"Hey, if you damage one of those things, you'll be personally responsible for whatever comes out of it!"

The voice echoed through the empty hanger. Several cryogenics pods were slowly being lowered onto the concrete floor, and several more were already in place. The pods were being moved to a new location after their old storage facility was recently requisitioned.

"Sorry ma'am," the cadet apologized, steading the cryo pod he had inadvertently set swinging with his head.

"Damn right you're sorry," the woman muttered to herself. Lieutenant Wendy Cole was the science officer in charge of moving what were considered 73 of the most dangerous human beings–currently frozen–to their new location. The process was taking the better part of the day and so far gone off without a hitch. And she intended to keep it that way.

Once all of the pods were in place, she went down the rows. Personally inspecting each pod for damage and double-checking the health of the people inside. She checked her watch. It was almost 5 o'clock. That meant she had been at this for almost 10 hours. Heaving a frustrated sigh, she went over to the main power switch. Just as she was about to flip it and be done for the day, a voice drifted over from the open doorway.

"Dr. Cole?"

In the doorway stood two men. Wendy guessed they were in their late 20s or early 30s, and both quite attractive. One was clearly a Vulcan, the other human. Wendy recognized them immediately. While they were both fairly young officers, they had quite the reputation.

"Captain Kirk," she greeted, a bit surprised. "And Commander Spock. To what do I owe this surprise visit?"

"Sorry," Kirk apologized with a flirtatious smile. "We just wanted to check on your progress and see if you maybe needed a few extra hands."

Wendy smiled back, catching the First Officer rolling his eyes as she did so. She led the two men up and down the rows of cryo pods, recounting the day's events.

"I just finished checking these guys. Everyone seems to be in perfect health, and all of the cryo pods are in excellent shape considering they're 300 years old. I did discover an interesting failsafe that seems to be programed into each cryo pod. Apparently if any of them are heavily damaged, the reanimation sequence will automatically start, preventing the person inside from dying."

"That doesn't sound good," Kirk frowned.

"It's brilliant, actually, very innovative for its time."
"Whatever you say. . . ."

"What about Khan?" Spock interrupted. "Any signs of life from his cryogenics pod?"

Dr. Cole tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and shook her head, "None at all."

The two men nodded and, after a few more questions, took their leave. What they didn't notice was a small crack in one of the pods. And it was growing.

The crack grew rapidly during the night. It wasn't long until a soft beep would have been heard in the hanger; if anyone had been around to hear it. The cryo pod's fail-safe had been activated and within a few minutes, the woman inside would wake up.

The top to the cryo pod hissed slightly as it opened and, for the first time in over 300 years, the woman opened her eyes. Sitting up, she scanned the darkness for any potential threats. Finding none, she climbed out of the pod and got to work. There was someone she needed to find.

As she moved around the hanger, her movements triggered a silent motion sensor alarm. Somewhere on the premises, a team was mobilizing. A squad of highly trained Starfleet officers were preparing to face off against their biggest threat.

The woman found what she was looking for. Crouching low, she studied the man inside the cryo pod. Her heart fluttered and she smiled at the thought of seeing him again. Of hearing his voice and feeling his touch. Deft fingers quickly punched in the sequence for reanimation. Now all she had to do was wait a few more minutes.

There was a click behind her; a phaser's safety being switched off.

"Don't move."

The woman raised her hands, turning slowly to the men behind her. Six men, all armed with phasers, were staring her down. She smirked; this would be easy.

"Turn it off," one of the men barked, gesturing toward the cryo pod with his phaser.

"No," she replied smoothly. Her voice was light, as if she was completely unfazed by the situation. Because she was.

"Turn it off, or I blow away one of your friends."

The man pointed his phaser at a nearby cryo pod, finger on the trigger. He held his ground as her eyes bore into him. The woman frowned. He meant what he said, and there was no way to know if the weapon could actually penetrate the glass and kill the person inside. It was a risk she wasn't willing to take. Slowly she leaned over, and powered down the pod.

Wendy practically ran down the hallway of hospital. She figured she should be nervous; one of the Augments had woken up on her watch, even after she had personally declared the cryo pods to be in perfect working order. And yet . . . she couldn't help feeling excited. She had studied these people for years, they were even the subject of her doctoral thesis. And now she had the chance to talk to one. She skidded to a stop just outside of the room she was looking for. It was easy to spot, with two guards posted outside the door and six more inside.

"I'm sorry," one of the guards in the hallway addressed her politely. "But we can't let you in at this time."

"All of those people are my responsibility. I want to know if she's alright."

"I'm sorry, but my orders–"

"It's alright," a voice called from in the room. "She isn't resisting right now."

Wendy slipped inside before the two guards could even react. Sitting on the edge of the bed was a woman, her piercing green eyes were studying the med scanner with mild curiosity. She glanced over as Wendy entered the room, causing the doctor to look up as well.

"Dr. Cole," he greeted.

"Dr. McCoy," she returned. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Since I was the person to examine one of these freaks the last time, they asked me to come examine the patient."

Dr. Cole glared at his terminology, and the woman turned back to stare at McCoy. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Would you stop that?" he snapped. "It's freaking me out."

"Freaks, huh?" the woman narrowed her eyes accusingly. "It's nice to know people haven't changed in the past three hundred years."

Everyone in the room stared.

"It's not polite to call someone a freak. Especially when you don't know them," she continued. "And from the warm reception, I can guess one of two things happened. Either Starfleet still has standing orders on how to deal with us, which is highly unlikely three hundred years later. Or someone else woke up."

"Yeah," Dr. McCoy answered. "Khan. The man you were trying to wake up."

The woman smirked, but just as she was about to reply, Krik and Spock rushed into the room.

"How the hell did this happen?!" Kirk demanded, stalking toward Dr. Cole. She glared at him, not appreciating his tone of voice.

"Apparently her cryo pod had a minute fracture in the glass. It must have expended to the point that the failsafe was tripped."

"How could you miss something like that?"

"I realize that those people are my responsibility, but sometimes shit happens. It's entirely possible that the fracture was so small that it didn't register on the scanners. Technology isn't infallible, you know."

The captain of the Enterprise stared at her, utterly confused. He couldn't remember the last time a woman had snapped at him like that. They usually melted into goo when they saw him. And to make matters even worse, Spock seemed to agree with her.

"That is a possibility," the Vulcan said. "But no matter what actually happened, fact remains that another one of the superhumans is awake."

Kirk floundered a bit to regain his bearings and said, "Well, fine, but what are we going to do about this?"

"You could always just let me, you know, do what I want," the woman drawled from the bed.

"Absolutely not," the thee men from the Enterprise said at the same time. The woman's only response was to roll her eyes.

"The only thing we can do is fix the cryo pod," Dr. Cole offered.

"Fine," Kirk agreed. "But until then, she stays in my custody. My crew handled this threat the last time, and we'll take responsibility this time as well. I'll request that she be transferred to the Enterprise as soon as she's cleared medically."

"I don't mean to be rude," Dr. Cole interrupted in a tone that said she wasn't actually sorry. "But I'm the one who knows the most about these people. She should stay with me."

"I'll request you be transferred as well," Kirk replied. "We leave in an hour. You'd better be ready." And he left. Wendy glared at his back.

After a moment or two, the woman spoke up.

"My name is Leo. Just in case anyone was wondering."