Disclaimer: I do not own Khan or anything pertaining to Star Trek. Writing this for my own enjoyment.

A/N: I was so mesmerized by the dynamics in Khan's character in STID. This is something I'm kinda playing with. Let me know what you think!

Savagery

Chapter One

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I don't know who they were or what they wanted. All I know is they woke me up.

They woke me up, cleaned me up, gave me clothes, fluids, performed some tests, medical and cognitive alike, and then they put me in a holding cell for "observations," or so they said. The after effects of the cryo sleep kept me sluggish and quiet. The cell was dark, they said, so I could sleep off the lingering effects. But sleep was the last thing I wanted.

I was alone for a few hours, sitting in the corner staring at my toes, my fingernails, running the flat of my palms against the smooth, cold plastic of the cell floor, letting my eyes take in the dark now that my mind wasn't plagued with cryo dreams. The blackness was welcome. I could think again.

But soon I could hear marching footsteps making their way into the observation deck, a few pairs of them, though I couldn't quite detect how many. I looked through the thick glass as three officers came in, darkly uniformed and stoic as I've ever seen. I thought for a moment they were going to pass right through, make their way towards another one of the holding cells, perhaps, but then they stopped, right in front of mine. I got up slowly and stood to attention; I figured they'd come to tell me where I was and why I'd been awakened. Had the rest of the crew been awakened too? If so, where were they?

Then came two more officers, accompanying...

Khan.

Captain Khan.

He stood before the glass and I knew then that he couldn't see me in the dark. A gasp fell over my lips as I felt my heart leap into my throat and flutter at the sight of him.

And then the lights came on.

I watched the shock catch in his face when he saw me. His massive eyes widened, shockingly blue in the artificial light, and his finely shaped lips fell open just slightly in awe. I smiled. I smiled so widely. The last I'd seen him, he was putting in the sequencing codes for our cryogenic tubes. We'd been unsure of the future, scared even, but there he was and suddenly all doubts, all worries about where I was and what was going on were quieted and resolved, as though he had told reassured me in his own words.

He stood with the same prestige that so often filled me with admiration when we were crew members, years ago, in the days before the sleep. Still so powerful, a pillar of obsidian with his black hair and dark clothing, and in that moment, though he was my captain and I ranked well beneath him, I wanted nothing more than to run to him, throw my arms around him and hug him. Captain Khan. It was against protocol and I knew it, but I didn't care. Right then I was so happy to see him.

I walked forward to speak to him, completely disregarding the gaze of all the other officers standing witness to our exchange of recognition. Khan stood frozen, staring at me, as if he couldn't believe I was really there, as if he thought he was seeing a ghost. The expression slowed my steps and I could feel my smile melt into a frown. Why wasn't he as happy to see me as I was to see him?

It was then that it more or less hit me: I was in a holding cell but Khan wasn't. Why?

I took a moment to look at the officers standing around and looking in on me through the glass, not saying a word or moving a muscle. It filled me with suspicion, and I looked to Khan for answers and saw fear in his eyes, fear overpowering the shock. It frightened me; I'd never seen fear in his eyes before. He was always so put together, so competent, Khan the Captain, careful not to let his emotions show, careful to always stay strong for us.

But now his strong jaw shook, and his eyes gleamed.

Somewhere beyond my visage in the far corner of the room, a door opened. "Admiral present!" Someone announced as sharp, purposeful footsteps sounded across the room. I looked and watched as an older man, dressed in fine military garb with great prestige in his strides and his air, approached. He went towards Khan and then looked at me, looking as though he might snort, and the moment I met his cold blue gaze I frowned and shifted my weight back.

Something was not right.

"Well," said the admiral, looking me over for a split second before turning to Khan. "Are you satisfied?"

I watched Khan's jaw tense and the hands at his sides ball into fists. I took a step back. I'd seen Khan really angry before, it was a scary thing to behold, and I could see the ire burning in his eyes, ire and hate for this man. But he didn't respond. I could see he didn't trust himself to respond.

I looked between them; I knew this man meant trouble, this admiral of whatever, whoever he was. The others in the room watched the exchange tentatively but intently.

That was when I noticed the two men standing behind Khan were both armed with phasers. They weren't standing idly by; they were escorting him.

I felt panic rise up in my chest. I took a step forward to get Khan's attention, and indeed the movement drew his eye. But he lowered his chin and narrowed his eyes to me, and I could see the order in his gaze: stop, or something bad would happen.

"I hope now," said the admiral, turning his gaze to me and regarding me with discern. "We can come to some kind of understanding."

Khan didn't respond. I could see his shoulders rise and fall; he was heaving. Once again he turned his eyes to me and though his expression lifted slightly, I could see he was conflicted. I stared between him and the admiral, wondering what kind of arrangement they could have made.

After a moment of silence, the man looked to an officer standing at the side of the cell wall, gave a sharp nod, and then looked at me expectedly.

I reacted, but not fast enough, and I didn't think there was anything I could have done. The officer pulled a switch on the outside of the cell, unseen to me.

And then - pain.

I screamed as it radiated up from the floor, creeping up into my toes and through my calfs, and then suddenly it hit me all at once and swallowed me, covering my skin with a white hotness. It crippled me, buckled my knees so I had no choice but to fall, heavily, to the floor, writhing in agony. I twisted, frantically trying to shove off bounds that I knew weren't there, enemies that I knew weren't physical. The screams left my throat even as I wasn't conscious I was making any sound at all.

Distantly I heard his voice, calling out, and though I tried to concentrate on it, on the sound of his voice, the pain overclouded everything. It was just too much.

And then, just as fast as it had started, it stopped. I heaved and gasped as an aftershock settled in over my skin, my heart thundering against my chest, my thoughts going a mile a minute. I curled into a fetal position to try to protect myself, though I knew it was futile. Distantly I could hear voices speaking lowly, but I couldn't make out words. I sucked in greedy breaths and then, suddenly, it began again.

A scream ripped through my whole body as my limbs convulsed and thrashed. It was worse the second time, searing and white hot, and it felt like I was on fire, and each twitch of a limb made it worse, made it burn, and no matter how much I tried to keep myself still, convinced the movement was making it worse, I couldn't help but try to force it away from me.

I heard the strength of Khan's voice then, shouting frantically over my screams. "Stop! Stop it, please!"

The shocks ended suddenly but the pain didn't. I ached and let out a moan of agony. I could taste blood on my tongue.

The room had become deathly silent. The only thing audible were my pathetic cries of pain, though I tried to swallow them. I rolled onto my stomach, pathetically, and pulled my arms into my chest as best I could, though every movement hurt.

The admiral's voice broke the horrid silence, and when it did, it was absolutely dripping with hate and fury. "Let me make one thing absolutely clear," he all but snarled, and I knew he was addressing Khan. "You will build me my weapons. You will design me my ships, or you will watch as I torture and kill every last member of your crew."

I squeezed my eyes closed as the gravity of the situation hit me. Khan was here and so was I, which meant the others were here too, somewhere. And this man, this admiral, whoever he was, we were his prisoners. We were at his mercy. I opened my eyes to see what I could, though my eyes ached, but through the glass I could see Khan looking in at me, a single tear trail on his fine, sharp cheekbone. It broke my heart to see him, my captain, always so strong and intimidating and powerful, shedding tears for me and my pain.

The admiral looked at me in my crumpled state on the cell floor, a hateful look written across his aged, lined face, and his voice was low and dripping with malice. "Starting with this one."

I wanted to curl my lip and sneer at him, spit at him through the glass, but even the simplest of expressions was impossible.

The admiral turned back to Khan. "Do I make myself clear?"

I knew that if Khan wasn't a prisoner, if I myself wasn't imprisoned at the mercy of electroshock torture, if there weren't guards at his back with phasers likely set to more than stun, he would have killed the man. He would have driven his thumbs into his eye sockets until his eyeballs squashed under the pressure, and twisted his head until his neck snapped. I knew it, I could see it written on my captain's face, like an unspoken but very solemn promise. "Yes."

The admiral took a step towards him, trying to intimidate him, I'm sure, but Khan was never one to be intimidated. He refused to cower under the man's gaze.

"Let me remind you," snarled the admiral, nearly spitting in his face. "You were condemned to die, all of you. I have no obligation to let you -any of you- live. But I shall so long as you build me what I want."

Khan heaved with fury, but nodded once, and I knew that was all the affirmation the admiral was going to get.

"Good," the admiral said, and turned to the guards. "Take him to the lab."

I watched them issue Khan away and he watched me as long as he could, his eyes wrought with worry and sadness and maybe a tinge of hopelessness. I wanted so much, more than anything, to go to him, hold him, both for protection and comfort. But as it was, I couldn't even pull myself into a sitting position. As he disappeared from my visage, I had the greatest urge to call out his name, make him come back so I could see him, assure myself that he was there. But he disappeared, and the admiral watched him go, and then turned on his heel and left without another word to anyone.

The remaining officers left the observation deck, following their admiral, and before the last one left, the light over me failed and the cell went dark again. I huddled my body together, trying to calm down my heart, trying to mentally soothe my bones and my limbs, trying to quiet the frantic thoughts inside my head.

What the hell was going on?!

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