CHAPTER 25:

Spock discovered that the woman who had captured him and Leslie in engineering was named Kati. Upon her report of it to their leader (Khan's apparent second in command), Joaquin, she was ordered to bring them both to the bridge. When they arrived, Spock was met by the tall leader, who scrutinized Spock's ears with mild interest.

"I am Joaquin. And you must be the first officer Spock."

"I am."

"Correct me if I am wrong…" Joaquin slowly began to circle around his captive. "You are familiar with the computers on this ship."

Spock said nothing.

Joaquin stopped to glare demandingly. "Well?"

"You told me to correct you if you were wrong. You are not wrong therefore I need not correct you."

"In that case, perhaps you can enlighten me as to why we can't access the ship's data files. Your crew claims to have no idea why, and they are all terrible liars. More than anything, they're extremely stubborn and won't answer me."

"The answer is quite simple," Spock said politely. "You cannot access files that do not exist."

Joaquin's smug expression dropped. "What do you mean they don't exist?! I saw them myself!"

Spock quirked a single eyebrow. "Your incredulity indicates that you either doubt your memory or my truthfulness. While I cannot vouch for the capability of your recently cryogenically frozen hippocampus, I can assure you that I am a Vulcan."

"Meaning?" Joaquin barked impatiently.

"I do not lie." Spock matched his irritation with saintly calm. "The files no longer exist because I erased them, or are otherwise in the process of complete elimination from the system."

"We did find him at a computer on the engineering deck," Kati spoke up from behind Spock.

Joaquin's heavy steps brought him face to face again. "Then stop the process! You erased them, so you restore them."

"Impossible," said Spock. "I have placed an override in the system that cannot be stopped by any senior officer on board this ship—myself included. Nor can the information be retrieved without being directly imported from the data archives of a starbase or other external system."

Joaquin's face turned a shade redder with poorly suppressed emotion. "Then you and the rest of your bridge crew will instruct my people on how to operate this ship."

"I'm afraid that is also impossible."

Joaquin scoffed. "Oh, because you deleted it from your brains too?"

The sarcasm went a little over the Vulcan's head and Spock frowned at him. "There are no androids commissioned on this ship, and though science officer 0718 is cybernetically augmented, information cannot be erased from his memory—"

"Stop talking!" Joaquin's voice bellowed out. "Listen closely, Mr. Spock… I will give you the same ultimatum that I have given your helmsman: Cooperate or I will kill your sleeping crew one by one."

"Your ultimatum is illogical and will prove futile."

"You mean you want everyone under your command to die?"

"I have stated no such desire."

"That is certainly how it sounds. Do you think I'm bluffing?"

"Such a possibility has yet to cross my mind."

"Stop dodging my questions!" A vein was beginning to surface on Joaquin's brow.

Spock tilted his head curiously. "I am not dodging any of your questions. I have answered every inquiry…"

"Not directly, you smart ass! I will start to kill people until you cooperate!"

"You incorrectly assume that our position in this matter will be altered by a methodical massacre. We have standing orders from our captain to refuse your every demand, regardless of torture or death."

"Has it occurred to you," Joaquin began viciously, "that we could kill you all and simply await the return of our leader? Khan can train us."

"I have considered every alternative. If that is how it must be, then so be it."

Joaquin stared at him. "I honestly can't tell if you're serious or not."

"I myself have the same difficulty with discerning humor in humans."

"I expect you won't have any difficulty discerning my seriousness, Mr. Spock," Joaquin's words were curt. "I will give you three hours. If we do not make contact with Khan by the end of that time, I will begin shooting your sleeping crewmembers every thirty minutes beginning with Deck 1 and working my way down until you cooperate. Then we shall see how loyal you are to your captain's final orders."

Sulu suddenly interjected from the helm. "When the shuttle entered the atmosphere we lost its signal. We can't tell if it landed safely or not."

"Until the electromagnetic storm passes their last known coordinates," Spock added, "communication will be highly improbable. That is, assuming they are still alive. This planet is unexplored and the storm may last much longer than three hours. It could potentially last for days."

"Then hope by the time it passes you'll still have some crewmembers left alive. We're done here. I am keeping you on the bridge where I can keep an eye on you, but if you value those pointed ears of yours, you won't say another word. Now I understand what Khan meant when he called you a nuisance..."

He then nodded a silent command to Kati, who roughly began to herd Spock and Lt. Leslie aside and out of the way while Joaquin assumed his place in the command chair once again.

"We may not yet know how to fly this ship, but we do know how your communicators work. If we can't establish contact with Khan, then we'll talk to your captain. If he can't tell us anything, then at least we'll have the satisfaction of forcing him to retract his orders or know the consequences of them when we begin executing his crew."