When they arrived in the brig, Jim didn't take any time to begin addressing Harrison. He crossed the room quickly and asked, "Why is there a man in that torpedo?"
Harrison stepped toward the barrier and replied, "There are men and women in all of those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there."
Kate couldn't believe what she was hearing. Why on earth would Harrison have put people, in cryotubes, in torpedoes? She blurted out without thinking, "Who the hell are you?"
Harrison smiled over at her, making her feel uncomfortable, but she tried to hide her reaction of discomfort. She felt like it would be allowing Harrison to win if he knew she was growing uncomfortable. He looked back toward Jim and Spock as he said, "A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior so at 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."
Kate couldn't help herself again. She was too hung up on what he had said initially and asked, "Genetically engineered? Do you mean you were made in a test tube or you were given injections after you were born?"
Jim looked over at her, not seeming to be happy with her disruption, but she wasn't sorry. She and Leonard needed a better understanding of him to understand why his cells regenerated so quickly. Harrison turned his attention back toward her and said, "Genetically engineered, Dr. Kirk. The strongest parts of people were chosen and enhanced to form us. We were scientifically made to be substantially stronger, quicker, and smarter than the well above-average person."
Kate shook her head, almost not able to believe what she had heard. Harrison was at least three hundred years old. She doubted that Star Fleet had the technology to engineer people the way he was describing, so it seemed impossible to believe it had happened three hundred years ago.
This stumped her for a moment, so Harrison regained his story and said, "As a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Star Fleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift. I alone was revived."
Silence settled in the brig for a moment, then Jim said, "We looked up John Harrison. Until a year ago, he didn't exists."
Things made more sense to Kate now, so she said softly, "Because, according to any records, he wouldn't have existed. Someone had to make up this identity for him, to cover up what they had found."
Harrison seemed pleased with her conclusion and nodded once as he clarified, "John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan."
Jim seemed to paused to take in Harrison's....well, Khan's words, and Kate was having to process too. He was woken by Marcus. Marcus must have known his history, but chose to work with him anyway. It made no sense, and it went against everything Star Fleet stood for to have a man that had been condemned as a war criminal working for them.
Jim shook his head and asked what she had been thinking, "Why would a Star Fleet admiral ask a three hundred year old frozen man for help?
A smug look settled on Khan's face as he said, "Because I am better."
Jim shrugged and asked, "At what?"
Kate could only imagine, from what Khan had described before, that he was better at almost everything. Almost as if reading her mind, Khan said, "Everything," then continued to explain, "Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time, and for that he needed a warrior's mind, my mind, to design weapons and warships."
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."
Jim nodded, acknowledging that Kate was correct, but before he could say anything, a buzz sounded and Sulu's voice filled the brig saying, "Proximity alert, sir. There's a ship at warp heading right for us."
Jim asked, "Klingons?"
Khan's voice pulled all of their attentions over to him as he scoffed, "At warp? No, Captain. We both know who it is."
Kate felt a pit form in her stomach, knowing Khan was right as Sulu replied, "I don't think so. It's not coming at us from Kronos.
Jim looked back at Khan for a moment before rushing out of the brig. Kate and Spock followed behind. As soon as they got out, Jim turned to her and said, "Kate, you and the Lieutenant here are going to move Khan to med bay," then turned to the security officer he referred to and said, "Post six security officers on him."
The officer nodded and said, "Yes sir," as Jim rushed toward the bridge followed closely by Spock.
The officer turned to her and said, "Will you be okay with him for a moment while I get the rest of my security team, ma'am?"
Kate nodded, not really wanting to be alone with him, but knew he was about to be in med bay soon anyway, so she'd have to be around him whether she wanted it or not.
She walked back into the brig and Khan looked up at her as she entered. She crossed her arms as she stood halfway across the room from him and asked, "So you needed a doctor because you didn't trust Marcus?"
Khan raised an eyebrow at her and said, "As I asked already, Dr. Kirk, do you trust Marcus?"
Kate blinked rapidly and shook her head as she said, "No, I don't," then paused for a moment before asking, "Did you end up finding a doctor to help you?"
Khan shook his head before saying, "No, I did not. You were the most qualified candidate, Dr. Kirk. On paper, I admired you greatly, but I knew you were not right to bring in for that project. Meeting you in person now confirms my suspicions."
Kate scoffed and asked, "Your suspicion that I wouldn't be willing to break Star Fleet regulation? Well you're right about that."
She hadn't moved from her spot in the middle of the room, but Khan moved closer to the force field of his cell as he said, "Yet you understand why I attacked your Star Fleet headquarters."
Kate was angry at his implication that she was the same as him, so she crossed closer to his cell as she argued, "Anyone who cares about anybody understands why you did what you did. Don't even imply that I'm the same as you."
She heard from behind her, "Ma'am, we're ready to go," so she turned around and faced the security team.
She nodded before saying, "I'll go to med bay ahead of you to let Dr. McCoy know we're headed there," and exited the brig without another word.
Khan seemed to enjoy getting under her skin, so she didn't look forward to having him in her territory in med bay. She at least took comfort that Leonard was going to be in there, but she worried about how he was going to react to Khan's attention to her. She wasn't even sure why he was so interested in her, and she was very uncomfortable with his attention.
She burst into med bay and saw Leonard still working on analyzing Khan's blood. He looked up at her as she entered and a smile filled his face until he saw her expression, then a look of concern came over his features. She crossed the room and jumped into him as she wrapped her arms around him.
He hugged her tightly in return and asked softly, "Everything okay, darlin'?"
Kate nuzzled into his neck for a moment before pulling away and saying, "No. Harrison's real name is Khan. Marcus found him on a ship in space and woke him up so he could use him to build weapons and ships. Marcus put us all in danger so he could try to start a war with the Klingons. He was willing to sacrifice all of us to go against everything Star Fleet stands for."
Leonard put his hands on the sides of her face and asked calmly, "Are you sure we can trust what he said?"
Kate put a hand on one of Leonard's and nodded as she said, "I think so. Worse yet, there's a large ship headed toward us at warp, and it's probably Marcus, so Jim's sending Khan here with a security team."
Leonard pulled his hands away and said, "Well, he'll be surrounded by his team, so we can just ignore him. Jim will find a way to get us out of this safely, Kate. Let's just focus on what we need to do."
Kate nodded and let Leonard take her by the hand and lead her over to where the machines were still running tests on Khan's blood. The two of them had just settled in beside each other as the doors to med bay opened and Kate saw Khan walk in surrounded by a security team.
The Lieutenant Jim had spoken to earlier located her and asked, "Where do you want him, doctors?"
Kate looked over to Leonard to defer to him, so he nodded over to a table in the far corner of med bay away from them and said, "Keep him over there," so they led him there.
The whole time, Khan kept his eyes on her, so she turned her attention back to the tests running in front of her. Even then, she could feel his eyes on her and that made it difficult for her to focus on what was in front of her.
Leonard put a hand on her knee and squeezed softly as he said, "Focus on me, Kate."
She smiled up at Leonard and said, "You're sure easy to focus on."
He laughed softly and smiled back at her before saying, "Why did I ever fight against this?"
Kate shrugged and said, "Because you're an idiot."
He laughed again and squeezed her knee one more time before pulling it away and saying, "But I'm your idiot."
She rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help the smile that filled her face at his words. It hadn't settled in yet that Leonard loved her and that they were in a relationship with each other, and it was so exciting, in spite of all the things they had to be nervous about right now.
They all heard a beep come over the comm system before a deep, unfamiliar voice said, "Captain Kirk."
Jim's voice replied calmly, "Admiral Marcus. I wasn't expecting you. That's a hell of a ship you got there." Kate felt her nerves return as she realized Jim was broadcasting this interaction to have it on record.
Marcus replied in a somewhat combative tone, "And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody in violation of your orders."
Leonard shook his head and said, "This isn't going well so far," right before Jim began speaking again, "Well, we had to improvise when our warp core unexpectedly malfunctioned. But you already knew that didn't you sir?"
Kate's mouth dropped open in surprise. She couldn't believe that Jim was that direct. Marcus didn't take kindly to Jim's words and said harshly, "I don't take your meaning."
Jim continued calmly, sounding innocent, "Well, that's why you're here isn't it? To assist with our repairs? Why else would the head of Star Fleet personally come to the edge of the Neutral Zone."
Kate said softly, "He's trying to get a reaction out of Marcus," and Leonard nodded in confirmation.
Sulu's voice came through and said, "Captain, they're scanning our ship."
She could imagine the pretend innocence in Jim's features as he asked, "Is there something I can help you find, sir?"
Marcus replied, "Where is your prisoner, Kirk?"
Jim wasted no time in replying, "Per Star Fleet regulation, I'm planning on return Khan to Earth to stand trial."
Kate dropped her head in her hand and shook her head. Jim was really going to get himself into trouble someday by his brashness. He might could've worded it a little more delicately, but that wasn't Jim's style.
Marcus sounded exasperated as he said, "Well, shit. You've 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 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 I can end what I started."
Kate sighed and she felt Leonard take her hand. She squeezed softly as she smiled at him, trying to take comfort in his presence as this conversation got more and more uncomfortable.
Jim asked, still as brave as ever, "And what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir? Fire them at the Klingons? End seventy-two lives? Start a war in the process?"
Kate shook her head and said softly, "He's going to get us all killed."
Leonard shook his head and squeezed her hand as Marcus replied, "He put those people in those torpedoes. And I simply didn'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? What else did he tell you? That he's a peacekeeper? 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 anyone 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 replied, sounding defeated, "He's in engineering sir, but I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away."
Kate and Leonard looked up at Jim in surprise. Jim knew exactly where Khan was, so he had to have a plan, Kate just couldn't imagine what that plan was yet. Marcus seemed satisfied as he responded, "I'll take it from here," then silence filled med bay as the transmission ended.
Leonard, still holding her hand, asked, "What is Jim playing at?"
Kate shook her head and said, "I don't know. We've got to get out of here though, so he may be planning on trying to go into warp and surprise him so that we can get away."
One of the machines beeped in front of them, so Leonard let go of her hand and took the printout the machine gave them. Leonard looked it over before sitting it down in frustration and getting up.
Kate looked over it and understood why he was frustrated. There hadn't been any new information in this output. They still only knew that his cells regenerated very quickly, but they had no idea why. Kate remembered Khan talking about how he had been genetically engineered and turned around to mention it to Leonard as she felt the Enterprise jump into warp.
She felt nervous, hoping that they had enough of a head start on Marcus to be able to get to Earth ahead of him.
She looked up and saw Leonard scanning Khan. Leonard seemed relieved as well, and said, "Well, at last we're moving now."
Khan raised an eyebrow and said, "If you think you're safe at warp, you're wrong."
Kate knew they had no reason to trust Khan, but she trusted what he said at this moment. Marcus had been too defensive when he was talking to Jim. Everything so far seemed to indicate that Khan had been more truthful with them than Marcus had been.
While thinking about this, she saw a blonde figure rush out of med bay and realized for the first time that Carol Marcus had still be in there analyzing the cryo-tube. She must have overheard what passed between Leonard and Khan, so Kate hoped that Carol was headed to the bridge to talk to Jim. If anything was going to save them now, it was likely going to be that Marcus's daughter was on board.
Kate stood up and joined Leonard as he continued to scan Khan. She looked at Khan for a moment before asking, "What can Marcus's ship do?"
Khan replied, "It has better warp capability than your Enterprise does. You will be overtaken and, if your brother cannot find a way to prevent it, everyone on board this ship, including my crew, will die."
She looked over at Leonard and saw the worry in his eyes, but wasn't able to look at him long as the Enterprise suddenly came out of warp. Not being able to steady herself on anything, she fell over and felt a heavy weight fall on top of her.
As the Enterprise settled, she opened her eyes and saw Leonard laying on top of her. He groaned as he said, "We need to find a different job, Kate."
She smiled at him before saying, "Len, honey, I love you but I need you to get off of me right now."
Leonard's face flushed pink as he realized the position they had been in and got up quickly, then helped her up. She straightened out her dress and looked over to Khan to see him exactly where he had been. Even in all of that, he hadn't taken the chance to escape.
A broadcast started ship-wide again, and she heard a female voice say, "Sir. It's me. It's Carol."
Marcus's voice came on again, sounding angry as he asked, "What the hell are you doing on that ship?"
Carol sounded heartbroken as she replied, "I heard what you said. That you made a mistake and now you're doing everything you can to fix it. But Dad, I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying a ship full of innocent people. And, if I'm wrong about that, then you're going to have to do it with me on board."
Marcus sounded pleased with himself as he said, "Actually Carol, I won't."
Carol's screams filled med bay as Jim asked, "Can we intercept the transport signal?"
An unknown voice replied, "No sir," then Carol's screams stopped.
Kate rounded on Khan and asked, "What happened to her?"
Khan replied, "Admiral Marcus's ship is capable of transporting people, even if they aren't in a transport room."
Kate shook her head and turned back to Leonard as Marcus said, "Captain Kirk, without authorization and in league with the fugitive John Harrison, you went rogue in enemy territory, leaving me no choice but to hunt you down and destroy you. Lock phasers."
Jim sounded panicked as he yelled, "Wait sir! Wait, wait, wait!"
Marcus said, "I'll make this quick," then didn't seem to be speaking to them anymore as he said, "Target all aft torpedoes on the Enterprise bridge."
That was where all life support systems were run from. If the bride was destroyed, the entire Enterprise would be destroyed, and everyone on board would die. Kate grabbed Leonard's hand, not even trying to hide the fear in her eyes.
Jim still sounded panicked as he said pleaded, "Sir, my crew was just following my orders. I take full responsibility for my actions. But they were mine and mine alone If I transmit Khan's location to you now, all I ask is that you spare them. Please, sir. I'll do anything. Just let them live."
Kate was holding her breath, waiting for Marcus's reply. He sounded somewhat surprised as he replied, "That's a hell of an apology. But, if it's any consolation, I was never going to spare you crew. Fire when ready."
Kate felt tears filling her eyes as Leonard wrapped his arms around her. The last thing they heard from the transmission was Jim's broken voice saying, "I'm sorry," before the comm went silent.
Kate wrapped her arms around Leonard and said desperately, "I love you, Leonard."
He squeezed her tighter and said, "I love you too, Kate," then they had nothing to do except wait for their lives to end.