I own nothing but my OC.
Previously:
"You plan to inject your blood directly into Miss Dempsey's leg in order to heal the broken bone?" Spock deduced.
"Correct, Mr. Spock." Khan stated stopping the machine, so he could remove the needle from his arm and connect the vial of his blood platelets to a hypo-spray. "Excuse me for a moment." He added, not even bothering to spare the other men in the room a glance before ducking back inside the lab with Prima and McCoy.
"Um, excuse me, but… why is he helping us?" Dr. Singh asked the young captain and his first officer somewhat hesitantly. "Why would he go so far as to draw his blood for an enemy?"
"Well, about that… It seems they're less like enemies and more like 'frienemies'." Kirk replied, smiling wryly, when they all heard Prima emit a startled yelp of surprise. Khan must have snuck up on her and hit her with the hypo without any warning, like Bones often did to him. She had his sympathies. That three-second heart attack when you aren't quite sure whether you're being given a shot or getting shanked really sucked.
"Are you sure?" Singh asked skeptically. That shot sounded like it had felt a lot more unpleasant than it should have…
"There. Give her ten to fifteen minutes, and she'll be right as rain." Khan announced, smirking slightly to himself, as he entered the room again. Prima should know better than to lower her guard like that so soon after sassing him like that. He might be more lenient with her than anyone else, but even she couldn't get away with that completely scot-free. And the look on her face had been positively priceless. "Now, gentlemen… Shall we begin?" He asked, spreading his hands out as he leaned on the counter before him, ready to give them a crash course on urban guerilla warfare.
[[Chapter 12: You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet]]
"The only sure way to kill an augment with advanced healing capabilities is to destroy the brain or to sever the spinal cord just below the brain stem." Khan stated gravely as he addressed Kirk, Spock, and the squeamish Dr. Singh. "As long as there is still brain function, they will usually be able to heal themselves from even the most severe wounds, though blood loss may affect the speed of the process to some extent. Therefore, the most efficient means of dispatching the cyborgs will be to behead them. Failing that, I would recommend cutting off the hand equipped with the 'conversion' gauntlet. That will at least prevent them from infecting anyone else." It felt strange to be conducting a war counsel with these men, as he had often done in the past with his family and crew. Ordinarily he would never reveal his people's weakness to outsiders, much less those who had been and probably still were enemies. But the current situation demanded it. From what he had seen of that group of cyborgs the passed in the corridor, it was obvious that Dr. Dahl had begun to force the same implants upon the crew of the Excalibur, and that meant there was no telling how many full-fledge cyborgs, who were capable of conversion, were running around. It would be difficult enough for him to take down ten of his old crew members, even with Prima's help, without having to worry about the converted humans swarming around them as well, and if those implants had made it possible for her to control his crew even as corpses, then that meant the other new cyborgs would likely be just as difficult to stop unless dispatched in a similar manner. He glanced around the work table they had situated themselves at.
Kirk was listening to him with a grim determination and readiness to do what needed to be done. Spock had also been watching and listening closely to his instructions, but the Vulcan's expression was much more guarded and a bit difficult to read. To Khan's immense dissatisfaction, Dr. Singh, the only other Sikh present, had visibly paled and was wearing an openly appalled and incredulous expression upon his face.
"You want us to kill members of this crew… innocent men and women!?" Dr. Singh asked incredulously. He was horrified, not just by Khan's savagery and cold countenance while suggesting such a thing, but also with himself. Despite his disgust at such a barbaric proposition, Hari Singh found himself inexplicably drawn to the magnetic charisma of the dangerous man before him. He found himself wanting to follow Khan, even if it went against his personal ethics and morals as a doctor.
"Not anymore, they aren't. Strike hard and without mercy. If you hold back, it will only cause them more unnecessary suffering." Khan replied sternly, narrowing his eyes at the man. Dr. Singh couldn't help but flinch at the sharp glare of disapproval he was receiving.
"I know how you feel, Dr. Singh…" Kirk spoke up sympathetically. "But I've seen it for myself. In their current condition, they wouldn't even recognize their best friend if they came face to face with them. They won't hesitate to attack you, so you can't hesitate either."
"… I understand." Dr. Singh said reluctantly. He knew all too well what Kirk was talking about. The reason why he was the only one left in the med bay was because those things had already come before them. He and the nurses tried to resist, but it was no use. The only reason why he was spared was because of his own clumsiness. For some reason, after he tripped and dropped his phaser, the cyborg attacking him suddenly backed off and left along with the others, taking the converted nurses with them. He was ashamed that he had not been able to protect them as a man and as their superior officer.
"Then, if there are no further questions, let us begin gathering the necessary materials to create our weapons." Khan said calmly, noticing the regret in the doctors eyes. While he disapproved of the doctor's weakness, he was not completely indifferent to the man's inner turmoil over having to kill people who were once friends and family, but Khan firmly believed that this was for their own good. They deserved to be put out of their misery rather than being left to suffer as the robotic slaves of the insidious Dr. Dahl.
"… If it's weapons you want…" Dr. Singh spoke up tentatively after a moment of silence. "I may be able to help you there."
—∞—
"Are you sure we can't bring the phaser?" Dr. Singh asked nervously as he and the other three men made their way through the ship's corridors to his personal quarters.
"The ship has started moving." Khan stated abruptly when he felt a shift in the vibrations bellow his feet, just before the familiar hum of a ship entering warp could be heard by his superior ears. He had expected this to happen sooner or later. Frankly, he was surprised it hadn't been sooner.
"What? Seriously?" Kirk asked, frowning. "Where does she think she's going?"
"Based on what we know of Dr. Dahl's history, I suspect we are headed directly for Klingon territory, Captain." Spock supplied.
"Oh, great. You mean we have to stop yet another attempt to start a war with them?" Kirk asked, chagrined. As if things weren't already difficult enough…
—∞—
Meanwhile, back in the med bay…
"This is amazing… incredibly wrong, but amazing, none the less…" Prima remarked as she viewed the magnified images of the microscopic nanites from Athena's blood sample.
She couldn't help but marvel over the advanced technology in the lab, but even those pinnacle achievements of human ingenuity seemed to pale in comparison to the tiny little robots that were no bigger than a red blood cell. Not only that, but judging by the data collected from the scanners, the nanites were all hooked into some kind of wireless network, capable of communicating simultaneously with each other, as well as an outside source, which was probably Dahl. Once injected into the host, they would start to leak a special chemical compound that acted as a psychotropic and left said host in a state that made them extremely open to suggestions and susceptible to manipulation. How was Dahl even able to make them so small? And they were though little bastards, too. No matter what she and McCoy tried, nothing seemed capable of destroying the little buggers without also poisoning the blood or risking permanent damage to some other part of the host's body. It was a real shame that woman had decided to use her powers for evil instead of good.
"Yeah, it's like trying to kill mice with a shotgun. Whatever we throw at it is either too much or too little. At this rate, we're more likely to bring down the house or shoot a foot off trying to kill these damn things." McCoy stated glumly, frowning something fierce. There had to be some way to save these people.
"I think what we're dealing with is more like zombies than mice." Prima said thoughtfully as she sat back on her stool.
"Come again?" McCoy asked her, scowling at such a ludicrous idea. She couldn't be serious.
She was.
"Just hear me out, Doc." Prima said patiently, seeing that poor, frustrated Bones was about to blow his top from the stress of trying to find a cure in such a rushed timeframe. She was starting to get a bit concerned about his blood pressure. "I'm not just talking about the undead reanimated corpse popularized by horror movies. The term is often, or at least it was, figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli. Doesn't that sound an awful lot like the symptoms affecting our converted guard and his unfortunate shipmates?"
"Yes?" McCoy replied, seeing her point, but still not sure how this was supposed to help them.
"After a certain ethnobotanist traveled to Haiti in 1982 and conducted some investigations into the matter, he discovered that a living person can be turned into a zombie if two special powders were introduced into the blood stream, usually via an open wound. The first powder includes tetrodotoxin, a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin. The second powder consists of disassociative drugs such as datura. Together, these powders were said to induce a deathlike state in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor, the 'witch doctor' controlling them." She explained. "… Oh! In a way, aren't these nanites essentially just a high-tech version of the zombie powders?" Prima gasped suddenly, lighting up, when another idea suddenly occurred to her. "What if instead of completely destroying the nanites themselves, we simply find a way to shut them off? Then we can treat the host for the symptoms caused by the artificially created chemical imbalance and help them regain their lucidity." Prima suggested carefully, watching to see what the good doctor's reaction might be. "That will give us time to come up with a better treatment over the long term. It may even be as simple as several blood transfusions to help replace and flush out the contaminated blood…" She started to trail off towards the end when she saw the odd look he was giving her. "… What?" She asked warily, hoping she hadn't just said something completely ridiculous. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock when he suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her big kiss on the cheek.
"Mwah! My God, woman—You're not just a genius, you're a miracle worker!" McCoy exclaimed ecstatically, grinning broadly as he clapped the stunned girl on the shoulder. "If this works, I'm nominating you for sainthood!" He continued excitedly. "Since we know what symptoms to treat, now we just need to figure out which combination of medications will best counteract the drug in the nanites while producing the least harmful side-effects."
"Yeah… Great." Prima said, blinking. "I'll leave that to you, then. I have an idea for how we can render the nanites inert, but I'll need Khan's help, so… yeah." She added a bit awkwardly as she slid off the stool, carefully testing out her healed leg by taking a few ginger steps with it before assuming a normal pace and leaving the lab. In that moment, McCoy's reaction had reminded her so much of her father, that she was suddenly struck by the empty feeling of his absence. It was hard, knowing he was already gone. Words could not describe how much she already missed him, but she couldn't let herself focus on that. She had to keep calm and carry on.
At least, that had been her plan until she discovered the main part of med bay, where Khan and the others should have been, was completely and totally empty. Where the heck were they!?
—∞—
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hari Singh's personal quarters
Khan couldn't help the devious smirk that began to spread across his face when he saw the display of various weapons that Hari Singh had promised them the use of back in the med bay.
"A fine collection, Dr. Singh." Khan praised. It was better than he had allowed himself to hope for. They were all accurate reproductions of ancient bladed weapons from times long past, and amongst them were quite a few of his personal favorites. There were even a few firearms were mixed in here and there, but without bullets, they were virtually useless. The only gun that appeared to have any useable ammo left was a pair of pearl-handled twin colt six-shooters.
"Damn. Maybe I should've brought Sulu, too." Kirk remarked as he took in the collection in its entirety. It really was rather impressive.
"Interesting." Spock commented. How had Dr. Singh managed to convince Captain Harris to allow him to bring so many functional weapons onboard?
"Thank you. I was never formally trained in the martial arts, but I've always admired the beauty and craftsmanship of ancient weapons such as these." Dr. Singh admitted humbly, pleased to hear their praise for his collection. "Please, help yourselves to anything you like, since this is the best I can do to help under these circumstances…"
"Thank you, Doctor." Khan replied rather graciously as he selected a beautiful khanda sword and removed it from its display. "You have been of great assistance. I believe this will do rather nicely."
"—Aaaah!" There came a shriek from just outside the doors.
Kirk instinctively grabbed the closest thing he could use to defend himself with and made for the door, but Khan had already beat him to it. Before any of them could so much as blink, the superhuman was out in the hallway, attacking the four cyborgs that had cornered two yeomen. He was slicing and slashing away in a whirl of sharp steel with such effortless grace, one might think he were simply dancing instead of hacking off cyborg heads and sending them flying in all directions. It was over in a matter of seconds. The regular humans present at that moment just stared at him, stunned. All of the augment's movements had been quick, clean, and precise… but the same could not be said for his surroundings. Blood was splattered everywhere, on the walls, on the floor… there were even a few drops on his face. And yet, there, in the middle of that bloody scene of carnage, he smiled.
"Yes… I believe this will do very nicely." Khan stated calmly, smirking ever so slightly, as he watched how the crimson blood glistened on the steel blade.
"… Sonovabitch." Kirk breathed in disbelief as a chill went up his spine. Just when he thought he'd seen it all, Khan had to go and up the ante.
—∞—
Med bay
"Well, well. Look who's back." Prima remarked a tad sardonically when the missing men returned laden with real weapons and the two pretty women they had just picked up. She was leaning rather casually against one of the nursing stations. If Prima was surprised, she concealed it well, merely raising an eyebrow at their recent acquisitions. She was still a little miffed they had left without even bothering to let her and McCoy know. What if something had happened to them? "I hope you've brought enough to share with the rest of the class."
"Don't be angry, Prima." Khan said, quickly realizing what she was sulking about. "I picked these out especially for you." He added, presenting her with a pair of Chinese hook swords, a Celtic Burda club, an Aara, and a sling.
"I'm not angry, but would it have killed you guys to leave a note?" Prima retorted, pouting slightly, even though he could tell she was pleased with the selection he had prepared for her. "I knew you'd come back for us, but I can't help but worry when you just suddenly up and disappear like that." She peeked around Khan to look at Kirk and Spock. "And that goes for you two blockheads, too. Don't you dare go dying after I've already started getting attached to you." She scolded them seriously.
Khan frowned. She made friends too easily. If Prima really had grown that attached to them, then it could complicate things. If he turned around and killed them after the immediate crisis with Dahl was over, then it would take her quite awhile to forgive him for it. He knew she would eventually, she always did. However, Khan would much prefer not to hurt her like that, if it could be helped… Still, he would do whatever needed to be done in order to protect her and what was left of his crew. He refused to suffer the pain of losing any of them again, especially her.
"Anyway, putting that aside, Dr. McCoy and I have some news for you all." Prima continued.
"Good news or bad news?" Khan inquired.
"Good news." Prima said, smiling.
"Your leg is completely healed?" Kirk guessed, noticing the distinct lack of a splint on her fine legs.
"Well, yeah, that too… Actually, we think we've found a solution to the 'conversion' problem, but first we'll need a way to shutdown the nanites in the bloodstream without harming the host… I was thinking something like an EMP?" She explained, glancing hopefully at Khan.
"Yes, that might do the trick… but there is a chance the nanites could produce a shock capable of damaging the blood vessels and cells around them." Khan replied thoughtfully, pausing for a moment. "We'll have to run a test using the blood sample first."
"If it is an electromagnetic pulse device you wish to build, I believe I can be of service." Spock volunteered. "I have constructed a portable device of a similar nature before."
"Then I shall leave that particular task to you, Mr. Spock." Khan assented calmly to the Vulcan. Khan could easily complete such a task on his own, but allowing Spock to build the device would allow him to focus his attention elsewhere, while also freeing him of suspicion, should some unforeseeable consequences occur due to the EMP. He had enough to be concerned about as it was with this fiasco with Dr. Dahl and her cyborgs, and the rest of his crew still in the hands of Starfleet.
"Excellent." Kirk said, smiling, as he clapped his friend on the shoulder. Spock wasted no time and immediately set to work on finding the materials he needed. "You said that was the first step… so, what's next?" Kirk asked Prima, taking a step closer. He was definitely interested in this hopeful new development.
"Well, once the nanites have been neutralized, then we plan on treating the symptoms they've caused in the victims, so Dr. McCoy is looking for that magic cocktail of meds that will help them start feeling more like human beings again. Unfortunately, I have no practical knowledge of how most of the treatments in question work, so I was wondering if perhaps Dr. Singh wouldn't mind lending him a hand. It's a lot of info to go through, and we don't have a lot of time." Prima explained, glancing hopefully at Hari Singh. She could tell he was doing his best to hold it together, but being in the same room as Khan after having just witnessed an example of his violent savagery firsthand was making the man a nervous wreck. He didn't need to be asked twice.
"Ah, yes, of course!" Dr. Singh agreed hastily, carefully avoiding eye contact with the dangerous terrorist, as he practically ran from the room, escaping into the lab with McCoy.
"By the way… you do realize you've got blood on you, right?" Prima asked Khan, raising an eyebrow. She could pretty much guess what had happened, knowing Khan and judging by the expressions and body language of the others. "Come here, I'll wipe it off for you." She said, smiling wryly and shaking her head, as she opened a drawer and began searching for a towel, alcohol wipes, or something of that nature she could use.
"Um, excuse me, but… who is that?" One of the yeomen, Yeoman Rand asked Kirk somewhat hesitantly, pointing at Prima. She was still a bit shaken from her previous encounter with the creepy cyborgs and Khan's completely one-sided slaughter of them. It was strange to see him now, with an almost… tender(?) look in his eyes, as he stared down at the beautiful brunette girl that was so focused on gently cleaning the blood from his face.
"Oh, that's Miss Primavera Dempsey. She and Khan are frienemies." Kirk explained lightly, trying to add some levity to the situation to help cheer up the two ladies. "You don't have to worry about her, she's on our side."
"By God, I think we've—" McCoy exclaimed excitedly as he rushed into the room, only to stop short upon seeing the small armory they had amassed, courtesy of Dr. Singh. "—Holy hell, Jim! Is this a med bay or an armory? Where did you even find all of this?"
"We borrowed it all from Dr. Singh, actually." Kirk replied, smirking.
"Really?" McCoy said dubiously, raising an eyebrow, as he glanced between them and the timid man that was poking his head out of the lab, watching them at what he judged to be a safe distance from Khan.
"So, what were you saying before?" Kirk asked, trying to get them back on topic. "Something about a cure?"