one \\ Ten Forward Lounge

[savagemind]

The ship was falling.

Correction: the ship had fallen, skipping across the ocean like a pebble on a lake, scraping Alcatraz clean and tumbling towards the city. Sparks showered the bridge, alarms screaming about hull integrity, bulkhead damage, warp and impulse drive failure. None of it mattered. From his perch in the captain's chair, Khan let nothing but grief and rage fill his thoughts as the city skyline filled the viewscreen.

They'd taken everything from him. Now he would return the favor.

The saucer struck. Khan was thrown forward, and everything went white--


And he woke, aching and crumpled on a cold floor. He pushed himself up, face twisted in a silent snarl, and took stock, mind immediately jumping to one single, obvious conclusion.

Starfleet.

They should have let him die with his crew. Their mistake.

Comments

[asklepian]

Not even four months ago, Julian would have vehemently, even violently denied any allegation that Starfleet--any part of it--ccould be involved in anything even approaching what Khan was talking about. Before he'd been abducted in his sleep by Sloan and his men, put through a simulation designed to break him, force him to admit he'd been turned into a Dominion mole. After his first experience getting spirited away from his bed in his sleep, he hadn't been able to truly rest for weeks. He'd had nightmares of his imprisonment, and that was bad enough. Sloan's little simulation had made him question the reality of being on the Enterprise for weeks.

He still opens his mouth to protest out of deeply ingrained habit and true belief. Section 31 was not Starfleet. But he bites his tongue, curses lowly. "Section 31. You mean them." The utter fools, they thought they could control one of the most brilliant, devious, and ruthless of a group that was feared after four centuries for those traits?

"They're not Starfleet." He goes silent for a few moments more, eyes hard, cold, and cautious. "And you're making rather large assumptions about me."

Not untrue ones, and it seems that no matter what he says, he's not going to be able to convince him otherwise. He'd blown that chance by showing off back in Ten Forward.

"I'm hiding because I'm eight years in the past, from my perspective, and I'd rather not risk getting my younger self kicked out of Starfleet before I can enter the service under a Captain who will defend my right to be here."

He tilts his head in a mirror of Khan's motion, subconsciously. "My crew knows perfectly well what I am. All of Starfleet does. But they don't yet."

[savagemind]

"Section 31," Khan confirms, and there's a smile on his face, now. It's not a happy one. They had done more than try and control him, they had controlled him. His pride bristles at the thought, but it's the truth. Marcus had exploited his one real weakness, his devotion to the few of his kind who'd survived to follow him into the stars.

He shakes his head. "Of course they are Starfleet. Section 31 is mandated by the very charter that makes up your organization." He knows - he's read it, along with the laws that declared him illegal, a non-citizen that predated the Federation and was not, therefore, subject to the protections it offered. All of which were so kindly offered by Marcus.

But Julian's acknowledgment of his own augmentation prompts a kind of satisfaction in Khan's gaze. He isn't one of Khan's family, not by far - but they're dead. Gone. And four hundred years in the future is a man alike, if nothing else. "You chose to serve organization that wants nothing to do with your existence?"

[asklepian]

"They're not. They don't answer to Starfleet Command, if they ever were part of the Charter they've slipped that, and no one oversees them." Julian's tone is vicious, and angry, 31's very existence is anathema to everything the Federation stands for. The ideals that he truly holds dear, that every Starfleet officer holds dear.

It's obvious that he's had some personal dealings with them, and that he's not fondly recalling them.

"They're a cancer." It's the only true way to put it. An insidious disease, and as a physician, as a Starfleet officer, and as a decent human being, Julian doesn't intend to let them stay where they are now that he knows they're there.

Julian has read those laws, too, studied them front to back, and if he knew what Khan was thinking then, he'd have to wonder how Marcus manipulated them, or how he outright lied, because he'd never feared losing his citizenship. Even in his darkest thoughts, he knew he'd lose nothing more than his Starfleet commission and his medical license should his true nature come to light. It would be difficult, but he could still make a life for himself on Earth, or out in space. There were colonies where they didn't care one jot if someone had a license to practice medicine, so long as you could suture a wound.

"What I chose was to enter a service where I could do the most good."

It wasn't his existence they were truly worried about.

[savagemind]

Julian is fortunate that he was born human - he'd had citizenship from the moment he was born. Khan never had the luxury, and after his farce of a 'trial' the entire world had been eager to disclaim his kind. None of the 20th century Augments had been
'grandfathered into' the Federation.

"Article fourteen, section thirty-one. In times of emergency, extraordinary measures may be taken to secure the interests and defense of the Federation and its protectorates." It's recited in the same flawless manner that Julian should recognize - eidetic memories are a blessing and a curse. His lips quirk.

"And what, dear doctor, have they done to set you so against them? A recruitment attempt, perhaps?"

He can read Julian's anger easily - the man wears it one his sleeve - and Khan finds himself approving. Good. Let him hate them. Let them set another of his kind against them - they'd fall that much sooner.

[asklepian]

"I know it," Julian snaps. Sloan had quoted it at him, too. Thinking about the man, what he stood for, infuriated him. "An autonomous division, accountable to no one--much less to Starfleet Command. Working on their own for two hundred years, without any oversight--"

His nails dig into his hands, recalling how exhausted he'd been when Sloan told him what his shadow division did, how furious he'd felt that such a thing could exist, two hundred years after the founding of the Federation. That they judged people, put them on trial, and summarily executed them without so much as a whisper if they'd been deemed a threat. And he'd felt violated, to be taken from his bed on DS9 with none the wiser--they'd dug into his records, down to even his visits to Quark's holosuites.

Julian snorted. "They tried, yes." He had the grace and the good luck to be able to tell them no. They had to let him go--or did they? A freak shuttle accident on the way back to the station, from the medical conference he'd never actually been able to attend, and he never would have returned...no one had missed him.

"They're the antithesis of everything about the Federation that I believe in. What makes you think I wouldn't be against them?"

[savagemind]

"Because so many in your organization aren't!" Khan growls, tone finally giving voice to his frustration. "Section 31 is not some small, clandestine outfit, doctor. They're a military force tens of thousands strong, and they do what they do because they believe in it."

A restless part of him wants to pace. He reins in the instinct, leaning forward instead. "Do you want to hear a story, Doctor Bashir?"

A story of what happens when you attempt to cage an man created to rule - created to be better. Of what happens when you try to make a wolf into a dog, and are surprised when it turns on you.

[asklepian]

Julian speaks quietly, in response. "We believe too. And we outnumber them." Julian recalls Captain Sisko's quiet order: the next time Sloan approaches him, because he understands now there will be a second time, he's to listen. He's to stare straight into the abyss, and drag the monsters hiding there kicking into the light. And he has faith that he can do so. It would take a sacrifice, he was sure. Maybe his career, his freedom, or even his life, but he is determined to see it through.

"We are going to bring them down." His voice is quiet, but filled with conviction. He's set on this course, now. And he will succeed.

"What did they do to you?" Because what else could that story be?

[savagemind]

And this time Khan does stand, gives into the need for movement, the itch beneath his skin. He's already moving easier than he was in Ten Forward - testament to his augmented healing.

"Four hundred years ago my people and I exiled ourselves to the stars, in the hopes that when we woke, we would find something better." He lingers on the last word, then shakes his head. "But the destruction of Vulcan forced your Federation to face it's own mortality, and Starfleet became more aggressive in its search of known space."

A humorless smile, and Khan paces the edge of the force field, predatory. "My ship was found, and turned over to Admiral Alexander Marcus, of Section 31. I was the only one woken."

"Once Marcus realized that he had found the answer to the Klingon threat, he decided to ensure my cooperation. There were eighty-five of us when we left Earth. When we were found, we were seventy-three. Seventy-two of my sleeping crew, of my family, were left in Marcus' hands, insuring my good behavior."

He finally turns back to Julian, eyes blazing despite the chilly precision in his words. "There is nothing I would not do for my family, Doctor Bashir." Including being turned into Starfleet's pet Augment.

[asklepian]

Julian watches him stand, but doesn't follow suit--he just watches, listens. The story beginsnthe way he's expecting. It very rapidly changes.

Khan is on a roll--Julian doesn't stop him until he stops, despite reeling from disbelief. He hadn't heard about the recent history of the other timeline.

"The destruction of Vulcan? Vulcan hasn't been destroyed." His mind reels at the implications. Not even the Borg or the Dominion have managed anything like that. That the Klingons had been able to do so--why else would they be considered such a dire and horrible threat? What had happened in that timeline?

[savagemind]

"In my timeline, it has." He'd read the reports he wasn't supposed to have access to, reports that had detailed everything that had been kept from the public. How the future had splintered, how Nero had used the Narada to release a substance into the center of Vulcan, how the planet's gravity had devoured itself and collapsed into a black hole.

Intriguing technology, at the time.

"A rogue Romulan with a mining vessel was responsible - a member of your timeline, traveling back in time to altering history. Vulcan's destruction weakened the Federation, and the Klingons pressed the advantage."

"Marcus wanted a war. A preemptive strike. But he knew he's never get public approval for weapons and warships - the Federation had lost it's teeth. So he conscripted me."

[asklepian]

If that was what had happened in the other timeline...Julian just stared, because the idea of an entire core world, billions of people, gone--Vulcans, aside from those in Starfleet, were rather insular, they didn't leave their world...if there'd been any kind of warning, Starfleet would've responded, and evacuated as many people as they could, but the survivors would still be a fraction of the population.

He's obviously reeling from the idea, but his mind can't stop running with what would have happened--he murmurs to himself, sounding dazed.

"...they created an alternate timeline. Our relations with the Klingons were rocky at best, a hundred years ago, they would have..."

He takes a shaky breath, and draws his hand down over his mouth. "We're not...Starfleet has always been a defense force, on top of the scientific, humanitarian, and exploratory missions...of course the Federation wouldn't have approved, we don't attack other powers. Not without provocation."

[savagemind]

The revelation obviously affects Julian far more than Khan - he has no attachment to Vulcan. No interest beyond the academic. The Botany Bay had been found only after the planet's destruction, and the only Vulcan who had made an impression on the Augment was Kirk's treacherous first officer.

(One day, Khan would murder Spock.)

As it is, he's in no mood to coddle the doctor's shellshocked psyche. This is the truth of his world. This new universe may, may be different, but it changes nothing about the reality in which he lived.

"Starfleet is poisoned at its core. Don't pretend your Admiralty doesn't know about Section 31's existence. They merely turn a blind eye for the sake of their own moral posturing."

If their interests were threatened, the Federation would be merciless in attacking the 'other powers', just as they had been merciless in exploiting him.

[asklepian]

Julian is a doctor, and though Starfleet has seen great losses within his lifetime, it's still too much to take in. Khan might not care about Vulcan, but Julian had friends who were Vulcan, people he knew, who now in the other timeline might very well never exist.

He draws a few breaths, hissed in through his teeth, at the implication that because Section 31 exists, all of Starfleet is wrong. He knows that it isn't.

"Not here," he says--quietly, but with conviction. He's sure of it. One or two admirals might know--it's possible. Likely, even. But not all of them. He grinds his teeth, almost. "Not all of them. And the rank and file officers, the bulk of the Fleet, have no idea. If they did know, it'd be gone by now."

[savagemind]

Khan is silent as he looks down at Julian. It's not just conviction in the man's voice - it's devotion. Doctor Julian Bashir is a man devoted to Starfleet's - to the Federation's - ideals. The public ones, at any rate: peaceful exploration and cooperation, discovery and trade.

Khan can recognize a lost battle when he sees one; there will be no swaying Bashir from his faith. Still. It doesn't hurt to warn him.

He laces his hands behind is back. "Your faith in the Federation is foolish." They would turn on him eventually.

He's seen it, after all.

[asklepian]

"You might think so. Hell, you might even be right. But I don't believe that." He knows Captain Sisko is on his side in this--in both the matter of Section 31 and his genetic background. Miles had accepted him without hesitation--all of his crew had, human or otherwise. "Things can change."

Humanity can change, the Federation can change, Starfleet can change. He knows that's true--he's seen it happen.

He stands up then, still obviously troubled, but starting to work through it.

"Now, are you going to let me see to those ribs before you puncture something? Assuming you haven't already, which isn't outside the realm of possibility."

[savagemind]

He's not mollified. In his experience - and the three hundred year leap into the future he's been afforded - humanity has changed very little, fundamentally. But the doctor is a true believer, and Khan is tired. He watches as the man stands, brows lifting.

"That won't be necessary." It comes out more stiffly than he intended, but he won't apologize for it. Khan's relationship with doctors is, on good days, completely ambivalent; he doesn't need them. On bad days... well. Let's just say he's seen - and been strapped to - his fair share of operating tables.

His ribs - and everything else about him - will heal on their own. A day, perhaps two, and he'll be as unblemished, healthy as he's ever been. Just as he was created.

[asklepian]

"So your broken bones can set themselves, can they? My, that must be incredibly convenient," Julian says, voice obviously disbelieving and dripping with sarcasm. He's not debating your body's ability to heal--he'd be making sure they heal straight.

He's not going to force the issue--if Khan formally rejects his assistance, he really can't force the matter unless it's an emergency and he's not conscious to consent to treatment.

"Even so, I can't--won't--do anything you don't consent to, so it's up to you."

[savagemind]

"If you think I haven't set my own bones before, doctor, you are incredibly mistaken." Because he has. Many times, in fact; when his keepers wanted to see just how well they healed, when sparring got out of hand, when war was on his doorstep and Khan was fighting even his own kind...

That second statement garners more of a pause, and Khan's brow furrows. "You would be the first," he replied, slowly. He doesn't quite believe the other man.

[asklepian]

"Well, it does tend to be easier when someone else does it." Julian tilts his head--that's true, in his professional opinion. Which Khan doesn't seem to be too invested in hearing.

"I do take the 'consent' part of 'informed consent' rather seriously," Julian says solemnly. "Being the subject of an involuntary medical procedure in the past, myself."

Granted, at six years old, his parents would have been the ones to consent to treatment on his behalf anyway. Even if he had been normal.