CHAPTER 10:
If there was some small miracle to have occurred in that dreadful night, it was that the winds had stopped after the sun set. It made it easier to put out the fires. Most of the houses were still standing, none untouched by blood or damage, only three of them completely demolished from the brief but violent battle. It all happened so quickly that there was no time for panic. Even now that it was over, there was too much to do to allow anyone to give in to fear.
But Marla knew how devastating this all was, how their life on Ceti Alpha V was permanently changed, even if she couldn't yet comprehend how. Bodies speckled the ground everywhere. Marla volunteered her and Khan's home as a makeshift infirmary to get the wounded people in from the cold. A couple of the augments helped her carry injured men, women, and children inside while everyone else received their orders from Khan. He was calm, focused, and not as angry as she anticipated. It only meant that when his anger did surface it was going to be vicious.
His people all looked to him for answers, for him to tell them what to do. Yet somehow in the commotion, Khan stole a moment with Marla alone. He slipped briefly into their house as it filled with the smell of burnt skin and hair and blood to look her over worriedly.
"You're not hurt?" he whispered, his calloused hands brushing the red strands from her face.
"I'm okay… My ears are ringing a little but I'm okay…" She made light of the scream that constantly seemed to crawl its way up her throat or the aching tension that throbbing through her body and head.
She was giving him the same inspection, touching his dark cloak to be sure it wasn't concealing any bleeding. It was dirty and spotted with blood that wasn't his, and the only wounds she could find on him were minor bruises and a cut across his cheekbone that extended to his ear, no doubt the handiwork and death wish of a Klingon who had gotten too close. Having him close now made her legs shake as the adrenaline faded from her system, but rather than giving in to that need to be held by him and cry, she lightly nudged him for the door.
"Go, they need you. I'll take care of things here."
He only caught her eye for a instant before sweeping out the door. She learned to not take his abrupt departures personally. He didn't belong only to her. She followed him out the door, but they went their separate ways as he delegated tasks and she looked for the wounded.
She saw one augment woman limping slowly towards the designated infirmary. It was Gelya, one of the few women in the colony to befriend Marla. Marla had spent many years teaching her two sons, who were currently under each arm to help their mother walk. Marla sprinted to her and relieved the smaller boy, whose physique was that of a 7-year old, though he was only just 5. Both boys seemed unscathed, so Marla's main concern was Gelya.
"How badly are you hurt?"
"My ribs…" Gelya grunted out. "I think they're broken… Those Klingons hit harder than I expected… Ivan," she looked to her older son. "Take your brother to the schoolhouse and stay there with the other children."
The boy was worried, Marla could tell, but he obeyed without question. Taking his little brother by the hand he led him through the carnage towards the schoolhouse that was on the other side of the colony.
"Who's watching the children?" Marla asked.
"Roana and Gerard," Gelya answered simply. "Marla, what happened here?"
"I don't know, Gelya," she said honestly.
"Who are the Klingons exactly? What do they want with us?"
A few possibilities entered Marla's mind, all of which scared her. But instead, she shook her head and led Gelya into the house. "We'll find answers soon enough… For now you need to take it easy…"
With all of the furniture occupied or smashed, Marla helped Gelya lie down on the floor. It was then that she couldn't help looking towards the fireplace where Dr. McCoy leaned over Kirk. It seemed the good doctor had finally convinced Kirk to sit down before he fell down from all the blood pouring out of his shoulder.
The captain was seated on the edge of the stone hearth, shirtless and restless. McCoy was in the process of wrapping the bandages, and by the absence of pain on Kirk's face she guessed he had already gotten the painkiller. His hands, however, were bunched into fists as he leaned from side to side in an attempt to peer past McCoy and out the window.
"Will ya hold still for one blasted minute!" McCoy barked at him. "You won't get very far if you're bleedin' all over the place."
"Just hurry it up, Bones," Kirk huffed distractedly.
"An' they call me the worst patient in the crew… There. Done." McCoy turned away almost spitefully and gathered up his tricorder and med kit. "Get dressed and get out, I got everything covered in here…"
The doctor gave Kirk one last glare as he moved to the first augment that seemed to need the most help. McCoy made certain to give him a shot of the hypospray first and foremost, to ease any pain before he began his scans. Meanwhile, Kirk was quickly pulling his bloodied shirt back on, followed by his field jacket. Then his communicator went off.
"Kirk here."
"Captain, thank God…" Marla recognized Uhura's voice. "Are you and Dr. McCoy all right?"
"We're fine, but there are a lot of casualties. What's going on up there? Have you heard from Spock?"
"Negative… We haven't heard from the shuttle since just before they landed on Ceti Alpha VI. Then we were ambushed by a Bird of Prey. They fled only moments ago."
Ceti Alpha VI? What was Spock doing there?
She could see Kirk containing his anger, but after a deep breath, he managed to collect himself and speak calmly. "Notify Starfleet of the attack and beam down an emergency medical team to report to Dr. McCoy."
"Should I send down a security team as well?"
"Not necessary. Let me know as soon as you hear from Spock. Kirk out."
He put away the communicator and began to head for the door. Anger suddenly took over Marla and she darted around the wounded people.
"Wait!" She put her whole body in front of him. She kept her voice hushed, though it was sharp. "Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on here? What do you and Khan know that I don't?"
Kirk glanced over his shoulder at the injured people that filled the room before looking to Marla intently. "I don't think now is the time to talk about it, Marla…"
"But I know you're here for a reason! Just tell me—"
A single voice shouting out in the night stopped Marla in mid-sentence. She followed it, Kirk not far behind, out into the desolated grounds of the colony. Torches had been lit all around to illuminate the area, allowing them to clearly see the source of the angry cries—Kati.
"You're a fool if you think we'll see this as coincidence! They came because of Captain Kirk! He brought them here, either by design or by accident, but he brought them here!"
Her fury was directed at Khan, who was carefully handing off a corpse—a body that was tragically small—to one of his men to regard her. He matched her fire with ice, but he was giving her his full attention. Like Khan (and just about everyone else) Kati was marred with blood, the deep crimson of human and the thick pink of Klingons. Her disheveled black hair clung to her wet face.
"If you'd have sent him away the second he beamed down here, they wouldn't have attacked us!"
"You're making far too many assumptions, Kati," Khan's deep voice was rich with warning. "None of us know enough yet."
"We do know enough!" she screamed so loud her voice tore and she charged at him, unhindered by the weight of her belly. But she was detained by comrades, who held her hands, one of which had a dagger in it. "So far, we've counted twenty four of our own dead, Khan! We know that! And they'd still be alive if Kirk hadn't come! How many times are you going to endanger your own people for the sake of that Starfleet bastard and your inferior bitch?!"
That wasn't the worst name Marla had received from some of the augments, and though it always hurt in some degree, to have her name dragged through the bloodied mud along with Kirk's cut deeper than usual. Kirk, who had been watching this beside Marla, started aggressively towards the scene.
Marla seized his arm. Placing himself near Khan just now would have only made her husband's case weaker. Fortunately, Kirk didn't argue or resist her silent command, though she could feel the tension in his arm, ready for a fight. He was smart enough to trust her judgment where he was even more of an outsider than she was.
Kati was too exhausted to fight for long, and it was only when she began to calm down did Khan address those who restrained her.
"Take her inside and look after her… Keep her there until I say otherwise."
Kati was gently led away towards her own home. Khan didn't give her another second of his attention as he turned back to his duties, grabbing the collar of a dead Klingon and lifting it halfway off the cold ground like it was little more than garbage. He hadn't noticed Marla and Kirk, though they continued to watch him for a moment.
"I don't know if she's wrong," Kirk said quietly. "We might have brought the Klingons here…"
Marla's chest felt tight. There was no reason to disagree and she couldn't deny her own confused anger. She couldn't comfort him.
"I'll be inside helping Dr. McCoy…" That was all she could manage to say. She finally released her vice grip on the captain's arm and stepped back into the house.
Marla's fingers dug into Kirk's arm even through the layers of his uniform and jacket. She clutched even though the need was long past. Had he been made of glass, she might have broken him. All that Jim needed to know about Marla's pain was in that grip, otherwise she hid it well. She hid it better than the augment Kati, who was ready to cut out someone's throat over this tragedy. Kirk couldn't blame her. Whatever blame there was to be had, he could feel it weighing down on his shoulders more and more as the loss was measured. It was too dark to see the blood, but in the shadows formed from the torches around, he knew they were drenched in it.
After Marla left him, he was already making his way towards Khan. Khan had just dropped a dead Klingon onto the pile with a heavy thud when he turned. His face was hard set, unnervingly so when he regarded Kirk.
"I ordered a medical team to beam down," Kirk got straight to the point. "They'll be beaming down any minute now and I didn't want you to be surprised."
Khan paused only long enough to take in a breath. "I will allow their help."
And he was stalking off to grab the next Klingon corpse. That didn't sound in any way like a 'thank you'. Right on cue, the scintillating glimmer of human figures appeared as they beamed down into the midst of the debris. It was two dozen blue shirts, all the nurses and doctors of the ship who had traded their white uniforms for blue field attire. McCoy was briskly marching out of the house when they appeared, wiping his hands and telling his people where to go.
A cacophony of dragging and stomping feet, punctuated by grunts and growls, drew Jim's attention. There were a few living Klingons, at least nine of them, bound with their gauntlets at their backs and being marched in a line towards Khan. Leading it was Joaquin and three other augments, little Joachim trampling eagerly behind with a knife in his hand. The Klingons were all wounded, a couple of them hardly able to walk from what could only be mortal wounds.
"Excellency!"
Joaquin stopped the captives when he had Khan's attention and they were all kicked to their knees. Even the ones who were mere breaths away from death put on fearless fronts. Klingons were nothing if not proud. Khan approached them, looking down his nose disdainfully.
"These are all the living ones we could find," Joaquin said with disgust. "Here they are. As you ordered…"
Kirk stepped up beside Khan, ignoring the looks of resentment from the augments.
"Let me have some of my people treat them," he whispered. "They violated the treaty with the Federation, they should be handed over to Starfleet."
By the way that Khan's chest broadened, he obviously didn't agree. Though Jim attempted to be discreet, Khan leaned his face in close but spoke loud enough for all to hear.
"Need I remind you, captain, that you are on my soil," he seethed. "If they are to receive mercy it will not be from me." Khan's eyes turned to Joaquin. "All children are ordered to be gathered at the schoolhouse."
Joaquin nodded his understanding and looked to his son, who stared at the captive aliens with fear and fascination. "Joachim… Go to the school and stay there."
Joachim moved towards his father, but glanced from the Klingons to Khan. "But I can help."
"You've already helped," Joaquin said firmly. "Lord Khan needs you to look after the other children. We all have our duties."
The boy looked to Khan, seeming to hope their leader would change his mind. But Khan looked to Joaquin, deferring to the boy's father as the ultimate authority. Joachim finally forfeited and obediently made his way to the school. Kirk, too, was glad to have a child out of the way.
Khan waited for the boy to disappear into the building. "Joaquin..." Though he spoke to his second in command, his eyes locked onto Kirk imperiously. They were ominously green in the torchlight as he held Jim's gaze and pointed to one of the Klingons. "Take this one to the pit. Kill the rest."
"Yes, My Lord Khan."
"No—Wait!"
Kirk was blatantly ignored by all as a series of blades simultaneously rang through the air and struck the Klingons down. A few meticulous slashes and their bodies fell into heaps, the remaining one keeping his head high without a flinch. But Kirk could see the rage boiling just beneath the surface of this Klingon to see his brethren die in such a dishonorable way.
Kirk had about as much love for a Klingon as he did a rattlesnake, but this was still making his stomach turn. Even more so when he considered why one was left alive. The augments dragged the last Klingon away, towards the blackness of the woods that led to the very pit that Kirk briefly occupied.
"What are you going to do with him?" Kirk asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.
Khan picked up a disruptor from the burnt ground, his eyes dipping to it as he checked its charge. "You are welcome to come along, captain, to see for yourself…. But interfere at your own risk."
He didn't wait for a reply and followed behind his men as they marched the Klingon away. Kirk, however, couldn't immediately get his feet to move. Something was telling him that Khan intended to torture the Klingon—for revenge or answers, he wasn't sure which. Probably both.
As a starship captain, Jim didn't know if he could watch and just let it happen.
And yet, as a starship captain, whatever that Klingon had to reveal, he needed to hear it, too.
The soldier in him was at war with the human. Blues lifted to the glowing orb in the sky that was Ceti Alpha VI. He was regretting his decision to send Spock there. He needed his friend's advice and was in no position to wait for it. Tearing his eyes away, he consciously avoided the ruins around him. He swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise and followed Khan.