Chapter Six: The Truth Comes Out
Sadie was part of the group that once back on the ship escorted Khan to the brig, once Jim stopped to comm Leo she stopped as well wondering what was up now, "Bones, meet me in the brig."
"Be right there," he replied.
"Lieutenant," Jim said turning to Nyota, "Contact Starfleet, let them know we have Harrison in custody, and we'll be on our way once the warp core is repaired."
"Yes, sir." Nyota nodded as Jim turned and began turning and walking away, Sadie going with him. He turned to his sister, "I'm going to clean up then head to the brig."
Sadie nodded, "I'm going to go straight down there, I know him and he needs to be watched. I can keep him calmer."
Jim nodded, "Probably a good idea, stay safe."
Sadie was sitting in the brig area with one officer when Jim, Leo and Spock all came in talking.
Leo went up to Khan opening up the little hole, "Put your arm through the hole. I'm gonna take a blood sample."
Khan did so with no emotion looking at Jim as he began talking, "Why aren't we moving, Captain? An unexpected malfunction, perhaps in your warp core conveniently stranding you on the edge of Klingon space?"
Leo frowned, "How the hell do you know that?"
"Bones," Jim warned.
"I think you'd find my insight valuable, Captain." Khan said as he pulled his arm back in as Leo finished drawing blood.
"We good?" Jim asked wanting to be as far from the madman as he could get.
"Yeah," Leo nodded; he couldn't stand looking at the man. Knowing he had a relationship with Sadie and then everything he had done to his family, made him sick.
"Let me know what you find," Jim said nodding to the blood, Leo nodded hurrying off.
"Ignore me and you will get everyone on this ship killed," Khan yelled out, Sadie turned; he wouldn't reveal everything would he? Just like that?
"Captain," Spock spoke up, "I believe he will only attempt to manipulate you. I would not recommend engaging the prisoner further."
"Give me a minute," Jim ordered, Spock nodded leaving the area, Jim came over standing by Sadie. He looked at Khan, "Let me explain what's happening here. You are a criminal. I watched you murder innocent men and women. I was authorized to end you! And the only reason why you are still alive is because I am allowing it. So shut your mouth."
"Oh, Captain," Khan said fucking with Jim, "are you going to punch me again over and over till your arm weakens? Clearly you want to, so tell me, why did you allow me to live?"
"We all make mistakes," Jim stated.
"No. I surrendered to you because, despite your attempt to convince me otherwise, you seem to have a conscience, Mr. Kirk. If you did not, then it would be impossible for me to convince you of the truth. 23-17-46-11 . Coordinates not far from Earth. If you want to know why I did what I did, go and take a look. Or just ask your sister."
Khan nodded to Sadie who stood there with her eyes closer, "She could tell you as simply as the coordinates."
Jim frowned, "Give me one reason why I should listen to you."
"I can give you 72," Khan replied, "And they're on board your ship, Captain. They have been all along. I suggest you open one up."
Jim grabbed Sadie and pulled her out of the area into an used room, "Talk now."
Tears began forming in her eyes, "Jim I can't I'm so sorry but I can't."
Jim frowned, "What do you mean you can't Sadie? Right now all of our lives are in danger because we're stuck here on the edge of Klingon space! Do you understand that?!"
"I do!" Sadie yelled out, "If I say anything first and people find out I'll be killed! I'll help open one of the torpedoes I can do that much."
Jim sighed, "Onto the bridge now."
Sadie followed Jim and awhile later everyone was gathered and talking, Leo frowned going off, "Are you out of your corn-fed mind? You're not actually going to listen to this guy? He killed Pike, he almost killed you, and now you think it's a good idea to pop open a torpedo because he dared you to."
Sadie frowned, but kept quiet as no one knew the conversation between her and Jim happened expect for him and her. Jim shook his head, "Why did he save our lives, Bones?"
"The Doctor does have a point, Captain," Spock said.
"Don't agree with me, Spock," Leo frowned, "It makes me very uncomfortable."
"Perhaps you, too, should learn to govern your emotions, Doctor. In this situation, logic dictates..."
"Logic? Oh, my God! There's a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship and..." Leo started but was cut off by Jim.
"That's not it. I don't know why he surrendered, but that's not it. Look, we're gonna open a torpedo. The question is how."
"But, Jim, without Mr. Scott on board, who exactly is qualified to just pop open a 4-ton stick of dynamite?"
"The Admiral's daughter," Spock said, "appeared to have interest in the torpedoes and she is a weapons specialist. Perhaps she could be of some use."
Jim frowned confused, "What Admiral's daughter?"
"Carol Marcus," Spock replied.
"Your new science officer concealed her identity to board the ship," Sadie smiled glad Spock figured it out. After they boarded the ship Carol came to Sadie telling her everything she knew, Sadie told her some of the truth, only what Carol had figured out, which sadly wasn't much.
"When were you going to tell me that?" Jim asked feeling slight betrayed by his best friend and sister.
"When it became relevant. As it just did," Spock replied for his side.
Sadie shrugged, "She asked me not to, we are friends, that and if Admiral Marcus had found out she was on here there would be hell to pay. We're kinda safer with her on here."
Sadie looked at the men surrounding her, "There's a planetoid nearby we can land on though, we get Carol and Leo with me. We go down there and we open it, any problems you beam us up and leave the torpedo. John had to have known I would get near them one way or another so therefore we should be able to get into it and open it."
Spock frowned, "Why would he make it easy for you?
Leo grunted, "They had a thing a little while back from what I can tell he'd do anything it seems for her."
Sadie sighed, "Leo enough I get it you're jealous, I chose you didn't I?" Leo flushed and Sadie ignored it and turned to her brother, "We can do this if you'll let us. Carol is dying to get her hands on those missiles."
Jim nodded after a minute, "Alright I'll go and talk to her, you two get ready please."
~Thirty Minutes Later~
Jim commed down to Bones, he was helping out with the ladies and carrying things for them, "Bones, thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for the steadiest hands on the ship. So Sadie was right on who she'd want."
"You know, when I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo!" Leo groused out looking at Sadie, "That and it was just me and Sadie!"
"Dr. McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt," Jim said hating when he heard stuff like that between his sister and Leo.
"So how can these legendary hands help you, Dr. Marcus?"
"Bones!" Jim yelled out getting worried about Sadie now.
"To understand how powerful these weapons are, we need to open the warhead. To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, the warheads on these
weapons are live," Carol said looking at the torpedo placing things on it.
"Sweetheart, I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets. And let me tell you, those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile.
Sadie kept on of Carol's way but was looking at the missile on her own, "It should be easy enough to disarm them."
After a minute Carol and Leo were on one side of the missile, Carol giving Leo orders, Sadie was on the other side watching and waiting. "Dr. McCoy, there's a bundle of fiber optic cables against the inner casing. You'll need to cut the 23rd wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?"
"Right. The thought never crossed my mind."
"Dr. McCoy, wait for my word. I'm rerouting the detonation processor. Are you ready?"
Sadie was getting really nervous as Leo replied, "And raring."
"Good luck," Sadie said making Leo glance up at her and grin.
Carol pressed a button making the torpedo arm itself.
"Sir, the torpedo just armed itself. The warhead's gonna detonate in 30 seconds, sir!" Sulu shouted out.
"What the hell happened? I can't get my arm out!" Leo said.
"Target their signal. Beam them back right now." Jim ordered.
"The transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo. We cannot beam back one without the other," Spock replied.
"Dr. Marcus, can you disarm it?" Jim asked Carol.
"I'm trying. I'm trying."
"Jim, get them the hell out of here!" Leo yelled out.
"No! If you beam us back, he dies!" Sadie yelled out as Carol ran over to her side together looking for a way to stop this. Carol unscrewed a piece of paneling looking for a wire to cut.
"Just let me do it!" Carol said.
"10. 9. 8."
"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus and Sadie on your command, sir," Sulu said as Leo kept counting down.
"4. 3."
"SHIT!" Sadie yelled out pushing past Carol and ripping off a round piece with wires all over it, thankfully it disarmed the torpedo, Sadie ran over to Leo checking him over as it was announced on the ship.
"Deactivation successful, Captain."
"Dr. McCoy, are you all right?" Jim asked out, when he received no reply he yelled, "Bones!"
Leo had stood up with Sadie's help and together with Carol they looked into the open missile. Sadie's heart dropped as she saw one of Khan's crew members in a cryotube, "Jim. You're going to want to see this."
As soon as they had landed back on the ship Sadie had run off to the brig, she was freaking out. After seeing the man in the tube Leo began demanding answers from Sadie, answers she couldn't give, not yet at least.
So she went to the brig area to hide, staying out of sight from Khan as she didn't want to deal with him quite yet. It wasn't long until Jim and Spock stormed into the brig.
Jim went straight to Khan, "Why is there a man in that torpedo?'
"There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there," Khan answered.
"Who the hell are you?" Jim asked.
"A remnant of a time long past," Khan answered.
He was cut off by Sadie coming up next to Jim, "He was genetically engineered to be superior to lead others to peace in a world at war."
Khan nodded, "But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke, things would be different. But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space."
"We found his ship," Sadie sighed, "He was the only we woke up."
"I looked up 'John Harrison'. Until a year ago, he didn't exist," Jim said.
Khan began to stand, "John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity."
Sadie turned to her brother with tears in her eyes, "His name is Khan."
"Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a 300-year-old frozen man for help?" Jim asked, his sister was a traitor for going along with this.
"Because I am better."
"At what?"
"Everything. Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time and for that he needed a warrior's mind. My mind. To design weapons and warships."
"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect?" Spock spoke up questioning.
"He wanted to exploit my savagery. Intellect alone is useless
in a fight, Mr. Spock."
"You... You can't even break a rule," Sadie stuttered out, "How would you be expected to break bone? Marcus used him to design weapons. To make his vision of a militarized Starfleet come true. One Romulan ship from the future attacked us, destroyed dozens of our ships, and demolished a planet. How long until someone else came after us was his thought?"
"He sent you to use those weapons. To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he talked about."
Sadie nodded, "The war he always wanted."
"No. No." Jim yelled out turning to Khan, "I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!"
"Marcus took my crew from me."
"You are a murderer!"
"He used my friends to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed, but I was discovered. I had no choice but to escape alone. And when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear. So I responded in kind. My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"
"Jim I'm sorry," Sadie said tears in her eyes, "I had no choice, Marcus threated every one of you. If I didn't go along with this who know what would have happened to us?"
Jim shook his head turning away from his sister, "You hid it from us, and you didn't come to us for help. You had a relationship with this murderer!"
"I know I made mistakes," Sadie sobbed, "we all have I was his handler, I was in a bad place from Leo! I was messed up."
Khan shook his head, "While it may have been that way for her I truly have feelings for Sadie. She does not feel the same I would do anything for her, she is a part of my family now."
Sadie flushed unable to look away from the floor hearing Khan's confession. She had an idea he felt that way from him asking her to run with him and his crew all those months ago, but to really and truly hear it was another thing.
A/N:
Hey guys! I promised drama right? Did I deliver good enough?
Okay so in my story Khan was married once upon a time when he ruled the world, and she died when they ran off planet. I made Sadie look like her and be her match in almost every way expect she isn't as submissive. So I feel like their time in a relationship Khan would grow to love her because she is his match, but Sadie was in love with Leo still.
Well I hope you all liked it I'll be able to get some more out today as I'm not going to see my mom until tomorrow on her actual birthday, so I am a free bird today to write!
If I'm lucky I should be able to get the story done in a few days!
Love Savannah
PS Longest chapter yet this story, 13 pages just story, A/N makes it 14.