The Custodian (Star Trek Fanfic)

C Psycho 36

After Tiber, Pocky, Hank, and Carlos made it to the brig. Thats when conversations started.

"Why is there a man in that torpedo?" Jim was finally able to get his breathe back and after a scan from McCoy to which he protested.

Though the Doctor knew Red wouldn't leave him unscathed.

Well he was right, Jim came out with a broken rib. After one physical pain he was ready for the mental pain.

"There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there." Harrison smirked then noticed the absence of the red woman. He didn't think she would fail to show, after all he could tell the red lady liked him. "Where's the pretty lady?"

"I think he's talking about you, Spock." McCoy grinned up at the Vulcan who raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Who the hell are you?"

"A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be different. But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift. I alone was revived.

KIRK: I looked up John Harrison. Until a year ago, he didn't exist.

HARRISON: John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan."

KIRK: Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a three hundred year old frozen man for help?

KHAN: Because I am better.

KIRK: At what?

KHAN: Everything. Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilised threat in a civilised time, and for that he needed a warrior's mind, my mind, to design weapons and warships.

SPOCK: You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect.

KHAN: He wanted to exploit my savagery. Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mister Spock. You, you can't even break a rule. How would you be expected to break bone? Marcus used me to design weapons, to help him realise his vision of a militarised Starfleet. He sent you to use those weapons. To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he talked about. The war he always wanted.
KIRK: No. No. I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!

KHAN: Marcus took my crew from me.

KIRK: You are a murderer!

KHAN: He used my friends to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed, but I was discovered. I had no choice but to escape alone. And when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear. So I responded in kind. My crew is my family, Kirk. ls there anything you would not do for your family?

SULU [OC]: Proximity alert, sir. There's a ship at warp heading right for us.
KIRK: Klingons?

KHAN: At warp? No, Kirk. We both know who it is.

SULU [OC]: l don't think so. It's not coming at us from Qo'noS.

(Kirk runs out, giving an order to the Security officer.)

KIRK: Lieutenant, move Khan to med bay. Post six security officers on him.

SECURITY: Yes, Captain.

[Bridge]

SULU: Captain on the bridge.

KIRK: ETA of the incoming ship.

SULU: Three seconds, sir.

KIRK: Shields.

SULU: Aye, Captain.

(A massive starship drops out of warp right in front of the Enterprise.)

UHURA: They're hailing us, sir.

KIRK: On screen. Broadcast shipwide, for the record.

MARCUS [on viewscreen]: Captain Kirk.

KIRK: Admiral Marcus. I wasn't expecting you. That's a hell of a ship you got there.