So many bites. Oh gosh so itchy. Alright, love all your faces, see you in a little over a week.

For a moment Eve stood paralyzed by the sheer enormity of it all. She saw Khan moving, picking Kirk off the floor and dragging him toward the front window, but her brain couldn't manage anything beyond the knowledge that the enemy was dead. Admiral Marcus was dead, and now the only thing left was to destroy the virus and her work was done. She could rest.

NO. Her logic came screaming like an unholy force launched free of its cage. This wasn't safety. Look at him - listen to what he's about to do! Carol's leg is shattered.

Spock came up on the screen, but Eve was rushing to Carol who was writhing on the ground in pain, trying not to scream and yet clearly in enormous pain. Not deathly, but Eve couldn't bring herself to leave the woman. She gripped her hand, Carol's eyes flying open in alarm as she let out a small groan.

"Don't look." Eve whispered, holding tight to Carol's hand. She deliberately put herself in the way of the other woman's view of the gore beyond. "Hold on, you're going home soon."

"Your crew, for my crew." Khan sneered, expression dripping with a loathing which suggested he felt he was getting the far superior half of the trade.

"No." Carol said sharply, gripping Eve's arm and forcing her to look at her. "They're the same. My father, Khan, they're the same."

"You don't understand him." Eve shook her head. "They're completely different."

"My father did the things he did for the preservation of his people." Carol said urgently. "What is it you think Khan isn't capable of?"

"I know what he's capable of." Eve said, too quiet for anyone but herself to hear. She looked down at the blood covering her, the finger which desperately needed to be popped back into alignment. "We aren't capable of giving up on the people we love. If we didn't believe in their capacity for change and betterment, we never would have loved them to begin with."

Carol wanted her to abandon Khan, to go and join the Enterprise where love was healthy and simple and pure, where people looked after each other, and made the morally obvious choices. This was her invitation into the light.

But she couldn't pass over that threshold... She didn't want to without Khan, and it was a place he couldn't go.

But she could gather what little of that light she'd had for a golden moment. She could protect these people, so long as they warranted protecting. They had attacked Khan, and so he had found his new enemy. But they had protected her, sheltered her, believed in her.

Eve followed Carol's gaze to Kirk, struggling on the ground trying to get to his feet. Whatever Khan had done to him, the damage wasn't so much deadly as it was effective. Kirk, despite his great attempts, could not rise. Eve left Carol, crawling toward Kirk carful to remain out of Khan's gaze as she placed a hand on Kirk's chest, forcing him to stop rising and guiding him back down onto the ground. They met eyes for a moment, and she gave him a nod.

She lifted her head as there came the low growl from Khan. "Now... shall we begin?"

"Lower shields." Spock said quietly. He wouldn't sound alarmed, he had too much control for that. But she could hear defeat in the Vulcan's voice.

"A wise choice, Mr. Spock." Khan said, glowing with the aura of delight power gave him. He looked down to Kirk, pausing as he saw Eve as his feet watching him. He'd intended to harm Kirk while he was down, exert more force than was necessary. Her presence seemed to sooth the impulse. Striding over to the captain's chair and settling in Marcus' throne, Khan brought up a blueprint of the Enterprise on screen and at once the scan found and confirmed it had locked on to seventy two missiles.

"If they're not mine, Mr. Spock, I will know it." Khan warned.

"Vulcan's do not lie. The torpedoes are yours."

And so the massive ship drew out the torpedoes from the belly of the Enterprise, and they appeared as one on the security screen of the hanger bay. Eve breathed out in relief, fingers releasing Kirk who'd she'd unthinkingly gripped in the tension of the transfer. She watched Khan, his smile swelling. Here was his long awaited reward. To be reunited with his people he had thought lost. Spock had given him everything. There was no reason left to hate.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock." Khan breathed.

"I have fulfilled your terms. Now fufill mine."

Khan gave Eve a look, and she moved away from Kirk. "Don't get up." She whispered, even though he was trying again all the same. "It's going to be alright now. I promise, you're safe."

Getting to her feet, Eve moved to the side as Khan considered the other captain. "Well, Kirk, it seems apt to return you to your crew. After all, no ship should go down without her captain."

She felt the gentle shift as quicksand opened up underneath her. Golden light wrapped the other three, but she could already see Khan going for the automated weapon systems. She didn't make a sound. There was no point to it. Instead she grabbed Kirk's abandonded phaser off the floor, flipped it to red, and moving in front of him so there could be no missing her, she shouted, "Enough!"

Khan tilted his head, standing up from the chair. They were alone now, and the ship had alread fired off several blasts. But she and she alone had his attention now. "Do you intend to kill me?"

"You said we would find a way to do this without killing them. Here it is. I'm just making you remember." Eve said, but her hands had begun to shake again. "These people don't deserve to die."

"They attacked me."

"You attacked them first."

"We attacked them first. After our display, do you serusly think they'll believe you were my captive?"

"Then we go now. We take you're crew and we go."

"They're the only ones who can be used to prove your guilt. With them gone, you can return to Earth, to your family."

"It's not worth destroying thousands of lives for!"

"Just one, then."

She grimaced, the phaser dipping downard. He was too fast, snatching it from her hand and twisting it sharply. He was about to grab her when the entire ship rumbled like an earth quake. Khan let out the most pained scream she had ever heard.

And then she understood. It was the torpedoes.