- 3 -
Sitting on his elevated throne behind the captain's chair on the bridge of the ISS Leviathan, flagship of the imperial fleet, Emperor Khan Noonien Singh idly stroked the fine, blonde hair of the small child standing next to that throne. The viewscreen showed the doomsday machine slowly slide back into their universe through the portal it had opened, something Khan watched with a satisfied smile. A kilometre in diameter and several kilometres in length, the machine was a thing of beauty - lethal, planet-destroying beauty.
"Doomsday machine is through and portal closing," said Captain Adamant from his seat at Khan's feet. "Status of enemy moon Charon, Miss Summers."
"Telemetry from doomsday machine indicates the moon was totally destroyed," said the android, studying her instruments. "No survivors."
"Excellent, excellent!" grinned Khan, gazing at Kara Summers affectionately.
Over the past thirty years, ever since she killed the traitor Sybok, the android had become one of his closest aides. The sole survivor of a long dead alien civilisation she was a loyal servant of the Empire, one with no apparent ambitions of her own. Her only quirk was her devotion to her 'daughter', the same 'child whose hair he had been idly stroking. That hair had been parted in the middle and braided into two long pigtails, each tied off with a pink bow. The girl had large blue eyes, a tiny nose, and a dusting of freckles across her cheeks. Dressed in her usual white ankle socks, pink Mary Janes and pink dress, she still looked like the same four year-old child she had been three decades ago. Of course, in this case appearances were deceiving. She too was an android, one in whom a sentient copy of the consciousness of the Federation's Mr Spock had been placed. It was a strange relationship, one in which the child obeyed her 'mother' just as a human child would, something confirmed by listening devices in their quarters. Why what had essentially been an adult Vulcan male would go along with this Khan neither knew nor cared. All that mattered to him was that the relationship kept Kara calm and productive, which it did.
"Status checks complete," announced Kara. "Doomsday machine is completely undamaged. Whatever Federation forces there were on Charon don't appear to have fired on her at all."
"Even better than expected," said Khan.
"Might I enquire as to the purpose of destroying their Charon, my lord?" said Captain Adamant, turning to face Khan.
"It serves as a signal to all our sleeper agents over there to get ready because we are coming," said Khan, "but more than that an incident like this so close to Earth will draw them in. The Federation will send starships to investigate. That is when we shall strike. The superior man ensures his victory before he enters a battle. Not only do we vastly outgun them when it comes to firepower, but half their fleet is now controlled by our sleeper agents. When I give the word they will turn on the other half and destroy them. We haven't even crossed over to their universe en masse yet, but we've already defeated them. From our initial incursion to the Federation's capitulation should be no more than a matter of hours. This will be one of the quickest wars in history."