Chapter Text
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...Attention... System Failure… Attention... System Failure... Attention... System Failure...
The notice echoed along with the alarms and the multiple displays of malfunctions as the small ship was rocked with the shock of attacks from the outside. The only person aboard the small ship ignored the alarms in favor of forcing an evasive maneuver, moving the ship out of the following attack and entering a dangerous asteroid zone.
The much larger vessel behind him came to a halt as the smaller, almost diminutive in contrast ship entered a range where the scanners would be unable to make an easy distinction between the small ship and the multiple asteroids in its path. It was a small advantage, but he was far from safe, his persecutors won't simply let him go.
He ran towards the back of the ship, where his destructive cargo laid secured in a special container. The pilot took a deep breath and after a second of hesitation opened the high functioning receptacle. Inside were several objects, the most outstanding being the various small vials containing a drop of Red Matter secured in it.
He took one of the vials and quickly armed another container, a cylindrical vase adapted to contain the vial with the dangerous matter inside. His ice blue eyes gazed at the small drop, his expression not giving away much as he silently decided his next move. He took a second vial; this one with a drop of blue sealed inside. He added it to the vase, preserving both vials inside.
The alarm continue displaying a failure in the ship's systems and he cursed his luck, knowing soon the life support system would be affected and any possibility of survival would be dramatically reduced, making his own possibilities of success almost non-existent.
The ship rocked as a nearby asteroid came too close, taking the man out of his stupor and reminding him how out of time he was. Making a quick decision, he ran to the back of the ship and placed the container inside an airlock, preparing to use it as his ammunition if necessary.
Running back to the main controls, the screens displayed the asteroid and the ship slowly but surely coming closer and closer to his location. The man barked in anger at seeing the ship and the attempt at communication being sent to his transport. He had been discovered, time was up.
Making an evasive maneuver in desperation, he launched the last card under his sleeve towards the space between his ship and the much larger one chasing him. He closed his eyes, feeling seconds pass as if they were years; he muttered an apology to no one and pressed the button that could make the vial he launched explode.
The vacuum of the explosion thrust the larger ship backwards and shocked the smaller one to the core. At the center of the explosion something formed and growled at an alarming rate, finally forming a black hole in the space between asteroids in the middle distance of the flagship and the shuttle.
The shuttle's pilot saw the black hole on screen and knew he couldn't escape it. His mind went blank as a storm emerged in the middle of the black hole and swallowed his ship only to collapse in on itself afterwards, leaving the severely damaged flagship behind.
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A flash formed in an unknown point in space and from the emptiness something was formed in chaos, light and thunder, being the crew of the Federation's Starship, the Enterprise witness of the event.
They saw the thunder storm and Jim said nothing, but his eyes gave away what he was thinking and Spock was beside him immediately, looking at the screen and clenching his fits behind his back. They couldn't avoid the storm, it was too big and moving in strange patterns, but Jim was going to try anyway.
"Get us away from that storm, Mr. Sulu, we definitely don't want to be anywhere near it."
"Aye, Captain," Hikaru was not looking at him, his hands quickly moving over the controls and doing everything possible to keep the Enterprise away from the storm. It appeared to follow them as it grew stronger, almost catching up with them, rocking the entire ship.
As quickly as it had started, it was over. The storm faded into the darkness of space and the only thing it left behind was confusion and questions, or at least at first it seemed that way.
"There's a ship," Sulu murmured in confusion and worked on the controls to get a better view, "A very small ship, a shuttle most likely, it appear to came from inside the storm, Captain."
"On screen."
The small ship looked unstable and the Enterprise could scan a single life form inside it.
"I'm attempting communication," said Uhura as she looked between her controls and the main screen, "There's no answer."
"Open a channel, let us announce," ordered Kirk, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"Done, Captain."
"Attention, this is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, we are detecting major malfunctions in your ship, you are whiting out hail reach, do you copy?" There was no answer and Kirk give it a few moments. "I repeat, your ship is showing major malfunctions, your safety is not ensured, we have to hail your ship, do you copy?"
"Captain, I do not advise we hail an unknown ship," Spock pointed out, "Although it does look severely damaged," Spock frowned, "its life support systems will be affected."
"Hail the ship," order Kirk and stood up, "I will retrieve our guest and if it turns out to be hostile, well, we have the advantage. Mr. Spock you're in charge."
"Jim," Spock followed him to the turbo lift, "We have seen this before, and it could be dangerous."
"It was the Nerada last time... this is a shuttle and if something is coming, we need to prevent it." Kirk sighed deeply. "We have to."
Spock did not seem convinced, but nodded and Jim went down to engineering with an uneasy feeling stirring inside him. Past thunder storm in space had led to great damage, for it was Nero's passage to this time, what could possibly be crossing now?
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The small shuttle looked way too damaged, it was practically a miracle that it was still functioning, or at least it appeared to be the case. Kirk had never seen a shuttle like this one before. The design resembled those of the federation, but there were several things that made it obvious it was not, starting with the marked emblem on the side; a sword running through the planet earth. It made Kirk feel uncomfortable.
Setting his phaser to stun, Kirk gave the signal to force the shuttle open, behind him several security officers were also ready to shoot if necessary, but when the shuttle opened no one came out, yet the scanners were not wrong, there was a life form inside that small ship.
"Attention, whoever is aboard this shuttle, I request your immediate identification!" He took a step closer, ignoring the worried gaze from Scotty and kept his phaser up. He saw a shadow loom near the door and almost shot by mere reaction and even more so when said shadow stepped into the light.
He forced himself to keep his hands steady, but behind him Kirk heard several gaps and more phasers being drawn from the rest of the security personnel.
"T-That's not…!"
"How did he escape?"
Several whispers ran around as the man they knew as Khan stepped into the light, but there was something odd about him, something that silently screamed 'wrong'.
"Khan..." Kirk hissed with a stirring anger in the pit of his stomach and almost missed when the other man flinched. Almost. It was this action that made him look him up and down while keeping his composure as best he could, "How the hell did you break out of cryostasis?"
Khan lifted his eyes but avoided eye contact with Kirk, instead looked around while his right hand tightly clutched the fabric of his ragged black shirt and torn green pants. Kirk noticed the manacles around his wrists, which made his attention shift to the dark collar around his neck, poorly concealed behind a worn out piece of grey cloth that served as a scarf. He was thinner than Kirk remembered him and his skin was paler, to the point of looking sick.
Kirk stepped closer and Khan stepped back, keeping his head down and only lifting his left hand a little, Kirk noticed the makeshift bandaged around the manacle stained with blood, as if he had tried to take them off and only managed to hurt himself.
"I... I just..." His voice sounded rough, he lifted his eyes, there was defiance and so much hatred in those eyes Kirk almost flinched. Khan was gritting his teeth so hard it had to hurt, "You honestly expected me to just lay there and take another round, master?" He spat the word with venom in his voice, so clear Kirk could taste it. He stood tall, hands fisted at his sides and against his body to hide their trembling. "I will always fight you!"
When Khan ran towards him, Kirk shot the phaser and the other man went down immediately, falling on his face at Kirk's feet, who kept his phaser pointed at him, knowing the shot was not likely to keep the augmented down for long.
"Secure him!" He had to rethink his order, not knowing how to cuff a man who was already wearing manacles. The Security officers were on the same page as him in this situation, because they took the other man by the arms, unsure of how to proceed.
They got the unconscious man to his knees and Kirk noticed the shiny silver tag hanging from the collar around Khan's neck, the tag that had Kirk's name engraved on it. It was then that Jim knew something was very, very wrong.
A shiver ran down Khan's spine, slowly regaining consciousness. He analyzed his chances, finding them almost none existing, but he had to fight, he had to. Gathering all what was left of his strength and dexterity he quickly slid from the grasp of the security guards holding him. He pressed his body to the ground and rolled over to avoid being caught, narrowly avoiding the phaser shots aimed at him. His eyes fixed on Kirk and a snarl erupted from his throat. Once again he charged against the Captain, his forehead colliding against Kirk's in a painful hit for both.
Khan hissed in discomfort and blinked the blood out of his eyes, he was dizzy but he had a hold on the Captain, his hands around his throat. This was it, even if he went under the agonizer's control now, this satisfaction was enough to make it worth it, he looked at his so called master in the eye and... Did not find what he was looking for.
Khan stopped suddenly, his hands still around Kirk's throat but not giving pressure. The collar was not reacting, but Khan knew it was still functioning, why had Kirk not activated it yet? The man had his right hand around Khan's wrist and the other up, signaling for the Officers to not shoot. Khan looked around, confusion palpable in his expression as he noted the details for the first time. He looked down at Kirk again and let him go, scrambling to his feet and taking several steps back as if he had been burnt.
"Who—What?" The uniforms were different, the ship was not as he remembered and the look the Captain was giving him was plain wrong... James Kirk shouldn't be able to express such concern when looking at him, he shouldn't!
"Stand down!" Jim stood, hands up, still signaling for the others to keep their distance, "Calm down, ok?"
"W-What are you doing?" Khan asked despite himself, "Is this another of your sadistic games?"
His hands were trembling again and he hated not being in control of himself. He could feel moisture in the corners of his eyes, but his expression remained hard, not allowing himself to show any weakness.
"I should ask the same," Jim said behind clenched teeth, impatience building in his features, "Last time I saw you, you were in cryostasis, serving your sentence."
"Stop it!" Khan hissed, deep frustration leaking in his voice, "Stop playing with my mind! You would never allow me the mercy of cryostasis!"
Jim looked taken aback by that, but quickly stood his ground, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Without really thinking about it, Khan lifted his hand to grab the collar around his neck, tugging at the silver tag in anger as he ran his other hand through his hair. Jim stepped closer and Khan lowered his head, avoiding looking at him.
"Stop it," He was so confused, a part of his mind was screaming him to keep fighting but he felt as if his limbs were paralyzed and he cursed his weakness, "Just stop..."
Kirk got a hold of the hand clutching the collar, touching the manacle around his wrist, activating it. Khan felt the pressure as the cuffs were forced together by magnetism, he briefly fought against and in the end just allowed them to force his wrists before him, knowing beforehand the pain to come if he didn't do it and concluding it was not worth it. Kirk was frowning in confusion, as if he didn't know what he just did and that made Khan glare at him again.
"I did that," Kirk muttered to himself as Khan stood straight again, letting his frustration hide behind the mask of indifference, a carefully shaped blank expression that was his only shield now, "How the hell did I do that?"
Jim shook his head and motioned the Security Officers to come closer this time, he was surrounded immediately. Kirk gave him a strange look, looking him up and down and shaking his head.
"Take him to the brig." Kirk let them pass him, noting Khan did not fight the guards this time and seemed almost... resigned as he walked away.
This was not the man Jim knew, this man was not the same Khan he fought against only a couple years ago and the implications of that made Jim anxious.
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Jim immediately went back to the bridge where Spock and Bones were waiting.
"Captain if I may—"
"Jim, what the hell?"
"Ready Room," Jim rolled his eyes, "Lieutenant Sulu, continue monitoring for anything else. Keep the shields up."
"Yes Captain."
Once in his Ready Room, Jim was assaulted with questions from both Bones and Spock about what just happened and what was he thinking. Spock did not voice them that way, but it was the same only with other words. Jim lifted his hands and in a second Bones was on him, tracing his fingers over a bruise around his neck where Khan had grabbed him. Jim hissed in discomfort and glared at his friend, who ignored him in return.
"You will need dermal repair for this," he mumbled angrily. "What the hell is he doing here?"
"Captain," Spock raised his voice, his tone impatient, "I made contact with the Federation to confirm Khan's custody status." He moved around the room to activate the closest screen, displaying the image of the secure bay where the cryotubes were contained and showing Khan inside one, deeply asleep in cryostasis.
"Let me guess," Jim said as Bones continue his check up and Jim let him, knowing better than to argue with the MCO at this point, "There haven't been any security bridges, at least not reported."
"Unless the system, our eyes, and every security process is mistaken, Khan is still in cryostasis and our unexpected prisoner is an impostor." Spock switched the image to the monitor in the brig, were Khan was sitting on the cell's floor, his back to the force field, "However, further inquires are required to confirm his identity, for his initial recognition data matches the one on file, which is not possible."
"He has a goddamn collar with my name on it," Jim gently pushed Bones aside to walk to the screen, turning the cameras and zooming in, "And those manacles look far different from anything I've ever seen before."
"Your name is on it?" Bones frowned and looked between Jim and the screen, where he was tapping at the silver tag hanging from Khan's collar.
"There," he didn't want to mention the fact that Khan had called him master and was altogether acting as if he was someone else. He didn't understand what was going on but he was determined to find out the truth.
Bones changed the image, looking at the footage and back to the live image of Khan sitting in his cell. It gave the impression he was trying to make himself look smaller.
"He looks different," Bones tapped a few images and observed them carefully, "It's subtle, but it stands out... he's skinnier to start with."
"They left the manacles on," Spock noted, "Or they can't take them off?"
"Probably the second," Jim remembered how the manacles activated when he touched them and Khan expected something else to happen as well, it so it seemed. "Bones, can you give him a check up?"
"I would rather not, but yes, I'll do it." He turned around to leave the room, "You think this is not the bastard we confronted before, do you?"
"Almost sure," Jim closed his eyes, "And there's that shuttle he came in, I need Engineering to work on it and get as much information as we can about it."
"Jim," Spock called and the Captain looked his first officer in the eye, "The Khan we know is in custody of a Federation Secure location, whoever this man is, it's not him."
"I know."
Evidence spoke for itself, something was wrong and they would find out exactly what was going on. They had to.
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Jim was not sure what he expected to find upon entering the brig, but Chekov messing with the manacles holding not-Khan's wrist together was not it. The young Ensign was talking nonstop while using several tools to tap into the manacles' system, asking technical questions that went unanswered and mostly thinking out loud. However, what Kirk noticed was the haunted almost painful expression Khan was reflecting in his face while looking at the younger prodigy.
"Zis is harder zan I zought," Pavel said to himself, "You really can't giwe me a clue?"
Khan blinked several times, shifting his full attention to the younger man, "They are DNA coded..."
"How so?"
"Only the persons coded to handle them can modify the pressure..." Khan was looking at Chekov as if it physically hurt him to see the younger man, and it made Kirk uneasy.
"I can unlock them, right?" Jim interrupted, making Chekov turn around and almost fall if not for Khan gently supporting him, only to scramble back as much as he could.
"Keptin!"
"What are you doing Chekov?" Jim moved closer to the brig, noting part of the force field was lowered but Khan made no attempt to get closer to that part.
"We couldn't remove the manacles Captain," explained one of the officers, "We requested assistance."
"Zis is a wery complex zystem," Chekov pointed out, "Only managed to lower the pressure a wittle bit."
Jim walked closer to Khan, who had to force himself to not step back as the Captain reached for his bound wrists and eyed him evenly, "How do I take them off?"
Khan gave him a look full of distrust and Kirk waited as patiently as he could, even if inside he was cringing with irritation at the whole situation.
"Run your fingers over the top of the right one and the bottom of the left one," Kirk did so and immediately the manacles separated, but remained on Khan's wrists.
"I want to take them off," Kirk made clear, "Not just separate them."
"I...I don't know," he admitted, looking uncomfortable. "You... He... has never taken them off while I'm conscious."
Chekov was hovering over Kirk's shoulder, looking intrigued and Jim chuckled at this, "Can you take them off Chekov?"
"Not sure Keptein, zey are DNA coded but zey are vorking with you," Chekov frowned, "For some reason... Anvway, I can look into it!"
"See to it," Jim was looking Khan in the eye, while the other man was not, he continued looking at Chekov with an almost sad expression. He waited for the young ensign to leave the room before shifting his attention back to Kirk. "You look as if you just saw a ghost."
"For me, he is." Khan sighed, "Who are you?"
"Captain James T. Kirk, of the USS Enterprise," Jim answered with pride in his captain's voice and Khan still looked at him with so much distrust it was making Jim twitchy. "What?"
"I know a James T. Kirk," he said, "Captain of the ISS Enterprise... The similarities are uncanny."
Khan flexed his fingers and folded his arms over his chest, although it looked more like an act to shield himself than anything else. Kirk bit his lower lip and heard Bones and Spock entered the brig. Khan visibly tensed and backed up against the cell's wall as Bones came closer, almost snarling when he came even closer.
"Hey, chill out!" Bones grunted in annoyance and consulted his portal equipment, whistling as he read the first scans, "Boy, you're a mess."
Khan narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth hard and closing his hands into fists at his sides, trembling in anger and not doing a very good job at concealing it. Kirk noticed this immediately and stepped between them, looking at Khan and showing authority in his presence to be reflected in his voice.
"Whoever you know, it's not him," he told Khan firmly. "You got that? We're not them."
"If this is another trick, you are being far too cruel," Khan whispered, his eyes on Chekov at the other side of the room, "You made me watch... and made it clear it was my fault."
"Khan," Kirk's voice reflected annoyance and it made Khan flinch, Jim forced himself to focus and not be affected by that unusual display, "I have done nothing to you."
Khan's hand went to the collar again, holding the silver tag between his fingers so hard his knuckles went white and exhaled slowly, "This might be a world different form my own... or I have finally lost my mind."
He took a few steps back to sit on the nearest bench, he looked very tired as he rested his elbows on his legs and lowered his head, breathing deeply.
"I need an explanation from you," Kirk said gently, "Your presence was... unexpected."
"I did not want to board your ship Captain; on the contrary I was doing my best to get away from the ISS Enterprise," Khan moved to rest his back against the wall, a far cry from the man Kirk last saw in the brig and still a shadow on him at the same time.
"ISS... what does the 'I' stands for?" Jim wondered out loud and Khan gave him an unimpressed look.
"Imperial Starship," He eyed the captain warily, "From the Terra Empire."
Jim just stared at him in confusion, but it was somehow making Khan less wary of him. Still Khan shifted his vision to look for Pavel, who was talking with Scotty at the other side of the room. He was so engrossed in observing the young prodigy that he completely ignored Jim for a while.
"Hey!" Jim raised his voice and Khan gasped as the collar activated, sending a pulse of pain across his back and making him fall from the bench, "W-What? I need McCoy in here!"
"M-Make it s-stop!" hissed Khan with watery eyes, "I-I'm listening!"
"Yes! That's, that's fine, you're fine or...hey!" Kirk hovered over him and finally decided to place his hands around Khan's neck, over the collar and the pain stopped, "What just happened?"
Khan's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stayed down as Bones ran into the brig followed by two of his medical officers and started to run scans on their unexpected prisoner. Khan's instinct to fight them off was making things difficult.
"Come on, stop that!" Leonard's alarmed eyes were moving fast between the scanners from the tricorder and Khan himself. He had a hand over the man's chest to keep him down as much as he could while the other two medical officers kept him restrained as much as they could. Jim ran a hand through his hair and clenched his teeth, frustration building inside him.
"For God's sake, stay still!" Maybe he put more sentiment into his voice than he meant to, whatever the reason it may be, Jim adverted the phrase as an order and Khan stopped fighting at once. He looked conflicted and avoided looking at Jim while Bones and the medical officers did their job.
Jim felt a stab of guilt but at least the moment of outrage had served for something other than straining the already difficult atmosphere. Khan lay on the floor, avoiding looking at everyone, once again concealing his tension behind a carefully shaped blank expression. Jim folded his arms over his chest and observed the man on the floor, his eyes adverting to the silver tag more often than not. There was a storm of questions in his head, but the most prominent remain the same: who was this Khan? How were they associated? And why did he have the feeling he was not going to like the answer?