Chapter-13:

He was forced to make a landing on one of the planets nearest to Starbase 12 when his small ship was quickly running low on power. According to the ship's navigation console it was Risa, a planet of two suns and two moons. As a so-called "pleasure planet" he was sure to find a ship, preferably non-Starfleet, which he could seize and continue in his escape. He landed on a desolate beach, hoping to avoid detection for as long as possible. It would be no small task for them to track him from the starbase, so time was not a luxury that he had.

When he landed, it was a brightly lit night, the two moons casting dual shadows over the glowing white sand on the beach. Though he needed to move quickly to ditch this vessel and fall off the Federation grid, he paused only long enough to find the medical kit stored on the runabout. He had a deep gash on his right side, along his rib cage where the poor marksman of a security officer shot him at close range. It pained him with every small movement, but it was already healing and partially cauterized. The fibers of his uniform even melted to flesh in some places, and it was with a small wince that he peeled the clothing off to better tend to his wound.

While he treated his injury, his mind was working on the next step. He was trying to decipher what happened to Marla. They must have arrested her as well, he knew, and the allegations against her would be damning, if he knew Marcus as well as he thought he did. Still bleeding from his narrow escape and he was already formulating the early stages of a rescue mission to collect both his crew and Marla. To die trying was not an option.

Beeeep beeeep.

The communication console was flashing. It was a direct hail to his ship. The med kit was set aside, a fresh uniform shirt taken from a storage cabinet and pulled quickly on. He was not going to display his injuries. Sitting at the controls once more, he answered the hail.

Marcus appeared on the small viewscreen, the spotless wall of his office framing his detestable face. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life." Marcus was visibly infuriated, Khan could see it in his icy blue eyes. But the admiral was a master at keeping his tone level.

"What have you done with Marla McGivers?" Khan matched his even tone in an attempt to conceal the fear that crept into his heart.

"McGivers?" The admiral narrowed his eyes. "How do you think we found out about your little escape plan?"

"You're lying," Khan's voice rattled.

Marcus puffed ever so slightly behind his desk. "You thought you were the only one who could manipulate people? We recruited her because she's an expert on your type. She knew what you wanted to hear—what you wanted her to do. And she told us every step of your plot."

Betrayal was not new to Khan, and he expected even less from Admiral Marcus. But for her to betray him… No matter how familiar he was with treachery, this was the strongest he had never felt the tearing constriction of denial. He may have doubted her courage or her motives, but until now he never doubted her love.

"Because of your exploit at Starbase 12," Marcus continued with a sigh of annoyance, "the covert operations we've been involved in have been compromised. Your torpedoes—and everything they contain—have been duly destroyed and your designs withdrawn from all official records. If you wanted out of Starfleet, you got it. But now you'll see just how we do things in this century, my friend."

There was a rage deep within Khan that had been contained since the day he was awoken and the lit fuse inside of him had finally reached its end. In an eruption, he was out of the pilot's seat, looming over the controls and the screen that held the vile face of Marcus.

"The ten-fold strength of your collected fleets could not amount to the devastation I will wreak on you and your Federation!" he seethed. "It is war then, war open or understood must be resolved! Keep her guarded well," his enraged roar faltered as he could not even say her name, "because she stands only second to you in annihilation! Both of your deaths are small, but I will make them resonate through Starfleet and your Federation with such a tremor they will be left shaken by it! Which if not victory, is yet revenge."

A fist pierced into the screen where Marcus's face gaped at him, his knuckles shattering through the glass and circuits and leaving them spotted with blood. The ship now beeped at the damage, its computerized chirps only further reminding him that he was now solitary in an insufferable territory of space. Fingers gripped at the edges of the console, the metal shrieking as it was torn from its terminal before he moved on to the controls themselves.

The entire cockpit was left in ruins, sparks flashing from dark corners as the ship now coughed out pitifully. But Khan was not satisfied. There was far too much pain and rage within that needed to be reconciled if he was to be content with the bloodied hands he now had. He went to the engine room and began throwing switches, overloading the warp core.

He watched from a distance as the ship exploded into a rain of sand granules and metallic debris, shaking the ground and sending a concussion through the air that even made him flinch. There was now a crater left in the shoreline. But it was nothing compared to what he felt inside.

Though he told Marcus to guard Marla, he could not fuel his anger enough to seek her out. All of that was directed at Marcus, Section 31, and Starfleet itself. No, he needed to let her go. It was a game well-played on her part and proof enough of the intelligence that he hoped she had. It was his mistake that her importance was even remotely comparable to that of his family. But he knew that should they ever cross paths, she would not walk away from him again.

Until that time, he would send her reminders of his true nature in the form of fire and disarray to shake the 'righteous' world she mistakenly thinks she owes allegiance to.

Then she will see who he was before her… and who he is without her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If it seems like this story is lacking in a resolution, that's because it is for two reasons: One, it continues in the film Star Trek Into Darkness; two, I have every intention of picking it back up after the events of the movie. Hope you enjoyed this enough to want a continuation! Reviews much appreciated!