Chapter Eighteen: The Games

The tribble cooed again, a soft delightful sound as Charlie and Doctor McCoy spared startled glances, diving in for a closer look at the fluffy specimen that was now breathing when minutes before it had been nothing but a paper weight. It took a second, watching as the fluff ball drew in a breath and then released for Charlie to discern the ramifications of such as small act.

"Do you know what this means?" she breathed, angling her head to catch McCoy's eyes, hope glimmering through both of them. It was impossible, there was no way anything could be released from death's cold hands, but if the tribble could, there was no saying why a human couldn't.

"Yes I do," he growled, rising to his full height. "Get me a cryotube, now!" His nurses and doctors blinked their eyes, confused a moment before they took off in different directions. Some headed for the area sectioned off for Khan's crew while others readied several bio beds.

"What's going?" Carol asked as Charlie ran around the desk, taking a hold of Jim's gurney and moving it aside so that a technician could roll over the cryotube.

"There's a way to save Jim," Charlie answered, watching as a crew of three hefted a cryotube onto a bio bed to wheel over. Everything changed. Her hardened heart was now a kite caught in a seaside breeze. Her cemented feet sprouted wings. Her mind was flashing like lightening, thinking steps ahead of where they were and what needed to be done. It was possible that Jim was not lost to her forever, and she was going to do everything she could to make that dream a reality. There was hope, a small sparkle like a tiny star in the distant sky and she focused on it with her whole being until it was the only light in the universe.

Carol was taken aback, her head tilting to the side as she stumbled, "But that's . . . that's—"

"Impossible, I know," Charlie interrupted coming out of her thoughts, turning to address the woman as they waited for the popsicle. "But so is time travel, yet here I stand."

"You?" Carol questioned, her brows knitting together. She pointed at Charlie, her blue eyes riveted on her form. "You're the girl my father talked about. The one from the 21st century."

"In the flesh," Charlie gestured her arms wide. "Your dad had a bit of an obsession with me."

Carol had the decency to look ashamed. She cleared her throat as her gaze hit the floor, turning away from Charlie as her hands clasped in front of her. Charlie chewed her lip a moment realizing her actions towards the doctor were unfounded and based on conjecture. Just because Carol Marcus played a role in Jim's life in the films didn't mean that the same would occur now that Charlie was in the picture. She and Jim were in item before David Marcus was even a thought, and that could mean that their future was not the one from her past.

She hesitated a moment longer before she grabbed Carol's arm. "Listen, Carol," Charlie began, turning her so they faced each other. "I'm . . . sorry for the way I acted towards you. It was unprofessional and rude."

Carol's eyes widened in surprise as her head cocked to the side. "It's alright, Ensign Nol—"

"No, it's not alright," Charlie interrupted, waving away Carol's attempts to placate her. "I let my emotions get the better of me. I made a few rash decisions and judged you too quickly." She sighed, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "I know what it's like to hide who you are and I think you did what you did for the right reasons. I just couldn't see that at the time. I treated you unfairly, and I do apologize."

Carol's brows drew together as she considered Charlie's words, looking her up and down as if debating if she spoke the truth. She must have found what she wanted because Carol sent Charlie a hesitant smile although the light of it didn't reach her eyes. There was too much pain and death in recent days for an easy smile.

"I suppose we've all been under a good deal of stress," she mollified. "I just wish that I had seen what was going on before it was too late. Perhaps things could have turned out differently." Her gaze shifted to where Jim laid prone on the table but her mind was no longer on the star ship.

"You couldn't have known," Charlie conciliated. "Trust me on this, you never find out until it's too late."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

Charlie snorted, moving aside as the cryotube was rushed towards them. "I know what it's like to have a father you're not . . . you're not proud of. And I know how frustrating that can be."

"I don't know how you could understand anything that I'm feeling," Carol argued, her arms rising to cross in front of her chest, far more defensive than annoyed. She dipped her head, her straw colored hair falling forward to cover her face.

Charlie rolled her eyes at the irony of that sentence, knowing exactly how Carol felt in more ways than one. "The dad I know is not the same one everyone keeps talking about," she said, leaning closer to the woman. "The dad I grew up with was a bully, not a hero. Because I didn't level up to the grossly exaggerated expectations he had of me, I was useless to him."

"No father thinks that of his child," Carol argued shaking her head.

"Let me ask you this. All of your achievements and your failures, was your dad there? Did he support you when you failed and congratulate you when you succeed?"

Carol took stock of that thought, her eyes falling to floor as she thought of her life until that point. "There were times he wasn't there because of one mission or another," Carol shrugged. "But when I did see him he was tough but fair. He didn't necessarily support my failures, but he helped me correct them." Tears rose in Carol's eyes and she brushed them away with an impatient swipe of her hand.

"Remember him for that," Charlie confided, laying her hand on Carol's shoulder in support. "Your dad made a lot of mistakes. Pretty big ones and I'm not going to sugar coat his reputation. He tore me away from the only family I now have and I can never forgive him for that." Carol swallowed, her spine stiffening as if Charlie were about unleash a torrent on her and she was preparing herself. With a squeeze of her hand, Charlie added, "But I will never hold you accountable for his actions, and you shouldn't blame yourself. Neither one of us is proud of our dads, but we aren't them. We can see what they did wrong and you bet your ass we'll make damn sure we do the right thing."

Carol nodded, her smile more pronounced as Charlie dropped her hand. "If I may ask," she blurted as the nursing staff almost finished prepping for the transfer. "Why did you say that about your father? What did he do to you?"

Charlie sighed, her mind flying in a million directions as she thought of the 21st century life she left behind. "You're asking for an entire lifetime," she derided. As the heat rose in Carol's cheeks and Charlie mentally chastised herself. "Alright, one example?" she said. "When I graduated high school, I told my parents I wasn't planning on attending any military academy. I going to a state school in Colorado for archaeology and that was that. So when graduation day came, they of course watched me walk and get my diploma, but I guess the minute my name was called they left. I spent an hour trying to find them in my cap and gown, thinking they wanted pictures but they weren't there. And I guess they forgot that I rode to the ceremony with them so I had no way of getting home. I sat outside my school until it was dark before my brother, who I didn't even know was home came and got me."

Charlie glanced away from her sympathetic stare, the sting of the pain still fresh. "Turns out Bryan was going to surprise me for graduation, but because of extra drills or whatever he was delayed. My parents went to pick him up and then went out to dinner. They told him I was going out with friends until my best friend ran into them as they were leaving the restaurant. The minute Bryan learned I was still at school he came for me. He was so pissed at them. My dad had said that if I had stayed on a regimented schedule instead of leaving plans for the last minute it wouldn't have happened, like it was my fault."

"Did you tell them you were seeing your friends?" Carol asked.

Charlie snorted. "My sister had told them she was hanging out with her friends. I never said I was." Carol's eyes widened in surprise as Charlie shrugged. "But that's my dad for you. It's never his fault, never his mistake. Always mine. I wasn't good enough for him and that night I realized I never would be.

"Maybe my father was a hero," she sighed. "I don't know, I've left that life behind but he was nothing more than a sperm donor to me."

"I'm sorry, Ensign," Carol tired.

"For what?" Charlie mused. "You never had a hand in that. It's just how my life was and it made me who I am now. Yes, I tried so hard to make him happy, but I know now I never could. So, I'm going to put all my energy into the now, into saving Jim and making things right between us. This is far more important than that man who gave me half of my DNA."

Carol rose taller, as if the same thought gave her confidence for what was next. "You're right," Carol agreed. "My father did a lot of awful things, but he isn't me. I'm going to do what's right." She held her hand out to Charlie who raised her brow in curiosity. "Let's shake on it: to always doing the right thing no matter who our fathers were."

Charlie smiled, grasping the woman's outstretched hand in a firm grip. Lightness came to Charlie as they shook; the weight on her shoulder's lifted as she realized she had found someone she could relate to. Carol wasn't her enemy, and in fact could become a good friend if she opened her heart to it.

As they let go, McCoy finally wheeled the cryotube over to Jim's gurney, handing Charlie a hypospray.

"Give Jim this," he said as the cold tube was slapped into her hand. Injecting the medication in Jim's blood stream, Charlie handed the empty syringe off as McCoy turned, pointing a finger at a nurse and walking around Jim's body. "Get this guy out of the cryotube; keep him in an induced coma. We're gonna put Kirk inside. It's our only chance to preserve his brain function."

"How much of Khan's blood is left?" Carol asked as the sequencing for the frozen man began. Charlie came around the table next to Carol, both sharing the same worried glance.

"None," McCoy growled, turning to one of the medical stations. "Enterprise to Spock. Spock!"

McCoy was met with silence instead of the Vulcan's usual calm response.

"He's going after Khan, isn't he?" Charlie asked, stepping closer to McCoy. She remembered Spock storming out, his emotions bursting like a volcano and consuming everything around him. She remembered Vulcan's were touch telepaths and it was very possible he absorbed some of her pain too before there was hope.

"He's gonna kill him," McCoy rumbled.

"We can't do anything until Kirk's in the cryotube," Carol reasoned. With stout nods, Charlie, Bones, and Carol set to work removing the man from his cryotube. The process was slow at first, taking several tense minutes as the controls was adjusted first one way than another so that he defrosted at an even speed and temperature. If his heart started pumping with ice in his veins, the man could easily die.

"I'm getting fluctuations in his cerebral cortex," one nurse announced, her attention on the readings above the man's head.

"Decrease temperature by one point seven," McCoy ordered, swirling around the tube with his tricorder and PADD in hand. "I need 150 milligrams thiopental."

Carol injected the hypospray into the man's neck, the cover of the tube warmed up enough to reach the unconscious augment. As soon as the hiss of the medication's release, both her and Charlie turned to the board with the man's vitals, watching as the level around his brain showed no change.

"No change, Doctor," the nurse said. "His IICP is rising to seventeen mm HG. Eighteen. Nineteen!"

"Increase to 200 milligrams and add fifty units pentobarbital."

The room was scrambling to fulfill to doctor's orders. Every extra second it took to bring the man into an induced coma was one more second of Jim's brain deteriorating. Charlie rushed to do what she could, but without the medical knowledge necessary, she was at a loss of what needed to be done. All she could do was stand there, answer orders and wait. Her hand subconsciously smoothed down Jim's cooling brow, whispering soothing words as she waited for the cryotube to be emptied.

She turned to stare at his peaceful face, the lines of worry gone and the sorrow evaporated. She didn't know if Khan's blood was going to work, if it was even possible to bring Jim back from his catatonic state. It felt as if they needed Miracle Max and his chocolate covered pill in order for that marvel to come true. She was so weary from her emotional rollercoaster of the last few days that she didn't know if she could stand another heartache. She had lost the two most important men in her life in a matter of days, to have Jim pulled from her clutches again would kill her.

"He's stable, Doctor," the same nurse called, pulling Charlie from her thoughts. She brought her eyes up in enough time to see a thin man with the palest skin she'd seen and dark hair pulled from the cryotube and laid on a bio bed, a set of nurses and doctors wheeling him away as they kept him comatose.

"Bring Jim over here," McCoy called, his waving arms calling for urgency and speed. Charlie wheeled him closer to the cryotube, assisting the other nurses in removing his body from the bag. She sagged under his weight, puffing out her breath as she tried with shaking arms to lift him into the tube. McCoy rushed to help and with his assistance, they were able to place the captain gently on the inside mat. Charlie leaned over and left a small kiss on Jim's head.

"We will fix this. I promise," she whispered. "I love you."

"Activate the cryogenic sequence," McCoy ordered as Charlie stood up, her hand pressed against the sliding glass panel as she watched for any sign of change in the captain. Her heart thudded in her tight chest and she counted to ten as she tried to relieve her anxiety. So many things could wrong, so many variables they didn't account for. What concentration of Khan's blood was needed for Jim? Did they wait too late to save the captain? Even if his heart started pumping again, would he be the same man as the one who walked into the warp core chamber?

Carol's fingers flew across the touch pad on the top of the cryotube, initiating the sequence as the glass panel frosted over and Jim's core body temperature began dropping. Charlie glanced between the display panel and Jim's face for any sign of change.

"Spitfire!" Bones called, grabbing Charlie's arm and her attention. "Run up to the bridge. I can't reach Spock. I need Khan alive! You get that son of a bitch back onboard!"

She glanced back at her lover's body, her resolve hardening with purpose. It was her chance, her moment to save him and she'd be damned if she failed Jim when he needed her. Charlie pursed her lips and nodded once, her heart beating with hope and revenge. "Consider it done."

"Ensign Noland!" Carol called just as Charlie hit the doors. Spinning around, she watched as Carol hurried towards her. "He doesn't need to be conscious. Just alive." Charlie smirked in understanding as Carol thrust a hypospray in her hand. She turned to leave only to have Carol grab her arm again. "One more thing. I just want you to know, I never meant anything in how I acted with Captain Kirk. I've never seen him more than my commanding officer."

Charlie's head cocked to the side confused, her brows drawn together as her mouth opened in surprise. "Oh," was all she could stumble out, trying to understand where that thought came from. Had Carol read her mind before? Was she so obvious with her jealousy? Clearing her throat and shaking her head, she added, "Thanks for, uh, clarifying that, Carol. And you can call me Charlie you know?"

Carol grinned. "Charlie. I just want the best for you two. After what Doctor McCoy's said, it sounds like you two are perfect for each other."

"Thanks," Charlie smiled. "If you excuse me, I have an augment's ass to sedate." She turned and ran out the door.

The run to bridge felt like half the time than when she left. Charlie was focused, her heart beat strong and firm and her strides were long and quick. Panic wasn't a word in her vocabulary at that moment, her sense of purpose and weight of duty kept her level and grounded. She was going to save Jim. She would sedate Khan, drag his skinny ass back to the ship and bolt him to the ground to give Jim another chance at life. It wasn't his time to go, just like it wasn't time for the Enterprise to crash into the shores of San Francisco. Charlie vowed that it would be decades before Jim left her in Death's icy grip.

"Where's Spock?" Charlie demanded the minute she ran onto the bridge. She took the steps two at a time, landing next to Sulu as both Chekov and Uhura spun towards her in surprise.

"Going after Khan," Uhura answered, gesturing to the screen where one man was punching the other as hard as he could. "Why?"

The fight on the screen was violent and systematic, each punch, kick, and throw set to maximum velocity and cause the most amount of pain. Spock was uninhibited, his rage obvious as he threw one hit after another. Khan was equally ferocious in his attacks. He tried everything he could to disrupt Spock's momentum, and even threw off the Vulcan nerve pinch, a move Charlie had never seen done. With one hit he sent Spock flying backwards on the transport carrier they fought on, landing on another below. Spock wasted no time as he sprinted to the edge of the ship and leap off as he followed the augment.

"Damn," Charlie mumbled her eyes wide as she watched the fighting continue.

"Spock's a hell of a fighter," Sulu conceded.

"We need Khan back on this ship," Charlie directed as she acknowledged Sulu's position in the command chair. "Like now. McCoy thinks his blood is the only thing that can save Jim. We need him up here and we need him alive so can we hurry it along?"

"Can we beam them up to the ship?" Sulu asked Chekov.

Chekov spun around to his controls, his fingers a blur of movement. "Zhey keep moving," he sighed exasperated. "I can't get a lock on either of them."

"Can you beam someone down?" Uhura asked just as Spock took a huge blow from Khan's fist.

"I tink so," Chekov nodded. "Ze target is large enough I should be able to compenzate."

"Well make it two, Chekov," Charlie announced, stepping up next to Uhura. "I wouldn't mind a crack at the bastard myself."

Uhura smirked as she nodded in agreement, both spinning to Sulu for permission.

"Go get him," Sulu ordered.

They need no other encouragement. Both women ran off the Bridge, stopping only long enough to grab a phaser before they sprinted into the transporter room and onto the pad.

"Remember we need him alive," Uhura reminded, sending Charlie a pointed look.

"I'm not going to kill him," Charlie rolled her eyes, checking to make sure she had the hypospray firmly positioned in one hand and the solid handle of the phaser in the other. "Help rough him up a bit, maybe. No promises there."

She shook her head, but conceded, "Can't blame you there."

"Noland to Bridge. Do you have the coordinates, Chekov?" Charlie called.

"Da!" he shouted. "Sending now."

"Coordinates received," the transporter engineer said.

"Energize," Charlie commanded, the tingling of the energy beams and the white lights a welcomed relief. It was time to give Khan what he deserved. While he wasn't the one to pull the plug on Jim's life, his blatant disregard of the men and women onboard the Enterprise made him no more innocent than if he had shot Jim point blank.

The air was rushing past the women when they materialized on the transport vehicle, their hair blowing onto their eyes and the hot sun shining down on their heads. Spinning around, Khan had Spock pinned on the edge, his long fingers wrapped around the skull of the Vulcan as he began to squeeze with all his strength. Before Uhura could even lift her phaser, Charlie ran forward, slamming her weapon into the side of Khan's head and knocking him aside. The augment fell with a scream, pulling Spock with him as they crashed unto the red metal.

"That was for Jim you son of bitch," she spat, rising her phaser as she let off a volley of stun shots.

Khan roared as he stood, the stuns only forcing him back instead of incapacitating him. Spock groaned as he rolled onto his side, Uhura rushing around Charlie to aid her boyfriend as Charlie played decoy, backing up as she led the murderer away.

"Isn't this quaint," Khan growled, each step measured as he drew closer to her. "Still trying to play the hero, Charlotte?"

"At least I'm not the villain."

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" he responded, running at her with such speed, Charlie didn't have time to register he had moved before she felt herself crashing onto the floor, the air forcibly ejected from her lungs. His hands were around her throat a second later, and as Charlie clawed at the strong fingers strangling her, she realized she had dropped the hypospray. She panicked then, trashing around she pulled at the appendages, trying to pry them from her neck. Black spots danced in front of her eyes, her heart trying to pump life-giving oxygen to a brain starving for it. She considered giving up for one moment, to join Jim in the blessed afterlife, but a strong, clear voice cut through the haze, "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome."

Her eyes snapped open as she remembered the training Pike had given her as she waited for Jim to return. His supervision and advice allowed her to excel in her defense classes, becoming one of the top students in her level. Glancing around as she analyzed her situation, Charlie understood her choices were limited and made one drastic grab at freedom. Charlie reached up and grabbed the sides of Khan's head, digging her thumbs into his eye sockets as hard as she could. The grip on her neck loosened and she sucked in the sweet taste of fresh air, her mind clearing as she pressed harder. Slowly, she directed Khan off, gritting her teeth against the strength it took to move the man and let her escape. When she was in a better position, she brought her foot up and kicked him as hard as she could as she sent him flying back. Charlie rolled to side, coughing violently as her hand came up to survey her bruised and throbbing throat.

Khan bellowed as he stood his glare frightening as he turned to her. His mouth was set in a deep scowl and his brows low over his storming eyes as he stepped closer. Charlie swallowed, her eyes going wide before Spock slammed a thick piece of metal he had ripped from the ship into the side of Khan's head, sending the man staggering to his knees. The few moments Charlie had Khan's attention had given the Vulcan enough time to recover and he attacked the dazed augment with all the ferocity of a grieving man.

"Charlie!" Uhura shouted as the men began fighting again, Spock clearly holding the upper hand, dislocating Khan's shoulder and sending him to the ground. Spock then straddled the man and laid into his face with his fists. Charlie turned to Uhura in enough time to see the dropped hypospray slide across the deck and into her outstretched hands.

"Spock!" Uhura called once she say Charlie stagger to her feet. "Spock! Stop! Stop!" The Vulcan ignored her as he rage took hold, each crack of bone and flesh disturbing and grotesque, lesser men no doubt succumbing to the relentless Vulcan assault. Frustrated, Uhura looked to Charlie who clenched the hypospray in her shaking grip, the rushing wind throwing the escaped hair from her ponytail into her face and her neck pulsing with pain.

Not knowing what else to do, Charlie shouted, "He's our only chance to save Jim!"

Spock paused, his stunned gaze turning first to Charlie and then Uhura who gave a curt nod. Khan was dazed under Spock's feet and before the Vulcan could cause any more damage, Charlie rushed forward, shoving the First Officer off the augment and administrating the hypospray.

As Khan lay prone at her feet, his eyes rolling into the back of his skull, Charlie growled, "Time for you do some good you bastard." And then for her own benefit, she reared back and kicked him as hard as she could. Nodding once, she turned to see both Uhura and Spock staring at her incredulously.

"What?" she asked just as the white lights of the transporter swirled and they were pulled back to the Enterprise.