Captain James T. Kirk stood over the newly dug grave marked with a plaque that shone brighter than the rest that occupied the same plot of land.
He knew that he was supposed to feel grievance and distress over the death of the man who was the closest thing to a father to him. Tears should've spilled down onto his cheeks and his heart should've felt heavy with torment and sorrow as he watched dirt being flung onto an open hole where the remains of a good man finally rested,
but that isn't how a Starfleet captain should act,
nor would it be the behaviour Christopher Pike would be satisfied in seeing if he were alive.
Instead, Kirk stood proud and tall with his fist clenched together in a tight grip as he watched the obsidian-black grave marker shine in his sight below him. Pike's name glittered in rich gold.
But among the dolor-colored stone reflected another form of darkness - a much chilling sight bearing image of the man who looked straight into Kirk's eyes on that chaotic day.
He remembered every detail of it - how could he forget the face of the man who killed his first supporter. He recalled the look of those glass eyes that stared him down.
It was an unusual look, far different from the other enemies he has encountered throughout his lifetime.
They were cold and detached like a dead man's gaze, but deep into his features Kirk found the slight sliver of human emotion detected on John Harrison's face. A hint of regret shone on his face as he was fleeing. Emotion evident as he spotted Kirk amidst the madness.
"Who are you?" Kirk muttered as the memory came and went once more.
The raven-haired mysterious mad-man.
The glasz-colored eyes that held so much hate and resentment in one glare.
'What could he possibly want?'
'What was his motive?'
'Why Starfleet?'
The hands that were already closed into a fist clenched tighter with every looming question. Kirk bit his lip to suppress the oncoming pain.
'He's nothing more than a heartless bastard'
"What are you? Because I will find you and take you down."
With a last salute and a turn of his heel, Jim Kirk quickened his steps as he moved away from Christopher Pike's grave before he lost himself into sorrow. Clumsy fingers massaged his stinging eyes as the one did nothing to help with the tears.
Sometimes, in days of darkness, Kirk had always questioned what it was like to have a stoic heart like a Vulcan. He wonders whether or not Spock had a gift or a curse for times like these throbbed painfully in his chest and there was nothing that his egocentric mind could do to relieve it.
He believed in his very being that the universe has long denied him the blessings of a father.
Jim Kirk had now lost two
with the faces of their murderers forever embedded onto his memory.
Captain Kirk was wrong.
Khan was not a heartless man.
His heart was the very cause of his destruction.
His heart was his weakness,
his liability
his pressure point.
John Harrison is and simply was a lonely man
suffering just as much as Kirk.
Khan was not a heartless man.
Kirk finally saw a glimpse of proof.
A waiver of hope,
A moment of shock that spread across the Augment's darkened features told all.
"72"
That number echoed through his mind once more. Khan had realized he was given his second chance.
"72 torpedoes"
The same torpedoes he had conjured from his own abilities - torpedoes in which smuggled his dearest crew away from the traitorous Admiral.
The ones he thought was lost forever during that frightful event.
Marcus will pay. He will burn in hellfire for what he did, using his families as toys for his game.
Khan looked back at the three humans standing before him in confusion and fear. Cocking his head to the side, he observed their frightened but composed expressions.
Do you know? No, you're just part of Marcus's pawns now aren't you?
But it was then that he was met with a fiery blue staring back at him with a lifetime full of resentment.
The Captain of the Enterprise who couldn't let himself be threatened by an unknown stranger. The strong-willed and the tough-hearted.
The broken soldier.
Realization hit Khan with like a bullet.
No, you're not pawns, he thought as he recalled that unfinished chess game. The strategy he had adopted was now back in play.
The Enterprise is the queen.
Hands twitched in anticipation as everything Khan had worked for was finally coming back to him. He could finally end this once and for all and retake his crew, and kill Marcus for what
he has done.
All he needed was to follow the queen…
"72"
That was all it took for Khan to regain what he had lost. Without hesitation, the Great Khan had surrendered without a moment's passing and even allowed the distraught Captain to give his mighty blows.
He almost laughed at his feeble attempts, happy to feel something again.
They are alive.
The moment on board the Enterprise was the moment Khan had singlehandedly unraveled Marcus's obviously constructed plan. Everything became clear.
He could see the ignorance flaming in their Captain's eyes.
But what he could also see was the remains of hate and resentment that was directed to him pertaining to the incident he had caused in order to gain Marcus's attention.
Khan saw a reflection of himself in that snarled expression, composed to avoid showing any weakness. He knew that was the same face he held when the Admiral first chose to reveal his true colors.
But those blue soldier's eyes…
He's seen them before…
'Emotions are such a dreadful burden aren't they, Mr. Kirk?'
It was a weakness he knew he could easily exploit; his surrender was not a gamble.
Khan knew that in order for him to take advantage of the Enterprise, he had to gain their trust. Right now, their loyalty laid in Marcus's wrinkled old hands. To do so would mean exposing the truth,
But it was a necessary risk to be taken for the sake of his crew.
"23, 17, 46, 11" Coordinates that flowed flawless in Khan's voice. Numbers that lead to the Admiral's reveal. He needed them to find him; no words of truth could ever convince them now.
"If you want to know why I did what I did, go and take a look."
Kirk looked back with askance, but Khan saw it falter undeniably. Kirk was not a cold man no matter how his actions exhibited so. He was strong but soft-hearted.
'Just like…'
"Give me one reason why I should listen to you-"
"-I could give you 72. And there on board your ship, Captain. They have been all along…
I suggest you open one up."
Jim Kirk was not easily swayed, let alone by the very man who had unleashed vengeance against Starfleet, but something about those torpedoes irked him from the start.
It was Scotty's first rejection of them that had supported Harrison's mysterious claim and convinced the young Captain to follow his curiosity.
He wanted to know.
He wanted to know why he saved their lives in Kronos. Kirk knew there was more to John Harrison's surrender.
And without taking opposition, the admiral's daughter and McCoy was sent off with one of the torpedoes in their possession.
When they arrived, however, they returned with an extra person, frozen in his state in a machine so ancient, it was impossible to decipher.
A man frozen in comatose
for 300 years.
It was enough to send Kirk's legs sprinting to John Harrison's cell.
He needed answers and he needed them now.
"Why is there a man in that torpedo?"
In that moment, Khan suppressed the urge to sigh relief.
They were alive.
Marcus was a liar.
He had his crew.
"There are men and women in all those torpedos Captain, I put them there."
"Who the hell are you?" Kirk demanded.
Hesitation lingered in Khan's tongue as he waited to respond. His kind had been cast off from Earth due to hatred and fear. What the truth revealed could mark a repeat of history for the Augments, but lies could not help him now.
If he wanted Kirk to trust him, he had to trust Kirk as well.
"A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior so to lead others to peace in a world at war." His memories flickered to a smiling Admiral Eugene, dedicated to his work.
Then, to the memory of John: "I joined to keep you safe. To keep all of Scotland Yard safe.
It was my decision and mine alone. Understand?"
"We were condemned as criminals, forced into exile." 'A privilege'
"For centuries we slept," 'John, you told me once, didn't you? Friends protect people. I'm protecting you because you are my best man and to me, that is worth everything.'
"Hoping when we awoke things would be...different…
I alone, survived."
"I looked up John Harrison,"
The name sparked another pang of guilt through the Augment.
"A year ago he didn't exist-"
"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." Irritance seized his whole body. Khan hated his past.
He hated recalling the true origin of his alias.
John Harrison.
"My name...is… Khan." he spat out brutally.
But Kirk was still unfazed. No recognition was given to his name and it showed how much Marcus had hidden away from Starfleet.
Khan needed more to convince Kirk of Marcus's doing. He needed more truth, and so he delivered.
The relief of revealing Marcus ran like a cold chill through his veins. A comfort, yet repulsive feeling. As he reminisced, he was reminded of all the torment he had underwent by Marcus's hands. The way the apathetic Admiral used his crew against him…
They needed to know what he has done.
But Kirk was still not convinced. He too harbored loss of a family and the blame fell on Khan.
"I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers! You killed them! In cold blood!"
Khan's blood boiled as he remembered Kirk's face amongst the fire, and he remembered a man limping himself to safety with a cane gripped tightly on his hands.
At that moment he was reminded of someone who used to do the same thing…
A soldier with limp…
The pain in Khan's heart as he watched the man fall in agony. His face turned to him and all he could see was...
"MARCUS took my crew from me!" Khan turned his head away from that broken face in his mind.
"YOU ARE A MURDERER."
"He used my friends to control me!"
All he could see was…
"I tried to smuggle them into safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed. But I was discovered...I had no choice but to escape alone. "
Khan could feel the frantic panic he felt before. The failing warp device, the blaring thrill in Marcus's voice…
The moment his very being stopped to exist as he ripped apart the 72nd torpedo.
"I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear."
The huge reveal and the sound of a cryopod that held a dying man.
The very last time Khan had ever seen him since.
All he could see in Christopher Pike's face as he laid dying on the crumbled floor was John.
His John. The one he had promised to protect with his life.
And Marcus snatched him away with a smile on his face.
Khan couldn't protect him, he failed to do his part. But he harbored a vengeance so immense towards the Admiral who betrayed him.
"And so I responded in kind…" Khan spoke through gritted teeth.
"My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"
Kirk left the holding cell in a dash, fists clenched to his sides as he maneuvered his way through the Enterprise with Spock silently at his heels, ignorant of such emotion that connected Khan to his Captain. But it was then when Kirk passed the bridge did the confused Vulcan speak up and question his motives.
"Captain, we need to assess the report of an incoming ship. Where are you going?"
"Not now, Spock."
"But Captain, you're heading to the Med Bay-"
"I know."
"Is there a certain reason?-"
"Spock PLEASE!" Hard eyes met Spock's and it was enough to silence his ongoing questions.
Kirk stomped his way through each deck as his mind repeated the conversation he had with Khan. He wanted answers and the Augment had given it to him in a silver platter - blunt and truthful; there was no doubt in his voice at all.
Jim's problem, however, laid in his decision whether or not he would take it.
As Kirk and Spock arrived at the Medical Bay, they were immediately met with a fuming Bones, still obviously pissed at the shock he had went through while opening the torpedo. Now he finds Jim where he wasn't supposed to be.
"Hey, Mr. Captain! Didn't you hear the report? Incoming ship! What are you doing here - go do your job!"
But Kirk was intent on revealing more of Khan's mystery, and he couldn't find it in himself to trust those dark-laced words that Khan had spoken to him.
He needed another source of information. One who knew more of Khan than he did himself.
Kirk's eyes then flickered towards the dismantled torpedo laying near his feet.
There was only one group of witnesses that held valuable information.
72 available on the Enterprise. It was a risk that Kirk was willing to take.
"Bones I want you and Carol to revive one of these people. Choose one and do your job carefully."
McCoy couldn't help but bark out a suppressed chuckle. Carol Marcus and Spock looked at Kirk with much surprise.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"
"Captain it would be illogical-"
"To hell with illogical, this is insanity! I already agreed with you with opening one up but now you want us to perform magic on a frozen guy? Jim this is a bit of a stretch-"
"Im not joking around, Bones!" Kirk interrupted with a tone of annoyance. Taking on the air of a Captain, Kirk spun around and looked his medical officer straight on. The alarms blared once more as they called the Captain onto the bridge, giving Kirk little time to explain.
"Choose a torpedo, open one up, and do your best to revive them. I want one alive and the others left intact. No word should be given to our prisoner of this. This is between us only, do you understand?"
McCoy watched his Captain plead with strong intent. He had never seen Jim act so determined yet frightened about something before.
It must be of importance if Jim was to listen to the words of a prisoner.
With a firm nod, McCoy stood tall and looked Kirk straight back.
"Understood, Captain."
A/N Forgive the delay! I have prioritized weekends as my day of writing but even that has become difficult to maintain. T^T I hope you guys can mind some brief hiatus's after each update, that'll be much appreciated! ^3^
Anywhoos, I've taken up your recommendations for the plot of this pic and...well I guess it's a bit obvious now isn't it? My decision was made after I had a great brain blast whilst watching STID for the -godknowshowmuch-times. I know I'm skimming through the movie parts alot, I suspect you guys already know the happening's of the movie and I'm just avoiding repetition. The rest will include brand new info from now on ;)
P.S. Kirk reminds me of John a lot yeah? ^-^
Reviews are helpful and welcomed! :3