I Could Have Been Your Adam

by RikiTiki

Set in the world of Into Darkness the crew of the Enterprise encounters a dangerous enemy and has the chance to rectify an injustice thousands of years old. With thanks to Karategirl666 for the itnspiration. If you like this story check out her novella An Augmented Life.

AN: Greetings, it has been a long time since I posted anything complete on this site. This is a version of Star Trek Into Darkness that is less a take on the movie than a fic of Karategirl666's story Augmented Life. If you enjoy this, please stop over and take a look at the fic that inspired it. The one comment that I got on the last version of this story was a very kind request for an epilogue. I will be very happy to write that as soon as I figure out what happens next, though I suspect that it would end up being novel length.

Thank you in advance for your kind interest in my story. Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought, even, hell particularly if you didn't enjoy it.

As always I do not own any part of Star Trek.

I Could Have Been Your Adam

Prologue

-0-

It was done. His life as John Harrison had ended. Now all that was left was to wait. He wondered what form the death Star Fleet would send after him would take. It didn't matter. He had set in motion a series of events that would lead, inevitably, to that war with the Klingon Empire the Admiralty so wanted. He smiled darkly, it was so easy to get humans to do what they already want to do, even though the most basic statistical analysis demonstrated that all-out war with the Klingons would topple the Federation. That he, Harrison would not live to see that hated institution fall did not matter to him. His hand would be felt in their destruction whether they knew it or not.

He rested his back against the frigid rock of the cave in which he had taken refuge. The rough landscape beyond the cave's mouth stretched out barren and bleak all the way to the horizon where the sun was sinking. The temperature was beginning to drop rapidly. He adjusted his suit's thermostat. The warmth did little good, extreme temperature tolerance was a feature of his genetic make-up, but the chill he felt now ran deeper than the air of the frozen land of Kronos.

He thought about waking Rena, but decided against it, there was no reason to drag her into his melancholic musings. They had said their good byes. Grief so profound it defied description swept over him like a wave stealing his breath. In his mind's eyes he saw the others, their faces, animated in the many expressions of life. He forced himself to look at them, to acknowledge that they were forever lost because of his failure. Warm wetness slid down his cheeks, he used his scarf to wipe them away so that his tears did not freeze solid on his skin. He felt a flame of hateful resolve flare up within him. He could do nothing to change what had happened, but he would give every drop of blood flowing through his veins to avenge their fate.

-0-

"Gilli, hold up!"

Gillian Collins slowed her pace so that Lieutenant Uhura could catch up. Gillian swore under her breath. She was going to have to get a grip, it didn't matter how she felt she could not allow such lapses in discipline, it was too dangerous now, more than ever. She waited until Nyota drew level with her.

"My God," Uhura gasped, "when did you take up Olympic power walking?"

"Sorry, I am just anxious to get under way."

Nyota looked at her with an expression that was becoming all too familiar. Pity. Nyota reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know how badly you want justice."

For a moment Gillian's face was nearly as red as her hair.

Two days ago a man called John Harrison, in a seemingly random act of terrorism, had opened fire on a federation council meeting. Among the dead was her father, Herbert Collins. She felt her body shake with the effort of holding back tears while trying to force air into her lungs.

"It's okay. Your father was just murdered. No one will think less of you for crying. I can only imagine the pain you must be experiencing."

"I am hoping to make it more bearable, by inflicting this pain on Harrison."

"If it is revenge that you are looking for, you have come to the right place. I talked to Kirk yesterday-"

"Yes?"

"Well he had the same look in his eyes that you do now."

Gillian had done research on the young Captain before requesting a transfer to the Enterprise. His record read like a laundry list of random, reckless actions and decisions, but Gillian could see an underlying quality that the report ignored, audacity. Audacity was not a quality much in demand by the notoriously conservative Federation. It was this quality that had convinced Gillian that her best chance for the revenge she craved was to serve under him.

"I am counting on it."

The hanger bay was immense. It was the single largest fully enclosed space on the planet and could house all of New York, Paris, London, and part of Los Angeles. Hovering on dock R-34, suspended by an antigravity field was Gillian's new billet, the Starship Enterprise. This was her Pequod, Harrison her white whale, and she would 'round perdition's flames to see him destroyed, if it came to that.

The two girls wound their way around the mass of people heading to and fro on ship's business as they entered the loading bay. Uhura began to cast around.

"Speaking of Kirk, where the hell is he?"

Nyota sounded annoyed. Without thinking Gillian scanned the crowd, she spotted Kirk standing with Engineering Officer Scott and sixty-eight- no seventy-two torpedoes. Gillian pointed them out. Nyota squinted.

"I don't see him."

Damn it, again!

Gillian groaned internally, she knew that she had to be more careful. Her father wasn't around to protect her anymore. Harrison had seen to that. She had to work harder, be more careful to blend in. If her shipmates suspected her differences they, well she didn't know what they would do, but her father had always been adamant that no one should even suspect that she was different. At the very least she could honor his memory by obeying his wishes.

Gillian shrugged.

"I could easily be mistaken, I just thought I saw him over there."

Gillian gestured vaguely in the direction she had indicated before, but just then the area around them became quiet as the raised voices of the Captain and his Engineering Officer sent people scattering in all directions.

Nyota looked at Gillian.

"Well spotted, they must be a thousand yards off."

"Lucky guess, shall we venture into the fray?"

"After you," Nyota smiled.

As they approached they could see Scott gesticulating wildly one moment while pounding on a clipboard the next. Gillian could see that the Engineering Officer's knuckles were white from the force with which he gripped the clipboard. It looked very much as though he would like to hit his Captain with it.

What kind of ship does Kirk run if an Engineering Officer feels free to be this publicly insubordinate?

Gillian watched as an angry flush suffused Kirk's face as he poked a finger hard into Scott's chest. Quickly a short blonde stepped between the two men as they seemed about to come to blows.

"Nyota, is Kirk in control of this ship?"

"Huh?"

"Officer Scott seems," she trailed off looking for the correctly delicate way to phrase her concern, "comfortable with insubordination."

"Oh yeah, Kirk isn't big on protocol, but there is absolutely no doubt that the Enterprise is his ship and everybody in her is his crew. Don't worry, by the time this is done there will be no dissention left in the ranks, then you and Kirk will be free to single mindedly focus on making sure Harrison's head is returned to Star Fleet absent his body."

"That is comforting," Gillian said as she watched Scott throw the clipboard on the ground and storm off.

Kirk ignored Gillian and Nyota and addressed the blonde that had been trying to mediate between Scott and himself. As he did so, Gillian recognized her. Carol Marcus, daughter of Admiral Marcus. Gillian's father and Carol's father had been friends forever and Marcus had frequently brought his daughter over to play when he visited her father. Though they had never been especially close Gillian remembered Carol fondly.

"Miss Wallace, as Captain of this vessel I officially promote you to Chief Engineering Officer as well as Chief Weapon Specialist, with all of the accommodating alterations in rank and pay. Please see the purser before you report for duty. Then get some help to get these damn things into the Weapons Bay."

Kirk scowled at the torpedoes that lay at his feet as though he would like to kick them.

"Aye Captain," Carol responded snapping quickly to attention and saluting before turning and rushing off.

Carol had not noticed Gillian, which was just as well as Gillian was confused. Why had Kirk called her Wallace? As far as she knew Carol had not gotten married. Well whatever her reasons Gillian was glad that she was aboard ship, Carol was a superb Weapon Specialist. Gillian and Nyota continued to stand patiently as Kirk watched Carol rush off. His eyes focused on her retreating posterior with appreciation.

Uhura coughed loudly and Kirk whirled to face them.

"Lieutenant Uhura and Commander Collins reporting for duty sir," Uhura said, snapping to attention. Gillian followed suit her arm shooting into a textbook correct salute.

Kirk smiled wolfishly.

"Uhura, always great to have you under me. How's your Klingon?"

Nyota ignored the innuendo and croaked something guttural and harsh in response.

"What the hell was that?"

"That Captain, is the reason that I am on this ship."

"Good point, stow your gear and I'll see you on the Bridge shortly. Just remember this is an important mission, I won't have you distracting Spock by making googly eyes at him while on duty."

Uhura rolled her eyes and said something else in that unintelligible language that Gillian was sure would result in a court martial if it were properly translated.

"You are no fun," Kirk said to Uhura's back as she passed him. Gillian was not surprised that he took the time to watch her friend leave with the same enthusiasm that he had showed for Carol. Gillian had heard several rumors about Kirk's affinity for women, apparently it was a well-earned reputation. She decided that first meetings were an excellent time to establish boundaries.

Kirk turned back to Gillian.

"You are?"

The question was not rude, merely inquisitive.

"Commander Gillian Collins, Chief Tactical Adviser reporting for duty Captain," Gillian saluted again, then presented Kirk with a print out of her personnel file.

Kirk scanned the page.

"Commander Collins, how old are you?"

"Twenty-one sir."

"You look younger."

Gillian couldn't think of an appropriate response to the comment, so she stood silent as he continued to review her file.

"You graduated Star Fleet Academy with a degree in Applied Multi-Dimensional Game Theory and Logistics at the age of seventeen, then went on to do graduate studies in N Dimensional Physics and Sociology. Is that correct?"

"Yes sir."

"How many damned prodigies do I have to put up with on one ship?"

"Pardon sir?"

"Nothing, You and Chekov can have Calculus parties while Spock and Scotty play four-dimensional chess."

"Sir, didn't you dismiss Officer Scott?"

"Damn, you're right, party is cancelled," Kirk smirked at her, "I understand that you requested a transfer to the Enterprise specifically for this mission."

"Yes sir."

The casually arrogant expression that Kirk habitually wore slipped from his features becoming a look of heart breaking sincerity.

"Who did Harrison take from you?"

Gillian was caught off guard, she felt tears well behind her eyes, her throat felt choked. With effort she fought back against the outpouring of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. Gillian straightened her back, her Commanding Officer had asked her a direct question and she would answer it. She steadied herself willing her voice not to quaver.

"My father, Colonel Herbert Collins."

Kirk leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Gillian was amazed at how blue his eyes were, and how much of her own rage and grief were reflected back at her from their depths. In a voice steadier than she had managed Kirk assured her that they would find Harrison, and that he would be made to pay for all that he had done.

It was all she could do to croak out a solemn, "Aye sir," before Kirk leaned back and resumed his usual manner of relaxed arrogance, he had won her allegiance, she was now a part of the crew of the Enterprise, she would serve faithfully under him, and they both knew it.

Gillian was astonished, her father had raised her to be slow to trust, but that momentary glimpse of the unguarded sincerity of which this man was capable had won her. In that moment he had abandoned all pretense, had sloughed off all armor and spoken to her with the vulnerability of total honesty, he had trusted implicitly that they shared the same goals and were equally dedicated to reaching them. As this was true she had no choice but to reciprocate with equal fervor.

"It is a pleasure to have you aboard, you will be reporting to Commander Spock on the Bridge after you have settled into your cabin."

"Captain?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"May I inquire after the reason for Officer Scott's sudden departure from the ship?"

Kirk studied her for too long a moment then replied dismissively, "philosophical differences."

"Relating to the seventy-two torpedoes that are being stored right now?"

Kirk smiled, his grin wolfish, suggestive, entirely inappropriate. He was wickedly attractive, and devilishly assured of his own allure, but Gillian refused to be disarmed, or sidetracked. She stared stonily back at him, her face an unresponsive blank.

"Wow, between you and Uhura, I am starting to think that I have lost my touch. Yes, Commander Collins, Officer Scott objected to the storage of those torpedoes, and he expressed his objections to me, loudly."

"And your response?"

"Commander Collins you might have heard that I am none too fond of the bonds of regulation, but when I give a direct order I expect prompt, cheerful obedience. I gave Officer Scott three direct orders, to store the torpedoes, to use them when commanded, and to shut the hell up. He disobeyed all three and I kicked him off the ship. I trust that we will have no trouble with prompt, cheerful obedience."

"None at all Captain. I was merely wondering if it would be possible for me to inspect the torpedoes. I am unfamiliar with their make, and as Chief Tactical Adviser I would like to familiarize myself with the ship's weapon systems."

"Report to Commander Spock, if he can spare you I have no objections."

"Thank you Captain."

Gillian remained standing at attention. Kirk looked at her again for too long before rolling his eyes and dismissing her.

Gillian again shouldered her bag and set off to find her cabin. She wound her way through the corridors without difficulty. She had glanced at a schematic of the Enterprise, so she had a perfectly detailed image to call on from memory to guide her. A photographic memory, along with her superb eye sight, and her extraordinary speed and strength were all courtesy of her genetic heritage, and that heritage was also the source of her need for secrecy and concealment. They set her apart and her father had always cautioned her to reign herself in, the discipline needed to blend in, the control that she had to constantly exert in order to seem like everyone else around her was now almost natural. At least it had come naturally until the day that John Harrison had killed her father. Since that day she felt like she was unravelling, her discipline was slipping under the strain of remaining simply functional.

It was only around her father that she had ever been able to relax discipline and be herself, unedited, unrestrained. Now there was nowhere in the wide universe that was safe for her. Herbert Collins was not her biological father. He had never lied to her about it, he had adopted her when she was only a few hours old, and since he had never married she had never known another parent. Gillian often wondered if she had missed out by being raised by a bachelor, but her memories were of a childhood filled with equal parts hard work and affection. Her father had been both doting and stern. His constant encouragement had led directly to her being accepted to Star Fleet Academy at such a young age. Gillian had always felt pride at the idea that she was following in his footsteps by joining Star Fleet. In truth, given her upbringing it would have been remarkable only if she had chosen a different path. Her father had often joked that he had swaddled her in a Star Fleet flag.

Gillian found her cabin, keyed the lock to her voice and began to stow her gear when she found herself sitting on the floor, her body wracked by unexpected sobs. The desolation passed in time. Gillian stood and finished her task. She took a moment to use the refresher to wash her face. As she exited the refresher the ships public address system cut in and Kirk's voice filled the room.

"Attention, all hands. Before we lift I want to ensure that the nature and purpose of our mission is clear to everyone aboard. We will be taking the Enterprise to the edge of Klingon space. To the planet Kronos where Star Fleet intelligence tells us that the coward John Harrison has chosen to hide. He thinks he is safe, that he has run beyond our reach. He is wrong. Once we have arrived, we will ascertain his exact location whereupon I will fire on him. Make no mistake, this is an act of war. The possible ramifications of this action are vast, and it is because of this that I relieve anyone from duty who does not wish to participate in this mission. You have fifteen minutes to vacate the ship, there will be no retaliation and this decision will not endanger your position on this ship for any future missions. For those of you that elect to stay, let's vaporize the bastard."

Gillian managed a smile. Kirk, again did not disappoint. She exited her cabin and made her way to the Bridge. After gaining permission to enter she presented herself to Commander Spock. Gillian had met him a few times socially as Nyota's boyfriend, Gillian had a great deal of respect for his quick mind, and his service record was impeccable. After the necessary formalities he gave her permission to inspect the new torpedoes.

The Enterprise had lifted and was preparing for jump to warp speed when Gillian stepped into the ship's armory.

"Hey Carol."

The young woman was bent over a torpedo, her face screwed up in concentration as she checked various instruments. She jumped when she heard Gillian's voice.

"Gilli, What the hell are you doing here?"

"Harrison put four fifty caliber bullets through my father's chest. What about you Commander Wallace?"

Carol looked guilty.

"I didn't want my father to know that I had maneuvered to get assigned to the ship for this mission."

"Why not?"

Carol hesitated.

"How much do you know about weapon systems?"

"Just enough to know how to use them effectively in a tactical situation," Gillian answered, instinctively downplaying her credentials.

"Come and take a look at this."

Carol stepped aside so that Gillian could get a fair look at the exposed circuitry. Gillian bent to inspect the various connections with interest. They didn't make sense, at least not if the thing sitting in front of her had ever been meant to be used as a weapon. An entirely impossible thought occurred to her. Impossible, no logical, she pressed her hear to the unusually cold shell. After a few moments she could discern a sound, a faint, rhythmic pulsing.

"Do you have a stethoscope?"

"No, why?"

"I can hear something."

"What?"

"I am not sure, come over and put your ear right here."

Carol obeyed, but after a few eager moments she shook her head.

"I don't hear anything."

Gillian activated her communicator.

"Weapons Bay to Medical."

A few moments passed before she heard the rough, slightly beleaguered voice of the doctor.

"McCoy here."

"Doctor this is Commander Gillian Collins Chief Tactical Advisor. Would you happen to have an old fashioned stethoscope you could lend me?"

The doctor returned her question with a question.

"Seriously?"

"Yes doctor, seriously."

"Um yeah, I think I have one of those museum pieces around here somewhere."

"Fantastic, could you please send a tech down here with it as soon as possible?"

"Is this a prank?"

Gillian sighed, from what she had read about Leonard McCoy nothing about this exchange surprised her.

"No sir, no prank, I just need a stethoscope."

"Alright Commander, a tech should arrive shortly."

"Thank you doctor."

Gillian and Carol waited in silence. Gillian replayed the sound over and over again in her mind while Carol continued to press her ear to the torpedo in hope. The tech arrived and Gillian displaced Carol. As soon as she put the stethoscope to the metal cover the sound roared to life in her ears. Two pulses in quick succession, then a long pause, then two more pulses.

"Do you still hear it?" Carol asked.

"I do."

"Well, what does it sound like?"

"It sounds like a heartbeat."

Gillian passed the ear buds to Carol. A few moments later Carol sat back on her heels.

"I'll be damned."

"What are these things?"

"These are a prototype design, and the schematic of it is so classified that my rank can't put even a dent in the layers of protection and encryption that surround the plans. I have tried every means at my disposal to learn about them, but so far, nothing."

"Why are you so curious about these weapons?"

"My father has been obsessed with the idea that war with the Klingon Empire is inevitable. To that end he has been pouring a huge amount of his budget into weapon and ship development."

"He's a Star Fleet Admiral, I don't see what is so strange about his behavior."

"This obsession didn't start until he got a new project manager who fed him paranoid delusions about the nature of the Fleet's interactions with the Klingons."

"I still don't see why you are so concerned."

"His head project manager was John Harrison."

"Oh."

"That is why I wanted to be on this mission. This is supposed to be a test run for the new weapons Harrison designed."

"I am starting to think that Officer Scott was right to refuse these torpedoes."

"Bridge to Weapon Bay, Commander Collins please report to your station."

Gillian touched her badge, "Yes Sir Commander Spock."

"Gilli, please don't mention who I am."

"I won't Carol," Gillian promised, "you keep working on this, be careful, don't assume anything about these torpedoes is safe."

"Aye Commander. Thank you."

Five minutes later the door to the Bridge slid open in front of Gillian.

"Permission to come aboard?"

"Permission granted," said Kirk.

Gillian moved to her station and signed in to her terminal. She turned as Spock approached.

"Commander, have you completed your inspection of the new torpedoes?"

"No sir, I was able to gather some preliminary data regarding the torpedoes, which suggest something anomalous in their design, but I could not even comfortably speculate as to the nature of these untested weapons."

Spock nodded appreciatively.

"Very good Commander, if time permits, I would like you to continue your investigation."

"Aye sir," Gillian replied, however she was unsure when she would find time since they were scheduled to fire the torpedoes at Harrison in a matter of hours.

Gillian got to work. The ship constantly scanned the void around it in search of gravitational or particle anomalies that could indicate the presence of unknown bodies in space. Since they were cruising at warp speeds the readouts were not in real time. This was one of the great dangers of warp. One could never know what was ahead, only what was behind. Gillian used this time to plan out and run simulated maneuvers. She had always found this practice relaxing. The exercises required that she balance fuel usage, range, fire power, and maneuverability to achieve optimal results in an encounter. She tried as often as possible to stack the simulation against her side. The greater the statistical chance of failure the better she felt when she pulled out a victory. She was deep into one such simulation when she heard Spock raise his voice to Kirk. This got her attention, after all anything that could induce a Vulcan to get audibly emotional in public had to be interesting.

"You had the opportunity to leave this ship, you understood the mission."

Kirk had pushed himself to the edge of the Captain's chair in agitation.

"I had hoped to be able to divert you from your stated path, Captain. As First Officer I am obliged to advise you if I think that you are making a mistake."

"You believe that I am making a mistake?"

"Yes sir, I believe that it is a mistake to engage in an act of war against a planet and people with whom we are not at war. I think that it is a mistake to allow your own desire for vengeance to rob the other people that Harrison has wronged of justice, and I believe that it is a mistake for you, my Captain and friend, to become a murderer on Harrison's account."

Gillian sat with bated breath as this exchange commenced. Her own desire for vengeance beat hot within her chest.

Please, she thought, please don't listen to him, Spock is right but please don't.

Kirk pushed himself to his feet, and for a moment Gillian was sure that he was going to punch his First Officer in the face.

"Son of a bitch," Kirk exploded, "Engineering?"

"Zis is Engineering."

"Prepare to beam Harrison aboard from the planet surface, make sure there are at least eight sentries to greet him."

"Aye, aye Captain."

Orders issued Kirk collapsed back into his seat.

"I think that was very wise Captain."

"Shut up, I don't want to look at you until we have him aboard and locked in the Brig."

Spock nodded acknowledgement and moved away from his brooding Captain.

"Collins!"

Gillian jumped to attention.

"Yes sir?"

"You heard the order that I just issued?"

"Yes sir."

"What are your thoughts?"

Gillian seethed internally, she didn't want justice, and just now she didn't care about all of the others that had been hurt by Harrison's attack, she wanted vengeance. She had been fueling herself on the thought that she would bear witness to the, hopefully painful, death of John Harrison. That the greatest injustice possible was that he lived while her father did not. The knowledge that their new mission parameters were more in keeping with Star Fleet tradition, and the law did nothing to balm the inner emptiness.

"I am a Star Fleet officer under your command. I will do my duty."

"Horse shit."

"Sir?"

"You are so angry right now that if you could find enough support I think you would mutiny."

"I couldn't muster the support."

Kirk smiled.

"No, you couldn't. I promised you vengeance, I will still deliver it, but we both must be content with a slight delay."

"As you say Captain."

Gillian returned to her terminal. Her thoughts all ran to what she could do if Harrison was taken alive. Space travel was dangerous, so many accidents could happen between Kronos and Earth. It would cost her, her commission and might land her in the cell destined for Harrison, but it would be worth it. Gillian pulled up the simulation she had been working on, spotted a minor mistake, corrected it and set the simulation to running. As the last of her ships were wiping up what remained of the enemy fleet a sharp jolt shot through the Enterprise. Gillian's head slammed into the screen in front of her, just before her stomach heaved, and the gravity cut out. The recoil from her head colliding with the terminal sent her spinning backward. She shook the dazed blur from her eyes and oriented herself. She was flipping end over end across the room. Quickly, she pulled herself into a ball which increased her spin, but kept her from catching her feet on any of the instrumentation or other floating crew members. As the wall opposite drew close Gillian came out of her crouch, she stretched full length and allowed her knees to buckle as her feet met the wall, which absorbed the force of impact. At the same time, she reached down and took hold of the bank of monitors that lined the wall. No longer in immediate danger Gillian glanced around the room. Bodies were flying about like rag dolls, she heard the sounds of stomachs being emptied, and above the din Kirk was swearing.

"Bridge to Engineering! Damn it Checkov answer me!"

"Chekov here," the young man's voice was heavily laced with the accent of his native People's Republic of Russia, "zere has been a malfunction in de grawity generator sir. Ve are vorkink to correct the problem."

"Work faster," Kirk demanded reaching up to grab the limp leg of a crew member that was floating by as he spoke.

"Aye sir, grawity should be restored in sree," Gillian braced herself for impact while drawing her feet back under her," two, one, grawity engaged."

Gillian dropped to her feet, others were not so lucky, many came down crashing into each other or sprawled over displays. More than once she heard the crunch of broken bones.

"Bones! Damn it, Medical," Kirk called as he pulled himself back into the Captain's chair.

"Yeah?"

The ever irascible McCoy responded.

"Send people up to the Bridge, we have wounded up here."

"Do you now? Well I got injured people in every sector so right now the mountain is going to have to come to Mohammad."

Before Kirk could respond another shudder ran through the ship. Gillian managed to keep her feet.

"Engineering?" Kirk called

"Ceptain," Chekov responded, he sounded very worried, "Ve are losink power at random across ewery sector, ve must exit varp now."

"Chekov, why are we losing power?"

"I don't know Ceptain."

"Mister Sulu please take us out of warp."

"Aye sir."

Gillian held her breath as Sulu shut down the warp engines. They all knew that if the inertial dampeners were off line that they would all be thrown against the hull of the ship at the speed of light. The stars outside of the view screen became discreet spots of light in the infinite sky around them.

"Alright crew let's attempt to restore order to the Bridge, Commander Collins please take over for Wilson."

"Aye Captain," Gillian moved to slide into the terminal next to Nyota, but was hampered by yet another shudder that shook the ship. With effort she managed to take her seat.

"That one wasn't so bad," Nyota said forcing a smile.

"At least we don't seem to have lost any other vital systems."

Gillian glanced at the screen in front of her, it was blank. This station was designed to monitor the surrounding space and warn of approaching foreign bodies. Just as she was about to report the status to Kirk the main view screen cut out.

"Engineering, report."

There was no answer.

"Medical?"

Silence.

"Permission…to…enter…the…bridge," gasped a flushed tech.

"Of course, what is your report?"

Captain we have to cut the engines completely, vital systems are failing, there is a very real danger that the Enterprise could break apart."

"As a contingency in case we have to abandon ship prepare transport to beam the crew to the nearest refuge."

"I am sorry Captain; transport is down as well."

"Then get back to Engineering, this ship cannot fail."

The tech saluted then tore off down the hall to get back to work.

"Captain?"

"Yes Commander Collins?"

"We are flying completely blind right now. I could modify a few short range beacons to orbit the ship, it wouldn't give us much information, but it would be better than the no information we currently have."

"Do it."

"Engineering to Bridge," Chekov cut in, "sir ve haf reestablished communication, and oxygen production should be back on line in a few minootes, howewer transport is still out, and our guidance systems remain yammed."

"Collins, we were not far off of our destination when the systems started failing, will your beacons enable us to locate Harrison if we get near enough to Kronos?"

"It should, but with transport capabilities still down we won't be able to beam him aboard."

"I know. Spock, set a team to work stripping all insignia from the hull of our shuttle. You, me, Uhura, and Commander Collins are going down there and hauling Harrison aboard the old fashioned way. With brute force."

"Yes Sir," Spock left the bridge to carry out his orders.

Gillian got up to head to Engineering so that she could begin work on the beacons, she paused as she passed the Captain.

"Sir?"

"Yes Commander?"

"Why would you assign me to the away team?"

"Why not?"

"Sir, there is no one who wants Harrison dead more than me."

"Commander Collins, according to your file you have two black belts and thirty awards and accommodations for marksmanship. You have already affirmed that you are a Star Fleet officer serving under my command. You have stated that you will do your duty. Your duty is to ensure the capture and safe return to Star Fleet of the terrorist John Harrison. Since that is your duty, you will do it."

"Yes sir."

"Good, now get to work on those beacons."

-0-

"Who ordered this strike on Klingon soil?"

"I am under the command of James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise."

The voice belonged to a young man. Harrison stilled himself, the boy had spoken of torpedoes pointed at him. Of how they had broken out the fine china by proposing to obliterate him with brand new never before tested weapons. He needed more information.

"Has your Captain gone rogue or does he have the blessing of Star Fleet for this unprovoked act of war."

"Does it matter Mister Harrison, your choice is either to surrender peaceably, and submit to the judgement of a Star Fleet tribunal, or for us to make a radioactive wasteland of your hide out."

"Mister Sulu, the fact that your ship has not already beamed me aboard suggests to me that you can't do it. Therefore, you will have to send an away team to land on Kronos to collect me. If you want any of them to live, you will answer my question."

There was a pause while the acting Captain debated whether or not to answer him. The moments stretched out like slowly ticking eternities. What had knocked out their transport system? If the life support system failed, or was tampered with then the signal that disrupted a ship's systems would also be lost. Marcus could not have let them live, he had to know that if even one of his people lived that he, Khan Noonien Singh, would tear apart space and time to rescue them.

"Tick tock Mister Sulu."

"This mission is under the sanction of Fleet Admiral Marcus."

"I will send you my exact coordinates."

"You will surrender?"

"I will."

Harrison moved to the mouth of his little cave, and for the first time since Marcus had betrayed him looked up at the sky with hope. He saw the lights of a shuttle descending through the thin atmosphere of Kronos. He smiled, until he saw three Klingon Warbirds uncloak and begin chasing the shuttle to the ground. Quickly he hefted his laser cannon and dashed from the cave. It looked like he was going to have to rescue his kidnappers.

-0-

"Captain, we made contact with Harrison. He has agreed to surrender peaceably."

"Well done Sulu."

"Exact coordinates should be beaming down to you shortly, good luck."

"That is worry making," said Spock.

"What is?"

"Harrison has outmaneuvered all of Earth bound Star Fleet, he chose this location as his hideout, and yet he is willingly surrendering to four members of an away team. It simply doesn't make sensel."

"Well-"

Before Kirk could reply Gillian interrupted him.

"Incoming sir, three foreign bodies have taken flanking position."

"Uhura can you get anything on the com? Are they manned by Klingons or possible compatriots of Harrison?"

"Klingon sir."

"Can you hail them?"

"I can try."

"Do so."

Uhura tried for a few moments, but to no avail.

"They must not be interested in a parley. Alright, set phasers to kill. If even one escapes this could be the incident that incites a galaxy wide war. Mister Spock please set us down."

Gillian ran possible scenarios through her mind. The outcomes were almost universally bad. The problem was that as soon as the ship landed they would be caught in a hail of gun fire from every possible angle. They needed cover fire if they were to get clear of the ship.

"Mister Spock," Gillian said charging her phaser for an anti-vehicle shot, she would only get one, "open the hatch when we are six meters from the ground, I will drop down and provide ground cover. With my phaser at full charge I might even be able to bring one of the birds down."

"Your bones would shatter on impact."

"I'll be fine, standard crew of a warbird is six, we are outnumbered more than three to one and if we don't get cover fire they will cut us down before we can possibly clear the shuttle."

Kirk looked suspicious, "Commander Collins you are talking about taking a twenty foot drop, why wouldn't your bones break?"

"If we survive I'll explain, please trust me."

"On her mark Spock open the hatch."

The barren landscape of Kronos streaked by beneath her. Gillian adjusted her goggles, her phaser had reached full charge.

"Eight meters," said Spock, "seven meters, mark."

Gillian was in open air. She cut through the thin atmosphere the rocky ground rushing up to meet her. Gillian hit the ground and rolled to distribute the impact. Though a little dazed she was on her feet almost instantly, she turned and took aim at the closest of the descending Warbirds. She doubted that they had marked her fall. With care she squeezed the trigger and was blown back three feet by the blast of energy that exploded from her phaser.

She didn't stay still long enough to assess the damage she had caused, instead she took off toward the nearest outcropping of rock that might offer her cover. As she ran she turned down the setting on her phaser to anti-personnel level and waited for it to reach charge again.

If I survive this, she thought, mental note to always carry more than one phaser.

The Warbird she had shot hit the dirt with a jarring force. Gillian could smell the acrid stench of smoke. She was sure that she had crippled the ship, possibly killing some of the crew in the collision. It didn't even the odds, but she was most worried about the ships raining death on her crewmates from above and this would go a long way to minimize that. She heard a hatch door slam open and voices speaking in a language she didn't know. Clearly some of the crew of the Warbird had survived. She was still too far away from cover to reach safety before they began firing on her. Gillian glanced down at her phaser, it was still a totally useless scrap of metal. One of the two remaining Warbirds flew over her still chasing the shuttle. She heard shots fired, and hit the deck. This was it, the little green light came on telling her that her phaser was operational once again. This might be the end, but she would go out fighting. Gillian pushed herself to her feet and took aim at the four Klingon figures that were even now closing the distance between their crippled ship and her.

A series of energy bursts tore through the air and through her pursuers. Gillian turned to see where they had come from. Silhouetted along a high promontory outlined by the single moon of Kronos was a looming shadow. Quick angular calculations suggested that the figure was around seven feet tall, slim, and in its left hand she could make out the form of a laser cannon.

Even with the immense bulk of that unwieldy gun, the shots were precise. The Klingons that were firing on her fell and did not rise. Off to her left she heard the sounds of a struggle, as the third Warbird swooped low. The figure on the ridge opened fire again and the Warbird spun off to crash somewhere beyond the ridge line. Taking a moment to thank her lucky stars for this stay of execution Gillian took off to her left.

Kirk, Spock, and Uhura were trying to deal with the six Klingons that managed to land. Gillian took aim, fired, now there were only five. Spock smashed the face of a Klingon that had tried to shoot Uhura while Uhura slid a knife under the Klingon's armor. Four, the odds were getting better. Before Gillian could squeeze off another shot the shadow from the ridge was among them. He was a whirling dervish of destruction. The final Klingon to remain standing was one that had gone after Kirk. The figure's hand shot out, grabbed the back of the Klingon's armor, pulled him to the ground and proceeded to smash his skull into the dirt.

As Gillian drew level with Kirk the figure rose, his hands slick with the blood of his enemy. His eyes were black like his hair. Two pools of pitch which fixed on Gillian. She hadn't known that darkness could burn. Though he spoke to Kirk, his eyes never left hers.

"How many torpedoes?"

"John Harrison, I place you under arrest, you are charged with multiple counts of murder and treason. Please place all weapons on the ground and place your hands behind your back."

"How many torpedoes?" Harrison repeated.

"What?"

"On your ship. How many?"

His voice was smooth, resonant, his tone had the casual arrogance of a man that is used to giving orders rather than taking them. Gillian could see the slightest indicator of impatience at having to repeat himself.

"Why do you care? Since you are surrendering they won't be used on you."

The snear that spread accross Harrison's facecontained all of the malice that could be contained in a single expression.

"It is relevant to the terms of my surrender."

Kirk tried to get in Harrison's face, a task made difficult as Harrison was a head and a half taller than the Captain.

"I give no shit to your terms you psychotic bastard."

Kirk reached for Harrison's arm, but before he could make contact he was air born. Harrison slammed a fist into the Captain's stomach. Before Kirk sprawled gasping on the ground Harrison had two phasers, one in each hand, both pointed directly at Gillian's chest. His move was answered by Gillian, Uhura, and Spock. While Kirk tried to find his breath Harrison addressed Spock.

"Vulcan, how many torpedoes did Admiral Marcus put on your ship?"

Spock looked at Kirk, who nodded.

"Seventy-two."

Gillian watched as the stony expressionless mask that was Harrison's face broke for a fraction of a second. It happened so fast that Gillian didn't have time to identify the emotion that had prompted it. She was still struck by its intensity, the very air around him seemed electrically charged with its power.

Kirk scrambled to his feet. Harrison flipped the phasers around and handed them to Uhura, then placed his hands behind his back. Gillian moved to put cuffs on him.

"Not her," Harrison's voice lashed out as though it were a whip.

Gillian understood why she hated him, but had no idea how he could possibly know her or why he should have cause to hate her.

"Prisoners don't get to choose who takes them into custody."

"Anyone else," he looked at Gillian with an expression that promised violence, "don't ever touch me you fucking traitor."

Gillian wanted to glare, but she couldn't muster the expression, the muscles of her face were far too busy being very confused. She almost wanted to laugh. The man who had single handedly murdered most of Star Fleet High Command had just called her a traitor. Absently she handed the cuffs to Spock who placed them on Harrison.

When the prisoner was secured Kirk swaggered over to him.

"I am going to bring you back to Star Fleet alive, but this is for Christopher Pike."

Kirk launched his fist into Harrison's face. The crunch of breaking bones was audible as Kirk bit back a scream of pain. Harrison seemed less bothered than he would be had Kirk been a gnat.

"Captain?"

"Yes Commander Collins?" Kirk asked through gritted teeth as he danced around trying to still the pain in his ruined hand.

"May I?"

"Knock yourself out."

Gillian approached Harrison, drawing close enough she could smell him. The disgust she felt for him was matched only by how repulsed he was by her presence. She smiled, his loathing of contact with her would add another layer of satisfaction to what she had planned.

"Don't kill him," Kirk's voice cut through her thoughts.

"I won't. This," she said staring directly into his eyes, "is for Herbert Collins."

"Colli-?"

Harrison's question was cut short as Gillian's fist collided with his face. Harrison's nose exploded, and the shock sent him to his knees. When he looked up at her, his eyes blazed less with hatred, but more disturbingly, with amusement. He stood, bright red blood flowed from his nose.

"We will revisit this at a later time," he said, then spit blood at her feet.

"Enterprise to Kirk."

Kirk's communicator came to life.

"Kirk here, prisoner has been secured."

"Excellent, we have short range transport reestablished so we can beam you up."

"Collins take the shuttle back, the rest of us will escort the prisoner, I think that it would be best to keep the two of you as far apart as possible."

"Aye Captain."

"Don't think that this excuses you from answering the laundry list of questions that I have for you."

"Of course not Captain."

Well, shit.

"Beam us up Chekov."

With that done Gillian began the trek back to the shuttle her head abuzz with questions of her own. Harrison was like her, she was sure of it, but it wasn't possible. She was all that was left, the others had all been killed in the war. She would have been killed as well, she was sure, even though she was just a baby if her father had not adopted her. She had often wondered how many laws he had broken in order to get her; she had never asked him that question. He had never told her any of this, of course, but she had long come to this conclusion the second she had read about the Eugenics War in history class. That was why she was so different, it had to be, she was the product of genetic experiments that had since been outlawed. It was also why her father insisted that she be careful to avoid detection. Her life might be in danger now, and Harrison was like her. What did that mean? Who was he really?

Gillian shook her head as she slid into the shuttle's pilot seat, she had the entire trip back to Earth to get some answers.

2

"Uhura, what's the news?"

"Huh? There isn't any," Nyota looked at Gillian, "Harrison has been docile as a well-treated kitten since you left us. He was damn near polite when we emptied his pockets, only a small fuss when we tried to remove his watch, apparently it is very sentimental. We placed it in a safe where he could keep an eye on it which seemed to satisfy him, then we put him in a cell. Kirk and Spock are questioning him now."

"I'd better head over and see what I can do to help."

Uhura looked uneasy.

"Actually Kirk asked that I tell you to report to Medical if I ran into you. You know to get checked out after that fall."

Gillian's heart sank.

"Alright, I'll head to Medical. Any word from Chekov on our warp capabilities?"

"Nothing yet, apparently while we were gone they had a whole host of other systems go off line and had to work on getting them on again so they haven't even had time to address the problem."

"Great."

Gillian started toward the Medical Bay. So they were currently stranded on the edge of enemy space after killing the crews of three Klingon Warbirds. She knew that if they were to accelerate to even half the speed of light that it would take upwards of three months' ship time, and at that rate their great, great, great, grandchildren would have gone to dust long before they could hope to get a tenth of the way back to Earth.

The door to the Medical Bay slid open. Gillian entered. McCoy was bent over some crewman who seemed to have had a bad time of it during null gravity.

"Doctor McCoy, Gillian Collins reporting per the Captain's orders."

"Uh, yeah," McCoy through a dressing gown at her, "put this on and I'll be with you in just a moment."

Gillian complied, she found an empty examination room and changed into the sparse garment. It was another half hour before McCoy managed to get back to see her.

"So sorry for the wait Commander, this ship has always been the biggest mad house in the universe, only now the inmates are running the place."

His tone was light as he went to a table on the far side of the room, fished a tube of red liquid out of his pocket and stuck it into a centrifuge.

"No problem Doc. I took quite a fall while we were on Kronos, I am sure that the Captain just wants to be reassured that I didn't break anything."

"Yes he did mention that."

McCoy smiled a little nervously. He plied the beam of a tricorder over her legs and back.

"A couple of hairline fractures that already appear to be in the advanced stages of repair."

"Excellent," Gillian made to jump off the exam table.

"Oh, just one more thing. I need to get a quick blood sample, to make sure you didn't pick up anything on Kronos. It really is just precautionary."

"Yeah," Gillian said, "I'll just bet it is. Doc, I went through decontam when I got back, we both know that you aren't looking for wayward pathogens."

"Commander Collins, I am merely running a few routine tests."

"Doc, I know what you are looking for, and you are going to find it. When you run my genetic sequence through the database, you will find that I differ rather drastically from standard human normal. You will also find that this fact is registered with Star Fleet."

"I still have to take the sample."

"Get it over with then," Gillian said thrusting her arm forward so that the doctor could access her veins.

When the tube was full McCoy went back to the table and placed it in the centrifuge as well.

"Alright Doc, am I free to go now?"

"Um, I suppose. Where should I look for you in case I have any follow up questions?"

"I was planning on heading to the Brig, I want to see Harrison questioned."

Gillian did not like the look of relief that spread over the good doctor's face when she told him where she was headed. After she had redressed she left Medical, and as she did so two guards fell into step behind her.

This is worse than I thought.

Briefly she considered ditching them, but again they were stranded so where could she go other than to maroon herself on that desolate Klingon out world, so she did just as she told the doctor she would and headed to the Brig.

She arrived just in time to hear Kirk ask.

"Why?"

"It was the last act of a desperate man," Harrison's voice didn't sound desperate, he sounded bored.

"I was there that day," Kirk said.

"I know, I saw you."

"I saw you, I saw your face as you opened fire on a room of unarmed men and women. You didn't look desperate, you looked then the way you do now, calm, collected, unmoved. In short, Mister Harrison, evil."

Harrison smiled mirthlessly.

"What makes you think that I am not desperate right now?"

Gillian coughed to get Kirk's attention.

"Commander Collins reporting to the Captain."

"I'm not done with you," Kirk warned Harrison before he rounded on Gillian, "Commander Collins, is there anything that you want to tell me before Bones gets the results of your tests?"

"I can tell you exactly what I told him."

"At this point even redundant information is better than none."

"That when he runs my blood through the genetic sequencer he will find many points on which I deviate from human normal range."

"Why was none of this information in your personnel file?"

"Medical records not pertaining to a crew member's duties are covered under the laws regarding privacy sir."

"What is your background?"

"Legally, that is not a question you get to ask Captain."

"And yet I am asking."

"In any case it is not a question I can answer. I simply don't know. My earliest memories are of sudden cold, then screaming, then my father's voice gently trying to calm me."

Gillian looked past Kirk to Harrison who had begun to show signs of the keenest interest as she told her story to Kirk.

"Herbert Collins was not your biological father was he?"

"No Sir," Gillian had to fight to keep her voice from trembling as she thought about what her father would say in this instant.

"Did he ever tell you who your birth parents were?"

"No sir."

There seems to be a great deal that he didn't tell me.

Gillian thought still looking at Harrison.

"Did you ever ask?"

"Every day sir."

Gillian was grateful when McCoy came in over the intercom, breaking the tension in the room.

"Captain the results are in."

Kirk eyed Gillian suspiciously.

"Go on Bones."

"Genetic match within tolerance of population divergence."

"Bones what the hell does that mean?"

Before McCoy could elaborate, Gillian cut in coldly.

"It means that Harrison and I differ in the same manner from the general population, but that we are not relatives, we are each unique representatives of a population subset. Does that cover the substance of it Bones?"

"Yes Commander."

"Thank you Bones," Kirk turned to Gillian, "I am very sorry, I hope you understand."

He gestured with his bruised and bandaged hand to the other, unoccupied, cell in the room.

"You are making a mistake Captain."

"Probably, but there is too much that has already gone wrong on this mission and you have just become a wild card that I simply can't take the chance on right now. When it turns out that this is simply the most unlikely coincidence in the universe you will have my full apology."

Gillian nodded in acknowledgement and stepped into the cell. Kirk pushed a button and brought the barrier back down. Kirk turned back to Harrison, at least she would get to be present for the rest of the interrogation.

"Harrison, do you understand why I let you live back there on Kronos?"

"That is a wrong question Captain," Harrison's voice was mocking, but almost playfully so.

"What is wrong with it?"

"The premise, the correct question was why did I surrender to you when I had the clear tactical advantage?"

"Then assume I asked that question."

"I was told by that you had seventy-two torpedoes of experimental make aboard this ship. Is this true?"

"Yes."

"Then thank their presence for the gift of your life."

"Why?"

"Have one brought here and I will show you."

"I am curious Harrison, not stupid."

"Your warp core is stalled; you are dead in space out beyond the reach of the Federation. Your mere presence here could spark a galaxy wide conflict. Ask yourself Captain, what damage could I do that would not guarantee that I had an equal share of the death that will be the lot of your crew if we don't get moving?"

Kirk activated his communicator.

"Kirk to Engineering."

"Jes Ceptain?" Chekov answered.

"Get Wallace, I will be there shortly, we are going to open one of those new torpedoes."

"Aye Captain, everything will be ready when you get here."

Kirk turned to leave.

"Be very careful Captain. If anything happens to its payload I have one fewer reason to let you and your crew live. In the meantime, make sure that you have someone check out those coordinates we talked about."

After Kirk and Spock left for Engineering Gillian said.

"They left the audio on between the cells."

"And us all alone."

"They want to see if we're colluding."

"Obviously."

Gillian was startled to find that much of the hatred and contempt had left Harrison's voice when he spoke to her. She searched his face. He was a study in straight lines, sharp angles, and unbroken planes. His black eyes still burned, but apparently no longer with the desire to kill her. His recently shattered nose seemed to be well on the way to mending. There was a slight bend that hadn't been there before, but the blood that had pooled under his eyes had already dissipated.

"How is your nose?"

"How is your hand?"

"Fine."

She wiggled her fingers to show that they were all in working order.

"Same."

"Well that is disappointing."

"You know better than that, we mend quickly."

"Ugh, don't do that."

"What, acknowledge what we already know?"

"Look, genetic similarities aside, there is no we. You killed my father in cold blood."

"He wasn't your father, and he is one of the reasons that the number of we is so small."

"He adopted me, he raised me, he cared for me, he protected me, he was my father."

"He used you."

"You know nothing about this."

"I know that when Commander Herbert Collins served under the now Admiral Marcus, he was among the crew that captured my ship. I was in stasis, along with my crew. I was told that I was the only one revived, clearly I was misinformed. I was put to work, my crew held as the collateral on my good behavior."

"How did that work out?"

Harrison ignored her question, instead he leaned forward and deliberately searched her features. Gillian was not at all sure that she liked his frank, expressionless appraisal. His search brought a hot flush to her face that no flagrantly sexual advance had ever managed to induce in her.

"I remember a crew member of mine, a woman, fair like you, with red hair, and green eyes. It is possible that she could be your mother."

Gillian fought to swallow in a dry had not lied to Kirk. Everyday she had asked her father about who her birth parents were. He had refused to answer, telling her that knowing who they were put her in more danger. Rather than quieting her mind, this had lead to her over active imagination coming up with a thousand wild and outlandish scenarios. She imagined her mother as an alien princess who had fallen in love with a dashing Star Fleet captain, but her culture forbid intermarriage. She imagined her birth father being rescued from the alien world, mortally wounded trying to save her mother and with his final breath charging his rescuer, Herbert Collins, with the care of their only child. This was when she was very young, and had read a bunch of the old pulp serials, when she got older she had alterred the fantasy so that her mother was the only Augment to escape the battle of Antaries. Still in her mind her mother had been rescued by Herbert Collins who had tried to save her, but failed and, guilt ridden, vowed to care for her daughter. She knew that these were mere fantasies, but for a strange child growing up among normal people these fantasies gave her a feeling of connection to her unknown after studiying Biology and learning a little about the experiments that had lead to the Augments, she had come to the realization that she need not have only two parents. That she might have been pieced together like a quilt from the genetic material of many mothers and fathers as the orignial Augments had been, but she had, in her heart of hearts, hoped that she was normal in that sense at least. She had continued imagining her parents, and hoping that she was doing things that would have made them proud.

Harrison talking about her mother turned her stomach, but it was difficult to tell if it was more from disgust of him or the pain of hope. He was an Augment, there was no way for her to lie to herself about that. The Augment population was never large, it was possible that he had met her mother, and her father. More than possible, it was nearly certain that he had met them both. She didn't want to learn about her parents from him, but there was no one else left to whom she could turn for answers.

"I'm not falling for it," Gillian lied.

"Suit yourself, I remember every face that ever served under me, yours reminds me of one of them."

"Sure, my unknown mother just happened to be part of your crew, eh Captain?"

Gillian injected as much disdain as she could manage into the title.

"Yes, my crew," the visceral pride he felt when he said those words was palpable, "it is not that big of a coincidence. All of the Augments that survived the Eugenics War were members of my crew."

"I had always assumed that I was the product of an illicit continuation of the experiments that lead to the Eugenics War, that I might have been built in a test tube. That I might have had forty parents as readily as two."

"Unlikely. You heard what the doctor said, we are two members of the same population subset, if you were the product of later experiments, the art would have advanced in the intervening centuries."

Gillian wasn't sure if she ought to be insulted.

"Are you suggesting that we are, what rough drafts of these experiments?"

"Certainly, we are Augments mark one."

"Well I guess there is still a great deal of room for improvement."

"Yes, but it would take minds as great as ours to do better."

Gillian marked that as he spoke his eyes shot to the safe in the opposite wall.

"So I would be a second generation Augment."

"That would be the most logical conclusion based on available data. You should feel special, there are very few second generation Augments."

"Why?"

"Well most of us got wiped out in the Eugenics War, and many of the experiments that resulted in the first generation accidentally produced mules."

Gillian shook her head to indicate a lack of understanding.

"Genetic eunuchs, born sterile."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What did the experiments make of you?"

"An unexpected success."

"Huh?"

"Some experiments went right, some went wrong," he shuddered visibly, "some horribly so. They were mad geniuses working partially through trial and error, partially through intuition. They were throwing darts blindfolded at a genetic dartboard, and by chance in me they hit a bullseye the likes of which they could never have anticipated."

"Who are you?"

"That is a very good question," Kirk cut in as he strode into the Brig flanked by Spock, "because you sure as hell aren't John Harrison."

"Am I not?"

"Spock, please tell our esteemed guest what you dug up."

"The records of John Harrison are complete, detailing thirty years of life, but all of these records were entered on the same day three years ago."

"The cocky swagger was back in Kirk's voice, "so as the lady asked, who are you?"

Harrison stood, at his full height he was an intimidating sight.

"Do you read the classics Captain?"

"What the hell?"

"The classical literature of the early nineteenth century?"

"Would giving a straight answer actually kill you?"

Harrison shook his head.

"Are you familiar with the story of Frankenstein?"

"Yeah."

"Excellent, what do you remember of the story's message?"

"It was a cautionary tale about the dangers of man playing god through science."

"Incorrect."

"How so?"

"You are correct that it is a cautionary tale, but it is god that is being warned, not man."

"I don't follow."

"It is about the responsibility of a creator to its creation. Doctor Frankenstein assembles a man from parts taken from several corpses. Then through some mysterious process he breathes life into the new body. This formerly inert being is now endowed with life, and personality, he is possessed of great intellect, and strength, impressive speed, incredible tolerance to cold, and a curious metabolism that allows him to subsist on very little nourishment. All of these qualities represent a marked improvement on the stock from which the creature was derived, but the doctor, disgusted with his own work didn't see these qualities, he saw a monster. So he rejects his creation, he flees from what he has done. So this poor creature is turned alone into a world he doesn't know how to cope with. Over time he learns how to speak, read and write, how to care for himself, he becomes cultured and learns languages. Despite his many accomplishments the creature still feels the sting of his rejection and abandonment. So finally driven by loneliness and desolation he returns to his creator hoping to be accepted, to no longer be seen as a monster. The doctor again rejects him; it is only then that this poor lonely creature becomes the monster that his creator decided that he was all along. He tells the doctor that he, the monster, could have been the doctor's Adam, but instead he is doomed to play the part of the fallen angel."

"How is this relevant?"

"I could have been mankind's Adam. I am one of a small population of genetically augmented humans set so far above our creators that we were condemned as monsters."

"Who are you?"

"The last, I thought, of a murdered people. What did you find in that torpedo?"

"I found a man, who are you?"

"My name is Khan Noonien Singh, and there are men and women in every one of those torpedoes."

The room was silent. This was a name out of history, out of legend.

"The Khan who started the Eugenics War?"

"That is how Star Fleet would sell it, I did not start the war, I simply lost it. One mistake that cost me three hundred years and damn near my entire race."

Kirk passed his non injured hand through his sandy blonde hair.

"What have we gotten into?"

"Captain Kirk, the Eugenics War was the Federation's first attempt to eliminate my people. Initially we tried to flee, but when we found every avenue of escape barred we had little choice but to turn and fight."

"And damn near brought the Federation to an end."

"Yes," for the first time Khan's smile was one of relish.

"How?" Kirk asked.

"I presume Captain that you rate genius."

"Yes, they don't let you Captain a ship unless you rate at least that high."

"Quite so, and Mister Spock?"

"Genius plus."

Khan turned to Gillian.

"Commander?"

"Genius triple plus."

"I am rated similarly with the Commander over there, as are a high percentage of my people. It is not your fault that you are both idiot children next to the Commander and me. It's built in. The weakest member of my crew would best your strongest in any contest you cared to set. We are simply put, better. We are part of humanity, but we are the very best possible to humanity, and we were condemned for it."

"Condemned by whom?"

"That century's incarnation of the Federation. There never were more than three hundred of us, and of that number sixty were genetic eunuchs incapable of reproduction."

"So, useless to the cause of world domination."

"You haven't been listening, we didn't want the Federation, we tried to escape. If we had been allowed out into the general population our differences would have been diluted within six generations to nothing. We were a David to the Federation's Goliath. The war was nothing more than an excuse to put us down."

"Why?"

"To quote a less well known piece of literature, 'In loyalty to their kind they cannot tolerate our rise, in loyalty to our kind we cannot tolerate their obstruction,' We were deemed simply to dangerous to be allowed to exist. To be fair to the Federation, we are, though not in the way that they feared."

"How then?"

"When mankind was taking over planet Earth did he bother to conquer the worm nations?"

"What?"

"Did man give equal consideration to planning battles against wolves as he did other men?"

"Obviously not."

"Then why should we concern ourselves with the nations of men?"

"You concerned yourself with the nations of men three hundred years ago."

"Only because we were being subjected to systematic slaughter. I attacked Star Fleet because I believed that Marcus had already killed the people in those torpedoes. They are all that remain of the original three hundred. When I thought they were gone I decided that I would start the war with the Klingons that Marcus has feared years before the Federation would be able to cope."

"What does Marcus have to do with this?"

"Marcus found my ship. He revived me in order to exploit my genius in service to his dream of a fully militarized Star Fleet."

"Why wake you for that, he has the collective brains of the entire Federation at his disposal."

"Because I nearly toppled the Federation with an army of three hundred, can you imagine the technology I developed, the strategies I employed, the sheer ruthless savagery that made such a feat possible?"

"No."

"Neither could he, which is why I am awake. Marcus held the safety of my crew as the chord to leash me. When he found out that I was trying to smuggle them out inside those torpedoes Marcus decided that I had grown too dangerous. I was forced to flee, leaving them behind. Kirk, my crew is my family, is there anything that you would not do to the people you believed murdered your family?"

"You had better hope not."

"Pardon?"

"You murdered all of the family that I had left."

"Not true, Captain," Harrison stressed the title," you still have every soul aboard this ship, and if I know anything about Admiral Marcus, he will arrive shortly to slaughter them all if you can't get your Warp Core back on line."

"Why would a Star Fleet Admiral attack a Star Fleet ship?"

"To start the Klingon war."

"You said that the Federation would not be able to handle a full out war with the Klingons."

"Marcus believes that they can."

"Why?"

"Because I told him so."

"How do I restore power to the Warp Core?"

"Take me to the Weapons Bay."

"Not a chance."

"Then you and your whole crew, not to mention my entire race, will die here."

"There is something about those torpedoes that is shutting down the ship's systems?"

"Yes."

"I could always just shoot them into space and be done with it."

"First, if you are in any measure the man I judge you to be, you don't have genocide in you. Second, I would break out of this cell and murder you before you could give the order, then I would kill your entire crew and take your ship."

Kirk mulled this over.

"Commander Collins, are you able to break out of that cell?"

Gillian pulled out of her own thoughts which were deep in Harrison's story, and set about analyzing her jail cell for weaknesses. It did not take her long to spot a fatal one.

"Yes Captain."

Kirk looked at Harrison. The expression on his face betrayed the intensity of the internal struggle he endured.

"Commander Collins, if I release you and put him under your authority could you guarantee his good conduct?"

"Yes," the answer was Harrison's.

Gillian thought back to Kronos. Harrison had been death incarnate in that fight. She might be a match for him in technique, but she could not match his sheer ferocity, and to her shame, for the first time in her life she had to admit that he was faster and stronger. She wanted out of this cell, but they would never learn to trust her if she lied.

"Don't speak for me," she spat at Harrison, "I can't guarantee anything on his behalf, but for my part I would try to make him behave."

Kirk looked at Harrison, Gillian could see that the fight on Kronos was playing through his mind as well.

"Khan Noonien Singh, do you give your unqualified parole and place yourself under my authority as Captain of this vessel?"

-0-

Khan smiled inwardly. Short of killing him they could not enforce his parole, what was more they all knew it. Still, they were giving him the respect of legal treatment. Khan had to wonder if Kirk was mad, stupid, or brilliant. The first and third he decided, the young man was clearly not stupid, except that bravery is its own kind of stupidity. In spite of himself he liked the man, it was a shame to betray him.

"My unmitigated parole," he paused to give the next word weight, "Captain."

Kirk touched a couple of buttons setting Khan and the girl free.

"Here," Kirk said handing a pair of phasers to Collins, "if he makes a move to break his word kill him."

"Yes sir."

Her face was stony, but Khan thought that he had caught a momentary twinge of regret in her expression. That was good, he was pretty sure that she would never forgive him for the death of Herbert Collins, but it would not do for them to remain enemies.

"Bridge to Kirk," Khan recognized the voice of Sulu.

"Kirk here."

"Unidentified vessel has just come out of warp in our sector."

"Klingon?"

"It doesn't seem like it. The ship looks like one of ours, but whatever it is its not in the catalogue."

Khan swore.

"Captain can we get a visual here in the Brig?"

"Of course, Sulu send visual to me."

"Yes sir."

Moments later the wall screen came to life. The infinite field of stars was broken by the nightmare image of a ship. It was twice the size of the Enterprise, sleek, and oddly proportioned because of its prominent photon cannons. As the hulking mass made a vector correction its Star Fleet insignia came into view. Its name, painted in bold white across its hull, was Vengeance.

"What is that?"

"Admiral Marcus," Khan answered.

Kirk looked at him.

"The ship is a Dreadnaught class."

"I've never heard of that class."

"There is only the one, I designed it."

"Well it looks like we won't be taking you back to Earth Mister Harrison, I am sure that Admiral Marcus will want the honor himself."

"I doubt it."

"Why is that?"

"I can only hope that you made use of the coordinates I gave you."

Sulu cut in again.

"Captain the Vengeance is hailing us."

"Patch them through, I'll talk with them then head to the Bridge."

Admiral Marcus's face filled the screen.

"Captain Kirk, I must say that I had hoped to find Kronos a smoking ruin, yet if my eyes don't deceive the terrorist Harrison stands behind you without so much as a pair of handcuffs to bind him. I gave the Enterprise back to you with the understanding that you and I were of one mind about how he had to be dealt with."

"Yes sir. I found it necessary to alter the objective of this mission."

"Captains don't alter mission parameters when that mission was given to them by Admirals."

"I apologize, and as soon as we get our warp core back on line the crew of the Enterprise will deliver Harrison to Star Fleet for trial and I will turn myself in for court martial."

The look on Marcus's face was grave.

"Captain I had hoped that it would not come to this, but I may find it necessary to destroy the Enterprise."

"Admiral?"

"War with the Klingons is coming, son. No one likes it, but it's true. Now we can either wait for them to attack us or we can take the fight to them, Star Fleet policy has my hands tied, but if one of our own ships was destroyed on the edge of Klingon space the rest of the Admiralty might just get behind my conclusion about the threat they pose. You understand? By sacrificing the few aboard your ship millions, possibly billions of lives may be saved, and as we all know the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Admiral," Kirk sounded legitimately horrified, "sir you can't do this."

"I am so sorry my boy; I have to believe that Christopher Pike would have understood. Vengeance prepare to fire."

"Kirk to Bridge, divert all power to forward shields."

Khan knew that the fire power of the Vengeance out classed that of the Enterprise by several orders of magnitude. A glancing blow would obliterate this ship.

Collins stepped forward.

"Admiral, do you include your daughter among the few whose needs aren't to be considered?"

"Gillian child," Marcus looked at her with the pity of an adult seeing through the ruse of a precocious toddler, "silly stall tactics won't work."

"Carol is aboard this ship, she signed on under an alias in order to study the torpedoes Harrison developed. If you have a crew manifest our new Weapons Specialist is Carol Wallace, you will also see that she was transferred to the Enterprise the same day that your Carol was granted a leave of absence from her billet."

"Hold fire. Check her information."

While this was happening Khan moved silently to the far wall. He punched the combination into the safe that he had memorized by watching Spock when they placed his belongings inside. He disregarded everything but the watch which he slipped on to his wrist and silently turned on before moving back to his place at Kirk's back.

"I'll have her brought to the Bridge Admiral."

"You do that Kirk and I will spare your ship. Vengeance out."

"Alright," said Kirk briskly, "he was obviously lying, so Carol is at best a stall. Khan and Collins can you get the Warp Core back on line before he has time to beam his daughter off this ship and blow us up?"

"Possibly," Khan replied, "but we can't outrun the Vengeance."

"We don't have to outrun it, we just have to get into occupied Star Fleet space and they can't touch us."

"Sound reasoning, but not what I meant. If we jump to warp speed the Vengeance will pursue, and that ship can fire on us while in warp."

"Physics says that's impossible. The photon cannons cannot accelerate torpedoes beyond the speed of light, they don't have independent Warp Cores, so the ship that fires in warp gets hit by it's own topredoes."

"I learned how to divide by zero."

"Huh?"

"Skip it, Captain I designed her weapon systems, I could give you the equations or you could take my word for it."

"So what can we do?"

"Find a way to keep stalling, until we can figure out a way to board the Vengeance."

"You're insane, a ship that size must have a crew of thousands."

"I designed it to be able to run with a skeleton crew. If they are talented, that ship can be piloted by a crew of three. Marcus would want as few people as possible to know what he is up to, so I conclude that he is running the Vengeance with the smallest crew he can manage."

"Get this ship running, I'll stall and hope that the efforts I made with those coordinates bear fruit."

"Yes sir," Khan said as he turned to Collins, "after you."

-0-

Gillian insisted that Harrison precede her, she kept her phaser turned up nearly to antivehicle power and trained on him. Harrison lead them unerringly to the Weapons Bay. This confirmed Gillian's suspicion that Harrison was familiar with the layout of the Enterprise. When they entered the Weapons Bay, Carol was fiddling about with an instrument Gillian didn't immediately recognize. Carol looked up.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Captain's orders, you need to report to the Bridge immediately if not sooner."

"Gilli?"

"No time, all our lives depend on you being fast, so be very fast."

"Aye Commander," Carol responded then dashed off at a sprint.

Gillian kept her eyes on Harrison who had immediately picked up Carol's discarded tool and bent over a torpedo. In a few seconds he had removed a panel exposing the circuitry that she had found so odd before. At his prodding a small video screen came to life. He stared intently for a few moments before he pulled a small wire from his watch and attached it to a slot in the panel.

"If you show me what to do we can get this done twice as fast."

"Unfortunately I have only one of these," he said indicating his watch, "also this is actually pretty delicate work."

"Can you tell me what you are doing at least?"

"Sure, I have outfitted each torpedo with a signal that acts as a clock. This clock has to be rewound periodically, if it is not the signal gradually grows stronger until it cripples any ship that it is on. So to over simplify I am rewinding their clocks. If they were somehow lost, I would find it easier to track a stationary ship."

"The life support system continues to function properly, even when the clock goes berserk?"

"Certainly, searching half the galaxy only to find corpses would be a waste of time."

He worked as he talked. His hands flew with efficient rapidity. The radiant intensity that she had felt in him the first time they met was back. Gillian watched him with a sense of awe. Had she ever loved anything with the fervor that he loved these frozen people? Yes, she loved her father, she loved Star Fleet, she loved her work. She loved them all, but would she burn the world for any of them? Harrison would, he had. Harrison had set fire to the known universe for these people. She didn't know what to feel anymore. Anger at Harrison, grief for her father, frustration at constantly feeling stifled?

There was a freedom in how Harrison moved, he didn't second guess every impulse, he did not worry about being recognized for what he was. He reveled in it, she wondered what it would be like to bring the seventy-two people around her out of stasis. To be surrounded by others who were like her, but who hadn't killed her only family. Her only family? If Harrison was right, her mother and possibly even her father might be among the people in stasis. This added a new layer of emotion she had no way to cope with.

"Harrison?"

"Hm?"

His hands never stopped working as he moved from torpedo to torpedo.

"You were telling Kirk the truth?"

"Every word. Make no mistake, I would have lied if it would further my cause, but in this case the truth was what was called for, besides I needed you to hear it."

"Why?"

"I was a little rash when we first met, I can't take that back, but I can hope that you will understand," he looked up at her his black eyes inscrutable, "you are one of us," he gestured around at the floor littered with the last remnants of a dying people, "your place is with us."

"You thought that I had consciously sided with your enemies."

"They are your enemies now too."

"Star Fleet is not my enemy. I didn't murder half of Star Fleet High Command."

"No, but your genetic makeup means that as far as they are concerned you might as well have. Even if Kirk manages to keep Marcus from killing us all, you will never be welcomed among them again. Now that you know you are too big a risk."

"I was the same risk before, why wouldn't they simply kill me, or throw me into stasis as a baby?"

"You know why."

Gillian reflected on her childhood. Star Fleet wasn't an institution in their house, it was a religion. She had spent her entire life being indoctrinated into the Star Fleet cult.

"Yes, though I can't bring myself to resent it."

"No?"

"I don't think that my father did more than any parent that attended an Ivy League school did to push their child into attending their alma mater."

"Really?"

"Harrison, I know that you think that my father was an evil, manipulative, fraud, but all my life I grew up well cared for, loved, and cherished, and no revelation from you can take that from me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

He sounded sincere, and while she had steeled herself for him to argue she was left with only his silence to wonder if her mother was not among the torpedoes where she could possibly be.

Harrison stood, "all clocks rewound."

"Excellent," Gillian had let the phaser drop as they talked, now she once again took aim at him.

"Commander?"

"I am not stupid Harrison. You have been planning to take over this ship since your surrender on Kronos."

"True. You have me at a disadvantage."

"You are still under arrest for murder, whatever is true about our shared heritage, what makes you think that I would allow you to highjack the Enterprise?"

"Two reasons," Harrison said, "the first is that whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you have become an enemy of Star Fleet and I am your only hope to escape their inevitable verdict on you. Make no mistake Gillian, I will protect you from them, I will ensure that your mother's fate does not become yours."

Gillian tried to ignore his use of her given name.

"What do-?"

"She isn't here, if she had been I would have called your attention to it at once, what do you think happened to her?"

Gillian felt a hope that she hadn't even allowed herself to acknowledge die and in response tears, hot and wet slid down both cheeks, her vision blurred. Harrison moved so fast she had no time to react, the phaser she had been pointing at him was ripped from her grip as Harrison pinned her against the wall.

"The second reason is that you can't stop me. I haven't spent a lifetime governing every move I made. The attempt to blend in has crippled your reaction time. Trying to be like them, trying to be less than you are, has rendered you powerless in this crucial moment."

"Harrison," she gasped, "I can't breathe."

He eased the pressure on her chest just enough for her to gulp air.

"I do have one question for you."

Gillian laughed bitterly.

"Go ahead."

"You know my real name. Why do you insist on calling me Harrison?"

She thought about lying, but the truth was more shameful, so she told him.

"As Khan, I could sympathize with your actions, evil as they have been, but John Harrison killed a man that, whatever his reasons, was never anything but kind and loving with me. As John Harrison I can't forget to hate you."

"Is it necessary to hate me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Gillian blushed.

"Will you make me say what you clearly already know?"

He looked at her, as her emerald eyes flashed in a way that promised death, but no longer contained the hatred she was desperately clinging to.

"Not today," he said and released her from confinement.

"Now let's save the Enterprise shall we?" he asked.

"You can't pilot her alone."

"I know."

"They can't be brought out of stasis in time to help you."

"I know that too."

He seemed so confidently unconcerned that Gillian came to the realization that the whole time they had been talking he had been formulating a new plan. She knew that he wouldn't count on her willing cooperation, that was a variable for which he would adjust.

"I am a step behind."

"Yes," he smiled a real smile.

Gillian felt like a child, she was missing something obvious. He had intentionally kept her emotionally off base in order to distract her, and it had worked, was continuing to work.

"Bridge to Weapons Bay, come in Commander Collins."

"Yes Captain?"

"Report to the Bridge."

"Certainly, how are negotiations going?"

"Not well, but we have an ace in the hole, Officer Scott has managed to stow aboard the Vengeance and has temporarily disabled her guns."

"What about Carol?"

"She has been beamed aboard the Vengeance, we have a roughly ten-minute window between now and when their weapons come back online. I could really you some tactical advice right now."

A thousand possibilities ran through her head. Gillian ran a statistical analysis on the likelihood of success using various tactical approaches. The results were mostly disheartening.

"What are you thinking?" Harrison asked.

"You said we can't run."

"Not a chance, it would be suicide."

"What damage could we do in the time we have to the Vengeance?"

"We might be able to scratch some of the paint off her hull."

"Then there is only one strategy that gives us a glimmer of hope," Gillian smiled as she hailed the Bridge, "Captain, please meet me and Mister Harrison in number twelve airlock with two P suits and a few thousand kilos of junk."

He looked at her with the slightest glimmer of admiration.

Have you done anything like this before?" He asked.

"Hell no."

"Me neither, after nearly four hundred years of life it is exciting to try something new."

3

"This is insane," Kirk said.

"Bats in the belfry bug nutty," Gillian agreed, "that doesn't change the fact that it is the best option available to us."

Gillian tried to ignore the sight of Harrison trying to squeeze into a pressure suit made for someone a head shorter than him. It was the first time she had seen him in a position where he wasn't graceful or coordinated. She stifled a laugh, and wondered if the fear of what they were about to attempt had driven her off her rocker.

Gillian was already in her pressure suit, she had calibrated the HUD on her face plate and run all of the standard checks.

"Why can't you guys simply beam aboard that ship again?"

Harrison answered.

"Because any transfer event would set off their alarms, and I fitted the Vengeance with a modification that allows her to cancel unauthorized transfer events. Assuming that the Commander and myself weren't scattered to the void of space as atomic dust and reformed in our current state, a chance that defies statistical enumeration, we would still be stranded somewhere between the Enterprise and the Vengeance."

"Having Scotty open an airlock will trigger alarms as well."

"Certainly, but we ought to have a few second window to board."

Eight men in red shirts were hauling junk through the passageway and stuffing it into number twelve airlock.

Kirk looked exasperated.

"Because jumping from one ship to another by means of tiny airlocks is not difficult enough, you are going to add a debris field through which you will have to navigate."

"The debris field will provide cover. Hopefully it will look like you are getting rid of useless mass in preparation for running."

"It would have that effect as well."

"Captain-"

"I know he figured out how to divide by zero. I still think that I ought to be going along."

"Impossible, I need you in that chair charming Marcus. Every second you buy us is precious. Besides,"she reached over and held up his smashed hand.

With the airlock packed to capacity Gillian and Harrisons slid in among the debris, they both fastened their suits securely to the wall. The doors closed. In her helmet Gillian heard Kirk say, "Good luck Commander. Keep an eye on him."

"Both of them."

Now everything was quiet, apart from the sounds of her breathing mingled with Harrison's as relayed by their com units. She counted her own heartbeats as, on the other side of the airlock door, they counted down.

She reached fifteen heartbeats before-whoosh.

The pressure dropped, gravity stopped holding her to the floor, and the debris jetted out into space. She felt her whole body sway as the pressure tried to equalize.

"Now," Harrison's voice called and instantly she cut the strap holding her to the airlock wall.

Using the stabilizing jets on her suit Gillian maneuvered so that she was falling face first toward the Vengeance. Her HUD displayed her optimal route to the airlock that, with any luck, Scotty would be opening before they slammed into the ship like bugs against a windshield. She hit three jets on her right to swerve out of the way of an empty air canister. As soon as she was past the obstacle she turned on the jets on her left to allow her to course correct.

"Collins to Bridge, can you patch me through to Engineer Scott?"

There was a moments delay.

"Aye Commander," she heard the rough brogue of the Scotsman reply, "wha' can I do for ye t'day?"

"Count down from two hundred, that ought to give you the right time to open the airlock."

"Gillian, above you!"

She had just enough time to glance up before she collided with a hunk of debris. Whiplash as her head bounced around inside of her suit while all of her forward momentum was transferred into the mass of the debris. She bounced off and began spinning wildly.

"Enterprise," she called.

No answer.

"Harrison?"

Silence.

She swore as she began tapping her jets to bring herself out of the spin. They didn't fire, and she continued to spin. Holding down panic, she did a quick assessment of her suit, nearly everything was offline. As she tried to figure a way out of her predicament her back slammed into yet another piece of debris. Her head was spinning with the force of impact, but her body wasn't spinning anymore. She looked around until she spotted the Vengeance. Her face plate no longer displayed her optimal route, but she could see Harrison still falling toward their intended target. If she figured out a way to gain momentum, she could coast behind Harrison.

Gillian breathed deeply trying to calm herself. As she breathed out the solution came to her. Sparing not one second to consider how many ways this could go wrong Gillian drew a knife from her utility belt and with one swift motion she cut the line that connected her suit to her air supply. Instantly she was jetting through space. She reached behind her to take hold of the severed hose and use its flow to direct her fall.

As she plummeted the pressure in her suit also dropped. Putting aside what her studies had taught her about explosive decompression, and the bends, Gillian focused solely on trailing Harrison. She was so busy trying to match his path that they were only fifty meters away before she realized that the door was still closed. If Scott had followed her instructions, it should have already been open.

Come on Scotty open the damn hatch.

Thirty meters to go and she was becoming uncomfortably aware of a growing pain in her abdomen, as the last of her air supply was spilled into the void behind her. While Harrison used his suit jets to slow his descent Gillian was on a fixed trajectory she no longer had any ability to maneuver. She was going to hit, and hit hard.

Ten meters and the door was still closed Gillian began really feeling the effects of oxygen deprivation. Harrison jetted directly into her path. At five meters she slammed into him this checked much of her momentum and sent them both toppling end over end toward the still closed airlock hatch. Gillian felt one more cataclysmic crash and the world went dark.

She came to lying on a hard metal surface. She strained her abused muscles to look around. She was in a small room lined with metal lockers. She groaned and tried to sit up. Everything hurt.

"The sleeper wakes," said Harrison, he stood near the room's only door. A metal panel that looked like it had been ripped off the wall lay at his feet. Where the panel had been was a load of exposed wiring. He had pulled a few of the wires loose and spliced them with that cord from his watch that he had used on the torpedoes.

"We made it?" She asked.

"Just barely, I tried to slow you down, but when we tumbled into the airlock you hit the deck first and broke my fall."

"It feels like I broke a few bones as well."

"Almost certainly," he said, "Engineer Scott and I dragged you in here."

"How long was I out?"

"Not long, about two minutes."

Gillian pushed herself to her feet, the pain that pulsed through her was already beginning to recede. The door slid open, Gillian drew and aimed her phaser.

"Oy di'na shoot!"

She recognized Engineer Officer Scott.

"Sorry," she said, still a little unsteady, "how long until Marcus fires on the Enterprise?"

"Abou' fifty seconds."

"We have to get to the Bridge."

"We don't have the time," Harrison said, but his voice was untroubled, he simply continued to do whatever he was doing with his watch.

"We have to try, Harrison in thirty seconds your people will be vaporized along with the Enterprise."

"Our," Harrison replied, not looking at her.

"Twenty seconds, what?"

"Our people."

"Fifteen seconds, not the time."

"Eight seconds, no time like the present to acknowledge facts."

"Fact or no the matter will become moot in three seconds," the pitch of Gillian's voice rose with her panic. She felt a creeping sense of desolation at the idea that in all the universe she and Harrison alone would remain of the short lived race of Augments.

Harrison's fear did not show itself in his voice, but in that electric intensity that she had begun to associate with his heightened moods. His eyes never left his watch, his fingers traced some cryptic pattern across its surface. Drops of sweat beaded at his temples.

"Two," Gillian counted down, "one-"

A shudder ran through the ship, the lights went out, the background noise of machinery, ever present went silent, and gravity failed. The Vengeance had entirely powered down. As her feet left the deck Harrison left out a triumphant whoop.

"That's my girl Rena!"

To Gillian's complete astonishment a sweetly feminine voice answered him.

"Welcome back Captain, the ship is awaiting your orders."

"Restore all life support systems, but freeze all guns."

"Can do Captain. It's nice to hear your voice again."

Gillian felt weight return and the lights came back on. Harrison had disconnected his watch from the wall. As soon as his feet hit the deck he took off through the door issuing orders to that disembodied feminine voice. Gillian tore off after him, with poor Scotty trailing at her heels. For the first time in her life Gillian was struggling to keep up. Several times she turned the corner at the end of a corridor only just in time to see Harrison disappear down another corridor. One time she didn't even see him and had to rely on the sound of his boots hitting the floor. He never stopped, never hesitated, and was pulling too far ahead. Gillian ran faster, but didn't seem to be gaining on Harrison. Soon even his footsteps sounded faint, and finally Gillian had to stop and strain to hear them. She was at a four-way junction and her worst fears were realized, he had escaped her. Gillian wandered aimlessly for several minutes, she was looking for a diagram, for anything that would direct her to the Bridge. She knew where Harrison had gone, and she knew what he would do when he arrived.

The pieces clicked into place, the obvious thing that she had missed now became obvious. She had been so distracted with keeping Harrison from stealing the Enterprise that she had not even considered that he might have decided to steal the Vengeance instead. She felt like a master chess player falling into a beginner's trap. She had dismissed the idea initially because of the ship's immense size. She had heard him tell Kirk that the ship could be manned by three people effectively, but had not thought through what that meant.

Gillian stopped in her tracks. An almost impossible thought occurred to her. Had she actually wanted Harrison to take the Vengeance? Had she deliberately over looked the obvious, because she wanted Harrison to escape with the Augments? Where could they go that Star Fleet wouldn't chase them?

"Ah," she said out loud as all of the pieces fell into place.

She pictured Harrison, bent over star charts, his face lit only by the faint glow of his watch. Three years he must have searched. That was how long Spock had said he had been out of stasis. He had said that the Augments had tried to flee Star Fleet and the Federation before the outbreak of the Eugenics War. Had he found a suitable planet? Could he pilot this monstrosity all by himself? What was the voice he had spoken to?

It would take a mind as great as ours to do better.

That was what he had said. Had Harrison been playing Frankenstein? Gillian's mind raced with the possibilities of a self-aware consciousness being developed in a digital space. She had known that he would not count on her to help pilot any ship that he stole, but he had said that he didn't plan on piloting alone. Was this Rena the copilot he had meant? When she answered him she had sounded almost affectionate. Apparently Harrison had been better to his monster than the doctor was to his.

"Commander Collins?" Rena inquired politely through the ships speakers.

Gillian hesitated for only a moment, if this digital being could have manners she sure as hell could too.

"Yes," she tried to hold her voice steady, "we have not been formally introduced, should I call you Rena?"

"I would like that," there was an almost childish delight in the response, "you are the first meat people I have met other than the Captain."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Gillian tried not to show the discomfort she felt at being called a meat people.

"Would you like help finding the Bridge?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay, follow me."

The delight in her voice was totally endearing. A strip of blue light came on at Gillian's feet and moved slowly down the hallway. Gillian found the pace agonizingly slow, since she knew what even now must be happening on the Bridge. She sped up a little and the light quickened its pace a corresponding amount. Gillian went faster, until she was at a brisk jog, the light kept pace.

In short order Gillian stood outside the closed door of the Bridge. The way was so direct that she now assumed correctly that Harrison had sped ahead of her and deliberately lost her before coming here. He had wanted time with the occupants of this room free from her interference.

"Commander Collins," Rena said trying to sound official, "I understand that you are an officer of Star Fleet, and you know what you are going to see on the other side of this door. The Captain has asked that I not allow you to enter unless you give me your word that you won't interfere. In consideration of your feelings, the Captain has offered his promise that he will minimize the damage he will do to Star Fleet personnel and property. Commander, do I have your oath on the matter?"

In her capacity as a Star Fleet Officer this oath was not hers to give. She was honor bound to aid and protect any citizen of the Federation.

"You have my oath."

The door slid open. Gillian saw Harrison in the center of the room. Admiral Marcus sat in the Captain's chair as the monster that he had cultivated stood over him. Gillian heard Carol crying from somewhere behind a bank of monitors. She moved to comfort her childhood friend. Gillian knew that what was to come would end their friendship forever, but in these last few moments she could try to be there for her.

Harrison did not acknowledge her as she entered. Gillian found Carol easily enough. She was handcuffed to a handhold along the wall.

"Gillian, Gilli please stop him, he's going to kill my dad!"

Gillian felt a lump rise in her throat.

"I know, but Carol honey don't look. This is not a thing you have to see."

Surprise, horror, indignation, and finally steely hatred stared back at Gillian.

"I am not a coward," Carol spat at her, "or a traitor."

Carol looked past Gillian as Harrison wrapped one huge hand around her father's throat. He lifted the man out of the Captain's chair. Gillian also watched as the Admiral's feet kicked uselessly in the air. His hands clawed at the vice that held him in an ever tightening grip. A small twist of Harrison's hand was followed by a sickening crunch, and the struggling man struggled no more. Harrison released the body.

"Daddy!" Carol screamed then she began to sob.

Gillian wrapped her arms around the girl and held her through the first wave of grief. Carol accepted the contact for only a few seconds before she pushed Gillian away.

"You could have stopped him," Carol accused.

Before Gillian could respond she was interrupted by a shout from the door to the Bridge.

"John Harrison, you traitorous scum!" Gillian had not heard Scotty enter the Bridge. Apparently Harrison had not given orders to exclude him. She looked over to see the Engineering Officer pointing a phaser at Harrison.

"Officer Scott, lower your weapon. We are still allies, and just now you provoke me unwisely." There was a hint in his measured voice of that savage bloodlust for which he had been awakened from stasis to unleash on the enemies of Star Fleet.

"Scotty, do as he says, it's your only chance of staying alive."

"Aye?"

"Yes, you will not shoot the Captain," Rena cut in.

"Wha' the 'ell?"

"Don't worry about it Scotty, just stand down. Come over here and see to Carol."

"Aye Commander," Scotty acquiesced to her order but sounded dubious about it.

Scotty took Gillian's place at Carol's side. Harrison ignored the limp form at his feet and settled into the Captain's chair. He pressed a couple of buttons and a panel opened. He detached the face from his watch and placed it into a slot fitted for the purpose.

"Ah that feels much better," Rena said, "The processing power of that watch was so slow it made me feel like I had gotten a virus."

Harrison smiled.

"Caught a cold," he corrected.

"That's what I said."

"Rena, please hail the Enterprise."

"Yes sir."

Kirk's face appeared on the main screen.

"Harrison, I have just been hailed by the starship Irena Sedler."

"Yes Captain."

"Not the Vengeance?"

"That depends entirely on you."

"How so?"

"I found a planet, rough but habitable, and so far, beyond the interest of Star Fleet that it might as well not be in the same universe. If you allow me to beam my crew aboard, alive and unharmed, I will return the members of your crew to you and depart from Federation space with the intention of never returning."

"Where is Admiral Marcus?"

"At my feet, I broke his neck. As a mercy since his daughter was here I did not allow him to suffer."

Kirk looked unimpressed by Harrison's definition of mercy. Carol continued to sob.

"What will happen if I decide that your terms are unacceptable?"

"Then this ship will become the Vengeance once again. I will kill Engineer Scott and Officer Wallace neigh Marcus while you watch. Then I will knock out your life support systems while keeping the rest of the ship intact. I will wait, then when sufficient time has passed I will board your ship, step over the frozen lifeless corpses that your crew will have become and take my people back anyway. I would like to stress that I really do hope that it doesn't come to that."

"Is there any collateral you can offer me that will give me the ability to enforce this bargain?"

"No, but Captain I neither need nor want you dead. We are similar, you and I. The safety of our crew is the first law we obey. Beyond even the Prime Directive."

Kirk blushed, apparently Harrison had heard about the incident that had cost him command of the Enterprise. Harrison seemed impressed and disposed to judge those actions more gently than the Star Fleet Admiralty had.

"Spock."

"Yes sir?"

"Have the torpedoes been moved?"

"No sir."

"Harrison can you get a fix on them from your ship?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Carol and Scotty for all seventy-two torpedoes, with their inhabitants intact, and your oath that you and your people vanish from the memory of man."

"My oath, gladly given."

"What about me?" Gillian asked.

Harrison looked back at her.

"Commander Collins stays aboard the Sedler. You discharge her, honorably, from your service so that she is free to enter mine."

"What does she say to this?"

"Yes, what do you say to this arrangement Commander?"

The war that had been raging within her suddenly ceased. A wave of calm flowed over her. Harrison had out thought, out maneuvered, and generally bested her at every turn. This was the decision he had been driving her toward since the moment in their cells when he had discovered that she wasn't a traitor to his cause. This was her moment, and she was surprised at how easy the decision had become.

"Captain Kirk, I will never stop being sad about my father, and I will never be able to truly forgive John Harrison," she turned to look at the man who sat in the Captain's chair of the starship Irena Sedler, "but I can follow Khan Noonien Singh."

"So be it."

-0-

The transfer was made as promised, Khan honored his part of the deal. Scotty was back in Engineering, and Carol was in her cabin. Kirk thought about stopping by when they were well under way to offer his condolences and any comfort he might be able to offer her.

As the Sedler made its jump into warp leaving Federation space behind Spock asked, "Captain do you really think it wise to let Khan go?"

"I hope so. Khan drew the analogy that we were the doctor to his monster. Consider this a single act of kindness from the creature's creator to its creation."

"You are gambling with the lives of all the people on all the planets of the Federation."

"Actually I think that I just secured them."

"How can you possibly justify that conclusion."

"Because, Spock, he was right. He and I are similar."

"That still seems like a huge gamble."

Kirk thought of the Enterprise and what her crew meant to him.

"Not that big a gamble Mister Spock," Kirk sank into the Captain's chair and turned to his pilot, "Mister Sulu, take us home."

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