Chapter 13

"Why you?" Mara asked as she walked with him through the gardens the next day. She had thought about nothing but their "crew," and the oath all night. It was bordering on dangerous, and she half-considered telling Pierce. Yet… she had slept with Khan. Which complicated it on an entirely unknown level.

"Why me?" he asked in a clarifying tone. He walked as he usually did—spine perfectly straight, hands behind his back, one placed firmly on the palm of the other.

"Why did they choose you? To lead them?" she asked. For the first time in a while, she wasn't feeling the urge to smoke. She knew a psychoanalyst would have a field day, but she decided not to focus on it.

"I'm not sure," he said, staring up at the sun and blinking slowly as he basked in the hot rays. It was an odd day for London—sunny. "It just synthesized that way. Leadership forms like a seed planted—it grows…slowly…until suddenly it takes form. I gave them what they wanted and needed, and they did the same for me. And in the end, they saw fit to name me."

"I haven't been able to see you with them a lot," she said. "How is it they trust you so much? Lorran looked about ready to die for you the day before yesterday… in the labs."

"Yes he did," Khan said with a curt nod. "Loyalty is not something you can command. It is not something you can buy or bargain for. It is earned. And apparently I've earned it."

Mara knew there was something he wasn't telling her, but she had now posed the question two different ways, and he had skirted it both times. She decided to drop it… for now.

"In the oath… they said "rank will be fluid…" she began anew.

He nodded. "Rank inherently breeds jealousy and want. Those in power abuse it, those without it desperately strive for it—and eventually it sows discord. In our system, positions will shift, so no man or woman will ever feel trapped."

"But I assume you'll always be 'Captain'," she asked with a smile.

"Of course not," he retorted. "I am as subject to the oath as they are. They did not make it to me, we made it together. If a single one of them feels I am unworthy of my position, I will forfeit it to another. One we deign worthy as a whole."

Mara let out a hissed breath, her admiration of him threatening to turn to fascination.

"So why Naval formation? 'Captain,' 'First Officer,' etcetera. Why not army, or the like?"

"It is my belief that the Naval formation is the most successful and efficient for operating a vessel. As a single unit," he replied.

"Are you… planning on operating a vessel?" she asked with surprise.

He smiled, but did not respond.

"Khan, I… I don't know what to do… about… what we did," she said, changing the subject and lowering her voice in case there were others in the garden.

"You regret it?" he asked, not looking at her.

"No," she said, too quickly and too enthusiastically. "No," she said again, calmer this time. "It's just… it's the most unprofessional thing I've ever done… fraternizing with a patient."

"I think it's safe to say this is the most unique case you've ever had," he said, stopping by the fountain and sitting on its exterior wall. "And, one could argue that I'm not actually your patient, I'm a case study."

"Still, I…"

"Let me put it this way," he interrupted. "What two people do on their own time is their own business. Yes?"

She smiled at the completely rationless rationalization. "Yes," she agreed.

"Good," he said with a nod He looked away, taking a deep breath of the thick, humid air. "Are you doing anything this evening?"

Smooth.

"No," she said with a bright smile.

Author's note: sorry some of them are so short, that's just how they happen. I'll try to update more often when they're short like this :-]