A/N: some lines of dialogue in this chapter are taken with modifications from the Star Trek Into Darkness movie. No copyright infringement is intended!

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The surprise of Carol's teleportation was replaced a mere instant later by that of a body slamming into his with enough force to make him grunt. Khan's enraged voice swam into view, as Kirk found himself on his back on the floor. The Augment gave a guttural cry, before beginning to pummel at him. Kirk tried to resist, but Khan's precise and brutal blows had him light-headed with pain in no time. He was then lifted with startling ease and thrown unceremoniously into a far wall, from where he slumped down, drained of strength and fighting for a breath that made his chest hurt with each desperate intake of oxygen.

Despite what Spock sometimes thought, Kirk wasn't irresponsible, especially not where the lives of his crew were concerned. The cold-blooded murder of the Augments might not have sat well with him, but Kirk had not for one second forgotten just how quickly after being awakened Khan had entrapped the Enterprise crew in the back and tried to gain control of the ship. His suspicions had been increased exponentially by Carol Marcus' erratic behavior, so much so that by the time he had reached the Vengeance, his decision had been made.

Tired of helping Khan advance his mysterious plan, he had let the Augment get in front of him, where he could keep an eye on him at all times, and then dropped him. However, Carol's action had startled him into taking his eyes off the superhuman for a moment. It had turned out to be just what Khan needed. Apparently, not even the highest setting of the phaser's stun function could take the man out of commission for long.

Once Kirk was incapacitated, Khan dashed after Marcus, nabbing him as he was hurriedly trying to activate a command panel near the lift. He pushed the admiral to his knees by the sheer force of his bare hands placed on the officer's temples. Kirk had always known before that Khan was dangerous, but nothing had prepared him for the murderous rage written over the Augment's profile. Dark locks of hair had fallen into his eyes and the muscles of his arms bulged as he applied pressure to the admiral's head. Khan looked positively feral in that instant and not at all human.

What others took for recklessness in him Kirk saw as fearlessness, but upon hearing the ferocious growl leaving the Augment lips, the sound mixing with the admiral's cry of pain, a primitive kind of terror emerged from the captain's lizard brain, unfamiliar chills licking at his spine. But Kirk was nothing if not brave. Though he knew his chances against the superhuman were non-existent, he still tried to push himself to his feet and try to come to the admiral's aid. His muscles would not obey and he slid back to the deck with a shudder.

"Do you know why I'm allowing you to live?" Khan asked, the fury on his face fully reflected in his voice.

The admiral didn't answer, pulling futilely at the Augment's arms.

"Captain Kirk," came a clear, feminine voice over the ship's comm. Carol Marcus.

Khan's head snapped up and his eyes roved over the bridge, as if he had only now noticed her absence. Wordlessly he flung the admiral to the floor and delivered a kick to both of the man's legs at the same time, garnering an agonized howl from him. Then he knocked him out. Or perhaps he had just killed him. There was no way to tell, given the Augment's powerfully violent blow.

"Khan, is that you?" Carol asked, no doubt knowing what to expect of the Augment by now. Kirk didn't want to think about what he had done to her to induce this particularly nasty form of Stockholm syndrome she seemed to be suffering from. He vowed once more to pry her from Khan's clutches, if it was the last thing he did.

Khan moved swiftly to the command chair, took a seat in an imperious yet casual manner, as if that place belonged to him. "Yes, Carol, it's me," he answered, voice devoid of his previous anger. He speedily pressed a few commands on the control panel to his right and glanced at the front screen, frowning when no image appeared.

"Is everyone...?"

"Everyone is alive," Khan confirmed, sparing a look of disgust to her father's prone from. Kirk wanted to breathe in relief but he couldn't, knowing this was far from over. "Where are you?"

"Ceti Alpha VI," she replied, sounding a little breathless.

Kirk froze. The closest planet to Ceti Alpha V was K-class and its meager atmosphere was incapable of sustaining human life. Judging by the way anger drained from Khan's face to be replaced by an unexpected conflicted expression, the superhuman was aware of it as well.

"My father used what we know of the technology that destroyed Vulcan to inject a bomb into the planet's core. I'm in its control nacelle on the surface."

The blaze of fury sparked with a new flame on Khan's face, but the fingers of his right hand were nothing but steady as they typed on the command console. His left hand formed a fist on the arm of the captain chair and he turned his head to the side, briefly squeezing his eyes shut, making lines of worry blossom all over his face. Kirk had never seen the Augment afraid before and he had an inkling that right now the superhuman leader might be at his most dangerous.

"The device already activated," he said, raising his voice a little, pure terror infecting his tone.

"I know," came Carol shaky reply. "I'm trying to shut it off manually from the ground control."

Kirk experienced a moment of regret and uncharacteristic self-doubt. Had his jumping to conclusions about the Augment's intentions somehow precipitated this? "What's going to happen to Ceti Alpha V, if that device explodes?" he wheezed.

Khan glared at him, but there was nothing of the usual power of his gaze in his widened eyes. Instead a new intensity had dawned on his features. He even looked paler than usual. Whether it was fear, desolation or sorrow that he saw on Khan's face, Kirk couldn't tell. The mere thought of such human emotions in the Augment was deeply unsettling.

"The two planets are too close. A blast of such magnitude would incinerate Ceti Alpha V's atmosphere instantaneously killing everyone of the people I hold most dear," Khan explained, his voice gruff and pained, his eyes almost misty at the last words.

"I've got it," Carol's voice boomed once again over the comm. "If I can trigger an explosion inside the control nacelle, it would send a signal to the bomb that detonation already occurred and it would disarm itself."

Khan surveyed his console thoughtfully. "I'll transport you back to the Vengeance, once you've set up the blast."

"You can't," Carol replied quickly, her voice too calm for Kirk's liking. Something was very wrong. "The controls have to be rerouted manually on a specific sequence to send the right signal to the bomb and someone will have to keep that sequence on repeat right until the nacelle detonates. There's no other way."

Khan stood up. "Then I'll take your place."

"No," she said firmly. "I already started cutting the optic fibers leading to the control panel. If I take my hand off them or make the wrong move, the planet explodes anyway and it was all for nothing." She paused only her nervous breath coming over the communication system. "If you beam me back, your family dies." A long, shuddery sigh traveled to the ship from the deathtrap on Ceti Alpha VI. "Just let me do it." Her voice was pitched high to the point of being shrill, but that didn't detract from the vehemence in it. The woman speaking had clearly made her peace with her impending death.

"No," Kirk yelled hoarsely, pulling himself to all fours with considerable effort. "Get her out of there."

"It was always going to be like this," Carol continued as if he no one had spoken. "Me for them."

Then the communication was abruptly cut. Khan's fists balled once more and Kirk was arrested on his way to getting up by the sight of one lone tear slipping from the ancient warrior's left eye, running down his paper-white cheek. The captain thought perhaps hysterically that in that moment the man truly looked three hundred years old. Then by a force of will Kirk could not hope to understand, the Augment seemed to pull himself out of his despondency and sauntered to him only to use his leg to kick him in the diaphragm area, causing the captain to drop back on the deck coughing convulsively. Kirk didn't know if Khan had hit to keep him down or simply because he was the only conscious target for him to vent on his hopelessness.

The Augment pulled out his communicator next and talked into it at rapid fire pace. "Joaquin, take one of our cryotubes, Kati, Otto and Mai in the shuttle with you and come out of the mountains. I'm in control of the Vengeance so as soon as you're in my transporter's range, I will beam your companions on board, but you will continue towards the USS Enterprise, where you are to comply with the acting captain's instructions."

"Yes, Sir," came the unflinching reply.

It had to be nice to have a second in command, who didn't question even the oddest of your orders, Kirk thought, while swallowing the bile raising in his throat and trying to come up with a way to get himself out of this one.

"And Joaquin?"

"Sir?"

"Hurry!"

Khan snapped his communicator shut and advanced towards Kirk once more. He grabbed the captain by the back of his neck, holding him on his feet as if he were a string puppet.

"I think it's time we talked to your first officer, Kirk."

TBC