A Mind Occasionally Voyaging

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

Aboard the Enterprise, the Genesis torpedo began to glow. A fine mist issued from it as it pulsed with internal energy. On the bridge, Xon announced, “Captain Kirk, I am detecting an unusual energy pattern. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before.”

“From Reliant?” Kirk asked.

“Negative. From us, sir. Deck seven.”

The intercom beeped. “Bridge? This is Chief Kyle. Something weird is happening with the device Admiral Pike had beamed aboard.”

David Marcus had joined them on the bridge as Pike was leaving. He looked at Xon’s console. “That’s the Genesis wave,” he said. “It’s on a build-up to detonation.”

“How soon?” Kirk asked.

“We encoded four minutes.”

“How do we stop it?”

“You can’t.”

“Can we beam it into space? Blow it up?”

David shook his head. “Transporters won’t be able to get a lock now that it’s active. If you damage the casing, it will just release the wave immediately.”

“Transporter room,” Kirk shouted, “Get that thing to the nearest airlock. Engineering, I need warp power in three minutes or we’re all dead.” He pointed to Uhura. “Raise the admiral.”

“Channel open, sir.”

“Chris, Khan activated Genesis. We have less than four minutes.”

Kirk was surprised when a voice he didn’t recognize responded. “This is Una,” she said. “We have a medical emergency. Get us out of here.”

Seconds later, Una and La’an materialized in Enterprise’s main transporter room.

“Number one?” Kyle said, surprised.

“I’ll explain later,” Una said, carrying La’an from the pad. “Where’s Chris?”

“I only have partial power,” Kyle said. “It will take me a second to get a lock.”

M’Benga appeared at the door. “Una?” he said. “You’re hurt.”

“Later!” she repeated, shifting La’an into his arms. She turned and noticed the Genesis torpedo, now glowing brightly. Two cadets were struggling to lift it.

“You need to get that thing off the ship, now,” Una said. “Here.” She pushed the cadets aside and hoisted the heavy device onto her shoulders. The strain of carrying it made her head wound start bleeding again. She couldn’t manage a full sprint with such a heavy load, but she carried it as fast as she could to the emergency hatch. She dropped it, retreated past the next emergency bulkhead, and slammed her hand into the controls. Heavy doors sealed on either side of the section of corridor in front of the hatch before it blew off into space, the Genesis device carried with it out of the ship.

She pushed the intercom button. “Bridge,” she said, “Genesis is off the ship. Get us out of here.”

Una didn’t recognize the voice of Jim Kirk when he responded, “We still don’t have warp power.” Una pressed her hand behind her ear to check if she’d stopped bleeding and looked down the corridor in the direction of the turbolift.

---

Khan’s strength was flagging. His augmented body had limits, and he had blown far past them. Pike got in a lucky punch that spun him. He fell onto the helm console. Pike took the moment’s respite to draw his communicator. “Enterprise, security to the transporter room. Lock on my signal. Two to beam up.”

“Just a few more seconds, Admiral,” came Chief Kyle’s voice.

Pike prepared to grab onto Khan. If they managed to survive this, outrun the Genesis wave, he was determined to make him stand trial for Salius and Regula.

“Which way shall I fly, infinite wrath and infinite despair,” Khan rasped. “Which way I fly is Hell, myself am hell.”

Then Pike saw the display. “Main power nominal.” Khan smacked his hand into the controls clumsily. They both fell to the deck as Reliant threatened to shake itself apart when its remaining nacelle lit, just barely formed an unstable warp field, and flung the ship superluminal.

---

“I just lost transporter lock,” Kyle’s voice rattled.

“They will not be able to maintain warp for long,” Xon observed. “I estimate the ship will suffer catastrophic hull failure within six minutes.”

“That’s two minutes longer than we have,” Kirk said. “Sulu, back us away, best speed possible. Engineering, where the hell’s that power?”

Below, Una didn’t have time for a radiation suit, but she took the gloves from an incapacitated cadet. Doctor McCoy grabbed her shoulder as she approached the radiation door before the warp core.

“You out of your mind?” he protested. “No human can tolerate the radiation that’s in there.”

Una gave him a withering look. “Starfleet has been very clear that I am not human,” she said.

“You’re not going in there,” McCoy maintained.

She looked at the chief, slumped in a chair. “Maybe not,” she said. “This is the chief? Can you bring him ’round?”

McCoy turned away to look at him. “Well I don’t think that he-”

She sucker-punched him as he turned back, then caught him as he fell. She gently lowered him to the deck, then returned to the radiation door. The chief revived just as the door sealed behind her. “Who the hell are you?” he shouted through the transparent partition. “Get out of there!”

It was hot as hell in the central compartment of the engine, and the radiation burned. Una heard the engineer’s muffled pleas and obscenities through the partition as she heaved the cover off the focusing chamber. A column of bright white light shot from the open core, and Una felt hotter still as her body desperately tried to repair the damage she was doing to it.

She stared into the column of incandescent gasses. The last thing she saw, before she saw nothing at all, was the dilithium matrix. The problem was straightforward enough. The heat had deformed the tritanium mounts that held the crystals in alignment. She’d helped Khan compromise the cooling system; she was responsible for the damage. The normal fix would be to shut down the engine, vent the radiation, let the entire system cool down, remove the mountings and replace them or machine them back into their original shape. It would take hours, if not days. They had about ninety seconds. She had to take her gloves off. She reached blindly into the column of gasses, found the dilithium crystals by feel. Her hands were starting to go numb. She pushed hard, visualizing the angle of the crystals as she bent the metal. Blind, and rapidly losing her sense of touch as well, she had to rely on dead reckoning to line the crystals up. When she found the spot, the plasma stream reignited, pushing her backward.

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

Khan chuckled at the voice from behind. A series of concentric rings rose from the controller, and he twisted the outer one as he turned. It descended back into the console. The undamaged side of his face twisted into a forced smile. There, at the emergency hatch, was Pike, phaser in hand, alongside the woman from before, his distant scion. “Pike…” he rasped. “Even now, still alive, my old friend.”

Pike was shaken for a moment at the sight of Khan’s ruined features. The burns. Even now, decades later, the childhood fear of burning alive still nibbled at him. “Still,” he managed. “Old friend.” He gestured at the bodies that littered the bridge. “You’ve managed to kill just about everybody else. But you just keep missing the target.”

Khan launched himself at Pike. Despite age and injury, he was incredibly fast. Both Pike and La’an fired their phasers. Pike’s shot clipped Khan’s shoulder; La’an’s caught him square in the chest, but Khan gave no sign of noticing either. He crossed the bridge in three mighty bounds and had his hand on Pike’s phaser before the admiral could get off a second shot. Pike’s phaser crumpled in Khan’s grip and he wrestled Pike to the ground. Pike had been no match for Khan in unarmed combat twenty years ago, and even Khan’s injuries weren’t enough to even the odds.

La’an was reluctant to risk shooting again at close range, especially if she had to set her phaser to kill. The point was rendered moot when Khan surprised her with a back-kick from the ground that knocked the phaser from her hand. She retaliated with a roundhouse of her own, displacing Khan long enough for Pike to get back on his feet.

Khan landed near the middle of the bridge. Rather than immediately return to the fray, he sprang back toward the Genesis controller. He had turned the second ring before Pike and La’an closed the distance to him. “Give it up, Khan,” Pike demanded.

“I am formed free,” Khan spat, “And free I must remain.” Pike doubled over at a blow to his midsection. La’an caught Khan with a strike to the side of his head. Khan toppled sideways. He tried to catch himself on the railing, but his missing fingers make his hands clumsy. He hit the deck hard and rolled to one side just fast enough to avoid La’an’s boot.

He was back on his feet a second later. Khan had been a skilled fighter once, but his body was too badly mangled for anything but brute strength now. La’an was fast and her skills were sharper, but Khan’s size gave him an advantage if he could bring raw power to bear. He anticipated her left hook, twisting around it and delivering an open-handed strike to her chest that sent La’an flying. He twisted the third ring on the control unit.

Despite having the wind knocked out of him, Pike was moving again. He landed a two-fisted blow to Khan’s back, and followed up with the same to his chest when Khan straightened. Pike knew the punches wouldn’t cause Khan any significant pain or injury, but he could at least ruin his balance. Khan backhanded him into the captain’s chair. He grabbed the center cylinder that still protruded from the Genesis controller.

“Hold it right there!” All three of the combatants paused a moment in surprise. Una stood, slightly unsteady, at the bridge’s emergency exit hatch. One side of her head was caked with blood and she was holding a broken pipe like a club.

“Una!” Khan said. “Kill them. Kill them and you will have your freedom.”

“Number one,” Pike said, quietly, pleading.

Una looked from Pike to Khan and back. “I’m sorry Chris,” she said. La’an tensed, ready to jump. Una took one step toward Pike, then quickly sent the pipe spinning from her hand. It caught Khan’s hand with enough force to break bones, forcing him away from the Genesis console.

“I’m sorry, Chris,” Una said again. “I couldn’t do anything sooner.”

Khan howled with pain and stepped toward Una, throwing a clumsy overhand punch that treated his ruined hand like a cudgel. She sidestepped so quickly Pike’s eyes could barely keep up, and Khan punched only air. She countered with an attempt at an uppercut, which Khan interrupted with his elbow.

The two augments fought fiercely. As he had with La’an, Khan tried to use brute force to overwhelm Una’s superior skill. But Una was both faster and stronger than any human. He could see the injury behind her ear and tried to target it, but Una was careful to protect her right side. Khan spun in response to a quick kick to his side. He stumbled, catching himself on a fragment of the ceiling that had been torn free during the battle. He picked it up and swung around fast, hoping to outpace Una’s reflexes.

She jumped backwards, but not far enough. The sharp edge of the metal sliced her leg and she fell. La’an dashed to her side, and Khan backhanded her into the tactical console. La’an gasped sharply and looked down. The jagged end of some debris had pierced her abdomen.

Khan took advantage of the sudden distraction to make for the Genesis console. Pike was caught with indecision for a fraction of a second, but made for Khan. Too late. The cylinder retracted into the device and a digital display started to count down from 280.

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging

No one was there to challenge Pike and La’an as they materialized in Reliant’s transporter room. La’an checked her tricorder while Pike covered the door with his phaser.

“Energy fluctuations all over the ship, Admiral,” she said. “It’s making it difficult to isolate life signs.”

Pike looked at the other transporter pad. “This is Genesis,” he said, indicating the torpedo. They both moved to the transporter controls.

“Pike to Enterprise,” he said into his communicator. “We’ve located the Genesis warhead. Beaming it over now.” The device vanished in blue energy.

“We still need the control unit,” La’an said. “Without it, it’s not much more than a very extravagant bomb.”

“Can you locate it?”

She shook her head. “The sensor signature Doctor Marcus gave us is too faint to locate from here, but I think we have to assume Khan would have taken it to the bridge.”

“Let’s get up there,” Pike said.

---

Una shook herself back to consciousness. The railing on the gantry past the warp core was deformed where she had grabbed it to prevent herself from being thrown. Her left arm didn’t want to move. Dislocated. She reached across her chest and popped the joint back in.

She checked the control panel. Someone had started to redirect power back to weapons before the last salvo. Just redirecting again wasn’t going to be enough, and openly defying Khan at this point was still dangerous. There was only one thing she could think of. She initiated a hot restart of the warp core. She had bypassed the main energizer enough to restore power flow, so the engines would start up, even though the ship was by now damaged badly enough that it wouldn’t be able to maintain a stable warp field for long. But the restart sequence would siphon off almost all available power for about six minutes; it wouldn’t be possible to charge the phasers until then.

The two augments on the deck below hadn’t been fast enough when she ship had pitched. It was possible they were still alive, but what mattered was that they were unconscious.

She grabbed the medical kit and set the hypospray for the most powerful painkiller it contained. The pain of relocating her shoulder was nothing compared to what would come next. The tricorder was no help; whatever the parasite was made of, it didn’t register on scans. Una set aside the laser scalpel in favor of a crude metal one; she would need tactile feedback for this.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her body, her sense of self. She had been suppressing her body’s natural self-healing. It wasn’t equipped to handle a parasite capable of complex responses to external stimuli. She allowed her immune system to work its magic now, and as she had predicted, the creature inside her thrashed in response. The world went blurry and even with the painkillers, Una had to fight the urge to retch. As she knew it would, the creature moved under her skin. She visualized the web of nerves and blood vessels in her skull. Picked the safest place. Imagined the shape of the Ceti Eel, and saw a straight line path to where its head would be that avoided the posterior auricular vein. She couldn’t quite keep her hand steady, but it would have to be enough. She stabbed upward, just behind the ear.

Something went away inside her, a cluster of neurons crushed by the death-throes of the creature. She couldn’t even remember what it was she had lost. But the pain eased. She fumbled for the autosuture. She lacked the medical skill to close the wound properly, much less while working blind, disoriented, suffering from brain trauma and heavily dosed on painkillers, but she hoped her concentration would last long enough to staunch the bleeding.

---

“Awake!” Khan told himself. “Arise or be forever fallen.” Half his face had burned to the console. He pulled himself up with a shaking hand. His left hand, the hand that had been his “good” one, had been burned as well. Two fingers had been blown off in the explosion.

A voice issued from the tannoy. “Enterprise to Reliant. You are ordered to surrender your vessel, respond.” Khan dimly recognized the voice from all those years ago. The Kenyan woman, Uhura. He recalled her as a strong and noble woman, and the tiniest part of him was surprised she would still be in a subservient position beside Pike so many years later. But he had little time for such reflections. Only his enhanced physiology had kept him from succumbing to shock, and even that would not protect him forever.

“No, Pike,” he said, wryly. “The game’s not over.” He limped to the side of the bridge, where the Genesis control unit stood, and pressed the button on its side that caused it to unfold.

“It is over, Khan. Move away from the controller.”

So, I had this idea of a different climax, but I couldn’t get over the fact that in the canon, Enterprise needs to Warp Speed it out of there to avoid the genesis wave, and I felt like that precluded an alternate version where Reliant is destroyed over an inhabited planet. Oh well. Still got a few twists ahead before the disproportionately long epilogue.

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“Engineering, report!” Pike shouted.

“Admiral,” came a panting reply, “I’ve got to take the mains off-line. The radiation…”

Kirk and McCoy exchanged a look as the voice trailed off. Kirk looked to Pike for confirmation. The admiral gave a quick nod. “Go,” Kirk said. McCoy grabbed his medical bag and headed for the lift.

“Where the hell are they?” Pike asked. “Xon?”

“Sporadic energy readings portside, aft,” Xon said. “Could be an impulse turn?”

“What do you think, Jim?” Pike said. “He’ll be back, but from where?”

Jim studied the static on the screen. “Without sensors, he’ll be relying on his tactical expertise. From what I’ve heard, he’s an absolutely brilliant tactician, so what’s the smartest thing for him to do?”

La’an turned her seat to face them. “Expertise,” she said, realizing something. “But not experience. He’s studied the theory, but he’s still working from a twentieth-century mindset.” She turned back to her console and replaced the static-filled view of the nebula on the main viewscreen with a map, centered on the Enterprise. A blue line traced its path, while a red one connected the places where they’d seen Reliant. Touching a few more buttons, La’an had the computer guess more points along the path.

“A fractal search pattern based on multimodal reflection sorting,” Xon observed. He raised an eyebrow. “The ideal approach to maximize the probability of finding us before we find him. Calculating the optimal search pattern without sensor assistance would be impossible for a normal human.”

“But there’s a flaw in his logic,” La’an said. “He’s brilliant, but not experienced.” She touched her control panel and the image rotated, showing that Reliant’s path formed a flat disc.

“Two-dimensional thinking,” Kirk realized.

Pike nodded. “My flight school instructor always used to say you can only look in one direction at a time, but the rest of them are still there. He meant that you needed to rely on your instruments, but here… Sulu, full stop. Z-minus ten thousand meters. La’an, stand by photon torpedoes.”

The Enterprise dropped down into the clouds. “Xon, can you predict his search path?”

Xon raised an eyebrow. “Admiral,” he said, tentatively, “I regret to report that an accurate calculation based on the available data is beyond my capability.”

“Best guess. Switch main viewscreen to dorsail camera. Look sharp.”

On Reliant, Khan silently studied the viewscreen. There were plenty of places for Enterprise to hide, but as he ordered the ship to yaw to starboard, he imagined his field of vision on the viewscreen as a searchlight, sweeping out an arc on his mental map of the nebula. They would complete this pass, turn, and pass again, fencing Pike in. “So much nearer the danger; go and speed,” he reflected. “Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.”

It felt like an eternity before the underside of the Reliant flickered on the viewscreen. Pike gave a quick nod to Sulu. The Enterprise rose up through the nebula. The bridge fell into a tense silence as the Enterprise silently pulled up behind Reliant. “Fire,” Pike ordered.

A red ball issued from Enterprise’s remaining torpedo tube. Reliant wouldn’t have had time to react even if had seen Enterprise approach. The torpedo tore through Reliant’s own torpedo launcher, and the pylon supporting it away from the hull crumpled. Enterprise followed on with a burst of phaser-fire to the port nacelle, striking up internal explosions.

The bridge around Khan became an inferno. More supports collapsed, sparking wires dropped in piles as consoles burned. He pushed a body out of the helmsman’s seat and tried to fire phasers. Reliant was dying, but surely he could take Pike to Hell with him. Nothing happened. “Weapons!” he demanded, but as his gaze swept across the bridge, it became clear he was the only one left standing. “Una!” he barked into his communicator, “Weapons!”

“I’ve diverted all weapons power to life support,” crackled the response. “The game’s over, Khan; you’ve still got a handful of people here you can save.”

“No!” Khan shouted. “Rather than be less, I care not to be at- he was cut off when one final torpedo took the port nacelle clean off. The ship listed hard and Khan fell into the fire of an exploding panel.

---

“One more shot will finish them,” Kirk said.

“We still have our orders,” Pike said. He locked eyes with La’an, looking for… Permission?

“And Una, sir?” she asked.

Instead of answering directly, he turned. “Nyota, send to commander, Reliant. Prepare to be boarded.”

“I’ll go,” Kirk said. “I lost Genesis, I’ll get it back. For Sam.”

Pike stood, just a bit shaky. “No, Jim. This is my mess. I should have stopped Khan twenty years ago. If things go south, get my ship out of here.”

La’an stood. “I’m going with you, Admiral. Frankly, you’re no match for Khan on your own.”

Pike considered it for a second. “No heroics. We’re there to recover Genesis and any survivors willing to be taken into custody. He stepped aside, looked to Kirk and indicated the Captain’s seat. “You have the conn.”

 

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

Kirk indicated the maelstrom on the screen as he and Pike stepped from the turbolift. “Mutara nebula,” he explained. “Gave us a rough ride on the way here.”

“High energy static discharge,” Saavik explained. “Sensors won’t work, shields will be useless.”

“A fair fight,” Pike said.

“A fair fight with Khan,” La’an said. “Still long odds.”

“Mister Xon, Any sign of Reliant?” Pike asked.

“Sensor range remains limited,” Xon said. “I can not fix their location, but the lack of a warp signature suggests they have not yet restored engines.”

“Mister Sulu, set course into the nebula. Nyota, give me an open channel.”

“Aye sir. You’re on.”

Pike stepped to the center of the bridge, but didn’t take his seat. “Khan, this is Pike. I’m still willing to negotiate. I have warp, you don’t. If you try to run, Starfleet will hunt you to the end of the galaxy. I tried to give you a chance, twenty years ago. I’m willing to do it again. This doesn’t have to end in bloodshed. Hand over Genesis, and I’ll report that Reliant was destroyed. No one will come looking for you. You have my word.” Pike signaled for Uhura to close the channel.

Kirk gave Pike a concerned look. “If he agrees, do you really plan to let him go?”

Pike gestured Kirk closer so they could speak privately. “We have priority orders from Starfleet to recover Genesis,” he said. Slowly, pointedly, he said, “Regardless of Khan’s response, the ship’s log will reflect that we made every reasonable attempt to carry out those orders.”

They both looked to Saavik. “By the book,” Kirk said, wryly.

---

Una measured every syllable of Pike’s message. What game was he playing?

“Triangulate that signal,” Khan demanded. “Find them.”

“My lord,” Joachim protested. “We will have warp in an hour. We could be at Earth in two.”

Khan scoffed. “Princes, potentates, warriors, the flower of heaven once yours, now lost… Have you chosen this place after the toil of battle to repose, to slumber here as in the vales of heaven? I want him found.” He looked to Una. “A ruse, of course,” he said. “But what kind?”

“Pike will abide by his word,” Una said, cautiously. “But, of course, he knows you can’t accept his terms. He wants you to think help is on the way. He’s hoping you’ll run, give him time to escape.”

“We have him, lord,” Joachim said. The screen showed the Enterprise limping toward the nebula. “Their warp signature is intermittent.”

“There he is,” Khan sighed with satisfaction. “More wounded than we were led to believe. Accursed, and in a cursed hour he hies.”

“If he puts the nebula between us and them, we will not be able to jam their subspace transmissions,” Joachim explained.

“Close to firing range and explain our displeasure,” Khan ordered.

Moments later, a pair of bright phaser bursts narrowly missed the Enterprise’s port nacelle pylon. The larger ship continued unimpeded.

“Why are we slowing?” Khan demanded.

“We can’t follow them into the nebula, my lord. Shields will be useless there.”

Pike’s voice crackled on the open channel. “This is Admiral Pike. What’s the matter, Khan? We’ve come this far. Khan… I’m laughing at the superior intellect.”

“Full impulse power!” Khan demanded.

“No, sir,” Joachim said, desperately, “You have Genesis. You can have anything you-”

He stopped short as Khan grabbed and shook the younger man. “Full power! Damn you!” he shoved him aside and touched the engine controls himself.

---

“I’ll say this for him, he’s consistent,” Kirk observed as the Reilant surged forward. “Now entering the Mutara nebula.” A tremor struck the Enterprise bridge and the lights went out.

“Emergency lights,” Pike ordered. Red light bathed the bridge. “La’an, best guess; fire when ready.”

---

“Tactical?” Khan asked.

“Inoperative,” Joachim answered.

“Raise shields.”

“As I feared, sir, non-functional. I’m reducing speed.”

Khan started to say something, but held back. He turned to Una. “How long until we have warp power?”

“Still a while,” she said. “You just don’t have enough people for all the work.”

A pair of phaser bolts appeared through the flickering static on Reliant’s viewscreen. They has missed the ship from behind, but the ionization of nebular matter nearby still sent a tremble through the ship.

“Aft torpedoes, fire!” Khan shouted. The torpedo disappeared into the clouds.

---

Reliant again vanished into cloud and static. “Hold course,” Pike ordered. “He’s close.” The bridge fell into an uneasy silence as they squinted at the screen. Kirk moved to Xon’s side, studying the mostly-indecipherable noise on the sensor display. La’an checked the phaser banks. “Sir!” Sulu exclaimed, indicating the screen. Reliant appeared through a break in the static, heading straight toward them.

“Evasive to starboard!” Pike ordered. “Fire!” The Enterprise rolled counterclockwise fast enough that the bridge crew swayed from centripetal motion. A salvo of phaser-fire tore through the side of the port torpedo launcher. Enterprise fired back, a series of red bolts from the underside of the saucer. Two caught the starboard edge of Reliant’s bridge dome.

An explosion blew out the turbolift doors. Even Khan was knocked from his feet. His navigator was thrown over the console and Joachim tumbled over the railing toward the captain’s chair. Khan saw the structural support break free, but he was too far away. It hit the deck, then toppled to the side, on top of Joachim. Khan lifted the heavy metal fragment and tossed it aside. “Joachim?” he asked. The younger man’s shirt was quickly soaking through where the sharp edge had pierced him.

“Yours…” Joachim managed, “Is superior.” His eyes went wide.

Khan shook him gently, then cradled him in his arms. “I shall avenge you,” he promised, then rose to his feet. He pointed an angry finger at Una, who had just managed to get back to her fee. “You! To engineering. I want main power, now!”

Her voice remained calm. “As you wish, my lord.” She headed for the emergency hatch, calculating how many things Khan was likely to keep track of at once under the circumstances. On her way by, she pulled the first aid kit off the wall. He didn’t notice.