Chapter-07:

Alone.

It was a new state of being that he had to come to terms with. Most of his life he had followers, people who were willing to bow to his superiority, to lay down their lives because they trusted him to spend it well. The few he had allowed into his heart—to be called family—were incapacitated. And now the one he was willing to trust proved too weak to follow him onto the battlefield.

He told himself he should have expected as much from Lt. McGivers. She was a member of Starfleet, and nothing but an ordinary human. He was no more to her than a romanticized ideal, which he failed to exploit to his own advantage.

But, if she was a mere pawn in his plans, then why did it hurt to send her away?

His ten hours were up and Commander Lassiter came to collect him. They walked side by side through the Starbase, each carrying little more than a duffle bag of essentials. The moment they found themselves alone on the turbo lift that carried them to the hangar deck, Lassiter cleared his throat.

"I haven't had the chance to say it, but… It's an honor to be working with you, Mr. Singh. Some of your tactics during the Eugenics Wars have been used in some of our combat manuals. Modified, of course, and not accredited to you specifically, but… I wrote a dissertation about it back when I was a cadet, and…"

The young commander was gushing like a fool, and Khan couldn't find it in him to be flattered. Instead, he stared ahead and fed the other man cold silence. He was not about to humor one of his keepers.

"Well, anyway…" Lassiter clearly felt like the fool that he was. "That dissertation is how Marcus picked me out of my class and recruited me. My point is, sir, that we could be on the same team. You and Admiral Marcus could be really powerful allies."

The mere suggestion brought Khan's grip to constrict on the strap of his duffle bag, the fibers creaking beneath the pressure. The only thing that spared Lassiter's face from a fist-sized cannonball was the opening of the lift door. Khan grinded his teeth to keep silent, to bite back his words of indignation and lead the way into the hangar as Lassiter shadowed him closely.

"Commander Harrison!" a voice called out over the noises of the hangar.

There was only a slight delay in his response to that damnable alias, and when he turned he saw a familiar red head jogging towards him. Her cheeks were flushed from the run, causing her to glow. Regardless of the hunger it stirred in him, he regarded her coolly.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"I wanted to give you this before you leave." She extended her hands to reveal the aged cover of Paradise Lost. "I'm sure you'll be busy, but… just in case if you have the spare time."

He glanced to the book once, then back to her without so much as lifting a finger.

"I marked the page for you," her voice was convincingly casual, but there was something desperate in her eyes that intrigued him. Moving nearer, she opened the book to him, revealing a small paper nestled into the wedge of its worn spine. There was a small, handwritten note on it.

I'll do anything you ask.

The pledge was scrawled in ink, as if in defiance of the electronic world that surrounded them. He met her anxious gaze again, but this time he could feel the heat of her devotion thaw the ice he had shielded himself with. The fretfulness faded from her eyes when he looked to her, silent understanding that the message was received. She wasn't as insipid as he took her for. Perhaps he was right in his first impression of her as a strong woman. All she may have needed was his guidance to meet her full potential.

"Two minutes, Harrison," Lassiter's voice broke through. With a courteous nod to Marla, the commander walked ahead to the ship to wait.

In that moment when Lassiter's back was towards them, Khan stole his moment. He reached for her hand, and though she flinched for fear that he would crush it again, he took it gently. He pressed her soft knuckles to his lips in the only apology she was likely to receive.

"Thank you," he spoke against the pale flesh and caught her eye one last time before accepting the book and following Lassiter to the ship.

He had a renewed vigor in his cause now that he knew he wasn't alone.