Silence had fallen in the corridor. A parasitic purr echoed, followed by one final weapon blast. Nyota carefully got herself to her feet and activated her light source, eyes glued to the doorway, she heard footsteps.
There he was. The stranger who knew nothing about her, her life, or the mission she was on who had risked his own life in order to save hers. No questions, no letting difficulties get in his way, just honest perseverance and determination, and the voice from the end of the communicator was now separated from her by merely a broken door.
They took in one and other a moment, both illuminated only by the glow of their personal light sources. Khan removed his hood, and pulled his scarf down from his face.
"Hello Nyota."
"Hello Khan."
She smiled, smile breaking into a laugh of relief, of how ridiculous this was, how overwhelming, how tired and hungry and in pain she was. Khan smiled, without words, he seemed to understand. He made his way into the room, over the last bits of debris she had used to block the door but did not have the strength to move. Once inside the bridge, he began clearing the rest of the way.
As he did, Nyota observed the bodies on the floor. She was alive, getting rescued. She had survived this terrible ordeal. Yet there were her friends, Spock, the people she loved, all dead. If only they hadn't been in here, been crushed, maybe if circumstances had been even slightly different they would be alive and she would not be the lone survivor. She looked to Kirk, remembering how she had held his hand as his life slipped away from him, and at Spock, eyes filling with tears, all their memories, everything they shared and all their plans for the future taken from them in a heartbeat. Her old life, everything she knew and loved had been destroyed here, and would be left here on the wreckage of the Enlightenment.
"Are you alright?" Khan's tone was full of empathy and patience.
"I can't leave their bodies here." She said, voice trembling.
Looking around, she knew she there would be no way they could get them off the ship and back to Earth for the burial they deserved, for starters, they wouldn't be able to untangle them from the debris, let alone transport their bodies safely. Nyota's eyes fell upon the battered view screen.
"Does your ship have weapons?"
"A few gun turrets, why?" Khan asked.
"When we get back to your craft, I want to blow out Enlightenment's view screen." She told him, tears rolling down her cheeks. "If I can't get my friends back to Earth for a proper burial, they should be released to the stars, not entombed on this wreck for the rest of eternity."
Khan's eyes moved from Nyota to the view screen. He placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"That is an admirable idea." He agreed. He respected her love for her friends, for he knew that under the circumstances, he would do the same for his. He let a quiet moments pass.
"I do not mean to rush you, but we need to get off this vessel now."
Nyota nodded. "Yes, we do."
xxxx
Leaning on Khan, Nyota let her guide him off the bridge. Her swollen lower leg hurt to put pressure on.
"I think I have managed to kill most of the parasites, I cannot be sure though." He said, "Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and keep your breaths deep and infrequent. The oxygen is very thin down there."
"Alright."
They made it down two floors together, past the goop and the flesh. Nyota covered her mouth and nose as best she could, desperately trying to ignore the carnage. With eight floors left to go, the air was already thinning, and Nyota was struggling more than she wanted to admit. They pushed on.
Nyota gasped for a breath, holding it, forcing herself to move.
"Nyota?"
"I'm fine," She dismissed his concern, "Lets keep moving."
Khan eyed her, moving his arm more securely around her before continuing on.
Two more floors, and she couldn't carry on, no matter how she tried. Her leg felt wet and she knew her blistering had burst and was now bleeding down to her foot. She took another deep breath, stopping for a moment.
"It's okay, I'm okay." She assured Khan before he could comment.
"No you're not. I'm not losing you now when we've come this far."
In one quick movement, Khan scooped her up off her feet.
"Khan!"
"No objections, we will be quicker this way."
Nyota sighed, but as they continued on, she began to feel a little better.
"Thank you…" She said quietly, mildly impressed at the ease in which he carried her.
Their faces close, she met his gaze, his bright blue eyes finding her deep brown ones.
"You are welcome."
They moved on at a better pace, descending the dark levels of the ship silently, listening out for sounds of parasites that were still alive, Khan carefully avoiding treading on fleshy remains, human or otherwise.
As they reached the lowest deck of the ship, an all too familiar click echoed into the stairwell. Khan stopped, they both instinctively flicked off their light sources, holding their breath as they peered down the dark corridor. Khan tilt his head slightly as he cautiously stepped forward, it was impossible to pinpoint the exact direction the sound had come from. As they walked forward, the sound stopped, almost suspiciously. Khan continued forward, slower than before but standing completely still was not a good choice. A minute dragged out as they crept forward, when suddenly, a frantic noise came from behind them.
With the advantage of being able to see over Khan's shoulder, Nyota leaned down, grabbed the weapon out of the holster on Khan's hip and shot at the direction of the noise. Phaser fire hit the parasite, a few shots taking it down.
"Good shot."
"Thanks." She clicked the weapon back into his holster.
xxxx
They made it to the gofer craft. Khan placed Nyota gently on her feet, and sealed the door. Nyota hopped into the cockpit, taking the co-pilots chair with a sense of relief she had never felt so strongly in her entire life.
Khan awoke the craft, its engines humming into life.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Nyota asked, "The docking bay doors are shut."
"I shall access Enlightenments computer from here through the external programme I devised." He told her, entering numbers and codes into the comm before him, bringing up the Enlightenment's power grid and selecting the docking bay doors.
Red lights flashed in multiple places, and the comm made noises of disagreement. Khan cursed, the power left on the ship was nearly non-existent.
"There's barely enough power on that wreck for oxygen." Nyota said. Khan pressed his lips together, entering more codes, diverting every morsel of power he could find.
"I've got enough power to open one half of the docking bay doors. The bottom panel takes less hydraulics to sustain, I'll pump everything she's got left into that door, and we will just have to improvise our exit a little." He explained, manoeuvring the gofer craft around to face the double doors.
"Seat belts on."
Khan inched the craft forward, readying its fuel cells for a dash escape. He pushed a lever on the comm and energy surged into the docking bay. Some spilled out of broken cables and wires, but enough still managed to push through to the lower panel.
With a spark, the door flew open. Khan piloted all the gofers power, rotating the craft on to its side giving them a better chance of fitting through the gap. With the scrape of metal on metal, the gofer squeezed out of the Enlightenment's doors, and head straight for Opulence.