option.” Kirk looked toward Communications. “Uhura, as soon as you can re-establish contact with Scotty, patch him through.” His gaze returned to his first. “Mr. Spock, you have the conn.” Turning away, he headed for the turbolift.
Without hesitating, Spock moved to follow. The Vulcan succeeded in entering the open lift before the doors could react to his presence. He was speaking anxiously even as the barrier closed behind him.
“Captain, I strongly object—”
Kirk didn’t give his first officer time to finish the thought. “To what? I haven’t said anything yet. I haven’t proposed anything yet.”
Spock was not so easily put off. “I believe I can make a reasonable attempt at divining your intentions based on the limited number of alternatives available to us. To prevent Admiral Marcus from resuming the attack that he launched and was only just prevented from concluding, we must somehow either permanently put his vessel out of action or take control of it. Since we cannot take the ship from without, the only way to do so is from within. And as a large boarding party would quickly be detected and met with appropriate counterforce, it is optimum for you to take as few crewmembers as possible.
“Since there is a good chance one is still likely to eventually encounter resistance, it stands to reason that any boarding party will require personnel with advanced hand-to-hand combat abilities. It also stands to reason that a boarding party would benefit immensely from the presence of someone with innate knowledge of the design and schematics of that ship. All of which would indicate that you plan to ally with Khan, the very individual we were sent to destroy and who we decided instead to capture.”
Too perceptive by half, Spock was. Since the science officer had thought everything out so thoroughly, Kirk decided there was no point in trying to deny any of it.
“And we would’ve been destroyed if he hadn’t saved our lives on Qo’noS. Or have you forgotten that a Klingon officer had his foot on my throat and his gun at my head?”
“The disturbing image remains regrettably fresh in my memory, Captain. That was then: This is now. Think, Jim. A man like Khan does nothing without a reason. He is a self-confessed warrior, bred to be a fighter. That means that in addition to knowing ground combat, weapons, and ship capabilities, he is also familiar with tactics and strategy. Faced with possible annihilation, someone like that focuses on survival. I do not for an instant doubt that his saving our lives was a means to an end.” He straightened slightly. “If it is learned that it was done out of altruism, I will resign my commission.”
Though he had already made up his mind, Kirk was willing to listen. Especially to the Vulcan. “A means to what end, Spock?”
“We do not yet know. But for all that he has not chosen to reveal it to us, I do not doubt that it exists and that its nature is not benign. Furthermore, Admiral Marcus’s guilty actions do not in any way invalidate Khan’s crimes.”
“‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend,’” Kirk recited as they stepped out of the turbolift and into a lower corridor.
Paralleling his superior as they made their way quickly across a catwalk, Spock was unsurprisingly ready with a rejoinder of his own. “An Arabic proverb attributed to a prince who was betrayed and decapitated by his own subjects.”
“Still,” Kirk mused as they rounded a corner, “it’s a hell of a quote. My feeling is that time validates such sayings, and the longer they hang around, the more validity accrues to them.”
Seeing he was unable to change his friend’s mind, Spock resolved to try another tack. “Very well, then. If you are determined to do this, I will go with you.”
Kirk shook his head. “No. I need you on the bridge.”
A hand, more than humanly powerful, grabbed Kirk by the shoulder and brought him to a halt. “Then in that case I must insist. I cannot allow you to do this. One of my principal functions on this ship is to ensure that, where possible, reason and logic prevail in the making of all decisions. It would not be carrying out my duties if I failed to prevent you from acting in what is patently a self-destructive manner, something I believe you are doing at this moment.”
Human and Vulcan stared at each other. Then Kirk nodded once and replied quietly.
“You’re right.”
Unused to agreement in such circumstances, Spock