A/N: Slight dubcon due to omegaverse dynamics.


In retrospect, Captain Kirk realized he should have had Khan – whom he knew at the time only by his pseudonym, Commander John Harrison – beamed directly to Sickbay. It might not have stopped what happened next, but it certainly would have contained it a bit better. But no, he had to parade the prisoner from the shuttle deck through the ship, escorted by eight security guards, seven of whom were Alphas, the youngest and newest of whom was a Beta who was thisclose to being an Alpha himself.

How could he have known, Kirk lamented later, what effect an Augmented Alpha who had stopped taking the suppressants that had been forced on him would have on the Omegas in the crew? How could any of them have known? Especially since they were still under the misguided belief that John Harrison was exactly who he seemed to be? And how the hell could anyone have predicted that he was, instead of a 24th century renegade Starfleet officer, actually a late 21st century Augmented super-Alpha?

Yes, he should have beamed the man directly into Sickbay, Kirk realized after it was too late. But he hadn't, and now, nine months later, the direct consequences were making themselves rather noisily known.

"Just breathe, Carol," he counseled his Bonded mate, giving her his hand to hold as she panted her way through another contraction.

"You breathe," she snarled, squeezing so tightly he winced. "This is all your fucking fault, James Tiberius Kirk, and don't think I've forgotten!"

In the biobed next to hers, Commander Spock and Lieutenant Uhura were having much the same conversation, although Nyota's language was considerably saltier than Carol's – and she had the added advantage of being able to swear in multiple languages, including her half-human (and fully Alpha) mate's native Vulcan. Kirk had been surprised to discover that the Vulcan language even had swear words in the first place; somehow it didn't exactly seem logical or dignified, two traits Vulcans seemed to pride themselves on even more than their emotional control.

"And don't think I've forgotten that you're just as responsible!" another voice came from a third biobed on the opposite side of the room. Kirk took a moment to smirk over at the other couple; if Commander John Harrison, aka Khan Noonien Singh, thought he'd Bonded with a typical compliant Omega when he'd locked himself in Sickbay with Lt. Molly Hooper nine months previous, he'd since learned the error of his ways.

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer psychopath.

Nine Months Ago

Ensign Joachim Hernandez was a Beta. Not normally Security officer material, at least not on an elite vessel like the USS Enterprise. However, he'd worked hard and shown potential, and now here he was, part of the guard escorting the dangerous prisoner and traitor, Commander John Harrison, from the shuttle bay to Sickbay. Once there the prisoner would be given a full physical, offered any necessary medical attention (although privately the young Spaniard doubted the haughty Alpha needed anything other than a good going-over with a Klingon pain-stick), cleaned up, changed into plain black garb, and hustled off to the brig.

It was a good plan, a sensible plan, standard operating procedure. Ensign Hernandez fully intended to execute his duties, to remain alert and to keep Commander Harrison from trying to make a break for it. Even though Captain Kirk had warned them all that the Alpha was even more dangerous than they'd thought – something about him single-handedly taking down a full complement of Klingons – Hernandez was confident they could deal with him if he did try anything.

That was at the beginning of the perp walk. By the end of it Hernandez was a shaking, sweating, terrified mess…and he was the only one left of the original eight security guards still escorting the prisoner.

It started as soon as they left the shuttle; Lt. Uhura's nose started to twitch, and Ensign Hernandez and his fellow security officers tried to ignore the sounds of her taking deep inhales – and the slight moan in her voice on the exhales. Commander Spock was the next one to be affected; he stiffened as he strode ahead of them, stopped, turned around, and approached the communications officer like a man in a trance. Then a heavenly aroma wafted toward the group; even Hernandez could smell it, although as a Beta his senses were somewhat blunted in comparison to those of the Alphas and Omegas on board.

The enticing aroma was coming from Lt. Uhura, who had stopped dead in her tracks and was currently fumbling at the clasps to her jacket while sweat poured down her reddened cheeks. Wow, Hernandez thought, what a helluva time to go into Heat! And why wasn't she on suppressants anyway? All serving members of Starfleet were required to do so, Alphas and Omegas, to keep their respective biologies from overwhelming them at inconvenient moments. Such as now, when it was clear that not only had she gone into Heat, but that Commander Spock was also well on his way to a full Alpha rut as well. He only hoped the two of them could control themselves long enough to reach a private location for their first coupling, or else any crewmembers walking along would be in for a rude surprise!

Captain Kirk barked out an order for them to keep moving, and so Hernandez obediently faced his eyes forward, scanning the corridors ahead for any signs of trouble, anything that might impede them in their duties or afford the prisoner an opportunity to escape. Not that Harrison seemed inclined to do anything but march quietly in their midst, but Hernandez had note a smirk playing about the other man's lips when Lt. Uhura and Commander Spock abandoned them.

The suspicion that Khan had something to do with that abandonment – and Lt. Uhura's spontaneous Heat – didn't dawn until the next incident. They passed by Lt. Carol Wallace, a new member of the ship's crew and a pretty blonde Omega – and she, too, stopped dead in her tracks, nostrils quivering and her cheeks flushing a bright red. This time it was Cpt. Kirk who seemed to be the object of her attentions, and he definitely returned that attention, taking several seconds before stammering out an order for them to continue escorting the prisoner while he took care of a sudden urgent matter.

Lt. Hocksteader was the next to be affected, then Lt. Davies, Ensign Wu, Ensign Majors (everyone loved to kid him about his name), until suddenly Ensign Hernandez found himself alone with the prisoner. Whose smirk had grown more and more pronounced every time they passed an Omega who spontaneously went into Heat – and attracted another Alpha from their group. "You're a Beta, Ensign," the prisoner said. "At least I'll still have somewhat of an escort when we arrive at our destination. In spite of his own desertion, I doubt Captain Kirk will be very pleased once he finds out he and Commander Spock weren't the only ones experiencing such…personal problems."

"You're doing this somehow," Hernandez muttered, nervously clutching his phaser rifle to his chest. "You expected this to happen."

Harrison nodded. "Of course I did," he said easily, continuing to walk down the corridor toward Sickbay. "You modern day people have worked so hard to suppress everything about your natures, it's pitiful. Alphas taking scent suppressants, Omegas taking heat suppressants…pfagh!" He made a noise of disgust. "You have no idea how to handle an Alpha in his full glory, and if Kirk weren't such a fool he would have taken extra precautions." The smirk returned to his lips – reminding Hernandez rather forcefully of a cartoon character from the old 2-D vids his mother used to show him, a green guy who hated Christmas – as Harrison added, "Of course, if Admiral Marcus had thought to warn your captain what he was getting into, he might have had a better chance of taking me down."

Hernandez had no idea what Harrison was talking about, nor did he care. At this point all he wanted to do was hand this murdering psychopath over to Doctor McCoy, report on the odd effect he was having on the Omegas on board, and escape back to his quarters – and maybe see if that delectable Beta ensign from Engineering he'd been flirting with was up for a bout of mattress tag, to boot. He had a real weakness for redheads, and desperately wanted to find out if Ensign McGivers was a natural.

Such inappropriate thoughts continued to dog him until they finally arrived at Sickbay a few minutes later. He and the prisoner were greeted upon entry by a very confused looking Doctor McCoy, another Beta who was practically an Alpha. Hernandez quickly summed up what had happened, and the Chief Medical Officer's expression went from concerned to annoyed to intrigued as he stared at Harrison. "Hernandez, I want you to stand guard outside those doors and don't let anyone in – especially not any blasted Omegas!" the older man said testily. "Then I'm gonna issue a Quarantine Protocol and any unbonded Omegas on the ship are gonna have to be locked in their damn quarters till I can figure out what the hell is goin' on!"

At that moment the doors to Sickbay slid open and a slight, brown-haired woman rushed into the room. "Sorry I'm late, but I was just…" Doctor Molly Hooper came to both a physical and a verbal stop as abruptly as if someone had clapped a hand over her mouth while simultaneously stepping on her feet. Wide brown eyes drank in the sight of the prisoner, whose own blue-green orbs had narrowed as he inhaled deeply.

"Mine," he growled, then turned and used his manacled arms to knock McCoy unconscious. The last thing Hernandez saw before the prisoner knocked him out as well was Harrison wrenching his arms apart, breaking through the tritanium metal manacles as if they were tissue paper. Molly seemed frozen in place, still staring at him, barely blinking an eye as he proved that he was only a prisoner because he wanted to be one, her attention riveted on him with none to spare for her fallen comrades. She continued to stare as he then proceeded to lift both men up and dump them outside the Sickbay doors before slamming the manual override and locking himself and Molly in the medical bay together.

"Now, Doctor Hooper," he said, his voice a velvety purr as he began to shuck off his clothing, "shall we begin?"

And Molly fell helplessly into his arms.