; it was intact with no dents or scratches and the blue light was still emitting from the glass at the head of it.

But once she got closer she was startled to find that it was empty. Khan's face didn't greet her in peaceful slumber like it had three times a day for the past five years, the frosting usually framing the edges of the glass was gone and worst of all there was no Khan inside or in sight.

Her breath hitched and she looked around the room wildly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the superhuman terrorist, but he was nowhere to be found. But she knew for a fact that he was in there with her; she knew he hadn't gotten out the doors she had come and there were no air vents large enough for him to crawl through therefore he was in there.

Her spine tingled as she realized her earlier feeling of being watched was right and she attempted to casually reach for her communicator at her side as she continued to scan the room. Unfortunately she was just short of grasping it when an arm suddenly snaked around her waist and pulled her back against a cold hard torso. A freezing hand slapped against her mouth to cover the scream she was too shocked to emit and she jumped violently enough to cause her PADD to slip from under her arm and clatter to the steel floor. Her own hands rose in a poor attempt to pry his hand from her face even though she knew it was useless and she ended up squirming against his hold like a fish out of water; kicking and slapping and flailing. The arm around her waist, despite the somewhat awkward angle, maneuvered in a way that allowed his hand to snatch her communicator from her belt and toss it to the floor. Unlike her PADD, the flimsy material of the device gave way to the impact and fell to useless pieces of plastic and wiring. She gave up struggling after a few moments when he suddenly leant forward so that his lips were right next to her ear, his breath chilly against her warm skin and his tone so menacingly calm and low it reminded her of thunder when the storm was miles away.

"Scream and I will not hesitate to tear the head from your worthless body."

Hey, everyone! Thanks for clicking on my new story! I'll be posting a few more of this one and a few others so stay tuned! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update due to school and such, but I'll do my best!