Episode 10: Augments

On the journey she had settled her raging emotions, somewhat. The need to find answers and the unknown was slowly winning out to the anger that had settled in her heart.

She tried to read more about the elusive ship known as the Botany Bay. She knew it had something to do with the Eugenics Wars but the ship was mythic and she wasn't even sure it existed. Which made her question why Admiral Marcus wanted it in the first place. From what she had been reading about the Eugenics War, it was something Starfleet shouldn't get involved with. It's almost better to have these super humans stay frozen; if they asked her.

"Captain we've picked a ship up on long range sensors." Quinns clipped voice floated threw her ready room. She let out a sigh, he was still upset with her for snapping at him.

"On my way." she stated softly before making her way to the bridge.

She looked at the scanner. "Do you think it's the Botany Bay?" She asked as she looked over the preliminary readings.

"It's showing life signs, but minimal power and life support. It's a good chance this is the ship we've been looking for." Quinn added. She shot him a thankful smile.

"Excellent, maintain current speed. We should reach it in a day. Great work Quinn." She nodded toward her first officer, he shot her a weak smile.

The Next Day

"Captain are you sure it's such a good idea for you to go? I mean we don't even know what to expect." Quinn voiced his concern as he watched Ramona suit up to head over to the ship.

"Something is going on and this ship might offer some answers, there's no way I'm missing out on this." She replied stubbornly. That was the first glimpse of his real captain he had seen over the last week and it hit him that something serious might be happening. Before he just thought she needed more R & R.

She shifted slightly as she stood on the transporter pad, she still hated these things.

The familiar lights swirled and then faded revealing a darkened primitive ship. She walked forward carefully with her chief medical officer, Brooks and a few red shirts.

She used her light to sweep through what she assumed was the bridge.

"This way, the life signs are coming from farther in the ship." Her med officer stated. Ramona gave one last look before moving toward the life signs.

The entered a room where cryo tubes lined the wall. She moved forward carefully, stepping up to one of the tubes. She wiped away the top of the glass to get a better look. The lights flickered on, Brooks must have restored power. She glanced in the tube and saw a mummified corpse. She sucked in a breath through her teeth. The tube must have malfunctioned.

She moved around glancing at others. Most of the tubes were intact, save for a few.

"How many are there?" Ramona shot to Brooks who was going through the computer systems.

"They left with 84, but it looks like only 72 survived the journey." Ramona's head snapped to her engineer. That was going to be hard to explain to the captain of the vessel, that is if he wasn't one of the ones to die.

"Do you know which one is the captain?" She asked as she walked among the frozen augments.

"I believe I found him, this might take me some time but I think I can wake him without harming him." Brooks stated as the medical officer stood next to him to help.

"What's his name?" She asked as she looked at one of the super humans.

"Kahn Noonien Singh." She nodded to herself that fits with what she read about this ship.

She made her way over to one of the computer panels. It was primitive and she could remember reading about this kind of ship in her history classes. She ran her hand over it thoughtfully before moving on.

After about an hour Brooks managed to find the right sequence. She had been standing near the one to beep and hiss as the capsule started to thaw. She stood back slightly, not sure what to expect from this notorious captain.

The red shirts flanked her sides ready for what might happen.

A man with dark hair sat up slowly, she could see he was assessing the situation as he quickly analyzed his surroundings. She saw his face harden before softening. She moved toward him slowly.

"Captain." Brooks hissed at her. Which caused the augment to shift his eyes to her.

"My name is Captain Ramona Hill of the USS Nova." she started as she moved a step closer, waiting for him to react.

"How long has it been?" His voice rough. She could see he was confused about the ship designation.

"You've been adrift for over 200 years. The war is over." she answered carefully. She could see his mind turning rapidly.

"My crew?" he asked looking at them carefully.

"All but 12 have survived the journey. Let us take you to our ship to run some tests." At the last part she saw a dark look flash over his features before it was replaced with a small smile.

"No harm will come to your crew as long as you're in my care, I give you my word." She added knowing that had been her concern when she had woken up in the tube. She thought she saw a smirk grace his lips but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

With a little more coaxing and information they were aboard the Nova in the sick bay. Her medical officer was running tests. Ramona watched Kahn carefully, she could see he was doing the same.

"Tell me what is to become of my crew." He stated quietly causing Ramona to move closer to hear.

"Honestly I don't know. My mission was to find you, I haven't been told what for." She stated cautiously. She watched as anger flashed behind his features before it was gone again. There was something about him that was drawing her in, like a moth to a flame. She wanted to unlock his secrets and she could see he had a lot. Not to mention the time he came from was one of turmoil and there was a lot she could learn from first-hand accounts. To be honest she was a little exited at the prospect of what he could tell them, but she had to be cautious.

She knew she couldn't outright ask about his time, he was too cautious for that. She had been holding off on informing Starfleet of the discovery, she had told her crew it was because she wanted to learn more before sending a full report. She was holding off to try to get answers for herself.

He had been in sick bay for a few days and she thought it would be a good idea to give him some data to help him acclimate to the new world. She was spending more time than she should with him. He wasn't giving her much information but he seemed to be opening to her slightly. She finally sent word to Starfleet, much to her distaste.

After about a week of him on board he was able to leave the bed and move around sick bay. That was how she found him, looking at the various instruments around the room. She hadn't noticed his height before but he was towering over her average frame. He wasn't wide by any measure but he was taller than most of the men she had been around.

"Your ship is most impressive." His voice low and quiet causing her to move closer subconsciously to hear him.

"Thank you. We're a science vessel so you're looking at top of the line instruments." She stated her voice laced with Pride. He shot her a small smile, moving closer to her as he did.

"What is it that your Starfleet has planned for me?" he asked his voice taking on an edge she had yet to hear from him.

"They haven't gotten back to me yet, I honestly don't know what they want from you. I was hoping to figure that out, but you're from another time what could you possibly offer us." she didn't mean it to be insulting just voicing her thoughts. Kahn raised an eyebrow in amusement.

He moved closer still. "You come in day in and day out, what is it you hope to learn from me?" His voice low as he moved toward her. He brought his hand up to rest under her chin.

"Or is there perhaps something else you want from me?" The sudden action caused her to flush, she saw a spark of victory in his eyes before it settled to mischievous. It reminded her of Kirk and she felt a sudden pang in her chest. She didn't want to admit it but she was missing the mischievous captain. She shook herself from her thoughts, Kahn was just a reminder, and she needed to take a step back before she did something stupid.

Pulling back from his touch, "I just hoped we could learn from each other." and with that she turned her back and walked out of sick bay. She missed the dark look pass over his face.

She made her way back to the bridge just in time to receive a hail from Admiral Marcus.

"Wonderful job Captain Hill, sorry about the circumstances, but we'll taking it from here." he replied calmly waiting for her to challenge him.

"I recommend heading back to earth for a full debriefing." He stated shooting her a knowing look. She had to hold herself in check he was toying with her.

"Yes, sir." she stated, biting her words. She was going to oversee this transfer whether he liked it or not.

She turned herself around and headed back to sick bay.

When she got their Kahn was watching her carefully. "You and your crew are to be transferred to Admiral Marcus and his crew." Before she could blink he had her up against the wall by the throat. She let out a strangled cry before grabbing at his wrist. She noticed he wasn't squeezing, yet. He was merely holding her in place.

"I can't let that happen." he stated calmly. "I need your ship." he continued. "I can't do that." She ground out, hating that she had started to trust him.

"I'm not asking you." He let the second half of the sentence hang. "We did not escape one war to be captured so easily and dragged into another." he stated, giving her a little insight on why Admiral Marcus might want super soldiers. "You really are dense Captain." his mouth up ticked slightly when he saw recognition flash across her face before it settled back into a cold mask. She glared up at him.

"You won't succeed with this." she stated coldly. "I'm afraid you might be right, but that's never stopped me before." he stated sharply, squeezing slightly. She gripped at his wrist, trying to remember her training.

He dragged her in front of him when the sick bay door opened, revealing Admiral Marcus and his security escort. She tried to pay attention what was being negotiated between the two but she was losing oxygen, he hadn't let go of her neck. She heard mention of his crew and his hand started to slack. After the Admiral mentioned something about destroying his ship she felt the hand disappear. She could see the security taking him toward the door.

Admiral Marcus turned toward her prone form on the floor.

"Captain, I would avoid putting this in your report." "In fact." "This wasn't the Botany Bay, you got your initial report wrong. You just got ambitious and wanted to prove something, but in your haste you didn't wait for the facts."

"Sir?" she wheezed.

"Oh I'm sorry I was merely rehearsing what I was going to tell Starfleet." he let the threat hang in the air. She felt her world crumble a little. He was taking her only evidence, if she did try to report this to Starfleet it was her word against the admirals and with her hearing just a few weeks prior she wasn't in very good standing with Starfleet. He had planned all of this.

She hung her head.

"Yes Sir." She whispered. The transfer finished and she headed back to her quarters to collect herself. She had picked the admiral over her duty to Starfleet and it backed her into a corner. She needed to fly under the radar going forward or she was going to lose her command over her childish notions of good and evil. The world operated in the grey area, nothing was black and white anymore.

She started her edited version of her report to Starfleet. Telling them that it was a refugee ship and they had lied about their identity to protect themselves from persecution, she apologized for jumping to conclusions and handed the matter over to Admiral Marcus. That was the gist anyway. She talked to Brooks about the matter at hand and what he learned on the computer. He was to forget he ever saw it. He bristled at the idea but the look she sent him, told him everything he needed to know. This issue was beyond any of them.

She took a shower to clear her head. She knew whatever this was, was only the beginning to something far more dangerous than she was ready to deal with.

She took a shaky breath, letting it out slowly.

Stepping out of the shower she saw she had an incoming hail. Starfleet had responded to her 'mistake', they were disappointed in the turn of events but ultimately didn't hold it against her, she let out a sigh of relief.

She could tell from the mission they had sent her that they were sending her something easy to get her back into the swing of things, which she was thankful for. This was just the mission she needed to get on her feet and away from the politics surrounding Starfleet.

"Set a course for the Omicron Ceti System." She stated to her bridge crew with a little more compassion that she had the last few weeks.

"Yes, Ma'am." She heard Quinn retort which caused her to give a soft chuckle.

"Quit being a smart ass." she heard him laugh softly before the comm ended.

As she moved around her room, she started to unwind from the events from the day. Now that she had time to breath, she didn't want to admit it but after the events of the day she missed Kirk and the comfort he seemed to bring when they were around each other. She smiled softly at the thought.

She made her way to bed, tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position. She found her mind drifting and reflecting over the day and one thought floated to the forefront.

Why do men have to be such a pain in the ass? She chuckled to herself before slowly drifting off.

I took a little inspiration from the original series. Ricardo Montalban's Kahn's was more Suave Seductive and I think Benedicts Cumberbatch's Kahn (before he's twisted by Admiral Marcus) would have been more hauntingly seductive. Hopefully it came across that way.

Still no Reviews or messages, still pretty bummed but hopefully now that it's picking up a little...

Anyway review or message me with any questions, concerns or anything in between. Thank you to those of you who added the story, see you next Episode.