The readers of fanfic are awesome! I would like to thank all of those who reviewed, including many returning readers of my Loki stories. It seems people are actually interested so here is a little more to tickle your reading bone :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC


Nina rested her head on the desk in exhaustion. They'd only been a part of the study for three days and that was enough time to learn all about what was really going on. As she and Bones had suspected from the start, the researchers had hopes of being able to synthesize the blood into an injectable serum that would enhance basic human function. Without any proper testing, there was no way of telling if that was going to be a possibility, not without the experience being uncomfortable at any rate. They wanted a new breed of super soldiers in humans, ones easier to control than Augments. It was paranoia at the forefront driving this study now that Klingon threats had become a daily occurrence. The Federation had placed new restrictions for all starships, a limit on how close they could venture to Kronos before flying into what they deemed was 'the hot zone'. There had been restrictions before, but the new regulations sent out to all Captains' had been much more severe than they had initially realized.

"If they were to discover they were being used as lab rats, what do you think their reaction would be?" She lifted her head off the desk to give Bones a perplexed look for asking such a question.

"Really, is it that hard of an answer to figure out?" She said in bemusement.

"No." He replied matter-of-factly, "I just wanted your face off of my things."

She couldn't bring herself to scowl as she was more enamoured by the idea of wanting out of this process. She stood up from her chair at their workstation—which happened to be situated away from everyone else's—while pacing around the five pods they had been using to study. Bones had requested them getting first claims to Khan and she didn't understand why he had been so adamant about it. At first glance, she hadn't been sure if she was looking at the same man. He was at peace, or a false sense of it anyways and it looked better on him. Nothing had changed of course and it was with cold comfort she was able to breathe with the glass separating them. She knew what lurked behind his lidded eyes and she was spared the pain of having to see those diamonds again.

"Would you quit doing that?! You're making me nervous." Bones said strictly as he had his face buried in his PADD. Even though he wasn't watching, he knew what she was doing because it had become something of a habit since they'd begun.

"I can't help it." She defended, "I feel guilty because I've talked with him. Once you've shared words with a person, it just doesn't seem right to be doing this."

"Yeah well, don't feel too bad, he tried to kill us."

She turned around and walked back over to the desk with a small chuckle. "Yes I know, I was there." She reminded impassively, "I often wonder though; is he really filled with reckless hate, or did Admiral Marcus drive it into him first?"

"I wouldn't know I'm a Doctor not a historian. If you have questions about the Eugenics war, you'd better find one." He busied himself with looking at another sample of blood taken from one of the females, "Speaking of Admiral Marcus, have you talked to Carol recently?"

She shifted with unrest in her seat, "No. I don't know how, to be honest. She saw her father murdered only shortly after finding out he was a neurotic warmonger. I hear she had to go through questionings of her own from Starfleet to see if she had known about her father's plans prior to the events that took place on the 'Vengeance'."

Bones hummed in response, pausing to look thoughtful while he sat his work down. Truth be told, they weren't working all that hard and that was the silent agreement they had made after the first seminar. It was their nature to study medicine for the greater good, not exploit it for personal gain. Deep down in the roots of Starfleet it appeared there was more than one Admiral Marcus willing to go to great lengths for a war with the Klingons. Any more of this and they'd be beyond peaceful negotiations, if they weren't already, "I don't envy Carol at the moment. Maybe you do though." He tacked on a merciless grin without looking at her.

"I really regret telling you that." She huffed, "They're just feelings, they'll go away with time."

"Just feelings? Nina, feelings and Jim Kirk, your superior officer might I add, is a bad mix to be dealing with." He recovered from his playful banter with a serious expression marring his features, "I don't want you to have to transfer. I'd like you as my head nurse."

Ignoring for a moment his first statement, she sat up in her seat with reserved excitement, "Seriously, you'd ask that of me?"

"Of course, and I can get the paperwork pushed to Jim just as soon as we're done this for him to OK it. I need to know you're in it for the long haul though. No jumping ship once we've set sail."

She wondered how many head nurses had come before her, and she certainly hoped she would be the last to fill the shoes, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Don't concern yourself over my 'feelings'. I've been friends with Jim longer and that's much more important to me than a silly crush." She was too much of a cynic for relationships, or that's what her mother had always told her anyways and after hearing it for so long she just started to believe the words.

He nodded in relief before he did a quick double take to the other side of the lab, "They're looking over here again. Make busy with a brain scan for me or something. It will give you something to study."

Even though they were playing the research team for fools, she still jumped at the chance to study the Neocortex. While in cryo, brain activity was the only thing left functioning and she was rather curious on how Augments differed from humans in that department. If she could study her own brain at that moment, she'd check to see why her first choice was to scan Khan's without hesitation. McCoy shook his head in disbelief at her too while giving her an are-you-serious look, "Oh Bones, you're just afraid I'll find out he's smarter than you."

He scrunched his nose in displeasure, "Unlikely." He grumbled.

"You know, you're really starting to get crotchety. Better be careful, or that will stick with you when you're an old man."

His brows furrowed into one thick line, "What are you talking about, old man?! I'm very spry for my age."

"Whatever you say Bones." She laughed to herself when he muttered something else colorful under his breath. She then turned to the task at hand, steadying her breathing while subconsciously smoothing her hand over Khan's head to brush away any stray hairs that had fallen out of place. Under the feel of her palm she noticed he was cold, as was to be expected in cryo, but not of the same temperature as say a humans would be. He was...lukewarm. The very idea that she had touched him at all was confounding and she knew she wouldn't have done it had he been awake. Amazing what a little false confidence could do; put a person to sleep and she could be as brave as a star ship Captain, which thankfully she wasn't.


It was crowning into evening by the time they finished up for the day and headed back above ground. The elevator ride back to the top was always the worst part of the day for her as she was always caught halfway between thinking of the freedom that waited above ground and being stuck in the black depths by some unfortunate accident. Bones was always there to reassure her of course, but she had it conjured in her mind that she would be trapped in by some grand design or scheme of sorts. Today had been better though as she had something to distract herself with in the form of brain activity. She was fiddling with her PADD, engrossed in the content as if it was the front page of a news article.

"See something you like?" Bones asked sarcastically, "You know we're not supposed to take anything from down there."

Turning away from the material, she gave him a hard look, "You mean like those vials of blood in your med-bag?"

His face turned crimson while he cleared his throat conspicuously, "You saw that huh?"

"Yeah and be thankful I was the only one. You could get into a lot of trouble doing that." She warned out of concern, "Why did you do it?"

"Maybe I don't want them finding anything out just yet. My conscious had been talking to me about this too, and right now it's saying we should slow down and think."

She took note of his change in demeanor as he held himself high in determination, "You're worried about what the results might be?"

"The products they're demanding for would take years to prefect and sitting on the edge of a war, we don't exactly have that time. I'm worried they'll use the first serum they can get their hands on. Then there's the question of who would be subjected to it. The one thing I do know about Augments is they were made this way from infancy. Everything special about them is genetically unique, given since birth. If we were to take that same concept and inject it into fully matured adults, the special enhancements we can assume they would gain would all be from a test tube. Would injections have to be taken regularly to maintain the new homeostasis? What affects would it have on the human brain? These are only a few questions out of the many things that could go wrong." He explained with heated passion.

"You're right." She agreed intuitively, "Everything about Augments is primal, something humans have lost over an age ago. I think it only stands to reason that injections could cause mental instability."

The lift halted at the ground floor and the doors pulled apart, revealing the glass lobby where the sky had filled with clouds of orange. Their ears were filled with the chatter of cadet's leaving for their dorms while she and Bones shouldered through them. Everything they had brought with them from the basement was now stashed away, including their conversation, "What are your plans for the evening?" He asked casually while holding the door open for her.

"I'm meeting Uhura. We're going to search for something to wear for the benefit." She said passively while taking off her glasses and storing them in her bag, "I think she suspects something. It hasn't gone unnoticed by the others that we haven't been around since shore leave started."

"I know, Jim's been the same. Thank God that green-blooded goblin's been there to distract him."

She scoffed, "You're horrible sometimes, did you know that?"

He held up his hands in mock surrender just as he spotted Uhura walking there way, "Oh no. Is she going to be curious about your attire?"

"Umm yeah. You'd better get out of here while you still can. I don't think the two of us could stand getting the third degree from her right now." She said while nudging him in the opposite direction.

"Alright well, see you here tomorrow." He said goodbye, hurrying towards the main building just as Uhura came bounding down the sidewalk in jeans and a trench coat.

"Great...see you here tomorrow." She mumbled icily into the air before throwing up a fake smile in greeting of her friend, "Hey, you're ready to go already?"

Uhura raised a thin brow making a new world record in observing her uniform in less than half a second, "Yeah I've been waiting. Are you ready?"

She hid her uncertainty behind a wall of laughter, brushing away Uhura's skepticism, "Yeah I'll be fine. Let's go shopping."

"Good, because I haven't done this in weeks and I could use just a girl's night out." Rarely was Uhura a trend follower, much like her actually and they bonded well over pride in their work while aboard the Enterprise. She was pleasantly surprised on how much she was in need of a little down time too and the idea of strolling around a department store was a little slice of paradise.

"Me too." They walked side by side in the chilly autumn evening, chatting about their shipmates and friends alike. Nina couldn't completely throw herself into the conversation though. Her mind was still flogged with the heavy burden of the lab and hated being forced under thumb to hide such things from everyone else. Starfleet was in a mad panic and she couldn't even tell anyone about what was going on right beneath their feet, or who was being kept there. The encumbrance was difficult to carry on her shoulders and her hands were cold as she stuffed them in to her pockets, having nothing to do with the weather, but of a pair of diamonds she was forced to accept would be her nightmare for the remaining two weeks.


So no Khan this chapter, at least not him talking anyways but I should be getting to that either next chapter or definitely four (you have my word on that) I love starting a new story, the plot bunnies are at their strongest and I can really fire out chapters at an alarming pace, so stay tuned for more.