Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…
“I don’t know you.” The man had long, white hair and a face harshly weathered by years of hard living, but his muscular physique screamed impossible physical prowess. He turned from Terrell to Ortegas. A rivulet of blood made its way from the corner of her mouth, evidence she she was not on her knees willingly.
“But you. I never forget a face. Erica Ortegas, isn’t it? I never thought to see you again.”
“You know him? Who is this man?” Captain Terrell asked.
“Khan. Noonien. Singh.” Erica said through clenched teeth. “Augment. War criminal. Escaped from the Eugenics wars on a sleeper ship.”
“What do you want with us?” Terrell asked. “I demand-”
Khan cut him off with a backhand. “You are in a position to demand nothing!” he spat. But his tone quickly took on a false joviality as he waved about the cargo container. “But I am in a position to grant…. Nothing. What you see is all that remains of the ship’s company and crew of the Botany Bay, marooned here twenty years ago by Captain Christopher Pike.”
“Listen, you men and women, you have a…”
“Captain, Captain… Save your strength. These people have sworn to live and die at my command two hundred years before you were born. Did she never tell you?” He gave Ortegas a disappointed look. “To amuse your captain?” His eyes narrowed with barely-contained rage. “She never told you how the Enterprise picked up the Botany Bay, lost in space for hundreds of years, myself and the ship’s company in cryogenic freeze?”
“I’ve never even met Admiral Pike.”
“Admiral?” Khan’s teeth flashed and he forced his words out between them. “She never told you how Admiral Pike sent seventy of us…” He wagged a cautionary finger, “In direct contravention of your own laws regarding the genetically augmented… Sent seventy of us into exile on this barren sand heap with only the contents of these cargo bays to sustain us?”
“He’s lying,” Ortegas spat. “Ceti Alpha Five was a hard world, but it wasn’t like this.”
Khan grabbed the handle on her chest pack and hoisted Ortegas to her feet by it. “This is Ceti Alpha Five!” he shouted into her face.
She crumpled to the floor when he released her. His voice retook a forced calm. “Ceti Alpha Six exploded six months after we were left here. The gravitational shift affected the entire system. Destroyed the ecosystem of this planet. An event of that magnitude would have been visible to your Starfleet’s deep space observatories. Rescue would have been possible…. But then, no one knew we were here, did they? Your Admiral Pike never thought to check on our progress, until now…”
He put something together. “You didn’t expect to find me. You thought this was Ceti Alpha Six. You… Didn’t even notice… Why are you here?”
Ortegas and Terrell exchanged a quick glance. She shook her head. Don’t tell him.
Khan nodded to himself. “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to…”
Pike took a sip of his martini and went back to chopping onions. “They’re pretty green, Sam,” he said, “Blew up the simulator room and you with it.”
He set the knife down as he saw the look on his former science officer’s face as he entered the kitchen. “Chris,” he said, “I’ve just heard from Jim. Something… Weird has happened. He needs a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” Pike asked.
“He wants to borrow a starship.”
“Sir. May I speak?”
Khan waved his helmsman over. “What is it?”
“We’re all with you, sir, but consider this. We are free. We have a ship and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha Five. You have proved your superior intellect, and defeated the plans of Admiral Pike. You do not need to defeat him again. We could go anywhere, do anything.”
Khan scoffed. “What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield: and what is else not to be overcome? Set course for Salius.”
Captain James T. Kirk materialized in the transporter room of the USS Enterprise along with his first officer and chief medical officer. Protocol dictated that the he should greet the Admiral first, but Jim Kirk was never one for protocol, and went first to give his brother a quick hug and thank him for the old-fashioned bound copy of To Kill a Mockingbird Sam had sent him for his birthday. Pike ignored the slight; he was happy enough to greet an old friend first. “It’s been too long, La’an,” he said. “How are things at the front?”
“Admiral,” she said, in a warm but tired tone. “I don’t know if this war is ever going to end.”
“Admiral Pike,” Jim said. “It’s good to see you. Have you met Bones?”
“Leonard McCoy,” the doctor said. “Chief Medical Officer of the USS Reno and too old for this.”
“Sam told me you need to get to a classified research station?” Pike asked. “What’s this about?”
Jim moved closer to Pike and lowered his voice. “I received an urgent message from an… old friend. Something very strange is going on involving a classified project called Genesis. She was ordered to hand over the whole kit and kaboodle. And she says the orders came from you personally.”
“Me?” Pike asked. “I’ve never even heard of Genesis.”
“No one has,” Jim said. “Not officially. I can’t get through now. Something is jamming them. The Reno is still under repairs; she won’t have warp until Tuesday.”
“You could raise this through channels,” Sam said. “I don’t know why you’d bring this to us.”
“Look, Admiral, I realize this is a big ask. But all I need is a ride. Someone who can sign off on a visit to Regula One. I need to go there. Personally,” Jim said. “Sam… It’s Carol. And David.”
Pike looked to Sam for clarification. Sam looked haunted. He guided Pike a few steps away. “Sam,” Pike started, “I don’t know what this is about, but-”
“It’s his kid,” Sam said. “David is Jim’s son. Chris… I need you to do this.”
“Sam, I understand. I can pull some strings, get him on the next-”
“Chris, please. I need… You. I need you to take command, and get us to Regula One.”
“Me? Sam, it’s your ship now.”
Sam sighed deeply. “Chris… I’m fine taking a ship full of cadets out on a training mission. But this isn’t me. And… Look, Chris. Ever since Aurelan and the boys… Chris, I’m compromised here. I chose Starfleet over family and I’ve paid for it every day.” Sam’s wife and younger children had died to space parasites on Deneva, and his third son had been lost on the Romulan front a few years ago.
Before Pike could answer, the tannoy chirped. Uhura’s voice issued from the public address system. “Captain Kirk, incoming priority message from Starfleet command.”
Sam stepped to the nearest terminal and pulled it up. With a confused look, he said, “Jim, I’m sorry. Regula One is going to have to wait. We’ve received a priority one distress signal from Salius Six. We’re the only ship in range that isn’t already committed to the Romulan campaign.”
Pike saw Jim tense, and put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “The Salius system is near Regula. Come with us. We can do a quick fly-by on the way.”
The Enterprise was clearing spacedock by the time Pike and the Kirks reached the bridge. Saavik yielded the captain’s chair, clearly expecting Sam to take it. He stepped away and gave Pike an encouraging nod. Pike closed his eyes briefly and took a sharp breath. “Nyota, open shipwide. All hands, an emergency situation has arisen. By order of Starfleet Command, as of now, eighteen hundred hours, I am assuming command of this vessel. Duty officer so note in the ship’s log. I know that none of you were expecting this. I’m sorry. I’m gonna have you to ask you to grow up a little sooner than you expected.”
He sat. “Mister… Sulu is it?”
“Aye, sir.”
“Set course for the Salius system by way of Regula. Prepare for warp speed.”
“Ready, sir.”
“Hit it.”
To Be Continued…
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