Weeeeee an early update! Didn't think I'd finish this so quick but I kind of liked how it turned out so yeah. I hope you all like it!

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Chapter 12 - Cognizance

Of all people to show up on Kronos, Khan had least expected to see Madelyn. He'd felt a jumble of distracting emotions the moment he'd first seen her from a distance: anger that she was caught in the center of a potentially life-threatening situation, confusion as to why she'd allowed herself to be put into that situation, and then rage when he realized Marcus had more than likely had something to do with it.

The only thing that had quelled his initial urge to go after her was seeing her successfully kill a Klingon. It was probably the first time she'd ever fired a phaser. Her Augment instincts had kicked in without her realizing it, and she'd managed to hold her own; up until she'd run to Captain Kirk. When Khan had cornered them, he'd briefly caught her gaze and the fear in her eyes had hardened into disgust and disbelief. Not that he was surprised.

Winning her back wasn't going to be easy. She had dropped off his priority list two weeks ago, and now that she'd seen what he was capable of he doubted she'd trust him as quickly as she had initially almost six months prior. But none of that mattered now.

If Marcus had stocked the Enterprise with exactly seventy-two advanced long-range torpedoes with the intention of having Kirk fire them on him, then the chances of his crew being inside those torpedoes was almost one hundred percent. Marcus would want to dispose of him and his people in one fell swoop and in the process he would get the war with the Klingons he'd always wanted. Seeing all of this play out in his mind in a matter of seconds, Khan had seen the opportunity and grabbed it up like his life depended on it. The lives of seventy-two others had also depended on it, and now suddenly there was an idea where there had only been despair before.

Seated in the back of the K'normian ship as it approached the USS Enterprise, Khan held Madelyn in his gaze for as long as he dared. He had to admit she looked ridiculously attractive now, staring at him with a mixture of anger and distrust, her hair mussed and falling out of its ponytail, adrenaline still surging through her veins. If it hadn't been for his cuffs, he would have taken the chance and made an attempt to touch her, or at least gotten closer to her before she punched him. She definitely wanted to punch him. Her neck and shoulders were rigid, and she was gripping her seat restraints in fists clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. He knew the only reason she hadn't tried to connect her fist with his face already was because of Kirk's prior failed attempt back on the planet's surface. Khan had already made a mental note to return the favor to him when the time came, and he suspected it would come quickly.

The past two weeks had been long, drawn-out, and possibly the most emotionally stressful weeks he'd had since first being revived in the 23rd century. Until an hour ago, he'd acted believing Marcus had murdered his crew, following through on the quickest revenge plan he'd ever concocted, and Marcus had still managed to get away. Now, with the revelation that the seventy-two cryotubes in their torpedoes were onboard the Enterprise, Khan knew this was his last chance to salvage everything.

He knew Marcus was more than likely to show up with the Vengeance at any time now. All the pieces were in place for a predictable plan that Khan was going to do his very best to turn on its head. Manipulation with a plethora of truths tossed in would be his closest ally. Madelyn certainly wasn't going to be helping him, based on the way she shifted uncomfortably in her seat as they returned to the Enterprise. She was clearly anxious to get away from him, but he wasn't going to let her slip through his fingers this time. However, he knew he couldn't afford to focus on her either. His words and actions over the next few hours would be critical for the survival of his crew, and one way or another he was going to get them back.

Madelyn waited an agonizing few moments until John was escorted from the ship by a troupe of red-shirted security officers before she followed Kirk, Spock and Uhura out through the hangar. She didn't want to give him the pleasure of watching her longer than he already had, and she still couldn't believe him. Despite his cuffs, he walked upright and steadfast, eyes up and taking in his surroundings, the length of his black leather coat flying out around him and only adding to his arrogance, which seemed to know no bounds. Madelyn ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek as she watched him walk away, stifling the growing anger that she knew had already leaked onto her face.

"Madelyn."

She turned at Kirk's voice and he beckoned her over, his fingers tapping on the communicator in his hand. At least he understood the need for keeping her situation on the down low.

"I want you in the medbay—"

"I'm fine, captain," she said curtly.

Kirk looked at her wordlessly for a second, probably trying to figure her out. She crossed her arms impatiently. All she wanted right now was to hide in her quarters and take a long hot shower.

"I know this is hard for you, but I'm gonna need you to talk to him."

"You've made that pretty clear already."

Kirk nodded. "Good, so we understand each other."

Madelyn tilted her chin upwards just enough to display her indignation with this entire situation. She felt unbelievably angry, but Kirk wasn't the one who deserved the spiteful words waiting on the tip of her tongue.

He offered her a closed off smile and nodded, then called Uhura over and asked her to escort Madelyn to her quarters. She would be notified when she was needed. Madelyn didn't say anything as Kirk left them, and followed Uhura silently through the ship. She was glad the lieutenant wasn't trying to start a conversation, because she was in no mood to talk. When they arrived in front of her quarters, however, Spock greeted them and asked to speak with her privately. Uhura acquiesced, her gaze lingering over him briefly before she hurried off, and Madelyn couldn't help but get that same sense she'd had earlier, before the incident on Kronos.

"Are you two…?" She trailed off, her smile fading when Spock's vague expression didn't change. "Nevermind," she said, rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"

Spock pulled his hands behind his back, making himself appear taller. "On the shuttle previous to our arrival on the Enterprise, you appeared to be acquainted with Dr. Carol Marcus. May I inquire as to your relationship?"

Madelyn shrugged. "She's a friend."

"I was hoping you could provide some insight into her motives for smuggling herself aboard this ship without proper authorization."

Madelyn straightened, surprised at Spock's bluntness, and sudden willingness to talk to her. "Carol… smuggled herself onboard? What has she been doing?"

"She has been spending a majority of her time scanning the highly-advanced photon torpedoes Admiral Marcus personally provided the Enterprise."

"Well, she is a weapons specialist," Madelyn replied, grateful to be talking about something other than John. She recalled a few times Carol had mentioned her father's secretive behavior, how he'd tried to keep things from her regarding work. And there were those damn torpedoes cropping up again. She was starting to wonder if someone really was hiding something about them.

"Ms. McGivers?"

She focused her gaze on Spock again, realizing she'd trailed off. "I'm sorry, it's just that a lot of things aren't making sense about any of this. When we first arrived onboard, I overheard a technician complaining to the captain something about those torpedoes being classified. If the Enterprise was supposed to be firing them even when they were supposedly too dangerous to use, why would Admiral Marcus have them put onboard in the first place, but keep the details of that danger a secret? I know I'm the last person who should be asking this. I don't even work for Starfleet and I certainly don't know anything about torpedoes."

Spock tilted his chin down slightly to meet her gaze. "Perhaps Dr. Marcus harbors similar suspicions. Since I learned that her father's original intention was to have John Harrison killed without a trial, I have been unable to ignore my own misgivings. Logic suggests that there is more going on than we are being apprised of, but as no one has come forward with information to prove otherwise, it would be a waste of effort to speculate."

Madelyn nodded. He made perfect sense, but she didn't get a chance to respond when his communicator went off.

"Spock. I need you to meet me and Bones in the brig."

"Yes, captain."

The Vulcan looked back at Madelyn before she could escape inside her quarters. "I understand that Admiral Marcus also personally requested your presence on this ship. How well did you know Commander Harrison prior to his defection from Starfleet?"

That was a question she didn't want to answer, but Spock had yet to leave and his unchanging expression said he wasn't going to until he got an answer.

She glanced down the corridor to make sure no one else could hear, then lowered her voice. "We were close."

Spock turned his head without removing his gaze from her, processing her response carefully. Then a flicker of recognition crossed his features and he acknowledged her with a nod, before wordlessly leaving her in the corridor.

Finally alone, Madelyn hurried inside her quarters to drown out her thoughts in a long, hot shower. Afterwards, she felt more refreshed than she had before being shuttled off to San Francisco, but her thoughts still persisted.

Spock was right. There was definitely more going on than any of them had been made privy to. She could only guess that Marcus knew what it was. He'd been confident enough to threaten to blackmail her into this in the first place. Whatever it was, he must have been desperate to keep it hidden.

She realized she still hadn't talked to Carol since finding out she was a part of this mission. Maybe she could help her understand more about these torpedoes, and why they were such a big deal. Madelyn had always known her to be honest, so there must have been something highly inconsistent about them to warrant her forging her identity to get on this ship in the first place.

Quickly, Madelyn dialed into the com system inside her quarters and requested to speak with Dr. McCoy. Of the few people on this ship she'd talked to, she trusted him the most.

She was disappointed when an unfamiliar female voice answered on the other end and informed her that McCoy was currently off the ship with Dr. Carol Marcus and would be returning shortly. When Madelyn asked why, she was told only that he was assisting Dr. Marcus. Frustrated, Madelyn finished getting dressed, laced up her boots, and pulled her damp hair into a loose bun, then headed out of her quarters. Her intention was to find the bridge and talk to Kirk. She needed to talk to someone, to find out what was going on. She hated being left in the dark, but half-hoped she'd been forgotten only because she didn't want to have to talk to John later.

She ended up going in a circle. At least, she was pretty sure she had. All the corridors looked the same and she'd never set foot on a starship before, so nothing was familiar. Captain Kirk ended up finding her before she found him, along with Spock, but they were walking fast and barely acknowledged her so she had to hurry to catch up with them.

"Captain, I was told Dr. McCoy was off the ship assisting Carol—Dr. Marcus," she said, quickly correcting herself to sound more official, but she only made herself feel more incompetent. "What's going on?"

Kirk glanced at her as she fell into stride beside him. "I had a hunch about the torpedoes, so I sent them down to examine one. Turns out my hunch was right."

"How so?"

As they stepped through the medbay doors, the answer to Madelyn's question quickly presented itself. McCoy and Carol were busy scanning what appeared to be a torpedo, but part of its casing had been removed and inside was something Madelyn wasn't sure she was actually seeing.

"What've we got?" said Kirk.

"It's quite clever actually," said Carol, her hands currently full of torpedo casing. "This fuel container was removed from the torpedo and retrofitted to hide this cryotube."

Madelyn went over to get a better look for herself, glancing up when Kirk joined her. There really was a cryotube inside the torpedo. A sleeping man's serene, frozen face was visible through the icy window.

"Is he alive?" Kirk asked.

"Yeah, he's alive," McCoy replied. "But if we try to revive him without the proper sequencing, it'd kill him. This technology's beyond me."

Madelyn frowned. Cryotubes hadn't been in use since warp technology was invented over a century ago. That was common knowledge to anyone who knew history.

"How advanced, doctor?" asked Spock.

Carol came back over with a scanner. "It's not advanced. This cryotube is ancient."

"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we developed warp capability," McCoy added, echoing Madelyn's thoughts from moments ago. "Which explains the most interesting thing about our friend here. He's almost three hundred years old."

Three hundred years. That would put this cryotube's origins all the way back in the late 1900s. Madelyn couldn't for the life of her figure out why that was important. Remembering Kirk's earlier comment about his "hunch," she got his attention and pulled him to the side, allowing the doctors to continue their analysis of the torpedo's inexplicable contents.

"Captain, what gave you the idea that there was something inside that torpedo?"

His gaze shifted and Madelyn heard Spock come up behind her. She took a step back to allow him into the conversation.

"Captain," said the Vulcan. "I warned you that Harrison would only attempt to manipulate you, but I did not expect he would—"

"John told you to do this?" Madelyn interrupted. "What does he know about it?" She recalled his comments once about designing advanced weaponry, and wondered if there was a connection. These could be his torpedoes, but why was there a cryotube inside one of them?

Kirk shook his head, glancing over at the cryotube again as it was being resealed into its torpedo. "I don't know. He seemed to know things, like why our warp core had malfunctioned, how convenient it was that we're stranded in Klingon space. He claimed it'd been tampered with on purpose…" Kirk stopped and eyed his first officer. "What?"

"As I have said, as your first officer, it is my duty to inform you when you are making a decision that could adversely effect our mission. Following Harrison's advice has so far led only to more questions, which I believe Ms. McGivers may be able to assist us in finding the answers to."

Madelyn swallowed, a sudden wave of panic shaking her voice. "I don't think it's that urgent, captain. You can get the warp core fixed, right?"

Kirk honed his gaze in on her. "You know him—"

"No, I don't!" she blurted. She saw McCoy looking her way from across the room and lowered her voice. "I thought I did, but after what he's done, I'm not so sure anymore."

Kirk nodded slowly. Madelyn hoped he understood what she meant without having to explain it to him. In her mind it was so simple. She didn't trust John. She couldn't, not after what he'd done. The man she'd spent so much time with, given so much of herself to over the past few months, she wasn't even sure he existed now.

"You're still gonna talk to him," said Kirk, then he put a hand on her shoulder before she could retort again. "But you don't have to do it alone." He glanced at Spock again. "Besides, I think we've all got questions."

Spock nodded. "There is no logical reason that I can think of for this cryotube to have been encased within such a highly volatile weapon, however Harrison may be able to explain it."

Madelyn held the Vulcan's gaze for a moment. He had a point, and it was something she wanted to know as well. The more she thought about it, the more the idea of an almost three hundred year old cryotube suddenly making an appearance grew more and more intriguing, and the historian within her wanted to understand the "hows" and the "whys." If John knew anything, maybe he would talk if she were in the room with him. Then again, maybe he would lie, or simply choose not to answer. She'd let him get away with that in the past, but this time the cards were different, and he didn't have much of a choice.

"Alright, I'll talk to him," she said quietly. "But I can't guarantee he'll give you the answers you want."

"It is not imperative merely that we get the answers we want, Ms. McGivers," said Spock. "It is more urgent that we get the truth."

Kirk stared at his first officer a moment before abruptly turning on his heel for the door. "Come on, we don't have all day."

Madelyn started to go after him but McCoy stopped her. "I've got your test results, Madelyn," he said, his brow crinkling. She didn't like the look on his face. She couldn't handle more bad news when she had already decided she was going to face John.

"It'll have to wait, Bones," Kirk called from the doorway.

McCoy nodded, wearing a look that did nothing to ease Madelyn's thoughts as she left the medbay. She'd only barely met the good doctor and she knew she shouldn't have been jumping to conclusions about his reaction, but she couldn't help but wonder if he'd found some disease in her blood, something chronic she'd have to deal with for the rest of her life, or maybe something worse—

She cut these thoughts off as she followed Kirk and Spock through the center of the ship. She knew they were nearing the brig when she began to see more armed red shirts scattered at various points. She couldn't let herself get distracted. She knew John—at least she thought she knew him—well enough to expect him to catch on to any emotional hitch. He was excellent at reading people, and she was terrible at hiding her emotions, which had only ever made his job easier. The last thing she needed was to give him an excuse to poke at her, rather than focusing on getting information that she as well as Kirk and Spock needed.

He knew something, as Kirk had pointed out. He had always known something, and Madelyn was sick of his lies.

Before they passed the security officers posted at the entrance to the brig, Kirk paused and turned to her again. "Madelyn, how long have you known Harrison for?"

She thought about it for a moment. "About six months. Why?"

His hard gaze made her nervous. "I dug into his file earlier today, and it turns out the identity of "John Harrison" has only existed for about a year. I can't explain it, but he's not who he says he is."

Madelyn wasn't sure what to think but she was grateful for Kirk's last-ditch effort to stay on her side. She nodded slowly to show she understood, but deep down she was just as confused as ever.

When they entered the brig, John was seated with his back to them and didn't acknowledge them until Kirk stepped to the far side of his cell. A thick glass panel was the only thing that separated them from him, and Madelyn hated it because she had no way of hiding her nervous fidgeting from John. She tried sliding her hands into her pockets, but it felt too casual, so she crossed her arms instead and found it more comfortable, despite the way it allowed her shoulders to tense. She was so self-conscious all of a sudden, especially when John turned his head just enough to see her.

He didn't respond to her presence this time, almost as though he'd expected to see her, unlike the first time back on Kronos. His features were blank, eyes fixed and narrowed, his hands on his knees, like he was waiting for something. He'd obviously been allowed to shower because his skin was no longer smudged with dirt and his hair was damp and loosely combed out of his face. He wore a black, standard issue Starfleet uniform that hugged his body, but Madelyn couldn't look at him that way anymore, not when she knew what he'd done and was prepared to confront him about it. Before any of them could say anything, however, John was the first to break the silence.

"Why is she here, captain?"

Directed at Kirk, the question came out in a quiet, monotonous tone. He almost sounded bored. Before Madelyn could direct her anger squarely onto the one person in her life, in her mind, who deserved everything horrible to happen to him, Kirk stepped in smoothly.

"Admiral Marcus' personal request." He glanced at Madelyn. "If I was informed correctly, I don't think her being here needs an explanation."

John didn't respond, but merely shifted his gaze to her again. Unreadable, blocked off, that was all she could think. More so than usual. Swallowing, Madelyn walked towards the glass, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. His eyes followed every movement.

"We have some questions," she said. "I need you to answer them."

He looked at her from under his brow, unwilling to tilt his chin up and face her even when she was standing just a few feet away. "You need them answered?" he intoned. "Or Kirk?"

Cold. That was what he was now, she realized. Not just closed-off, but icy. What had happened to him over the last two weeks? That was what she wanted to know, but that wasn't what she was here to talk about. Her gaze faltered when she realized she was here to get answers for Kirk, and John latched on.

"I see. The captain thinks you can get me to talk. Your presence on this ship is unfortunate. Did Marcus give you a choice?"

Madelyn stared down at him, desperately trying to figure out what he was thinking, and shocked at his unsympathetic manner.

"Why was there a man in that torpedo?" said Kirk, quickly breaking the uncomfortable stillness. Madelyn took a step back from the glass, angry that John had gotten to her so easily, and grateful that Kirk didn't have the distraction of a personal connection to get in his way.

John's gaze shifted to the captain but his icy mask showed no signs of cracking. "There are men and women in all those torpedoes, captain. I put them there."

Madelyn's brow tightened. However many torpedoes there were—had Spock said seventy-two?—every single one of them contained a cryotube with a sleeping person inside? She glanced over at the Vulcan, whose normally bland expression showed faint concern.

"Why?" she murmured. She hadn't meant to. John's eyes snapped back to her.

"To protect them."

She raised her eyebrows. "By putting them into armed torpedoes?" His unresponsive stare made her uneasy and she glanced back at Kirk.

"Who the hell are you?" Kirk asked, echoing a thought Madelyn hadn't dared to say out loud.

A look of resignation materialized on John's face for half a moment. Madelyn had never seen him look so world-weary.

"A remnant of a time long past, genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be… different."

Madelyn could hardly believe what she was hearing. Genetic engineering, specifically human genetic engineering had been outlawed centuries ago by the Federation in the aftermath of the Eugenics Wars. But if he'd been asleep for centuries... what John was insinuating seemed ludicrous, unless…

John turned from where he sat so he could face Spock. "As a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift. I alone was revived."

The cryotubes. Now that made perfect sense, if she could believe what he was saying. He was an Augment, and so were all those people in those torpedoes. Leftovers from the Eugenics Wars, escaped from Earth on a sleeper ship. That could explain how he'd managed to take out so many Klingons in one fell swoop on Kronos, wielding a massive cannon and coming out of there with barely a scratch. Madelyn tightened her arms across her chest as John met her gaze again.

"I looked up John Harrison," said Kirk. "Until a year ago, he didn't exist—"

John rose from his seat and stalked towards them, his voice swelling. "John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause." He narrowed his gaze at Kirk. "A smokescreen to conceal my true identity."

Who are you? thought Madelyn. The scope of this new information he was providing made her stomach churn, and now she was suddenly more afraid simply knowing what he was.

Not quite human.

"My name," he continued, "is Khan."

Madelyn's breath caught in her throat and she swallowed to keep herself grounded. No one said anything, and the momentary silence engulfed her. She knew her eyes were wide as saucers, but this couldn't be real. He didn't look anything like the historical records showed, not to mention every account of Khan's rule ended with his death in his besieged palace in India.

Unless he had escaped. One of the hundred or so Augments reportedly gone missing from all official military records in the aftermath of the war. One side of her was screaming that he was lying, that he was just trying to intimidate them, but another side of her was quietly reminded that all the evidence added up, that this man could actually be Khan Noonien Singh. She fought to contain herself as Kirk broke the silence, clearly not as shocked.

"Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a three hundred year old frozen man for help?"

Did he even know who Khan was? Madelyn was still trying to pull herself together while she wasn't trapped in his stare.

"Because I am better," Khan replied.

Kirk shrugged. "At what?"

Khan's gaze darkened. "Everything."

His response didn't even surprise her. If he was really an Augment, he bore superior strength and intellect, as well as a massive ego. Suddenly everything about him made so much sense and she was fascinated and repelled all at once.

She recalled the day he showed up in the back of her lecture hall and proceeded to grill her on her opinion of Khan. He'd acted disinterested even then, but maybe he'd just been playing her. Snapping back to reality, she was hit with the truth now standing in the cell in front of her, and she was terrified.

"Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time," said Khan, "and for that he needed a warrior's mind, my mind, to design weapons and warships."

So there had been some truth to his story about working for Marcus, but Madelyn feigned to believe there was actually a Klingon threat.

"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect," said Spock.

"He wanted to exploit my savagery!" Khan shot back, as though he was proud of the fact. "Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mr. Spock. You can't even break a rule. How could you be expected to break bone?" His cold expression sent a chill down Madelyn's spine, and she was reminded that as an Augment, Khan saw all other humanoid life forms as inferior. Despite this veiled insult, however, Spock held Khan's gaze with an unresponsive cool. Madelyn stiffened when Khan's gaze fell on her before he continued.

"Marcus used me to design weapons, to help him realize his vision of a militarized Starfleet. He sent you to use those weapons, to fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet." Khan tilted his head slightly, his voice growing quieter as though he'd only recently figured this out for himself. Madelyn wasn't convinced this hadn't been his own plan from the beginning. "And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space leading to one inevitable outcome." He zeroed in on Kirk. "The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he talked about, the war he always wanted."

Madelyn wasn't sure who to be disgusted with more now. Khan, or Marcus, on whom Khan was swiftly laying the blame for everything that didn't make sense about this mission. She knew Marcus had talked about a war, but he didn't actually want one, did he? And if Khan had done all these things for Marcus, why was he painting Marcus as the villain? Was he trying to make them forget that he had bombed London and attacked Starfleet? She wouldn't put it past him to try.

"No." Kirk shook his head, even when Spock looked unsure. "No, I watched you open fire on a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood."

Madelyn watched as Khan's icy demeanor cracked, but he turned his back before his face revealed what she heard in his voice. "Marcus took my crew from me!"

"You are a murderer!" Kirk insisted.

"He used my friends to control me."

His voice shook, but she wasn't sure if she could believe him. For all she knew he was manipulating them.

"I tried to smuggle them to safety in the very weapons I had designed, but I was discovered. I had no choice but to escape alone, and when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear."

Khan's voice dwindled to a whisper, and Madelyn swore she saw his shoulders tremble. She held her breath in the silence that followed, waiting for him to turn back on them, to accuse them of something.

"So I responded in kind."

The tension ebbed as he finally turned back to face them, his eyes rimmed with red. So that was it, Madelyn realized. Marcus had used him, used his crew against him, and when Khan had thought his crew had been murdered, he retaliated. It seemed Marcus was equally as cold as Khan, but that would never excuse the deaths of innocents.

"My crew is my family, Kirk," Khan said quietly. "Is there anything you would not do for your family?" His gaze flitted to Madelyn and it was all she could do not to look away. Whatever this was, whatever he thought he could pull by giving them this story, she wasn't convinced. She knew enough Augment history to know he couldn't be trusted, and maybe he saw that in her expression. She couldn't know.

The com in the room chimed, lurching them back to the present moment.

"Proximity alert, sir. There's a ship at warp heading right for us."

Kirk tore his gaze away from Khan. "Klingons?"

"At warp?" Khan cut in, sweeping up towards the glass again. "No, Kirk. We both know who it is."

"I don't think so, sir. It's not coming at us from Kronos."

Madelyn looked from Kirk to Khan and back as they stared at each other, Kirk's expression growing increasingly concerned until he backed away and started into a run. "Lieutenant, move Khan to the medbay and post six security officers on him," he called as he ran out of the brig. Spock was hot on his heels.

Madelyn watched them go, then hesitated, realizing she was alone with Khan. She turned enough to look up at him, seeing the face of the man she'd once trusted, who was now wearing a decidedly uninhibited expression.

"You don't look anything like Khan Noonien Singh," she said.

"Cosmetic surgery. My identity needed to be kept a secret in every possible way. Only Marcus and a few others know who I really am." He tilted his chin down to meet her gaze head on. "And now you."

"Why?" she continued, her quiet tone trembling. "Why me? Why did you lie about everything?"

"Why do you think? You know you've always been different; you just refused to see it. I never would've pursued you otherwise. A family secret your grandfather quite literally took to his grave."

Madelyn stiffened. "Don't bring him into this. I trusted you!"

"Then trust me when I say that your grandfather knew what he was." Khan's eyes narrowed. "He knew what made him better."

Madelyn edged away from his cell. What he was insinuating was ludicrous. "Why should I believe you?"

Khan lifted his chin and pulled his hands behind his back as she continued to add distance between them. "Such as we are made of, such we be," he said. "Isn't that the phrase you had inscribed on his tombstone?"

Madelyn froze. The phrase, a quote from Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. She'd never understood why her grandfather had scribbled it in various places among his belongings, nor what it had meant to him. She could try to reason with herself that Khan was just attempting to get further under her skin, rubbing his superior intellect in her face. But if what he was referring to had anything to do with being something other than what she'd always believed herself to be, nothing more than human…

No.

She turned her back.

"You have always been better, Madelyn," he called, but she was already running out of the brig.

"Dr. McCoy, I need those test results right now."

Madelyn hurried through the medbay and stopped inches from the doctor's hunched over figure. McCoy glanced up from the fluffy inanimate tribble he was studying, then nodded and got up to retrieve a PADD. Madelyn hovered like a vulture, ignoring his raised eyebrow, anxious to know what he'd found. She wasn't about to take Khan's word for anything, but if McCoy had solid proof that she was… whatever she was, then maybe she'd be able to believe him.

"I tested the blood sample I took from you earlier, but you're not gonna believe what I found."

"Try me," she responded firmly.

McCoy swept his fingers across the PADD's screen, revealing a series of graphs and numbered charts. "This is a basic map of the average human's genetic structure." He pointed to an adjacent chart. "This is Khan's." Then he highlighted a third section. "And this is yours."

Madelyn studied what she saw on the screen, gradually biting down on the inside of her lip. She wasn't a scientist or a doctor, but even she couldn't deny what she was seeing.

"Madelyn, I don't know how to say this to you without freaking you out, but you've got some genetic traits that just don't occur in human beings."

She didn't look at him, her eyes still glued to the PADD. There were marked similarities between her genome and Khan's, but Khan's was starkly different from the average human's, whereas hers appeared to hold the middle ground.

"Now let me clarify," McCoy continued, "I'm not sayin' you two are related. That's not what I'm seein' here. All I'm sayin' is that you and Khan share a few of these genes, but yours are more diluted—"

"Dr. McCoy—"

"Call me Bones, Madelyn. I've just told you you're not completely human, somethin' you probably don't want anyone else to know. And trust me when I say that you do not want anyone—"

"Bones!" Madelyn tore her gaze from the PADD and focused it on him. "In the brig, he knew. Somehow he already knew."

"Well, you spent enough time with him and he ain't stupid. Look, there's one more thing." McCoy dug his fingers into his pocket and pulled out a small device. Madelyn did a double take. It was a pregnancy test.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Your HCG levels are incredibly high. It'd be the only explanation."

"But that's impossible. I've never—"

"I know. I read all your medical records, but these levels don't lie."

Madelyn could only stare at him in shock.

"Dammit, just take it so we can know for sure," he said quietly.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, she snatched the device from his hand and shut herself into the nearest lavatory. The idea that she could be pregnant with Khan's child was not just revolting; it was ridiculous. McCoy's test results had to be off.

But they weren't. Moments later, she could only stare as a blue plus sign flashed onscreen.

It occurred to her that maybe this was what Khan had wanted all along. It would explain the nausea she'd been battling recently, and it made sense for someone like Khan to think he could get away with impregnating her without consulting her first. As far as she'd known, she'd been sleeping with a human named John for the last two months.

But now, she realized, things were much more complicated.

So that was unexpected, or maybe not if you've been paying attention and/or have read the first draft. I'd love to hear your thoughts!