Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

20. My Name is Khan

Kate shook her head, feeling disgust fill her as she thought of how far Marcus had traveled from Star Fleet's intention.  Star Fleet was meant to explore and unify, and Marcus was dangerously close to creating a military operation.

Spock, not showing any emotion as he conveyed Kate's concerns, said, "You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect."

Khan shook his head before saying, "He wanted to exploit my savagery.  Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mister Spock.  You can't even break a rule.  How would you be expected to break a bone?  Marcus used me to design weapons, to help him realize his vision of a militarized Star Fleet.  He sent you to use those weapons.  To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet.  And then he purposefully crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome.  The Klingons would have come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have had no chance of escape.  Marcus would finally have the war he talked about.  The war he always wanted."

Kate was horrified.  She shook her head and asked in an angry voice, "Are you suggesting he was willing to sacrifice all of us on board the Enterprise because he wanted a war with the Klingons?"

Jim, at the same time, argued with Khan, "No!  No!  I watched you open figure in a room full of unarmed Star Fleet officers. You killed them in cold blood."

Khan looked between the two of them and said, "Katelyn, are you suggesting you have, at any point, trusted Alexander Marcus?"

Kate fought the chill that went down her spine at the use of her full name, and crossed her arms as she said, "I've already told you to not call me that."

Khan smirked at her before turning to Jim and saying simply, "Marcus took my crew from me."

Jim yelled back at him, "You are a murderer!"

Khan raised his voice as he responded, "He used my friends to control me," then turned his face away from them as he continued, "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," then Khan turned to face them again.

Kate was unsettled by the tears that were in his eyes.  Up to this point, she had only viewed him as a stone cold killer who didn't care about anyone but himself.  Seeing such a display of emotions was unsettling and it humanized the man that made her so uncomfortable.

Yet she was reminded quickly of how different he was as anger came over his features and he said, "So I responded in kind.  My crew is my family, Kirk.  Is there anything you would not do for family?"

Silence filled the brig as Kate turned to Jim.  She looked up at him and said quietly, "Jim...  We've got to think about everything he's said."

Jim pulled her a little further away from Khan's cell and said quietly, "Are you forgetting what he did?"

Kate shook her head, feeling the memories of seeing Chris lying dead on the floor fill her, as she said, "I'll never forget that, Jim.  Chris was like our father, but Khan has a point.  What would you do if Marcus took all of us from you and you thought that we had all died?  When Chris died, you were willing to kill.  What if you thought we all died?"

Jim shook his head and said, "We can't trust him."

Kate didn't realize Spock had joined them as he said, "I agree, Captain."

Kate rolled her eyes at both of them and said, "I'm not saying we trust everything without verifying anything he said, but too much of it adds up.  We've got to look into it."