The next few days were very difficult for Khan. He was back to work, but he just couldn't focus properly, making his language issues worse than they'd been in months. Stupid drugs. It also felt like everyone was looking at him as they would an animal in a zoo and the collar chafed both physically and metaphorically.
The more he examined his escape plans, the more full of holes they looked, and he could not figure out any plan that looked likely to work. Everything he could think of required getting away from his guards somehow, or actively turning them to his side. But who would want to help him? His escape attempt hadn't exactly endeared him to those around him. Carol might seem worried for him, but even she was wary now. As for the others, fear mixed with contempt was the most common reaction.
If he did nothing, then Marcus was near-certain to kill him and likely the rest of the Augments once their usefulness came to an end. And if something happened to Marcus, then they died too. The whole situation was a classic catch-22.
There was one final option he'd been trying to avoid considering: he could probably kill Admiral Marcus and most of his other tormentors by exploding the station. Of course, he'd also kill himself. Given that his people were in cryotubes, some of them might survive, but their fate likely would not be good - drifting in space until their tubes failed or falling into the hands of a vengeful Federation.
But with time marching forward and all other options out of reach, perhaps it was time to consider this option. At least it would end this intolerable situation and grant him revenge on his enemies.
It would kill a lot of people, many of whom did not know what was going on. Though if they didn't know something was wrong by now, they weren't looking! He'd outright told Carol about his family, but no doubt the girl believed her father's lies over his words. If she died, on her own head be it.
When Carol looked up 'Khan' in the section of the database she wasn't supposed to have access to, she kept getting bogged down in info. on the Eugenics wars. Maddening. Wrong Khan. When she excluded 'Eugenics Wars', then she still couldn't find anything that matched John.
She sat up suddenly. What if Khan Noonian Singh + a long cryosleep with difficulties in waking him = John Harrison? Oh c$ p. Please no.
She had to quickly log out of that when someone came past, pretending to be focused on the rather intricate blueprints for the Vengeance's phaser arrays. Her mind, however, was far away, trying to remember what had happened to the Augmented tyrant.
She switched to the general history files open to everyone so as to be less likely to attract trouble. Khan wasn't mentioned as dead at the end of the war. There were multiple theories on the man's fate. Multiple artist's impressions of him, most of whom had dark hair, fair skin and blue or brown eyes, often wearing a turban. Facial features varied, although they usually had high cheekbones and a couple looked strikingly similar to John. Only one photograph, and it was damaged enough to be of little use.
She wondered how a man who'd ruled 1/4 of the Earth's population in the late 20th century had managed not to have any surviving photographs! Well, it was possible given the chaos of WW3 in the 21st century and the intentional destruction of information on the Augments after the Eugenics war.
But if John was an Augment, surely he'd have shown some sign of it... well, apart from being incorrigibly brilliant, proud and stubborn. And really good at fighting when he wanted to. Weren't Augments supposed to be aggressive to the point where they had little self-control?
On the other hand, if John was Khan, this was somebody who had managed to conquer about 1/4 of humanity and hold onto that empire for several years. She couldn't imagine getting that far without a decent ability to bide his time until he was ready to strike.
It was a bit hard to imagine John as Khan, honestly. John was too quiet, too self-controlled, and the language and sensory issues... which came after, when he woke in a different century in Admiral Marcus' power. Experiences could change people, and didn't brain injuries sometimes cause personality change? She didn't really know much about that issue.
Too many questions, too few answers. What she really needed was to get the man alone somewhere they couldn't be overheard and ASK him. Which was impossible. And just how did one go about asking somebody if they were a former dictator and war criminal anyway?
If he was Khan, did he deserve her help? Carol groaned quietly. Why did she always attract crazy problems? Although this was definitely the most spectacular she'd ever encountered.
Assuming John was Khan, that meant her father had woken and badly treated quite possibly the most dangerous man in Earth's history. Never mind John's sanity, what about her father's? And Jo, was the little boy an Augment, too? Apart for building weapons, did her father have other plans for the Augments? Not her father, she had to think of him as everyone else did, Admiral Marcus. Her father had only been one of his roles, and it wasn't the one that was important now. If Admiral Marcus was capable of this, just what else was he doing? She hoped against hope that she was wrong, that John was not Khan Noonien Singh but deep down she couldn't believe they were that lucky. And if John was Khan, just what was she going to do? Her mind wandering in circles, Carol got little sleep that night.
It took Carol another two days to get John into a situation where she could talk to him. And when she finally did, they weren't alone.
Khan was poring over some drafts for an armed troop carrier when Carol dropped by. Maria had left, and the only other person in the room was his guard, Darren, who was over the other side of the room wrestling the coffee machine into submission.
"Hi Khan," said Carol quietly.
Khan blinked. No, surely he must have misheard.
"John not spoken K," said Khan equally quietly.
"But Khan is," said Carol.
"True," said Khan. So Carol HAD looked further into what was going on after he'd told her about his family! Could he turn her into an ally?
"Blast this machine!" said Darren. "I swear they've been reusing things from 20th century thrift stores." The machine made a horrible grinding noise, and Khan wrinkled his nose at the smell of smoke. If the machine wasn't dead yet, it was about to be.
"I am Khan Noonien Singh." It felt so good to actually say that out loud!
"I know." said Carol.
Khan nodded, pointing at a not particularly-relevant strut on the diagram. "Was trying escape, rescue. Not want hurt you, others."
Carol nodded. "Where did you plan to go?"
"Leave federation, find planet."
"I'm sorry. What did Admiral Marcus do to you when he found out?"
Khan wondered if Carol was actually apologizing for hitting the fire alarm and wrecking his escape when he spotted Darren's head turn in their direction. "Troop carrier near done, but... much armor."
"Too slow?" asked Carol, looking a little thrown by the sudden change in subject, though she covered it well enough.
"Yes," Khan nodded. "Heavy, use power fast. Then helpless."
Darren stared for 3 seconds, then turned back to the dying coffee machine.
They continued speaking about the troop carrier, but Khan grabbed his PADD and they wrote on it an entirely different conversation:
"Admiral killed two family punish me. Locked me cell."
Carol swallowed visibly. "How many of there are you?"
"71, now 69. Me, Jo. Where Jo?"
Carol frowned and bit her lip."Don't know for sure. Did you run into Admiral Pike when you escaped?"
Khan shrugged. He hadn't exactly noticed much about the people who called medical except that they were all Starfleet and one was Vulcan. But he could surely look up the Vulcans in Starfleet and who their commanders were. If one was this Admiral Pike, then perhaps Jo was with him and alive.
"Pike mentioned Joachim Weiss and I think he was fishing for information about you."
Interesting, could be either threat or opportunity, depending on whether he was ally or enemy of Marcus. Politics.
For the first time since he'd woken back in Admiral Marcus' custody, Khan smiled without irony or bitterness. He might yet get himself and his people out of this one alive.
"What do you want to do now?"
Darren began walking in their direction, and Khan deleted all the writing.
Darren picked up the PADD and gave them a long look before writing on it himself, then handing it to Carol. Khan saw what was written as Darren handed it to Carol. "I know you were talking about something other than the pros and cons of different thicknesses of armor," he wrote. "Carol, we've got to talk."
The other guard returned to the room, having finished his bathroom break.
Carol nodded before deleting it, looking less alarmed than Khan might have expected. He knew that Carol knew Darren from the Academy, but this suggested that Carol thought Darren himself might not be an enemy.
It would be wonderful if this were the case, but Khan didn't trust Carol's assessment of danger. After all, she kept being kind to him and now seemed interested in actively helping him. Khan was many things, but harmless was not one of them.
Back in his cell that night, Khan spent a lot of the time thinking about Carol, Pike and Darren. He'd managed to find out that there was currently a grand total of one Vulcan in Starfleet officer uniform, Commander Spock, the half-Vulcan son of the Vulcan ambassador to Earth. Spock's commanding officer had been Captain Kirk until the day that Khan had met Spock. Both Kirk and Spock knew Admiral Pike.
This meant Pike very likely knew about Khan and Jo and where Jo was. Unfortunately he had no legitimate reason to contact any of these people. But Carol might.
With the possibility of allies in the works he'd put the 'blow up the station' idea on hold, at least for now.
A/N: I've now run out of written-ahead stuff (I was trying to write a couple of weeks ahead) so updates may be a bit more delayed and erratic from now on. I am definitely continuing it.