Kirk waited until Frederick came back so he could walk back to the casino with Khan. Like all good gun slingers, they gave each other space to maneuver if they were attacked, which in an odd way excited Kirk who loved a good fight. Knowing that just walking with Khan made him a potential target got his heart pumping a little faster and his breathing a little deeper.

Khan for his part was lost in his own thoughts, although Kirk was certain he was aware of everything around him. They were half way to the casino when Antoni walked up and announced their contact was there.

"And you needed to alert us to this fact?" Khan asked as they kept walking.

"It's a woman, sir."

"Kirk, you take the point," Khan stated and gave the captain a furrowed glance. He was in no mood to deal with any females right now.

"Khan," Antoni continued, "she looks like a human crossed with a cat,"

Of course this intrigued Kirk. "Young or old?"

Finding a receptive ear in Kirk, he said, "Young and beautiful. I have never seen a woman like her before."

"And you want me to talk to her?" Kirk checked just in case he didn't understand Khan's terminology.

"If you don't mind," Khan replied with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

Kirk smiled. Khan had no ground to go all moral on him; it was far better to love women than kill people. Khan would probably be a lot happier if he had adopted that philosophy. They arrived at the casino and continued through it to a venue where drinks and food were served. Spock and Joachim were sitting with one of the most incredible women that Kirk had ever seen. Her hair was long and black and pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes when she glanced in their direction were incredible green cat eyes, more luminous than any he had ever seen before. And the tip of her nose was a pink kitty cat nose pad. Add to that a bosom that would make any normal man weep for joy at finding them in his bed. What he could see of the rest of her in the black bosom enhancing shirt and dark leather pants and boots was just too much for him.

"Captain," Spock spoke up and waited to see who would answer.

"Yes, Mr. Spock," Kirk answered and pulled up a chair so he could sit directly across from the incredible woman.

"Captain," she answered, a hint of delicate fangs where her canines were. "I'm Shaddaha Grekh."

"She is a law enforcement officer under cover around the spur of Orion," Joachim explained and grinned at his brother who had pulled up a chair and was sitting beside him.

Khan folded his arms across his chest and actually slouched in his chair. She looked at him and wrinkled her nose but as no one introduced him, and she didn't ask, she turned back to Kirk. "The man you will ultimately bring down is this one," She passed an archaic photograph across the table to Kirk. The man in the photo looked human enough with an odd greenish brown color. "You can not miss him," she added, "as he is almost twice as tall as you."

"Does he have a base of operations?"

"I've given it to your first officer," she replied. "I was hoping I could hitch a ride with you back there."

Kirk was all ready to say yes when he heard a low rumble coming from Khan. "You have an objection?"

"We know nothing about this woman," Khan replied. "I prefer to err on the side of caution."

Grekh looked at him with those cat eyes and said, "I would be in more danger from you than you from me, Mr. Khan. Yes, I received a dossier on all of you. I know you and Capt. Kirk share the leadership, and that you are the most dangerous man at this table. "

Khan turned to Kirk whose face clearly indicated he wanted to bring her along. "It's your call."

"Welcome aboard,' Kirk said with a big grin.

Khan deciding that they had wasted enough time rose from his chair. "Then we leave."

Joachim not so eager to be away caught his arm and asked, "Can we have a few hours to blow steam before we leave?"

Spock, a look of concern on his face, spoke up, "I do not require this."

"Oh but I have plans for you," Joachim corrected him. "Khan?"

"Very well. Midnight our time be back. I'll go relieve Frederick."

"Oh that won't be necessary," Kirk interrupted him. "I'll help our guest get moved in, and tell Frederick to join you."

Khan frowned at Kirk, who was already, presenting his most gallant self to the cat woman. The last place he wanted to be stuck at was at the casino watching his brother and Mr. Spock hustle the gamblers and no telling what else. "I'm going for a walk then," he said clearly and circled the table.

Kirk, thinking momentarily with the head on his shoulders, turned to him and said, "Please don't kill anyone unless you have to defend yourself."

"Define defend," Khan replied rhetorically.

"I could keep you company," Spock offered.

Joachim grinned and hooked his arm in Spock's. "We have money to win and things to buy, my Vulcan friend. A world of sin and vice awaits us."

"Have fun!" Kirk called after Spock as Joachim and Antoni dragged him away.

Khan did not wait around any longer. He sauntered off and left the casino in search of something cleaner. The beach. It was alien with life forms unknown dwelling in its waters, but for a moment standing on the white sand hearing the surf was soothing to his senses. He could still hear the sounds of humanity but there weren't as many people on the beach this time of the day. It was late afternoon and people were moving indoors. On this little strip of sand he was alone. Crossing his legs he sat down and let his eyes sweep far out across the water. He loved how the colors changed before his eyes as the surf rose white from deep blue to the palest of greens. He wasn't foolish enough to want to swim in those waters, but he wouldn't mind getting wet. Later when it was darker perhaps he would lie in the surf. Gazing down the beach he watched a couple splash into the water. They weren't human and didn't even look like they belonged to the same species, but they were together. Odd things they were.

He thought of Marla although he didn't want to. What was it that made her choose her son's life over her own? Or did she even have a choice? He was certain Suzanne was looking after the boy, but he wondered if she would rejoin them when it was over or stay with the humans? Human. Chaya, the woman from MOSAD, had been his lover for a while, and had been the first to tell him that someone in the West knew he wasn't human.

Theirs had always been odd pillow talk. After sex she would get around to telling him what it was that drew her to his bed in the first place. He supposed he ought to have been grateful Akiva ben Avraham hadn't been unofficially made his handler. That glaring eyed man was mean on his best day with words that often cut deep and hard. At least Chaya was fun before she got down to business. Telling him she knew he wasn't human had scared him. He was only twenty four and trying to organize his people against Pakistan. MOSAD found use in his passion and offered to trade secrets for little deeds. They sent Chaya, a beautiful dark haired dark eyed woman ten years his senior, to recruit him as an ally and operator. He quickly learned that even sex with her involved a this for that.

They knew he was concerned about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, just as they were worried about Iran's. In one of the boldest moves ever, they agreed to help each other neutralize those threats. It took a year of planning and training, but in the end they succeeded.

Chaya had died trying to get out of Pakistan.

In private he did not mind grieving for lost lovers, but it was not something he cared to dwell on. So many tactile memories remained that were like ghosts on his skin. Sometimes a faint perfume drifted through the air that reminded him of one or the other. Or of someone else. There weren't many but they all fell tragically by the wayside, and that preyed on his mind.

The sea breeze stiffened, and he raised his face to the dying sun. Closing his eyes and resting his hands palms up on his knees, he let it whip his hair about and rattle his clothes. Spray from the rising surf showered him. Rising to his feet, he stripped off the coat and shirt and exposed more bare skin to the wind and ocean. The luger he stuck in his belt.

It broke his heart to think that he would never know love again, that it was too devastating to lose. In the end he had failed at the one thing humans took for granted. Even Kirk as wanton as he was knew that one day he would find the right woman to love and be loved by. Has my life been completely worthless? He was so tired he needed to rest, to sleep.

Grabbing his things off the beach, he returned to the cutter whether Kirk wanted anyone there or not. Entering it, clothes in hand, he surprised Kirk and cat woman who were on the bridge going over whatever it was he was lying to her about. They looked at him with surprise on their faces, hers perhaps a little more carnal than necessary, as he continued on to his cabin.

Throwing himself on his bunk, realizing that Kirk's little friend had put a suggestion in his head, he closed his eyes and dreamed.

The two women that he had loved the most, one from another time smiled at him. "Why the long face?" Chaya asked curiously and kissed his chest.

"I've lost you, both of you," he said.

"No you haven't," Marla countered and ran her hand down his bare thigh. They were on either side of him, and while their actions were sexual, he was not feeling it. "We are safe in your memories."

"I killed you both," he stated firmly, defying them to argue that with him.

"Actually the Pakistanis killed me," Chaya reminded him. "And it was my idea not yours."

"But I didn't save you."

"There were only two of us, and I didn't have your suped up abilities," she said and planted a kiss on the place over his heart. "You tried. You didn't leave me behind."

"And I chose my own path as well," Marla added. "I'm not sorry I did what I did. None of it. You think too much of yourself that you do not give us credit for our choices."

"He's always been that way," Chaya told Marla. "I once told him we needed to neutralize a target. It didn't happen and he blamed himself. It never occurred to him that we had been given the wrong information."

Marla grinned and moved higher, her hand cupping his face. "I am glad you miss me, but I do not want you to stop living. You have a chance now to be better than what they made you to be. Learn from your mistakes."

A sweet warmth filled Khan's body. Chaya was ending their discussion the way she always did between his thighs. Marla kissed him.

He awoke, the dream still fresh in his mind and body. It was nearly midnight, and he needed to clean up before reporting to the bridge. The water felt good on his skin.