Space Seed

by Starsinger

Again, Silver-ShadowSpark prompt. Spock Prime faces the man who once caused his own death as his friend lies near death. Don't own them.

Spock Prime stopped before the brig area in Starfleet Headquarters. He was here to see, and confirm, that this was indeed the criminal known as Khan Noonien Singh. He kept his face impassive, but if this was Khan... Spock had to admit it. Khan was one of the few beings in the universe that could strike fear into his soul, only because he remembered him.

Spock walked into the brig and Admiral Komack turned to face him, "Thank you for coming, Ambassador. We appreciate you doing this for us." Spock nodded. He hadn't gone to see Jim, yet. He was afraid of what he would find. Spock's gaze roamed the cells with a feeling akin to dread. Then, he saw him. A predator on the prowl. Powerful, intelligent, dangerous.

There was no longer any doubt in Spock's mind as he strolled up to the cell holding Khan. The two contemplated each other. "The way you approached me means you can only be one person. Ambassador Spock. I read about you in your intelligence report. I never thought to meet you face to face."

Urbane, educated, and smooth, they were also adjectives that described this man. He could and did pour on the charm as he faced the Vulcan. "I am," Spock replied.

"So, why have you come to see a lowly prisoner? Hmm? Did I piss you off somehow?"

"I knew you," came the simple reply.

"Oh, in your universe I existed as well. How was I?"

"Dangerous, psychotic, manipulative and a murderer," Spock replied.

"Oh, who did I kill in your universe? Your precious captain?"

"You caused my death," Spock replied quietly, and painfully.

The other man smirked, "You don't look dead. Now, why would I want to kill you?"

"You were trying to kill James T Kirk. You were hell-bent on doing just that. I was on the ship he was on, and simply in the way." That was an oversimplification. Spock had, like Jim most recently, chosen what happened to him.

"You know, I'm sorry he was the one to die, I expected it to be his engineer. Waste of a talented man, that death is. I found him a highly capable, extremely intelligent opponent. He would have been a great man, if he had lived."

"Where is the Botany Bay?" Spock asked quietly.

"How is the Captain, did my blood revive him?" Khan retorted. Spock's eyes turned haunted, "You and your counterpart in this universe are very much alike. I don't know where the Botany Bay is. I'd tell you to ask Admiral Marcus, but he's no longer talking." Khan paused, "He's still dead, isn't he. It didn't work?"

Spock backed up, not answering the question given. Khan resumed his prowl. "You succeeded in doing the one thing Khan in my time could not do. He was determined to kill Captain Kirk."

"It seems that I succeeded then. How interesting. Waste of a good opponent, though. Marcus had nothing on Kirk." Khan deliberately turned his back on Spock. Spock turned his back on Khan.

"Either kill him, or put him back in cryosleep, Admiral. That man has no business being in the waking world again. He will only cause more death, destruction, and pain." Admiral Komack nodded as the elderly Vulcan left.

Later that day

McCoy turned from another long fought battle with Jim's body. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as the breathing tube down Kirk's gullet did the job for him. "I'm sorry, Jim. It's the only way to keep you alive," he sighed as he sat down in the chair.

"What happened, Doctor?" a voice asked.

McCoy turned to see the elderly Spock walk into the room, "His left lung filled with fluid and collapsed. I drained out the fluid, but now he's." Bones broke. His best friend kept trying to die, and he kept trying to fight these attempts with everything he knew. "I don't even know if this is all worth the effort. What if he never wakes up."

Spock ran light fingers over the Captain's head before settling into the mind-meld. McCoy watched impassively. Soon, Spock returned to the present before he turned and walked over to the window, contemplating the world outside. "He's there, Doctor, never fear. He's in considerable pain and very much afraid, but he is there." He sighed, "I led Khan to believe that Jim is dead."

"You lied," McCoy said softly.

"A trick I learned from an old friend," Spock said. "Khan spewed so much of his anger and hate out on Jim in my universe, that I find myself compelled to protect this one in any way possible. If, somehow, he manages to find his way out of whatever hell Starfleet has planned for him, Khan will not come looking for Kirk." McCoy was not the first to protect Jim, nor would he be the last.

"Jim is, we all are, lucky to have you as a friend."