M for more vibrant language, more mature themes, and sexually mature scenes. I don't own Star Trek, more's the pity. I only own my original characters and plot line.

Loss

Ch 21 - Understanding

The Lieutenant sat across from Khan in the small vessel Admiral Marcus had given them. New Vulcan in origin, the ship had been stripped of its weapons per her orders. As Khan pulled away from the Admiral's dreadnought class ship, he saw its name, the USS Herodotus, and grinned.

"What is it?" The Lieutenant had kept himself quiet since he was told of his assignment to help Khan, but now he was curious.

"The name," Khan's deep voice crooned, " – do you not find it amusing?"

"Herodotus is called the father of history." The young man answered.

"True, but Voltaire also called him the father of lies. A strangely fitting tribute for her captain – or should I say – her admiral."

A few moments after Khan set their course and sent them into warp, the Lieutenant offered, "I am . . . sorry."

Khan ignored him – staring out into the darkness of space.

The Lieutenant tried again. "I didn't know that the Admiral was going to capture the woman."

Khan gritted his teeth.

"Please. You have to believe me." The Lieutenant was quietly earnest which made Khan all the angrier.

The superior man hissed, "The only thing I 'have to' do, Lieutenant, is find Jim Kirk, bring him back to his psychotic wife, and retrieve my family. Believing your intentions is not in that equation."

"Is the woman really pregnant?"

"Sara!" Khan yelled turning his head fiercely towards the Lieutenant. "The 'woman' has a name – and it is 'Sara'." Khan took a deep breath after his outburst and lowered his head. Small streams of tears slipped from both eyes. Then, he said more to himself than the man sitting across from him, "She is pregnant with my child."

"I thought that was impossible."

"Sara's existence makes anything possible." Khan looked almost wistful as he said the words.

"I don't understand."

Khan rotated his chair 90 degrees. The movement startled the Starfleet officer turning his head to completely attend to Khan instead of the instrument panel in front of him.

"Because of Sara, I will go to this planet and bring Jim Kirk back to his fishwife." Khan sneered as he insulted Carol before continuing, " If he will not come willingly, I will drag his unconscious body from the wreckage of our fight and lay him at the feet of Carol Marcus. And if Admiral Marcus does not give Sara to me, I will destroy everything she ever cared for right in front of her eyes."

The Lieutenant swallowed, "You're very open with your plans."

Khan moved his chair back to the main screen. "I have told you nothing that Carol does not already know."

"What of your original crew?"

Khan sighed. "I will find a way to help them should they need it. But, Sara comes first. Before you, before Kirk and the Admiral, before my people, before myself – Sara and my child shall always come first."

The Lieutenant nodded. A moment of silence passed before the Lieutenant ventured, "You're not what I expected."

Tilting his head slightly, Khan almost purred, "Tell me, Lieutenant, what did you expect?"

"We were always taught that you were cold, ruthless, and vicious."

"You were taught correctly. I am all those things. I am ice and fire, loyalty and vengeance. I am a savage."

"Savages don't usually put others before themselves."

Khan glanced at him sideways ignoring that last comment before continuing, "You know this assignment is Carol's revenge for you telling me about David."

"No." The Lieutenant shook his head. "The admiral is a professional. She wouldn't stoop to such petty actions."

"Just like she would not demean herself by capturing a defenseless pregnant woman from the past and placing her in a situation where both her life and the life of her unborn child are at risk?"

"What are you talking about? The Admiral said the woman," the Lieutenant paused when Khan's eyes shot him an angry look at his use of that last word.

"Say her name. Say it!"

The Lieutenant gulped, "The Admiral said that Sara was just being held in a secure location until you bring back Kirk."

"A stasis tube in good condition is secure, but the one in which Sara is trapped is original from our flight from Earth over 300 years ago. Everything built by man has a lifespan. The tube Sara is in may be reaching the end of its life. If the tube dies, so does Sara. So does my child. Do you understand now, Lieutenant?"

Khan watched the Lieutenant's expression harden and darken. "I understand. I truly did not know, Khan."

The superior man nodded. "So, what are your feelings right now towards the good Admiral?"

"Khan, I've never hit a woman before, but I do believe I could make an exception in her case."

"You will never have the chance because I will get to her first. But, if you are loyal to me, I will let you watch as I rip her heart of stone out of her puny chest. If you are disloyal, your heart will be next." Khan thought for another moment. "What is your proper name, Lieutenant?"

"Ethan, Ethan Marshall."

"Well, Mr. Marshall, let's go find the renegade Kirk."

While at warp, Khan took the opportunity to conserve his energy. Marshall watched as Khan retreated into himself. Everything about his body seemed to slow. As they neared the planet, however, Khan quickly came out of it.

"Scan for life, Marshall."

"Scanning. I see a settlement a mile away from the coastline on the continent to your left."

"Good. Find an area topographically conducive for hiding our craft and at least half a kilometer from the settlement."

"I think I've found just the place."

"Show me." Khan looked at the image that appeared on his screen. "Very good. Make the preparations to land."

Settling down on the alien world, Khan and Marshall armed themselves. The planet itself was Earth like, and Khan spared a thought in hope that all 72 members of his original crew were still alive. Khan looked at the blond man assisting him.

"You will follow my lead, Marshall. Only fire if I fire first."

"Understood."

As the two slowly left the safety of the shuttle, they kept their weapons held low against their bodies. Both men trod silently across the ground. Only after fifty feet did the human realise something was wrong. To Marshall, Khan moved in reaction to some unseen and unknown danger as he whirled around to level his gun at the attacker who'd suddenly appeared from no where holding a makeshift spear in his hand mere inches away from Khan's chest. While the gun was obviously the more advanced weapon, Khan knew from such close distance the spear could cause damage in the hands of another superior being.

As the two augments stared each other down, a moment of recognition passed between the two advanced beings.

"Khan?"

"Demetri?"

"Is it you? Or another trick by the Federation?" The brown haired man still holding the spear scrutinized his former leader. "Khan, we were told you were dead!"

"And, who I wonder, told you that lie?"

"A new augment named Kirk. He told us that you saved him with your blood."

"Did he tell you that blood was taken against my will?"

"No." Demetri replied in a mixture of disgust and anger at the thought of an ordinary human stealing superiority. "Khan, you know my loyalty to you is beyond question. What do you need from me?"

Khan's mouth widened in a devilish smile, "I need you to take me to him, Demetri. Take me to James Kirk."

In the cold depths of the USS Herodotus, a lone stasis tube sat in a storage compartment which until recently had held items only needed for the most obscure engineering repair. Carol had ordered the room to be cleared before the tube had gone inside. Then, she changed the identification on the door to "Authorized Crew Only". After that she set the security on the door to only allow someone with Level 5 clearance to enter the room. On the Herodotus, she was the only one with clearance that high.

The knowledge that no one could reach that pod without her permission made Carol smile. She would succeed where her father had failed. She would make Khan do her bidding and then destroy him before he had a chance to turn on her. Yes, Carol only had one hostage as opposed to seventy-two, but she knew that one woman was just as important to Khan as his original crew had been. This time, Khan would not be allowed to fight back. This time, Khan would not manipulate a vulnerable Kirk into working with him. This time, Khan would not survive.

Carol's determination that nothing would go wrong drove her to extreme actions. So much was her fear that someone would reveal the tube's location to Khan that no one else on board knew it was actually there. She was also so paranoid that no guards were posted either in the room or outside the doors. So confident was the Admiral's belief in her security measures that she did not even have security cameras installed – too many questions would be raised. For who would need cameras in a secured room with a single two meter tube inside?

Carol brushed her straight blond bangs away from her eyes and sighed. Everything was perfect. The set-up, the plan, and even her secondary plan were perfect. Soon she would have her husband back and revenge on the man who'd killed her father thirty years ago.

"Soon, father." the Admiral whispered to herself. "Soon."

In the small storage bay, Sara's stasis tube made for a eerie tomb. Sara's features were frozen in a state of unrest. When he was last in his tube, Khan's smile froze into a knowing smirk in an understanding that somehow he would return. But Sara's face was set in fear and pain not knowing what would become of Khan, herself, or her unborn child.

Sara had been frozen in the midst of high emotions: fear, pain, rage. She had fought, and Carol had not been kind. Before coming aboard the Herodotus, Carol had officers loyal to her do the act. Instead of putting Sara into an artificial sleep and then freezing her, Carol, from the security of her ready-room, had ordered that Sara be awake for the entire process. Sara had screamed. Carol had smiled. Then, it was easy to get those same officers to beam the tube directly into the room.

Now, the sight of Sara's frozen visage was disturbing through the frosty window of the tube. Her mouth twisted. Her brow furrowed.

Hundreds of years from her birth and light years away from the man she loved, Sara was not merely a human or even a first generation augment. Khan had said that Sara was superior – that somehow she was the next form of augmentation.

Alone, in the stillness of the silent storage bay, the superior Sara Trevathan opened her eyes.

Many many thanks for your continued patience. In the past, I feel I've let some of my stories weaken at this stage, and I'm determined that it not happen to this one. I love this story too damn much to let it down now.

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