The doctor was beginning to task him.
It seemed McCoy did not understand the concept of keeping one's mouth shut and doing what one is told.
A simple concept Khan thought McCoy would have learned after five days in captivity.
Every time Khan thought the doctor was breaking, the man's snark returned in full. He thought the humiliation of being treated as a pet might be enough to sap McCoy's will.
However today, after being told to sit, McCoy muttered that Khan should do something...anatomically impossible.
Khan looked up from the device he was building and flexed his right hand. The scrapes on his knuckles were already healed.
He could not say the same for the doctor. When Khan left to work on the bridge, the man was whimpering pathetically on the floor.
Khan thought this latest beating might make the doctor learn his lesson, however he was not optimistic.
Why was McCoy making this so difficult for himself? Did he want to live? Did he want to drive Khan to murder?
It certainly seemed the doctor was courting his options.
Khan thought he might need to try a...gentler approach. If brute force wouldn't get through to McCoy, then perhaps a sudden shift to kindness would disorient the man.
...Maybe even spur on the development of Stockholm's syndrome. It would be a triumph if he could turn the doctor against his old friends; one that would cause those sanctimonious buffoons a great deal of pain.
However, he doubted that plan would work. McCoy seemed to think of his crew as a family, and Khan knew how difficult a bond that was to break...
...Perhaps McCoy's workload was just too miniscule. Too much time alone, with nothing to do but brood and hope.
There were a few ways Khan could fix that.
A panel started to beep. Communications. Khan rushed to it.
He had risked a trip back to Xedna Eight a few days before. It seemed as though Starfleet had abandoned the facility, however a nearby subspace beacon was still operational. He had hacked once again into the facility's computers and rerouted their sensors to transmit through the beacon. He could now not only intercept some Starfleet communications, but could also tell when a ship approached the planet.
As one, apparently, just had.
It was a small ship; only one lifesign aboard. However, it appeared to be stocked with food, water, and medicine.
A supply ship.
Had the Federation not abandoned the base after all?
"Starhopper to Xedna Eight," a man's bored voice sounded out of the console. "Sorry for the delay. I got caught in an ion storm; had to shut down and ride it out. It fried a lot of my systems, but I'm here."
Khan frowned. This seemed far too convenient. Could it be a trap?
He could not afford to take unnecessary risks. However, if this man was actually the pilot for a Federation supply ship, he would not just supply this one base. Without even realizing it, the pilot might know the locations of some of Khan's crew.
The risk was necessary.
Khan pressed the comm button.
"Hello Starhopper," Khan said in his friendliest voice. "We're glad to see you made it. Please standby."
"Will do. Not like I have anywhere else to go."
Khan smiled. No, the man did not.