Spock sighed, something uncommon for vulcans. David has alluded them once again, which has happened so many times that it makes Spock wonder if he actually plans everything, or just makes it up as he goes along. A knock is heard at the metal door to his quarters. "Come in" He says, but doesn't look up from the terminal on his desk. He was currently reviewing the very little information they had on David Lord. He heard his door swoosh open.
"First Officer Spock." Nadi's voice got his attention. He furrowed his brows as he looked at her. He had tried to tell the Captain that ranking only allows one first officer, hence the name FIRST officer. Three First Officers just makes things confusing and undermines the command structure.
"Captai-" Spock stopped himself. "First Officer Nadi. How may I be of assistance?"
"May I have a seat first?"
"Certainly"
She walked to his desk, pulled a chair out and sat down."I would like to ask about David Lord."
"Oh? What do you wish to know?" Spock asked
"You were the one who was able to mind meld with Lord. So far you have been able to tell us of his plans...but not of his motivations."
"His motivations?" Spock asked.
Nadi hesitated a little. "You say he plans to commit the mass genocide of countless worlds...but you never said 'Why?'."
Spock...leaned back in his chair, looked down, and sighed, an action that almost surprised Nadi, as vulcans are always rigid and composed. "I...Wasn't able to glimpse at his reasoning. Only his plans... and emotions." Spock looked back up at Nadi "David's mind is...different from regular humans. Compulsive, Compassionate, Paranoid, and almost always on the brink of rage."
"Wait. Compassionate?" Nadi asked.
"Despite everything he's done...David is capable of expressing incredible amounts of empathy. He considers the suffering of everyone around him. But his compassion is completely overruled by an incredibly warped sense of moralty."
"what do you mean?"
"It was hard to tell, but I could sense severe amounts of pain and sadness, which triggers unbridled rage, almost the exact same way fear leads to Xenophobia. He's...Like a Vulcan who doesn't know how to suppress his emotions."
Nadi glanced down in thought. "If that is true," she looked "Than perhaps he can be reformed."
"I do not see how that is possible. He is incredibly damaged and-"
"You said it yourself. He's like a vulcan who doesn't know how to suppress his emotions. If that is true, then we must teach him how."
"We? What do you imply?"
"We capture him, and head a rehabilitation program so that we may-"
"Did he not kill your father?" Spock interrupted. Nadi looked at him, mouth opened. She closed it, glaring at him.
"Yes, but I am willing to put it past m-"
"Well I am not." Spock interrupted harshly. "David is directly responsible for the deaths of BOTH of our loved ones. Your Father, My lover. And while he is compassionate, he is also a Megalomaniac, a Sadist, a hypocrite, wrathful, Nihilistic, misanthropic, arrogant, and evil. He is the perfect embodiment of negative emotions. And furthermore, He's aware of this and actually believes that these negative emotions somehow make him powerful!" Spock finished his rant shouting that last word, Surprising Nadi. She looked at him with wide eyes, but then got her bearing.
"Nonetheless, he is still reminiscent of a child lashing out at the world, and should be saved if possible." She said. Spock immediately realizes that this is how Kirk feels about Spock's own stubbornness. He was about to continue arguing when Kirk's voice interrupted.
"All First Officers to the Bridge please. You too Bones."
Spock and Nadi stared at each other for a second. "We'll have to continue another time." Nadi said.
They both stood up, and made out the door.
"So who is this Khan, exactly?" Nadi asked. Three boys and a girl ran past, playing tag.
"Not much is known about him, other than that he was a genetically enhanced human during when humans practiced germline engineering." Spock answered. A metallic river flowed next to them on the ground.
"I thought humans haven't practiced germline engineering since 3 centuries ago?" Blue, humanoid, and faceless droids armed with stun phasers walked by, their metal feet clanking as they did.
"They haven't. Khan was discovered by Section 31 aboard a vessel in stasis pods, along with 72 other augmented people." They reached the elevator to the bridge and got in. Spock pressed the NEW button for the bridge as it was moved higher up.
"What use did Section 31 have for Khan? Much less what use do we have for him?" She asked.
"His intellect and Savagery. Section 31 wanted to him to devise weapons for them, Photon torpedoes being an example. Khan may also be the only one who could match or even surpass David in tactics." Spock said. The elevator finally stopped, and the door slid open to reveal the bridge.
The bridge was massive. A large circle room with a pillar for the elevator in the middle, a blue illuminated floor, with three levels all manned by people. The door to the elevator and the Captain's chair now sat elevated from behind everyone, with chairs for the helmsman and First officers slightly below but above everyone else. there were stairs connecting both levels to the top in an edged arc like pattern. The only illumination was the floor, everything being visible in a blue light. Rather than a single window at the front of the bridge, the walls were completely see through, courtesy of being nanowalls.
Kirk was sitting in his new Captain's chair, grinning ear-to-ear. "Remind me to give Scotty a raise."
Spock walked to his side. "It is vastly impressive."
"Indeed." Nadi agreed.
"God...Dammit man." Bones voice said slowly in awe as he stepped from one of the five other elevator doors. "It's only been 3 weeks!"
"The magic of nanotes, Bones." Kirk said.
"NANITES, Captain." Serek corrected, as he stood from his new seat and walked up the small steps.
"Whatever." Kirk said. He stood from his chair and joined the group. "We've picked up all off earth families of the crew. all that's left now are the families on earth and khan."
"Sir, we have reached our destination." Outside the transparent walls, the lights typical of a warp tunnel faded away, a massive yellow-orange planet took its place.
"Because of our recent upgrades, we're stopping slightly far from earth, at Jupiter. We'll be heading to earth on a shuttle." Kirk walked to a bag beside his chair. "And in case things get hot..." He unzipped it to show the device inside."...we got this."
"Kirk," Bones stepped closer to get a better look. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep. Scotty saw the specs and was able to make a copy." Kirk zipped it back up. "Alright. let's go."
The shuttle rose from the ground and shot out the hangar. The outside of the Enterprise could be seen. It was bigger, about as large as the Vengeance, Its thrusters longer and the main saucer wider. The hull was a dark shade of Blue, and a river like flow could be seen spreading across the ship, as Swarms of Nanites worked to continue to upgrade it. Ports for automated turrets adorned the deck in circled layers.
"Captain."Spock said, as he sat in the co-pilot's seat of the shuttle. "Give Scotty a raise."
"Noted Mr. Spock." Kirk Said, as he gaped at the spectacle before him. He turned the shuttle away and entered impulse towards earth.
Bones, Nadi, and Serek were at the back, strapped to their chairs.
Kirk let out a heavy sigh.
"Is something wrong Captain?" Spock inquired, noticing his Captain's unease.
"Spock," He said, but still gazed in front of him. "Are we doing the right thing?"
"Legally, no. But we are morally obligated to stop David-"
"I mean the smart thing, Spock." Kirk corrected himself. "We've got like...The crew AND their families aboard Enterprise and right now we're picking up a near invincible war criminal. And not just any war criminal..." Kirk looked down solemnly, remembering what Bones said during the meeting that decided to grab Khan.
"Captain, Scotty has spent the better part of 3 days upgrading the Enterprise External defenses and INTERNAL security." Spock said. "IF, Khan and his crew attempt to betray us, we could easily subdue them."
"ALL 73 OF THEM?!" Kirk exclaimed. "1, took a whole squad of klingons on his own. We'll have 70 goddamn 3!"
"A group of Physically fit humans is less than a match for a nanoswarm and equally strong droids." Spock argued. Outside, earth's moon could be seen coming up ( They went past mars and reached earth in the span of a conversation!).
Kirk sighs. "Well...then I guess we'll have to find out what happens."
They had reached earth, going through the atmosphere without a hassle, due to starfleet not knowing they've gone rogue yet. 3 other shuttles from the Enterprise could be seen breaking formation from Kirk and Co's Shuttle, heading to pick up the families of the crew on Earth. A city appeared in their view.
Kirk activated a hud on the window shield that showed a pathway to a certain building. "That's where they're keeping khan." Kirk said.
He angled the shuttlecraft towards it and flew to it. When they flew close enough to it, Kirk landed the Shuttle near the opening, but out of sight behind a building.
Everyone began to unstrap from their seats, Kirk shouldering the bag with the device in it. "Okay...let's hope these new gadgets Scotty made prove damn useful." Kirk said.
They walk out of the shuttle to the nearest wall of the storage facility. Kirk pulls out 3 black orbs. He throws them up the wall and they stop, midair. They completely disintegrate into a swarm like substances that leave their line of sight, towards the building.
"What the hell was that?" Bones asked.
"Something for their cameras. They won't detect anything wrong, but they also won't be able to recognize our faces." Kirk responds. He pulled out tablet and pressed something. Their clothes suddenly shifted, as they changed color and took the shape of security uniforms.
"Seriously? What's next, a goddamn grappling hook?" Bones said. Kirk then shot a grappling hook at the top of the wall. "...OF course."
The nano rope contracted and pulled Kirk up the wall. When he reached the top, he dropped the device down for the others to use.
As Bones was being pulled up by Spock and Serek, Nadi and Kirk were watching the entrance to the facility. "Five guards at the entrance. Have to go in through the roof where the elevator is." Kirk said.
Kirk presses a button on his collar, causing goggles to sprout on his face, the lens glowing a deep blue.
"Seriously, what's with all the blue?" Bones asked.
"Militaristic." Kirk responded, as he started moving. His Goggles showed an outline of the building, and he spotted the elevator. He led the group to it, and now they stood over it. Kirk pulled out a circular device from the bag, and dropped on the ground.
It instantly melted into a black liquid that began to dissolve the roof.
"Wha- how?" Bones asked.
"Nanomachines, Doc." Kirk said (and he will never know the reference he just made).
"You do realize that if so much as a single one malfunctions, it could eat the entire building, right?" Bones said.
"UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Kirk looked back down at the melting ground before him. "UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHH-Yes?"
Bones facepalmed.
The nanites fell down into a hole when they finished melting the ground. The grouped looked and saw couple of elevators down the shaft at the top (If you're wondering, elevators don't use cables in the future). Kirk attached the nano rope and slid down, and the rest slid down after him. They landed on the top of the elevator, it not even creaking under their weight.
Kirk pulled out a tablet and a nano orb, connected via wireless. The orb hovered from his hand and turned to a gel as it started to leak in through openings in the elevator. On his tablet, Kirk saw the inside of the elevator and directed the goo to the control panel. It began to infest the circuitry, Physically hacking it.
"God I love these things." Kirk muttered.
The elevator shook as it started to descend. Kirk melted a hole on top of the elevator and everyone got in. After a few moments, the elevator finally stopped, and slid open to reveal a corridor. They walked down it, walking past numerous locked vaults, searching for the one that held Khan.
A door slid open further down the hall, revealing a single security guard. Kirk and Bones dropped their heads, except for the Vulcans who stood straight.
"You guys here for transport or something?" The guard asked. Kirk pulled out his Phaser and sent a green stun beam at him. The guard dropped, and the group was now running past him, Kirk looking at all the labels of the Vaults.
"Captain-"
"Yes, it was necessary Spock." Kirk interrupted, predicting what Spock was going to say.
They kept running past doors. "436.437...440! this is it!" Kirk stopped at the aforementioned door. He Jammed a nano gel into the biometric scanner, bypassing it. The Door Rumbled open, revealing rows of slumbering supermen.
"Wait! There was supposed to be 73 pods! These are only 10!" Bones said.
"They must've moved them. Check if any of these has Khan in them." Kirk ordered. They begun running to every pod, checking the glass windows. .no . ...YES!
"I got him!" Shouted Kirk, as he stared into the closed eyes of the man who killed...
Everyone ran to the pod Kirk had found. "Open it."
Bones stared at Kirk. "Jim, are you sure you want to-"
"Open it!" Kirk ordered.
Bones walked to a panel on the pod, beeps being heard as he pressed a couple of buttons. The pod hissed as it began to open, unfolding itself, until Khan was completely exposed to the air of the room. He just layed there, still as a statue.
Then, he struck.
He swung his legs out and kicked Kirk and Bones, spun and elbowed Spock in the face, grabbed Serek by the collar and headbutted him. When he turned to Nadi, she was already on him. She stood on the pod and flew a kick at his face, but he grabbed it and swung her to the ground behind him. Kirk recovered and ran up behind him and locked his arms in a hold with him thrashing. "NOW SPOCK!"
Spock ran to Khan and placed three fingers on his face. "ARGH!" Khan struggled trying to escape the grasps of a telepathic alien.
Spock forced thoughts into his mind. Who they were, Why they were here. But he kept struggling. Spock forced an image of their enemy: David Lord.
Khan immediately stopped. Kirk decided to let go. He dropped to the floor, clutching his face. "So...How may I help you?"
Everyone stood around Khan, Serek clutching his head, Spock sporting a nosebleed. Khan himself had blotch marks where David had thrown flesh eating Nanites.
Kirk rubbed the back of his neck. "what was the wording you used? 'An Uncivilized Threat in a Civilized Time'." Kirk said, capitalizing each word.
"That was it." Khan said.
Kirk crossed his arms. "Basically, we got a problem, and you're possibly the only who could help."
Khan stood up. "I saw. So that teen is involved, somehow?" Khan said, putting a hand to the Blotches on his face.
"That 'teen' isn't just involved in the problem. He IS the problem." Bones said. "He made these giant space squids and is going to blow up the galaxy or something."
Khan just stared blankly at the Doc. Kirk shot Bones a glare. "Well...that's sort of the gist of it. It's more serious than it sounds. The question is: Will you help us?"
Khan's eyes drifted around them, studying all their faces. Kirk had a hint of disgust on his face, but the rest was sincere desperation. Spock was stone cold, but Khan could see anger in his eyes. The Doc was suspicious of him, and rightly so. The two other vulcans regarded Khan curiously, but with caution as they stood far from him.
Khan inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Alright. I'll help you, but under one condition: you take my crew as well."
"Already planned on that. One problem though, we've only got 9 pods." Kirk said.
Khan looked around. "Where are the rest?"
"Moved. Don't know where, but I bet that Section 31 has them." Kirk answered.
Khan's face hardened in thought. "...9 will have to do."
Kirk looked at Mccoy and nodded, and the Doc started opening pod after pod. As the pods all opened, one woman in particular stood out to Khan.
"Kati!" Khan shouted. The woman was Caucasian, wore a black turtleneck shirt similar to Khan, had short black hair and blue eyes. some of the others wore similar clothes, some with cobra patterned collars similar to what Khan wore on Chronos.
"Who are you!" She asked, aggressively. She didn't recognize Khan.
Khan looked at his crew frantically, none recognizing him. "...Kati, remember what you said the day we all entered cryostasis?"
Kati considered him with narrow eyes.
" 'so that may we live to see a day full of empty places, so that we may grow and prosper'." Khan quoted.
Kati's eyes widened. "But I...only said that to Khan."
"It is I...I am Khan." Khan stated.
"But...why do you look different? and Sound Different too?!" A different Crewmen asked.
"The people of this time awakened me, changed my appearance and speech patterns, and forced me to work for them." Khan said. Kirk eyes perked up at that. He hadn't known Khan's appearance was altered.
Suddenly, alarms started to ring out, and the group could running from the hall entrance. Everyone gears, getting for the fight.
Footsteps get louder as they get closer, and finally a group of guards come through the Entrance, swinging Phasers around.
"free-AAH!" A guard was interrupted as a green blast impacted him. He fell limp to the ground as the rest start opening fire.
Kirk and his group take cover behind the pods, but khan and his crew charge the guards, resisting the pain from the stun blasts.
Khan grabs the tip of a rifle from a guard and headbutts him, then spins and swings the butt of the gun at a guard's face, knocking him out. Kati runs past him, slides on the ground to duck a blast and swipes her feet beneath 2 guards, knocking them down. As she started punching their faces, another augmented swiped a gun from the gound, shooting at the group of security piling at the doorway. He shot quite a few, the rest taking cover at the sides of the entrance.
Kirk realized that his tablet was still hacked into the door panel, and used it to close the doors.
"I hope you have a plan of escape." Khan said, standing up and looking at all the dazed guards on the floor.
Kirk unzipped the bag, revealing a transwarp beaming device. "Oh yeah I do."
Khan stared at the device. "Where'd you get that?"
"I had my chief engineer cook it up just for this sort of an occasion." Kirk activated the screen, locking it on Khan, his crew, and Kirk's crew. Wisps of golden light swirled around them, The augmented looking confused because they've never seen something like this before.
Their scene changes from the pod filled storage room, to a much larger transporter room. It was bigger now, about half of a football field. "You made it!" Scotty's voice was heard.
He was entering through an Entrance where people are manning computer terminals. "I told you the bloody machine would work! And you worr- wait a minute!" Scotty shouted suddenly.
"That means you left the shuttle you took down there, didn't ya? You could've sent on autopilot towards Enterprise, do you know how hard it is to power the bloody..." Scotty stopped as khan was now staring directly at Scotty. Scotty just remember he stunned Khan at the Vengeance. "Oh...Well."
"Well..." Khan looked at Kirk. "...Shall we talk about our problem, Captain?"
They were at their regular meeting room, only this time Khan and his second in command, Kati, were in attendance. Kirk and the rest had just finished explaining David, his remakers, and that the Enterprise and its crew have gone rogue. Khan's thumb was on his lips as he pondered this information.
"Captain.." Khan finally spoke, having removed his hands from his face. "Before we were frozen, me and my kin were heralds of order. We brought stability, peace, security, and justice where we worked."
"Seriously? Marcus said you were a war-"
"Please, let me finish." Khan interrupted Kirk. "Yes, we were condemned as war criminals. But we had noble intentions. Along the way, we fought against many agents of chaos. Guerrilla fighters, religious extremists (terrorists), revolutionaries, warlords."
"You mean to say David is similar to them?" Spock asked.
"No. You see, all of them wanted something. Whether they wanted to defend their independence, go to the promised land, topple a tyrant, or outright crave power. Whatever motivations they had, Destruction was always their Language. But...David...Destruction isn't a language to him, It's an Artform." Khan suddenly took on that look he got when being incredibly dramatic (no, not that one. the other one.) "Destruction isn't just a method to him. It's a goal. And as a bringer of order, I must help you." Khan sat back down.
"Okay, then let's get down to business." Kirk looked to Spock. "Have the families from earth been brought onboard?"
"Yes, Captain. All except Mr Sulu's family, who have been separated from him for too long." Spock reported.
"Damn, remind me to have a talk with Sulu." Kirk looked at Scotty. "How are the upgrades going?"
"You're lucky, they just finished a few moments ago." Scotty reported.
"Alright. Now," Kirk leaned in his seat. "How the hell are we gonna find David?"
"I think I might have a suggestion." Serek joined in. "I remember Lord saying that he was building warp reactors for Remaker carriers. For that, He'd require Dilithium crystals. If the navigation data he possesses are from the Enterprise mainframe, then he would surely set up construction near Dilithium deposits we already know about." Serek said.
"I have to agree" Spock said.
"As do I" Khan added.
Kirk stared between them. "Alright. Then that's where we start."
"Captain's Log: Its 4 days since we picked up Khan. They've been cooperating with the crew, devising weapons and defenses against David. All of this, of course, under heavy supervision. Loving the new upgrades, badass blue instead of plain sterile white. Sulu's been on the down recently, husband refusing to leave earth with his daughter. Poor bastard. Starfleet is officially aware that we have gone rogue, putting out wanted posters. We've already search a few of those Dilithium deposits. No sign of David. If there's one word I would use to describe our undertaking, it would be...*Sigh*, Heavy. Kirk out."
Khan was lying down on his back on his new bed. He was given new quarters he found highly accommodating to stay in during their mission. He was looking at a datapad in his hands, reviewing information.
So far, David has demonstrated almost an uncanny ability to prepare for situations. The nanites that were used against Khan, the nuclear weapons used on the Enterprise at Vulcan, the Mines that orbited the planet of Nibiru. He also demonstrates an extreme ruthlessness. Attacking Vulcan as a trap, 'Zombifying' Nibiran natives, and using the T'pol as a means of observing The Wrathful's capabilities. He is also, in many ways, similar to Khan. A brilliant Strategic and Savage mind from a past era, forced into the far future to be condemned as war criminals. And yet... He is also the complete polar opposite of Khan. Khan is an Enhanced human adult, David is an ordinary human teenager. Khan is a fighter, who exploits the weaknesses of his enemies. David is a trickster, Who prepares for a fight only for it to be revealed that he laid bear traps in front of him. Khan is a Warrior, who charges first in front of his kin. David is a coward, who hides behind his droids and technology. Khan is a herald of order, David is an agent of chaos. The more Khan thinks about it, the more he realizes David is almost a perfect enemy for Khan to fight. An enemy Khan must fight.
His thoughts were interrupted by the swooshing sound made by his door opening. "Khan." Kati said. She had a droid escort behind her, as part of their supervision.
"What is it?" Khan asked. The truth is, he knew why she was here. It was time.
"I need you have a look at this." She held out an energy cell.
In strategic points across the ship, all 8 of his kin were doing the exact same thing. Khan looked at his watch. 2 minutes.He thought.
"Let me have a look." Khan walked slowly to Kati, keeping an eye on his watch. 1 minute.
He reached her, grabbed the device with the hand that has his watch. NOW!
All across the ship, all 10 augments connect two devices together simultaneously. They erupted in electric explosions, Augments being unaffected, but all electronics and droids being temporally disabled.
Khan and Kati immediately ran for the down droids rifles, picking them up and attaching devices to them. When the droids reactivated, they were hit with a blast of EMP, permanently disabling them.
"Sir! we're detecting multiple system failures and droids going offline."
"Shouldn't the nano repair everything?" Kirk shouted.
"Sir! we're receiving reports of attacks all across the ship. The augments are leading a mutiny!"
A swarm of nanites headed for an Augment, but they were quickly shot with an EMP beam. Droids and Security were behind cover, but were the droids were hit with an EMP, and the guards were tackled by augments.
The 3 three augments advanced. They encountered the door to the Cafeteria, and opened. Inside, women and children were under the tables, completely afraid. The augments pointed their phasers at them with cold eyes.
A large explosion succeeded the opening of the elevator doors, and the Bridge was filled with Phaser fire. The Captain was the first to go, First officers the second, Helmsman the third, and everyone below was sprayed with Phaser fire.
Kirk awoke with a slap to his face. He opened his eyes to see Khan staring back at him. The bridge crew was being held at gun point by Kati and 5 other Augments.
"Khan...you...betrayed us." Kirk still hurt from the pain of being stunned.
"You betrayed me first, Captain." Khan said. He walked to captain's chair, and sat. He activate the intercoms. "Attention crew of the Enterprise, spefically, engineering."
In the engineering decks, people stopped what they were doing as a familiar voice erupted from the intercoms. " I am Khan. I have captured the bridge, including the Captain, and have taken your families hostage."
Everyone across the ship gasped, save for the augments in the cafeteria, who held their guns at the hostages. "Cooperate, and they will be spared. We will engage warp. Khan out."
Kati stood next to khan. "Are we going to rescue the rest of our kin?"
"Not yet. First, we must deal with David Lord. He is a danger to us that must be stopped." Khan responded. Khan had recently calculated the most strategically perfect place for David to go. Khan looked at the datapad in his hand. A Dilithium deposit...in the middle of an asteroid belt. The perfect setup for a trickster. He gave the Data to the awakened Helmsmen. "Chart a course for these coordinates."
"...Aye" Sulu reluctantly replied.
Khan sat back in his chair.
If David can truly predict the future, then he might be expecting them.
Khan smirked. Your move, trickster.
Light years away, there is a star system. A system possessing a massive cloud of asteroids near the edge. Asteroids that would eclipse the moon itself. Deep within these titanic rocks, were 6 ships. 4 were fully functionally, while the rest were still being constructed.
The dark ships were massive, each possessing a mighty saucer at its front. Two ships stood out the most. One was engulfed by a massive, Eldritch Abomination. The other one was normal...were it for the being that housed within it. Deep beneath its black hull, metallic beings wince under the mighty roar that echoed across the ship. deep, deep, deep within the darkest confines of engineering, there sat a silver being. Before this silver being, there stood truly the most terrifyingly magnificent being that ever existed. The being stood on two legs, its black greatcoat billowing in the steam of the ships engines. It wore gold armored padding on its shoulders and legs, and wore golden gauntlets.
The silver being cowered under the great one's presence. The great being raised its gloriously powerful arm, fist clenched, and extended it's index finger. The world became silent as he pointed an accusing finger at what lay in his other hand.
For in his dark grasp, he held... A piece of toast that had a face and was giving him a raspberry.
"WHAT. THE FUCK. IS THIS?!"
"Bitch, that's my toast."
A/N: I just realized that the program I am writing this on is messing with what I have written. Please review.