Beyond the Frontier

Chapter 29

I glanced out the front window, along with everyone else, to see a ship not unlike our ship, but it was much bigger, and it was black. To say it was intimidating was an understatement. "They're hailing us, sir." Sulu said. 

"On screen. Broadcast shipwide, for the record." Jim said. 

The screen in the front changed, and on it was Admiral Marcus. Jim and most of the others sighed with relief, but I wasn't trusting him. If what Khan had said was true, then this was not going to be a pleasant talk. 

"Admiral Marcus. I wasn't expecting you." Jim said sitting in his seat. "That's a hell of a ship you got there." 

Usually Jim's smile would make everyone else smile too, but Admiral Marcus wasn't smiling, in fact he looked utterly enraged.  "And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody in violation of your orders." 

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

Everyone was silent, the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. "I don't take your meaning." Marcus said. 

"Well, that's why you're here, isn't it? To assist with our repairs? Why else would the head of the Starfleet personally come to the edge of the Neutral Zone?" All of us knew Jim had other meanings behind his words. 

I glanced down at my panel. "Captain, they're scanning our ship." I muttered. 

"Is there something I can help you find, sir?" Jim asked. 

"Where is your prisoner, Kirk?" 

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

"Well, shit." Marcus said making me look at him. "You talked to him. This is exactly what I was hoping to spare you from. 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 what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir?" Jim said. "Fire them at the Klingons? End 72 lives? Start a war in the process?" 

"He put those people in those torpedoes. And I simply don'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?" Marcus' face was slowly starting to turn red. "What else did he tell you? That he's a peacekeeper? That he wouldn't dare hurt this ship because the person that he loves resides on it?" Was he talking about me? "He's playing you, son, don't you see that? Khan and his crew were condemned to death as war criminals, and now it is our duty to carry out that sentence before anybody else dies because of him. Now, I'm going to ask you again! One last time, son.  Lower your shields. Tell me where he is." 

Jim sighed. "He's in engineering, sir." Wait, was he really giving him up? "But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away." 

"I'll take it from here." Marcus said turning off the comms. 

Jim looked to me. "Do not drop those shield, Bella." 

"Of course." I said not sure where this was going. 

"Captain, given your awareness of Khan's true location in the med bay, may I know the details of your plan?" Spock said. 

"I told Marcus we were bringing a fugitive back to Earth. That's what we're going to do." Jim said. "Mr. Chekov, can we warp?" He said over the comms.