I am so terribly sorry about the huge delay my ducks! Like I said last chapter, the only time I have to work on this is basically on the weekends. And though I may be a huge nerd, I do have somewhat of a life, so that time is cut even shorter. Hopefully you will like this chapter and decide to forgive me *grovels* And thanks to all who reviewed!

Fingers tapped impatiently against the arm of Jim's chair. Every nerve was on edge, every thought consumed with anxiety over the day's swiftly approaching plans. The arrival of their special guest loomed on the horizon. Only now, Jim had the endless, and in this case not comforting, horizon of space to look upon.

"Keptin, ve vill be nearing zhe planet's atmosphere in approximately terteen minutes," Chekov announced from his spot near the shuttle bridge, tapping away on his PADD. Every spine went rigid, every heart skipped a beat, as everyone drew in a sharp breath. By now all crew members knew what was coming, a mixture of fear, anticipation, curiosity and wariness filling the room. The only one who remained calm, at least on the outside, was Commander Spock, sitting stiffly next to his captain.

"Okay," Jim replied through gritted teeth. Everybody knew he was on edge. The very man who had been the cause of his death, even indirectly, and who was also the one who saved his life, was about to become a member of their crew. He had no say; this, sadly, was a case where the Admirals pulled rank on him and demanded he follow an order. This order, especially, would not be trifled with. One of the few rules he couldn't, and wouldn't, mess with.

For the past several days, he had been waiting. No matter where he was, whether it was his chambers or the bridge or the bar, Khan constantly invaded his mind. The very man who had taken so much from him would now be under his command. At first he had been excited, what with the man's new 'chip' in his brain that Jim had control over.

But then he remember when they had captured Harrison —Khan, Singh, whatever—that they had only done so because that had been what the super human wanted at the time. Who was to say that this wasn't the exact same situation?

Khan could not be trusted, everyone knew that. Though they had covered it up, StarFleet had recognized their mistake and their ignorance in the actions of Admiral Markus. It had been kept quiet, and soon things were sorted out. Yet, of course, the idea of a militarized StarFleet was never very far off, and now that Markus had inadvertently started a movement, despite the tragic ending of his determination, the idea had spread. Ideas are like seeds; all they ever need to grow is for someone to spread them.

So the science section of HQ had secured Khan and his crew, reverting back to their tests and experiments, though there was proof that this time, the experiments were far more humane than those that Markus had submitted Khan to.

Jim hadn't forgiven the guy; far from it. He wanted to see him burn as much as anybody else; he had killed Pike for God's sake. The man who had made him (or pushed him depending on how you look at it) to be the man and Captain he was today. But everyone had a right to a fair trial and Jim was certain the court case for Khan was just a show, and now his coming to the Enterprise the test. They wanted to see how their technology worked, and how useful the super human could be under their control.

He might not have forgiven or forgotten, but he was capable of some compassion for the bastard. Or any other bastards for that matter.

"Captain?" Kirk looked to see most of his bridge crew staring at him, all of them cramped into the small shuttle. He lifted an eyebrow in confusion and glanced at Spock, eyes trained on him worriedly.

"Huh?" he asked stupidly.

"We have entered the atmosphere and are preparing to land. Awaiting your orders for action."

Oh.

"Contact the awaiting Admirals and let them know we are prepared for all arrangements, as well as for our…guest." He spoke with as much seriousness as possible, but this was his crew. They could tell, see, the fear curling inside of him, the anxiousness roiling beneath the surface. Because they all had it as well. But now was not a time for fear, and if their Captain and Commander hid it, then they would too.

The shuttle shook a bit as the turbulence from entering the lower levels of the atmosphere passed over them, and soon they were in the last few minutes of smooth sailing before they finally landed on solid earth. Then the metal of the ship groaned and lurched.

"What the hell was that?" he yelled, gripping the arm rests of his chair tightly.

"There seems to be a problem with engine two sir, we're fixing it." Kirk looked at Chekov and Scotty, who had been sitting side by side conversing about some equation. They nodded and unhooked the safety belts, hurrying to the front of the large shuttle to help.

"This is just what we need," Bones growled from behind him. "Going off to meet a maniac who's tried to kill us, sure, of course our shuttle needs to crash. Stupid god damn ship, stupid god dam space…"

Despite the situation, Jim couldn't help but chuckle at Bone's ability to curse out anything, anywhere.

He was ripped out his musing when another strong jolt made him lurch forward, hurting his stomach as the seat belt kept him in the seat.

"I really hate these things," he muttered before ripping it off and running to the front. He ignored Spock's surprised shout of 'Captain!' and slapped a hand of Scotty's shoulder as he reached the control station. "What's going on? Why are we failing?"

"One o' the smaller turbines fell off an' is stuck between the rotors of the main engine, sir. We can't get ou' there to fix it 'til we've landed."

"But how can we land with a busted engine?" The Scot looked at him, pained.

"Zat's zhe problem sir. Ve can't vithout seriously damaging zhe ship and its passengers," Pavel chimed, for once that puppy dog look gone. Instead, it was replaced with something Kirk hated to see in such a young face.

Fear.

"Don't worry, we've survived a lot worse than this, Pavel. We'll be fine." The Russian seemed to cheer up a bit at the rare use of his first name (since it was considered inappropriate in professional settings) and turned to continue speaking with one of the flight attendants, spewing evacuation instructions.

But they all knew that a shuttle didn't have very many safe or usable evacuation drills. Hell, the reason for the damn shuttle was evacuation. There was only one layer, and they were on it now.

"Please keep your seat belts fastened and prepare for crash landing," a mechanical voice called over the intercoms.

"That includes you Captain, and your crewmates," the pilot cried, straining to the control the wonton ship. With a mini-showdown, they glared at each other until another shudder of the ship made Kirk herd Scotty and Chekov out to their seats.

"Everybody hold—" Jim never finished the sentence, because at that moment, the bottom of the shuttle nicked a rocky hilltop two miles from the landing station. The loud snarl of rock hitting metal was unmistakable. The Captain flew across the cabin, smashing into the wall as everybody started yelling in fear. The walls rocked and the windows cracked as the rough landing inevitably took its toll on the small ship, and the passengers.

Finally, the dust cleared and eyes met, panic and fright melting away when the crew realized they had managed to stay relatively unscathed. Spock's worried gaze met Kirk's, and a small, relieved smile turned up the corner of the Vulcan's lips when all Jim did was get up and stretch, instead of keeling over from the harsh impact hit he took. After several minutes of organizing, they carefully disembarked. The worst injury was a dislocated wrist, something Bones easily (and quite angrily, Jim might say) fixed before wrapping the girl's arm in a torn piece of cloth to keep it in place. She nodded a teary thanks.

"Well, that could have gone a lot better, but hey, at least we're here." Several heads turned to look at him dryly, annoyed by the optimism.

"And by here, do you mean two miles away from the blasted station we were supposed to land at?" McCoy interjected.

"Precisely." Jim replied with a sickeningly sweet smile. "The meds will be here any second, so don't worry. We'll be fine. He clapped a hand on his old friend's shoulder, who just walked away grumbling, pulling out his on-hand medical supplies. It was in times like this that Jim almost felt bad for Leonard, for having to put up with all his crap. Almost.

"Captain, they need help gathering the scattered materials for the wreckage crew to examine," Scotty called.

"Right," he breathed. "I'll take this route." People, or those not injured, started to spread out, combing through the bushes for the leftovers of their ship. Mostly for something to do while the ambulances took their sweet time.

Jim had been looking around a group of ferns when light broke through the sparse tree coverage. He blinked before smiling softly. Sunset. It had been one of the things he missed the most about Earth; there were no sunsets, or sunrises, in space.

He took a step forward without thinking, only to find the rock below his foot crumbling and his world starting to tilt. With a shout, he fell, reaching toward nothing as his hand grasped at air. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact of his head meeting solid ground. To think, he had survived an attack from Romulans from the future, a volatile volcano, getting the crap beaten out of him by a mad Vulcan and literally getting killed by a psychotic superhuman. And here he was, meeting his end by falling off a cliff.

Suddenly the falling stopped, but the pain was in his arm, not his head. Cracking one eye open, he saw he was still about forty feet from the ground, just hanging over the side of the crag. With wide, incredulous eyes he looked up into a pair of fierce, light blue orbs and a cold smirk. A deep, resonating baritone filled his ears as his mouth fell open in shock.

"Hello Captain."

So, a bit longer than last chapter. The next one I will try to have out next week(end?), but I really don't know since my schedule is so hectic. Thank you to all who review and have reviewed, I appreciate it so much.