Author: Ross

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

 

It had, in fact, been years since Jim Kirk had taken hands-on approach to computer hacking. He struggled to lock out command protocols, but he couldn’t do it indefinitely. To his left, Ortegas swayed as she tried to line Galileo up with Enterprise’s hangar bay doors. They parted with painful slowness. “They’re kicking me out,” Kirk said. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep their phasers down.”

“Just a second,” Ortegas said. There was no procedure for what they were trying, and she’d had to disable all the computer-assisted navigation, which would only force them out of such a suicidal maneuver. She could only see out of one eye, her heart felt like it was going to tear itself out of her chest, and the pain in her head made her hands shake. She visualized the shape of the shuttlecraft, imagining it between the hangar bay doors, saw the path from their current position to the Enterprise. Too soon, and the shuttle would tear itself in half on the doors. One more second. “Now.” She tapped the thruster controls. Galileo jumped forward.

She was just a fraction too low. The shuttle’s nacelles sheared off against the leading edge of the runway, but the body of the shuttle skidded narrowly between the doors. The bay’s automatic landing controls tried and failed to control what had become an unguided missile that tore up the deck plates. The tractor beam failed, then the safety force field. Explosive bolts deployed a dense nanofiber webbing across the middle of the bay, the last defense before the heavy tritanium bulkhead that would smash a crashing shuttle to pieces to protect the Enterprise’s interior. The webbing pulled taught, stretched to its limit, but held. The remains of the shuttle listed to one side as it slid to a halt just feet shy of the bulkhead.

“Galileo is aboard,” Sulu reported.

“Finally,” Pike sighed.

“Reliant locking phasers,” La’an shouted.

“Engineering, main power now!” Pike demanded. “Sulu, hit it!”

A phaser beam lashed out from Reliant, but met only empty space as the Enterprise jumped to warp.

The battered ship dropped out of warp only a few seconds later, but it was long enough to take them out of Reliant’s compromised sensor range. Pike left La’an in command and jogged to the hangar bay.

By the time he got there, it had repressurized. McCoy and M’Benga were carrying Ortegas from the crashed shuttle. “Erica?” Pike asked, surprised.

One eye flicked open, briefly. “Give the word, Admiral,” she rasped.

He put his hand on her shoulder. “The word is given. Warp speed.”

She blacked out. M’Benga gave Pike a hopeless look. Pike turned to Kirk, still getting his footing against the shuttle. “Erica was on Reliant,” Pike said. “Khan?”

Kirk nodded. “He attacked Regula I. Killed almost everyone. Chris… he got Genesis. It’s all my fault.”

Pike waved off the apology. “What about David?” he asked.

“He’s here,” Kirk said. “We had to leave Carol and the others behind.”

“And the rest of Reliant’s crew?”

“Captain Terrell is dead,” Kirk said. “Khan used some kind of parasite on them. We got the one in Commander Ortegas, but I’m not sure how bad the damage is. The rest of the crew was marooned on Ceti Alpha V. It doesn’t sound like they’ll last long, the planet is uninhabitable.”

“I don’t understand. Ceti Alpha V was class M.”

“Not anymore,” Kirk said. “Khan thinks you set him up.”

Pike looked away. “I should have gone back. Should have checked on him.”

“Don’t think that would’ve helped,” McCoy interjected. “From the sound of it I don’t think this Khan fellow was, uh,” he tapped his temple, “Firing on all thrusters.”

The intercom beeped. “Admiral Pike, this is sickbay,” came Doctor Chapel’s voice. “You need to get down here. It’s the captain. If Jim Kirk is with you, he should come too. Admiral, you’d better hurry.”

“Sam?” Kirk asked. Pike’s expression was all the answer he needed.

---

“There’s just too much organ damage,” Chapel said. “I don’t have a working medical stasis chamber, and even if I did… I think the best we can do is delay the inevitable. I’m sorry.”

“It should’ve been me,” Pike said, wryly. “He pushed me out of harm’s way. He never even wanted his own command.”

Jim knelt down beside the biobed. “Sam,” he said. He squeezed his brother’s hand.

Sam coughed. “Jim?” His eyes flickered. “Did you…. David?”

“Yes,” Jim said. “He’s safe.”

Sam managed a nod. “That’s good. Worth it then. Hold on to him.” He coughed again. The biobed indicators fell. “Jim… You know, they don’t give us the Kobyashi Maru test in the science track. I never took it until now. Maybe not as extravagant as your solution, but what do you think?”

“Sam…”

“Grieve later,” Sam rasped. “You’ve got a ship to save.” His focus drifted past Jim, settling into the distance. A sharp intake of breath, and he said simply, “Oh my.” The biobed droned its alarm as his life signs faded.

A sudden surge of violent anger overtook Jim as he closed his eyes, trembling. The unfairness of it. It burst out of him in a sudden, violent, primal scream, “Khan!”

 

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“Prefix code?” Saavik asked. “I don’t understand.”

Jim continued to try to shake Ortegas back to consciousness. “You have to learn how things work on a starship,” he said.

M’Benga nodded. “Of course.” He looked to Saavik. “He’s betting that Khan thinks of computer security in terms of physical access. That it wouldn’t occur to him to change the cipher key that identifies the command console to the main computer.”

“First rule of space piracy,” Jim said. “Steal a ship, change the wifi password.”

The communication console trilled. “Galileo, this is Enterprise.” Jim recognized his brother’s voice. “Jim, we’re moving into position. We don’t have a lot of time. We’re going to attempt emergency landing plan… B.”

“B?” Saavik said, questioningly.

“As in barricade,” Jim realized. “Damn. Bones, can you get her on her feet?” he indicated Ortegas. “I don’t think I can pull this off without her.”

“Have to try cordrazine,” McCoy said.

“Dammit, man,” M’Benga protested. “You have no idea what kind of cerebral trauma she’s suffered. You could trigger a massive hemorrhage.”

“Doctors,” Jim said, urgently, “We’re about to hit by a photon torpedo.”

M’Benga surrendered and allowed McCoy to inject Ortegas. She sat up instantly, panting.

“Commander,” Jim said, helping her into the pilot’s seat, “Can you fly? There’s not much time.”

She seemed confused but she nodded. Jim continued. “Do you know if Khan reset Reliant’s prefix code? If we can take down their weapons for a few seconds, we might have a chance.”

“Incoming,” Saavik dispassionately reported. A red glow emanated from one of Reliant’s torpedo launchers. A bright ball of energy flew toward them.

Suddenly, there was Enterprise, filling the space between Reliant and the shuttle.

Ortegas stirred, muttered, “One six three zero nine.”

Enterprise reeled as it took the torpedo head-on. The bridge exploded.

Xon was thrown from his console as the panel beside him exploded. Uhura’s chair broke, dropping her face-first into the communications station, but she managed to right herself despite the pain and keep desperately working to coordinate repair efforts across the ship. Sulu felt something pop out of place in his shoulder as his death-grip on the helm just barely kept him in his seat.

Sam Kirk landed on his back when he hit the deck. That was why he saw it first. That last hit had damaged one of the structural columns supporting the dome of the bridge. The heavy post pulled away from the ceiling and started to tumble, pulling with it some of the high-energy conduit that fed the bridge’s defenses. “Chris!” Sam shouted. Pike fell backward toward his seat. Sam sprang to his feet with a speed that belied his years and threw himself shoulder-first into the Admiral. Pike didn’t have time to respond before he was thrown away from the Captain’s chair and to the deck. The metal beam caught Sam across the back, driving him back down to the deck. There was a shower of sparks as the still-energized cabling grounded through him, burning his uniform.

On Reliant, Khan’s patience ran out. “Finish them,” he ordered. Joachim initiated the firing sequence.

Pike shouted for a medic, struggling to process what was happening, but a shout from La’an forced his attention back to the viewscreen. Reliant’s torpedo launcher lit up again… And went dark.

“Our shields are dropping!” Joachim shouted in alarm.

“Raise them!” Khan demanded.

Joachim slammed his fists on the console. “I can’t!”

Khan shot Una an accusatory work. She casually looked at a nearby display. “Who was in charge of securing the main computer?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Can you restore control?” Khan asked.

Una’s fingers flew over the controls. “It’ll take a second. You really should’ve changed the prefix code.”

“Reliant dropping shields,” Xon said as he returned to his station.

There was no time to question it. “La’an, Fire!” Pike shouted.

A bolt of red lashed out from Enterprise. It traced its way across the rear of Reliant’s saucer, cutting a dark burn toward the dome at the top of the smaller ship’s engine column. The second bolt hit the dome squarely. The illumination in Reliant’s nacelles flickered with the power interruption.

On Reliant’s bridge, a mass of cabling dropped from the ceiling. Khan took it on the shoulder, straining to remain on his feet. A normal human would have been pinned by the weight. Behind him, someone grabbed a fire extinguisher to use on a sparking console. Khan grabbed Joachim and demanded he return fire.

“We can’t fire, sir!” he shouted.

“Why? Why can’t you?”

“They’ve damaged photon control and warp drive.”

“We should withdraw,” Una said. “Enterprise isn’t going anywhere.”

“No!” Khan insisted. “Phasers?”

“Almost there,” Una said. “Whoever he is, he knows his way around command protocols.”

 

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“We’re too late,” M’Benga said.

“Saavik, how bad is it?” Jim Kirk asked.

“Impossible to say at this distance,” she answered. “I am detecting neither a warp core signature nor impulse emissions, suggesting that main and auxiliary power are both down.”

“Does Enterprise have weapons?” Kirk asked.

“Minimal power readings from forward phaser banks. No weapons lock. At best, they have minimal phaser capability.”

“There’s got to be something we can do,” David said.

“Should I try to raise Enterprise?” Terrell asked, rubbing the side of his head.

“Any sign Reliant has seen us yet?” Kirk asked Saavik.

“We wouldn’t be here if they did,” McCoy said, wryly.

“Stand by, Captain,” Kirk said. He thought for a moment and gestured Saavik, McCoy and M’Benga aside.

“Doctor,” he said, “You said Khan is from the twentieth century, right? How is he flying a starship?”

“He’s extremely intelligent. Photographic memory, absolutely brilliant strategist.” M’Benga glanced away for a moment, remembering. “Twenty years ago, before we realized who he was, he had access to the ship’s computer. Within a few hours he had picked up enough to take control of key systems. I’m sure he’s spent decades going over what he learned in that time.”

“How?” Kirk asked.

“He was able to identify a key system interconnect and physically destroyed it. Just smashed it to pieces with his bare hands. It isolated primary control systems so that he could bypass security lockouts on life support.”

“Physically…” Kirk thought. “So his knowledge of our systems is twenty years out of date, and he’s got a twentieth-century mindset. So it’s possible… Saavik, punch up the data charts for Reliant’s command console.”

“Reliant’s command?” she asked.

“Hurry.” Kirk stepped back. “Captain Terrell, get ready to contact Enterprise. They’re only going to get one shot at this, the timing is going to be hard.”

“Harder than you think, I’m afraid,” Terrell said. Kirk turned to see the phaser. Then motion to his other side as Ortegas stood, her own phaser drawn, covering all six of the others. Past her, on the viewscreen, Reliant had turned to face them.

“Erica?” M’Benga asked.

“Sorry Joseph,” she said.

Terrell reached back with his free hand and activated the communications system. “Do you have the coordinates, your excellency?” he asked.

“I have indeed, Captain. You have done well.”

Kirk’s eyes flicked to the side at the whine of a transporter. The genesis device dissolved in a blue glow.

“You can’t! You son of a bitch!” David shouted. He leapt toward Terrell. The captain’s phaser fired. Kirk instinctively moved to put himself between them.

Jeddah did as well. He was faster. Only the first hint of his scream was audible as his body burned out of existence. David crumpled with a whimper.

“Please, don’t move,” Terrell said. He rubbed the side of his head again. His phaser remained raised, but his hand trembled. “We await your commands, excellency.”

“Kill the others,” said Khan. “All of them.”

Terrell hesitated. “Sir… it is difficult.”

“Kill them, Terrell. Now.”

The tremble had become a full shake. “I try to obey, but…”

Terrell thrust his phaser toward Kirk, a look of wild desperation on his face. He strained, as though the weapon was fighting him. He mouthed a silent, “I’m sorry,” and before anyone could stop him, he put the phaser to his own head and pulled the trigger.

Kirk reacted on instinct, swinging to his side in the hope of catching Ortegas off-guard. The blow didn’t connect, but it didn’t need to. She dropped her own phaser and was clutching the sides of her head. She fell to the deck, screaming. Kirk took her fallen phaser while M’Benga crouched beside her scanning with his tricorder. “I don’t understand this, I’m not reading anything, but…”

A rivulet of blood ran down from her ear. A moment later, two long structures emerged, something between mandibles and antennae. The rest of the creature wriggled free, something alien and threatening, almost like an armored slug. “The hell?” M’Benga asked.

Reflexively sickened, Kirk vaporized it. Saavik moved to the flight control panel Ortegas has abandoned. “Captain, Reliant is locking weapons.”

There was no time for restraint or even sympathy. Kirk shook Ortegas violently. “Commander! Erica!”

She stirred, glazed. “Prefix code!” Kirk demanded. “Reliant’s prefix code. Now, or we’re all dead.”

---

“Reliant is closing on the shuttle,” La’an said.

“Dammit, Jim,” Sam said. “Always with the heroics.”

“Xon, where’s those phasers?” Pike demanded. “Sulu, get us between them.”

“Nearly there, sir,” Xon said.

“Trouble maneuvering, sir,” Sulu said. “I still don’t have auxiliary power.”

Sam tapped a control. “Engineering, we’re out of time.”

“We’re still overheating,” answered the voice on the intercom. “Energizer’s bypassed like a Christmas tree. If I bring the mains back on-line, I can get you a few seconds of power, but it won’t hold.”

“Standby,” Pike ordered. “Uhura, get me Reliant.”

“Channel open, Admiral.”

“Khan!” Pike shouted. “This is between you and me. They don’t have anything to do with it.”

There was no response. “Reliant is powering weapons.”

“Xon?” Pike asked.

“Phasers ready,” Xon warned, “But we cannot penetrate their shields.”

“Lock on their main reactor. Maybe we can distract them.”

Sam asked, “Can we beam them aboard?”

Xon shook his head. “Plasma leaks on deck seven are interfering with transporter operations.”

“Sulu,” Sam said, “Can you line us up to give them a straight shot to the shuttle bay without exposing them to Reliant?”

“I’ll try, sir,” Sulu answered. He looked to Pike. “That will put key areas in the line of fire, including the bridge.”

“Do it,” Pike said. “And stand by warp. Get in. Get them. Get out.”

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

The viewscreen flickered, digital artifacts rolling across the image as the video processors struggled to correct for the signal lost to the massive damage across the ship. Pike squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the impossible.

“Christopher Pike. You’re still alive, my old friend.”

La’an took a step toward the screen. The color drained from her face. “Is that…” she tried.

“Khan?” Pike asked, uncertain.

“So, you still remember me, Admiral,” Khan mused. “I cannot help but be touched. I, of course, still remember you.”

“Khan?” Pike asked again. “What is this? How? Why?”

“Surely I have made my meaning plain, Admiral,” Khan smiled. “I mean to avenge myself upon you. First, I deprive your ship of power and when I swing around, I mean to deprive you of your life. But for now, you live, and so I wanted you to know who it was who had beaten you.”

It took Pike a second to compose himself. That break gave La’an time to lose the battle she was fighting for self-control. She stepped into the frame of the viewscreen. “Khan. Noonien. Singh.” There was another word, too. Her lips formed it but she could put no sound behind it. “Monster.”

“You destroyed that colony. Killed all those people,” she accused.

Khan regarded the interloper with haughty curiosity. “I don’t know you,” he said. “And yet, your face is not unfamiliar.”

Her features twisted into rage. “Commander La’an Noonien-Singh,” she said through clenched teeth.

Khan smiled. “Of course. You’re from Mannu’s line, aren’t you? A reunion of many sorts. Truly this is an auspicious occasion.”

“Murderer,” she spat. “There were four thousand people on Salius.”

Khan’s smile twisted into a sneer. “I merely liberated a political prisoner from unjust confinement.”

He made a beckoning gesture to his side, and Una Chin-Riley stepped into the frame of the viewscreen. “Sorry, Chris,” she said, her face expressionless. “I wish there had been another way. Do the smart thing. There’s too much blood on your hands already. You were never good at protecting your right.”

He refused to look Una in the eye and focused on Khan instead. “Okay, Khan. It’s me you want. There’s no reason for more bloodshed. I’ll have myself beamed aboard. Spare the others.”

Khan lifted his chin slightly to look down his nose at his abased adversary. “I see the years have not diminished your noble spirit,” he said, “Allow me to make a counter-proposal. I will accept your terms, only if, in addition to yourself, you hand over all your data and materials regarding the project called Genesis.”

“What’s Genesis?” Pike asked, playing dumb.

“Do not insult my intelligence, Admiral,” Khan said. “We observed your flight path from Regula. Had I known you would go there first, we could have avoided this… unpleasantness.”

Pike started to reply, but Khan cut him off. “And furthermore, you are to be delivered to me personally by my beloved scion, Commander Noonien-Singh.” He raised a hand, preemptively silencing Pike’s protest. “I assure you no harm will come to the commander.”

“Time,” Pike struggled. “We need some time to retrieve the data.”

“I give you sixty seconds, Admiral,” Khan said.

By now, Doctor Chapel and a medical team were moving the most severely injured to the turbolift. “Clear the bridge,” Pike ordered. As the cadets joined the wounded in the turbolift, Pike stood, tugged at his shirt to straighten it, then turned away from the viewscreen.

“Admiral, I can’t allow you to-” La’an started.

“Keep nodding,” Pike whispered, “Like I’m giving orders. Nyota-” he looked to Uhura and drew his finger across his throat. She silenced the transmission.

“I can’t believe Una would help Khan,” Pike said.

“She’s been locked up for thirty years, Chris,” Sam said. “Even longer than Khan. She may not be the person you remember.”

“Protecting your right,” Pike repeated. “She said protecting your right. All the hits we took were to port.” He moved to Xon’s station and tried to pretend he was operating the computer. “Can we reroute the starboard capacitor banks directly to phaser control?”

“Forty-five seconds,” Khan announced. Pike nodded urgently at the screen.

“That would give us sufficient power for perhaps two shots,” Xon said.

“Not enough against their shields,” La’an said.

“But,” Pike said, “If he’s going to beam me aboard, he’ll need to lower his shields, just for a second.”

“I don’t know if we can time it that tight,” Sam said. “The state we’re in.”

“We don’t have a lot of choice,” said Pike. “How the hell does he know about Genesis?”

“Khan indicated that he had been to Regula,” Xon observed. “Logic indicates that he was also responsible for the loss of communication with Regula One.”

“Jim…” Sam said.

“Admiral,” Khan prompted. Pike nodded for Uhura to restore communications.

“Khan, please,” Pike said. “The bridge is smashed. We’re working on it, but the computers…”

“Time is a luxury you don’t have, Admiral.”

Pike turned away again. “Prepare to send the data,” he said. “It’s unlikely we have anything in our files that he doesn’t already know. It might buy us a little time.”

When Pike looked back at the viewscreen, one of Khan’s lieutenants had moved into the picture and was whispering something to him. Khan suddenly sprang to his feet and with an angry gesture, cut his transmission.

“The hell?” Sam said.

“Reliant is breaking off,” Sulu said, puzzled. The viewscreen showed the other ship turning.

“Admiral,” Xon said, “I have another vessel on sensors. It’s Galileo.”

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“Rigor hasn’t set in, no fixed lividity,” Doctor M’Benga said, examining another of the bodies they had cut down. McCoy checked another body with his tricorder, his hand still shaking from the ordeal.

Jim studied one of the bodies. “I know him,” he said, a cold feeling rising in his chest.

“Admiral Marcus,” Saavik said. “Starfleet Special Security Projects.” She moved away.

“Marcus?” McCoy asked. “As in-”

Jim nodded. “Carol’s father. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on much, but still…”

“Captain Kirk,” Saavik called. She’d opened a locker.

Jim let out a little gasp of surprise. “Bones, help me.”

They worked together to lift the dazed but still-breathing figures out of the locker. Jim noted the captain’s pips on the older man. “I’m Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Reno.”

“Terrell,” the man managed, his eyes not quite managing to fix on Kirk. “Reliant.”

“Reliant? Where’s Doctor Marcus? And Genesis?” Jim pressed.

“He couldn’t find them. Even the data banks were empty. Wanted to tear the place apart.”

“Who? Who did this? Where’s your ship, your crew?” Jim demanded.

As Saavik helped the other survivor to her feet, M’Benga dropped his tricorder in surprise. “Erica?”

“It was Khan,” she said. “Ceti Alpha Five. He took the ship. Left the crew behind. He had these…” She touched her ear. “Things. Made us do things. Say things.”

“He tortured these people. Went wild. Slit their throats. He wanted Genesis,” Terrell said.

Jim didn’t understand. “Who’s Khan?”

****

“Approaching Salius Six,” Sulu announced as the Enterprise dropped out of warp.

“Standard orbit. Nyota, open a channel.”

“Sir, I’m not getting anything,” Uhura responded.

“I am unable to detect the colony,” Xon said.

Sam stepped to the science station beside him and checked the instruments. “Chris, you need to see this.”

In his younger days, Pike would’ve jumped to his feet. Age made it more pragmatic for him to order Xon’s display transferred to the main viewscreen instead.

The image of Salius VI below was replaced by a close view of a blackened crater. Informational overlays indicated points of impact and outlined a debris field. The prominent caption “ZERO LIFE SIGNS” flashed at the bottom of the screen.

“My God,” Sulu gasped. “It’s… gone.”

“Una…” Pike said. Composing himself, he barked, “What the hell happened here?”

“Romulans,” La’an spat. “Must be.”

“I am not detecting any traces of plasma residue,” Xon said. “The damage patterns are consistent with photon torpedoes.”

“Incoming encryted message from Starfleet Command,” Uhura said. “Wait… Sir, I’m having trouble with reception.”

****

“Did he make it down here?” Kirk asked as he surveyed the transporter room.

“Don’t think so,” Ortegas said. “He spent most of his time trying to beat information out of people.”

“Butcher,” M’Benga said, angrily.

“But he left without finding whatever it was he came here for,” Saavik reflected. “Illogical.”

“I don’t think he was firing on all thrusters,” Ortegas said, bitterly.

“Or,” Kirk mused, “He found something else. Something that changed the plan.” He was studying the transporter controls. “The unit’s been left on. Which means no one was left to turn it off.”

“Those people back there bought escape time for Genesis with their lives,” McCoy said.

Saavik checked the controls and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “This is not logical. These coordinates are deep inside Regula, a planetoid we know to be lifeless.”

“If Stage Two was completed, it was going to be underground,” Kirk remembered. “It was going to be underground, she said.”

“Stage two of what?” Saavik asked.

He didn’t answer. “Commander Ortegas, are you fit to pilot a shuttlecraft?”

She cracked her neck. “It’s been a few years, but I can manage it.”

Jim gestured to McCoy, Terrell and Ortegas. “Put Galileo on stand-by. We may need to get out of here in a hurry.” To the others, he said, “You’re with me. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” M’Benga asked.

“Where they went,” Jim said, indicating the transporter controls.

McCoy spoke up. “What if they went nowhere?”

Jim forced his trademark smile. “Then if you’re very quick, you might get the chance to say ‘I told you so.'”

****

“It’s no use, sir,” Uhura said. “I’m being jammed on all long-range frequencies.”

“Xon?” Pike asked.

The science officer checked his console. “The interference is not the result of a natural phenomenon, nor is it a byproduct of the destruction of the Salius facility. The logical conclusion is that communications with Starfleet command are being blocked deliberately, by some entity with detailed knowledge of Starfleet subspace communication protocols.”

“If the Romulans have cracked code three, we’re in big trouble,” Sam said. “Uhura, can you reconstruct the message?”

“Working on it now, sir.”

****

“Genesis, I presume,” M’Benga said. The device, a tall cylinder of a design half-way between a deep space probe and a photon torpedo, still stood on the transporter pad beside a computer unit.

“Captain,” Saavik warned.

Kirk looked up to see a dark-haired scientist pointing a phaser at them. “Phasers down!” he demanded.

Before Kirk could respond, a younger, blond man appeared beside the first. “You!” he demanded, and launched himself at Kirk. They struggled a moment, but despite his age, Kirk was the superior fighter. “Where’s Doctor Marcus?” he demanded, forcing the young man to the floor.

“I’m Doctor Marcus!” he insisted. Kirk released him in surprise.

“Jim!”

Kirk looked back to the doorway to see Carol Marcus. When he looked back to the young man wriggling out of his grip, he recognized her features in him. And more…

“David?” he asked.

He retreated to his mother’s side. “Mother!” he protested. “They killed everyone we left behind. They killed grandpa.”

“Oh David,” she said. “Of course they didn’t. It wasn’t them. Jim, what is all of this about, what happened up there?”

“It’s a long story,” Kirk said. He looked around and adopted an impish smile. “Got anything to eat?”

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…

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

(I’m actually imagining a whole alternate version of TWOK now with Pike, which perhaps I will write out at length later)

 

---

“Captain’s log, Stardate 8130.3. Starship Enterprise on training mission to Gamma Hydra, section 14. Co-ordinates twenty-two, eighty-seven, four. Approaching Neutral Zone. All systems normal and functioning.”

The commander switched off the log recorded as the helmsman announced their crossing into the next sector. “Project parabolic course to avoid entering Neutral Zone,” she ordered. Her breifing had warned of increased activity in this section.

“Captain,” said Commander Uhura from behind her, “I’m getting something on the distress channel. Audio only.”

“On speakers.”

Even with her sensitive ears, she struggled to make out the distorted transmission. “… Kobayashi Maru… Ninteen… Out of Altair Six. We have struck a gravitic mine…. Lost all power… Hull… Many casualties. Our position is Gamma Hydra, section ten.”

“In the Neutral Zone,” the captain observed, quietly.

“Hull penetrated,” the voice crackled between increasing bursts of static. “Life support… Can you assist us, Enterprise? … Assist…”

She pulled up the registry data on the Kobayashi Maru. Almost four hundred people aboard. Damn. “Mister Sulu, plot an intercept course.”

“May I remind the Captain that entering the Neutral Zone in a time of war…”

“I’m aware of my responsibilities.”

Sulu nodded. “Understood. Two minutes to intercept.” The computer chimed a warning as they crossed into disputed space.

“Stand by transporter room,” the commander ordered.

“I’ve lost their signal,” Uhura warned.

An alert klaxon sounded. At the conn, Lieutenant Commander Mitchell announced, “Romulan warbirds decloaking, Captain. Four of them.”

“Evasive maneuvers,” the commander barked. “Raise shields. Red alert. Uhura, tell them we’re on a rescue mission.”

“They’re jamming all frequencies.”

The Vulcan science officer coolly said, “The Romulans do not respect humanitarian aid and will interpret our actions as a sign of weakness.”

“They’re firing!” Mitchell exclaimed. Three of the four ships launched their plasma weapons. Even at this range…

“Brace for impact. Return fire.”

The ship shook and the lights dimmed. Her first officer tumbled to the floor and lay still as the bridge reeled. No ship could withstand that much firepower for long; that Enterprise had survived at all was purely down to Romulan eagerness. If they had remained cloaked a minute longer, let Enterprise draw just a bit closer…

She demanded a damage report, knowing it was pointless. “Can we return fire?”

“No power to weapons, Captain,” said the science officer before his console exploded behind him, sending him to the floor as well.

“We’re dead in space,” Mitchell observed. The fourth ship was closing for the kill. The commander realized that it had held back for this moment; the other three ships would need a minute to recharge.

“Signal our surrender,” said the commander, resigned.

“We’re still being jammed, Captain,” Uhura reminded her.

Between flickers, the viewscreen showed the fourth Romulan bearing down on them. A bright ball of plasma was forming in the raptor-prowl. “Then activate escape pods. Send out the log buoy. Abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship.”

The red alert klaxon fell silent. From somewhere beyond the bridge, a tired voice called, “That’s enough. Open it up.”

With a mechanical whir, the viewscreen slid away. Admiral Pike stepped through the smoke onto the bridge. “Any suggestions, Admiral?” the commander asked.

Pike regarded her with tired eyes. “Keep fighting, Mister Saavik,” he said. “Being taken prisoner by the Romulans is… Worse than death.” She flinched visibly at that.

The science officer and first officer got up from the deck. “No comment on my performance?” the first officer asked.

Pike forced a smile. “I’m no drama critic, Sam.” He nodded to the science officer. “But I thought you were very convincing Mister Xon.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said. “I have been practicing my technique.”

“Permission to speak candidly?” Saavik asked.

“Granted.”

“I don’t believe this was a fair test of my command abilities.”

“Why not?”

“Because there was no way to win.”

Pike looked off into the distance. “There are some fates you just can’t escape, Mister Saavik. The best you can do is…. Move them around.” The deep lines around his eyes seemed to grow even deeper. “It’s important that you learn that now, here, and not out there, not when there are lives-” his voice caught in his throat.

He looked away, back to Sam. “Debrief at sixteen-hundred,” he said. “Oh, and Sam, wish your brother a happy birthday for me.”

---

“First officer’s log, Stardate 8130.4. Starship Reliant on orbital approach to Ceti Alpha VI, in connection with Project Genesis. We are continuing our search for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis Experiment. So far no success. Who’d have thought it would be this hard to find nothing.”

Commander Ortegas rose from the chair as the captain entered the bridge. “Standard orbit,” he said. “Any change in surface scan?”

“Negative,” said the helmsman. “Limited atmosphere, dominated by craylon gas, sand and high velocity winds. It’s incapable of supporting lifeforms.”

Ortegas cringed. “Does it have to be completely lifeless?”

“Don’t tell me,” Captain Terrell sighed.

“Minor energy flux on one dynoscanner.”

“Damn. Are you sure? Maybe the scanner’s out of adjustment.”

“Maybe it’s something we could transplant?” Ortegas offered.

Terrell glanced over to the communications officer. “Open a channel to Regula One.” He looked back to Ortegas. “You know what she’s going to say, Erica.” He sighed. “But I’m as tired of this as you are. Suit up. If it’s something we can move…”

---

“Don’t have kittens, mom. Genesis is going to work. They’ll remember you in one breath with Newton, Ramerez, Soong…”

Carol Marcus sighed. “Thanks a lot. No respect from my offspring.”

“Par for the course,” David smirked. “Is grandpa still planning to receive the project update in person?” She caught something uncomfortable in his tone.

“What is it?”

He shrugged. “Every time we have dealings with Starfleet, I get nervous. Even at the best of times, we are dealing with something that could be perverted into a dreadful weapon. And with this war… Remember that overgrown boy scout you used to hang out with? A hothead like that…”

She raised an eyebrow. “Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a boy scout.”

---

“This doesn’t make sense,” Terrell said. The cargo module had been kitted out as a survival shelter, but if there had been a crash… “Where’s the rest of the ship?” The place was packed tight with supplies, enough that he was having trouble locating any sort of hull marking. Finally, he pushed aside a copy of Paradise Lost and looked at the bare wall behind it. “One seven zero one. Enterprise,” he read off the wall. “Erica, isn’t that your old-”

Ortegas picked up an old fashioned leather-bound log book and turned it over. She read the name stamped in gold leaf on the front. “S.S. Botany Bay…” A cold chill grabbed her. “Botany Bay? Oh no.” She dropped the book and grabbed Terrell roughly. “We’ve got to get out of here, Captain. Now.”

“Erica?”

“No time,” she barked, shoving his helmet back at him.

Too late. The cargo module’s hatch clicked open.

To Be Continued…