On the tattered floor of the engine room, Khan was slowly coming around.

Nyota dashed across to him.

"Khan! You okay?"

He rubbed his head as he heavily sat up.

"Come on," She said, offering to get an arm around him. "It's not safe in here, we have to get out out of this room."

Carefully she helped him find his feet. He did not look particularly damaged, but the way he held his head suggested he may be at the very least concussed.

He was heavy, and while he was able to support himself, it took a few minutes to slowly trudge to his quarters. She helped him to his bed where he rest his head back.

"Are we safe?" He asked.

"Yes. We made it to Kronos and out run the Admiral. I can see why you chose here now."

He exhaled, shielding his eyes from the light.

"I'll get some medical equipment."

Returning moments later, Nyota had acquired a tricorder and some pain killer. She scanned him.

"Who's the doctor now?" Khan rumbled, smiling slightly.

"I'm definitely no doctor."

"You're no pilot either, but look where you got us."

Nyota smiled humbly. "Nothing is broken," She read the scanner. "But I think you do have a concussion. Does pain medication work on you super humans?"

"Yes. It helps."

Nyota carefully moved the injector to his neck, clicking the device down to give him a measured dosage.

"I think we are safe here for a while, so you can rest up."

Khan's eyes were closed now. How strange, she thought, that in the space of two days they had saved each others lives. She left him, dimming the lights in his room to help his head, and returned to the bridge to assess the damage.

All alerts came from engineering. Their auxiliary power had been knocked out completely, five out of eight fuel cells had been demolished and were slowly emptying, and the warp core was damaged beyond function. Nyota was amazed that the ship had even had enough in it to get them to the surface of the planet. The Opulence was a fighter, just like herself and Khan.

She worked on the bridge for a while, running through all the reports and restorations she knew for the ship, monitoring their location and putting a proximity alert in place that would detect if they were approached by any life forms. There was not much more she could do. Unless they were able to repair the ships fuel cells and warp core, it looked like this would be the Opulence's final resting place. Herself and Khan were going to have to find another way to get home, and that was a daunting thought in this territory.

It was late and dark on Kronos now. She left the lights off on the ship to hide them as much as possible and went to get something to eat and check on Khan.

The panel door to his quarters slid aside. Khan was sat up in bed, it was the first time she had seen him looking tired.

"I brought you some food." She said, approaching the edge of the bed, sitting down and handing him a bowl.

"Thanks."

As they ate, accompanied by the dull hum of the ships left over power. Nyota filled him in on the damage reports.

"We will have to find a ship somewhere on Kronos. Steal one if we have to."

"Well that'll go down well with the Klingons."

"Would you prefer to try bargaining with them? You are a communications officer."

Nyota thought for a moment, briefly entertaining the idea before brushing it aside for the completely ridiculous notion it was.

"Okay, I take your point." She said, setting her now empty bowl aside. "Y'know, you still have a lot to explain to me."

Khan looked up from finishing his food. "Yes." He said, "I suppose I do."

"So where do you want to start? The fact that you're two-hundred years old, or the fact that you were planning an attack on Starfleet?"

The things left unexplained about him were an issue. She trust the man who saved her, who kept talking to her, and who was there for her when she thought she was going to die, but she had no idea who he was, or really what he was capable of.

Khan decided he would start from the beginning. "I am Khan Noonien-Singh, a remnant of a time long past. I was genetically engineered two-hundred years ago to be superior. Myself, along with nearly one-hundred other augments were created as an experiment. A war broke out between our people and the people who experimented on us. Many lives were lost, including the lives of my kin, but me and seventy-two others escaped on a ship, before being captured by the military and sentenced to cryostasis for war crimes."

"The Eugenics War?" Nyota thought aloud.

"Yes. You have read about it in Earth history?"

"It's something we learnt in school many years ago." She told him. "I guess it stuck with me because of just the thought of this race of people who were genetically phenomenal. It was assumed your people had been lost at space?"

"We had been, until your Admiral Marcus found our ship adrift and decided to wake me up. To use my superiority for his own gain, using the remaining members of my family as blackmail to force my control."

Khan looked away, his thoughts obviously drifting. Nyota could not imagine the extent of what he had been through, what he had seen and suffered, but by the tears in his eyes at the mention of his family, it was evident that his kin meant more to him than anything in the world.

"Now Marcus has destroyed them. After all this time, all my efforts of trying to protect them…" He said. "I am the last of my kind. I am alone."

Nyota's hand touched his arm softly. How had the Admiral used this man so cruelly? Khan was kind, resilient and stood up for what was right. How could any man who would risk his life to save that of someone he barely knew be punished for war crimes, controlled and blackmailed?

"You're not alone." She whispered, eyes drifting down him to where her fingers met his arm.

The ship hummed, then coughed, hummed again for a moment before suddenly the lights fizzed and flickered, and the last nodes of power left in the engines died. They were left in the darkness, not worried by having no life support, as Kronos could support them for oxygen. Some dim light from the outside filtered in through the rooms window. Neither Khan or Nyota had moved a muscle.

Nyota's breath caught as her eyes adjusted to the light to find Khan's crystal blue gaze upon hers. He leaned forward slightly, turning his arm so his palm faced upward, slowly wrapping his fingers around her slender wrist. She felt the warmth of his fingers on her skin, he tilt his head slightly, studying the contrast of his skin against hers. She found herself drifting toward him.

"I am not alone…" he whispered, tone deep and magnetic.

Khan moved his other hand to her leg, fingers hovering over her knee, gently trailing his fingertips upward along her thigh. His eyes roamed back up her body to meet hers, shining even in the darkness. Their faces lingered inches from each others. Nyota released a shaky sigh at his touch, his gaze, and they moved closer still, their noses brushed and her lips grazed his, he kissed her.

Nyota's hands found their way to his face, her fingers cradling his jaw, running down his neck to his broad shoulders as his soft lips moved with hers. He had a hand around her waist, the other on her hip, he broke their kiss a moment. They both wanted this, her face reflected everything he felt; desire, need, and an emptiness that could only be filled by the comfort of another. She drew his lips back to meet hers, kissing him more urgently this time.

Khan pulled her onto his lap and deepened their kiss. He worked his way down her jaw to her neck, biting her skin, a sighed moan escaped her and she rolled her hips. Releasing her only momentarily, he yanked off his top, Nyota taking the opportunity to discard her own, before he returned to her neck, kissing down her collarbone down to her breasts exposed in her bra. She ran her hands over the muscles of his back, up over his shoulders and into his hair, tangling her fingers in it.

In a swift movement, Khan held her close and flipped her onto her back. She smiled into their kiss, as his hands moved down her body to undo her trousers. The separation to remove final pieces of clothing left her skin shivering. She needed him now, close, heavy, hard, to love her with passion, remind her how alive she was, that she had survived, that she could feel everything all at once again. Khan held her body as she removed her bra, throwing it aside. He planted kisses all over her breasts and down her stomach as she lay back, he hooked his fingers into her underwear, pulling them off over her smooth legs before kissing her thighs, making his way right up to her. Nyota's head tipped back and she moaned at the pressure of his tongue on her sweetest spot. He was good, very good, and relentless, it was not long before her legs were trembling as she caught her breath and moaned his name, hands grabbing fistfuls of the sheets. He kissed his way back up her body and she needly wrapped her hands around his shoulders, inviting him closer as she drew her knees up, crossing her ankles over his body. Their lips met as he pushed into her, both indulged in the pleasure of it all. They moved together, effortlessly drawing moans and sighs from each other. Switching positions Nyota circled herself on top of him, pushing her hips to meet his, building and climbing with him, their bodies shaking and tensing as she climaxed again, and Khan closely followed.

Nyota collapsed into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he leaned back onto the pillows, holding her, breathing as they came down from their highs. As she regained some of herself, she found Khan's gaze. He kissed her again, resting his forehead against hers, hair messy and skin shining. They stayed in the intimate silence, eyes lazily roaming each other. Khan pulled the covers up around them as they moved to lay comfortably in the bed together, limbs locked in protective embrace.

"What now?" She whispered.

"Now, sleep. Tomorrow, Kronos."