"What have we got?" Edith asked as she strode into the medical bay.

"It's quite clever actually. This fuel container has been removed from the torpedo and retrofitted to hide this cryo tube." Dr Marcus explained. Edith walked over to the weapon. Her eyes widened when she saw what was in it.

"Is he alive?" She choked out.

"He's alive. But if we try to revive him without the proper sequencing, it could kill him." Bones told her. "This technology's beyond me."

"How advanced, Doctor?" Of course Spock would be interested in the technicalities.

"It's not advanced." Carol countered. "That cryo tube is ancient."

"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we developed warp capability." Bones continued. "Which explains the most interesting thing about our friend here. He's 300 years old."

Shit. Why do I always go for older men? Edith cast her mind back over her relationships. Yep. Older men was definitely the main pattern. Failure was another one, but she wasn't going to dwell on that right now. Especially not with everyone watching her. Crap.

"I'm um… I'm gonna go and talk to him."

"Captain, I would not recommend engaging the prisoner further." Spock advised.

"How else are we going to get an explanation for all of this?" She was pleading with him. She needed Spock to trust her.

"Very well. But I shall come with you."

"No. Spock, it's fine." She tried to brush it off. "I'm fine." She smile, what she hoped was reassuringly, and made her way to Harrison's cell. The prisoner was sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. She positioned herself so that she was directly in front of him and then mirrored his position. He seemed to sense that she was there and opened his eyes. "Why is there a man in that torpedo?" She asked gently.

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

"Who are you?"

"A remnant of a time long past." He had to make it sound romantic, didn't he? "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, hoping when we awoke things would be different. But your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space and my ship was found adrift. I alone was revived."

"Captain?" Spock's voice came through clear on the intercom.

Edith blinked in annoyance. "Spock?"

"Captain, I must speak to you. It's urgent."

"One moment." She excused herself, but enjoyed knowing that Harrison was watching her as she walked away. Could you really feel that kind of emotion after being frozen for 300 years? The way he'd trained his eyes on her suggested that he could. He'd done that earlier as well; while Bones had taken a blood sample, his eyes had never left hers. Just the thought made her shiver and she nearly walked into Spock.

"Mr Spock."

He quirked an eyebrow at her, but did not comment on her behaviour. "I have looked up John Harrison, Captain. Until one year ago he did not exist. Now this suggests that the prisoner is lying to you. I shall accompany you to question him further."

Great. She followed the Vulcan back into room. Harrison looked at her questioningly. She looked back at him apologetically. They were communicating in silence. That was never a good sign.

"Spock has looked up John Harrison." She began.

"John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to advance his cause." Harrison interrupted. "A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan."

"Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a 300 year old being for help?" Spock asked. This was the closest Edith had seen him to being confused.

"Because I am better."

"At what?" Edith had to ask.

He fixed her with a pointed look.

"Everything." He punctuated the word. Edith tried to hide her smile, as a part of her hoped he was prepared to back that up with actions. Harrison turned back to Spock. "Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilised threat in a civilised 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."

That look again. Would she go against everything Starfleet had taught her to exploit him. Oh God. She probably would.

"He wanted to exploit my savagery. 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? Marcus used me to design weapons. To help him realise his vision of a militarised Starfleet. He sent you to use those weapons. To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. 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."

"Then why were you on Kronos?" Edith asked. Khan looked pleased, maybe impressed.

"Marcus took my crew from me. He used my friends to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed. But I was discovered. 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. I planned to respond in kind. Tensions with the Klingons have been mounting for years. It was obvious that Marcus would send someone to Kronos. I was going to help the Klingons defeat him."

"And he sent me?" Hadn't she already had this conversation with Carol Marcus?

"Proximity alert, Captain. There's a ship at warp heading right for us." Sulu warned.

"Klingons?"

"At warp?" No pride from Khan this time. Just disappointment. She'd said something without thinking. Not clever enough for him. "No Edith. We both know who it is."

"I don't think so. It's not coming at us from Kronos." Sulu's response supported Khan.

"He's coming for you Edith." She nodded slowly.

"Captain…" Spock was going to be the voice of reason, but she couldn't be dealing with that right now. She'd already gone against her orders – albeit at Spock's insistence – but it wasn't like Edith Crawley didn't already have a reputation where the rule book was concerned. Having Khan on board would give her the upper hand in a game she didn't realise she'd been playing. Alternatively, it could be a decision that would endanger the whole ship. The Enterprise was already compromised. Would it be fair? Fair to Spock, to Uhura and the others? To risk their lives because this man was toying with her emotions? Her next words could be make or break.

"Lieutenant, move Khan to med bay. Post six security officers on him." She ordered, running out of the room and making her way back to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge." Sulu announced, as she finally slowed down to a walk.

"ETA of the incoming ship." She panted.

"Three seconds."

Edith slumped down in her chair. "Shields."

"Aye, Captain." Sulu began preparing the ship. Edith took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. The next instant they were faced with a gigantic black ship.

"They're hailing us, Captain." Uhura told Edith.

"On screen. And broadcast ship-wide, for the record." Khan had a right to know what was happening, just as much as anybody.

"Captain Crawley." Admiral Marcus's profile appeared on the screen.

"Admiral Marcus. I wasn't expecting you. That's a hell of a ship you got there." It wasn't just a distraction. She genuinely was interested in technology. It was one of the things that had drawn her to Starfleet.

"And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody in violation of your orders." Damn. He didn't take the bait of distraction. Keep stalling, Edith, keep stalling.

"Well, we… uh… we had to improvise when our warp core unexpectedly malfunctioned. But you already knew that, didn't you, sir?"

"I don't take your meaning." Okay, that worked better.

"Well, that's why you're here, isn't it? To assist with our repairs? Why else would the head of Starfleet personally come to the edge of the neutral zone?"

"Captain, they are scanning our ship." Sulu informed her.

"Is there something I can help you find, sir?" Her sarcasm was probably too obvious, but she couldn't care less at this particular moment.

"Where is your prisoner, Crawley?" Marcus demanded. Edith hated it when people called her by her last name.

"Per Starfleet regulation, I'm planning on returning Khan to Earth to stand trial."

"Well, shit. You talked to him." Not exactly the response she had been expecting. "This is exactly what I was hoping to spare you from." The Admiral continued. "I took a tactical risk and I woke that bastard up, believing that his superior intelligence could help us protect ourselves from whatever came at us next. But I made a mistake. And now the blood of everybody he's killed is on my hands. So I'm asking you, give him to me so that I can end what I started."

And I'd like to end what I started, thank you very much. Edith blinked several times to keep the anger she was feeling down. "And what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir? Fire them at the Klingons? End 72 lives? Start a war in the process?" Not to mention get everyone on this ship killed, she silently added.

"He put those people in those torpedoes. And I simply didn't want to burden you with knowing what was inside of them. You saw what this man can do all by himself. Can you imagine what would happen if we woke up the rest of his crew?"

"It doesn't condemn them to death sir." She counter argued.

"Khan and his crew were condemned to death as war criminals. And now it is our duty to carry out that sentence before anyone else dies because of him. Now I'm going to ask you again! Lower your shields. Tell me where he is."

Ask? Edith scoffed. It was a threat, and considering Marcus had sent her there to die, she wasn't in a very giving mood. "He's in engineering, sir. But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away."

"I'll take it from here." Marcus concluded before ending the transmission.