AN: Thank you to all who have been reading thus far - the support has been so wonderful and really drives my passion to write more.

I give you the next chapter in our little story, this time the first meeting between Khan and Rhue as seen through her eyes.

So without further ado - here is chapter 3!

Enjoy!

~Voi

She refused to leave.

They had left her waiting there for hours, but nothing was going to make her move. She was not a particularly stubborn woman, but in this there was no changing her mind. She needed to know he was ok, and with trust being what it was, she needed to see him for herself.

Rhue only wished her body would be as resolute as her mind. Already fatigue had forced her into one of the upholstered lobby chairs, and her eyes burned from overstimulation, as if they too were on the cusp of betraying her.

"McGivers?"

She looked up to see Bones; his face lined with exhaustion, and motioned for him to sit beside her. He did so with a soft groan, his long frame expanding outwards as his body went limp in relief.

She tilted her head to look at him, flinching at the tension in her neck, ""I take it Captain Kirk is doing well?"

He nodded, grabbing the water bottle she had left on the table between them and taking a long drink, "Yeah, the transfusion worked, it was a hell of a close call though."

Nodding silently, Rhue glanced again at the door that led to the high-security wards. Nothing had changed in the few seconds she had looked away, and this time she wasn't even surprised.

And because he had come to know her every little mood McCoy cracked open an eye, "What's up kiddo?"

She smiled thinly, "They haven't let me in to see him yet."

They both eyed the guards, took in the heavy weapons and protective plating they wore. Neither one could blame them for taking precautions, but Rhue couldn't quite swallow her resentment either. John was not a bad man.

"Do you think they'll let me see him at all?"

She whispered the words, stricken, caught between the desire to hear the kind words of a friend and the need to know his honest opinion. Terrified that whatever answer she received would be the one that obliterated what small flickering hope she had left.

Bones merely sighed and offered her the water bottle.

"I hope so, kiddo."

Twelve Months Earlier:

She had been working for Starfleet's Research Division for little more than a month when she was called upstairs. And while others might have smiled at the honor, at the prestige of being called to talk about their work, Rhue knew better.

It made her nervous, going there. Riding the elevator seemed to take a light-year and every imagined jostle of the lift made her heart jump into her throat.

The summons to the Admiral's Office had not been descriptive in the least, and even now, as she walked down the empty hall and passed the rooms of superior officers she could not understand what she was doing here.

But whatever it was, whatever Admiral Marcus had to say, Rhue doubted it would be pleasant. He had been demanding the Research Division cut costs since long before her arrival and it seemed their most recent decision to hire her had been met with protestation.

Grimacing, she approached the intimidating double doors that posed the final obstruction, eyed it with all the suspicion of one who had never quite made peace with the strict education and punishment systems that had made up her childhood.

But there was no delaying the inevitable, and so with only a deep inhale to fortify herself against the unknown, Rhue pushed open the door and greeted the man waiting within.

"Lieutenant McGivers reporting, Admiral, Sir."

She snapped smartly to attention despite the casual state of her clothing. R and D had never emphasized the uniform, and since Marcus had asked for her immediately the dress blues had promptly been forgotten in her rush.

"Ah, good to have you here, Lieutenant." Standing before the large window that overlooked the bustling San Francisco center, Alexander Marcus gestured towards one of the high-backed chairs, "Please, have a seat."

She obeyed him instantly, settling herself with a minimum of hassle. And when he turned back to look at her she returned his gaze with steady resolve.

"Well McGivers, let me be direct." He glanced at her, "You're here because we have a special project and need someone well versed in history to help us avoid any potentially fatal errors."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion, "Sir?"

"Your file says you specialize in the Eugenics War, is this correct?"

"Yes Sir, all six major kingdoms and some of the smaller ones as well." She shifted in her seat, "Was there something in particular you needed answered, Sir?"

There was a flash of a smile on the Admiral's face, "Of a sort, yes, I suppose so."

He moved behind his desk and sat down, "Tell me, Lieutenant. After the end of the Eugenics War what happened to the Augments?"

"Many were killed in uprisings, Princes overthrown by the people, their loyal vassals killed in kind. Those left were incorporated back into society but remained under heavy suspicion for the remainder of their natural lives."

She gestured to herself, "These Augments took nearly two hundred years to die, and by the time World War III ended the last of the 'super' humans had vanished…" she hesitated, "There is however research that suggest there may have been a discrepancy in records of that time."

"What do you mean Lieutenant?"

"There is some proof, nothing substantial of course, but several documents mention a ship filled with Augments departing from Earth shortly after the fall of the Eugenic Principalities. Eighty-four of them, they have never been accounted for."

Rhue looked down at her hands in sudden self-consciousness, "It seems that despite the sad end of their fellows, this group may have been the exception."

"The exception?" Marcus raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, "What sort of exception, McGivers?"

"Most Augments died as a result of the fighting…that much is true. But…" Rhue paused and licked her lips in agitation, "The ship was a sleeper class, lots of storage and outfitted with the most advanced technology they had at the time. Who knows that Augments with enough resources are capable of?"

"And do you know the name of the ship."

Rhue shook her head, "No, most documents only mention the class, never the name. It was a secret I think."

"A secret, yes." The Admiral nodded once before retrieving the tablet that lay face-up on his desk, "Take a look at this, Lieutenant. Tell me what you see."

Taking the offering, Rhue froze as the image came into view. A ship, a sleeper ship with old 20th century rocket boosters lay half imbedded in an icy landscape, the hull pitted with meteor impacts, the words on its side nearly illegible.

"That is the SS Botany Bay, retrieved little over a year ago. We found it frozen on Titan."

"And inside? Sir?" Rhue looked up, eyes huge, "What did you find inside?"

The Admiral smiled all the wider as he gestured back to the tablet, "If you would move to the next picture, Lieutenant, I think the image will do more justice than I could."

She hesitated then, paused on the cusp and wondered just what she would be trading to gain such valuable information. But the heart of her, the very soul whispered promises, pointed out that any trade would be worth the price of this particular piece of knowledge.

She moved on to the next image.

"Do you know who that is, Lieutenant?"

Eyes fixed to the screen she didn't look up, couldn't look away. Mesmerized, she traced the digital image with a finger; face a study of immense shock.

"It's impossible."

She could barely make the words, pushed them out on a wheezing breath that shook in her lungs. And when at last she finally managed to drag her attention back to the man seated behind the desk, she took a shuddering breath as she tried to blink away the all-consuming intensity of what she had just seen.

The Admiral smiled, "Let me offer you a proposal…"

She was on a shuttle to Jupiter a scant few hours later, her mind racing, her heart thundering in her chest. And when at last she stood outside the sterile room in which he was being held, she found herself reeling at the events of the past few hours.

There had been a secretary to greet her at the door, had given her an access pass to one of the most secluded bases in Starfleet Space, and welcomed her to Section 31. She felt like laughing, like crying. It felt like she had stepped into an alternate dimension where being a book worm meant you were actually being trained to function as a covert operative. But if this was what four years of History courses at Starfleet meant, Rhue almost didn't want to know what exactly the 'Special Lectures' as the Archives really were.

She had the sinking suspicion she would find out soon enough.

But for now she would focus on this, on him. Stepping into the decontamination chamber she changed from civilian clothing to white scrubs, leaving her meager possessions in a special locker as she stepped through to the final room.

It was slightly warmer there, comfortable despite the Spartan furnishings. This was to be his room for the next month, his home until it could be proved he could function in everyday life.

But before he could do that, before he could run through their tests like a rat in a maze, he first had to wake up. And even that would be an ordeal, Starfleet had no proper procedures for dealing with cryogenically frozen people and their first eleven attempts had all failed, though the last one had very nearly made it.

She didn't know if anyone would tell him about the loss, about the deaths of people who had obviously meant something to him. And part of her didn't want to, because it seemed suddenly barbaric that they had failed so spectacularly, had lost so many lives, when humanity had advanced so far past the era of Eugenics.

Either way, he would need to be strong enough to survive what was to come. And though Rhue did not know yet what Admiral Marcus hoped to gain with her presence at this secret lab she was glad for the opportunity all the same.

This was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

And when at last she mustered the courage to cross the room, to stand at the side of that all too quiet glass tube, she found herself caught up in sensation all over again.

Resting her hand against its surface, she looked past the coat of ice and frost, down to where he lay. And with a voice filled in disbelieving wonder she greeted him for the first time.

The first of a lifetime.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Khan."