Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!postnews2.google.com!not-for-mail From: kdj2020@msn.com (Kevin Johnston) Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TOS "The Vengeance Of Khan" 3/10 (PG) Date: 10 Sep 2004 21:29:01 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 949 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.156.228.254 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1094876941 13113 127.0.0.1 (11 Sep 2004 04:29:01 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 04:29:01 +0000 (UTC) Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160747 X-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 21:29:07 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: The Vengeance Of Khan Author: Kevin Johnston Series: The Original Series Rating: PG, for mild violence and language Archive: Yes for ASC Feedback: Wanted very much Stepping out onto the Bridge, Kirk moved towards the command chair with a sense of purpose. Knowing that Spock, behind him, was taking the Science console over from one of his trainees, Kirk stood on the chair's right side. Though she was entitled to sit in it, Saavik was at Navigation,. Sulu on her left. "Helm, all stop." Though the order shocked him, Sulu complied quickly, cutting impulse power and firing the thrusters for braking. The great starship slowed to a halt. '"All stop, aye." Taking the chair, Kirk's thoughts raced as he searched for the right words. Beginning with a slight hesitation, his confidence built as he went on. "In accordance with Starfleet regulations, I am assuming command of this vessel. Duty Officer, so note in the ship's log." Uhura opened the flight log, made the notation, as she watched Kirk resume his speech. "We've been ordered to investigate a situation at Regula One. Mister Saavik, plot a course and relay it to Captain Sulu." "Aye.", she responded. Kirk directed his next words to the younger officers. "We've just been converted to active-duty status for an actual mission. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask each of you to grow up a lot sooner than you expected." Thumbing the intercom control, he called out to Engineering. "Mister Scott?" "Aye,sir?"", came a questioning reply. "I need warp speed and I need it now." "Aye, sir.", this time, delivered with conviction. Gazing into the main viewscreen, Kirk watched for the familiar blurring effect of warp speed. "Warp Eight, helm." "Aye, sir.", Hikaru answered, as he obeyed the order. Staring ahead, he commented quietly,"So much for the little training cruise." Kirk smiled as he overheard that, and watched as the stars ran together in straight lines, as Enterprise jumped to warp. Thumbing the intercom off, he moved from his seat to the helm, where he stood behind Sulu. Thinking quickly again, he decided to tell Spock all, and the other member of the trio, as well. "Uhura, have Doctor McCoy meet myself and Captain Spock, in my quarters." "Aye, sir." Moments later, Kirk and Spock were in the admiral's quarters, Kirk seated at a computer station. Spock stood behind him. Both men had been silent during the ride from the Bridge, had remained silent once reaching their destination. The sound of the door chime shattered the silence. "Come.", Kirk called out, as Leonard McCoy rushed in, out of breath. "Well, I've got Sickbay ready. What the hell is this all about?" Kirk reached over, turned the computer on. He spoke. "Computer, access Project Genesis demonstration tape, authorization, Kirk, James T." The computer screen held the image of the UFP seal, the image changing as the computer voice spoke, masculine-sounding. "Voice authorization confirned. Stand by for retinal scan." Jim focused his right eye on the screen, as a reddish beam scanned the retina. The image changed again, flashing "ID confirmation: Retinal Scan: 99.99875 % match." The image changed yet again, the main lab of Regula One coming into focus. Seated there was Jim's former fiancee. "Carol Marcus.", Spock stated, plainly. "Yes.", Jim half-whispered. "Greetings. I'm Doctor Carol Marcus, and this is a presentation for Project Genesis, a proposal to the Federation. Genesis is the process of reforming matter on a sub-molecular level. It is, in short, life from lifelessness." The tape cut to a schematic of a modified torpedo tube, as Marcus continued. "By that, I mean that Genesis can take a world that has no life, and create life." As the image changed again to a computer-generated image of a dead, bleak world with no atmosphere, she went on. "It is our intent to deliver the Genesis device into an asteroid, or other dead planetary body. Using the Genesis Torpedo, on impact, the Genesis wave..." Images of the torpedo striking the surface flashed by, and as the impact point exploded in blinding whiteness, a wave of energy raced across the surface, as Carol picked her words up with, "begins to spread at an enormous speed. Once it has covered the entire planet, it begins to transform it." Now, images of mountain peaks and empty craters were replaced by lakes, filled with water, oceans as well, and vegetation. "The entire process takes an incredibly short period of time. Once complete, the newly transformed world is ready to support whatever life-forms we see fit to place upon it. Worlds not possessing a suitable atmopsphere can have one created through the addiftion of specific sub-routines." Her face returned, as she finished up. "When one considers the seemingly eternal problem of food supply for non-advanced worlds, or the need to build life-support systems on inhospitable worlds that have valuable resources, the benefits of using Genesis become clear. Stage one has been completed, here in the lab. Stage two is to be completed in a lifeless underground. Stage three, of course, would consist of testing on an actual world. I implore you to consider funding this project, and I thank you for your attention." The screen went dark, as Kirk reached over and shut the computer off. "Well?", he asked his friends. Spock, of course, responded first, thoughts racing through his mind as he spoke. "Most impressive. It is the ability to create life, where none previously existed." "Power of creation.", Kirk said as he nodded his head in agreement, then added,"The tape was made about a year and a half ago. They've finished stage two, and begun work on stage three." Concerned, McCoy began to speak, his words coming slowly. "My God...what, what if someone were to use this where life already existed?" Calmly, Spock answered. "It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix." Angry, McCoy shot back. "Its new...its new....". As his words trailed off, McCoy's temper began to rise. Speaking again, he addressed Spock once more. "You inhuman, cold-blooded-" "Bones, not now.", Kirk cut him off with. Calmed a little, McCoy went on. "Are we...as a race, advanced enough to handle this kind of power? What if this..."Genesis", were to fall into the wrong hands?" "It would post a threat to the galaxy of enormous proportions.", Spock replied. "You''re talking about universal Armegeddon as if it were a game of chess!" "Really, Doctor McCoy, learn to control your passions or they will prove to be your undoing." McCoy, rising to Spock's challenge, gesturing with both hands. "My father believed that the Earth was created in six days, but, watch out! Here comes "Genesis", we'll do it for you in six minutes!". McCoy gathered himself as he finished the outburst. He then asked of the Vulcan, "Tell me, my friend. Are you in favor of these experiments?" "Aside from the moral implications, I am fascinated by the science itself." "Well, I can't say I'm surprised, but I am going on the record as opposing this madness." Kirk, again. "Stop, both of you. Like it or not, the cat is out of the bag. Someone is trying to take Genesis, claiming they have my authority." "An untruth, I presume.", Spock commented. Grimly smiling at the Vulcan, Kirk answered, "You presume correctly. No one can give that order, not even the President of The Federation Council." Before any of the three of them could speak again, Saavik's voice cut in, clearly confused. "Admiral, we're picking up a vessel on sensor scans." "Who is it?" "It's one of ours. It's the Reliant." Trading looks with each other, all three headed for the door as Kirk called out, "We're on our way, Mister Saavik. Call Captain Sulu and Commander Uhura to the Bridge, at once." "Aye, sir." Once in the turbolift, Kirk tried frantically to remember anything he could about Starfleet's current ship disposition, came up with nothing. Cursing under his breath,he wished he were still Chief Of Operations, for then, the placement of each and every ship in the Fleet would be his job to decide. Seeing the look on the admiral's face, Spock tried to fill the void as best he could. "Starship Reliant, Miranda-Class, NCC-One-Eight-Six-Four. Currently under command of Captain Clarke Terrell. With, if memory serves, Pavel Chekov aboard as her First Officer." Kirk nodded at that, the words calling forth precious knowledge. "I cut Chekov's orders, personally. But last I knew, Reliant was assigned to deep-space patrol, mainly for defense and security. What is she doing this close to home?" "Unknown. Perhaps she is being rotated home for extended shore leave or possibly, for refit?" Kirk shook his head, at that. "No. Miranda-class crews know they're going to be away from home for a long time when they sign on... and, if anything, Command's getting ready to retire the class, not refit them. Is there any other legitimate reason they'd have, that you can think of?" McCoy, with his input. "Things have been stretched pretty tight with our hospital ships. Maybe they were pulled off patrol to help out, and picked up a distress signal from Regula One?" That made sense, Kirk had to admit, as the doors opened, on the starboard side lift, and they stepped out onto the Bridge. Saavik did not announce Kirk's arrival, as he was now, technically speaking, holding the captaincy of the Enterprise, rather than acting as a Flag Officer. Taking the center seat, Kirk motioned McCoy to his side. "Get to Sickbay. If they have been working on medical supply runs, they could probably use your help." "Right.On my way." As he left, Uhura and Sulu entered, taking their places quickly, both trainees moving to unoccupied auxiliary stations. Hearing Kirk mutter to himself, both officers had a bad feeling about things. Louder, but still softly, he spoke. "This is damned peculiar. Yellow Alert." The white light illuminating the Bridge turned yellow, as screens at all stations flashed "Condition: Yellow Alert". Saavik, again next to Sulu, looked as though she had something she wanted to say, but was waiting for the right moment to do so. "Uhura. Hail them." "Aye, sir. Reliant, this is the Starship Enterprise, calling, Do you read us?" Seconds ticked by, with no answer, as Uhura repeated her words to their sister ship. Spock, at the Science console, concentrated sharply on finding anything out of the ordinary that might yield clues to the puzzle facing them. Getting a response, Uhura turned to her captain, not sure if what she was being told was the truth. "Sir, they're using a secondary channel routed through the helm. They say their Chambers coil is interfering with their comm systems." "Spock?" Studying his readings intently, Spock waited, checked twice before responding. "Their coil emissions are normal." Saavik, try as she might, could remain silent no more. Turning in her chair to face Kirk, she spoke. "Admiral, General Order Twelve clearly states "When visual communications have not been established with an approaching vessel, shields are to be raised." Spock answered her with, "The admiral is quite aware of the regulations, Lieutenant." Bemused, Kirk paused before speaking. "Spock, you're sure about those emissions?" Spock checked yet again. "Normal, Admiral. I am at a loss to explain the discrepancy." On Reliant's bridge, Terrell and Chekov were nowhere to be seen. Khan held the center seat, confidence vislble in his eyes, anticipation there, as well. Fifteen years, he had dreamt, each and every night of but two things. His wife, taken from him too soon, and the man who had put him, Khan Noonien Singh, one-time ruler of over one third of Earth, into exile. "Yes, Kirk, closer...closer. We are, after all, one big happy family, we of Starfleet." Khan pronounced it as a single word, whereas, fifteen years ago it had been two words. He was impressed with the advances this so-called United Federation Of Planets had made, but still, mankind would be so much further along, had he, Khan, succeeded in uniting Earth under one flag, one ruler. At the helm, Joachim, beside him, one of Khan's female followers, her blonde hair tied up in braids, for the first time in fifteen years. The joy of such simple pleasures had satisfied all of them, a hot bath, a well-cooked meal. Clothes, washed in soap and water, instead of being blasted clean by sand. "They're still running with shields down.", Joachim reported. "Of course. He has no reason to not trust us. Latricia, repeat the message through the secondary channel, but add the following to it. "Have intercepted general distress signal from Regula One. Do you have the situation in hand, Enterprise?" She did as he ordered, waited for the reply from their enemy. "Enterprise responds that they are enroute to Regula One, and welcomes our assistance. She wishes to know reason, or reasons, for Reliant to be so far from her assigned patrol route." Khan had done his homework well, had studied every bit of information that a willing Terrell had given him. "Respond that we were enroute to assist hospital ship U.S.S. Piper." Waiting for the response, Latricia addressed her lord as it came. "Enterprise acknowledges. They're requesting confirmation of our coil emission difficulties." "No doubt the work of Captain Spock, with his usual efficiency. Such luck, for us to find Enterprise with a crew of children, and Kirk, worn and tired from the years. He is good, but not good enough to defeat me again." "They've stopped.", Joachim reported, still very much all business. Where others had gone slightly overboard with excitement at having both freedom and prey to hunt, Joachim had held his emotions in check. Though he owed Khan his allegiance, he wished only to remain free, and was not convinced that Enterprise would be as easy a target as Khan believed. Taking his chances, he swung around in his seat. "My lord, there is still time to abandon this attack. We are free, let us consider other possibilities." Khan had known that his second-in-command had been waiting to speak of his reluctance, allowed the breach of protocol that the question represented. "He tasks me, Joachim, and I shall have him. 'Round perdition's flames and to the ends of reality, I would chase him. After his defeat, then will we return to Ceti Alpha Five and begin anew. Think of it, my friend. A world reborn, and a ship to carry our empire forward. Slow to a stop, and raise shields." On Enterprise, Spock delivered the news, with a tense, "They're raising shields." "Raise ours.", Kirk replied, his words overlapping Spock's next ones. "Too late. They're firing phasers." "Evasive!" Sulu fought to move the ship out of harm's way, cursed as he realized he was going to fail. It had been a very long time since he'd been at the helm in a combat situation, and his skills were ever-so-slightly rusty. Like bolts of lightning, twin beams of orange-yellow fire struck the Enterprise, amidships, on the secondary hull. The ship rattled as she was hit, and people held on for dear life, all over the ship. Screaming, "Red Alert!" as he fleetingly wondered how Montgomery Scott was doing right then, Kirk righted himself, gripped the armrests with both hands. As Sulu fired thrusters to right the ship, Kirk yelled at him, "Sulu! Get those shields up!" "I'm trying, sir.", he replied as he hit controls in series, hoping for success. On his display, an image of the ship sat, turning slowly as he tried to move it out of danger. He sighed with relief as a series of dotted lines began to surround the image, "Shields up-" "They're firing again.", Spock warned. The beams struck again, hitting the Bridge. "Shields at forty percent and holding.", Sulu stated. Before anyone could catch their breath, Reliant fired a third time. Torpedoes, two of them, racing towards the ship just as she finished her turn, striking the secondary hull again.Energy crackled as the shields tried to absorb the blow, failed. In Engineering, cadets and trainees screamed, fighting to escape as poisonous engine coolant leaked into the air, its sickly scent filling the room. They ran for the emergency containment door, which was slidiing down to seal the room off. Scott's voice could be heard yelling "Get out! Get out!". As the door came within a few feet of the deck, one last trainee rolled under it, just clearing the door and reaching safety. As he did, so, a lone figure remained behind, scrambling up a ladder. Not stopping to grab a gas mask, he fought to see through the haze. Coolant seeped into his lungs as he concentrated on his task. It was Peter Preston. On the Bridge, Jim Kirk tried to figure out what the hell was going on, cursed under his breath as the lighting failed. For a long half-minute,in darkness, they sat, and as the emergency lighting came on, Spock spoke, quietly. "Emergency power on-line. Shields,and phasers are both off-line." Waiting for the next blow, Kirk stood, moved to Uhura's side, where the rush of voices from all decks blended into a single mass of noise. Seeing her captain's face, she worked frantically to isolate the one voice he needed to hear. "Sir, Mister Scott, on discrete." His voice came through, filtered, sounding worried. "Bridge, this is Engineering." "Scotty?" "Sir, we're barely hanging on down here. Main and auxiliary power are both down. All we have is the emergency back-ups." "How long to get aux power back?" "Five, maybe ten, minutes." On the viewscreen, as they talked, Reliant had lazily executed a 360-degree turn, as if showing off, taunting the Enterprise. "They're coming around, again.", Sulu warned, then added, "I don't think I can get us out of firing range in time." "Do what you can, Captain. Mister Scott, what about the photon torpedoes?" "The launch systems are torn to hell, Admiral." "Phasers?" "I can give you a few shots once we get Auxilary power back." "Get on it. Bridge, out." "Aye. Engineering, out." "Phasers will not prove sufficient, against their shields.", Spock delivered, as he shook his head, summoning Kirk to the Damage Control station. Once both were there, he pointed to several areas that were flashing red, where the ship was damaged the worst. "Here, and here, and there, all critical systems. They knew exactly where to hit us." "Who. Who knew where to hit us?", Kirk growled. "Unknown. But we can not hope to escape. Not on auxiliary power." Sulu, with more bad news for Kirk. "Sir, they're getting ready to fire again, I can turn us, but the shots might hit us head-on. If the Bridge is hit..." Kirk blanched visibly at the unspoken thought. A direct hit on an unshielded Bridge would most probably kill everyone present. Moving to retake his seat, he asked, "If you do turn us, is there anything you can do to protect the Bridge?" He recieved a quick response to the question. "I can raise the navigational deflectors, which should give us enough protection to take one more hit. No more, than that, though, sir, and I'll need to take power from life-support." "Do it. Uhura, get whoever the hell is in command over there, on the line." "Aye, sir." As her voice cut through the quiet, smoke wafted across the Bridge, slowly drifting towards a vent, where it disappeared, sucked away. White lights ringing around the Bridge at each station, and over the command chair, held steady, casting their light. "They're firing,", Spock warned. Two more balls of hellfire raced across the distance bewteen the two ships, striking the top dome that held the Bridge. Energy crackled again, but the battle between the two energy fields ended much more quickly than the first time. The Bridge shook violently and Kirk heard someone yell as they hit the deck, crying out in pain. It was the trainee that Sulu had taken over from, and the one Spock had displaced ran to his side, reaching underneath the nearest station for a first-aid kit.Tending to her crewmate's injuries, she looked up at the admiral, glad to be able to give him some good news. "A broken arm, sir. I can walk him to Sickbay." Smiling at her, Kirk spoke softly. "Good work, Ensign. On your way." Helping the injured man to his feet, the young woman supported him as they slowly moved towards the portside turbolift, disappeared into it. "Uhura?" Shaking her head, she told him, "Nothing, sir. They're reading us, they're just not answering." "Sulu, if you have any more tricks in your bag, now's the time." Shaking his own head, Hikaru replied, "Sorry, sir. That was my only one." "You did the best anyone could ask for. Uhura, new message as follows: "Enterprise requests your offer of surrender terms." "Sir!", she exploded, her voice stunned beyond belief. "Do it, while we still have time." "Aye, sir.". Spock, surprised at his readings. "They are firing phasers, not photon torpedoes." "What the hell are they doing?", Kirk asked of no one, in particular. The beams lanced out, hitting Engineering, and the ship rattled. The emergency lights flickered, steadied, then dimmed. Control panels dimmed and lit up again, as what emegency power remained was diverted to them . The other only light, now, was from the stars. Furious, Kirk spoke, addressing all of his bridge crew. "Whoever they are, they're playing games with us." Standing, he watched as Reliant fired once more, Spock not bothering to sound an unneeded alarm. The phasers hit the dome again, ripping into metal. Though it was far less worse than with the torpedoes,it did a different kind of damage. Consoles exploded, sending sparks of electricity across the Bridge. The smoke worsened, as the ventilation system overloaded. The smell of charred plastic was not going to go away, this time. Moving through the haze, Kirk decided that enough was enough. "Scotty! I need those phasers now!" "I need a few minutes, sir." "We don't have a few minutes!" "I'll do what I can!" Suddenly aware of his own failure, Kirk replied, "Acknowledged. Bridge, out." Moving to Uhura's side again, he went on. "Put me on the line." Wordlessly, she nodded as she did so. "This is Admiral James T. Kirk, to Commander, Reliant. My request of terms is null, and void, We surrender, without qualification." That, at last, got him an answer, as the stars faded from view, and Reliant's bridge took their place. The face that stared at Kirk held hatred and respect mingled into one single mass of emotions. "Khan." As he said it, Jim moved to his seat, took it. Shock filled his face, as he tried to grasp the truth of it. Khan, of course, kept his expression disgustingly satisfied. Rising from his own seat, he smiled in a grotesque parody of goodwill. "Admiral Kirk. I am so happy to see you once again." Regaining some of his composure, Kirk put on his very best no-nonsense face. "I demand to know the meaning of this attack." "My meaning should be quite clear. I've deprived your ship of power, and in a few minutes, I will deprive you of your life. But, before your death, I wanted to see the look on your face, to know I had beaten you." Kirk stood, stretching his arms in supplication. If saving Enterprise and her crew meant giving up his own life, so be it. "Khan, if it's my death you want, I'll have myself beamed over, alone. Spare my crew." Khan thought that over, nodded his head. Folding his arms, he came back with, "I offer you a counter-proposal, Admiral. Give me your access codes to override Genesis' security routines, and surrender yourself, and I will let Enterprise go. But, I will have your word, that no attempt to rescue you will be made." Kirk nodded, as Spock stepped into view, tipped his head away, spoke quietly. "At least we know he doesn't have Genesis." Kirk acknowledged the words with a quick nod of his head. Addressing Khan, he tried to buy the time that he knew Scott needed. "This may take a few minutes. I need to access my security codes before I can pull up the data." "I grant you sixty seconds, Admiral." As he finished, Kirk reached his left hand out towards Uhura, making a downward slashing motion. Uhura knew what it meant, cut the audio. Watching as he summoned Spock to his side, she waited for his signal to restore the audio. "Reliant's prefix code?", Spock asked. "It's all we've got. Keep nodding as though I'm still giving orders." Doing so, Spock moved back to his station, called up the needed information. As the admiral moved to stand behind Saavik, he reached for his glasses, unfolded them, put them on. Peering over Saavik's shoulder, he found what he was looking for. Bewildered, Saavik asked, "Prefix code?" Reaching out to work the controls, Kirk answered her question as he did so. "You have to understand why things work on a starship. The prefix code is designed to prevent someone from sending an order for a ship to lower its own shields. Fortunately, you're looking at someone with the authority to override the code. Spock?" "Almost ready, Admiral." Khan voiced his impatience, flexing his arns as he did so. "Forty-five seconds, Admiral." Uhura saw his signal, the hand moving backwards and up. Still wearing his glasses, Kirk glanced up at Khan's face. "What assurance do I have that you'll keep your word, Khan?" "I've given you no word to keep, Admiral." Kirk smiled at that, weakly. "I, uh, see your point." Time crawled by, as Kirk turned his attention back to his work. "Thirty seconds, Admiral." Kirk, watching the process take far longer than it normally would, stalled to gain a few seconds more. He gestured with both hands as he spoke, begging Khan. "Please, you have to give me more time. The Bridge is a wreck, the computers are smashed..." Khan shook his head, replied, "Twenty seconds, and not a second more." Kirk grimaced at that, silently prayed for Scott and his crew to come through. Waiting and watching, until it was done. Smiling as he saw Sulu's board light up with confirmation of the phaser banks charging, he heard Spock's voice, pitched low. "The prefix code is one-six-three-zero-nine." "Fifteen seconds, Admiral." This time, Jim looked up at Khan, wanting to strangle him. Bending over Saavik's shoulder, he began inputting the code, as he whispered, "Stand by to fire phasers." "Aye, sir.", Sulu whispered back. "Time's up, Admiral." Having the knowledge that the tables were about to turn, Jim took a few seconds to leisurely remove his glasses from his face. He then carefully returned them to his pocket, looked up at his enemy's image. "Here it comes.", he said, as he watched Saavik hit the final key. On Reliant's bridge, Joachim spotted it first, as the image of Reliant lost its protective shield, the lines disappearing rapidly. Frantic, he yelled, "Our shields are dropping!" Khan ran for the helm, searching for the right controls, his hands ready to hit the buttons. "The overrride! Where's the override?!" "Too late!", Joachim unknowingly echoed Spock's earlier statement. On Enterprise, Kirk smiled grimly, gave the order as he stood over his former helmsman's shoulder. "Now, Sulu! Fire!" Kirk raised his left fist as he spoke, watching with satisfaction as the beams shot towards Reliant, striking her engine room hard. Joachim did a quick survey of the damage, cursed quietly as he saw the extent of the damage. Working his controls, he began to move the ship away, withdrawing to safety. Khan's voice erupted as he did so. "No!", as he leapt from his chair, reaching for the controls. Suddenly, Joachim's arm shot out, stopping him cold. "My lord, we are damaged. Warp power is off-line, and the shield generators are damaged, as well. Sir, Enterprise isn't going anywhere that we can't find her." Yielding to the truth of his friend's words, Khan retook his seat, his composure regained. "You did well to stop me, Joachim. We can still make it back to Regula before Enterprise, can we not?" "We can, sir. It should take only an hour to restore warp drive. Enterprise will require far more time to effect repairs." Aboard Enterprise, a smiling Sulu swiveled around in his chair, beaming at Kirk. "You did it, sir!" Shaking his head, Kirk moved to his seat, wiping sweat off his forehead as he spoke. "I did nothing except get caught with my britches down.", and then pausing to sit down, he addressed Saavik. "Liuetenant, you go right on quoting regulations." Kirk then looked around the Bridge, as a damage control team rushed out of the starboard side turbolift. Two of them, both trainees with Ensign's pins on their uniforms, quickly set up a portable air filter unit, and the smoke began to clear away once again. The other two, both cadets, went to work cleaning up bits and pieces of debris. Needing to see how bad things really were, Kirk called out, "Mister Scott?", then felt a sense of dread as one of Scott's trainees answered. "This is Ensign T'pera, Admiral. Mister Scott is in Sickbay." "Acknowledged, Ensign. Inform him that I'm on my way there now." "Aye, sir." Motioning Spock to join him, Kirk moved towards the same lift the damage control team had used, stopping near the doors to give his orders. "Captain Sulu, best speed to Regula One. Mister Saavik, take the conn." "Aye, sir.", both officers responded. Once in the lift, Kirk brushed soot off his uniform, spoke softly as he finished the minor task, as Spock manually set their destination. "Fifteen years...", and as his words trailed off, Spock responded, speaking in normal tones. "Indeed... should he gain control of Genesis, he would pose a great threat to the galaxy at large." Using a normal tone himsell, Kirk answered back. "My repsonsbility, one way or another. I put him there, and forgot about him." "You, of course, took the necessary precautions?" "I had Command place the system off-limits. and the star charts altered to show the system as having five planets instead of six. Since no ship had ever physically been there,other than the Enterprise, there would be no one to wonder where the sixth planet went. I explained the change in the charts as correcting an error by the probe that first mapped the system." "The Science Council would have had the authority to override that order, and, of course, had no reason to suspect any potential risks." Kirk sighed, softly. "I know. And I can't blame Chekov for forgetting about it. He was just an ensign, after all. I blame myself, for not keeping tabs on Khan." Before Spock could respond to that, the lift stopped, and Kirk led the way out of it. Seconds later, they entered Sickbay, where the air was filled with sounds of medical equipment and the cries of the dying. Pausing to stop at each bed, Kirk offered a smile or a word to each of the injured. He nodded at Chris Chapel as she moved past him, pointing the way to where McCoy stood. Emotion hit Kirk square in the gut when he saw why Scott was away from his post. The Scotsman was standing watch over his nephew, who lay on a bed, his face scarred and burned almost beyond recognition. Hearing his captain's footsteps, Scott moved to stand by Kirk, tears falling as he spoke. "He stayed at his post, when the others ran. Doctor McCoy says it's bad." Putting a hand on one shoulder, Kirk squeezed as he kept quiet, let go. Leaving Spock with Chapel, he moved to Preston's side.He glanced at McCoy, who shook his head sadly as Preston fought to remain conscious. McCoy leaned in, whispered. "It's all right, son. Rest." But Preston would have none of it. Raising his head to look at Kirk, he spoke. "The ship, Admiral?" Kirk moved to his side, answered as he took Peter's hand. "You saved the ship." Peter nodded, once, at peace with the universe. Letting go, he breathed in one last taste of fresh air, and slipped away. McCoy quickly lifted a blanket over the body, made his way to Scott. "I'm sorry, Scotty." Scott grasped the physician's hand, shook it. "I know ye did your best, Leonard." As he began to turn away and head for the doors, Kirk stopped him with a question he hated to ask, needed to ask. "Scotty, I'm sorry, but I need to know. How long to restore main power?" Scott turned to face his captain, answered with a heavy sigh. "I'll do my best, sir. Ye'll have it when ye need it." Kirk acknowledged the words with a small smile, as Scott exited the room. Seeing Spock still speaking with Chapel, he then moved over to where McCoy was seated on a foot stool, wiping blood from his hands. Kirk waited for his friend to speak. "Damn it, Jim, not to seem dense or anything, but what the hell is going on? How did Khan take over Reliant?" Jim shook his head as he answered, "I wish I knew. Tell me the truth, Bones. Does Genesis really scare you that much?" Leonard McCoy nodded twice, making his position clear. "It terrifies me." McCoy watched his oldest friend to see how he would react to that. Seeing that Kirk accepted it, McCoy then changed the subject, trying to ease the guilt his friend was feeling. "You gave as good as you got.", he said, softly. Kirk had started to move towards the rear exit, stopped to respond to McCoy's words. "No, I didn't. We're alive because I knew something about these ships that he didn't, and because a fifteen-year old boy upheld everything Starfleet stands for." And then, Kirk was gone, headed to his quarters, to plan for the task ahead of them. NewMessage: