I wish I'd seen this movie sooner (I saw it yesterday for the first time T_T and my friend was an hour late and we missed the first five minutes). I've always been a fan of BC but wow he totally owned STID. He was a beast. And I am no Trekkie and have never even seen a single Star Trek episode just the rebooted movies which I think are completely awesome so I'm so sorry if I get anything wrong.

This is a fic that takes place before STID, about Khan searching for a suitable vessel to preserve and pass down his genes, although unhappy about requiring to choose a host who is human; he chooses an oblivious Captain of an expedition whom he logically deems 'worthy'.

Disclaimer: Don't own Star Trek or Khan, only own OCs.

CAPTAIN MORROW

Alarms were blaring and red lights were flashing on and off within the Type-7 shuttlecraft, the USS Ganymede.

Co-pilot Stanley was tapping furiously at the keys of the control board whilst at the very top right hand corner of the screen, the words DANGER were flickering excessively. "Captain! Incoming impact! Shields are down! We can't evade!"

"We'll have to try!" Captain Morrow yelled, pushing down on the handlebar with all possible strength in an attempt to swerve the ship around; the craft did move out of the way but it too late and the large asteroid that had been heading towards their direction inevitably rammed into the craft despite Morrow's best efforts and the entire ground beneath them shook violently. Morrow and Stanley were bouncing in their seats whilst the rest of the crew in the control deck held onto dear life, clutching the next available railing closest to them. "Status display!" Morrow yelled and the control panel screen roared into life with a diagram of the ship.

"The condition of the right hull is decreasing rapidly, and there is only fifteen per cent of emergency power left!" shouted the navigation officer. "I tried recharting a course to earth; we're two hundred and thirty eight thousand miles away. We won't make it in time!"

The Captain contemplated and then said hurriedly, "Is the main computer still offline?"

"Yes, sir. Whatever it was that stopped the main computer in the first place, it's here to stay and to cut us off from Starfleet. There's nothing we can do to regain control!"

"Right, then I'm ordering an emergency evacuation; everyone make their way to the evacuation pods."

"Yes sir."

As the rest of the crew abandoned their stations and made their way to the pods, Morrow turned to the co-pilot who had dutifully remained in his seat. "Stanley, go." Morrow pressed down on the autopilot control only to realise that it was unresponding. Nothing was happening no matter how many times Morrow pressed it. "Emergency procedure alpha two. The ship will go into manual override."

Upon voice recognition, the lights in the bridge dimmed low. "Commencing emergency procedure alpha two." said a mechanical, female voice in the background.

Stanley was shaking his head, "Captain, I can't leave you. You can't navigate this ship by yourself, that's why I'm here!"

"I know, but I can still keep the ship on-course. I'm not going anywhere, Stanley."

He gestured to Morrow's broken leg thanks to a malfunctioning door that led to the engine room. It was lucky it hadn't impaled Morrow's leg from knee down when it came slamming down so unexpectedly like that, in fact. "But you're hurt-"

"Someone needs to stay behind and manually steer the ship. I will be able to buy enough time for everyone to get to the escape pods and leave safely. Any asteroids coming your way and I can use the ship's missiles to hit them."

The co-pilot shook his head thoroughly. "I can't let you do this. I'll-I'll stay and you can beam me back or-"

"Stanley, there's no way anyone can get beamed to or from here without any accident happenings; just do as I say and go to the escape pod."

"But the autopilot-"

"This is an order!"

Stanley flinched but still did not move.

"Listen, I got it under control. Join the rest of the crew, I will find some other way off this ship and-" Morrow was interrupted when the ship rocked violently once more and Stanley had almost been thrown off his feet until Morrow caught him by the arm, "And I want you to go back to Starfleet Headquarters, report this to the Admiral, okay? Someone has hijacked the USS Ganymede as it made its return from their thirteenth test voyage for reasons unknown, and this someone has breached the hull, brought the engine to a complete halt, killed our system and has disabled all functions. We have been sabotaged from within. Got it, Stanley?"

"Y-yes, Captain."

"Good, now go." Morrow let go of him and Stanley went stumbling; as soon as he got up to stand, he hesitated and Morrow was screaming at him, "Go!"

Stanley nodded and disappeared down the bridge walkway, towards the direction of the escape pods. Morrow swivelled round in the seat, watching the flashing screen. Impending doom and death was imminent.

Is this how I'm going to die?

For a split second, Morrow was consumed with fear. However, Morrow managed to grab the lever, steering the ship to a hard right to avoid another incoming asteroid only for the ship to lurch helplessly; the impact sent the ship turning in a one hundred and eighty degree angle and Morrow rapidly punched in commands using the control board. Nothing happened. It was unresponsive despite being manually overridden.

As the alarms shrieked on, Morrow saw the escape pod ejecting from the diagram of the ship on the control panel and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief; looking up, Morrow then saw the pod itself hurtling through the dark space with the course set to earth. An asteroid was flying towards their direction; Morrow slammed the missile key and a furious blast of energy escaped from the ship's launcher and struck the rock, causing it to explode into harmless fragments. At least the ship's rockets were still working…

Morrow sighed once more and continued to struggle and wrestle with the steering lever of the ship. No matter what happened, the ship wouldn't listen and kept slamming into the asteroids. The alarms screeched even louder and louder and louder and suddenly, a crack appeared on the screen from a medium-sized asteroid smashing in full-frontal and Morrow could feel cold wind sucking into the ship and this was the end until-

The small, box-shaped screen on the control panel flicked onto life.

Morrow gasped.

A familiar face appeared on the screen. It was the face of a thin man with dark hair and icy-blue eyes. Morrow knew this person well. Perhaps too well. "How fares the thirteenth test voyage to Saturn, Captain? I trust everything is going…perfectly?"

"John," Morrow growled venomously in response, "John Harrison."

The man on the screen mustered a smile, his lips curling.

"...I should've known this had something to do with you. Why?"

"You know the reason why." Harrison hissed, "When we met, you knew you belonged to me and no matter how hard you try, no matter where you run or hide, I will always be able to find you."

Morrow's breath caught in her throat. She remembered that day, no, evening...the evening where she met Harrison, when it all began...

...

...

...

"Everyone, I am proud to announce that the USS Ganymede will have a new captain for its three-year expedition to Saturn, the lovely Miss Jane Morrow."

The extravagant dining hall was filled with a round of applause and Jane Morrow stood up in her seat, taking a gracious bow, before she sidled towards the podium to accept her captain's insignia as soon as her name had been called out. At the altar stood Admiral Marcus who welcomed her arrival with an open-armed gesture.

"Jane, how nice to see you." Marcus greeted her warmly with a smile as she reached the platform, tackling one step slowly at a time in her heels to avoid stepping on the expensive dress she'd wasted three months of pay just to wear for this one night. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Admiral." She replied as they shook hands.

Marcus departed from the altar and the spotlight was focused on her, all eyes on her. "Whooo! Whoohoo! Go, Jane! Go!" came a single cheer in the audience. It was her most trusted colleague, room-mate and best friend.

"Thank you, you-you're too kind." Jane nervously stammered out; she warily eyed the rest of the audience and cleared her throat. Immediately, her rehearsed speech flew from her mind leaving her brain an utter and complete blank. "…Uh…h-hello everyone, good evening, and uh, hope you all have had a wonderful, uh, evening…this evening." She began nervously, leaning forwards to the microphone that her voice echoed and buzzed in all four corners of the large room that contained many of Starfleet's most brightest and wonderful, "As you can see, I'm not really used to these kind of events, hahaahaa…"

The audience joined in with her weak, awkward laughter.

"U-um, anyway, thank you for very much for nominating me as Captain of the USS Ganymede for this expedition and giving me a brilliant team to work with. I'm really excited and I'm sure we'll all get along together… It's an honor and I hope to make everyone proud and-"

Admiral Marcus stepped in and with two fingers averted the microphone away from her. Leaning towards her, he murmured in her ear, "Yes, thank you, Jane. You may sit down now, we still have many other important matters to announce."

"O-of, of course." She nodded brusquely and returned to her seat with the Captain's badge along with the velvet box in hand. Her friend was smiling at her as she seated herself down, "So, how was my speech?" Jane asked excitedly, "Was it riveting?"

"…It needs some work, honey."

Her face fell. "Oh."

The rest of the evening went by rather quickly. Jane kept opening and closing the little blue velvet box that contained her captain's insignia and she was giggling to herself quietly. She was no longer 'First Officer Jane Morrow', but 'Captain Jane Morrow', a promotion she felt she had earned by her own hard work, effort, determination along with the support of her peers. Although she was not 'Captain' of a large ship like the USS Enterprise, she was in charge of the expedition and enjoyed the sound of it immensely. Once the awards announcement ceremony came to an end, Jane rose from her seat to join her fellow nominees at the party where they would be serving champagne and other delicacies from the solar system.

"Captain Jane Morrow."

A voice behind her made her turn round. "Good evening, Admiral." She greeted when she saw Marcus approach her. Beside him was a tall man clad in a tight black shirt and slacks; they were normal everyday wear and hardly fitting for a luxurious event such as this, but he had an edge to him, a certain quality which she hadn't quite found in other Starfleet co-workers and she found her eyes glued onto him. She had never seen him before that was for certain. Whilst she gazed at him, the man watched her with equal vigor behind his icy blue eyes. At first, his gaze lingered on her face for a while before it trailed down her body and back up. Was he sizing her up?

"I wanted to congratulate you once again regarding your promotion." Marcus reiterated with a withered, old smile.

She averted her gaze away from the tall, thin man to the Admiral. "Thank you."

"Morrow, I'd like you to meet one of our top agents; John Harrison." Marcus said, "Harrison just joined our ranks and has proven himself an incredible asset to our operations." Again, she had never seen or heard of John Harrison until now yet she smiled at him politely. "Very good," Marcus added, "I'll leave you two to it then."

Once Marcus had left, Jane peered up at the tall thin man enquiringly who loomed over her, "...It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Harrison."

"Yes, Miss Morrow. I had personally requested for a formal introduction."

Harrison's voice was calm, professional but not monotone. No, his tone was very deep, reflective. He reminded her a little of the Vulcan, Spock, but this man was on a completely different level; he appeared to possess a different sort of intellect and demeanor. He gave her the feeling he was in complete control of himself, as though one had mastered the art of controlling and camouflaging emotions and expressions behind a wall of solemnity.

"Oh, r-really?" She couldn't help but stammer out; while Harrison seemed to be an expert in controlling one's actions, she felt like she was spilling all over the place. Why? Why would he want to be formally introduced to me?

"The USS Ganymede," said Harrison in that tone of his, and suddenly Jane wished she hadn't been left alone with this peculiar yet endearing man and his unrelenting gaze that was fixated on her, "A small craft based off the Type-7. It was constructed for the sole purpose of carrying up to six individuals for efficient exploration within deep-space yet Starfleet has anointed it for the mining of the asteroid belt closest to the 60558 Echeclus which surrounds Saturn and one of it's moons, Dione."

"Yes, that's correct. You know your stuff." Jane said, with a small but impressed smile by his information. There was a short silence following, with Harrison displaying no intention to carry on or contribute to the conversation. Jane cleared her throat and stammered out, "A-ahem, I'm perhaps the only person in Starfleet who find asteroids fascinating." Whilst she chortled at her own joke, Harrison remained expressionless. Her laughter died away in response to his lack of facial expression. "So, you're an agent. That must be fascinating."

"A woman of your talents seems befitting for the role of Captain." Harrison replied, completely ignoring her words altogether, "Yet you waste it on something as uninspiring and trivial on the study of asteroid mining."

She was taken aback by his bluntness; he'd downright offended her and her field of work which she'd spent a few good years studying and researching... "Well, as a matter of fact, I like asteroids." She replied, "And it's not uninspiring…I know it's not like, "oh wow!" You know, it's nothing major, not like the stuff that happens aboard the Enterprise…but the Ganymede…I like it…it's interesting."

"You are interesting, Jane Morrow." He said that although his voice held no tone. It did not even sound genuine.

Without any other further comment, Harrison turned and walked away, leaving Jane feeling downright confused yet strangely enamored as she watched his retreating back. You are interesting? What the heck is that even supposed to mean…?

…

…

…

Aboard the doomed USS Ganymede, Jane snapped out of her reminiscence and continued with her battle in keeping the craft afloat as she hurtled through the stratosphere of an unknown planet. Upon impact, she would be dead. She didn't know what she was doing anymore yet she squeezed her eyes shut, still refusing to give up. Eventually, she had clutched and pulled at the lever so hard it snapped off the control panel and she gaped at the useless flimsy stick in hand.

Harrison made a gesture with the slight tilt of his head. "I warned you." He was still speaking to her through the screen and intercom despite the situation; however, the ship's deteriorating control panel meant Harrison's picture kept blurring and going fuzzy. Despite the malfunction, his voice and presence provided her with a bizarre sense of comfort.

"How did you hijack the USS Ganymede? It's encryption key is concrete, no-one can-"

"It was I who designed this very ship, Jane."

"Y-you?!" She spluttered.

"Yes."

"What exactly do you want to accomplish from all of this, from me?" It was amazing this conversation was still happening. Out of the entire time she'd met him, this would be the longest time they'd even spoken to each other.

"I wanted to show you that I can easily and quickly destroy you whenever I wish."

"Point proven. So you really have decided to kill me."

"No, never." He sneered, his light-blue eyes were fixed on her the entire time. "I merely had to put you in a position where I wanted you to be."

"And what would that be?"

"I want you at my mercy."

She scoffed at him, although deep inside, she was deeply disturbed by his words. She had always been.

"I can help you escape," Harrison's taunting voice was still heard over the intercom, echoing throughout the entire cockpit. "I may have disabled all functions and destroyed the engine, but there is still a means of exit for you. You just have to say the word, and I will come to you."

"No thanks." She replied, shaking her head, "I'm good." The ship was now spinning uncontrollably in the air and if she hadn't clipped the belt on, she'd be thrown around like a ragdoll. It didn't exactly help that her stomach was churning, however. One more lurch and she might throw up despite her training.

"You fail to understand my logic, Jane." said Harrison, his voice stretching deeper and deeper into a lower undertone, "You could be the key to everything."

"I don't want to be the key to anything, John."

"You disappoint me." His words were suddenly cold and callous, harsh. But then, his words had always had been; he merely kept the true meanings hidden, masqueraded by that still and calm facade of his. "I expected greater things from you. You were my chosen one."

She could see a massive collage of brown awaiting her through the smashed screen now as the ship dropped through the clouds. She was nearing land. Her heart thumped faster at an incredible rate that it was difficult for her to breathe. "Choose someone else, some other person." She had said, struggling with her words.

"There is no other." He hissed irately, subjecting her to a cold glare.

That was a lie. There were plenty of women out there, even smarter, more beautiful and physically fit than her. How he chose her, and why, she had no idea. However, she brushed him off with a sneer akin to a manner that mirrored his own, "I'm flattered."

"I will save you, Jane."

"Don't want you to." She snapped at him, and with that, the screen went blank and Harrison disappeared altogether. He had shut off all communication. So he hadn't decided to save her, after all. She swallowed down the dry lump in her throat and threw her dejected gaze to her useless, broken leg as the reality settled in.

She was going to die.

However, there was a loud but low creak and Jane gasped; at the same time, a tear had leaked out from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. Outside in the chilly atmosphere was a figure dressed in dark garb with a hood strapped tightly over the head, preventing any means of identification although she had a feeling she might know who this person was. Before Jane knew it, the figure had completely closed the space between himself and the ship, then expertly maneuvered towards the smashed windscreen and with two small gadgets in hand, the figure clung on. Jane stared wide-eyed, as the figure proceeded to cut the screen with a laser and the glass was removed.

The figure leapt into the cockpit with her and unstrapped the seatbelt; immediately Jane felt the freezing rush of cold air and crushing gravity and she found herself tumbling backwards out of her seat in midair, screaming. The figure grabbed her before she could protest or even move for all that mattered, and as the figure brought her closer, holding her, she could see him up close.

"No-" She began, but he silenced her with a strike to the back of the neck and she was rendered unconscious.

With Jane in tow, the figure climbed back out of the broken screen and glanced at the awaiting shuttlecraft that was hovering above and with a great leap, the figure flew out and as the wind caught him, throwing his body with immense, supreme force, he activated the jets in the back of his suit. Using the ship as leverage, he zoomed in towards it, kicked off and landed into the pod's awaiting hangar. As the door shut behind him, ensuring that they were safe, he shut the jets, pulled down his hood and removed the mask, then gazed at the woman in his arms.

"My dear, sweet Jane," Harrison murmured as he ran a hand along the curve of her cheek, "You are foolish if you believed that your death would put an end to my plans."