AN: A thank-you to everyone who has favorited/followed/kudoed, and a friendly reminder that while all those things are very much appreciated, reviews are appreciated even more! So far the plot has followed pretty closely that of VOY: Caretaker, which is perhaps a little boring, I promise things will diverge from the expected soon!
For the second time in an hour, Kirk found himself sprawled on the deck of the Vengeance. This time, the transition from unconsciousness to awareness was quicker. He sat up and scanned the bridge. Carol was nearby, blinking up at the ceiling. Sh'athylnik pushed herself onto her hands and knees, antennae waving wildly. A blinking light on the Comm panel told him their link to the Enterprise was still open.
"Kirk to Enterprise, is anybody there?"
"Yes, Captain," came Spock's voice, wonderfully calm and familiar.
"How long were we over there?"
A pause. "Almost three days, sir."
"Three days?" Kirk had thought it was no more than an hour. "What the hell—"
"Captain," Spock interrupted. "Ensign Chekov did not return with us. I surmise that he is still on the array."
"Is anyone else missing?" Kirk demanded.
"Stand by."
"Three days," Carol whispered. She scrambled to her feet. "Father—Marcus to Sickbay."
"Sickbay here," McCoy said
"Doctor, what is the Admiral's status?"
"Stable. He's on life support. I'm afraid he's not likely to regain consciousness anytime soon."
"I understand. I was afraid—thank you, Doctor."
"Just doing my job. Is the captain there with you?"
"I'm here, Bones," Kirk said. He pretended not to see Carol hastily rub her eyes. "What do you need?"
"The woman from the cryotube, Kati—she didn't return with everyone else. I have no idea where she is."
"Chekov didn't make it back, either. Spock thinks they're still on the array."
"Jim, we've got to get her back right now," McCoy said urgently. "She hasn't got much time left."
Kirk pictured the pretty, short-haired woman lying so still on the grass. She only had a few hours, McCoy had said. That was three days ago. He wished savagely that that it had been Khan dying in front of that illusory farmhouse, rather than this stranger who had never wronged Kirk or the people he loved. "I don't think time is an issue for her anymore, Bones."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
A thought occurred to him. "I'll get back to you." He closed the channel and turned to Sh'athylnik. "You must have known Khan when he was working for Marcus, Commander. What do you think he'll do when he finds out she's dead?"
Sh'athylnik's mouth twisted. "You and I both know exactly what he'll do, Captain."
"I was afraid you'd say that. Bridge to Engineering. Scotty, is Engineering secure?"
"Secure, aye, but we've got a wee problem with the warp—"
"Good." He shut down the channel. "Marcus, beam Khan directly from Engineering to the Enterprise brig. Commander," he continued, without waiting for Carol's acknowledgment, "I would like to accept your surrender, but I simply don't have room for you and all of your crew in my brig."
Sh'athylnik twitched one white eyebrow wryly. "Then it seems we have a problem."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Kirk took a deep breath. "What Admiral Marcus did was wrong, but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies. We're a long way from Starfleet Command, but we're still Starfleet. If you give me your parole, I'm willing to bring you and your people aboard the Enterprise, not as prisoners, but as part of my crew, until we return to Federation space."
She studied him with her pale eyes, her antennae fixed on him. After a while, she said, "Very well. You have my word."
Enterprise's familiar transporter room materialized around Kirk in a shimmer of energy. He stepped off the pad and a wave of exhaustion washed over him. When was the last time he had slept? Or eaten? He couldn't remember. Certainly not since they captured Khan. He counted back, trying to think how long it had been. More than twenty-four hours? He had to have eaten something since then, hadn't he?
Marcus, Scotty, and Sh'athylnik followed him into the turbolift and onto the bridge, where the red-alert lights washed everything in a dim, bloody light. Spock sat in the center chair, as calm and unruffled as ever, but elsewhere he saw signs of the terrible damage Enterprise had endured. All around the bridge were scorched panels and blown-out conduits; an acrid, burnt smell hung in the air. Sulu and Uhura looked as bad as Kirk felt, and many of the other stations—including Chekov's—were manned by beta-shift officers. McCoy hovered behind Spock's shoulder, looking grim.
"Mr. Spock," Kirk said, as his first officer rose from the chair, "Please tell me you have something."
"I do, Captain," Spock said. "Based on my initial analysis, I am convinced we are dealing with a single entity in the array. I would suggest it scanned our computers in order to select a comfortable holographic environment: in effect, a waiting room to pacify us prior to biometric assessment."
"An examination?" McCoy said.
"It is the most logical explanation. Why else would he have released us unharmed?"
From the helm, Sulu glanced over his shoulder and said, darkly, "Not all of us were."
Kirk turned this over in his mind for a moment. A single entity that could transport two ships across the galaxy and create an illusion indistinguishable from reality must have power they couldn't begin to comprehend. The odds against a direct assault were high—but they didn't have a lot of options.
"Put together an away team," he told Spock. "Armed. We're going back to the array."
"You intend to lead the team?"
Kirk was already heading back toward the lift. "I do."
"Sir, it is inadvisable for you to—"
"Save it, Mr. Spock. You have the bridge."
"Sir!" Sulu was on his feet. "Request permission to join the away team!"
Kirk met Sulu's fierce, earnest gaze and thought of Chekov. "Permission granted. And bring that rapier of yours—we might need it." He stepped into the lift. "I'll meet you in the transporter room; I have an errand to run before we leave."
Kirk was surprised to find Sh'athylnik in the lift with him when the doors closed. "Can I help you, Commander?"
She fixed him with a direct stare. "I, too, wish to join the away team."
"The more the merrier. But that's not why you got in this lift with me."
"I can see you're more perceptive than you appear, Captain," she said, so smoothly that Kirk almost missed the insult. "It occurred to me that your 'errand' might be to visit Mr. Harrison."
The lift slid into motion. "I can see why you're in Intelligence," Kirk shot back. "So what if I am?"
"Allowing Harrison to join the away team would be a mistake."
"Commander, I get enough of this from Spock. I don't need it from you, too."
"Captain, it is the responsibility of the second-in-command to voice concerns—"
"But you're not my second-in-command," Kirk interrupted. "You're Admiral Marcus's second-in-command, and he's comatose in Sickbay."
Sh'athylnik's pale eyes narrowed. "And I should voice my concerns to him?"
"No. You should have voiced your concerns before he opened fire on a Federation ship, my ship, filled with hundreds of innocent men and women—" Kirk realized he was shouting and forced himself to lower his voice. "I have just as much reason to trust Khan—Harrison—as I do you, Commander."
Her antennae swung back in annoyance. "Admiral Marcus tried to use Harrison, too, Captain. I advised him against it, and he wouldn't listen. If you go down to Sickbay you can see for yourself where that got him. Now I'm offering you the same advice: leave Harrison in the brig, where he belongs."
"He's a person, not a tool to be used," Kirk snapped. "Maybe if Marcus hadn't forgotten that we wouldn't be in this mess." The lift stopped and the doors slid open. "I'll see you in the transporter room, Commander."
He didn't look back when he left the turbolift, and Sh'athylnik didn't follow. He was glad. Yelling at her had felt too good, and he was afraid if he started again he wouldn't stop. Stress had him wound so tight he thought he might snap. It was a bad state of mind to be in when visiting a super-intelligent murderer who had already proven he could wrap Kirk around his finger.
Yet when Kirk walked into the brig, it was clear Khan was in no better state that he. The augment paced the tiny confines of his cell, hands knotted behind his back. When he saw Kirk he stepped up to the glass and glared out at him.
"Where is Kati?" he demanded.
It should have been a relief to see Khan show such open emotion, to see that even if he was superhuman he was still human. Yet, as when Khan had told the story of his true past and his history with Marcus, it was impossible for Kirk to feel any pleasure at the other man's distress. The more Khan revealed of himself, the easier it was for Kirk to draw comparisons between them. He wished Khan would act like the killer he knew Khan to be; it would make it easier to hate him.
"She's not on the Enterprise," Kirk said. "We believe she and Ensign Chekov are still on the array—and have been since we were transported there, three days ago."
Khan's face remained still and unmoving as Kirk's words sank in. Then, without warning, he slammed his fist into the glass. Kirk jumped. An alarm went off on a nearby panel, and Kirk signaled one of the security officers to shut it off. In the silence that followed, Khan turned away, giving Kirk his back and a view of his tightly clenched fists.
"There's a chance she's still alive," Kirk said quietly. "Whoever—or whatever—brought us to the array did it for a reason. That reason may include keeping Kati and Chekov alive."
Khan didn't turn around. Kirk wondered why he bothered offering comfort to this man, this monster who had murdered Admiral Pike.
"A chance," Khan said flatly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
"That's what I'm offering you," Kirk said. "A chance to help rescue your crewmember, if we can. Not because I need your help—I don't. But because I..." he trailed off, unsure how to describe his motives, or the tangle of emotions that filled him. "Because I think it's the right thing to do."
At this, Khan finally turned to face the glass. His expression was unreadable. "Very well. Let's go."
"Not so fast," Kirk said. "I need some guarantees. First, that you'll follow my orders to the letter once you're out of this cell. Second, once we're done on the array, that you'll return to this cell without causing any trouble—regardless of what we find there."
Khan's lips twitched in the ghost of a smile. "What sort of guarantees would you like, Captain?"
That was catch, wasn't it? He had seen Khan take out an entire squad of Klingon soldiers. Security officers, manacles—none of these could ensure Khan's cooperation if Khan didn't want to cooperate.
"How about," Kirk said, "we start with your word?"
"My word?" Khan repeated. "Is my word worth that much to you?"
"Why don't we find out how much your word is worth."
Khan studied him through the glass. Kirk met the other man's dark eyes steadily, refusing to blink first. Whatever Khan was thinking, his face revealed nothing.
"You have my word," he said finally.
Everyone in the Transporter Room turned to stare as Kirk walked through the doors: two security officers in red uniforms, Sulu in gold, Sh'athylnik in black. Khan, also in black, loomed behind Kirk like a thundercloud. Thunderous was a good way to describe Sh'athylnik's expression; the others' ranged from shocked to horrified.
"Our plan is to return to the array and find our missing people," Kirk said, ignoring their dismay. "We're going armed, but no one is to offer hostility unless absolutely necessary. I don't won't to antagonize this... entity... if I don't have to."
"This entity has antagonized us," Sh'athylnik said, rubbing her fingers along the hilt of a crescent-shaped knife sheathed at her hip. "Why shouldn't we return the favor?"
"Because it may be our only ticket home," Kirk said. "That is not a bridge I want to burn. Once we're on the array, we'll spread out in pairs: Sh'athylnik and Sulu, Hendorff and López. Khan, you're with me. If you find anything that might help us get back, good, but remember—Chekov and Kati are our first priority. Any questions?"
Sh'athylnik's eyes flicked over Kirk's shoulder. "Why—"
"Any questions not regarding Mr. Harrison."
No one spoke. After everyone took their places on the transporter pad, Kirk nodded to the ensign at the controls and everything disappeared in a shimmer of light.