I do not own nor profit from Star Trek or Gene Roddenberrys works
Gavin excitedly rushed to the station where he had been examining the specimen from the feline creature. "It's quite possible, that it doesn't affect us because of our blood. However, it would affect your wife because she is human." He began pulling out different supplies, performing tests on the specimen they had. He took a scrap of Safiyas bloody clothes, collecting the dried blood. "We have long been impervious to certain diseases and poisons that humans succumb to so easily. Surely you remember the Eugenics war? How biological weaponry was quite favorable because of this trait." He turned back to his experiment.
"Why not just take a sample from her if you need blood?" Khan raised a brow. Gavin shook his head as he carefully introduced the enzymes from the tooth to her blood and then to a sample of his own.
"Because, she was injected with your blood, it would taint the results. I need blood from before she was injected." He spoke slowly in thought. The lack of sleep and the exhaustion was taking a toll on Khans tired mind. Things that should have been obvious had become slow and difficult to piece together. "She will definitely be out for some time. Even though we gave her your blood, it was too late, she was well infected, dead by this stuff before we could take care of her." He sighed, watching the bloods reactions.
With enlightened hope, Khan returned to his wife, sitting by her side and gently stroking her hand. He still had a chance, but he still didn't know what to say. It would be a few days and a few more tests before Gavin could give him any news. His thought was correct. The toxin damaged Safiyas blood cells. It was like a paralytic, but it appeared to make her blood cells disintegrate in the process. "The toxins do nothing to our cells. In fact, our white cells destroy this toxin on contact. Her cells, white and red, are destroyed." He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it before... I mean, maybe in spiders, and some snake species, but, wow." He was puzzled and at a loss, but he could think of no other conclusion.
A long and strenuous month had passed since the attack. The crew had returned to their base, and Safiya set up in the temple, on the altar. There she lay in waiting as all held their breath for her to return. It was pins and needles around the temple. Twelve of his crew had taken the craft back out to search for the main ship that crashed in hopes to salvage some parts and supplies, if any were left.
Most of the others had stayed behind to work on their homes. Essex paid particular attention to the gardens, his tribute to the princess. He was especially diligent with a certain flower that he had seen growing there once before when they first surveyed the planet. The sweeping petals were a particular shade of fuchsia, with a shimmering cerulean center, as if gel swirled within. It smelled of a sweetest orchid, with a savory hint of rose. He thought it would be a perfect flower to present to Safiya, but only if he could get it to bloom. It proved to be a most finicky flower, but he knew that if he could get it to bloom, then the beautiful birds would come to the garden, singing their melodious songs, bringing tranquility with them.
The air was thick with the scent of changing seasons, as the trees began to changes colors. Like fire, the leaves were turning to brilliant hues of red and orange, with yellow and brown mixed in. A chill breeze would come through every once in a while, reminding them of the quickly changing season. That was one thing they had to remember about this planet, that they were still learning. When the seasons changed, it was rapid.
Because of this, there were always some people collecting and gathering firewood and drying foods. It was a rather enjoyable task to Essex. He liked the simpler life, not the busy, convenience life that humans cherished so. It was the satisfaction of earning, and that what he had was from hard work. Many of them felt this way. Even though they were advanced, and enjoyed the fight, lived for the battle, for the perfection, they still had deep within an old, yet new, sense of society.
Ebony had a hell of a time finding the crash of the main vessel, but as soon as they found the trail, it was obvious. The broken trees, the devastation that was just beginning to be reclaimed by the wilds. They followed the trail all the way through the trees until they finally came across the ship. "Wow that's old." Trick chuckled as he looked at the tail of the ship.
"Yeah, well, it's been here a long time. You can tell by the overgrowth down below in the trees we passed over." She looked out of the window for a place to touch down. She gave it a softer landing than Safiya had managed, the hissing of the door hatch breaking the constant hum of the engines. The air here was piney, and moist.
"Well, let's hope we can salvage SOMEthing." Ebony looked around, they were between two mountain ranges it seemed, definitely an area that would receive a lot of rain judging by the quality of the air and the foliage. She doubted that there would be much left that would be of use. Rain would have leaked in through the broken hull, rotting the inside. Animals no doubt had made their homes in the many nooks and crannies of the ship. Their small crew surveyed the scene, looking around for an obvious opening.
Among them, four had blast cannons in case they ran afoul of any other predators.
"There's an entrance hatch there. We can try to get in that way. It should put us close to the reactor room." Trick assessed the location of the door on the ship. "From there, I think we should just move as a group until we have swept the entire ship. The main thing from there is medical supplies, and any food that hasn't expired, though of course most of this stuff should be alright." He shrugged. Ebony nodded as they blasted the door down and one by one, entered into the dim ship. Sunlight showed their path, as it streaked in from the gaps in the hulls panels.
They entered into what appeared to be the engineering bay. "Edison, do you think you can get us some light in here?" Ebony asked their technical genius. Trick laughed out, drawing attention from most of the others.
"Oh, sorry, Um. Thomas Edison was an inventor on Earth hundreds of years ago. He perfected the light bulb... and she just asked Edison for lights..." He spoke in broken laughter, waving the others to ignore him.
"Well, can you?" Ebony turned back to Edison. He was an older augment, but smarter than ten men combined. At the control panel, he tapped furiously, furrowing his brow once in a while.
"I can give you some lights, but, this system is fried. Some basic systems will run, but anything else, forget about it." He shook his head as the lights came to life with a hum. They weren't bright, but it allowed them to see where they were going. As they walked down the corridors, they had in some ways wished they didn't know where they were going. Stepping over skeletons, singed uniforms hanging off of some. Blood stained the walls, as dirt and mold had began to grow up the drywall.
The air inside was thick and musty as they made their way deeper into the ship. "It looks like, if we went up the central stairs... We are on the 4th level now, if we got off on the 7th level, or the main level, we should be near the medical bay." Ebony hummed looking over a stained map of the ships specs mounted to the wall. The group made their way up. The stairs were rickety and wobbled under the new weight, but they made it safely to their intended floor. The evidence of carnage was more prominent here. There were nearly triple the bodies they had seen downstairs.
The glass doors to the medbay had long been shattered, most likely on impact. There were bodies still strapped to the beds, a body in the far end crumpled, covered by a white doctors tunic. They shook their heads, saddened by the sight. This crew had no chance, it seemed. They salvaged every last unexpired medication and any medical supplies they could find. They took their time taking the supplies out to their waiting transport. They also ransacked the medical robes and all of the blankets from the bay, in case the winter was worse than the one before.
They had spent three days salvaging what they could from the crash. Wiring, panels, clothing, medical supplied, food, blankets, anything they could think of, and could load into the ship, they took. The transport hovered low under the added weight, but by the evening as the sun was setting, they made it back to camp. The ship was unloaded of the things that were needed among the people, while repair parts for the ship were left on board.
"How is she coming along?" Ebony asked as soon as Khan was close enough. Khan gave a slight nod, looking over the bounty they had retrieved.
"Gavin believes she is growing stronger by the day, but, she still hasn't awaken." He replied with slumped shoulders. "I don't get it."
Ebony nodded in understanding. That evening, she returned to her home she shared with Trick, and crawled into bed with him. "I love you, I hope you know." She whispered before cuddling into him. Trick held his wife closer that night. In the temple, however, Khan was on his knees before his own comatose wife. He just spoke softly to her now, telling her of the days events as if she could listen and respond. Once again, as he had done for many nights before, he cried, holding her limp hand, just wishing she would open her eyes.
The snow was thick on the ground, as smoke rose from the chimneys of the homes of the crew just trying to stay warm. Essex had been cleaning his own home as he glanced out of the window. Among the whipping snow, a vivid color stuck out at him. "My flowers!" He cried excitedly. The first few had bloomed in a spectacular fashion, painting their color against the white backdrop. He ran downstairs, throwing on a thick coat, and left into the bitter cold to see his work pay off. They were more beautiful than when he first laid eyes on them, as they shone like a ray of sun in that frozen world.
With a soft smile, he picked three and walked them to the temple with self satisfaction. He closed the temple door behind him with a heavy thud, shaking his snow packed jacket out before entering too far. Khan was there with her as he usually was these days, looking more gaunt. It was as if every day she grew stronger, he grew weaker. While she gained her color, he lost his. The temple was well lit with candles and the fireplaces on either side. Khans head lifted up as he watched the young man approach them.
"I apologize for this intrusion, my prince. I just wanted to bring these for your wife. I thought, she would perhaps like them." He offered meekly.
"I am sure she would." Khan responded. "What are they?" He looked at the flowers, and had to admit they were quite beautiful, though he wasn't a man big on flora.
"I am not quite sure. I saw them the first time we came here, but they haven't grown since. Not until now." He smirked excitedly. "They've got these gorgeous swirling centers..." He picked one from one of the flowers, holding it up. Indeed it looked like a world within, a swirling storm within the capsule like bead. It was entrancing, as Khan stared. Essex held the bead out between two fingers so Khan could inspect it before placing is in his hand. While Khan was absorbed in the bead, Essex laid the flowers under the princess's hand, wrapping her fingers around the stems.
"I wish she was able to see them." Essex sighed. Khan nodded, he knew how Essex felt. He felt the same way the rest of the crew felt. She was the one that saved them, that saved their leader, their prince. She had a solid place in their hearts that would not be easily scrubbed away. Khan reached up to hand the large cerulean pearl back to Essex.
"Ah, dammit." Khan hissed as the ball seemed to burst, dripping its shimmering contents onto Safiyas lips and chin. Khan looked around for something to wipe it away with, but found nothing. His sleeve would have to do, but the liquid was nearly gone, either having slipped past her lips, or appeared to either evaporate or absorb into her skin. He shook his head, looking at his own fingers, the liquid gone from them as well.
"That was interesting." Essex murmured, as he watched. "I never thought they'd burst, not like that, perhaps it was handled too much, got too warm..." He offered, hoping Khan wouldn't feel responsible for what happened.
"It's fine, just, squeezed a bit I suppose." He sighed, stroking her hair, the liquid all but gone. "You should get Gavin. He should assess it, in case its another poison." He frowned. There was so much they didn't know about this world, he trusted very little now. He sat back, thinking about what he would do when she got better. He looked out of one of the high windows, watching as the snow was blown carelessly by the wicked wind. 'Safi would love this.' He thought, remembering how much she loved the snow back in London. Her childhood had been absent of snow, so whenever she it snowed, she would sit in front of the window for hours, just watching it fall with dreamy fascination.
That was one thing he loved about her, her love of bad weather. The way she would curl into him and listen to the storms. Listen to the thunder, watch the room light up briefly before returning to darkness. She never got to enjoy the weather on her missions. She was too busy with danger and subterfuge, not vacationing and daydreaming.
A gasp caught Khans attention. Safiya grew into a coughing fit, rolling over onto her side. She coughed violently, her face turning red before she crawled off of the altar, Khan helping her to the floor. No sooner, Gavin arrived running down the aisle, seeing Safiya roll to the floor. She was on all fours by the time he got to her, her fist pounding the floor. She was unable to breathe, as an upward pressure held firm against her diaphragm.
"Oh. My. God." Gavins eyes grew wide, staring at the long cerulean tube that was passing her lips. He grabbed onto one end, and gently pulled, helping her expel it from her body.
"That is what I why I called you... Sort of." Khan told him, worried, as Safiya gasped, sputtered and coughed, trying to regain her breath. She leaned back onto he knees and rested against Khans chest, breathing heavily. Gavin glanced at the flowers, noting their centers, and looked back at Khan who nodded.
"I'll see what I can do. I'll be back in a while to assess her." He assured before taking his leave. Khan wiped her mouth and shin with her sleeve. Safiya shifted to the side, and rolled her head back, looking upwards into Khans eyes.
He held her gaze, searching himself for something to say, but no words came. Her soft hand came up and gently touched his cheek, and that was all he needed. He just held her close to him, and broke down against his serendipity.