So, this chapter took forever, as most of you probably already know. I got super bogged down with cleaning the house. Luckily, we only have one bedroom and one bathroom left before it's ready to go onto the market. It's a huge house (massive garage, guesthouse, main house which is three floors), so that's why it took so long. Now, my days won't be completely booked with housework! Only yard work! Hooray!
I always want to thank people who have done something special for me, so here it goes:
Thanks to Child of the Night13, Hanyou-demoness, KFF, KritianLOVE, L. , Mindset Symphony, ThePrincessDragon, and stardustreader for following my story.
Thanks to Candylightning2000, Chrysantha, Mindset Symphony, Rachets darling girl, Satisfactory Revenge, bellatrixtaylor923, billandsookie, buecherwurm91, and lunatih for favoriting this story! I really appreciate it!
Once again, thanks to PuraStones for reviewing. I have a feeling we shall become good friends. ;) Also, thanks to Child of the Night13 for reviewing! Oh, and PuraStones, I may PM you about your last review! Maybe...
I'm sorry if I missed out on thanking someone!
IMPORTANT: I'm sorry if this chapter is a little confusing in parts. It was extremely difficult for me to write. Hope you enjoy!
"Lieutenant Uhura, contact Starfleet. Tell them that we were pursued into the neutral zone by an unmarked Federation ship." Captain Kirk ordered Uhura, still trying to make sense of Admiral Marcus's actions.
"Comms are down, Sir." Uhura responds, flipping the controls up and down.
Carol ran through the corridors of the Enterprise. Her boots made it difficult to run at high rates of speed. She tried her hardest not to look like a baby penguin as she bolted onto the bridge.
"Permission to come on the bridge?" An out-of-breath Carol asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Dr. Marcus." Kirk said.
Carol took her name to mean a yes, as she ran up to Kirk.
"He's going to catch up with us. And when he does the only thing that's going to stop him from destroying this ship is me. So you have to let me talk to him." Carol spoke rapidly, knowing they only had minutes before her father would overtake them.
Kirk shook his head. "Carol, we're at warp. He can't catch up with us."
Carol wrung her hands in frustration. "Yes, he can. He's been developing a ship that has advanced warp capabilities and I don't-"
"Captain!" Sulu interrupts. "I'm getting a reading I don't understand."
"Well, she ran off in a hurry." One of the security officers still down in med-bay joked.
"It's like she actually believed the lunatic." Another joked back, relaxing himself into a chair.
Bones ran his tongue along his teeth, thinking. Khan had been right about everything, from what Bones knew. He knew that Khan was hundreds of years old, and had extraordinary capabilities, but Bones was still shocked every time he came forward with something new. Now that Khan had announced that the Admiral had a ship that could catch up to the Enterprise mid-warp, he found things a little more suspicious.
"Doctor." Khan spoke, without blinking an eyelash.
McCoy turned towards Khan, jolted from his thoughts. "Yes?"
"I must say that you look most troubled with the piece of information that I have given you."
McCoy rolled his eyes in aggravation. "You're damn right I am."
Khan continued to stare off into space. "Well, if you should ever want to bless me with your emotions, by all means, please do."
"I think I'm just fine by myself, thanks." McCoy responded, turning his attention back to his work. "I don't think that I need to put my problems on the hands of a know-it-all freak show that can't even deal with his own problems."
"Your comments are most flattering, Doctor." Khan smiled in return.
"Why on Earth are you smiling?" Bones asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"I have my reasons, and they are mine alone."
"Oh, yes, terribly sorry to interrupt you and your reasons." Bones flitted his hands through the air, to add effect. "I'm sure your head is contemplating all sorts of evil things. Once again, so sorry to interrupt."
Khan sighed. "You see, Doctor. That is the problem with the people on this ship. Every single evil thing that may come along, no matter how big, no matter how small, you see as an enemy. Naturally, you believe that the enemy is going to do great harm to either an individual, or the crew as a whole. I know that's how you see me. The superhuman who is quiet, brooding and above all, a threat. A threat to everybody. It's not only the threat that scares you. No...you are afraid of the fact that the threats are not empty. Nothing I ever say is empty. Everything I say has meaning."
Bones spun in his chair, still listening intently. "Where are you going with this?"
"I'm going to tell you a story, Doctor. This story may change the way you view certain things. First, I'm going to ask every other person to leave this room. This story is not something that I like to share with the world."
Bones nodded towards the officers, who left without question. Bones gave Khan his full attention.
"Believe it or not, Doctor, I was young once. A teenager, who's worries consisted of when to take the dog out for a walk. How much homework I was going to get that night, and if it was of any importance to what I was learning in school. I had a family; a wonderful family at that. A mother, father and an older sister, all of whom I loved and respected deeply. Of course, with family came the natural emotions; anger, sadness, the feeling that nobody would ever understand what I was going through. I was happy and I was content. The worst mistake I ever made was taking what I had for granted.
"Sixteen years old. My age when everything I knew and loved came crashing down around me. Two of the people that I held most dear to me were taken from my grasp. Suddenly and without warning. My parents were gunned down, publicly for an experiment that went wrong. An experiment that was meant to stay private, only for their eyes and the eyes of my sister and myself. However, a man decided he had the right to come in and use himself as the guinea pig of the whole operation. That choice led to his demise, which ultimately led to my parents."
Bones shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He was beginning to have conflicting emotions. Part of him said not to listen to Khan because part of him believed that Khan was just saying this. Another part of Bones knew that Khan was telling the truth. Khan was weaving the details so effortlessly, without pausing, that Bones couldn't see how it was a lie. That's when Bones realized that he was feeling sorry for Khan.
"Now, we shall go forward another eight years. The death of my sister. My beautiful, caring sister. Killed in an accidental explosion. Of course, that explosion took out her husband, unborn child and 30 other people. I knew that other people were grieving for the ones that they lost. However, I lost the last member of my family.
"I became cold, insensitive. I ignored everyone and everything around me. I rarely went outside. Afraid to come in contact with anything that would remind me of what I once had. People became afraid of 'the man behind the glass'. The man who sat in a chair and thoughtlessly stared out of the window, not bothering to blink. Not returning the friendly wave from the neighbors. I refused to get close to people. I didn't allow myself to go after the gorgeous girl two blocks away, in fear that she would be destroyed as quickly as my family had. The pattern continued for years.
"After a few years, I heard of a program. A program that said it could bring out abilities in humans that would be life-changing. In my mind, that was my opportunity. My chance to become stronger, faster and better than everyone else. I thought that whatever powers I was blessed with would guarantee me the chance to live longer. I was afraid, Doctor. I was afraid to wind up the same way my family had. I wanted to be able to watch the world pass without fearing the day I would collapse and disintegrate into nothingness. From my position, I believed that the choice would never have any repercussions. No consequences. I was wrong.
"The choice I made defined me. They chose three people for the experiment; a younger person, a middle-aged person and an elderly person. Three different ages. The elder died in experimentation. Couldn't handle the pressure. The younger is still alive, happily living with his wife and seven children. He was discharged from the experiment for reasons unknown to me. I was the only person kept. They said I showed great promise. The strength, intelligence and consciousness to perform at higher standards.
"From there, they continued their experimentation. I was to choose individuals for the program. I had great fun selecting individuals. They told me to pick ones with the most promise, ones that may remind me of myself. I happily obliged. I hoped that I could wind up like the younger man. I would be able to return to my home and live eternally. To never encounter danger.
"After I built my crew, the experimentation stopped. The program leader had finished what he wanted. He left my crew in space. Floating around the galaxy, alone. Forever alone. I realized I would never get the life I wanted. I was still the leader of my crew. My crew slowly became my family. We grew extremely close, sharing endless hours together, discussing science and making small talk.
"When Admiral Marcus found me, everything changed. He captured both myself and my crew, and used my crew against me, so that I would help him create things that were seemingly impossible. Ships, like the one he has built for himself. Ships solely built for combat. Combat, which would lead to a war. Marcus took my crew from me, leading me to rebel against Starfleet, in hopes that I could get my crew back. That's why I led the attack against leading officers, the attack that killed Admiral Pike.
"I've been numb. I've been an empty shell of a person. As I said before, I have refused to let myself become vulnerable. It's one thing that I cannot allow myself to do. I will not put myself in a position to be broken.
"Once I boarded this ship, I decided that I could take you down from within. I plotted away, trying to come up with strategies. I failed. I couldn't understand why. But now, that I have released my story to someone on this ship, I think I have realized why I cannot take you and your crew down.
"You have given me company. The feeling of a home, even though it isn't warm all the time, it's still company. Kirk has even shown me a small piece of compassion. I believe you and your crew could install the sense of happiness inside of me once again. I also hope that you can revive the emotion inside of me, known to many, as love. The kind of love that, although it leaves me vulnerable, will still allow me to feel."
Bones considered what Khan was saying. "But you said you would forbid yourself from being vulnerable."
Khan nodded his head. "Yes. I know what I said. I know that feeling once again, and letting your crew into my life may put me in such a position, but I believe, with all my experience, that I am ready to feel once again. I'm ready to build relationships again. After all, you should love something as much as you can for as long as that thing is around. Something I learned from watching my family perish.
"However, I need trust. Before any kind of relationship happens, trust must be built. I do trust you, Doctor, but I need more. I need unbreakable trust. I must insist on having my crew returned to me. They are not as dangerous as they may seem. They are part of me, as your crew is a part of you."
"In exchange for what?" Bones questioned, trying not to break eye contact with Khan.
"I will help you take down the threat that is Admiral Marcus."
Bones abruptly sat back in his chair. "Seriously?"
"Remember, I helped to build his ship. I know it's capabilities. I know the layout. I will help you with this. On one condition. I'll need your help with something."
Bones had a feeling something like this would come up. "What do you need?"
Back on the bridge, Kirk, Sulu and Carol were desperately trying to understand the reading that had come up on Sulu's screen.
From behind the Enterprise, the Vengeance appeared, moving at nearly three times the speed as the Enterprise. The Vengeance suddenly opened fire, throwing everyone on the bridge around like rag dolls. The Vengeance continued to fire, ripping pieces of the Enterprise into shreds without mercy. The Enterprise spun around quickly, and dropped out of warp.
"Where are we?" Kirk asked, as he pulled himself into a standing position.
"We are 237,000 kilometers from Earth." Sulu replied quickly.
"We're defenseless." The navigational officer informed Kirk.
"Sir, we have a bulkhead breach." One of the Lieutenants told Kirk, as she rushed to her position.
"Where's the hull damage?" Kirk asked one of the officers.
"Major hull damage, Captain." He responds, trying to figure out where the majority of the damage was.
The Vengeance also dropped out of warp, continuing to fire at the Enterprise. The entire ship rocked and vibrated with the force of the Vengeance's weapons.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Kirk yelled. "Get us to Earth, right now!"
"Captain!" Carol shouted, trying to get Kirk's attention. "Stop! Everybody on this ship is going to die if you don't let me speak to him."
Kirk looked around the bridge. Glass was everywhere. covering control boards, the floor and anywhere else it could reach. Officers were looking at them, many of them sporting lacerations some of which were minor, some of which weren't. The alarms on the ship were blaring at full volume, threatening to give Kirk a headache.
"Uhura, hail them."
As Uhura managed to hail Admiral Marcus, Carol turned towards the screen. "Sir. Sir, it's me. It's Carol."
The Vengeance stopped firing immediately, as Admiral Marcus appeared on the screen. "What are you doing on that ship?" He demanded.
"I heard what you said." Carol began, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "That you made a mistake and you are doing everything you can to fix it. But Dad. I...I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying a ship full of innocent people." Carol's tried to make her voice cooperate. "And, if I'm wrong about that, then you're going to have to do that with me on board."
"Actually, Carol, I won't." Marcus replied, a small smirk appearing on his face.
"Oh...oh!" Carol shouted, turning towards Kirk in search of help. "Jim?" Carol was already beginning to be transported.
"Can you intercept the transport signal?" Kirk asked.
"No, sir!"
Carol screamed as she ran towards the turbo lift, hoping that she could outrun the transporting abilities.
"Carol!" Kirk shouted, trying to run after her glowing form.
Carol vanished just as she passed Uhura, who was blocking her face, expecting a blow of impact.
"Captain Kirk, without authorization and in league with the fugitive John Harrison, you went rogue in enemy territory, leaving me no choice by to hunt you down and destroy you."
Kirk paused before facing Admiral Marcus.
"Lock phasers." Admiral Marcus ordered his crew.
Kirk ran forward. "Wait, sir, wait, wait!" He pleaded.
"I'll make this quick." The Admiral said, ignoring Kirk. "Target all our torpedoes on the Enterprise bridge."
"Sir, my crew was just following my orders. I take full responsibility for my actions, but they were mine, and mine alone." Kirk begged with his eyes, hoping that the Admiral would understand.
Down in med bay, Khan listened to Kirk's words. How true they are. How accurate. The very words I would describe the position I was in with my crew. I have given you fair warning, Kirk. I warned you that he wouldn't listen. He doesn't care. He has no heart. The only heart he has is one that loves war; one full of hatred.
"If I transmit Khan's location to you, all that I ask is that you spare them." Kirk's crew looked around at each other, touched by Kirk's words. "Please, sir. I'll do anything you want. Just let them live." Part of Kirk was telling the truth, but another part was lying. He wouldn't give away Khan's true location. He still firmly believed that Khan should stand trial before being exiled or killed.
Admiral Marcus contemplated his words for a moment. "That's a hell of an apology. But if it's any consolation, I was never going to save your crew. Fire."
The transmission cut off. As Kirk and the crew on the bridge looked on, they could see the massive phasers on the Vengeance lock onto the Enterprise.
Kirk looked down, trying not to believe that the Admiral would knowingly kill hundreds of crew members. Crew members for which he was ultimately responsible for, as the head of Starfleet.
"I'm sorry." Kirk said, at a loss for words, completely broken.
Uhura looked towards Spock, who gave her a small nod in return, not wanting to show her the fear he was feeling inside. Spock didn't want Uhura to become even more upset than she already was, and pouring his emotions on her would only make it worse.
On board the Vengeance, Marcus's crew tried to fire their weapons. As though on command, every weapon control lost power, and flimsily moved as their controllers tried to activate them.
"Someone in engineering just manually reset our systems." One of the officers informed the Admiral.
"What do you mean someone? WHO?" Admiral Marcus demanded, letting his anger show. He knew it couldn't be Khan, as Khan was on board the Enterprise. The only people capable of manually resetting the system would have to be someone on board his own ship; a traitor.
Sulu looked at Captain Kirk, shock evident on his face. "Their weapons are powered down, Sir."
Captain Kirk looked at Sulu in disbelief. He had a feeling Admiral Marcus wasn't the person who shut down their weapons.
"Enterprise, Enterprise. Can you hear me?" Scotty's voice came over the communicator.
"Scotty!" Kirk exclaimed.
Scotty ran through the empty, steam-filled halls of the Vengeance. "Guess what I found behind Jupiter?" He whispered into the communicator.
"You're on that ship!" Kirk shouted, absolutely dumbfounded that Scotty had somehow managed to get on board.
"I snuck on, and seeing as how I just committed an act of treason against a Starfleet Admiral, I'd really like to get out of this ship, now beam me out!" Scotty demanded, getting louder with every word spoken.
Kirk sighed in relief. "You're a miracle worker. We're a little low on power right now, just stand by. Stand by."
Scotty stopped in his tracks, his features overcome with concern. "What do you mean low on power? What happened to the Enterprise?" He asked, as metal doors clanged behind him. "Call you back!" Scotty shut off his communicator, before darting into a separate corridor.
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