captivity

[full_of_wrath]

Kirk gets called in. Mostly because Khan has made two duty officers guarding his cell ask to be relieved, one of them in tears.

He creates a lot of wear and tear, in general.

Comments

[full_of_wrath]

"It's an override countdown, Kirk."

Khan gripes back at him, but drops a panel and dives into a console to see if he can override that override.

The whole ship lurches as the core goes.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

Kirk gets them back to the Enterprise, fast as he can, with no idea if he should lock Khan up or not. He doesn't get to decide--not after he finds out how bad off the Enterprise is, what he has to do to save it.

[full_of_wrath]

The funny thing is, he doesn't quite die. Not with his body as primed as it is. Not with someone there a few steps behind him to drag him out of the chamber, without fear of a little radiation dosage of his own.

He'll be sick as hell, and they'll need to do transfusions anyway, but at the end of the day Kirk and Khan are on opposite sickbay beds from one another.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

It doesn't take long for Kirk to figure out what happened. He remembers a few little blurs, being dragged and carried to safety. He remembers whose shoulder he was on.

And he's out of it, thanks to medication, dazed enough that he doesn't feel weird about lying there staring at Khan.

[full_of_wrath]

McCoy comes in now and again, drawing more blood from an increasingly drowsy looking Khan, arriving with serum to give to Jim. Khan stays restrained to the sickbed (Spock's orders) but seems pliant and content enough, lying there and watching Jim in return.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"What happened to Marcus?"

Is his first question, when he can finally speak again. It comes out as a croak. Even with Khan's blood, with Khan's healing, his body is having a hell of a time sorting itself back out.

[full_of_wrath]

"He's on Earth."

Khan murmurs, his own voice ragged with disuse.

"He keeps asking for me. Spock has us on the ground of New Vulcan, until a decision comes down. They won't make one until they hear your testimony. But you'll have some damage to undo. He's had a long time to come up with a story."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"New Vulcan. ...I thought the air was a little thin."

Vulcans and their thin, dry air.

Kirk closes his eyes tight, willing himself to be strong enough to stand. He tries it, and finds that he isn't. He tries it again, to see if he can at least sit up. Instead he ends up toppling off the cot, and a pair of medical officers rush over to hoist him back up.

[full_of_wrath]

"I'm afraid you're dependent on me, for the time being. It's another reason they haven't stormed the ship for me."

Explaining, once Kirk is back down.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"Gotta admit..."

Groaning, hurting.

"Surprised to see you here."

Khan could have unfrozen his crewmates in the chaos and perhaps taken on the ship. He could have unfrozen them and fled.

[full_of_wrath]

He did, in a way.

"It's just me. The rest are gone."

Stretching out a little more, to relieve sore muscles.

"Joaquim took the Vengeance. It's the fastest in the fleet. No one will catch them."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

He lifts his head, because that's about all he can do right now to express his surprise.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

Kirk would have, he's pretty damn sure.

[full_of_wrath]

"It's important that they feel as though the threat has passed. They'll hang me, and they won't go looking."

And he seems quietly at peace with that.

"And besides, I was needed here, and they couldn't risk waiting a second more."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

It's that second sentence that makes Kirk swallow and lay his head back down.

"They won't hang you."

That gritty, stubborn tone again. Khan will pay for what he did to Pike, Kirk will see to it, but he won't pay for Marcus's actions.

[full_of_wrath]

"What do they do, these days? We always hanged or injected."

Pushing himself onto his side, to watch him.

"Exsanguination? You'll be reliant for some time."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

'Exsanguination' gets a decided snicker.

"Was that a joke? God, I hope that was a joke. No. We don't execute. You'll get rehabilitation, probably for the rest of your life."

And Kirk isn't sure that's what's right, here. Khan's rehabilitation will be based on late 23rd century standards; he'll be judged by rules he has never lived under. It's virtually impossible for him to satisfy the system.

[full_of_wrath]

"What happens in rehabilitation?"

He wants to know, still on his side, watching him. He isn't sure if it'll be better or worse if he's braced for it.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"It's psychotherapy, behavior modification. It's run mostly by Betazoids--they're empaths and telepaths."

So it's a lot more intensive than therapy in the 1990's had been.

[full_of_wrath]

"I don't think they'll like me much."

He admits, but closes his eyes. He can live with that, no matter what the consequences down there turn out to be.

"I'm sorry he died. He wasn't the target."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

The drugs make his head swim already, but grief and anger make it worse. He grabs for another topic.

"Have you ever met a telepath?"

[full_of_wrath]

"She started crying and fainted."

He's actually being serious.

"Marcus didn't try that again. Ask Spock, he tried a little touch telepathy on me earlier, though I think he's made of sterner stuff than she was."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"He tried it on you? Why?"

Kirk has grown up in a universe with known mind readers, but even so, it seems intrusive and overly intimate to him. There's a reason he never wanted even basic therapy as a troubled youth.

[full_of_wrath]

"I'm sure it was to make sure I wasn't intending to rebel, or escape. It wasn't successful, so it wasn't an avenue her pursued. There were a few false starts along those lines."

Explaining, absently. Someone comes in to bustle about his monitor, to readjust his restraints, and he stops the story for the moment.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

Kirk waits until the medics are gone, too. It gives him a moment to mull things over. The telepathy might have worked; the Betazoid might have just panicked at what was there. And Marcus might not have been looking for cooperation; he might have been looking to see what Khan's plans were.

"How did you escape?"

[full_of_wrath]

"From where?"

He still feels incredibly trapped right now.

"I never much succeeded in escaping anything, Kirk. Otherwise, your friend wouldn't be dead, and mine wouldn't be gone."