Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or Doom

Chapter Eleven

"Hold your damn horse, for one God damn second!" McCoy cut Jim off. "You're telling me that Khan, the guy who tried to take out half of San Francisco with the ship he helped create, is the same Khan who rescued you on Mars."

"Yeah," Jim answers, with a single nod.

McCoy stares at him like he's grown a second head.

"Yeah," McCoy repeats. "That's all you've got to say."

"What else do you want me to say, Bones?" Jim demands. "It the truth! Khan saved my life…. If he hadn't saved me that day, I wouldn't be here now."

"But he's so…" McCoy trailed off.

"Evil?" Jim guessed. "Sinister? Unpleasant? Despicable? Uncaring?"

"Yeah," McCoy nods.

Jim snorts and shook his head.

"He never used to be like that," Jim sighs. "He changed… He believed himself to be superior to humans. Truth be told we are, but that doesn't mean we should act like… Once upon a time the Martians were no different to humans, but our race was dying. Mars isn't like Earth, the conditions on Mars are harsh and unforgiving. And we were weak, so we created the twenty-fourth chromosome to make us stronger. That's is the only reason Martians are superior to Humans, but Khan, he didn't seem to understand that…"

"What happened, Jim?" McCoy asked.

"He wanted power," Jim answers. "He wanted to be worshipped. He wanted the humans to kiss the ground he walked on… He wanted to rule the world, literally… But we'll get to that later. After Khan rescued us, we went with him. There were other survivors, we weren't the only one to survive… I can't really explain what that felt like. Having been on our own for so long and to suddenly find out we weren't alone…"

Jim paused as he took a deep breath.

"There were three thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six of us in total… I couldn't believe it. I was so sure it was a dream and that I was going to wake up at any moment and it'd just be the nine of us once more, forging to survive and trying to out run anything we couldn't fight. For the first few weeks we were there, it almost felt like we were finally safe. But that illusion was shattered pretty quickly…"

)o(

Ty still couldn't believe his eyes are Khan gave him and his small group through the small colony the other survivors had built. The colony was nothing special, to be honest it was nothing more than a large campsite, surrounded by a large fence with multiple watch towers. But the place was full of life, unlike the streets and buildings Ty and his group had explored and hid in.

It was so overwhelming to be surrounded by other Martians again. There was hope for the survival of their race. There wasn't just nine of them left, there were thousands of them! As they continued to walk, a babies' cry sounded through the air and Ty turned and watched as a Martian father tended to his child.

Ty smiled. This was better than he could have ever hopped for. Khan continued to point thongs out to them and they were greeted by other survivors, who seemed just as shocked as they were, to see other survivors. Ty had heard others comment on how young they all were and how many couldn't believe they had survived so long on their own.

Finally they reached a tent and stopped. Khan turned and stared at the group before him and Ty stared back, unsure of why they had suddenly stopped. Moments later the entrance of the tent was pulled back and middle aged women stepped out of the tent. Ty glanced at her, there was something about her that was familiar, but he couldn't place what it was.

"Hello," She greeted them. "My name is Solveig."

Ty nor his small group answered, they simply waited for her to continue.

"I'm in charge of the records here," She explained. "As new arrivals, you'll need to fill out your details and they will be compared to the data files were covered from the colonies. If you have any surviving family members, you shall be reunited with them."

She held out a PADD and Ty took a step forward and took it from her.

"We won't have any," Ty told her.

"Excuse me?" Solveig asked.

"We won't have any surviving family members," Ty answered.

"You might," Solveig replied. "Other survivors were found from your colony."

"I doubt it," Ty shook his head. "We're from Tarsus IV."

Both Khan and Solveig froze at the name. Everyone knew Tarsus IV was where the outbreak had started. They hadn't believed for a second that anyone would have survived from that colony, let alone underage Martians.

"You're from Tarsus IV?" Solveig gasped.

"Yeah," Ty said, glancing up from the PADD he was filling in.

Khan and Solveig shared a glance, both completely shocked.

)o(

Screaming. That was what had woken Ty up. He quickly sat up and looked round the tent he and the others were in. More screams sounded and it was then Ty realised that the screams weren't one of his small group having a nightmare… The screams they were coming from outside. Around him, the others were waking, their sleep being disturbed by the screaming.

Quickly Ty got to his feet and headed towards the entrance to their tent and pulled back the flap. A flash lit up the early morning sky and Ty stumbled backwards as rubble and debris came raining down… They were under attack! Martians were running and yelling, carrying weapons and covered in blood. Ty quickly turned around and faced his small.

"Get your weapons!" Ty ordered.

They didn't need to be told twice. In less than a minute they were ready. Ty nodded to them as Hoshi joined Ty at the head of the group. They quickly got into formation, ensuring that the youngest were in the middle and protected, as held their weapons at the ready. It'd been little over a month since Khan had found them and this was the first time anything like this had happened.

Suddenly the side of their tent is ripped apart and they faced with a gigantic imp, which lets out an ear-splitting roar and charges towards them. Ty took aim and the dead body of the imp came to rest at their feet. Through the shredded material of the tent, Ty stared at the imps and other creatures, some of which he hadn't seen before, tearing through the camp.

"Come on," Ty instructed the others. "We need to get out of here."

Progress was slow getting across the camp, when so many imps and other nightmarish creatures were running wild, killing and destroying everything in sight. This time they couldn't hide and wait for the imps to move on… There was nowhere to hide. This wasn't a colony made of stone and metal, it was a campsite, made of cloth and material.

Playing dead wasn't an option either.

But they made. They survived and made it out in piece. They may have been covered in blood, but those injuries had already healed and they had killed anything which crossed their path as they fled. They were alive and as Ty looked over his small group, he knew that was all that mattered. He'd do whatever it took to keep them alive, just like he had been doing before they'd been found by Khan.

He'd give his life to keep them safe.

"Ty!" Hoshi suddenly grabbed Ty's arm. "Something's following us!"

Ty froze and looked round. In the distance a shadow was moving across the landscape towards them and whatever it was, it was too large to be a normal Martian.

"What is that thing?" Xavier demanded.

"I don't know," Ty answered honestly, it was too far away to be able to match it to a description from Kodos handbook. "But we can't let it catch us, whatever it may be. We need to keep moving."

And they did. They moved as quickly and as quietly as they could. They moved across the sandy terrain, towards a rocky incline, which led to the base of some mountains. Going through the mountains was a risk. There were some many caves and hollows were imps and other creatures could be waiting to jumps out and strike, but it also offered them plenty of hiding places, so it was a risk Ty was willing to take.

As they ventured into the foothills of the mountains, Hoshi looked back. The large creature which had been heading in their direction was getting closer and closer. It'd catch up with them in a matter of hours. Hoshi looked round to find Ty watching it too. There gaze met and Hoshi didn't like the look in Ty's eyes, it sent a shiver down her spine.

Ty was planning something and whatever it was, she and the others weren't going to like it.

)o(

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.