As always, loads of thanks go out to Amatista, cielxbassy, CLTex, Formerly Dragon, Illulian, KnoKnayme, Lunar 678, Poodle warriors, and Sorceress of the Trees for your reviews and comments! I shouldn't be saying this, but they're really what keeps me interested in writing this story.

The past few chapters have been difficult for me to write mostly because I don't enjoy writing from film dialogue, as it's rather tricky to make work in prose format. After this chapter, however, it will be all new material. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 14 – Descent

Minutes after Madelyn McGivers had left his medbay, Dr. Hans Madsen received a notice from the Vengeance's computer system that the person who was supposed to be in charge of the ship was no longer in charge—that a mutiny had taken place. Madsen knew that could only mean one thing, so he needed to act quickly. He sent a com signal to his sponsor that it was time to act, then quickly gathered his belongings, findings, and samples, including the vials of Ms. McGivers' blood. With everything packed neatly away into two briefcases, he hurried through empty dark corridors to the transporter room and quickly dialed in the proper coordinates. It wasn't until beams of light circled around him that the ship began to shudder and lurch. Moments later, he materialized at his destination, leaving the Vengeance to her fate.

The Io Facility was almost completely empty. Most of its personnel had returned to Earth yesterday, leaving it quiet and unguarded. It was the perfect moment to take control.

Madsen hurried to the facility's communications room to hail the expected approaching shuttle that had appeared around the far side of Jupiter.

"Things are really quite clear here now that the Vengeance is gone," Madsen said. "But I'm assuming you will want a full scan anyway."

"Yes, of course," came the curt reply. "We can't afford to lose anyone."

"I'm aware of that," Madsen muttered, switching off the com. "Given there are only six of you breathing at the moment." With a sigh, he quickly ran through a diagnostic of the facility. It showed only minimal lifesigns, which he was quite sure wouldn't be there for long once the occupants of that shuttle arrived at their locations. He sent the diagnostic to the shuttle and a moment later received his reply.

"Stay where you are for now. We'll need complete control of the facility before we can begin any work."

"Yes, of course," Madsen replied.

"Is Thomas with you?"

"Ah, no, he's in San Francisco tying up a few loose ends. You may be interested to know that we've found our first volunteer."

"Spare me the details, doctor."

"Starfleet Commander Owen Gallagher. His connection with Ms. McGivers could prove useful in the future."

There was a pregnant pause on the other end. "Fine. I hope you got the samples I asked for."

"Oh yes, and something else I'm sure you'll be very interested to see."

"What?"

"Your descendant is pregnant."

There was a longer pause. "Khan's?"

"I would assume."

"I want you to keep an eye on her. Get yourself assigned to her, whatever you have to do. We don't need a repeat of last time."

"Last time, we had an uncooperative participant who was made aware of what he was involved in much too early for his own good."

"It was necessary, Hans. He knew too much."

"Yes."

"I'll send Cecelia to greet you when we've secured the facility."

"Yes, of course."

The communication link was cut and Madsen was forced to make himself comfortable in the communications room for the time being.

It was frustrating. He had never stood face to face with his "sponsor," as Marcus had referred to him, even though they were working together; only heard his voice, taken orders from him, bargained and gambled, and always with that clear, American accent that sounded just a little too test-tubed to be natural. Those communications had always been strictly confidential. Marcus certainly didn't need to know that of the twelve Augments he'd claimed to have killed almost a year ago in order to quickly bring Khan into submission, six of them were awake and walking around. When the Botany Bay had first been discovered in deep space, there had been eighty-four cryotubes onboard, each containing one frozen Augment. Once the ship was identified, pinpointing Khan had been the easy part. Waking him had been trickier, and Marcus' resolution to controlling him had been even harder, only because it was Madsen's colleague, Dr. Thomas Foster, who'd made the unauthorized decision to keep the twelve Augments alive and hidden away for study.

As a result, the seventy-two on the Enterprise weren't all that was left of Khan's crew. Madsen had agreed with Foster that these twelve would be better off serving their purposes for the betterment of science. Unfortunately, since they had awakened six of those twelve from their cryotubes last year, they had already been outsmarted. Madsen's "sponsor" was one of them, and they had worked out a deal to accomplish their goals together, human and Augment. Madsen had personally thought it was an interesting parallel to Marcus' control over Khan, using him and threatening him with the murder of more of his crew if he didn't cooperate. With Joaquin Weiss, there was no need for threats or coercion, because to get what he wanted he needed both Madsen and Foster, and Madsen was confident that would never change.

"Shit!"

A phaser blast seared the face of the officer holding Madelyn and he dropped to the floor. Madelyn flinched away, catching a glimpse of Carol's elbow flying into the other guard's neck, but her attention was focused on the three men who had charged onto the bridge: Captain Kirk, a man in a flight suit she didn't recognize, and Khan.

The fact that Khan was anywhere except inside his glass cage on the Enterprise formed a knot in her stomach. What the hell did Kirk think he could accomplish by working with Khan?

The bridge was quickly rid of a conscious crew and Madelyn found herself staring back at Khan as he held a phaser at Carol. His gaze flitted more than once to Marcus, held up at the business end of Kirk's phaser. Madelyn wondered instantly if he was waiting for an opportunity, but the thought vanished when a phaser blast from Kirk's officer slammed into his face. Khan crumpled, his head colliding with the hard floor, and Madelyn let out a breath.

"Scotty, make sure he stays down," said Kirk.

The officer named Scotty hurried politely around Carol and stood over Khan's unconscious body with his phaser ready. Madelyn turned her attention back to Kirk.

"Admiral Marcus, you're under arrest."

"You're not actually gonna do this, are you?" Marcus replied with a smirk. Madelyn wished Kirk would just shoot him and be done with it.

"Admiral, get out of the chair."

Marcus narrowed his gaze. "You better stop and think about what you're doing, Kirk. You better think about what you did on Kronos. You made an incursion onto an enemy planet. You killed a Klingon patrol! Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming, and who is gonna lead us? You?! If I'm not in charge, our entire way of life is decimated! So if you want me off this ship, you better kill me!"

"I'm not gonna kill you, sir," Kirk replied calmly. "But I could stun your ass and drag you out of that chair. And I'd rather not have to do that in front of your daughter." Kirk glanced over at Carol. "You alright?"

"Y-yes, captain," said Carol, nodding, slowly regaining her confidence again, but she looked just as shocked and confused as Madelyn felt. Kirk glanced at her.

"Madelyn, you ok?"

"I'm fine," she answered quietly. It felt like a lie. She glanced back down at Khan. His shoulders were rising and falling. His fingers were curling around his phaser.

No.

In seconds, he'd leaped up from the floor and slammed the butt of his phaser into Scotty's head, knocking him out instantly. Madelyn backed quickly away as Khan jumped up over the ship's control consoles and tackled Kirk to the floor, driving a fist into his jaw with a savage cry. Marcus scrambled away out of his chair. Everything that happened after that blurred together.

Khan beat Kirk to a pulp in a matter of seconds, then flung him half-conscious across the bridge. He landed hard on the floor with a groan and Carol instantly ran to him. Madelyn was edging quickly around the room, making for the only door that would get her out of there, but Khan's eyes flew to her and she froze. He reached for the nearest control panel and tapped a few buttons before turning away, and the only door that was just feet away hissed shut.

Carol turned to face Khan, stepping into his path as he zeroed in on her father. Madelyn was too late to warn her. She watched helplessly as Khan pushed Carol to the floor and slammed his boot into her leg, breaking it with a sickening crack. Carol screamed, but Khan was already onto Marcus.

Taking the opportunity while Khan's back was turned, Madelyn scrambled across the room and snatched up Scotty's phaser from the floor. She barely managed to check that it was set to kill when Khan's voice snapped her gaze back up.

His face twisted into a terrifying, animalistic expression as he trapped the Admiral's head between his hands. He backed Marcus up against a console, the muscles in his arms bulging and his fingers turning white.

"You," Khan hissed. The veins and sinews in his neck tightened and swelled. "You should have let me sleep!"

Marcus clawed helplessly at him, his face frozen in fear. Then his skull caved between Khan's hands and Madelyn tore her gaze away, horrified. She couldn't shake the sounds though, the crunching bone and gurgling fluids, and Carol's petrified scream. She tightened her fingers around the phaser behind her back as a wave of nausea overcame her, but it was all she could do not to panic when she was already shaking.

When she chanced a look at Khan in the thick silence that followed, she felt a hint of remorse, but it was mostly for Carol who was on the floor across the room, clutching her broken leg. She never should have forced to see Khan do that to her father. It made Madelyn hate Khan even more.

Khan stared down at Marcus' body with a savagely triumphant look on his face. He was probably relishing this as a victory. He wiped his hands on Marcus' shirt, ridding them of blood and gray matter, then crossed the bridge. Madelyn instinctively backed away, but he didn't pay her any attention now. He didn't even glance at her. He snagged Kirk off the floor like he weighed nothing and hailed the Enterprise. Her heartbeat was roaring in her ears. Khan was close enough for her to take a shot, but her hands were shaking so much she risked hitting Kirk too.

Spock's face came onscreen and Khan shoved his phaser into Kirk's neck for emphasis. "I'm going to make this very simple for you."
"Captain!"

"Your crew for my crew."

So that was what he wanted. All of this, just to get his crew back. He looked so confident about this, he must have planned to do this long before he arrived on Marcus' ship.

For all his Vulcan indifference, Spock looked indignant. "You betrayed us."

"Oh you are smart, Mr. Spock."

"Spock, don't—"

Khan slammed the butt of his phaser into the back of Kirk's neck to shut him up and he crumpled to the floor with a groan. Madelyn tightened her fingers around her own phaser. If she tried to shoot Khan now, she needed to be closer. One wrong move and she didn't want to know what he would do to her. All she knew was that she was on her own now.

"Mr. Spock, give me my crew," Khan repeated calmly. Madelyn's breaths were howling in her ears like gusts of wind.

"What will you do when you get them?" Spock inquired, just as calmly.

"Continue the work we were doing before we were banished."

"Which as I understand it involves the mass genocide of any being you find to be less than superior."

"Shall I destroy you, Mr. Spock? Or will you give me what I want?"

Despite Spock's claim, Madelyn knew it was more complicated than that. It had always been more complicated. During the Eugenics Wars, there had been sects of Augments whose sole intentions were to rid the Earth of what they considered "genetic vermin," namely anyone whose DNA wasn't pure and superior. Khan had not been one of those. But with his seventy-two crewmembers returned to him, all of them most likely Augments, he would probably find a way to enact terrible things on the Federation that could result in the deaths of millions.

"We have no transporter capabilities," said Spock.

"Fortunately, mine are perfectly functional. Drop your shields."

"If I do so, I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise."

Khan almost seemed to heave a sign of frustration. "Let's play this out logically, Mr. Spock. Firstly, I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve. Then, if yours holds, I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew."

"If you destroy our ship, you will also destroy your own people."

"Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle, and after every single person aboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people."

Madelyn had no doubt that Khan would follow through on that threat if Spock didn't acquiesce.

"Now, shall we begin?"

Madelyn glanced over at Carol, helpless on the floor with her broken leg. Kirk groaned underneath Khan's feet. Scotty was still unconscious. If Spock caved to Khan's demands, maybe Khan would let them be. But at the same time, if Khan got his crew back it would be like handing him back all of his power and he would feel invincible. One wrong decision could mean terrible consequences for all of them, and suddenly Madelyn regretted her need to hide her pregnancy from him. She waited for the Vulcan's response with baited breath, the handle of her phaser growing warm in her sweating hand.

"Lower shields," Spock ordered his crew.

"A wise choice, Mr. Spock," Khan replied. He gave Kirk a solid kick in his gut before turning and going up to the main control console. He was closer to Madelyn now but if she took the shot, he might react more angrily. She needed to wait until he'd secured his crew, until he'd calmed down, but as the seconds ticked by the knot in her stomach tightened.

"I see your seventy-two torpedoes are still in their tubes," said Khan. "If they are not mine, commander, I will know it."

"Vulcans do not lie," Spock replied. "The torpedoes are yours."

Khan triggered the transporter sequence, then pulled up security footage of the ship's hangar. Seventy-two glowing torpedoes materialized along the hangar floor. Relief flooded Khan's face and Madelyn could hear it in his voice.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock."

"I have fulfilled your terms, now fulfill mine."

Khan turned and took a firm seat in the captain's chair, his fingers dancing across the controls. If he didn't put them all back on the Enterprise, Madelyn was going to shoot him then and there. She tightened her grip around her phaser and glanced at Kirk. He was trying to push himself off the floor, blood and saliva dribbling from his mouth. Scotty groaned and rolled to his feet.

"Well Kirk, it seems apt to return you to your crew," said Khan, tilting his head to watch the two men painfully picking themselves off the floor as swirling beams of light surrounded them. "After all, no ship should go down without her captain."

Madelyn stared with growing horror as Kirk, Carol and Scotty were beamed off the ship, leaving her alone on the bridge with Khan. She should have known he'd never intended to let her go. Struggling to come to terms, her attention was torn away to the viewscreen as red streaks of powerful phaser fire slammed into the Enterprise. She glanced back at Khan where he lounged in the captain's chair, watching the destruction unfold with a satisfied look on his face. The Enterprise would be torn to shreds in minutes and every single person onboard was going to die. She couldn't just stand there and watch. Channeling a mixture of insane fear and boiling anger, Madelyn turned from the viewscreen and pointed her phaser at him with shaking hands.

"Stop!" She gritted her teeth at the way her voice shook, but she couldn't help it. She could see Marcus' body in the corner of the bridge, blood and gray matter dripping from his ruptured skull. She took a few careful steps towards Khan, but stopped when he stood up. He regarded her silently for a moment. She willed him to come closer. She could have taken a shot already, but she just needed him to be closer.

"Are you going to shoot me?" he said calmly. The way he was looking at her was patronizing and it made her even angrier.

"You've got your crew," she said, her voice still shaking. "Just stop this."

Khan advanced towards her and she backed away. "I don't want to hurt you." The way he said it made it sound like he was considering it.

Madelyn tightened her grip on her weapon, taking another step back. "Put me back on the Enterprise. I'd rather go down with that ship," she said, inclining her head towards the viewscreen, "then stay trapped here with you."

Khan's features hardened. He continued to advance on her and she backed away until her foot bumped into the wall. "Don't!" she warned. "Don't, it's set to kill."

Multiple emotions skirted across his face. Confidence, curiosity, vigilance, adrenaline. She wasn't sure now that she could kill him. One shot might only be enough to provoke him. The tension surging through him hadn't abated either.

"If you kill me, who will pilot this ship?" he said. She watched his hand as he raised it towards her phaser. "You will still be trapped, with no way off, no knowledge of how to fly it, and you will be alone—"

A massive explosion in the distance shook the room violently, throwing them both off their feet. Madelyn picked herself up off the floor just in time to see Khan launching himself at the nearest control panel, bringing the ship's system information onscreen. A glance up at the viewscreen showed an immense fireball ripping through the ship. The torpedoes had been detonated.

Khan's features contorted as he let loose an anguished, primal scream. The devastation in his eyes was paired with frenzied anger, and for a second he looked more animal than human.

Madelyn barely had time to register how this had happened when secondary explosions rocked the ship, throwing her to the floor again. Her phaser was knocked away and nowhere to be seen, but it was already too late. Khan worked furiously, going from console to console with a savage look in his eye.

"System malfunction. Gravity sensors offline. Cannot maintain a stable orbit."

The computer's tinny voice continued with a stream of announcements of system failures. Everything was shaking and everything was shutting down.

"Khan!" Madelyn yelled, her voice barely audible above the ship's roaring and creaking. "We need to get off this ship!"

His voice had gone feral as he sent out command after command to the ship, showing no sign of wanting to escape. Madelyn started looking around desperately for something to brace herself on.

"Set destination: Starfleet Headquarters!" Khan ordered the computer.

"Engines compromised. Cannot guarantee destination. Confirm order."

"What are you doing?" she screamed.

"Confirm," he snarled.

Before she could get away, he advanced on her and yanked her across the bridge, just as the floor began to tilt dangerously. Earth's blues and whites and greens came into view onscreen, rapidly rising up to meet them as the ship tilted ninety degrees.

Khan latched an arm around her and held her face forward against his chest, keeping her from moving as he pulled them both behind the captain's seat. The zero g's made Madelyn sick and she clenched her eyes shut, the roaring in her ears drowning out everything. She hated being pressed up against him. He smelled like sweat and blood, his breath hot on her face. All she could think of was his expression of absolute hatred as he'd crushed Marcus' skull in his bare hands, the same hands now holding her firmly against him.

The ship's shaking grew unbearable but Khan's grip only tightened until she thought she'd suffocate. She was going to die today, she realized. She was going to die trapped in this monster's arms on a ship that was barreling towards the Earth at a thousand miles an hour. She wanted to struggle, to fight against him, but she was too terrified to open her eyes when she knew the ship was shredding apart around them. With her face pressed into his shirt, she opened her mouth and screamed.

She couldn't even hear herself. The unrelenting noise around them drowned out everything. She felt it though, the vibration of her vocal chords, the hot condensation from her breath on his shirt, evaporating instantly with the rush of light and wind that came when the viewscreen shattered. A flood of smoke and metallic particles swept around them, biting at her skin and clogging her throat. Maybe she would choke on the clouded air before the ship even stopped. She could hear metal grating on metal, the crashing, eruptive sounds of absolute destruction as the ship gouged its way through San Francisco.

The supports in the bridge were falling around them. Consoles sparked and exploded. Something tore into her left leg. She gasped at the pain, the influx of dirty air into her lungs throwing her into a coughing fit. The ship creaked and groaned and then the sensation of movement halted. When she finally caught her breath, she realized she was clutching Khan's shirt and quickly unclenched her fist from it. She couldn't remember when she'd grabbed him. She could feel his fingers digging into her side. She needed to get away from him. She didn't want to look up at him, not while she was pressed up against him like this. Her skin crawled at his proximity, but the only thing keeping her from lurching away from him right then was the wide gaping hole where the viewscreen had shattered, opening the bridge up to the ground hundreds of feet below. There was nowhere she could escape without injuring herself further, or outright killing herself.

Never loosening his grip around her, Khan pulled her with him from behind the captain's chair to slide down across the floor of the bridge, managing to stop on the bottom ledge of the shattered viewscreen. When her feet hit the ledge, pain radiated up through her leg and she gritted her teeth against the painful cry her throat wanted to emit. Her eyes were watering, stinging from the dirty air. She looked down for the source of the pain. A long, deep gash crossed her thigh, soaking her jeans with blood.

"Hold onto me," Khan ordered.

She glanced up at him with a mixture of fear and disgust. His arm was still glued around her waist.

"We're going to jump," he said.

Madelyn's gaze traveled from the wrecked bridge and across the wide gap that separated them from the rest of the massive ship, to where its crumbled hull merged with the street. Sirens blared not too far away. It was a long way down, but there was nowhere else to go.

Her heart pounded in her chest, but Khan looked about as scared as she felt. Her stomach churned when she wrapped her arms around him, putting her that much closer to him. With eyes clenched shut, she knew when he made the leap and held on tighter. Moments later they collided hard with the hull of the ship and careened painfully towards the ground.

When she dared to open her eyes again, she was met with pure destruction and empty streets littered with abandoned vehicles. Fires raged nearby and people screamed in the distance. It was like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic horror film.

Khan's grip finally loosened around her as they stepped out into the street. Madelyn grimaced the moment she put weight on her left leg and instinctively grabbed for his arm to steady herself. She let him go a second later, but his hand lingered on her back.

"Madelyn—"

She was finally able to lurch away from him painfully. "Don't touch me," she said through gritted teeth. The pain was too much and she stumbled to the ground, catching herself with her hands. She pulled herself into a sitting position and held out a hand defensively when Khan reached for her again. "Don't'!"

She couldn't believe the look he was giving her, not after everything he'd done. His brow was crinkled, and his eyes were wide and watery behind his hair. Blood trickled from a cut on his cheek.

"Stay away from me," she ordered, pressing her hands to the gash in her leg. Blood seeped over her fingers as she tried to put pressure on it. She should've stopped bleeding by now. Whatever had sliced her must have cut clean through her muscle.

"Madelyn, you need a doctor—"

"I said stay away!"

She almost regretted the look on his face, until he quickly backed away as pinpricks of light materialized around her. Realizing she was being transported, Madelyn let out a breath and watched as Khan disappeared into the growing crowd of onlookers and emergency responders closing in on her position. The light engulfed her and when she could see again, she was sitting in the Enterprise's transporter room.

"It worked!" yelled Scotty. Madelyn barely had time to respond. She felt dizzy and sick and barely noticed when she lay back on the floor, every breath light and shallow, her effort to stop the bleeding fruitless. Blurry faces appeared above her, their voices muffled in the distance. Her vision was blacking out. She slid a blood-soaked hand over her stomach. The child growing inside her was all that mattered now. She tried to form the words on her lips. It needed to be okay and it needed to be far away from its father. Nothing else mattered as long as Khan was far away from them both.

Please review so I know you want me to continue with this! Thanks for reading!