Ch.1 Thick as Blood

The light system beeping tuned about the ship. The low hum of the warp drive vibrated throughout the corridors and just outside each window of every room glowed the silence of stars and galaxies, all within reach of a single ship.

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has—

"—Captain."

An unwanted familiar voice interrupted from a distance as Kirk turned his head from the window and looked around to see who was calling out to him, but no one was there.

Having only just begun the Enterprise's long journey of exploration, the Captain finally had a moment of peace to take everything in while star gazing out his window, still finding it a bit strange that he was now in the position his father once was. However, out of everything that has happened thus far, nothing could compare to the challenge that Khan had brought and also the life that Khan had given back to him involuntarily. Despite his actions, Khan held very much the same ideals that Kirk did; about friends…about loved ones…about family. No, nothing meant more to Kirk than the crew of his Enterprise just as nothing meant more to Khan than his shipmates. It was a strange connection in deed with those moments of looking into Khan's eyes and seeing the same desperation he too had felt. Khan was one of those adversaries…one of those men that Kirk would never forget.

"Captain."

There it was again, that unrelenting deep baritone voice. Kirk spun around from the window again as his eyes wildly looked about the room and again…no one was there. Kirk was many things, but delusional was not one of them. Was he just hearing things? It's not like someone hasn't called him Captain before. It's a title he hears daily amongst his shipmates when entering upon the bridge. Yeah, he was just hearing things. It's easy to just hear things when floating out in space, a giant void of undiscovered countries and lands, planets and races. It was something he was just going to have to get used to for the next five years. Backing away from the window of his room Kirk approached his door as it suddenly opened to an individual standing on the other side and stating what he's heard for the third time now, "Captain."

"Jesus…Spock, could you knock next time?"

"I did in a consecutive order repeatedly, but you didn't respond. I was…concerned."

Walking alongside each other, the two commanding officers strutted down the corridors that gleamed brightly with pure white lighting that reflected off the finely streaked hallways.

"Sorry, just you startled me."

"Startled? For one to be startled would suggest that you were not expecting me to—"

"—Spock," Kirk interrupted as he stopped and looked his friend in the eyes with a cocked eyebrow.

"Captain, have you forgotten?"

A bit confused Kirk responded accordingly, "Forgotten what?"

"You stated that you wanted to meet with me at 0900 hours. It is precisely that time."

The Captain did a double take as he realized Spock was right. He had completely forgotten about meeting up with his Commander to discuss some nearby planets that they wanted to scan.

"I…uh…sorry, Spock, you're right. I forgot."

Needless to say, Spock found Kirk's mannerisms out of place. He wasn't quite acting himself and the Commander could easily see it.

"Captain, is everything alright?"

"Huh?"

"You seem…bewildered."

"I'm fine…" Kirk easily dismissed the claim as he immediately directed the conversation to the matter at hand "…have we arrived at Alpha?"

"Yes. The Alpha Quadrant holds a Class L planet that was scheduled for exploration, but was cancelled due to the incident with Khan. Now that things have had a chance to calm down, we are in closest proximity to continue where Star Fleet left off."

"Sounds good. How long before we're in orbit of the planet?"

"Approximately 10 hours, 43 minutes and 12 seconds."

"Alright."

They came to the elevator and entered as the clear doors closed and they began their travel to the bridge, but shortly after they had entered Spock put the elevator on pause.

"Captain, permission to speak freely."

Kirk paused for a moment, but not in the least bit irritated as he was used to Spock's lightly incessant manner of speculation and analyzation.

"Permission granted, although if it's about how I'm feeling than I assure you it's nothing to worry about."

"On the contrary…Jim…" catching Kirk's attention as it was rare that anyone called him by his first name "…out of the time I have known you, I have been witness to many occasions where you expressed emotional reactions to outside stimuli, but none of which I have witnessed such a reaction as this."

Kirk swallowed what felt like a lump in his throat. Despite how rational and cold Spock could be 90% of the time, it was amazing how easily he could analyze a human being simply by observation alone. He took a moment before asking, "And that would be?" As to which Spock answered simply, "Paranoia."

Was it that obvious? What was Kirk to say exactly? It wasn't something logical that could be explained and Kirk didn't quite understand it himself. As much as he valued his closest shipmates caring about his well being, it was a personal matter too obscure and bizarre to go over with just anyone. Not wanting to open the window of opportunity for the conversation to even start, Kirk pressed the release button to allow the elevator to continue onward to the bridge.

"I appreciate the concern, but now is not the time."

"I understand."

Upon the doors opening, Kirk was greeted as he always was, "Captain on the bridge." Without further interruption Kirk sat upon his leather chair, but the typical feeling the chair would give upon sitting in it was absent from this moment. As he sat there staring upon the screen that showed the same visual as the window in his room, he thought upon the events with Khan, the lost remnant of an ancient time sealed away in a cryo-tube. In such a short time of barely being on the Enterprise and commanding it, already the Captain has been put in more than one near death experience. In technicalities, Kirk did die for a brief period of time only to be brought back. Of all the things on his mind, thanking Khan was the last thing he could ever think of doing, especially with all the lives Khan had taken not to mention Pike's. With that said, Kirk couldn't help but have a tinge…a small fragment of himself that wanted to at least thank Khan for his blood that brought him back, that gave him back to the Enterprise. It was an ironic feeling indeed.

"James…Tiberius…Kirk."

A chill slithered up the Captain's spine as he froze in place, not wanting to move let alone turn his head as that ever familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"How good it is to see you again…" a darkened figure approached from behind as it slowly took steps towards Kirk "…sitting in the Captain's chair," the figure again spoke, finishing off its sentence in Kirk's ear. With the voice so close and so deeply echoing within his head, Kirk finally spun his gaze to his right as his eyes looked around in a near panic like state. Once again, his eyes could not find a face to match the voice he heard so clearly. It was like a ghost of a lost remnant haunting him from space.

"Is…everything alright Captain?" Spock lightly asked, standing to the left of Kirk in a military type of stance, wondering why Jim was looking around with such urgent head movements. When the Captain finally looked up at Spock it was then the Commander knew that something obviously was not fine as his concern grew. A hint of anxiety began to mingle with the paranoia as Kirk finally answered back, "Keep me posted. I…need to check on something…" abruptly getting up from his chair as he went over to the elevator and entered as Spock tried to speak out to him "…Captain is something wrong?" as to which Kirk assured back, "…nothing, just a personal matter." And then the doors shut.

Alone in the elevator, listening to the humming of the passing panels, Kirk closed his eyes and let out a deepened breath while his heart pounded a bit faster within his chest.

"This can't be real," he tried to assure himself.

"But indeed it is," that familiar voice retorted as Kirk looked behind him to find a haunting dark figure standing there untouched by past events and most definitely alive. Jim's heart nearly leapt from his chest as his eyes laid upon one of his most deadliest of adversaries as his mouth opened and could barely utter the name.

"Khan."

"Kirk…it has been a while…hasn't it?.

He did not smile, but a smirk nearly pulled at the corner of Khan's lips as his eyes took in the image that was James Tiberius Kirk. It was a strong and young image that spoke of both authority and capability. However, it also spoke of doubt…fear…and weakness. Jim nearly froze in place, knowing full well what Khan was capable of both in knowledge and in brutal strength. His ass would be handed to him again if he got in a fight with Khan so the only other alternative was his phaser as he brought his hand to his gun, but before he even had a chance to grasp upon the metal handle of his weapon, Khan had rushed over and pushed him up against the wall of the elevator. The unfrozen relic had the Captain's neck by one hand while his other hung loosely by his side. He didn't lift Kirk up to choke him, but he indeed clasped his hand tight enough to keep the Captain from speaking or yelling out for help.

"Oh Captain how you struggle so badly to get control of the situation. It's almost entertaining."

Kirk struggled to breathe as his hands grasped upon Khan's arm that held him against his will.

"So young and full of aspirations now that you have your crew back…and your life. So how does it feel…to have my blood inside you?"

With a knee jerk reaction…literally speaking…Kirk tried to ram his knee into Khan's stomach, but the relic easily stopped it with his other hand and threw the Captain down to the ground as the young commanding officer hit the floor with a hardened unforgiving thud. Before he had a chance to comprehend that he could once again breathe properly, the elevator doors opened to the level he was reaching and the haunting figure of Khan was gone. No one was currently walking around in the corridors nearby as Kirk had a moment to himself, doing his best to stand up while belting out a few coughs. This wasn't the first time he had seen disturbing imagery of Khan. Ever since the blood transfusion, he began to have strange dreams about the sleeping relic…and feelings. These feelings he didn't quite understand let alone wanted to acknowledge, but now the rare occasional dream was becoming more frequent, only this was the first time he had dealt with a supposed hallucination that was physically real.

As much as he wanted to put it out of his mind, he could not deny how real Khan's hand felt around his throat; the strength it squeezed upon him, the warmth it seeped onto his skin and of course that voice, that unshakable ever recognizable voice. Normally Kirk was not one to often see a doctor, but he badly needed a second opinion before this gets out of hand. Dreams were one thing, but full blown hallucinations that could attack him were entirely another. Regaining his composure he sought out the medical bay where he found McCoy working on some tissue samples in a petri dish. McCoy looked up the second the Captain entered the room.

"Jim…you don't look so good."

"Is that your professional medical analysis Bones?"

Kirk shook his head and took in a deep breath as he sat down on one of the medical tables. McCoy approached with concern on his face, finding it a bit odd that Kirk would show up at the medical bay out of nowhere since most of the time he usually avoided it.

"What kind of side effects can blood transfusions create?"

"Side effects? Heh, well there's quite a bit actually; allergic reactions, hives, fever, acute immune hemolytic reaction, lung injury—"

"—lung injury? How the hell do you get lung injury from a blood transfusion?"

"In short it's abbreviated TRALI and occurs due to antibodies and other biologic substances in the blood components. That aside, you can also get bloodborne infections, iron overload, and a few others. I'm guessing you're asking because of the transfusion with Khan's blood we did with you? I can understand your concern, but normally any symptoms I mentioned usually occur in one to six hours of the transfusion and none of which surfaced."

Kirk broke eye contact with the doctor as he tossed his gaze to the side, his teeth clenching a little from the question he was about to ask, hoping that the doctor wouldn't pry too deep upon asking it.

"What about…hallucinations?"

"It's…a possibility, but a very low one. But like I said Jim, any symptoms like that usually occur within some odd hours of the transfusion."

Since it was obvious Kirk was a bit anxious, he decided to grab one of his hand scanners and began to read over the Captain's vitals.

"Hm…nothing out of the ordinary except maybe some peculiar brain activity. When was the last time you slept?"

Kirk sighed and reluctantly answered, "A few nights ago."

"Wait, you haven't slept in 72 hours?! Why didn't you come in here sooner?" The doctor asked as he shifted through his cabinets to get a sedative.

"This is sooner," Kirk replied in light sarcasm while receiving a dose of sedative.

"You should be knocked out within a few minutes," Bones explained as Kirk waited for the sedative to take effect.

"Good, then maybe I can finally think straight."

"I wouldn't count on it Captain," a voice replied back that was not of the doctor's, causing Kirk to rapidly look around to find that not only was the doctor gone, but the whole room went silent. The usual humming of the medical equipment and the subtle noise of crewman walking down the halls just suddenly went dead quiet.

"No," Kirk spoke to himself in denial as he immediately got up from the medical bed only to find himself nearly falling to the ground. It was like he was awake, but still feeling odd affects from the sedative he received, but where the hell was Bones? Why wasn't he seeing people walking by like he did a few seconds ago? And why…oh why…was he hearing Khan's voice again? Was he just hallucinating? Was he going crazy? No, he wasn't going crazy, but something was horribly wrong. Managing to stagger to the entrance of the medical bay, Kirk looked up and down the hallways, but found no one there. He was all alone.

"What's wrong Captain? Feeling a bit apprehended by your mind?"

And there, standing suddenly before him was Khan. Kirk staggered backwards and fell to the ground out of a small panic as he tried to back away along the ground. Khan took his time however as he began to take steps toward the bewildered Captain who was stuck between conscious and subconscious.

"Computer, Red Alert!"

No response.

"I said, RED ALERT!"

Still there was no response as Kirk wondered what the hell was going on, but his focus was quickly brought to Khan who was now standing above him.

"There is no one here…but us…Captain."

"That's impossible. They were here just a second ago!"

"Does it really matter?"

"What do you mean does it matter?!"

Bending over and grabbing Kirk by his uniform, Khan lifted him up from the ground and held him in the air.

"The only thing that matters my dear Captain is that you owe me a very large debt and I've come to collect…what is mine."

Words spoken in such a manner struck Kirk with a fear…a fear that Khan was going to kill him. So out of another knee jerk reaction, Kirk lifted his leg and kicked Khan directly in the face. Khan obviously was unfazed by this as he, out of anger, took Kirk and threw him to the other side of the hallway. The Captain slid along the ground easily until he came to a stop. Not wanting to give Khan another chance to grab him, he struggled to his feet and began to run down a connecting hallway. However, despite his struggle to regain his composure, he could not fully shake off the dizziness and wave of nausea that constantly hit him with every movement he made. At this point he had no idea what was causing these symptoms anymore. All he knew was that he had to get away.

"Do you know why you dream about me, why you can see and feel me so clearly?"

Khan's voice echoed the hallway Kirk was attempting to escape down, but no matter what door he tried to go through, the doors of every room stayed locked. They refused to open, leaving Kirk in a mindless game of cat and mouse, although for Khan this was hardly a game at all as he finally caught up to Kirk who found himself at a dead end of a hallway. At this point Kirk had no idea what was going on or what the hell he was going to do. It was a strange feeling indeed as it was the same feeling he had when Admiral Marcus had his ship at the brink of total destruction leaving Kirk with only one maddening choice and that was to join forces with Khan. He made his choice then because there was really no other option, but what now?

"It's my blood that's inside you. Can't you feel it beckoning for its original host?" Khan continued from his previous statement as he took closer steps towards Kirk who was backed up against a wall.

"It craves for its master."

"What do you want from me?" Kirk asked.

"An equal trade."

The dizziness and nausea soon switched to faintness as Kirk tried to steady himself, but his vision began to tunnel and his body toppled over. Khan caught him in his arms at the last second and positioned him over so that he could carry him bridal style down the corridors. Soon enough Kirk was out like a light upon succumbing to the affects of whatever it was that was invading his mind.