Chapter 2

Kirk was playing Spock in one of their customary 3-D chess matches when the intercom hailed him. "Captain? Carol Marcus here. That event we talked about has occurred. Can we talk?"

Intensely aware of Spock's curious gaze on him, Jim answered, "Sure. Meet me in the mess hall in ten minutes."

"Um, Sir? I'd rather that this be completely private."

Jim could practically hear Spock's eyebrow rise. "Fine. My quarters, then."

"I'll be there. Marcus, out."

After a pregnant pause, Spock said, "I take this to mean that our game will not be played to its inevitable conclusion, Captain."

Jim smiled apologetically. "Not today, no. And the conclusion is not quite so 'inevitable' as you seem to think, Spock."

"I rather doubt that." The Vulcan glanced at the board, memorizing, Jim knew, the layout of the pieces before rising to his feet. "I am going to 'wipe the floor with you', as I believe the phrase goes."

"Nice one, but no. You may already have calculated all possible outcomes to the game as it stands, but I've got something you're not allowing yourself to have."

Spock looked at him impassively, and took the bait. "And what is that?"

"The human factor. The thing that makes your calculations unreliable. I already know I can't win against you using logic and strategy, so I'm going to draw out the rug from under you, metaphorically, by being unpredictable. You'll see."

Spock's lips stretched in the ghost of a smile. "I am looking forward to it, Captain." He hesitated, and Jim could feel him formulating a question with regards to Carol Marcus and her business here, but fortunately, Vulcan delicacy prevailed over Vulcan curiosity, and he left with nothing more than a polite inclination of his head.

Jim slumped in relief. As much as he hated keeping things from his friend, he was sure he could anticipate the Vulcan's reaction if Jim so much as mentioned Khan.

Five minutes later, a buzz indicated Jim's new visitor.

"I received a call not fifteen minutes ago," Carol burst out as soon as the door had closed behind her. "He's escaped. Four people are dead. Apparently, he managed to steal a spacecraft and is now at large."

Jim sat down and waved for Carol to do the same. "So much for Section 31 knowing what they're doing," he commented. "Dammit. Now we've got a vengeful Augment on the run to deal with. Section 31 have sent a vessel after him, I suppose?"

"It's not quite so simple. The ship he fled in was found nearby, empty and cannibalized, and in it were, and I quote, 'the smoking remains of a transwarp beaming device'. He must have built it from parts of the ship and set it to self-destruct after use." Her voice conveyed her admiration at the feat.

"So he could be anywhere."

"Basically. But apparently, Section 31 also found enough data in the remains of the device to make an educated guess. My contact doesn't have the results of that guess, but we can make our own. Seems he's gone too far for Section 31 ships to reach him in a reasonable time, so they're sending the USS Bradbury, which is reportedly in the general area."

Jim snorted. "Captain Abbott won't know what hit him. I wonder what kind of briefing they gave him."

There was a thoughtful silence, during which Jim silently told himself to not do what he was considering doing. It didn't help that Carol was looking at him expectantly.

"Dammit!" Jim shook his head at himself. Of course he was going to do it. He'd known he'd do it as soon as the thought had crossed his mind. "Can we narrow down Khan's location, Carol?"

She smiled approvingly. "I took the liberty of cross-referencing the information from my contact with the Bradbury's current mission parameters before coming here, Sir. It's not a very dense area of space. There's only one solar system with a Class M planet that seems feasible." She handed him a PADD.

Jim looked at it and cursed again. "Dammit all. I need someone to talk me out of this." He handed her back the PADD and punched the intercom. "Spock, Dr. McCoy, please meet me in my quarters, stat."

"It's the right thing to do, Captain," Carol began.

But Jim raised a hand. "I don't think there is a 'right' or 'wrong' thing in this case. The fact remains that Khan's a convicted criminal, and aiding a criminal is a criminal offense. With that said, Carol, I'd suggest that you leave before Bones and Spock get here. I don't want you or your contacts to get in trouble over this."

She drew herself upright. "Captain. Admiral Marcus was my father, and he was colluding with said criminal. I already am in trouble by association. Why do you think I was transferred to the Enterprise for this mission? They wanted me as far away from Earth as possible so I could not implicate Section 31 any more than I already have. This whole thing - Khan's trial, his sentence, the fact that Section 31 unfroze him -, it's all been swept under the carpet. There wasn't a fair trial, and his sentence is really a death sentence, which is illegal. You're right - there's no right or wrong here. Everyone who played a role in this is guilty of something. So all we have is our gut feeling, and my gut is telling me that handing Khan back to Section 31 is wrong."

The door had swished open during her last sentence, revealing the First Officer and Ship's Surgeon, who had obviously both caught the gist and were looking at each other with varying degrees of astonishment.

"Gentlemen, come in," Jim said before either of them could get a word out.

"Khan?" McCoy echoed when the door had closed again. "I thought he was on ice?"

In a few words, Jim brought his two senior officers up to speed. "All other considerations aside," he concluded, "I submit that holding a sentient being captive and draining him of his blood is morally wrong. We know where he is. I intend to go there and get him before the Bradbury reaches him."

"Captain -"

"Jim!" McCoy began at the same time as Spock. "I'm as disgusted as you at the implications, but have you really thought this through? The man's a mass murderer! Have you forgotten what he did to Pike, to San Francisco, to this ship? What the hell do you intend to do with him, even supposing this harebrained scheme of yours works and we do find him first? Let him take over the Enterprise? Because that's what he's gonna try to do!"

"Dr. McCoy is correct," Spock said, garnering himself a surprised look from the ship's doctor. "Khan has proven that he cannot be trusted, and that he does not hold the lives of any beings he perceives as inferior to himself in any regard. Bringing him aboard this ship would endanger not just her crew, but, in the event of a takeover, possibly other planets and even Starfleet itself, should he decide to use this ship to exact his vengeance."

"I agree there is a risk," Jim said, "but let's not condemn the guy for crimes he has not committed. Also, I think you're overestimating him. Taking over this ship single-handedly isn't exactly easy. Besides, Spock, you managed to take him down single-handedly last time, so it's not like he's this invincible monster that cannot be contained."

"I did have some help, Captain. Also, you yourself just stated that he escaped a Section 31 high-security facility," Spock said.

"… While in less than perfect physical condition, probably," McCoy added.

Spock and McCoy eyed each other. "This is very weird," McCoy muttered. "Quick, Spock, disagree with me about something. I'm getting the heebie-jeebies."

Spock raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Anyway, what this really is about," McCoy went on after a pause, "is that Jim here has taken a shine to this superman from another time and wants him for himself."

Jim gaped at him. "That's not…" he began, then fell silent. Can it really be as simple as that?

"At least be honest with yourself, Jim," McCoy said, with some heat. "He impressed you when he took out the Klingons like it was nothing and then barely blinked when you tried to batter him into a pulp. Then there's the whole 'my crew is my family' thing that the two of you practically bonded over. Plus, you owe him your life. He saved you from the Klingons, he saved you during the space jump, and his blood saved you from radiation poisoning. Also," he briefly looked at Spock and Carol before fixing his gaze on Jim again - "remember what you told me a few days ago? You're obsessed. Have been for a while. You're not objective about this at all."

"Objectively speaking," Spock picked up his cue, "there is no need for the Enterprise to interfere at all. Section 31 will re-capture the criminal and rectify their mistake without our help."

Jim bit his lip. Well, you did want them to talk you out of this.

"Captain." Carol Marcus, who had been silent throughout, finally spoke up. "I just received this." Her voice sounded odd. She called up an image on her PADD, which she handed to Jim. "Apparently, this was taken from Section 31 security footage about two weeks ago."

JIm stared. The image showed the supine, naked body of a man, thin to the point of emaciation, deathly pale skin mottled with multicolored bruises in various stages of healing, his arms, legs, and torso secured to the bare metal he was lying on by crude shackles that were bolted fast. Blood caked the shackles and the limbs they covered. His right hand was all but crushed in a vise, the fingers bent unnaturally and swollen, clearly broken. The man's dark hair was mottled and unkempt, his eyes half open, his mouth slack. The bed was tilted backwards so that the man was canted head-first towards the ground, and a dark red tube was attached to his neck.

It actually took him a moment to recognize Khan, and when he did, his stomach seemed to drop out and his ears popped. He closed his eyes and deliberately breathed in and out once before meeting the concerned looks of his friends and handing the PADD to Spock. "We're going to get him, and this is why."

Spock looked at the image with a twitch in his stoic expression, which, for him, was almost a shout of dismay. "I agree," he said after a moment. "With reservations."

Jim nodded, lips tight. "So noted."

McCoy grabbed the PADD from Spock. "Holy -" He frowned down at the image, zooming in and focusing on the monitoring equipment next to the metal bed. "BP 50 over 10? That indicates massive blood loss, and those readings… My God. He's barely alive."

"So you agree?" Jim asked.

McCoy nodded, visibly shaken. "Yeah, I agree. This is monstrous. I'm ashamed to be a human being if my fellow humans are capable of something like this."

Jim looked at both his friends in turn. "Then we're all agreed - and while we're aware that this isn't a democracy, I'm glad to have your support. We're embarking on an illegal and dangerous course of action that will almost certainly land us in trouble one way or another sooner or later. It's not clear who the monster is here, or indeed if there are many monsters here or none at all, but I don't think there is any doubt that this -" he pointed at the PADD in McCoy's hand - "is something we can't allow to go on."

He took the PADD and called up the information on Khan's location, then he opened the intercom. "Mr. Sulu, plot and set a course for Beta Octantis III, maximum travel speed. And have all department heads convene in the briefing room."

Thirteen hours later, the Enterprise established orbit around Beta Octantis III. Following extensive changes to the ship's security system, Jim was satisfied that they were as prepared to take an augmented warlord aboard their ship as they ever would be.

"Scanning the planet's surface now, Captain," Spock reported from his station. "Preliminary data suggests that indigenous life has not evolved beyond primitive mammalian equivalents - no sentient life or signs of civilization detected as yet. In theory, this should make our target easy to find. In practice, we are looking for a single life sign. At worst, a full surface scan will be required, which will take up to three hours and thirty-seven minutes."

Jim nodded. "ETA of the Bradbury?"

"Out of range of our long-range sensors. We don't have her exact position, but it's safe to say she'll be at least four hours," Sulu said.

"Right. Spock, you have the con. Uhura, have the landing party stand by. We'll have to move fast if we want to avoid being detected by Bradbury's sensors."

It took another three hours before they had a position. The transporter effect released them, and Jim blinked in the alien sunlight of an untouched planet.

"A single humanoid life sign approximately 90 meters in this direction," McCoy said, looking up from his tricorder and pointing. "Very weak. Completely unlike his vitals when we had him aboard at that time. Might not even be him."

"Who else can it be?" Jim said rhetorically.

Jim, McCoy, and eight security guards set off through a terrain of waist-high grass, here and there dotted with low, coniferous vegetation, gently rolling hills just barely barring the view towards the horizon. All in all, Jim thought, not a good place to try to hide in.

Twenty meters away from their target, Jim indicated for the security detail to spread out and cast a questioning glance at McCoy.

"Readings unchanged. He seems to be unconscious, but these readings are so far out of normal human range that it's difficult to tell."

Jim signaled the security detail to be on guard and followed his own advice by drawing his phaser.

Then McCoy pointed towards a tree. And there he was.

Khan was sitting with his back leaning against the narrow trunk, head listing to one side, eyes closed. Disconcertingly, a dark trail of blood ran from one corner of his mouth down his neck. The skeletal, unkempt figure dressed in ill-fitting medical garb was almost unrecognizable. Except for the hair color, there was no resemblance to the regal, physically imposing Augment Jim had witnessed taking out an entire Klingon squad single-handedly.

Fighting down a strange surge of emotions, Jim trained his phaser on the figure and approached. "Khan!"

The reaction was instantaneous. With a snap, the head was upright, eyes open, and then the man scrambled to his feet with an outburst of strength belying his emaciated appearance, roaring and hurling himself towards Jim.

Jim brought his phaser to bear and would have fired if not for McCoy's shout: "Don't fire! Nobody fire! You'll kill him!"

By then, Khan had reached him, launching himself at Jim in an attempted full-body tackle. Jim had a confused impression of the man's rage-distorted features from close up, eyes bloodshot, cheeks sunken, lips dark red with dried blood. They impacted, and Jim instinctively wrapped his arms around Khan, immobilizing the Augment's arms against the panting, too-thin body, and let himself be thrown backwards by the momentum, holding the man tight and dragging him down with him, expecting to get at least a rib or two broken and hoping like hell his neck would remain intact.

Instead, Khan's roar gave way to a sound somewhere between a sob and a groan, and he went limp in a heap of bones and sinews on top of Jim, his head falling heavily against Jim's shoulder.

Confused, Jim looked up from his supine position at McCoy, whose face was just entering his field of vision. "Bones? What just happened?"

McCoy knelt next to them while Jim began to extricate himself out from under the unmoving Augment. "Exhaustion doesn't begin to cover it. He's finished. Depleted. By all rights, he should be dead. A single stun charge would have killed him. I'd say he's lost consciousness because he simply overexerted himself." He ran his scanner over the Augment who was lying half-supported against Jim's upper body, frowning down on his tricorder. "Indications of severe internal trauma virtually all over."

As the scanner whirred next to Khan's ear, Jim's head was abruptly snapped back; he saw stars and Bones was shouting.

"Stop it, dammit, you'll kill yourself, man!"

Jim's vision came back to Bones holding one of Khan's wrists and actually managing to immobilize it with one hand. "Khan!" Jim shouted, "we're not going to hurt you. Calm down!"

Wild eyes met Jim's. There was no recognition in them, only fear and rage, and then the Augment wrenched his hand free from McCoy's grasp with an effort that clearly cost him, as he ended up doubled over, coughing and spitting out fresh blood, before resuming his wild attack on Jim.

Or trying to. Figuring it had worked before, Jim again caught him in a bear-hug and held on while McCoy hunted through his supplies for a tranquilizer, muttering about having to be careful with the chemicals.

The muscular struggles in Jim's arms ceased abruptly. Thinking Khan had once more lost consciousness, Jim loosened his grasp and laid him back onto the grassy ground.

Nearly translucent lids opened and familiar eyes, startlingly blue amidst grimy skin and blood-shot sclera, met his. "Kirk…?" The deep voice was weak and hoarse, like something that has been used for nothing but screaming in far too long.

"Yeah." Jim returned the searching look steadily. "It's me. We're not Section 31."

Khan looked at him for a minute longer, panting as though he just had run a marathon, his expression for once unguarded. Jim could see a quick succession of confusion, relief, and worry cross the haggard features. Then Khan closed his eyes and visibly forced himself to calm. "They will not be far. I… ask asylum."

Jim relaxed and nodded at the security team. "Stand down."

Jim's communicator cut in, signaling an incoming transmission. "Kirk here."

"Captain," Spock's disembodied voice said, "the USS Bradbury has just entered sensor range."

"Understood. They're early. Stand by to beam us back. And have sickbay prepare for a patient. Kirk, out."

"Jim," McCoy interjected, "beaming might put too great a strain on him in his current state."

"Irrelevant," Khan spoke up from his position on the ground, still breathing heavily.

"You could die, man!"

The pale lips stretched into a humorless smile. "I've died a dozen times over. Once more will hardly matter."

Jim raised the communicator to his mouth, but Khan's voice stopped him.

"Do you grant me asylum, Captain?"

"Do you give me your word of honor that you won't try to take over my ship?" Jim countered.

"You're assuming that my word will bind me." The deep voice was still much too weak to convey its usual gravitas, but the familiar condescension was in full force.

Jim smiled ruefully. "Trust has to start somewhere. Yeah, I'm assuming, and I'm granting you asylum. But I certainly won't be giving you the run of the ship, so…"

Khan closed his eyes and nodded weakly. "You have my word, for what it's worth to you. Now let us begone."

Giving me orders, huh? Jim shook his head. "Spock, have us beamed back now, and go to warp as soon as we're aboard."