Chapter 3
McCoy and Spock had already synthesized their food by the time Rachel had begun to walk into the other room to synthesize her own and McCoy said as he walked by her "Hey Rachel, use the synthesizer on the right okay? Spock broke the other one with his clumsy damned Vulcan claws."
"I merely closed the glass covering over an already unstable locking mechanism, yet the fact that you continually choose to mock me in the presence of Officer Deveaux suggests that you may be harboring… never mind." Spock stated as he received a glare from McCoy and then continued on his way.
"I wouldn't synthesize any dairy products if I were you either, Chekov came to the med-bay yesterday morning after eating a cup of yogurt and some cheese, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty." McCoy added as he followed Spock.
"Thanks for the warning," Rachel said as McCoy left.
As she walked over to the synthesizer, she peered over to the man in the brig sitting on his bench as he stared into the wall in front of him expressionless, his posture as straight and as confident as it had been earlier. By this time, Spock and McCoy were already back in the mini med-bay working as they ate, leaving Rachel and the man alone in the room. Just as she reached the synthesizer, she noticed that the man's stomach was audibly grumbling.
"With a regenerative rate like the one your cells were exhibiting in there, your metabolic rate must be sky high, have they given you anything to eat since you've been here?" Rachel concernedly asked as she approached the barrier between her and the man.
He turned to look at her then and with the faintest hint of puzzlement displaying in his otherwise mysterious features, and he responded "No… No one has provided me any form of sustenance subsequent to my arrival, but I would be lying if I told you that your assumption of my metabolic rate was inaccurate."
As Rachel considered his words, she thought about the guards from Captain Kirk's debriefing who have been coming through periodically to check on the man and how one of them should have fed him days ago. The only reason for them not to, would be because of a direct order from the captain. Kirk must want him to starve, to be as miserable as he can possibly make him as revenge for Admiral Pike's death. She considered the fact that anyone trying to feed the man might also endure some type of punishment from the captain, who was quite adept at serving it out, and she looked at the man again. She knew that with an exterior as confident as his, that he'd be too proud to beg, though she did catch the slightest hint of pain in his face, and from her underprivileged childhood, knew all too well the excruciating feeling of hunger pangs.
Upon her realization, Rachel announced to the man before her "I don't know why you've done the terrible things that you've done, and I want you to know that I do not feel pity for those who take the lives of innocent people….. but, I do not condone the captain's decision to let you starve like an animal." And with that, she opened another hole in the barrier and slipped a plate through to him that harbored French bread and a few slices of grilled chicken.
The man accepted the plate as he stared into the kind hazel eyes before him, and graciously replied "Thank you."
Rachel then gave him a curt nod as she took her own plate and regally strode into the adjacent room, leaving him to ponder the interaction as he consumed his meal.
Khan. Khan Noonien Sing was the man's real name, and he had always considered himself a good man, an honest man. So why was it then, that he had become accustom to the expectation of others to think of him as a monster? He wasn't the terrorist that everyone now believed that he was. John Harrison was that terrorist and Harrison was a man that Admiral Marcus had created the day that he used Khan's family against him. This woman, this Rachel, had awakened the real Khan with her gesture of kindness for a brief moment as he was fleetingly reminded of the warmth and kindness of his family, his crew, the ones he held most dear to him. He could tell that this woman had dignity from the way that she had spoken, with courage and resolve, and he realized that in light of this quality, he found himself harboring a feeling for her that he hadn't felt for anyone in nearly 300 years: respect.