The Man Out of Time

Chapter 9

As Harrison is being escorted by a group of guards aboard the Enterprise, Natasha and I walk behind them.

"Go to the bridge." Natasha says. "I'll be with Harrison."

"Why?" I ask her.

"To question him." She answers. "What was his motive and all that."

"I'll be right there, have to go get Bones."

"Why?" She asks me.

"To take a blood sample." I answer simply.

"Then go and get Bones, I'll be at the brig and you two can meet me there."

"Okay." I agree.

Natasha keeps following the group of guards and I speak to Uhura.

"Lieutenant, contact Starfleet, let 'em know we have Harrison in custody. We'll be on our way once the warp core is repaired."

"Yes sir."

I walk away and make a call to Bones. "Bones, meet Captain Adams and I at the brig."

"I'll be right there." Bones says.

I don't go to the bridge as Natasha suggested, I head straight towards to the brig with Spock, where we meet up with Bones along the way.

"Why the hell did he surrender?" Bones asks.

"Dunno, but he just took out a whole squadron of Klingons single handedly-well, Natasha killed something like ten of them, but he got the majority. Whatever-the point is, I wanna know how he did that."

"Sounds like we have a Superman on board." Bones comments.

"You tell me." I reply.

We walk in the room and find Natasha standing right up to the glass. Harrison stands on the other side of it, only a few inches taller than her.

Spock, Bones and I walk up next to her.

Bones makes a small hole big enough for an arm to go through and moves it in front of him and Harrison.

"Put your arm through the hole, I'm going to take a blood sample." Bones says.

Harrison makes eye contact with Natasha and she glares at him and slightly narrows her eyes, daring him to refuse.

He rolls up the sleeve of his dark long sleeved shirt and extends his arm through the hole in the glass and Bones takes a blood sample.

"Why aren't we moving, Captain" Harrison asks, looking at me. "An unexpected malfunction perhaps in your warp core, conveniently stranding you on the edge of Klingon space?"

Bones looks at Khan. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Bones." I warn.

"I think you'd find my insight valuable, Captain." Harrison addresses me.

Does he not know Natasha's also a captain?

"Are we good?" I ask Bones.

"Yeah." He answers.

"Let me Natasha and I know what you find."

Harrison glances at her.

"I'll be right there." Natasha says quietly to me, then glares at Harrison again.

Bones, Spock, and I start walking away.

"Ignore me and you'll get everyone on this ship killed." Harrison says.

Natasha:

Jim stops in his tracks.

"Captain, I believe he will only try to manipulate you." Harrison and I both hear Spock saying to Jim. "I would not recommend engaging the prisoner further."

"Give Natasha and I a minute." JIm says, then walks back over to us. Spock walks away.

"Let me explain what's happening here, you are a criminal! I watched you murder innocent men and women. We were authorized to end you! And the only reason why you are still alive, is because we are allowing it, so shut your mouth."

"We?" Khan asks.

"Oh did you not know?" I ask. "Both Kirk and I are Captains of this ship."

"Two captains of the same ship?" Harrison says, clearly surprised.

I give him a cold look.

"Well considering who you two are, I shouldn't be surprised." Harrison says.

"Excuse me?" I say.

"Well Captain Kirk is the kind of person who doesn't care about the rules while you...you keep him in line as much as possible don't you? True, you have a rebellious streak in you, but you can keep him more in line than anyone else can because he actually listens to you am I right? Also because you two think alike...but you're a little more responsible than he is."

"Just shut up while you still can." I answer.

"We were authorized to end you, you're only alive because of us. Shut your mouth." Jim says again.

"Captain...are you going to punch me again over and over until your arm weakens? Clearly you want to, so tell me, why did you allow me to live?"

"We all make mistakes." Jim answers.

"No." Harrison shakes his head. "I surrendered to you because despite your attempt to convince me otherwise, both you and Captain Adams seem to have a conscience. If you did not, then it would be impossible for me to convince the both of you of the truth. Two-three-one-seven-four-six-one-one. Coordinates not far from Earth. If you want to know why I did what I did, go and take a look."

"Give me one reason why we should listen to you." I say, narrowing my eyes at Harrison.

Harrison looks directly at me, making eye contact. "I can give you 72. And they're aboard your ship Captains. They have been, all along. I suggest you open one up."

I look at Jim and we both realize what Harrison's talking about.