A/N: answer to Guest: knowledge of the Khan comics is not required to keep up with this story. I only lifted a few elements about the Augments' past to use in this fic.
Thank you for reading and reviewing!
# # #
"Admiral!"
The voice was vaguely familiar: soft, yet male, but the inflection in it was devoid of the emotional charge that was required of the dramatic situation.
Kati drew in a deep, unsteady breath. "I've gotten a pulse, but I don't know for how long," she said more to herself than to him.
The Vulcan she identified as the Enterprise's first officer took out his communicator. "I have Admiral Pike and Kati," he spoke evenly into it. "Three to beam up directly to medical bay."
Just in case, she gingerly wrapped her arms around Christopher's torso to support him. The pulse her cardiac massage had managed to force into his broken body was faint and he had yet to regain consciousness.
Teleportation was something she never thought she could get used to. The barely there prickle of her molecules breaking apart registered and her environment shifted. A second later her sight was inundated with a blue glare. She recognized the light easily: she was aboard the Vengeance. The doctor from the Enterprise looked at her strangely, as she laid Christopher down on one of the beds, but he wasted no time in pointing a scanner at the prone man.
Kati didn't bother explaining herself. She had a working knowledge of the ship and so she had no problems in finding her way to a medical extractor. She pushed up the sleeve on her left arm and stabbed the device into a vein.
"If you're doin' what I think you're doin', it will have to wait until I stabilize him," the doctor observed.
She said nothing just withdrew the filled vial of blood and inserted an empty one.
"Will he recover, Doctor McCoy?" the Vulcan asked in that gratingly controlled voice.
Mercifully the doctor did not pause in his work, as he answered, one of his eyebrows raising slightly. "He's got more injuries than I can count. Somebody tried to stop his internal bleeding and repair his pneumothorax and ruptured spleen, but they ended up doing more harm than good in the long run. He also has a cracked sternum and four broken ribs."
"The latter are on account of my CPR," Kati admitted. She left the vials of her own blood within the doctor's reach and stepped back to the bed, reaching to take one of Christopher's hands into her own, her thumb stroking his skin reassuringly.
The doctor shot her a bewildered look and she heard the Vulcan get even closer, probably intent on wrenching her away. She ignored them both.
"You did a good job on the resuscitation," the doctor muttered wryly, while attaching some small sensor-like pieces of equipment to the wounded man's forehead. "If his brain had been deprived of oxygen any longer, I'm not sure even your blood would've done much of a difference."
She nodded, the lump in her throat forming again. She blinked furiously, fighting against he threat of tears. Their platelets might have regenerative properties beyond their creator's wildest dreams, but even their blood was not a panacea. If a human's brain activity was entirely gone, there was nothing it could do. Something flickered inside her mind, triggering a memory.
It had not taken the doctors long to discover that their regenerating abilities surpassed what had already been encoded in their modified DNA, therefore, giving them a blank slate on which to write new biological weapons and cures. Kati herself had been injected with two different strands of Anthrax. Her immunity system had triumphed against the bacteria each time, but not before the symptoms had set in, threatening to shut down her lungs, inducing tortuous pain and making hideous boils bloom all over her skin.
"How is he, Bones?"
The voice was loud, human, full of emotion and blessedly strong enough to shatter the nightmarish illusion of her memory. She turned her head, schooling her face into an unmovable mask, as her eyes met those of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise and the man Christopher had called his son. The human's eyes were unnaturally blue in the bright light of the infirmary and wide with fear and concern. His gaze swept over Christopher then stopped on their intertwined hands, as he stared at them as if they were poisonous.
"Alive," the doctor mumbled, momentarily distracting her.
Christopher was indeed alive. The pads of her fingers drifted to his wrist, feeling his weak yet steady pulse thrum under the skin. There was nothing left for her to do here, in the sick bay. She had already given the blood the doctor would need to keep him out of danger. She could hear the unspoken conversation going on in the room around her, as the men of the Enterprise regarded her in confusion and mistrust. She was the interloper in this family.
Kati gently rested Christopher's hand on the bed, stole one last glimpse of his face and walked out. She didn't allow herself to breathe easy until she reached the safe haven of the corridor. Her other concerns pressed themselves into her mind and she sprinted towards the bridge. A picture was beginning to emerge, as her confidence grew with every step she took. She was grateful Khan hadn't directly inquired about her wellbeing, but most of all, she was grateful for his steadying, unseen presence and for the mute yet unfaltering strength of his protection.
Carol's head whirled in her direction the minute Kati entered the bridge, a wide, happy grin spreading on the blond woman's face, the relief in her eyes evident. Kati winked at her in passing and climbed up to Khan's position. He nodded at her, his eyes warm for an instant, but did not stand up. She didn't expect him to.
"That place was full of slaves. We can't just leave them there," she told him, keeping her tone light and respectful.
"We didn't," he said, getting up to go the console at the center of the bridge. Kati followed dutifully.
"No, but you did just lock them up in a hanger without any explanation or assistance," protested someone from behind the captain's chair.
Kati turned from the readings on the console to stare in surprise at the communications officer from the Enterprise. The lieutenant's eyes burnt with defiance, her chin raised hauntingly. Kati appreciated bravery in all shapes and forms, but Khan at her side was less likely to be so lenient.
"We are traveling at full speed through hostile space. Once we arrive at Theta IX, they are free to go wherever they please, but in the meantime I will not allow anyone to wreck havoc on this ship," Khan said in a low, dangerous voice. "Now return to your post or leave the bridge!" he finished in his sternest command tone that in the past had men and women scurry away terrified.
Not this one. "Yes, Captain," she said disdainfully, her tone making it plain she did not think him worthy of the title.
Khan arched a brow at her, mild amusement flitting across his features at the audacity of this human he could snap in two one-handedly. A few instants later his eyes found Kati again, a question in his perceptive gaze. She smiled encouragingly at him, not fooling herself about his ability to catch some lingering sign of her panic attack and the ensuing flashbacks in her expression.
"Rest," he said, his tone halfway between advice and command.
# # #
The space for the hydroponic garden aboard the Vengeance was woefully inappropriate and she had moved most of the plants to the rebuilt ones on the colony as soon as she had been able to. Only a few were left, those that thrived in the special conditions provided by the ship rather than under the unforgiving sun of their planet. She had also brought on board samples of some of the most exotic specimens Ceti Alpha V had to offer.
The garden had elongated windows reflecting the warp bubble they were traveling through. The familiarity of her plants failed to help her center herself, equilibrium escaping her. Realistically she was aware that even her body was going through the aftereffects of nearly seventy-two hours without sleep and the toll taken by the laser-focus needed to tend to Christopher, but her emotional turmoil kept her from resting properly.
She meandered through the chamber, idly adjusting a couple of settings as she went. She enjoyed botanics. She found it easy and comforting and fortunately, it was also useful to her family. Her plants were something she excelled at all on her own. The interest hadn't been bred into her, instilled by the harsh training routine of her younger years and came with the benefit of a tranquility that had nothing in common with the tortured memories of war or of being on the run. It was hers and hers alone.
The door slid open with barest of hiss, but her adrenaline didn't spike. She knew those steps. Carol Marcus was studying her with genuine affection and concern in those wide, blue eyes she had inherited from her father. It was the clearest physical resemblance she bore to the man, who had tried to kill Kati and her entire family twice over, and the Augment could understand why Khan had once been so invested in breaking this woman's spirit.
Carol strolled up to her and enveloped her into a hug, in which she put all her meager strength. "Tell me," she whispered into Kati's shoulder.
Something akin to nausea settled into Kati's stomach. Every single strand of her DNA had been rearranged to make her into a creature of immense power and unfailing intellect. A perfect, calculated, steely killing machine. However, their creators had not bothered tampering with their ability to feel emotion. It wasn't a marketable quality for a super soldier. Perhaps it was punishment for the liberties they had taken or maybe it was an unexpected off-shot of the re-sequencing, but despite how hard they normally formed attachments, their capability for feeling was exacerbated to paroxysm, once they did. Their marital bonds were devoid of any of the fickleness that affected the humans and loyalty ran as deep in them as the rare properties of their spectacular immunity system.
Kati wrapped her arms around Carol. The prim and proper woman of the 23rd century would be appalled to know that her savage augment friend would kill and maim to protect her without any hesitation what-so-ever.
"It's nothing I can't handle," Kati said, shrugging her way out of their hug.
Carol didn't look convinced. "Kati, while I have no doubt you're fine physically, you've just been held captive by slavers. I know it's all very different, but that must have brought back some memories."
Kati held her prodding gaze without flinching. Carol nodded, her facial expression one of resolution. She walked through the rows of glass-encased plants to lean against the strip of metal separating two windows. "Alright," she spoke at last. "I'll start: I can't sleep. I can't find my place in Starfleet and everyone on the Enterprise is so nice and accommodating, that I feel guilty for not trying harder to fit in. But it just doesn't work anymore. I can't unsee what I've seen... about Section 31, about Command... . And some nights... ." Carol paused, eyes swimming with tears. "Some nights I'm afraid sleeping would be just like dying. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret what I did! Not for one second. I should be grateful I'm alive, I know I should, but all I can think of is that I've been... dead."
Kati swallowed hard, forcing herself to keep her gaze on Carol's conflicted face. "I panicked," she confessed after a few good minutes of silence. "I've never panicked before. I wasn't even sure I'm able to. The mere idea that I can scares me the most."
# # #
The Vengeance had an extensive brig: a row of force field protected cells crowded in a narrow corridor bathed in a feeble electric blue light. Each cell was soundproof and had its own surveillance system separated from the one in the corridor.
Kati had showered and changed from her captivity clothes into one of those bland, unmarked jumpsuits coded into the replicators on the ships. She felt like a new woman, though her inner tumult still roared against the mask of casualness she was employing to camouflage her feelings. She had used her back-door access codes to hack into medical and discover that Christopher's condition had improved rapidly with the help of only a small transfusion of serum made from her blood, which had been lucky, since a more sizable one would have put him in a coma just like it had done with Carol. The doctor's notes remarked that it was only a matter of hours until he regained consciousness.
She navigated her way through the brig to a cell farther at the back. The Orion woman, who had taken her and Christopher prisoner and was now locked inside, got up quickly from the bench that served her as a bed and mouthed something, staring at Kati with terror in her mauve eyes. Kati smiled slightly and turned to the figure awaiting for her in a dark corner. Someone lacking in an Augment's acute senses would have missed him.
"How did you manage to get her?" Kati asked him leisurely.
Khan stepped into the light. "One of their ships didn't follow the Vengeance, when we attacked but instead tried to run away, leading me to realize they were transporting something or someone important. I caught up with them and beamed her aboard from her command position on the bridge, before I destroyed her vessel."
Carol spared her a tangential glance. "I take it our guests from the Enterprise don't know we have her."
"Carol probably suspects something, but she won't tell them," he said mildly. "She understands that for us to survive in this geopolitically unstable galaxy, we need to be aware of the dangers surrounding us."
"Or of the opportunities," she added with a small smile.
He smiled back and started back up the hallway towards the turbolift. She fell in step next to him. "You know Carol very well."
"So do you," he retorted, a sense of finality to his voice.
"It's not the same. Khan, I wouldn't suggest it, if she were happy where she's now, but she is not!"
"I am well aware of it, Kati," he said loftily, as they entered the elevator. "But Carol was willing to give up her life for us. That's debt I can never repay. The least I can do for her is not unduly influence her decisions."
Kati smirked. "Don't think of it as influencing," she said sweetly. "But more like lightly tipping the scales."
He stared resolutely ahead, as he spoke again. "I know you miss your friend, but ours is not her world, Kati."
TBC