I do not own nor profit from Star Trek or Gene Roddenberrys works

The dawn must have been breaking in the distance, as Khan could see the surrounding landscape lighten up. The sky in the far west was beginning to grow lighter, as it had the morning above the meadow. But the man could only lay there and think for so long. Eventually he had to move, get his mind off of things, off of her. With a wince of pain, he dragged himself out of bed, stepping lightly through the craft. As if his feet had thought for him, he found himself in the medical bay, looking around.

Blood and medical supply wrappers were still littered on the floor, drawing a sigh from the leader. The quarentine room was still blocked off from passing eyes, the grey curtain occasionally moving whenever Ebony bumped it. At least she was still awake and looking after Safiya. He didn't watch where what he was doing, his eyes fixated on the quarentine door as he sat down on a bed. A silver tray went clattering to the floor, sending the suture kit it held with it. The racket caused him to jump defensively.

"My prince. I beg your pardon, but what the hell do you think your'e doing making all that noise?" Ebony hissed, trying not to wake the whole crew as if the clattering hadn't.

"I'm sorry. I just, I didn't know it was there." He offered. His mind was too tired and distracted to care about her piss poor attitude. Of course she had also been up all night looking after his wife.

"Well, keep it down, for the sake of the crew." She scolded.

"How is she? Safiya, I mean?" He asked, ignoring her request. Ebony just shook her head, her expression softening ever so slightly.

"She is still gone, Khan. I'm sorry." She sighed, feeling sympathy for her prince.

"May I see her?" He asked, his voice shaking. Ebony nodded, and tilted her head summoning him to come in.

"Gavin isn't going to be happy to know you are in here, but I think considering the circumstances..." She left the sentence hanging.

"Why can't I see my wife? I have every right, no matter what Gavin says." He snarled angrily, but Ebony stood her ground.

"Because, Khan. I don't want to get your hopes up that we can bring her back. Our blood can only do so much, but we know nothing of those creatures, or if they have other biological factors that could be in play. Are their claws poisonous? Do they have a venomous bite? We don't know? She sustained a lot of internal bleeding, a punctured lung, I wont even tell you how much hair we pulled out of her wounds. She must have felt like she was getting her lacerations scrubbed with steel wool by the time she died." Ebony finished, far from being sympathetic. Her harsh words found Khans hand around her neck, holding her against the glass, her feet off the ground.

"Do you delight in her pain before she died, Ebony?" He hissed. The way she acted so nonchalant about the pain she suffered through drove Khan mad. She seemed to not even care, by the tone of her voice. "You will be more careful with that tongue, especially when addressing my wife, do you understand?" He narrowed his eyes, tightening his grasp before letting her fall to the floor. Ebony coughed and sputtered before standing up straight and tall before him like the Augment woman she was.

"Yes my prince. I meant no disrespect by my words or tone. Believe me when I say she was family to us all. Do you wish I take my leave?" It was her apology, and this was the way the Augment world worked. Once she was put in her place, she would follow it, as he would have done with any other augment under his leadership. She continued her duties, keeping an ever watchful eye over the body in hopes to find signs of life.

The room was silent for nearly twenty minutes before Khan finally spoke again. "She hasn't decayed at least." He mentioned, noticing how she hasn't yet started to bloat up like bodies usually do. Which was good for him, as he certainly couldn't have looked at her as soon as she started to decay.

"No, she has not. That is why we are curious sir, about what those creatures may have in their saliva. Because she hasn't began that... Process." Ebony thought of her words this time, trying to be more gentle.

"What does Gavin think of this?"

"He does not know yet, that she hasn't began that process." Ebony admitted, before turning back to Safiya.

Khan noticed that her top had been cut off unceremoniously. Her pants were crusted in dried blood, and her feet were bare. "Can we wash her? I don't like seeing her bloody like this." He gulped. Ebony gave a slight nod.

"We can wheel this bed into the sonic shower room if you'd like. It would be easier to clean her that way." She offered, unlocking the bed. They took it into the room where patients usually bathed, a flexible extendable showerhead available. Khan reached up and gently slid her pants off, feeling embarrassed for her to be nude in front of another beside him. He made to fold her pants when he heard a soft clatter on the floor.

"Whats this?" He bent down and picked up a long three inch yellowed canine that was broken at the larger side. "Huh, Ebony, what do you make of that?" Khan held it up to the other woman.

"It looks like a tooth from one of those cats if you ask me." She took it from his hands, examining it. "I need to have this tested." She said flatly, focused on the tooth. She frowned before setting it in a jar and returning to help Khan wash his wife. When they were done, she looked refreshed, but no nearer to being alive. Khan took over from there, sending her off to test the tooth that had been found.

Like preparing her for a special ceremony, Khan gingerly treated his wives body as if she were being prepped for ascension to Goddess. He brushed her hair back, and oiled her body, placing socks on her feet, and dressing her in a wraparound robe. For that moment, she looked pure and good, having been resigned to a fate that she did not deserve. Khan sat and stared at his preparations, her eyes still closed, her lips still barely parted.

"I will not be your undoing." He spoke as if to convince himself. "This should never have happened. You, you did not deserve this." He began to slowly rock back and forth, his back straight, rubbing his palms on his knees, needing something to do with his hands besides rip is own hair out. "Why didn't I just listen to you? I'm sorry, I never should have brought you here. You shouldn't be here, you don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to have you here." He began to shiver, as all of the emotions he felt from his dream came flooding back to him. She was breaking him. His tears left his eyes and rolled endlessly down his cheeks as he just shook his head as if hoping if he did it long enough, this would all be a terrible dream.

His howls of grief were audible throughout the medbay, but he did not care. Everything that had been building up in him had finally began to work its way out. He rested his head on her arm finally, shaking his head, not wanting to accept that the best thing that had ever happened to him was gone.

The rest of the crew that had been at the ship continued their work diligently to repair the skiff. Essex worked on figuring out the piloting, and Trick had gone out with another to find food. This time, they took the blast cannon, now knowing that it would indeed kill any feline creatures they came across. The engines were turned on and off all day in testing, and preparation. Gavin and Ebony stayed in the medbay, testing and retesting the tooth that they found from Safiyas pocket.

Essex and Ren were in a much better state, though they too hurt as the loss of their princess sank in. They helped with the repairs to the outer hull with what little salvage they had. There was little casual conversation, as they all focused on the ship, with the worry of their princess heavy on their hearts. When they saw Khan finally emerge into the daylight, they cast solemn glances for fear that his pain would turn to rage that he would take out on them.

"Ren, walk with me." Khan said with a hollow voice. Ren did not leave his prince waiting as he fell into step with him, walking away from the vessel and towards the edge of the canyon.

"How are the repairs coming?" He asked

"They are coming along fine, my prince. I am afraid that we may not be able to get it fully operational, there is extensive damage to parts of the ship that we can not fix with what supplies we have here." He sighed looking out over the canyon.

"Would it fly well enough?" Khan turned.

"Pardon?"

"Would it get us back to our encampment?" He furrowed his brow.

"It is possible, so long as we stay low, but in the condition that it is in, it certainly won't be going off planet." He shrugged,

"Well, I don't believe we will be needing to go off planet. Not yet anyways." He grew quiet again.

"There is a way we could possibly get the vessel operation, should you okay it." Ren looked out in the distance, his hand running gently over the edge of the wound on his back. "The previous captain of this vessel noted that they witnessed their ship go down. It crashed somewhere, but where we do not know." He pursed his lips, thinking back on the transmission he had heard with Safiya a few nights ago.

"Well, what good would it do for us then?" Khan growled. "If we do not know where it has landed?"

"Well, I would imagine that it landed north of here. Unless there is another breeding population of those creatures, it is likely they went north into their territory, to find the wreckage." Ren thought. "I mean, they lost most of their search party to those things, so, they definitely came across them. I would reckon they went either Northeast or Northwest. Which, I do not know, though." He shook his head.

"I don't know if I could risk our people for a goose chase, Ren." Khan gazed at him. He had already lost too much, and couldn't imagine compiling it with the death of his crew.

"Then I will speak no more of it." Ren nodded. "If that would be all, it would be best if I return to the ship to assist with the repairs." He took his leave, leaving Khan to his misery.

Essex caught up with Ren as soon as he returned. "How is he?" He asked worried, as he helped Ren with some wiring.

"He is as crushed as any man would be." He replied quietly, thinking back again to his own Vivienne, and the plethora of emotions that he experienced. "He has been off this morning. I came across Ebony this morning, who said he had been very strange."

"Strange how?" Essex raised a brow.

"The way he doted upon her body, the care he took, the looks he gave her. Ebony just found it very strange. I don't know what to make of it, personally." He shook his head. He understood taking care of a body, but, this seemed quite different. Essex asked no more questions, and Ren gave no more answers. Trick had returned later that day with a bounty of food. With a fire going, they cooked, and ate with a slightly merrier tone to be eating a hot meal. Khan was one of the few who had not been merry however. He ate, staring into the blazing fire as if to draw some conclusion from it.

The sky was riddled with stars glittering high, a light breeze blowing across the land, occasionally sending up sparks. Gavin sat a few feet away from Khan, eating his meat. It appeared to be something similar to an antelope, but he wasn't going to ask too many questions. Trick and Ebony stayed away from one another, not wanting appear to flaunt their relationship in the midst of dark times.

The crew was soon headed to bed after spending an exhausting day working on the hull and wires. The ship had been neglected for the many years that had passed. Weather and age had taken its toll on the ship. All Khan wanted at that point, was to get it running enough to get it back to their camp. Khan had returned to the medbay. Sleep was something that he feared, and he refused to allow it take over him.

"You really should rest you know." Gavins gentle voice came from the doorway. Khan sighed and dropped his head.

"I cannot." He admitted. "I am afraid my dreams will haunt me."

"I can give you something for that, if you'd like." Gavin offered, moving towards the medication cart. He was thankful that this craft had a sizable and well stocked medbay, though it was nothing like the Bradbury.

"I want nothing. Just, leave me be. I don't care for sleep." Khan gripped the bed he sat on.

"You need to sleep!" Gavin insisted.

"I need to do NOTHING!" Khan jumped up, yelling. "YOU need to FIX HER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! NOTHING!" He fumed, his anger bursting forth. He threw a small cart at the wall, leaving a large dent as the cart crashed to the floor spilling its contents. Gavin stood still in the doorway.

"We have been doing something." He quietly defended. "The tooth had a hollow tube in it."

"Go on." Khan spoke irritated.

"Only venomous creatures on Earth have this feature. It's likely that she was poisoned by these creatures." Khan gave him a questioning look before he continued. "I know, she wasn't bitten, but, perhaps, just perhaps, the poison was on its claws as well? It is a viable possibility." He walked past Khan into the room his wife lay in. He noticed immediately how clean and peaceful she looked, her hair meticulously brushed, her body wrapped in a robe that was tied on the front. The care that was put into her presentation was evident.

"She hasn't decayed a bit." Gavin mumbled looking over her. He opened her robe to assess his stitching. "Ohhhhhh..." He stepped back. Khan snapped his head up at the doctors reaction.

"What is it? What are you on about?" He looked over her body hoping to see what the doctor saw.

"My prince, the news is well and grim at once." Gavin looked over her sutures before reaching for the tray of hyposprays that were kept in the room. He excitedly loaded the syringe. Pressing three different meds into her neck, he finally turned to Khan. "She hasn't began to decay, and that is the best sign we have." His eyes were wide. "But look here, her wounds." He gently ran a finger over the reddish pink skin under the stitches. "Her body is reacting to the stitching. Dead skin doesn't redden. This is sign of irritation, possible infection. She's still alive, if only just barely." He stopped, trying to calm his excitement.

"My sweet serendipity..." Khan whispered, looking down at her. Gavin returned with a blood replenishing serum. After gaining an access in her arm, he hung the serum as Khan watched it drain into her body.

"It may help to bring her back around. With her blood loss, she is probably struggling to regenerate her cells..." Gavin hung fluids as well, hoping to hydrate her.

As Khan closed her robe again, smoothing down the wrinkles, he found himself confused.

"Gavin, if those creatures do have poisons, why is it that Ren and I are not in the same position as well? Khan wondered.

Gavin had no answers, but Gavin did have ideas.