This is a long one, so I hope that makes up for not posting last week. I wanted too, I really did, but I only have a one chapter buffer between posts, and I'd rather have you wait two weeks for a new chapter instead of a month. I hope you continue to enjoy De Sanguine Regis and brownie points for anyone who can guess the meaning of the title!
The calmness of the bridge was a stark contrast to the overwhelming cascade of agitation Charlie was experiencing. She now knew that telling Jim anything Harrison told her would create more problems than it fixed, and while she could admit she had acted irrationally, Jim was not behaving as a saint either. Yes, Pike's death was hard, and he felt it worse than anyone realized, but so did she. Pike's influence over her went beyond a mentor; he had become her father. The guiding light when everything was pitched in black. He protected her, assisted her, healed her. He was her shoulder to cry on and the soothing hand when the nightmares raged at night. Her real father had never made the effort to calm her tears or take the time to explain something she didn't understand. He brushed her off, expecting her to either muscle through or fail. Pike was firm but kind, something her real father couldn't understand.
The only other person who was that important to her was Jim, and over the last twenty-four hours, Charlie couldn't see the man she loved in the captain sitting in the chair. They had yet to be a couple for longer than a few days in the last couple months, and Charlie wondered if their relationship would ever know anything related to normalcy. Could she work under him for years to come? She might have been more familiar with him than an ensign would, but she was his girlfriend! He told her to be open with him, but when she did and he brushed her off, the same as her father, Charlie could see a thread tear in the rope that held them together.
The moment he stepped on the bridge, Jim charged over to speak with Spock and Dr. McCoy without a backward glance at Charlie. With a huff, she paused, raking her eyes over the working crew. The normalcy of the situation was not lost on her, and Charlie understood right then that no matter what happened between her and Kirk, her place would always be on the bridge of a starship. Glancing towards Uhura seated at her station, Charlie decided against another confrontation with Jim, and headed her way. Rawness coated her throat, and she recognized one wrong word could have her unravelling like a ball of yarn in a kitten's paws.
Taking a breath, she jumped in surprise when McCoy exploded, "Are you out of your corn-fed mind?!"
"Hey, Charlie," Uhura acknowledged when she plopped down in the seat next to the communications officer, exhaling a deep sigh and slumping back against the console, tuning out McCoy's explosion.
"Hey," the brunette responded as both their attentions turned to the increasingly loud argument transpiring below.
"The Doctor does have a point, Captain," Spock said.
"Don't agree with me, Spock. It makes me very uncomfortable," McCoy grumbled.
Spock shook his head as he lectured, "Perhaps you, too, should learn to govern your emotions, Doctor. In this situation logic dictates—"
"Logic!" McCoy interrupted. "Oh my God! There's a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship and you're talking about—"
"So are you going to tell me where you ran off to after we talked or are you going to make me guess?" Uhura's voiced snapped Charlie's concentration away from the trio of men.
"What?" she asked, feigning confusion when sharp, green eyes popped into her mind.
"I said are you going to tell me where you went gallivanting off to so mysteriously?"
Charlie shrugged as her thumbnail picked at a her cuticle, her focus shifting back to the arguing men and dodging Uhura's probing stare. "Nowhere special," she shrugged. "Just had to verify a couple things. It's like my dad always said; trust but verify."
"Uh huh, and what was it you had to verify?"
Charlie's passive glance drove Uhura to roll her eyes as her interest shifted back to her station. "Fine, don't tell me, but if it was what I think it was, you're going to get yourself in a whole bunch of trouble."
"Trouble?" Charlie snorted. "You're only in trouble if you get caught."
Uhura just shook her head. "You and Kirk are perfect for each other."
Charlie smirked, and was about to respond when Spock's voice drifted over the pair.
"The Admiral's daughter appeared to have interest in the torpedoes and she is a weapons specialist. Perhaps she could be of some use."
"What?" Charlie gasped as she sat up further. He couldn't be talking about who she thought he was. After all, how many people had come onto the Enterprise rising the suspicion of herself and Spock?
Kirk seemed to be in the same mind set because he asked, "What admiral's daughter?"
"Carol Marcus. Your new science officer concealed her identity to board the ship."
"I knew there was something I didn't like about her!" Charlie hissed, leaping up to Uhura's astonishment and striding over to the group of men. Carol Marcus, of course. The minute that blonde had stepped onto the shuttle back in San Francisco, Charlie knew something wasn't right. To have the daughter of Admiral Marcus on their ship, the very man who caused the biggest headache for Charlie could only end in disaster. And then there was relationship the woman had with prime universe Jim Kirk. Even though Charlie wasn't well-versed in the original series, she had seen the Wrath of Khan and knew the association between the pretty, blonde-haired woman and her captain. A connection that instilled a tiny ice-cold stab of fear in Charlie's chest.
"When were you going to tell me that?" Jim bade Spock.
"When it became relevant. As it just did." There were moments when Charlie enjoyed Spock's sass, especially directed at Jim. It was when Spock's human side could be seen, and he didn't appear to be as stoic and unfeeling. That was not one of those times.
"You're not seriously going to trust someone who snuck aboard your ship and is in fact the daughter of the man who took me away from you, right?" Charlie accosted, stopping next to McCoy as she glared at the captain and first officer.
"She is a weapons specialist," Spock pointed out, turning to regard her. If he was surprised by her presence, he didn't show it.
"Surely there are others onboard the flagship of the Federation who would be just as suitable."
"Not with her qualifications."
"Look, we don't have time to discuss who should be doing what," Kirk interjected as he attempted to placate the Vulcan and angry woman. "Uhura, send for Dr. Wallace—I mean Marcus."
"Aye, Sir."
"Captain, with all due respect, despite her qualifications she still lied to get aboard this ship," Charlie argued. "An act that at minimum requires a court martial and at max means dismissal from Starfleet. One then can only ask why."
"The Spitfire has a point, Jim," McCoy agreed. "Why forge her paperwork? Her assets alone would have got her onboard." The doctor recoiled as Charlie slapped the back of her hand against his arm.
"Thanks for that," Jim derided with a shake of his head and a sheepish glance at Charlie's unamused stare.
"Just trying to liven things up a bit," McCoy shrugged as he rubbed his arm.
The hiss of the turbolift signaled the arrival of the woman in question, her blond bob bouncing as she made her way over to the group. Her confident steps wavered when she noticed the scrutinizing glances of the men and Charlie's barely concealed contempt.
"You called for me, Captain?" she asked, clasping her hands in front of her. She stopped just short of the other's, her blue eyes curiously wandering from person to person.
"Yes I did, Doctor Marcus," Jim said, and Charlie noted a level of alarm that flashed across her eyes. Good. Show her they knew the truth.
"S-sir, I—"
"We'll worry about that later, Doctor," Jim interrupted, his hand coming up to steer Carol toward the bridge's exit, turning his back to Charlie and cutting her off from further discussion with Carol, a discussion she was very interested in beginning. "Right now I have a little issue with those new photon torpedoes and I am hoping you can help with that. Spock, you have the bridge," he threw over his shoulder as they left the bridge.
Charlie blinked at the now empty space. "What just happened?"
"Back home, we'd call that the blow off," McCoy remarked dryly. Charlie angled a glare in his direction and he shrugged. "What?"
Sometimes McCoy pulled the brother card a little too well. "Shut up, McCoy."
Sometime later a call summoned McCoy to the shuttle bay where he was heading to a nearby planetoid with the admiral's daughter and five minutes after that the main doors opened as Sulu called, "Captain on the Bridge."
"Mr. Sulu, have Doctors Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid yet?" Jim asked as he strode past Charlie and straight to the view screen, looking out into the inky expanse.
"Yes, Sir," Sulu answered. "They're moving the torpedo into position now."
"Good. Any activity from the Klingons?"
"Not yet. But if we're stuck here much longer, they will find us."
Charlie moved closer to the captain, her steps measured as she paused next to his side. "What are you thinking?" Charlie asked, gazing out into the blackness. She watched as an object no bigger than Pluto came into view, knowing McCoy and Marcus were there with a missile equivalent to a dozen nuclear bombs.
"I'm thinking that 'classified' is a bunch of bullshit," Jim responded, his head angling to catch her eye. She could see the wear and tear on his face, and she knew that he was granting her a glimpse behind the façade he built up as captain. She softened, and reached up to lay a hand on his arm, conveying her silent support. He didn't verbally acknowledge the gesture, but his eyes warmed briefly.
"It's about time," she teased, causing Jim to smirk.
"Lieutenant Uhura, did you let Starfleet know we have Harrison in custody?" he announced, glancing over his shoulder.
"Yes, Sir," the communications officer answered. "No response yet."
"That's a bit strange, isn't it?" Charlie asked as she turned in Uhura's direction, her brows drawn together. "Wouldn't they have gotten back to us? I know the messages have to travel far, but I thought they were quicker than that."
As she opened her mouth to answer, Chekov's voiced boomed through the speakers, cutting off Uhura's explanation. "Enterprise to bridge. Hello. Captain, can you hear me?"
As Jim turned towards his chair, Charlie leaped up the stairs to stand next to Uhura, listening to the conversation between the captain and Chief of Engineering. "Mr. Chekov," Jim answered as he plopped down onto the black leather. "Give me some good news."
"We found the leak, Sir, but the damage is substantial. We are working on it."
"Any idea what caused it?" Jim asked.
"No, Sir. But I accept full responsibility."
"Captain?" Charlie voiced, Jim spinning around with his brow raised in question. Something about the timing of the leak was too coincidental for Charlie, and she didn't believe in coincidences. How could a warp core blow a leak that big, especially since the Enterprise had gone through routine diagnostics when it was stationed above Earth. "Didn't Scotty have a worry about the warp core before we left spacedock?"
Jim contemplated that thought, Charlie holding his gaze and trying to tell him without words what she was thinking. It was the only thing that made sense and he could see it.
With a small nod, Jim replied to Chekov, "Something tells me it wasn't your fault. Stay on it."
He ended the transmission just as Sulu said, "shuttle is standing by, Captain."
"Bones!" Jim broadcasted. "Thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for the steadiest hands on the ship."
"You know when I dreamt about being stuck on deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo!" the doctor's grumpy voice growled from the console.
Charlie snorted as she rolled her eyes. "Dream for him. Nightmare for the woman."
"Dr. McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt," Jim scolded, his own smile widening as the others on the bridge sniggered.
"Ha, that's like asking a tiger to change its stripes," she mumbled, when an epiphany hit her. If McCoy was interested in Carol Marcus, then there was a chance Charlie could keep the weapons specialist away from the captain. Charlie grinned at the thought, a small plan building her mind.
McCoy ignored Jim as he shouted, "So how can these legendary hands help you, Dr. Marcus?" More sniggers erupted from those on the bridge, both Charlie and Uhura rolling their eyes.
"Bones," Jim said exasperated as Carol's voice filtered in.
"To understand how powerful these weapons are we need to open the warhead. To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, the warheads on these weapons are live."
"Sweetheart, I once a performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets. Let me tell you, those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."
"Gorn?" Charlie questioned, Jim spinning towards her by her surprised tone. "When did you interact with the Gorn?"
"How have you heard of them?" Jim asked.
"Uhhh, Pike told me," she lied quickly, realizing the discovery of the Gorn didn't appear to be public knowledge for those back on Earth. She noticed as a sudden stillness descend on the bridge, McCoy and Carol momentarily forgotten. "What?"
Jim winced as he explained, "Remember when I told you about that mission with the Vulcan ships and New Vulcan, and how it was just a routine contact?"
Charlie recalled the conversation. It was one of those rare occasions when Jim wanted to talk but without the video feed. He had made the excuse that some engineering ensign was updating the video, so it was unavailable. Now, she wondered if that was in fact the truth.
"Yes," she drew out.
"That may not have been necessarily accurate."
"Okay," she drawled as her hands subconsciously moved to her hips. "How much of that was true?"
Before Jim could answer, an alarm sounded on the bridge, alerting everyone's attention back to the two Doctors on the neighboring planetoid.
"Sir, the torpedo just armed itself," Sulu cried as he checked the reading coming from their location.
"The warhead's gonna detonate in thirty seconds!" Darwin added, a subtle panic in her tone as she glanced back at the screen where a countdown was now seen.
"What the hell happened?! I can't get my arm out!" Bones horror-laced voice screamed out.
Charlie's eye's grew wide and her heart sped up as Jim jumped up, ordering, "Get their signal, beam them back right now!"
"The transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo," Spock said from his station, standing as his attention also turned back to the screen. "We cannot beam back one without the other."
"Dr. Marcus, can you disarm it?" Kirk asked as Charlie and Uhura came forward, their eyes locked on the three targets flashing on the few screen.
"Come on," Charlie whispered as she heard Carol's shaking voice answer, "I'm trying. I'm trying."
"Jim, get her the hell out of here!" Bones shouted. Charlie didn't notice her hand on the back of Jim's chair was in a white-knuckle grip until a sharp pain popped in her fingers.
Charlie was shaking her hand out as she exclaimed, "Jim, do something!"
His gaze flickered to hers before it switched to the screen.
"No. If you beam me back, he dies! Just let me do it!" Carol ordered as she worked to deactivate the torpedo.
"Ten, nine, eight..." McCoy began to count down, a rhythm that seemed to match the steady pounding in Charlie's ears.
"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, sir," Sulu said.
"Four, three..."
"Shit!" came the expletive just as the timer hit 2.57 seconds and a large DEACTIVATED sign flashed.
Everyone let out a deep breath as Sulu confirmed, "Deactivation successful, Captain." Both Uhura and Charlie grasped each other's hands and their heads' dipped onto the other's shoulders in relief. That was far too close for comfort.
She stepped down next to Jim, her hand gripping his yellow covered bicep as he asked, "Dr. McCoy, are you alright?" A moment of silence caused Charlie's hand to tense. "Bones?
"Jim? You're gonna wanna see this," McCoy answered.
"What is it?" the captain asked, rising from his slumped position over the console.
"It's a body,' Bones answered. "A very frozen body."
"Marcus?" Charlie whispered, her thought's flashing back to her sessions in his office, and then her conversation with Harrison. The torpedoes. Everything seemed to boil down to those damned torpedoes.
"Get back to the ship ASAP," Jim ordered, flicking a curious glance in Charlie's direction. "I want a full diagnostic work up of that torpedo, preferably without blowing the ship up. Mr. Spock and I will meet you in sickbay." A chorus of 'aye's' was heard as he deactivated the comm channel with the shuttle. "Keep an eye on them, Mr. Sulu."
The helmsman nodded while Jim spun on his heel, jogging up the stairs to the turbolift. "Spock with me," Jim called. Charlie contemplated the newest revelation a moment before she hurried after the two men, wedging herself between the doors of the turbolift. "Charlie—"
"I have a hunch about something," she cut off the captain. "Please, humor me."
Jim mulled the thought a moment before he nodded, turning to face the door as he hit the button for deck seven as Charlie mimicked his pose, her lip drawn between her teeth as she ignored the curious stare boring into the back of her head by the Vulcan. A frozen man in a torpedo was not something one heard about every day, and either Marcus was aware of the bodies inside the missiles, since she assumed it wasn't just one, or someone else put them there. The question was why Harrison would, since he appeared the next logical choice. It seemed Harrison was just one big question of why.
Charlie was just thinking of how to find another way to sneak down to the brig when the doors to the turbolift opened, and they entered sickbay.
"What have we got?" Kirk asked the minute they stepped into the bustling medical center.
"It's quite clever, actually," Carol explained, carrying a piece of the torpedo to where others of its kind rested. "The fuel container's been removed from the torpedo and retro fitted to hide this cryo-tube."
Charlie paused, her eyes going wide. "A cryo-tube?" she muttered. That was not something she thought existed in the 23rd century when another thought hit her. That was how he did it, of course. That's why Harrison was so interested in how she got to the 23rd century. He must have thought she had been frozen the way he had. The way apparently seventy-two other people had.
"Is he alive?" Kirk asked, Charlie sliding up to stare down at the man locked behind frosted glass.
"He's alive, but if we try to revive him without the proper sequencing, it could kill him," McCoy answered, his stern stare peeking at Charlie. "This technology is beyond on me."
"How advanced, Doctor?" Spock asked.
"It's not advanced," Carol responded. "That cryo-tube is ancient."
"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we develop warp capability," Bones added. "Which explains the most interesting thing about our friend here. He's three hundred years old."
Jim and Spock stiffened and turned their astonished attention to stare at the surprised Charlie. Her attention moving between the men, she asked, "What?"
"Have you ever come in contact with this type of thing before?" Jim probed, point to the man in the tube.
Charlie mulled the thought, riveted by the idea that the man who slept before them was born in the same century as her. "I'd heard of cryogenics," Charlie answerd. "But I had never come in contact with it before. I mean, it was the most popular during my parent's time; the '70s and '80s and there were rumors all these different celebrities were frozen: Walt Disney, Ted Williams, some others. I didn't think it was actually possible, though, it seemed too Sci-Fi."
"Well somebody got it right," McCoy derided.
"Do you know specifically of anyone cryogenically frozen?" Jim asked.
"No," she shook her head. "Again, it wasn't something that was popular by the 21st century. And I was focused on other things."
Jim glanced back at the man in the tube, his stare hard and unfocused, and Charlie could tell he was debating something. "I think we need to talk to Harrison about this," he finally decided. "Spock, Charlie, with me. Bones and Doctor Marcus, finish working on getting that tube out."
The Vulcan and Human followed their captain out of sickbay back to the turbolift. Charlie was surprised that Jim wanted her along, and she wondered if her earlier conversation with Harrison was going to come back to haunt her.
"You sure you want me, Captain?" she voiced. "You told me to stay away from Harrison."
"That was before."
"Before?" she prodded.
Jim just held her gaze until the doors of the lift opened, and Jim scrambled toward the bright white holding cell where John Harrison sat, staring at the walls in a bored, detached way.
"Back so soon?" Harrison's attention wandered from the floor to Jim and then Charlie, holding hers a moment longer, a challenge dancing in their depths. She pursed her lips and gave a subtle shake of her head, hoping he understood and that neither of her commanding officers had seen it.
"Why is there a man in that torpedo?" Jim snapped.
Harrison didn't seem surprised by the revelation as the rest of them were, his firm, emotionless stare resting on Jim. "There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there." Kirk and Spock glanced at each other as Charlie's brow furrowed. Know that they knew who, the question now was why? Why put people in weapons of mass destruction?
"Who the hell are you?"
"A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior, so as to lead others to peace in a world at war." His attention moved to Charlie's where she held it without blinking, lifting her chin and glaring back.
"But we were condemned as criminals," Harrison continued, sliding from her to Spock and Jim. "Forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be different. But 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."
"Ensign Noland looked up John Harrison," Jim said jerking his head in her direction. "Until a year ago he didn't exist."
"Noland? You are a Noland." For the first time since his presence came onboard, Harrison looked genuinely surprised, raking his stare over her body as he stood, towering over her. But this time it was different, for more calculating as his eyes roamed over her form, seeing it in a new light.
"Yes." Charlie answered, lifting her chin and staring the man down. Why would her name mean anything to him? The only reason she hadn't told him before was that she didn't want the link to Jim if had come asking.
"You are not related to Robert Noland, General of the US Air Force from my time?" he continued.
Charlie hesitated. That name was not something she thought she would ever hear in the 23rd century. "How do you know my father?"
"Charlie," Jim warned.
Harrison's head lilted to the aside, analyzing her. "Your father? You . . . are his daughter?"
She hesitated and her gaze wavered as her fists clenched and released, debating what to say. "Yes," she acknowledged more of a challenge than admittance.
"You are Charlotte." Charlie's eyes widened and she took a step back from the man as if he was a disease. Harrison grinned, his stare sparking with undisclosed predatory delight. "I've waiting a long time to meet you."
"Alright, that's enough," Kirk barked, stepping between Charlie and the augment, not thrilled by the association between the two. "How do you know Charlie?"
"I don't know him," Charlie denied with force. "I've never even heard of him before he attacked Headquarters."
"Pity. I know all about you, and your family," Harrison leered.
"Yeah, well, take a number," she snapped, leaning around Jim to glare at the augment. "You wouldn't be the first."
Harrison grinned then. "That does not surprise me. You're family's reputation is well known. Marcus was right; the possession of a Noland is truly a treasure of military strength."
"Stop it." Charlie ordered, trying to step around Kirk but he braced his arm out to hold her back. "I don't know how you know me or my family, but you have no right to talk about them; any of them."
"You'll find I do." Khan smirked, his attention shifting from Charlie to Jim. "John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan."
Charlie fell back from the glass as her eyes widened beyond surprise. They were now full of fear. She knew Khan. Everyone knew Khan from that quintessential cinematic moment when Prime Universe Kirk draws out his name in one long shout. She knew how dangerous he was. There may not have been augments in her world, but she knew the potential they had. She remembered her brother telling her about genetic engineering after one of his theoretical courses at West Point. With the manipulation of genetics, a country could create the perfect super soldier, one not so different from the man that stood before her.
"Why would a Starfleet admiral ask a three-hundred year old frozen man for help?" Kirk challenged, attempting to draw the attention away from Charlie and the direct focus Khan had on her.
"Because I am better."
"At what?"
"Everything. Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time, but for that he needed a warriors mind, my mind, to design weapons and warships."
"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vow to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect," Spock argued, the very thought of an admiral forgetting protocol sent his hackles rising.
"He wanted to exploit my savagery," Khan explained as if it was the simplest explanation in the world. "You know all about that, don't you Ensign Noland." There was something about his knowing stare that made Charlie anxious, her eyes full of a fear she couldn't control. "Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mr. Spock. You…You can't even break a rule, how would you be expected to break bone? Marcus used me to design weapons, to help him realize his vision of a militarized Starfleet. That is why he wanted your precious, little ensign, Captain." His eyes shifted to Charlie who stood stoically to the side, scowling at the man. She was trying desperately to deny the truth she heard in his words. "A Noland whose family's reputation is written in blood that dates back into the dark horizon of human history."
"Okay hold it, how do you know so much about Charlie and her family?" Kirk asked, making sure to keep his body between Charlie and Khan. "Speak, Murderer."
Khan squared his shoulders as he regarded Charlie with disdain. "General Robert Noland of the United States Air Force, Charlotte's father, was the mastermind behind the air raid that would end my reign of those inferior to me and my people. He was the one to force us into the cryo-tubes and engineered for us to be sent into space, to find our own world. He kept it quiet of course. It wasn't the most popular idea in that time."
"My dad did that?" Charlie asked, unable to conceal her astonishment. She had no idea her parallel universe dad was such a badass; far more than the one she left behind. He took on Khan, he was the reason for the Botany Bay, and that got her thinking. If she had a parallel universe father, did she exist in the universe at some point? She had to. How else did McCoy get ahold of her information when she was first brought aboard?
"And far more," Harrison growled, dragging her from her thoughts.
"You didn't know any of this?" Kirk dropped his voice in bewilderment, turning to Charlie.
She shrugged, uncomfortable by the turn of the conversation and the scrutiny those in the room gave her. She had to think of something, and think of it quick. "No, I didn't." Well, that was true. "I'm mean my dad wasn't one to keep his . . . accomplishments quiet –"
"And yet you have never heard of me," Khan interrupted.
"Shut up," both Charlie and Jim ordered. "But I don't know anything about this," she continued, trying to keep to the lie she knew she had to play.
"I don't understand, how do you know nothing of the Eugenics War? You were alive when they were happening."
"I just don't, Jim," she accentuated, her eyes shifting from Khan's perceptive gaze to the captain's.
Jim bore into Charlie, and she knew he was using the 'captain's stare', a technique he tapped when he tried to wrench something from her she didn't want to share, but this time she couldn't cave. There was too much, too many secrets she had kept from him about her universe and the life she left behind for her to let it all out now.
"How do you know Admiral Marcus requested Ensign Noland?" Spock asked, his eyes shifting between Khan and the pair.
Khan smirked. "Should I tell him?" he turned his question to Charlie.
The silence that descended was as crushing as the gravity on Jupiter. "You spoke to him?" Kirk rounded on her, causing her stumble back a few paces until she was between him and Spock. "After I ordered you not to?"
Charlie's eyes went wide by the venom in his tone. "Jim, I—"
"Captain," he snarled. "You will address me as Captain, Ensign."
"I'm sorry, Captain," she said, shrinking under his furious glare with her hands held up for protection. "But I did it to help you. To help this ship."
"Please, Captain," Khan intervened, gaining Kirk's attention. "Charlotte here may have disobeyed you, but her loyalty stands. She even tried to protect you from Marcus, useless as it is. You see he sent you to use those weapons, to fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons will come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he always wanted."
"No," Kirk denied, his attention fully focused on the warrior in his brig. "No. I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!"
"Marcus took my crew from me!" Khan spat, turning from them.
"You are a murderer!"
"He used my friends to control me," he confessed, breathing heavily while he attention was riveted on the wall in front of him. Charlie's head cocked to the side when she heard the desperation and fear in his voice, unwillingly brought closer to the glass of his prison while Khan further explained, "I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them 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. So I responded in kind." As he turned, Charlie saw the trail tears had left down Khan's cheeks, his eye rimmed in red but his stare poignant and strong. "My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"
Jim glanced in Charlie's direction, her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide by his admission.
Suddenly Sulu's voice was filling the brig. "Proximity alert, sir. There's a ship at warp heading right for us."
"Klingons?"
"At warp?" Khan injected, rushing to the glass. "No, Kirk. We both know who it is."
"I don't think so; it's not coming at us from Qo'nos." Charlie dropped her hand, her breathing increasing while the tingling bit of fear spread down her legs and over her chest as if she just jumped into ice.
Jim paused a moment then spun.
"Lieutenant, move Khan to medbay, post six security officers on him," he ordered as he took off running towards the bridge, Spock hot on his trail.
"Yes, Captain," the crewmember replied, staring at the retreating back of the captain.
"Belay that order," Charlie said, her stare never leaving Khan's. "I will take him. Have security meet us here to transport him to sickbay."
"But Ma'am, the captain ordered—"
"I know what the captain ordered," she snarled, her hardened glare snapping to the lieutenants who shrunk down in his chair by her intensity. "And you are fulfilling those orders through me. Understand?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am," he responded, quickly hitting the button to patch through to security.
"Well, there's a Starfleet officer in there after all," Khan remarked as the security filed into the room and the wall was dropped, releasing him into their custody.
Charlie ordered the move to sickbay before she responded. "It was always here. I am a Noland."
"That you are," he agreed, staring at her while they walked towards the lift.
"Let's get one thing straight, Khan. I am sorry about what happened to your crew. Truly, I am; what Marcus did doesn't surprise me and I don't condone it. However, if you even attempt to hurt my crew, to hurt the Captain, I swear to all that is holy you will be praying it's my father you're dealing with. Understand?"
Charlie noticed the barest hint of a smirk before he dipped his head in a small nod. "Of course, Charlotte."