Disclaimer: Still, I am only responsible for the "existence" of the ship's civilian occupants.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the lovely reviews. I assure you that I'm writing as quickly as I can whenever I have the time. Unfortunately, this means that there are little mistakes that I don't catch before I load the document, and I apologize for those.

Chapter Three

The powerful genetically engineered human being known as Khan could not be mistaken anywhere. Dr. Bashir regarded him with mingled fear and curiosity. He should have been long since dead, along with his crew. Was he some kind of clone? Or maybe he was merely a Changeling impersonating Khan.

Whoever he was, he spoke with the same assurance that Bashir would have imagined. "Where is the captain of this vessel?" he demanded with his rich, accented voice.

"I…I am," the captain stammered. "My name is Captain Benton."

"You?" Khan laughed derisively. "There are others here more intelligent than you, more physically fit than you. Why should you be Captain?"

"It's my ship." The captain looked offended, but he was not about to challenge this man with the weapon that he was holding, or the men at his command.

"Not anymore. You are all now my prisoners, and this ship is mine," he stated mater-of-factly.

"But…but…"

"Did you have some kind of concern…Captain?"

Benton shook his head miserably.

"Good. Now, you come with me while the others follow my people onto my other ship and do exactly as they tell you. Do not bring any of your possessions; I need not say that this especially refers to weapons of any kind."

"Wait a moment," Dr. Bashir protested as one of his captors moved to take away his tricorder. "I need my medical equipment. I'm a doctor, and some of these people are injured."

Khan turned on him, eyes glittering dangerously. "And why should I care, doctor?"

"That would depend on why you're taking prisoners instead of killing us all."

"I could, in fact, kill you all without much loss."

"Well?"

Khan smiled unexpectedly. "Well, I will allow you to treat the wounded, but my men will take your equipment when you are through. Agreed?"

Julian nodded and took back the tricorder, with a hint of resentment. He began to treat the various wounds caused by the ship's sudden motion earlier, going slower than he really had to. It did make his work more careful and efficient, as well as allow him to keep the devices that much longer. They may not have been able to help him escape, but by this time in his life, they just seemed a part of him, and he was loathe to give them up to his captors.

"What are the names of the crewmembers?" he asked the communications girl as he treated a sprained wrist.

"I'm Alice Freeman, and the others are Egor, Cerita, Drake, and Parkin." In turn she pointed to the Andorian man, a dark-skinned girl, the young man he had talked to before, and another man who might have been in his early twenties and who was glaring around at Khan's people murderously. All of them wore grey jumpsuits that would have been identical had they not been in various states of shabbiness.

"Now, how's that wrist?"

"Well, it was just a sprain."

"I know."

"I mean, it's fine. You didn't even have to bother with it."

"Maybe I didn't." He shrugged and gave a tight smile. "Anyone else?"

The people all shook their heads. Some smiled gratefully for his treatment of their injuries. Seeing this interaction, one of Khan's people snatched away his equipment. He would have tried to hide some of it away, but his tight uniform did not allow for that.

Alice cleared her throat. "Lieutenant, was that… was that who we thought he was?"

Every head swiveled towards Bashir, and the compartment which they had all been packed into became deathly silent. "He does appear to be Khan Noonian Singh."

"But Khan died in 2283."

"I said he appears to be Khan. Appearances can be deceiving."

"I can assure you, doctor, that I am he." Khan's voice from the doorway caused several frightened exclamations from already-worried captives."

"Would you allow me to take a blood sample to confirm that?" he challenged coolly.

"No, I wouldn't trust you to refrain from injecting some kind of poison into me."

"Are you the only Starfleet officer here?"

"It appears so," he quipped.

Khan smirked. "I have questions which you will answer when I require it. For now, I will return the captain to you all."

Benton was firmly escorted in, and it was obvious to everyone what a nervous wreck he was at the moment. Besides that, there were several bright red marks visible on his face, and probably other bruises concealed beneath his jumpsuit.

"He is not badly injured, doctor. He is simply a coward. There is nothing that warrants you getting your instruments back."

Julian frowned, not entirely believing his assessment of the captain's injuries, but left without a choice, he could only check his pulse, the dilation of his pupils, and such things. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, he required a little persuasion before telling me everything I wanted to know. And that's something that you should keep in mind." A sadistic grin flitted across Khan's wide lips, and he returned to the main part of his ship. This had to be the S.S. Botany Bay, unless he obtained access to another ship somehow.

"You really will be fine," Dr. Bashir informed the captain a little while later.

"Really? I don't feel like it," he moaned. His tone of voice suddenly changed. "You should have done something," he snapped. "You're a Federation officer, and we're civilians. Isn't it your duty to protect us?"

"I don't like this any more than you, but I didn't bring a phaser, and there's only one of me against 72 of them. Well, there are 72 if they are who they claim to be."

"Well, my crew can help some. I would myself, but I'm injured."

"Six against 72, then. The odds improve."

"And add their genetically modified intelligence into the equation," Egor added, entering the conversation, which fortunately went unheard by the guards who were stationed outside of their makeshift holding cell.

Julian winced at the tone of loathing in Egor's voice. "Let's just forget that for a moment. Now, they obviously imprisoned us on the Botany Bay instead of your ship so that we wouldn't hold any advantages. However, it would be a good idea to count up our assets."

"If we do something really stupid, it may be beneath them to think of it," Alice joked.

After they laughed over this, Egor shook his head. "I'm afraid they're probably used to living around people like us. And governing people like us."

Julian nodded absently. "People like us…" he whispered.

The crew looked him over curiously. "Are you all right?" Cerita asked kindly.

Before he had a chance to respond to this, the door opened once more, and the man standing there glanced around then pointed at Bashir. "You, Doctor, come with me."