She found Darren that evening in the mess. "Hey, Darren, why don't you come over here? I haven't seen you in ages."

"Sure," said Darren, balancing his tray in one hand as he came over. "I see you're a full-fledged weapons scientist now. How's that working for you?" He set his tray down, and pulled out a chair, which squeaked.

"Pretty well, for the most part," said Carol. "It's stressful sometimes. Have you been guarding long?"

Darren winced. "People, about four months. Before that it was sensitive and valuable objects for two months."

"How did you end up doing that? I thought you were on ship duty."

"I was on ship duty, but had a bit of a falling-out with some of my mates and a senior officer. Long story, but here I am."

Carol gave him a long look. It sounded like Darren's fondness for partying hard had finally bitten him in the rear. Hopefully he learned something from it - he had plenty of talent apart from that.

"Well, glad to see you, whatever the circumstances. Where's John?"

"In his cell. Cato's keeping an eye on him."

"Cell?"

"Oh, the high-security medical rooms sometimes get called that."

"Darren, I'm worried about your charge."

"Don't be, we've got him under control."

"It's not that I'm worried about so much. I know you're brilliant at hand-to-hand," said Carol. "John seems really out of it. While you're making sure he doesn't hurt others, who's making sure he's ok?"

"Uh Carol," said Darren. "This guy killed five people less than two weeks ago."

"Because he was out of his mind," said Carol. "I'm just asking if anyone is actually trying to improve his mental stability instead of getting the maximum amount of work out of him while preventing him from hurting others." She had to at least pretend she believed that was all that was going on. Maybe Darren knew more.

Darren was silent a moment. "Carol, that really isn't either of our jobs. And he's on medication."

"Then whose job is it, because they're doing a horrible job," said Carol, crossing her arms in front of her. "I dislike having my teammate attempt to steal prototype weapons, killing and injuring people in the process and stunning me. It's really bad for morale."

"That's one way to put it," said Al from four spaces along the table. "If he's so dangerous he has to be locked up and guarded constantly he has no business being around a top-secret weapons lab. The man's a menace and I want him gone."

Carol winced but couldn't really disagree.

"It's just precautionary," said Darren. "With the precautions we've got in place now he should be completely unable to do anyone any harm even if he were to try."

"Oh yeah?" said Al. "Would you recognize it if he rigged one of those damn torpedoes to go off in our faces? One of us is going to have to ride herd on him at all times, and it sure isn't going to be me."

"Carol, I think you'll be doing that," said Temujin. "You seem to be the only one of us who doesn't want to punch him every time he opens his mouth."

Al snorted and rolled his eyes. "I wonder why that is?"

"Because I'm a decent human being?" suggested Carol. Al could really be insufferable sometimes.

"No, because you think he's hot," said Al, smirking.

"Excuse me?" said Carol.

"Your eyes follow him whenever he walks into a room. You seek him out, ask after him when he's not there. It's blinding you-"

"I don't base my ethics on whether I find someone attractive," said Carol, face flaming. "And you're the one whose eyes follow any attractive female you see. Don't think I haven't noticed-"

"Ha! Then you do think he's cute. Temujin you owe me - "

Maria set her hand on Al's shoulder. "Al, Carol, stop it. You sound like thirteen year olds." She paused. "And yes, I could hear you clearly from the next table over."

"Who's going to babysit John, then? asked Temujin.

"I will," said Maria. "Now kindly change the subject or go elsewhere."

The rest of the meal continued quietly, with what comments there were being on other topics. As Carol left the hall, Darren stopped her. "Carol, about what you said earlier, can we talk privately?"

"Sure," said Carol.

They walked down to the hydroponic gardens, and sat down on a bench in the corner. The trickling of water and hum of the lights made white noise in the background. "About my charge... just how much do you know about him?"

"Not nearly as much as Al seems to believe," said Carol. She sighed. "Man's an idiot."

"Which one?"

"Both of them! John won't take help when offered and is afraid of something he won't talk about, and Al is just... Al. I don't really know John well. I don't think anyone here does, except possibly my father. What do you think of him?"

"John... your father... Carol, you aren't going to like some of what I have to say."

"I like being in the dark when people are getting killed a lot less."

"I can see that." said Darren, resting his chin on his hand. "The fact is, John isn't what he seems. He's dangerous."

"That much is obvious," said Carol. "What I want to know is why. His name isn't John Harrison either."

Darren's brows rose. "Carol, he's not psychotic."

"Is he a captive enemy combatant?"

Darren hesitated. "You could say that," he said. "I can't tell you everything, if the Admiral finds out I could die."

"Die?" asked Carol. So Harrison was someone Darren at least thought her father would be willing to kill over.

"Beware of your father. He's already killed people over this. Don't ask questions, especially not in public and not about Khan's family." Carol's stomach lurched. Now Darren was telling her her father had blood directly on his hands? Surely he wouldn't go that far? Or have I been blind to something I did not want to see?

"Who, when?" Carol demanded, then added "Khan?"

Darren's expression told her he hadn't meant to tell her that. "He deserves what he's going through," he said, as if trying to convince himself. "Just stay away from him."

"Kind of hard to do that when he's my coworker. But I'll certainly keep your warnings in mind."

"Whatever you do, don't fall in love with him. The man is a killing machine."

"I am not so ruled by hormones as you and Al seem to think," snapped Carol. "I most definitely was wary of him before this and will be doubly so now, I simply needed to learn what was going on well enough to know what to do."

"Do you now?"

"For now, yes."

"Ok, let's talk about something else." But neither could think of much to say, so Darren left Carol sitting on the bench, thinking. It was true she did find John - Khan, rather, physically attractive. He was smart too, and charming when he wanted to be. If he had shown interest and wasn't so damaged and downright dangerous she might have been interested. As it was, no, she'd more sense, unlike some other women on the base she could name. They'd try and flirt with him and he'd completely ignore them. Probably a good thing for them that he did.

Khan... at least she now had his real name to search under. She'd be careful around the man, certainly, but she was going to find out what was going on.

Carol rested her head on her hand. She realized Darren hadn't told her who, how, why or when other than that it had something to do with Harris- Khan. She had a lot of research ahead of her, she could tell already. As for what she did with the knowledge, that would depend on what she found.