Jim, Luna, and Bones hurried after Carol, Bones going the fastest trying to do anything he could to catch her attention. Even though it wasn't their normal position, Jim and Luna took a back seat when it came to Carol. Bones had to figure his feelings out after he found out she was lying, and Carol needed to give him an apology, but just not right now. They had torpedoes to figure out.

"Are the torpedoes in the weapons bay?" Carol asked while turning back to Jim and Luna, knowing they would have more knowledge about that.

"Loaded and ready to fire." Luna responded.

Jim moved up a little bit so him and Luna were both side to side, making it slightly awkward. "What are they?"

"I don't know." Carol scoffed. "That's why I forged my transfer onto your ship. To find out why." She suddenly turned around to look at each of them, but mostly Bones. "I do apologize for that. By the way, if I caused you any problems, I am sorry." She fixed her eyes on Bones, giving him a small smile he felt like he could just melt into. "I'm Carol Marcus."

Bones let out a deep sigh. He hated being lied to, but with her, he could kind of see why she would do it. He looked down at her outstretched hand as Jim and Luna watched intensely, trying to gage what was going to happen next. Bones finally took her hand, offering her a small smile. "Leonard McCoy."

The two smiled at each other for a long moment before Luna coughed intentionally to get back on topic. "Torpedoes." Carol spoke quickly while turning around as Bones' hand was placed on the small of her back, guiding her to the engineering deck. Jim and Luna both shared an impressed look at that. "My father gave me access to every program he oversaw, then I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes." Carol began to lead them to one of the shuttles they had arrived on, confusing Jim. "When I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even see me. That's when I discovered the torpedoes had disappeared from all official records."

She began to climb up the steps of the shuttle with Bones following, but before Jim could follow, Luna put a hand in front of his chest to stop him from walking. "And then he gave them to the Enterprise."

"You're much cleverer than your reputation suggests, Doctor."

Jim turned to look at Luna once the two were alone in the shuttle. "What are you doing?"

Luna put her hand out, trying to get him to go along with her. "Let's just see how this plays out between them."

Jim looked up at the inside of the shuttle. "Of course, we break up, and then your dad finds someone." He began to walk away from the shuttle in a huff, confusing Luna.

She blinked a couple of times before turning around to look at him. "We didn't break up."

Jim sat down on the steps of another shuttle while looking up at her with a confused face. "We're not?"

"No." Luna scoffed while moving closer to him. "I mean, you're a pussy, but I still…"

"Love me?" Jim suggested as she trailed off.

"Well," Luna began with a playful glance on her face before sitting a few steps under him. "Don't go putting words in my mouth."

Jim laughed as Luna's head was tilted up, giving him the perfect angle of her lips. He looked down at them before looking back into her deep brown eyes. "Luna," Jim began slowly, knowing too much had happened to keep it from her any longer. "I lo – "

"Guys!"

Jim broke away from her, angry at Bones' voice interrupting the two. "What?!"

"There's a nearby planet we can test the torpedo on." Carol told them excitedly while coming out of the shuttle.

Luna jumped up just as Bones and Carol made it to them. "How quick can we get there?"

Jim was still sitting in his spot, looking back and forth at Luna, and where she was sitting just before they were interrupted. "But what about – "

"More important matters, Jim." Luna laughed out before turning back to Bones and Carol, quickly discussing with them the plan.

Jim just blinked, hardly able to believe that this was the same girl a minute ago who was ready to say, "I love you" at the blink of an eye. "What the hell?" He whispered under his breath. Was this a parallel universe they transferred to? Did Luna somehow lose her mind?

"Come on, Captain." Luna told him while grabbing his hand and pulling him up to stand. "Business first, playtime later."

Bones and Carol turned to look at each other with a confused look before turning back to Jim and Luna. "Did we interrupt something?"

"Yes." Jim grumbled as Luna shrugged and responded with, "no," before pulling him to get back to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge!" Sulu announced as Jim counted to drag his feet behind Luna.

Luna rolled her eyes at the sound of him before hurrying to Sulu. "Mr. Sulu, have Doctors Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid yet?" Luna asked while glancing over at Jim, realizing he was going to sulk all the way to the windshield on the far right of the bridge.

"Yes, ma'am." Sulu answered while looking up at her, and then to Jim. "They're moving the torpedo into position now."

Jim turned around with a thinking look on his face. "Any activity from the Klingons?"

"Not yet." Sulu looked back down at the control panel while taking a deep breath, knowing what would happen if the Klingons did find them. "But if we're stuck here much longer, they will find us."

Jim nodded, the fear running through his mind too before moving his glance to Uhura who was standing near the captain's chair. "Lieutenant Uhura, did you let Starfleet know we have Harrison in custody?"

"Yes, sir." She let out an exasperated sigh before answering what she knew was going to be his next question. "No response yet."

Jim gave her a confused glance before giving that same look to Luna. Jim took a step towards her before Chekov came through the speaker. "Engineering to bridge. Hello. Captain, can you hear me?"

Jim gave Luna that we'll-talk-later look before moving to his chair. "Mr. Chekov," Jim announced as he sat down. "Give me some good news."

"We found the leak, sir, but the damage is substantial." Luna had her arms crossed in front of her chest while she stood near her chair and listened with a quizzical look on her face. "We're working on it."

"Any idea what caused it?" Luna asked loud enough so she would be heard by Chekov.

"No, ma'am." He answered quickly. "But I accept full responsibility."

Jim was looking down in thought while shaking his head. "Something tells me it wasn't your fault. Stay on it."

"Shuttle is standing by, Captain." Sulu announced as Luna sat in her seat. When she looked to her right, she was sad that Chekov wasn't there. She missed her usual team, but she wasn't going to reject the help.

Jim changed his intercom to connect to the shuttle, getting a little smile on his face at the thought of putting Bones and Carol on the same mission. "Bones, thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for the steadiest hands on the ship."

"You know," Bones scoffed while carrying the equipment off the ship. "When I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman," He winked at Carol, making her blush slightly. "There was no torpedo!"

Okay, Luna wanted her father and Carol to end up together as much as anyone else, but this was getting weird. She felt like there were some things fathers and daughters should never know about each other, and she never wanted to hear what it was like when her father flirted. She went to her own intercom, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Dr. McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt."

"So how can these legendary hands help you, Dr. Marcus?" Luna shut her eyes, knowing that could be taken so many ways. And the ways she was thinking was not what she wanted to imagine. Ever.

"Bones!" Jim sighed out, becoming uncomfortable with the situation as well.

Carol turned to Bones with a smile as he was carrying down equipment for her. "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," Bones sighed out, finally finding the perfect place to set down the equipment. "I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets. And let me tell you, those little bastards bite." Luna began to shake her head from the ship, not finding how any of this was flirting anymore. "I think I can work some magic on your missile." Bones gave her a little wink, making Carol giggle. Jim and Luna looked to each other as a shiver ran down both of their spines. They really thought they wanted this too.

"Dr. McCoy," Carol spoke to him through a smile. "There's a bundle of fiber optic cables against the inner casing. You'll need to cut the twenty-third wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?"

"Right." Bones scoffed while beginning to stick his pliers into the torpedo. "The thought never crossed my mind."

"Leonard," Carol spoke in a warning tone. If that didn't make Luna want to barf, she didn't know what would. "Wait for my word. I'm rerouting the detonation processor." She finally turned to look back at him, giving him a nervous once over. "Are you ready?"

"And raring."

"Good luck." She told him with a nod. Right when Bones put his hand in, the torpedo sucked his arm into it.

"Sir," Sulu spoke as Luna's ears became hyperaware, trying to find any little sound that would assure her of her father's safety. "The torpedo just armed itself."

"The warhead's gonna detonate in thirty seconds, sir!" The woman who replaced Chekov yelled out.

"What the hell happened?" Bones screamed out while Carol hurried to try to disarm the torpedo before it could go off with his arm in it. "I can't get my arm out!"

"Target their signal!" Luna yelled while standing up from her seat. "Beam them back right now!"

"The transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo." Luna quickly turned around to see Spock standing with the same fear across everyone else's faces. "We cannot beam back one without the other."

"Dr. Marcus," Jim began, feeling the fear and anxiety spread through his chest. "Can you disarm it?"

"I'm trying." She announced as she continued to work. "I'm trying."

"Jim," Bones sighed out like he was giving up. "Get her the hell out of here!"

"No!" Carol and Luna spoke as one. That's when Jim stood up, and moved forward, directly behind Luna to be the instant comfort she would need if something went wrong. "If you beam me back, he dies! Just let me do it!"

"Ten." Bones began counting off, his eyes fixed on the timer. "Nine. Eight."

"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, sir." Sulu announced. Both Luna and Jim looked down at him, and then back up to the windshield again.

"Four. Three."

"Shit!" Carol finally cursed before just ripping out the charge in it. They both fell back as the torpedo opened up with only two seconds left to spare.

Jim and Luna both let out a long, relieved sigh as she fell into Jim's chest. Jim shut his eyes while petting her hair, and Luna just took deep breaths into his chest, trying to calm herself down. "Deactivation successful, Captain." Sulu reported.

Jim moved one of his hands from Luna's body to press the button to Bones' radio. "Dr. McCoy, are you all right?" After there was no response, he was starting to get worried all over again. "Bones!"

"Jim?" Bones called out, making Luna pick her head up from Jim's chest. She knew that voice. And she knew something was serious. "You're going to want to see this."

Jim hurried into the med bay while Luna and Spock followed him. "What have we got?"

"It's quite clever actually." Carol told them while her and Bones both surveyed around the body. Luna raised her eyebrows, surprised that this was the first thing they decided to do after almost blowing up on an isolated planet. "This fuel container has been removed from the torpedo and retrofitted to hide this cryo tube."

Luna began to look the torpedo over, Jim staying close to her as she looked up at her father with a puzzled face. "Is he alive?"

"He's alive." Bones sighed, still looking down at the body, wondering how he was going to explain this to them. "But if we try to revive him without the proper sequencing, it could kill him. This technology's beyond me."

Spock paused for a moment before turning to look at Bones to his right. "How advanced, Doctor?"

"It's not advanced." Carol jumped in, causing each of them to turn their heads. "That cryo tube is ancient."

"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we developed warp capability," Bones pointed at both Jim and Luna as they stood there, fully attentive. "Which explains the most interesting thing about our friend here. He's 300 years old."

Jim, Spock, and Luna's eyes widened as they looked back and forth at each other. Luna's eyes then fell on the cryo tube again, slowly backing up as she looked at him. If this man was three-hundred years old, then that made John Harrison a lot more interesting. "We need to talk to Harrison." She told Jim quickly before the three began to pile out of the medical bay.

Jim stormed up right to John Harrison's window as Luna and Spock stood more off to the side, but still watching everything carefully. Jim stared at him for a moment, but Harrison would not match Jim's eye. "Why is there a man in that torpedo?"

"There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there."

Jim, Spock, and Luna shared another gaze. Luna took a deep breath while stepping forward, fighting with every part of her body not to shake from fear. "Who the hell are you?" Jim didn't take his eyes off of her until she was right next to him. When he turned back to Harrison, he still wasn't looking directly at any of them, he was just looking off into the empty space.

"A remnant of a time long past." He finally looked to the two, and they just continued to stare down John Harrison. "Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept," He slowly turned to look at Spock while thinking of the next part of the story. "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."

"I looked up 'John Harrison'." Jim decided to speak, making Luna jump slightly since she was so focused in on his story. "Until a year ago, he didn't exist."

He immediately stood up and began to slowly move towards the window as he spoke. "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." He was as close as he could comfortably get as he stared at Jim and Luna standing in front of him, his glare deepening. "My name is Khan."

There was a long pause until Jim asked, "Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a three-hundred-year-old frozen man for help?"

"Because I am…better."

"At what?" Luna asked while shrugging, trying to make it look like he was phasing her, but this man was freaking her out.

"Everything." His head straightened out before speaking again. "Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time and for that he needed a warrior's mind. My mind. To design weapons and warships."

"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect." Jim and Luna both turned to Spock as he spoke.

"He wanted to exploit my savagery." Khan spoke as he stepped towards Spock, giving him an insane look. "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?" He offered Spock a little smile before turning to look back to Jim and Luna. "Marcus used me to design weapons. To help him realize his vision of a militarized Starfleet. He sent you to use those weapons. To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet." Luna didn't want to believe it, but how could she fight him on this? She didn't trust Marcus, and she definitely didn't trust Khan. "And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he talked about. The war he always wanted."

"No." Jim whispered before turning away from Khan while shaking his head. "No." Jim got even closer to the window while staring him down. Luna just continued to stand there, trying to process what he had said. "I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!"

Khan shook his head before turning away from Jim with a scoff. "Marcus took my crew from me."

"You are a murderer!" Jim sounded more like he was trying to convince himself at this point.

"He used my friends to control me." Khan's back was to them as Jim was now next to Spock, and Luna was making her way toward them. "I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed, but I was discovered." His eyes were red as he spoke, and tears were threatening to fall down his face. Luna could see it in his shoulders that he was upset, but Khan wasn't going to let them see him shed a few tears. "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." When he turned back to them, his tear was rolling off of his chin. "My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"

They each continued to stand there, looking at each other. Jim slightly moved his hand behind him to move it closer to her. Luna looked down at his hand, slipping her hand into his, and giving it a tight squeeze. "Proximity alert, sir!" They all jumped before looking behind them at where the intercom was positioned. When jumping, Jim and Luna had parted so Khan could see their interlocked hands. He stared at their hands like an idea was hatching. "There's a ship at warp heading right for us."

"Klingons?" Jim asked, trying to calm his heart.

"At warp?" Khan questioned, making them all turn to him with wide eyes. "No, Kirk. We both know who it is."

"I don't think so." Sulu immediately reported back through the intercom. "It's not coming at us from Kronos."

Jim just stared at Khan for a few more moments, what he was saying really making sense for the first time since he had met him. Jim slowly began to back up, tugging on Luna's hand to make sure she followed as he began to run to the bridge. "Lieutenant, move Khan to med bay." Jim commanded to the man in charge of the area. "Post six security officers on him."

"Yes, Captain!" The lieutenant yelled back as the three hurried to the bridge before Marcus could do anything to their ship.

MisfitCarter: Karl Urban is the best. Ugh, him as Skurg in Ragnarok melted my heart, and of course he's also amazing as Bones. And yes, Jim is being a little cry baby, but he finally gets better in this chapter. It's funny I'm actually studying English in Secondary Education! I know some schools offer Fine Arts Education degrees because my school just implemented it. Let me know if you have any college questions. You can message me anytime and I can help you out if you need it.

Love. Fiction. 2018: He really does lol. Thank you, love!

blue-lily295: I love Scotty so much *screams*. Thank you so much, I can't wait for you to read the rest of it!

Rebootfan: Yay! I'm so happy you're here and you're graduating! Woot Woot! I'm so happy for you! Glad you're back, love!

Since anyone in the Marvel family is hurting right now (like me) I thought this would be a good time to post and get our minds off of things. Classes are also winding down so I was finally able to finish a chapter! I should become more active. My last final is on Tuesday so yeet. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and remember to review!