Chapter 8
Khan was staring out of the barrier after 16 hours of furiously pacing around the cell with breaks of sitting on the bench, or resting his forehead on his forearm as he leaned against the barrier in the corner of his chamber. His thoughts were racing with the subject of how he would take joy in viciously snapping the bones of every loathsome wretch that had a part in Rachel's suffering. Oh, how he wished that one would walk through the door and be stupid enough to open the barrier even just an inch.
Suddenly his vengeful thoughts fell silent as he noticed the hitching of Rachel's breath and the hysterical panting that immediately followed.
He turned to face her, and in as cautious of a manner as he could manage, he said "I know that you must be terrified right now, but please know that I will not bring you any harm."
Rachel became startled when the man had turned to face her, and was already frantically panting. She couldn't think straight and as she heard him speak, the words just weren't registering.
Her panting increased and tears were starting to flow from her eyes as her frenzy continued to make her knees curl up defensively to her stomach as she lay on the side of her body that hadn't been kicked. Her small frame was racked with fits of shuddering as she continued to cry out in pain, shame, and fear.
Khan looked down at the distraught woman in sympathy and could hardly bare to see that the kind, dignified, and lively spirit of this young lady so crumpled before him, was so irreparably crushed.
He moved gingerly over to the side of the bed and kneeled down to Rachel's level, which she didn't notice through her clenched, tear-flooded eyes.
Many may have judged Khan to be a ruthless, calculated, and cold commander, but his ferocity in battle was only driven by the need to ensure the safety of his crew. His true demeanor was warm, and kind, and as Khan knelt next to Rachel, his need to console her was the strongest altruistic emotion that his pained heart had let him feel since he had last seen his crew.
"Rachel, listen to me, you are safe," Khan gently, but reassuringly said as he focused on her reaction to his words.
When he spoke again with such a gentle tone, Rachel caught her name as the first intelligible word that she was able to discern, followed by the word 'safe'. His proximity alarmed her, but she had nowhere to go and if she had, the immense pain that flowed through her, would surely prove debilitating. 'Safe', she thought, how desperately she wished that she could truly be safe. She had once assumed that she lived in a world that was composed of a net of safety where only slipping through the holes occasionally would render someone in a dangerous situation. Now that safety net had been stolen out from under her, and if she fell back into reality, there would be nothing there to catch her.
"They are gone now and I'm the only one here with you, and I promise you are safe with me, alright?" Khan soothingly assured her as he noticed that his words were starting to slowly get through to her.
They were gone. She understood that, but the significance of that fact hadn't really registered with her until she heard him confirm it. At the moment, they weren't there to hurt her or degrade her or to steal what was left of her meek and tattered soul.
She opened her eyes to look up at the man who was so desperately trying to coax her out of her terrified frenzy. She locked onto the dominating blue with the twinge of green that molted together in the magnetic gaze that directed itself concernedly upon her.
"You're safe now," Khan expressed to her as gently as he had before, but with the added security of his soothing and hypnotic gaze fixed upon her own emerald orbs.
His promise of safety seemed genuine. And as Rachel felt herself being thrown back into reality, strangely, the feeling of falling had stopped dead in its tracks as soon as he caught her in his gaze.
She was safe. As the panic subsided, a subtle relief set in that overwhelmed Rachel to the point that her only reaction was to reach out for comfort to the man that knelt before her.