Sorry about the last chapter. I know-it was awful, but I'll go back and rewrite it. It was an off day. Don't worry, this is one should be MUCH better than the last. Enjoy and please review.

Chapter 25

Clouds of icy breath spew from his mouth and he shivers, the coldness seeping down his spin and freezing his blood. All around him the other Augments crouch down in their cages, their eyes wide with worry and uncertainty.

"Are we going to be okay?" A young girl asks him and he shrugs wordlessly. How was he supposed to know? These scientists would do what they pleased with them whether or not they wanted it. They were not human.

They were experiments.

"Khan?" She presses, her eyes mere moments from spilling over with hot, salty tears. Every instinct tells him that no, it will most definitely not be okay…but he forces himself to nod.

"Yes." He says softly and sits beside his friend. "We will be fine."

They were only twelve but already their lives knew the cruelty that the world so graciously allowed to inhabit its dark and icy depths. The older Augments look at them—their bodies broken and battered—before looking hopelessly at their feet. They would be the first to go—the prototypes of an inferior generation. Khan and his crew were created to replace them, and they knew it. And when they screamed as the scientists tore them apart, no one would hear as the air, accentuation with violence, suddenly turned silent as they breathed their last. And no one would care. No one but the other experiments, all of which were awaiting their own doom, would care to hear or mourn their friends' premature demises.

But they didn't matter in the eyes of the scientists.

They weren't human.

They were only self-aware lab rats.

Nothing more.

…

Khan's eyes snap open and he breaths quickly, his breaths coming quick and fast. He's lying in his bed, the blue quilt wrapped around him tightly. Inhale. Exhale. He heart races quickly and he sits up, sweat dripping down his face and chest. His bare feet slap onto the hard wooden floors as he forces himself to sit up stiffly, his body shaking violently.

He hated his past.

But he hated remembering it more.

Quietly, he stands up and walks to his door. He'll get glass of water and then go back to bed. If he can't sleep, then he'll read for a while or glare at the ceiling. As long as he didn't have to dream about Sector 31 one, he'd be okay.

"Where are you going to keep them?" Khan freezes in his doorway and listens carefully to the hushed voices that are echoing ever so slightly: they're in the kitchen. What was going on now? He thinks irritably. "Hello? Ze'eva? Did you hear me?"

"What about the barn?" She says carefully. "We could send a sanitations team in in a few hours to sterilize everything, move the bunks in, and all that fun." Khan imagines her rolling her blue-eyes. "This would keep the kids away from the SAR and there'd be less questions about them and their origins for sure if they were out of the public eye."

Khan's eyes narrow. Are they're talking about those kids they dug up yesterday?

He didn't see anything that seemed unusual about them.

"And then what?" Truk asks, his voice dripping unintentionally with doubt. "We just hide thirty kids in our backyard until they all grow up? How's that going to work out, hm?"

"I don't know…we could find them families to stay with, maybe? We can have them employed at the SAR and some of the senior members can take in groups of them-the perfect family."

"And what about Star Fleet?"

"They are not to be involved in this situation under any circumstances, whatsoever. They're just normal orphaned human children who got a little lost in the forest and are our newest charity project: got it? Great, get the memo out."

Just what are you trying to hide, Ze'eva? Khan wonders.

And why do you not trust Star Fleet? What horrors did they unleash upon you?

It seemed the more Khan learned about this girl, the bigger the mystery that was shrouding her became.

"Are you sure this going to work?" Truk yawns. "What if it doesn't? What's the backup plan? Have you even gotten that yet? Do you understand just how dangerous this is?"

"Truk, everything will be fine, okay? You worry too much."

"And you don't worry at all." He says, his voice sounding slightly defeated. "What about your sister? What about Roni? How are you not worried about that? She's going to die in a few days, Ze'eva. What about our children? What happens to them when someone figures out just what those kids are?" 'What' those kids are? Khan cocks his head slightly the side, his mind whirling. What does he mean by that? "What about those notes you've been fining in the mail with that person threatening us, huh? How are you not worried? This is dangerous-not some charity event! How can you not see that?!"

"I am…but I have more important things to do than to dwell on things that are just going to prohibit me from doing my job. We. Will. Be. Fine! Nothing is going to happen to us, and if it gets too bad, we'll leave...and…go to…Earth or something—I don't know." She snaps.

It was strange how easily she was taking this all in stride. A normal woman of her age would be broken down on the floor by now, sobbing about all of her troubles: Ze'eva simply sweeps it away only to analyze it all later. She's irritated but only because Truk keeps addressing it and bringing it up. Had he left it alone, she would be fine right now.

What made her like this? How did a girl like her get so used to stress and chaos?

Did Star Fleet mold her into this?

Was she like him? Was she an experiment, too?

Khan pushes the thought away quickly.

No.

She was strange, sure…but she was not like him.

And she was not one of his people.

"But what about Roni, your sister? What about our children? What about Aaron and his health problems? That guy said he could help Roni get better but…he's just a man, Ze'eva. You shouldn't put much hope in it."

"I don't have any hope in it. She's already gone—she can't be saved."

"And if someone comes in here with a gun? Will our children not matter enough to you for you to help them?"

"That person won't make it past the doorway, Truk! No one is going to hurt our family and especially the kids! How dare you even think that!" Khan hears a thud and he creeps silently forward just in time to see Ze'eva shove Truk so that his back slams against the wall. Her fists ball up as if to punch him and she quickly takes a few hurried steps away from him as if afraid of what she'd do to it. It takes her a moment before she speaks again, her chest contracting widely as she takes deep breaths to help her calm down. Her voice is quiet. Controlled. "Look, Truk, we'll be fine—okay? Don't worry—I'll…I'll figure something out."

"Well, how long is the Enterprise's people staying here? We can't hide this forever: especially if they're living right under our roof."

"A few more days—maybe to the end of the week. I talked to the captain last night: the repairs should be done soon enough and they'll take off."

"Do you really buy it? That their ship 'just so happened' to get damaged and they 'just so happened' to have nowhere else to go?"

"What? You think they're spying on us something? I think you've been hanging around Khan too much." The girl laughs quietly. "You're getting just a little too paranoid here."

"But you still love me," Khan can hear the smile in the man's voice and hears Ze'eva laughs again.

"Always." Without a word Khan slips back to his room to think. He never liked it when people kept secrets from him and he was determined to learn just what this one was.