A/N: Shall we begin? I do not own anything but Aureya.

Aureya ended up running onto the bridge just in time to hear Admiral Marcus threaten the crew and the ship. Her heart dropped and she made her way to the engineering station and set to work frantically. Kirk turned to the crew.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said as he looked around. When his eyes met Uhura's, there was an unspoken order, and the channel was cut. Now Aureya could see what they were up against, and it didn't make her feel any better. The enemy ship was a giant version of the Enterprise, with black hull plating. As she set teams to fixing the engines as best they could, she proceeded to scan what little of the ship she could. It was powering up weapons and Aureya felt hopeless. Out of nowhere, the weapons on the other ship died and shields were dropped. Now, neither ship could attack or defend. Seeing her opportunity, she scanned and started moving power from unneeded sections towards the shields.

"I will go with you, Captain." Spock said, pulling Aureya out of her work to see Kirk and his first officer fighting again.

"No, I need you on the bridge." Kirk was trying to leave, but Spock moved to stop him. Aureya was wondering if he had had the same idea as her.

"I cannot allow you to do this. It is my function aboard the ship to advise you in making the wisest decision possible, something I firmly believe you are incapable of doing at this moment." Spock argued, giving what seemed to be the most logical answer.

"You're right! What I am about to do, it doesn't make sense, it's not logical, it is a gut feeling! I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do. The Enterprise and her crew needs someone on that chair who knows what he's doing. That's not me. It's you Spock." Kirk said back, shocking everyone. Spock simply nodded and Kirk went off. Aureya continued her work, ordering everyone out of non-essential areas of the ship and draining the power. It took her quite awhile, but eventually she had enough to hold minimal shields and make one transporter trip. She got up, heading quickly for the lift. It didn't take her long to get to the transporter room, but it did take her more time than she would have liked to convince the transporter chief to leave the room to her. She had just been setting up the energy transfer when she heard the door open.

"I told you, Chief, I'm doing this myself and would rather not have you involved." The clearing of a throat made her turn around. Instead of the transporter chief, there was a rather upset looking McCoy.

"Aureya, you better be setting that up to bring them back." He said quietly. She shook her head, going back to her work.

"There's not enough power for more than one person." She hoped he understood what she meant and would leave and NOT tell Kirk about it. She knew she could really disable that ship, if she could just get over there.

"You can't! You'll be killed!" She continued to work, the power cells almost ready. He grabbed her, forcing her to turn and face him. He looked frightened and sad. "Aureya, look at me dammit! I can't let you go over there. It's bad enough that Kirk is going with that psychopath." His voice dropped to a quieter volume. "Please. You said, that after we survived the Kronos mission, we could talk. Well, we survived…" She held up a hand.

"But we're not out of the fire yet, Leo." She tapped a few commands, setting it to activate when she gave the order. "Besides, we survived Klingons. I'll be back in time to hear whatever it is you think you need to say, and then we can laugh about it over some fries." She pulled away, stepping onto the pad and giving a smart-ass salute. "Energize." And then she was on the other ship, in a cargo bay. She looked around to see Scotty being threatened by a big burly guy and could hear Spock's voice counting down through the communicator on the floor. She ran over, helping Scotty get rid of the guy and gripping the bar as he opened the airlock. She faintly heard two thunks, and reached up to smack the button to close the door. As Scotty and herself slammed to the floor, Kirk and Khan slid up next to them. After pleasantries, they all headed for the bridge.

"Listen, lass, I'm not very trustin' of that Khan fella. Somethin' about 'im is off. Keep a close eye on 'im, yeah?" She nodded at Scotty's order, moving somewhat closer to Khan so that she could act quickly. Kirk noticed, but ignored it; they had bigger worries. A small security detail jumped them, but they were no match for the group. Aureya reminded herself to thank Spock when this was over for her training. They finally made it to the bridge, and Admiral Marcus was surprised to see them. There was a quick argument, during which Kirk and Marcus got in each other's face, Khan was stunned by Scotty and Aureya moved to cover him with her own phaser.

Aureya tuned the others out as she looked down at the man lying beneath her. She supposed he was handsome, in the same way a diamond was beautiful: cold, clean cut, strong. He stirred and she got a bit worried. Moving a bit closer, she nudged him with her foot. He didn't move, which she was thankful for, but as she went to back away again, his hand shot out at an incredible speed, grabbing her ankle and bringing her down to the floor hard. She was dazed and breathless for a bit, but it was long enough for him to knock out Scotty and incapacitate Kirk. She sat up slowly, assessing what had happened, Khan now held a phaser to Kirk's head and was demanding the torpedoes, something about people being inside. She saw Spock and McCoy on the view screen and faintly heard the argument over the ringing in her head. She got up slowly, not wanting to alert Khan, and charged at him, slamming into him with all her weight and knocking him off balance. She freed the phaser from his loosened grip and threw it in a corner. They proceeded to tumble around until he eventually had her pinned a foot off the ground by her throat.

"Aureya!" McCoy yelled, worry and fear clear in his tone. Kirk and Spock both looked helpless as well.

"Well, Spock, feel free to take your captain, as was our deal. I expect my people transported to my ship in less than three minutes, or I kill the young engineer here," at this he tightened his grasp on her throat, "and then I destroy you all." Spock nodded and the communication was cut. He turned to Kirk with a smirk as he started to dematerialize. "Well, Kirk, it seems apt to return you to your crew. After all, no ship should go down without her Captain." He dropped Aureya, allowing her to breathe. She glared up at him as she gasped for air.

"You better hope to God that you are not a heavy sleeper, Khan." Her voice, while being hoarse, was still almost as chilling as his own. He looked over at her with interest. "Because, the minute I have my chance, I will not hesitate to end your sorry ass myself." She stood defiantly. He looked her over and she walked over and leaned down, getting close enough that their noses almost touched and she could see the different shades of blue and green in his eyes. He noticed no fear, no anger, just cold determination. For a moment, he wondered if she was another Augment woken to help Marcus. It would certainly explain a lot. "Watch yourself, or I'll bring it all raining down on top of you." She moved to stand back and before he could process what had just happened, she smirked and was transported off his ship. He pounded his fist on the chair angrily; he'd been too distracted to realize he'd left his shields down. He prepared to fire on the Enterprise.

A/N: Cliffy! So, how angry do you think Khan is? And is it because she bested him, or because she's so infuriatingly like him? And what's going to happen to the poor Enterprise?! Review, please, save the crew!