A/N: Hello all! Sorry for the mini hiatus, but I've been scrambling to get ready to leave tomorrow to go study abroad in England for 4 months! I would have updated sooner, but I decided to leave ALL my packing till the last minute and have been racing against the clock to get everything done. Also, because I will be studying abroad, I can't guarantee that there will be regular updates to my fics :( I will try, but I'm not making any promises. Anyways! Enjoy the chapter, and I hope to God I got Khan right. He's an absolute bitch to write.
Also, thanks to all who reviewed last chapter! I love you all!
P.S. I own nothing.
Khan, otherwise known as the "fugitive John Harrison" to his current enemy Starfleet, sat against the cold wall of one of the many uninhabited caves located in a deserted province of Kronos, the Klingon home world. The cave was lit only by the light of the PADD he was holding, yet he did not seem to notice the dark as his fingers flew over the screen as he monitored the surrounding area for Klingon patrols as well as the skies above the planet for any signs of pursuit by his "friends" in Starfleet. A storm raged outside of the safety of the cave, and was causing massive interference with his instruments. He was attempting to calibrate the sensors on his tricorder, when he happened to glance at the PADD lying next to him, his brow furrowing in confusion at the readings on the screen. He was about to pass it off as more interference from the storm when his tricorder began giving off the same bizarre readings. It was almost as if someone was...beaming down to the planets surface, which was illogical seeing as a Federation ship would not have been able to make it to Kronos in such a short amount of time, even at full warp, not to mention the fact that it was rather insulting that they thought a single person could subdue him. He scanned the area outside the cave again, but all that remained of the earlier reading was the almost undetectable imprint that a transporter leaves behind after beaming. Even after three hundred years, technology still wasn't completely reliable, so Khan stood, placed his hood over his head and exited the cave to go and investigate the anomaly himself. The old fashioned way.
The first thing Ana noticed when she materialized on Kronos was the wind. It whipped around her, causing her coat to swirl around her ankles. The second thing she noticed was that she was extremely exposed and immediately ran for cover in case any Klingon patrols happened to be in the vicinity. When she reached a relatively hidden alcove, she pulled out her tricorder and began to scan the area for signs of life, but the storm that was raging around her was causing major interference and she couldn't get a reliable reading. She was just about to recalibrate the damn thing, when she suddenly found herself lifted off the ground and against the nearest wall, a hand holding her wrists above her head and another patting her down for weapons. She tried to see who her attacker was as she tried to wrench her arms free, but a hood prevented Ana from seeing anything. When she was completely disarmed, her mystery attacker pushed back the hood. Ana's eyes widened.
"Harrison." She whispered.
"Did you expect someone else, Captain?" He questioned snidely. "A Klingon perhaps? But, if I'm not mistaken, it was me you were searching for."
"No." Ana stated succinctly. "You are not mistaken."
"Did Admiral Marcus send you?" He tightened his grip on her wrists and leaned closer.
"How the hell did you know that." She eyed him suspiciously.
"Just a sneaking suspicion that you just confirmed." He replied. "Tell me, have you come to drag me back to Earth to face 'justice' for my crimes?"
"Not exactly," she smiled up at him, "I've actually been ordered here to just kill you and have done with it "
"And you, the honorable Starfleet officer that you are, followed the good admirals orders without question." Harrison asked, the corners of his lips turning up in a slight smirk.
"It's not exactly that simple, to tell you the truth." Ana responded as she tried in vain to twist her wrists free.
"So there is such a thing as a member of Starfleet with a conscience."
"Actually, most of us have them, it's not just me." She muttered. "You seem to be the only member of Starfleet, if you really are a member of Starfleet, I've encountered who doesn't seem to posses one."
"And what makes you say that?" He queried.
"Well, you did kill dozens of innocent people, as well as honored members of the Starfleet high command, in the span of about two days." She stated.
"Perhaps you are right." He conceded, though he didn't look too apologetic. "However, I observed that, despite your esteemed position in the high command, you were noticeably absent from my latest demonstration."
"Some crazed terrorist held me up back in London." She responded. "I was running a bit behind schedule."
"An unfortunate occurrence. Your presence was missed."
"You're too kind." She flashed him a saccharine smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, orders are orders and I'd rather get this over with before any Klingons decide to make a surprise visit." Ana said before slamming her head into Harrison's nose. He grunted in surprise as his grip on her wrists loosened fractionally. She took that opportunity to wrench her wrists out his hand and elbow him in the face before ducking under his swinging arm to stand on the other side of him, effectively placing his back towards the wall with limited options of escape. She crouched into a fighting stance as she waited for him to fight back, but he surprised her by staying where he was, his stance relaxed and his head tilted slightly to the side as if he was studying her. And then he did something completely unexpected: he laughed.
"I must admit, Captain, that you nearly took me by surprise." He stared at her, his ice blue eyes sparkling with a sort of demented mirth. "I'm extremely hard to surprise. But, I wont fight you."
"That's not exactly your choice to make." She stated before she charged towards him, punched him in the jaw, swept his feet from underneath him, and pinned him on the ground beneath her. To her chagrin, he didn't look remotely fazed. In fact, he looked as if he was enjoying himself. There was a certain glimmer in his eyes that screamed "is that all you've got?" Ana decided to wipe the smug look of his face with her fist and proceeded to punch him multiple times in the nose and across the jaw. Her Romulan heritage prevented the bones in her hands from breaking, but the skin across her knuckles began to peel away after about a dozen well aimed punches that would have rendered a Klingon inert. After a few more punches, Ana finally stopped to take a good look at Harrison. He looked as unharmed and smug as before which really pissed her off. She was about to throw another punch when he suddenly grabbed her forearm and flipped her onto her back so that she was beneath him.
"Don't you think that's enough for now." He stated.
"What the hell are you?" She muttered. He responded with a question of his own.
"Don't you find it odd that Admiral Marcus sent you here, to the home world of one of the Federation's fiercest enemies, alone, practically unarmed and unprepared with the express purpose of killing me?" He stared at her intently, eyes blazing, as he leaned closer to her. "A logical explanation would be that he is holding something over your head in order to get you to do his dirty work. A court martial, perhaps?" When she remained silent, he continued, knowing he'd struck a chord. "Ah, so there is a potential threat to your career. The Admiral would have been very disappointed to learn of his only daughters impending dishonorable discharge from Starfleet, seeing as his own record was untarnished."
"How the hell do you know who my father was?" She questioned darkly, rage boiling up inside her.
"It wasn't hard to find out everything about you, Rhiana Sullivan, Captain of the U.S.S. Trafalgar. Your father, William Sullivan, was captain of that particular starship himself before he was promoted, and you specifically requested placement on the Trafalgar immediately following your graduation from the Academy and proceeded to work your way up through the ranks." He smirked at the momentary look of confusion on her face. "The personnel database wasn't hard to gain access to, and it is not as if there are many half-Romulan officers in Starfleet." He explained.
"Well it seems you have the upper hand, seeing as you know practically everything there is to know about me and I know next to nothing about you." She stated. "Not exactly playing fair, are we?"
"Playing fair is for the weak." He responded simply. "Something that you are not, Captain Sullivan, and Admiral Marcus knows this." She stared at him in puzzlement at the mention of Marcus in that particular context. "He knows that you are one of Starfleet's best officers and a nearly irreplaceable asset, yet the admiral sent you here not to kill me, but in the hopes that I would kill you."
"What?" She whispered, so focused on what Harrison had to say that she didn't realize that he'd released his grip on her and that she could have escaped at any time.
"Admiral Marcus thinks you know of something that you actually have no knowledge of, and he decided to solve two of his problems at once by sending you here, thinking that I would end you, simultaneously fueling the hatred of humanity against me while preventing you from spilling his secrets."
"Secrets? What secrets?" She queried, brow furrowed.
"Somehow, the admiral must have learned of our...meeting in London and assumed that I gave you information that would have jeopardized his career." He stated.
"What the bloody hell does he think you told me?" She muttered. She knew Marcus was a grade A asshole, but if what Harrison was telling her was true, than she had a way bigger problem on her hands than just the threat of court martial.
"That," he said as he looked up towards the smoky sky, "is a story for another time." He looked back down at her, and that's when Ana finally noticed the sounds of ship engines in the distance, so distracted was she by what the mysterious John Harrison had just revealed to her. "We have company."
Reviews?