Author's Notes: Hi! This story didn't disappear, it just went on hiatus for a little while. Here it is - finished! If you like it, kindly give me $5 or one review. -PenPatronus-

Hurt and Comfort in Starfleet
An Anthology of "Star Trek" Stories
PenPatronus
Story #2
Khan's Revenge

STARBASE YORKTOWN
2 MONTHS AFTER "STAR TREK: BEYOND"

Yorktown's artificial lighting had just finished mimicking a Terran sundown when Spock arrived at Jim Kirk's temporary quarters. The Vulcan set a wooden bowl of food in the center of the table—food that smelled to Kirk like burnt toast. Jim finished placing the last table setting, and stared at the bowl. He held up his middle and forefinger and said, "Two questions—"

"Those are thorns, not fangs," Spock said, gesturing at the blue, kiwi-shaped food that appeared to have a jaw. "It is customary to remove the longest thorn first and then use it, instead of traditional utensils, to eat the fruit."

Jim dropped his hand. "Answer to question number one: it's fruit. Answer to question number two: it doesn't have teeth. You answered both questions before I even asked them, Mr. Spock."

Spock cocked an eyebrow, betraying that he felt pleased with himself. "And I have two questions for you, Captain."

Jim sat at the round table and poured himself a brandy. "Let me try. First, yes, I got a haircut, thanks for noticing. Second, Bones is bringing the main course and, no, it's not vegetarian. I guess I answered three questions." Kirk took a sip and waggled his eyebrows. "Well?"

Spock sat in the seat opposite. "My first question, Captain, was regarding the sauces in your kitchen. I'm told that this particular fruit goes well with Terran mustard." Kirk made a face. Briefly, Spock wondered if the warped frown meant that Jim was disappointed at his incorrect guess, or if he disliked the notion of dipping fruit in mustard. "My second question was regarding the events in San Francisco last week. I assume you heard about the terrorist attack?"

"I heard there weren't any casualties, Starfleet or civilian."

"Indeed. However, Lieutenant Uhura overheard Commodore Paris receiving a briefing. It seems that the explosion was merely a diversion. Parties unknown accessed and copied a year's worth of Starfleet Captains' logs—including your own."

Jim lifted his glass to his lips, hesitated, and then took a long drink. "Even the classified entries?" Spock nodded once. "Well, shit."

"This is an unprecedented security breach, Captain. It is yet unclear who the thieves are or what they intend to do with such information."

"Well, we should join the investigation," Jim declared. "Oh, wait, the Enterprise is dead." Spock winced at the captain's sarcasm. Jim cleared his throat. "Let's not talk shop, Spock. That's the one rule when you, Bones, and I have dinner. That, and we leave our ranks at the door."

Spock shrugged slightly. "The doctor has not yet arrived, Captain, therefore I assumed that your rules were not yet in effect." When Kirk glared daggers at him, Spock poured himself some water and settled deeper into his chair. "All right, I will not 'talk shop.' Jim, I see that the hair on your skull is shaped differently—"

Double doors whooshed open and Leonard McCoy burst into the room. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "Also, sorry that I didn't make the casserole. Extra sorry that I can't stay." He picked up one of the blue kiwis, glanced around, and frowned. "Where's the mustard?"

"Hello to you too, Bones. And what do you mean you can't stay?" Jim demanded. "Since we've been stranded on Yorktown we only see each other once a week!"

"Stranded?" McCoy huffed. "You're the only one of the crew who feels stranded, Jim."

"It will take time for the engineers to finish building the Enterprise-A," said Spock. "Estimated time to completion is four months, six days, 13 hours."

"Actually, Scotty and his team have joined them, so I bet we'll be out of here in half that time."

"Hmm," Spock hummed. "Two months, three days—"

"Thank you, Spock," Jim growled between clenched teeth. "Bones, why are you leaving?"

"Medical mission. Just got the word. Got a shuttle loaded up like a damn interstellar M*A*S*H unit." Jim glanced at Spock and was slightly relieved to see that he didn't get what he assumed to be an old-Earth reference, either. Meanwhile, McCoy ripped off a row of the fruit's thorn-fangs and dumped them on Spock's cloth napkin. "Half of the MDs in Yorktown have been summoned to the northeast space dock. Bunch of civilians are sick on some new starbase and their doc is, well, not particularly helpful."

"The physician was unable to diagnose the disease?" Spock asked.

"Didn't get much of a chance to try. She's dead. Twenty have died in the past four days. A hundred more will in the next week if we can't figure this damn thing out." McCoy took a bite of the fruit. Blue juices slithered down his chin and he wiped them on his uniform sleeve. "I, of course, am the only doctor on this snow globe with any experience at diagnosing alien diseases. The kids in these medical bays don't know the difference between a Horta and a Cardassian." McCoy finished his fruit and turned to leave. "I'll see you when I get back."

"This new starbase…It's not the Regula class prototype, is it?" Jim quietly asked.

McCoy froze at the door. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, it is. Why?"

"Have the casualties been posted yet?" Jim crossed the room and activated a computer on his desk. "Do we have a list of who's sick—there it is." Names scrolled across the monitor and Jim scanned them quickly, his bright blue eyes flickering left to right.

Spock and McCoy exchanged a concerned glance. The pair joined Jim at the terminal and waited patiently for him to find, or not find, whatever name he expected. After half a minute, Jim gasped. McCoy grabbed the back of his arm. "What is it, Jim? Who do you know there?"

Kirk faced them. "What did I tell you when Dr. Carol Marcus resigned her commission from Starfleet and left the Enterprise?"

McCoy frowned. "You said she had some cockamamie terraforming idea. Some private scientific organization offered her a lab, right?"

Spock observed the lines of tension in his captain's face. "You were not honest with us."

"No," Jim corrected, "I wasn't completely honest with you. She left to work on that project, yes, but that isn't the only reason why she left. She left Enterprise because, in her words, because a starship in uncharted deep space is no place for a…for a baby."

Bones' jaw dropped. "Carol was pregnant? Why didn't she tell me? As the Chief Medical Officer, I should've been informed—she should've had a formal, official exam right away—"

"Doctor," Spock said quietly, and in that rare tone of voice that actually made Leonard McCoy shut up, "I suspect that Jim is trying to tell us that the child is his."

"What?" Bones' jaw dropped another inch. "Is it true, Jim?" Kirk didn't meet his gaze. "Well, I'll be…"

"I couldn't leave the Enterprise," Jim whispered, "and she couldn't stay. So, we parted ways—amicably for the most part, but, we didn't stay in touch. I know his name but I haven't even seen a picture…" Jim pointed at the computer. "Carol and my son are alive," he said, "but they're both listed as ill. Bones…I want to come with you. Is there room for one more on that medical shuttle?"

"Jim, you're James T. Kirk! They'll make room. I can't believe you didn't tell us—us—that you had a son…But, Jim, are you sure this is how you should reconnect with her after, what, almost three years? I doubt this will be a fun reunion."

Kirk rubbed his head and paced between the terminal and the window. "Nothing I'm doing on Yorktown can't wait a few days. I should be with them. There are some situations where you should just, you know, be there, right?"

McCoy glanced at Spock, and a wordless communication passed between them.

Spock stood up straight and clasped his hands behind his back. "With your permission, Captain, I volunteer to accompany you and the doctor on this mission."

Kirk gave his friends a grateful smile. "I've never been in space without you two by my side. I'd hate to go anywhere without you now. Thank you, Spock."

"By the way, what's the little rug rat's name?" Bones asked. "Don't say it's 'Tiberius.'"

Kirk slid his hands into his pants pockets and stared at the floor. "Carol and I went through a lot of names. We looked for…patterns. Matches. People in our lives who had the same name, people we'd like to honor. It turns out that her best friend's father's name was David, too."

Leonard's lips parted and he whispered, "Oh." He cleared his throat and thumped his fist against his chest. "My pa would've been honored, Jim. Imagine that… David Kirk."

"David Marcus, actually," Jim said with a shrug. "I had to make some compromises…I did choose the Enterprise over her, over them…Wasn't about to argue about the surname…" A cloud seemed to pass over Jim's face. "You can save them, right, Bones?"

Leonard grasped Jim's shoulder. "You know I'll do my best, Jim."

"Let us not waste additional time," Spock said, and he led the group into the corridor at a jog.

The day it took the Yorktown shuttle to reach the Starbase was both the longest and the shortest 24 hours of Jim's life. As Captain of the Enterprise, he'd endured more than his fair share of stressful situations. But, somehow, the anxiety he felt during battles and first contacts and diplomatic debates didn't compare to the prospect of meeting his kid for the first time. As they docked, Kirk wondered if he should've brought a stuffed teddy bear for his son and a bouquet of flowers for his ex-lover. He was so deep in his thoughts that the shuttle full of 30 doctors and medics had emptied without him noticing, leaving Spock and McCoy staring from the door.

"I'm coming," Jim said before they could question his hesitation. He stood up and marched past them without making eye contact.

The three men were only just out of the docking bay when the hallway exploded.

A wall of flame engulfed the medics and doctors ahead of them, and their screams went quiet so fast that Jim knew they were already dead. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were catapulted back against the wall. Jim hit his head and consciousness briefly fled. When he opened his eyes less than a minute later, he found himself staring at a rivulet of green blood flowing from Spock's temple. The Vulcan lay on his back on Jim's left, unconscious, but fingers twitching. From his stomach, Jim did half a pushup, then collapsed back down again. Although it hurt like hell, he managed to rotate his head to the right, and blink through the thickening smoke. McCoy lay on his side, arms outstretched, blood on half his face and a third-degree burn on his neck. Kirk couldn't tell if he was breathing. Red lights flashed and alarms wailed.

"Bones," Jim coughed. "Spock—Bones!"

Footsteps approached. Jim heard the distinct sound of someone emptying a fire extinguisher. Flames receded. Buttons clicked and the corridor went silent. Black boots landed in front of Kirk's nose. Jim looked up as the stranger knelt down.

Black hair. Pale skin. Pointed nose. Smug smile. Jim couldn't believe it.

Khan Noonien Singh grinned at him. "Your son has your eyes," he said, a second before his fist hit Kirk's jaw.

Jim watched through hazy, half-closed eyes as Khan fisted his left hand around Spock's collar and his right around both Kirk and McCoy's. Jim's skull and shoulder bumped against Leonard's, and the doctor groaned. Relief sent a trickling sensation down Jim's spine. At least McCoy was alive. "Section 31 didn't end with Admiral Marcus," Khan said as he dragged the three limp officers down an adjacent corridor. "The feeble security guarding that warehouse where you archived the cryo tubes was easily fooled when 31 replaced me with a doppelganger. Resurrected once more."

Jim tried to get his feet under him but he was too dizzy. Three trails of blood stained the hard, cold floor as Jim, Spock, and Bones were hauled across it. Two trails were red. One was green.

"As we speak," Khan continued with the detachment of a stranger commenting on the weather, "Section 31 agents are smuggling out the rest of the crew of the S.S. Botany Bay. Soon all of my friends will be free. We will infiltrate every level of Starfleet. Under my leadership, Section 31 will be unstoppable." Double doors opened before them. Jim couldn't see the room they were entering, but judging by the scent of almonds and antiseptic, it had to be the starbase's medical bay.

"And yet, after all the victories, after everything I've accomplished, the memory of my defeat at your hands still haunts me, Captain Kirk. How could I move forward with you and Spock alive and thriving?" Khan let go of their uniforms. Jim braced himself enough to keep from hitting his head on the floor, but he couldn't protect Spock and Bones from slamming down flat on their backs. Spock flinched at the contact. His nose wrinkled, and Jim spotted his eyes rolling beneath their lids. "So, I hacked into the Captains' logs," said Khan. "I discovered that you were marooned at Yorktown with no Enterprise to shield you. And I discovered that Dr. Carol Marcus was here—here with your son."

Kirk managed to roll over onto his stomach. There were five beds in the small, dimly lit medical bay. Four of them were empty. Kirk blinked until the rest of the room came completely into focus. What he interpreted only as a blonde figure morphed clearly into Carol Marcus. "Oh, no," he whispered.

Khan jutted his chin out. His normally dark, shark-eyes sparkled. "I snuck onto this starbase, killed the crew, and lied to Yorktown about an incurable disease. I knew you'd come running. And I knew you'd bring your first officer and your chief medical officer with you. It's a good thing you did, Kirk, because the two remaining survivors of Regula need some medical care. Especially the child."

Carol stood hunched over the last table where a boy, blond, and perhaps 2 years old, lay still. Carol rested her cheek against her son's forehead, made eye contact with Kirk, and whispered, "Jim?"

Kirk gathered his strength for a few words. "I'm here, Carol."

Kirk couldn't completely see the child from his position on the floor, but the parts of skin he could were bruised and caked in dry blood. Carol looked only slightly better. Her blonde hair was dirty with ash and her left cheek was burned. "Jim, he's dying," Carol sobbed. Trembling mother's hands scuttled across the boy's body. "David's dying, Jim."

Jim fought his way up to his knees. "I'm here," he repeated helplessly. "And Bones—Bones is here, Carol. And I'm…I'm so sorry," he sniffed.

Khan approached. His muscles bulged under his black, long-sleeved uniform when he crossed his arms tight against his chest. Black boots poked McCoy in the ribs. "Your doctor doesn't appear to be capable of healing anyone, Captain. So, before I kill you, you will watch your son slowly die. That is the best and only way to make you truly suffer. And suffer, you will."

Carol leaned across her son and hugged him as tears plopped onto his chest.

McCoy suddenly stirred. The doctor coughed, and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek. "Jim?" he groaned. Bones rolled onto his side. "What the hell happened—Ah!" When he tried to brace himself with his right hand, his wrist crumpled under the weight. Jim had seen enough broken bones to be able to tell that McCoy's wrist was shattered. "Dammit!" Bones' left hand went to cushion his chest. "Ribs broken, too. Jim, what…" McCoy's curious eyes took in the room and his jaw dropped at the sight of Khan. "I'm dreaming, right?" he whispered.

Khan flashed a maniacal grin. "Glad you could join us, Dr. McCoy. I'd prefer you to be conscious when your captain watches me strangle you to death."

McCoy didn't rise to the bait. He was busy examining Jim and Spock's injuries. "Jim, you're burned pretty bad."

"So are you," Kirk croaked. He cocked his head at the table beyond. "Bones, you remember Dr. Marcus. And there's…That's my son."

Bones blinked up at Carol. The doctor's eyes instantly narrowed in on the child's injuries like a hawk on its prey. He glared at Khan, ignoring the fresh blood coming from his own temple and his nostrils. "Let me go to the boy," he demanded. When Khan merely blinked, Bones sat up straight and fumed at him. "You're going to kill us all anyway, right? For the love of God, man, that's my best friend's son. At least let me relieve his pain."

Khan chuckled briefly. "I'll tell you what, Doctor. If you can, despite your injuries, manage to lift yourself up, make it to the bed, and manipulate the equipment all on your own without, of course, using it to help yourself, I will allow it." Khan crouched and braided his fingers together. "I'm betting you won't make it three feet."

McCoy's eyes flashed. He had the same look on his face as he did whenever Spock combated his opinions with emotionless logic. "You're on, buster."

"Leonard," a new voice spoke. All eyes in the room whiplashed towards Spock who lay, still unmoving, but with wide-open eyes. Green blood stained his lips. "Leonard, I count five lacerations on your arms, and twice as many square inches of third-degree burns on your legs. Your wrist and ribs are broken. Based on your physical condition, I calculate the probability that you will be able to perform the necessary treatment on David Marcus to be 12%."

Khan moved to the Vulcan at superhuman speed. To Kirk and McCoy's horror, he towered over Spock and placed a boot against his throat. Spock's eyes widened. A strangled gasp replaced any words he tried to speak. "Let's make this even more interesting, Doctor," Khan hissed. "If you don't race to that boy's side in the next sixty seconds, Mr. Spock will be the first of you to die."

McCoy bared his clenched teeth not unlike a cornered animal. "Damn you," he hissed. "I'm a doctor, not an Olympian."

Khan plunged his shoe harder against Spock's fragile throat. "The countdown has begun, Doctor."

Bones' eyes briefly met Jim's, and Kirk was astounded at the ferocious strength he saw in them. McCoy didn't waste another second. With a tremendous force of will that Jim never considered McCoy would possess, the doctor edged his feet beneath him, pushed off the floor with his left hand, and stumbled forward. Immediately, he teetered. Half a moment later he collapsed hard onto his left knee. A single cry of pain preceded hitched, wheezing breaths. Bones spat blood across his own shoe. He glanced back at Spock, and the two old friends made eye contact. Sweat poured down Leonard's skin and he paled in the wake of it. Spock's face was slowly turning green.

Bones took a deep breath. He heaved himself up again. Three feet later he collapsed once more—this time on all fours.

"Come on, Bones," Kirk whispered encouragingly. "Bones, come on—come on!" Spock squirmed under Khan's weight.

Leonard lifted his chin. Blinking eyes stared at David's white face. The doctor started to crawl.

Khan cocked his head to the side. "Impressive," he said. He let up his pressure on Spock's throat. "You almost make me want to root for you, Doctor."

Bones didn't reply. He made it to the bed and used it to pull himself back up onto his feet. At Khan's command, Carol reluctantly stepped back. She held onto her son's hand as long as she could before letting it drop. Bones activated the biobed's sensors. Lights turned on and machines whirled to life. McCoy passed a medical tricorder across David's body. "He's bleeding internally," the doctor announced, his voice vibrating like he was shivering in a blizzard. "Punctured spleen…Skull fracture…Third degree burns on 15% of his body…" Leonard struggled to remain upright. He braced his right elbow against the slim mattress and put his wounded right hand to work with a dermal regenerator. "Carol, I have to do surgery right now, and I doubt our captor here is going to let me even scrub up. I don't have to tell you this is risky. My hands aren't exactly steady at the moment."

Carol's wet eyes met Jim's. "Do whatever you can, Dr. McCoy," she whispered.

Bones sighed. He looked at Kirk. Repeating his words from 24 hours before, he whispered, "I'll do my best, Jim."

Affection for his friend warmed Kirk's heart. "I know you will, Bones."

Nyota Uhura's red skirt flapped behind her as she sprinted through Yorktown. Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty were already waiting outside of Commodore Paris' office. Each asked why she'd summoned them, but she ignored them all and burst through the doors unannounced. "Ma'am, Captain Kirk's party is in trouble," she informed the surprised woman sitting behind a desk. "Request permission to take a shuttle to the Regula starbase."

Paris lowered a digital logbook and blinked at the intruders. "Lieutenant, this is Yorktown, not a space dock. We don't have a lot of long-range shuttles to spare. And even if we did, what makes you think that Kirk's in trouble? I would've been informed immediately if we'd received a distress signal."

Uhura put her hands on her hips, hesitated, and then clasped her hands behind her back. "Commander Spock was supposed to contact me precisely three hours after they arrived."

Paris looked at the ceiling as she calculated the time in her head. "You think they're in trouble because Commander Spock is late by…10 minutes?"

Uhura swallowed. "Yes, ma'am. I tried to contact them but got no response from the shuttle or from Regula."

Paris leaned back in her chair and folded her arms against her chest. "Has it occurred to you, Uhura, that your boyfriend is simply busy helping with the emergency?"

Uhura blushed and bristled, but kept her cool. "He's a Vulcan, ma'am," she said, as if that explained everything.

"Aye, he's as punctual as they come," Scotty piped up.

"And he would never lie, or forget," Chekov reminded them.

"Or break a promise—to any of us," said Sulu. "If he's late, it's because he's in trouble. Uhura's right to be concerned, Commodore."

Paris rolled her eyes. "It's been 10 minutes!" She waved a hand at them. "Out. All of you. Now."

"But—"

"Try to contact them again," Paris ordered. "If you still don't hear from them in an hour, we can talk about some options."

"And what if they're in trouble?" Uhura exclaimed. "It would take us 24 hours to reach them. We should leave now just in case—"

"Out." Paris picked up her log and returned her attention to it. "That's an order, Lieutenant."

Uhura slammed her fists against her hips and turned on her heels. The boys parted, then marched after her. They huddled up once they were alone. "Scotty," Uhura said, "tell me there's a portable transwarp beaming device somewhere on this base."

"I doubt it, lassie," Scotty said. "You know those things are illegal. And Starfleet confiscated the formula ages ago."

Uhura moved into Scotty's personal space—nose to nose. "The formula that you still have memorized, right?"

Scotty gave her a sideways smile. "The chief who runs the transporter room in subsection 19 of sector K owes me a favor. I bet we could have it to ourselves for as long as we need."

Sulu clasped Chekov's shoulder. "We'll stock up at the armory and meet you there."

Uhura nodded her approval. "Hurry."

Leonard McCoy rubbed his eyes against his sleeve to clear the sweat. He looked up at the biobed readings and had to blink for a solid ten seconds before he could read the numbers. David's blood pressure was back up and his heartbeat was finally stable. Leonard's heartbeat pounded behind his eyes, throbbed in his wrist, and rattled his broken ribs. The burns on his legs, arms, and neck screamed for his attention, but the doctor stayed deaf to them. It was Jim's son who needed his focus. Leonard would care for the kid as if he were his own. He wouldn't let Jim down.

His body, however, seemed determined to let everyone down. Bones tried to empty a hypospray into the child's neck, but his knees buckled and the device tumbled out of his hand. "Dammit," the doctor cursed for the tenth time that hour. He steadied his elbow against the bed and bowed his head. Somewhere off in the distance, Jim called his name. Leonard heard Spock's voice, too, but couldn't risk breaking his concentration to focus on his friends' words. The next hypo shook in McCoy's hands as he filled it with medication. This was the third round of painkillers. If he gave the kid even one more milligram of the stuff, he'd have a heart attack.

Bones injected the serum and watched with satisfaction as the unconscious child visibly relaxed from the analgesic. The kid was a cute one. He had blond hair, slim lips, Carol's nose, and Jim's shoulders. A small birthmark above his bellybutton was shaped vaguely like one of the Enterprise's shuttlecrafts. His tiny fists reminded McCoy of when his own daughter was that age.

"Laser scalpel," Bones said out of habit, as though one of his nurses was waiting at his shoulder for his next command. "No, no," he muttered, shaking his head back and forth. "Modulator. That's right. The modulator…"

Behind McCoy, the injured Spock and Kirk sat on the floor up against the medbay wall with Marcus between them. Khan had clamped their wrists and ankles together with metal cuffs. Although he couldn't see much from that angle, Kirk did notice that a little bit of color had returned to David's face, and his chest rose and fell with easier breaths. "Tell me about him," Jim said to Carol. "What's David like?"

Carol smiled at her son. "He's like you," she said, almost reluctantly. "Always looking for adventure. Always getting himself into trouble because he's looking for adventure. He likes strawberry ice cream, high-fives, hide-and-seek, and whistling. Oh, and he loves to pretend that he's driving a motorcycle."

One corner of Kirk's mouth smiled. That smile shriveled when Bones gave up all pretense of trying to appear like he could stand, and he gently nudged David to the far side of the bed so that he could sit on the edge. He groaned and rubbed his chest. Kirk sat up straight. "Bones?"

"He's almost out of the woods," McCoy announced with a gasp. "I've repaired the internal injuries and stopped the bleeding…" Bones propped himself up on his left elbow and turned on a dermal regenerator. To the child, he whispered, "Uncle Bones will make it all better, kid, just hang in there a little while longer…"

A drop of blood dripped off McCoy's pantleg and joined the growing puddle beneath him.

Kirk had to look away. He wiped his eyes, and winced when that simple movement caused pain to ricochet up his spine. "How much longer can he go on like this?" Jim whispered to Spock in a voice thick with emotion.

Spock frowned and shook his head. Dried green blood caked the left side of his face and his fingers trembled from pain. "The doctor has already exceeded not only my estimates but my highest hopes," he admitted. "I am truly awestruck by his perseverance. I doubt many men could stay on their feet in his condition, let alone perform complex surgery."

Suddenly, an orange light flared above the door and an alarm chimed. Khan, who stood by a computer terminal, laughing at McCoy's struggles, turned and frowned at the monitor. "He's checking our orbit," Carol said when she noticed that Jim was trying to see what deserved the superhuman's attention. "His first bomb took out the mess hall, the bridge, and most of the cargo bays. It was so powerful that the starbase listed on its axis five degrees. After that second bomb, we've got to be crooked by at least eight."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Kirk wondered.

Spock cocked an eyebrow. "If our orbit is altered by ten degrees or more, we will crash into the moon in a matter of hours."

"We'll crash in 83 minutes, to be precise," Khan announced to the room. He hit a couple buttons and frowned even further. "We're off by 13.7 degrees. And…" Khan scratched the back of his head and wrinkled his nose. "And I can't seem to activate the thrusters."

Kirk and Spock exchanged a glance. "Let us try," said Jim. "Your bomb probably just misaligned the—"

"Shut up," Khan hissed. "You will not be leaving this room, Kirk, dead or alive!" The superman unsheathed a phaser and fiddled with the settings. "83 minutes is not enough time for you to suffer at my hands, Captain, so I'll just have to fix the thrusters myself."

Kirk's heart soared and his lips twitched. Even if Khan locked the door behind him when he left sickbay, somehow, they would find a way out. They just needed a few minutes without a weapon pointed at their noses…

Khan set his phaser's beam to wide, so when he fired it, the shocked Spock, Kirk, and Marcus were all stunned at the same time. They crumpled over onto their sides—unconscious. McCoy looked over his shoulder at the sound and groaned at the sight of fresh blood leaking from Spock's forehead. "Was that really necessary?" he growled at Khan.

Khan pointed the weapon at McCoy, who didn't even flinch. "Stay with your patient, Doctor." He looked Bones up and down and snorted. "I'd threaten you to keep you from running off, but I doubt you have much running in you."

Khan left. McCoy heard his fingers tapping against the panel on the outside wall. They were sealed in.

Bones looked from Jim to Spock, Spock to Carol, and Carol to David. He sighed, and then leaned over to whisper in the child's ear. "Here's the thing, kid," he said, "I'm betting that if you're anything like your old man, you're tough as hell, right? So, I'm going to leave you here alone, just for a minute. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Spock need to wake up from their nap if we're going to get out of this, ok? All right." McCoy took a deep breath, then stood and reached for another hypospray. He loaded it with adrenaline and stepped towards his fallen friends.

"Dammit, I can't—" he gasped. Both of his ankles folded. McCoy landed chin-first on the floor, spread-eagled. Everything burned and stung. To his cheek, the cold floor felt like a feather pillow…

Spock was closest. His outstretched hand, flecked with green blood, was only ten feet away. "Come on, McCoy," Leonard hissed at himself. To the hand he said, "I'm coming, Spock, I'm coming…"

Moving like a worm more than a man, Leonard McCoy crawled forward and stabbed the hypospray into Spock's wrist. The Vulcan rose from the floor like Jack from his box. Immediately he grabbed more adrenaline and emptied more hyposprays into Kirk and Marcus. Carol rushed to her son, and Jim crawled on his hands and knees to McCoy, who cried out in pain when Spock injected him with adrenaline as well. "Bones!"

"Kid should wake up soon." McCoy looked past Jim's shoulder and sure enough, just then, David's eyes opened and Carol started fussing over him. "I'm ok, Jim. Go meet your son."

Torn, Kirk looked back and forth between McCoy and the biobed. He only got up after a reassuring nod from Spock that the Vulcan would take care of their doctor. Jim approached his family, and Spock started rummaging through vials of medicine, searching for pain killers. Spock set one vial aside and McCoy gestured to it and said, voice strained, "I'm allergic to that."

"I am aware." Spock found another and placed it beside the hypospray.

"I'm allergic to that one, too."

"You are not. I memorized your medical file, Doctor."

Bones blinked. "Seriously? Wow. Don't I feel special."

"I assure you, Doctor, you are not unique. I am familiar with all senior officers' medical files for precisely such a time as this."

McCoy watched, intrigued, as Spock expertly dosed him with a painkiller that instantly went to work. "Big difference between 'familiar with' and 'memorized,' Spock."

The Vulcan's Adam's apple bounced. "Some of my crewmates are far more fragile than others, Doctor."

"What a gentle insult. Only you, Spock, manage to make me feel cared for and dismissed at the same time."

"And only you, Doctor, manage to irritate me so very much." Spock stood and held out his hand. "Can you stand?"

McCoy tested his body by flexing every muscle from head to toe. "Five more minutes, Mom…"

"I fear we do not have the time." Spock glanced at the computer terminal. "Khan is already on his way back."

"Hell." McCoy stood with Spock's help.

Kirk overheard them. "On the floor. Behind the biobed," he instructed Carol. "You too, Bones." Everyone in the room was surprised when McCoy didn't argue. He crouched with his arms around Carol, who wrapped hers around the dazed, semiconscious David, who kept asking questions far louder than any of them preferred.

"Let him talk," said Kirk when Carol shushed the child. "Might just be the distraction we need." He exchanged a knowing nod with Spock and the pair took up positions on either side of the medbay door, ready to pounce when it opened.

Khan stormed down the corridor, kicking debris aside as he went. There was no fixing the thrusters. An entire engineering team couldn't correct their orbit in time. In 60 minutes they would crash into the moon. So much for enjoying Kirk's suffering like an expensive meal. Khan set his phaser to 'kill.'

A trickle of windchimes behind him. Someone was transporting onto the starbase. Khan pivoted and fired blind.

Spock looked up from where his pointed ear was pressed against the medbay door. "Someone has transported in. Three, perhaps four individuals."

"Backup?" Carol wondered.

"For us or for him?" Bones also wondered.

"Shhh!" Kirk hissed at them. "Spock, what else do you hear?"

The Vulcan shut his eyes in order to concentrate on his hearing. "The newcomers and Khan are having a discussion about… About Section 31. About Starfleet. About… About us." The whole group perked up when footsteps approached. Spock and Kirk bent their knees and raised loaded hyposprays like daggers.

The footsteps stopped outside the medbay, but the door remained shut. "James Kirk," a new voice called. "My name is Eliana. My companions and I were revived alongside Khan who told us an astounding story about meeting you, about how you tried to kill us, about how you imprisoned him even after he saved your lives. But, Captain, in Khan's absence we read the logs he stole. We understand now. We know that the story he told us was false and meant to ensure our loyalty. And we are here to stop him. We are here to help you. We're here to surrender."

Kirk wore his thinking-frown. He looked at Spock for help, but the Vulcan's expression offered zero advice. Nearly a minute of indecision passed and then McCoy stood up, limped to the door, and said, "Kirk's unconscious, lady! What can a doctor do for you?"

"Doctor Leonard H. McCoy?"

"I'd shake your hand, but you'd have to open the door, darlin'."

"I hear that you are a resourceful man, Doctor. When I open this door will you attack us?"

"Honey, I'm so banged up that handshake is all I could manage. Besides, I'm a doctor, not a linebacker."

The woman on the other side of the door made an amused squeak with the back of her throat. "Few modern men are so familiar with old Earth lingo, Doctor. I suppose that's part of your charm."

Kirk scowled. What? Bones mouthed, shrugging. I'm not flirting!

"Very well. Doctor, if you would be so kind, please step back from the door and interlock your hands behind your head. If you're no threat to us, we won't be a threat to you."

Kirk nodded when Bones asked the question by raising his eyebrows. He backed up to the biobed and arranged his arms like she asked. "Ready when you are, honey."

Kirk and Spock didn't hesitate. The second those double doors parted, Spock pinched the woman's neck and Jim disarmed her. With McCoy and Spock behind him, and Carol and David behind them, Kirk entered the corridor and came face-to-face with three more phasers that were aimed not at him, but at Khan who knelt, submissive, on the deck.

"We didn't hurt her," Jim announced before the three men could ask. "She's just asleep."

The taller of the three sidestepped Khan and approached. "You must be Kirk. Khan was honest about one thing—you do have moxie."

Jim didn't recognize the ancient word. "Bones?"

"From context I think he means you've got balls, Jim."

"Nerve," Spock elaborated. "Audacity."

"That's what I said! Balls."

"Thank you, gentlemen," Jim sighed.

Khan spoke up. "You're choosing these foolhardy idiots over me?" he demanded of his ex-crew. "Dammit, Samuel, this galaxy could be ours! It should be!"

Tall Samuel ignored him. "Our ship awaits just outside orbit, Captain. I suggest we leave before we crash into the moon. Do you accept our surrender?" Samuel and the other two men lowered their weapons.

Kirk knew that he was already too late, but he shouted "Don't!" anyway.

Khan's tall body whirled like a pinwheel. He knocked the three soldiers down with a single kick to the knees, and caught their weapons before they hit the ground. Three quick shots, and Samuel and the others were dead. More shots were fired towards the crowd. Kirk and Spock dove to the left and the right while McCoy shoved Carol and David back into the medbay.

Spock grunted and dropped with a hit to the shoulder. Jim couldn't take the millisecond necessary to make sure he was still alive. He fired his phaser at Khan, hitting him twice in the abdomen. Certain that would at least slow the super being down, Jim took that brief moment to glance at his First Officer. Spock was already back up on his feet—eyes wide, mouth about to shout. Jim turned back in time to duck under Khan's punch, but not in time to hang onto his weapon when Khan slapped it out of his hand. Before Khan could fire again, both Kirk and Spock tackled him against the wall with their full weight.

"Jim!" Carol called in the background. Her voice cracked on his name. "Jim—Jim!"

Whatever Carol needed would have to wait.

Kirk got his knees around Khan's neck and wrapped the rest of his body around his right arm. That crippled Khan long enough for Spock to grip his neck, but the pinch did nothing but anger Khan more. Roaring, he kicked with both legs and punched with both arms, sending the Starfleet officers skidding across the corridor. Khan's finger would've landed on his phaser's trigger but, right then, the familiar sound of a transporter made all three men turn and look.

Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, and Sulu materialized into the scene with weapons already leveled. Before Kirk, Spock, or Khan could blink, four blasts erupted from four phasers and collided with Khan's chest. He aimed his weapon as he stumbled, enraged but still on his feet, but then Spock launched himself forward like a missile and caught Khan by surprise. The pair wrestled. Jim joined the fray. Khan shouted something about coming after them all even in death—and he timed the threat perfectly because half a moment later, both Kirk and Spock grabbed his head and yanked it clockwise—breaking his neck.

Brief silence in the starbase.

Then, Carol again. "Jim! God, Leonard, hang on… Jim, get over here!"

Kirk waved Scotty aside and staggered to his feet under his own power. McCoy lay spread-eagled on his back just inside the medbay. Carol had ripped up half of her shirt and half of David's to create a makeshift bandage—a makeshift bandage that was already soaked in the blood flooding the floor. Blood from a burned wound in the center of Bones' chest.

"He—He was protecting David," Carol managed between panicked hiccups. "He shielded him, Jim, he took that shot for our son!"

The scene around Jim went into slow motion. Vaguely he heard Spock telling the others that Khan's crew had a ship nearby. He heard Uhura fussing over Spock's wounds, Chekov finding the ship using the medbay computer terminal, Sulu saying that they should leave Khan's body to crash into the moon along with the rest of the wrecked starbase, and Scotty insisting that they take the unconscious Eliana with them. Jim didn't remember picking Bones up off the red floor. He didn't even remember David's cries or the prickle of the transporter taking them all to safety. Nothing in the universe mattered except for the slow, staggered beat of McCoy's heart.

And, then, the abrupt absence of it.

THREE DAYS LATER

Kirk caught up to Eliana as Yorktown security escorted her, shackled, towards a docked prison ship. "I wanted to say, 'thank you,'" he said, hand on her elbow. "McCoy wouldn't be alive if you hadn't donated your blood."

The woman gave a tentative smile. "You would've taken it if I hadn't offered, Captain. And the only reason why I'll be imprisoned for ten years instead of for life is because of that offer, isn't it?"

Kirk nodded. "Yes. Yes, it is. Thank you. Thank you, again."

"Good luck, Captain."

"Good luck to you." Eliana was out of sight when his communicator chirped. "Kirk."

"Captain," said Spock, "he's awake."

Jim sprinted to the infirmary at top speed. He found Bones lying in the same bed he'd left him in, with Spock also in the same place—beside him, both calloused hands clasped around one of the doctor's. "Is the kid ok?" McCoy croaked when he spotted Kirk. "Jim, is David—" McCoy couldn't help but yelp when Kirk nearly flattened him with a hug. Spock's strong arm slid between them and, like a crowbar, lifted Kirk's weight off the still-healing wound on McCoy's chest. "Take it easy, Jim. I'm all right."

"Don't do that again!" Jim sniffed and wiped his running nose on McCoy's blanket. "Goddammit, Bones, don't you ever do that again!"

"Sure. Right. I promise. I swear." McCoy cocked his eyebrows at Spock when he was sure that Jim couldn't see him.

"You died, Doctor," Spock said simply. "Your heart ceased functioning for nearly 13 minutes."

"Oh." McCoy cleared his throat, patted Jim's back, then repeated his original question. "Is David safe?"

Jim snorted. He released Bones and sat on the side of the infirmary bed with one finger wrapped possessively around the doctor's sleeve. "Thank you," he whispered. "You saved my son's life. No way we would've been able to save him in time if Khan had shot him. Bones, I don't know what else to say. Thank you."

"Welcome, Jim. You're welcome. One question, though." McCoy pointed at his IV drip with a single finger. "That's not Fentanyl, is it? I'm allergic to Fentanyl."

Jim nodded at Spock. "Your guardian Vulcan here kept a very close eye on the medical staff, Bones. Did you know he has your entire medical file memorized? Gave me this blank look when I asked if he knew I'm allergic to Retinax, but you? Everything memorized. Everything."

That gorgeous Georgia grin spread across McCoy's pale face. "Is that so?" He aimed a victorious smile at Spock, and the Vulcan did his best to ignore it.

He failed.

The End