The Man Out of Time

Chapter 12

Harrison (whose name is apparently Khan) looks at me, narrowing his eyes. I see Natasha glare at him and he looks at her. They exchange cold looks, and I break the silence.

"Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a 300-year-old frozen man, for help?"

"Because I am better." Khan answers.

"At what?" I challenge.

"Everything." He walks away from the glass and faces his back to us. "Alexander marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time, but for that he needed a warriors mind," He turns slightly towards us.  "My mind, to design weapons and warships."

"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply to exploit your intellect." Spock says.

"He wanted to exploit my savagery." He turns to face us now. "Intellect alone is useless in a fight Mr. Spock, you, can't even break a rule, how would you be expected to break bone? Marcus used me to design weapons, to help him realize his vision of a militarized Starfleet." He looks at me. "He sent you to use those weapons, to fire my torpedos on an unsuspectin planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for who was responsible and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus, would finally have the war he talked about, the war, he always wanted."

"No. No. I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed officers. You killed them in cold blood!" I say.

Natasha:

"Marcus took my crew from me!" Khan defends himself, turning away from Spock and Jim and a little bit away from me as well, but I can see one side of his face, and...are those tears in his eyes?

"You are a murderer!" Jim states.

"Used my friends to control me." Khan says.

Those were definitely tears in his eyes.

"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." Khan closes his eyes for a second, and a tear falls, rolling down his cheek. He opens his eyes. "So I responded in kind." He turns to face Jim and Spock. "My crew is my family, Kirk, Adams," He looks at me when he says my name, then looks back at Jim. "Is there anything you would not do for your family?"

Jim stares at Khan for a few seconds when Sulu's voice breaks the silence on a communicator.

"Proximity alert, sir. There's a ship at warp heading right for us."

"Klingons?" Jim asks, alert.

"At warp?" Khan walks up to the glass. "No Kirk. We both know who it is."

"I don't think so, it's not coming at us from Kronos." Sulu answers Jim.

I stand up, looking at Jim and Spock. We exchange glances, and I know we're thinking the same thing.

"Get her out." Jim says to Spock.

Spock opens a hole large enough for me to step through and I walk through it. Spock closes the hole again and him, Jim, and I start running off to the bridge.

"Lieutenant, post six security officers on him."

"Yes Captain." The Lieutenant answers.