Seeds of an Empire
Khan pulled the covers over his wife's body, careful to arrange them around her chin so as not to wake her up. The lights were still off, that did not bother him. He could see just fine. Carol would bristle and accuse him again of being over-protective for letting her sleep in, but she needed her rest. Lately it seemed that not matter how long she slept, her body could still not recover properly. She had grown pale and her eyes were now permanently surrounded by deep, dark shadows. She had lost her appetite and had become uncharacteristically moody and irritable.
Khan was worried. Though classified as M-class, Ceti Alpha V – or Menkar, as the augments had started to call the planet after the traditional Arabic name of the system's red giant star – was not exactly auspicious for humans. Dangerous bacteriae and viruses lurked in every nook and cranny of the planet's uneven surface. The atmosphere was rarefied and the winds got so violent during the frequent local storm, that they could knock even an augment off their feet. Then there was the exhausting work the development of the colony required. Carol spent long, grueling hours designing a ground defense system that would prevent any incident like the Klingon raid Alexander Marcus had set up from reoccurring, only to turn around and lend a hand with the civilian installations. When that was done, she focused on the observation post they were erecting on the edge of the system in order to alert them to any unwelcome visitors. When she had moment to spare, she visited the settlement of former Orion slaves established in the prairies by the Cataract of Sorrows to make certain they had everything they needed. The stress, the responsibility and the physical effort would have taken their toll even on an augment and his heart gave an uneasy tug at the thought of everything that rested on Carol's frail human shoulders. It was no wonder she had started to look sickly.
As Khan walked out of their bedroom in their newly-built house, he considered his options. Otto was to go to Nausicaa to acquire double shielding components for the colony's security system and though, from what he had of that planet, it did not sound like a holiday destination, he still thought it would do Carol some good to spend some time away from Menkar and concentrating on one issue at a time rather than ten. Besides, he had a valid excuse for sending her off on this trip so that she would not suspect that he wanted her to take some time off.
# # #
"I wouldn't stare at the wife of Khan Noonien Singh like that, if I were you?"
Nyota's head snapped in the direction of the Argelian conversation being conducted a few chairs away from her at the bar. She followed the direction, in which the two aliens were looking and up to one of the numerous alcoves dug into the Nausicaan pub's tall and slightly curved walls. She grinned when she saw Carol Marcus there talking to someone just out of sight. Carol had resigned her Starfleet commission about a year ago to move to the augment colony on Ceti Alpha V and since then Nyota had done her best to keep in contact with her. She had not been the only one; Carol had made quite a few friends on the Enterprise and Jim, Bones and Scotty had been sending their former second science officers communiques as well. They sometimes compared notes on Carol's responses to make sure they weren't rehearsed or that she didn't come off as coerced in them. So far she seemed fine, but that didn't stop Nyota from worrying. Khan didn't strike her as an ideal partner or the augments like the best of company for a human.
Her concern only increased with the rumors haunting the less explored and less organized sectors of the galaxy they reached. Recently an unconfirmed intelligence report had mentioned a would-be skirmish between the augments and the Orion Syndicate in the region of the Mutara Nebula. As a result, Khan's name had begun to be spoken again across the Alpha Quadrant in both fear and reverence. Starfleet did not bother much with what they saw as speculation and idle gossip, especially since those rumors flew mostly outside the borders of major interstellar powers and not within areas of interest for the Federation, inside which talk of what went on Ceti Alpha V had all but died out. But the activities of the Orion Syndicate had winded down after that particular report.
"Is that...?" Pavel Chekov asked uncertainly at Nyota's right.
"Yes, that's her alright, laddy," Scotty confirmed. "Jim's not gonna believe this."
They were on a brief shore-leave, relaxing in between the talk of very uneasy negations to get what passed for government on Nausicaa to join in an anti-piracy conference the Federation was trying to put together and which would have made no sense without the participation of the race that supplied most of the Galaxy's pirates. The Enterprise had been tasked with treating with the Nausicaans and to say that it was not going well would have been a massive understatement. So Jim had called for a break and ordered his stressed-out senior officers to get some rest, until the next round of banging their heads against a Nausicaan wall rolled around.
"Let's go and say hello," Nyota stated and drained her drink in one big gulp.
On their way to Carol's balcony, they all but bumped into a giant Nausicaan even by Nausicaan standards, who blocked their path. Nyota arched an eye-brow, contemplating how to deal with the situation without stirring unnecessary trouble. Pavel and Scotty exchanged a look. Keenser shook his head no.
"Nyota!" Carol exclaimed from somewhere above and sprinted towards them on the narrow staircase that lead to the ground-floor.
The Nausicaan got out of her way so quickly, it was nearly comical. A moment later, Carol's arms were wrapped around Nyota, who enthusiastically hugged her back. "It's good to see you, Carol," she murmured, not even pretending not to be chocked-up about the chance encounter.
"Aren't ya glad to see us too?" Scotty interjected.
Carol released Uhura to hug the chief engineer instead. "You haven't changed a bit, have you, Scotty?"
"I'll take that as a compliment," Scotty shot back.
Carol winked at him. "I was meant as one." She patted Keenser's head on her way to hug Chekov. "How are you, Pasha?"
The Enterprise's resident whiz kid stammered out that he was fine. He still got flustered around beautiful women with PhDs. Nyota looked Carol over. She was a bit pale, her hair was longer, the bob she used to maintain while on the Enterprise now gone, and strapped in a pony-tail, and wore a black trousers and long-sleeved T-shirt ensemble. She looked alright, casual and her smile lacked any false notes, the tinkle in her eyes genuine. Nyota desperately wanted that to be true.
"The Enterprise is in orbit, if you want to come aboard for a tour. I know Jim and Bones would be happy to see you again. So would Spock... only he won't say it."
"I'd love to," Carol replied and looked up at the alcove she had just deserted.
A tall, massively-built man with short, dark-brown hair stood on the edge, a severe expression plastered onto his face. He waved at Carol and inclined his head in her direction before drawing back. Uhura had not had much interaction with any of the augments besides Khan himself, but her flawless instincts for danger warned her that he was one of them. The augments made her feel like she imagined a hapless herbivore would in the presence of a predator. She hated that. But Carol seemed fully at ease.
"Let's go," Carol said, still smiling.
# # #
"Menkar might be barely M-class, but at least, the system's strategic position is excellent," Carol remarked, eying the tapestry of rocks filling the shuttle's view-screen.
"I could not agree more. On the side of explored space, we are shielded by the arm of the Mutara Nebula, where communication is all but impossible with current technology, and on the one of the unknown, we have a dense asteroid field."
Carol smiled and looked at him. "Shall we go in?"
"Not yet." He stood up from his seat at the console next to her and walked to the back of the craft, where he extracted a small, ultramarine box from one of the supply compartments. "We haven't had the opportunity to be alone, since you told me you want us to live together again so I thought this is as good a time as any."
Her curiosity was piqued. "A time for what?"
"The circumstances of our marriage were not conducive to an exchange of rings." He snapped the box open and to her utter surprise, knelt before her. "I believe it's high time we remedy that." He extracted a thick band covered in a stylized, geometrical pattern. The ring had a familiar glimmering charcoal color.
"Don't you think it's a bit redundant to ask me to marry you now?" she teased but extended her left hand to him.
Khan pressed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "We already agreed that things between us never resembled anything approaching normal." He slipped the ring on her finger. Those were odd-sounding wedding vows, but somehow they matched them.
She reached into the box for the other ring. "Is this by any chance diburnium?" she asked, as she put it on his finger.
He interlaced the fingers of their left hands together and squeezed lightly, before letting go. One of his enigmatic half-smiles grazed his lips. "You know it is."
"A phaser-resistant metal. How very fitting for us." She followed him up, when he got to his feet.
"I thought so, too," he said, his smile widening a fraction.
Carol framed his face with her hands and pulled him in for a kiss.
# # #
"We really should stop meeting like this."
Carol sat up on the biobed with a wince. Her head was pounding and her mouth felt unnaturally dry. She licked her lips, staring in bewilderment at the familiar surroundings of the Enterprise's infirmary. The man who had spoken was Doctor McCoy, who was studying the readings of a medical tricorder with his customary disgruntled frown. There was nobody else around for as far she could see.
"What happened?" she muttered.
"You fainted," McCoy said dryly. "One moment you were talkin' and laughin' with Jim and the next you were on the floor of the rec room." He picked up a hypo from a nearby tray. "For your head," he explained.
Carol pulled her hair out of the way so he could inject her in the side of her neck.
"Better?" the doctor inquired, lifting a skeptical eyebrow.
It was heart-warming to see how little the crew of the Enterprise had changed. She had really missed them.
Carol gave Bones a small smiled and nodded. "I think I might be coming down with a member of Ceti Alpha V's vast microbe population," she grumbled. "I've been feeling under the water for weeks now."
McCoy set his tricorder down with a gesture that was slower and more deliberate than it was strictly necessary. "I found no microbial infection." He paused. "Carol, you're pregnant."
She could feel her eyes widen, completely taken aback. The doctor was studying her with an all too somber gaze.
"I take it that this is unexpected?"
"I thought it was impossible." Since the rekindling of her relationship with Khan, she had been trying to get used to the idea that she wouldn't have children of her own. It was still a sore spot between them, but biologically it just hadn't seemed to be in the cards for them. Before she had met the augment leader, she had always wanted to have a family at some point – it wasn't exactly easy for a Starfleet officer, but she had had friends who had made it so she had seen no reason for her not to.
McCoy scowled, the lines of his face deepening. "Theoretically, yes. The augments' DNA is so different and their genome so uneven due to repeated modifications, that they are practically another species. One with more chromosomal mutations than I've seen in any other humanoid race. Hybridization is always a complicated matter in such cases and yes, the chances are low, but it's not entirely unlikely."
Carol was too incredulous to be happy just yet, but she did feel the first stirrings of concern. "Is the baby healthy?"
"So far you are both in top condition, but given the unprecedented nature of your pregnancy, I'd recommend you be under the close supervision of a doctor experienced in 23rd century medicine. If you don't want to leave Ceti Alpha V until you give birth, I can give you a list of doctors with a taste for frontier medicine who'd die for a challenge like this. I even know some from Federation planets, where genetic engineering isn't outlawed so they might have a better handle on this than me."
"Thank you," she muttered absently. It was all so surreal. She pressed her left hand on her stomach, the diburnium ring heavy on her forth finger. "How far along am I?"
"You've just past your ninth week mark. Do you want to know if...?"
"Yes," she interrupted in one excited breath. The enormity of it was just beginning to sink in. "Yes, I want to know the sex."
McCoy bent to press a few keys at the bottom of the screen attached to her biobed, one of his rare smiles illuminating his face. The image of her vitals switched to one of her unborn baby safely cocooned in her womb next to a full DNA profile – the genetic make-up of the closest thing Carol had in her life that resembled a miracle.
"You're going to have a daughter," McCoy said, while straightening himself up. "She doesn't have your eyes, but she does have hetechromia."
Carol felt a single, hot tear run down her right cheek but could not stop grinning regardless. She could not wait to tell Khan.
~ the end ~