The time: the late 23rd century.

The location: the Mutara Nebula.  A gaseous cloud of debris near the border between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.  Viewed from a distance, it is a place of beauty as most nebulae are, their gasses lit up in a tumult of colors.  But at the moment, a great battle rages within.  Two mortal enemies locked in a battle to the death.

On one side, the Starship Enterprise, once the proud flagship of the mighty Federation Starfleet, commanded by the infamous Admiral James T. Kirk.  Now left as a training vessel and crewed at the moment by a group of raw cadets.

On the other, the Starship Reliant, commandeered by the equally infamous Khan Noonien Singh.

Two ships.  Two crews.  Two men.

All on a collision course in the middle of…

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The ship he had stolen was dying around him.  Like all of his followers, his dream was at an end.  Khan Noonien Singh, the last of the “super-men” designed -- no, destined to rule the Earth at the end of the 20th century, faced his hated foe one last time.  Kirk and the gods-damned Enterprise were out there, hiding somewhere in this nebula, but Khan knew they were as weakened as he was.

How could it have come to this?  He had survived the struggles to rise to power on Old Earth, the fall during the Eugenics Wars, the banishment on that accursed sleeper ship the Botany Bay, to be finally awakened three hundred years later and given a second chance at life.  A second chance to rule.

But now it was all gone.  The dream crumbled to dust like the planet he and his followers had been marooned on so long ago by the treacherous Kirk.

Kirk, who had professed friendship.  Who had proclaimed peace.  Who had promised a world of their own to live and prosper on.

Kirk, who had promptly abandoned and forgotten them on Ceti Alpha V.  Who never returned to discover if they had survived the cataclysm after the destruction of Ceti Alpha VI.

Khan laughs out loud now.  He would have his vengeance.  Though he himself died in doing it.  The great and vaunted Admiral James T. Kirk, done in by the device of his own creation.  The Genesis Torpedo.

Yes, yes…  They claim it is mostly harmless, merely a tool designed to aid in terraforming planets inhospitable to human life.  But anyone with a hint of common sense could see the destructive potential inherent in such a device.

Now, Khan is about to show the galaxy the true potential of Genesis… and destroy the hated Kirk at the same time.

As he staggers to the transporter pad where the device waits, Khan smiles as lines from Melville come to mind.  “To the last, I will grapple with thee... from Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!”

Though none are left alive on the ship to hear him, still he continues as he activates the device, turning the controls one by one, painfully as he knows he himself will be joining his crew soon.  But not just his crew.  His beloved wife, Marla, would be waiting for him as well.  His smile grew wider at the thought of her.  With his dying breath, he pushes the final control and collapses.

In the white light of the blast, he could swear he sees her standing there, arms outstretched to welcome him…

Then all is gone.

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“Sir, the shields are dropping!”  The voice calls to him from the darkness.

Shields?  That can’t be right, can it?  They had failed already.  What was he saying?

“Get them back up!” Khan responds automatically, as if he’d said it before.

“I can’t!”

“The override!” Khan yells at the man, Joachim.  Hadn’t he held him in his arms just moments ago?  He had died with the rest.  What is this?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The ship, the Reliant, already damaged from the battle with Kirk, rocks again as more phaser fire hit the unprotected hull.  He tries to focus.  Needs to focus, through the smoke and stench blanketing the bridge around him.  There has to be a way to defeat Kirk.  To finally destroy the accursed Enterprise.

But…  hadn’t he already done that?  Hadn’t he won already?

The Genesis Torpedo!  That was it.  He had used it to destroy Kirk.

But that couldn’t be.  There is the Enterprise on the screen.  Just barely visible through the static, but there just the same.  What new hell is this that Kirk uses to taunt me even in death?

“He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up!”  Melville.  The author from old Earth.  Well, not quite, but still how fitting these words seem now.

Vengeance.

That was what Ahab had sought so long against the whale who had taken so much from him.  More than just his leg.  His ship.  His standing as captain.  His pride.

Kirk had done the same to him.  Left him on that planet with nothing but the clothes on his back.  And even less than that when the other world was destroyed.  Yes, it was destroyed.  It could have been a natural disaster, but wouldn’t it be just like Kirk to come back in secret and sabotage the last vestiges of dignity Khan and his followers had in the universe?

Of course, it had to have been Kirk!

Now, here he is after discovering Khan still lived.  Kirk, the conquering hero, returned at last to finish the job he had started.  He had sent the boy, Chekov, to scout ahead, under the guise of a “research mission.”  No matter how Chekov and Terrell had insisted no one knew Khan’s people were still on the world, that they had thought it was the dead world Ceti Alpha VI.  Khan knows that it was all just a ruse.

Kirk had been jealous of him all these years.  He wanted revenge for his taking the woman, Marla, for himself.  Kirk must have wanted her, but couldn’t have her without raising questions.  A starship captain lusting after a member of his crew?  Not the great James T. Kirk!  But Khan’s beloved Marla had spurned the captain, and she was left to die because of it.

Now Kirk returns to finish what he had started.

But Khan won’t let him.  He will finish the accursed betrayer first.  Even if it means all of his people were to die along with him.

“No, Kirk!” he says more to himself than to anyone on the bridge around him, as he makes his way toward the Genesis Device.  “You will not escape me this time.  I will have my revenge.”

“Sir, no!” Joachim calls to him, grabbing his arm to stop him.  “We don’t have to do this.  We're all with you, sir. But, consider this. We are free. We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again.”

Again?  But he hasn’t defeated him again.  How could he since the man and the ship are still there?  Still there!  “Why won’t you die!” he cries out as he jerks his arm free of the younger man’s grasp.

He doesn’t have to look around to know the others are watching him like he’s gone mad.  Perhaps they are right.  Perhaps he is insane.  But what does it matter?  He will have his revenge.  He will destroy Kirk and his beloved Enterprise, just as Kirk had wanted to do to Khan and his people.

The ship shudders under more phaser fire, but he is determined to make it to the Device.  He will set it off early and catch Kirk unawares.  It will not be like the last time when the last thing he saw through the growing static on the viewscreen was the Enterprise warping off to safety just before the final explosion.

He will not allow it!

Will!

NOT!

They try to stop him.  Try to reason with him that there has to be another way.

“You mock me?” he cries out in rage and fury at those he had called friends.  “You are no better than Kirk!  You--”  That’s when he realizes it.  Finally understands the truth.  “No,” he stops just before the transporter pad where the Device still waited.  “He did it.  He turned you all against me.  You have been waiting all this time.  These long years we spent on Ceti Alpha V.  You were biding your time until you could finally turn on me.”

“No, sir!” one of them says, confused by this whole business.  “We would never betray you.  After all these years.  These centuries…”

“LIES!” Khan shrieks, spittle spraying from his lips.  “All of you!  Nothing but liars and traitors!  Now you will die like the rest of them!”  He turns to the Device, one hand stretched out to press the controls and start the sequence.  In his rage and madness, he doesn’t see the phaser pointed in his direction.  Doesn’t see the finger on the trigger.  Doesn’t see the tears flowing from the eyes of the man who loves him like a father.  Who can’t bear to see his leader descending into madness like this.

But he feels the blast of red-hot energy as it rips into his back.  In that last moment before death, the fog in his mind clears.  His sanity returns for that briefest of moments, and he knows....

“Forgive me…”

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The Klingons have an old proverb that says, “Vengeance is a dish best served cold.”

This is, as Khan has found out, and is finding out again and again, only partly true.

It may be best served cold… but what about the leftovers?