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

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"You should ask me when I'm on my feet. But yes."

He doesn't want them to drain Khan dry--nor does he want Khan to feel like some kind of human fueling station.

"If I need more I'll just come see you myself."

No, he won't, because Kirk is always too busy to care for his own health. But the intention is in the right place.

[full_of_wrath]

"Thank you."

He agrees, and before long, he's been shuffled out of Kirk's sight and out of the way. They'll have to take to the channels to try to arrange a solution, a trial, and in the mean time, Khan is sent to Betazoid as a stopgap measure, if only to make sure he doesn't escape and kill anyone else on the way.

Unearthing all of his work for Marcus is proving to take much longer than anyone had thought possible. Then there's the confusing matter of report falsification, of several empty cryo-tubes, of the terrifying implication that there are several of Khan's brethren unaccounted for and on Earth. The popular theory is that they're alive, lurking, ready to free him, but it adds a touch of panic to the proceedings that makes everything much more complicated.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

It's several days more before Kirk is up, and he really shouldn't be on his feet then either but he is. And when he learns of the empty cryotubes he feels a very real sense of shock setting in.

To him it's not the possibility that they're alive on Earth (if they are he thinks Khan might help him round them up to safety). It's something Khan once said, he made me watch..., something that makes Kirk think they're gone forever. It is something Marcus would do. He wouldn't put anything past Marcus.

He almost has his request to Starfleet finished, but he puts it on hold, and takes his crew to Betazoid. Because they can sense violence from miles away, Kirk is allowed to see Khan alone.

[full_of_wrath]

They warn him, very graciously, that the visit may be alarming. The work they're doing with Khan is abnormally intense, and the effects of it can be shocking.

It's true. The room they're keeping him in is lush, utterly humane, but the man pressed under the blankets is a far cry from the force of nature that helped Kirk take out the Vengeance with almost physical strength alone.

"They said you were coming." He observes, managing to sit up a little. "They eased up on the... pressure, I suppose, so that we could talk."

For that reason alone he looks glad to see him.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

This is what he'd been afraid of.

"What have they been doing?"

Kirk pulls over a chair and sits very close to the bedside. He'll be here a while, which means a good reprieve for Khan.

[full_of_wrath]

"The philosophy is that evil arises from the mismanagement of pain. Through unhealthy..."

Pulling himself the rest of the way up.

"...coping mechanisms, through suppression. They want me to engage with loss more productively. It isn't a bad theory, actually, it's just."

He scrubs a hand over his eyes, wiping the evidence of his fight with it away.

"I don't think it will help."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

Kirk doesn't, either. He's more convinced of that now than ever.

"I'm here to ask you about some empty cryotubes that were found."

He watches him very intently.

[full_of_wrath]

"I resisted."

He answers, trying to school his expression blank, but he wouldn't have stood a chance at not crumpling even before the reschooling of his thoughts here. He turns away, quickly, climbing out of the bed and hurrying to the side table for a drink of water. His back remains to Kirk.

"He convinced me of the seriousness of his intentions."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"Where are they?"

But he doesn't really expect an answer to that, won't be frustrated if there isn't one. He just needs to close up loopholes.

[full_of_wrath]

"Either with the biological weaponry department or incinerated, depending on whether he's a step ahead of you."

Drinking his water, quickly.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

He flips open his communicator and relays that to Spock. He doesn't make any promises or try to offer any condolences, though; either one seems false or premature right now.

"I'm going to see if I can't have you transferred."

[full_of_wrath]

"Don't."

He tells him, shortly, hand curling around the glass.

"It's fine. It's- it's a hell of my own making."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"The point isn't punishment."

Kirk reminds him roughly. It's not like this is easy for him, either; he loved Pike. There is a significant part of him that wants Khan to suffer for what he did.

He stands, with a typically Kirk-ish 'Don't go anywhere', and he goes back to his cabin to work on the proposal. It takes finagling and collaborating with Spock, but eventually the request is granted: Khan will be moved to the Enterprise to work through his sentence.

Seeing the 23rd century in motion is, Kirk argued, going to be more beneficial to Khan than forcing him to accept his head being invaded. Of course he'll be under armed guard at all times, and Spock has come up with methods of taking Khan down fast if he turns...all of which Kirk hopes won't be necessary. And he'll stay in the brig.

[full_of_wrath]

He's staring at him angrily, now, at the dismissal and at the presumption Kirk is showing in deciding to swoop in to the rescue, and all of this.

A pulse hits him square between the eyes, a reminder that leaping through space and crushing his larynx would be wrong, and he drops his waterglass in surprise, shattering all over the floor and his bare feet.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"You accept having your mind invaded because it's uncomfortable for you. That doesn't do any good for the people you hurt."

Kirk snaps, invigorated by Khan's ire.

"This is about retribution, it's not about putting you through hell."

[full_of_wrath]

"It keeps the damage from spreading,"

He snarls, because cause in point, he's staring down at his feet now.

"But if you'd rather I be a bauble or your shelf, I suppose I don't get a say."

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"Then we'll take a team of counselors. And no, you don't get to decide your own consequences, you're a prisoner. You murdered people. The only say you get is where you're at in your recovery."

He whips away from Khan and goes to the wall, to access the medi files on him. What damage, he wonders, how could Khan be damaged with his healing abilities?

[full_of_wrath]

"Are you looking at my medical information?"

He all but snarls. And then hits the floor, all in a thump, because he's envisioning gutting him.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

Kirk does the instinctive but foolish thing and rushes over to check on him. He doesn't bother calling for a doctor; the empaths will already know.

[full_of_wrath]

He growls at him, and starts dragging himself back towards the bed, while people come running.

A few orderlies come in, helping him under the blankets while he works on breathing deeply. One tries to take Kirk out by the elbow, since that's really enough of that.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"What's wrong with him?"

Kirk demands, allowing himself to be grudgingly escorted.

[full_of_wrath]

"We're working on his aggression response. He leaps straight for anger, and when he does, people get killed."

The young woman explains, helpfully.

"It's the modification component of his treatment, which I understand you want to cut short?"

[kobayashiwhatnow]

"I want to redirect it."

Kirk corrects, but with no small measure of doubt now. Maybe it would be safer to take a few telepaths along.

But then how would Khan learn to control it on his own? He had controlled it the whole time Kirk had him on board, the whole time they'd gone to find Marcus--even right there on the bridge, he hadn't attacked anyone.

But then, Kirk had had plenty of leverage, and Khan hadn't known he wouldn't use it.

"Dammit. Look, can you send me records of his progress here?"

[full_of_wrath]

"Of course, Captain. But might I make a suggestion? As someone who knows him."

She knows Kirk too, which is why she waits for his permission rather than pushing.

[kobayashiwhatnow]

He'd been looking back at Khan's door, but his attention pulls back to her.

"I have a feeling I'll need all the suggestions I can get."

Which is a 'go ahead'.