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

[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.