A/N: So, hi again. Remember me? I'm just gonna drop this here and run off before the angry mobs chase after me about those unfinished fics...

As with all his plans, the invasion was running smoothly. Engineering had fallen with hardly a cry. Crewmen were trapped and stranded in various locations. The siege on the bridge was steadily underway. It would be a bit of time before Khan could be sure that everyone had passed out. With only one more location to assure, he left with Joachim towards where it all began: Sickbay.

Upon arrival, the door to the main ward appeared sealed somehow. Joachim prepared to wrench it open by force, but Khan put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

"Recall the saying 'worker smarter, not harder', Joachim," he said.

Khan then stepped over to another door, which led to the Chief Medical Officer's office. It was open.

Dr. McCoy was sitting at his desk. The door leading to Sickbay was closed, but Khan only glanced at it before focusing his attention on the doctor. The man looked up from his PADD as the two entered the room.

"Joachim, check the door." He never took his eyes off McCoy, even as McCoy reciprocated the action. When the door failed to open for his second, the augment inquired whether or not he should force it.

"Good luck," McCoy said, addressing Joachim. "Locked doors may be child's play, but I doubt even you could break through a quarantine seal."

A slight grin twitched at the side of Khan's mouth.

"You have positioned yourself very interestingly," he spoke. "If what you say is true, you would be safer behind the quarantine."

"I would, but then we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we? Way I see it you have two choices."

Khan nodded gravely. "And how do you define those choices?"

McCoy slowly stood up. "You're the man of strategy. You can go in there and terrorize a bunch of nurses and doctors, but you'll be wasting precious time getting through that barrier to threaten a bunch of stubborn people into going against their morals. Or, you can accept that Sickbay is contained, out of the way, and regard me as its sole representative."

The smile had fully blossomed. "I see. You wish to bargain."

McCoy shook his head. "No, Khan. I wish you to see reason. The quarantine is for the protection of my staff, not as any kind of resistance."

"Ah, but you would resist me if I threatened that protection."

McCoy nodded to the side. "True. But why would you need to break in there when we can settle everything out here?"

Khan's first judgements of people were never wrong, and something stirred in his belly with the knowledge that this skill of his was still intact in this new century. It was not foolishness that led the doctor to offer himself up to two augments like this.

And so he dismissed Joachim.

Khan pulled up a chair and sat across from the doctor. He folded his hands on the desk separating them and met McCoy's eyes. They pierced blue, just like before.

"You are clearly aware of my current designs for this ship."

McCoy shrugged. "Word gets around. And you aren't that hard to figure out."

Something in Khan tightened at the hint of steel underneath the doctor's casually nonchalant last sentence. So that was how they were going to play it? So be it.

"I see. Since you claim me to be so readable, what would you wager are my intentions for the command crew?"

McCoy didn't blink. "You won't kill them."

Khan's smile had turned icy. "I am doing so now."

"You have them trapped," amended McCoy. "And I imagine with some way to ensure their safe removal from the bridge after you lift the siege. I don't know your exact method- gas, or something else- but they're not going to die on that bridge. Not like that."

"Be careful, Doctor," Khan said, deceptively mild. "You may just confuse your own wishes with my real plans."

There wasn't a trace of humor on McCoy's face. "Cut the bull, Khan," the doctor said flatly, leading him to lift an eyebrow. "There's a half dozen obvious reasons why you won't let the Alpha Crew die up there. I don't have to name them all, but I will mention that you're more likely to try and take Captain Kirk down in a more distinct manner than this."

Inwardly, Khan admitted McCoy was right. The best skills were up on the bridge right now, and he would need them later to pilot the ship to their next destination. Also, examples had to be made of Captain Kirk, and then his first officer Spock, should no one comply with his demands. Wasting them all in the takeover was such a mild end when their deaths could be lauded over the others afterwards.

He noticed, beyond his ruminations, that McCoy's alert blue eyes were still trained on him.

"You are very loyal to your captain."

"Who wouldn't be?"

"And yet, you are offering up you and your department in surrender for his and his crew's forfeited lives."

"For now, but remember this." McCoy warned. "Their deaths don't really do you any favors in my eyes."

Khan's eyes narrowed. "Your quarantine cannot hold forever. Once I kill your captain and take command, you will naturally rebel, which will then compel me to kill your staff." He looked arrogantly at the locked door leading into Sickbay. "You are only delaying their deaths."

"It seems you don't understand true loyalty, then."

The whisper drew Khan's attention back to the doctor, still unbowed. The statement could mean any number of things, but McCoy wasn't the only one who could read people. The doctor would never ask another to sacrifice their life on his behalf, but if they volunteered… knew all the risks and stood beside him…

It would seem, then, that the medical department was an exemplary example of the loyalty the crew had for their captain. Khan was certain a good measure of that loyalty was also to McCoy, who then gave it back in full to Kirk. It was a marvel, really, since that kind of dedication was so hard to come by. Even Khan's own lieutenants accepted him as leader because he was naturally the strongest and smartest – but that was given via shared principles, and not anything he had persuaded as a person.

He wondered, looking over McCoy, if he could subvert that loyalty to him. The doctor would make a more useful ally rather than a hostage. Those blue eyes pierced him as an eyebrow was raised, as if gathering Khan's thoughts and rejecting them.

Of course, it would be an extremely difficult subversion. He remembered their first encounter all too well.

Khan leaned back in his chair, exuding bravado and satisfaction. "Well, Doctor, it appears this matter is closed. I will accept your surrender, you, in turn, will rebel in the name of your martyr, and your staff alongside you will be cut down. Such is the way of things?"

"So it goes."

His lips curled. "So indeed." It should be fine, but something hot now boiled within him. Something was off. He had the suspicion that, should his plan be fully carried out (and of course it would) things with the doctor might proceed differently than expected. Those blue eyes that were all-too aware of things shook him, and with displeasure Khan realized that even though he had just accepted McCoy's surrender, he was sitting before the doctor's desk.

He stood up immediately, and didn't miss the slight smirk from McCoy. "Whatever further plans you may have, you know you cannot kill me. I am too advanced to be taken down by any mere scheme you may create."

"That's just it, Khan," replied that too-quiet voice. "I don't have to kill you to beat you."

Only rarely could someone make Khan pause, yet he did. The hot trouble was back in his belly, warning him of the dangers this vague promise held. Perhaps the doctor was bluffing, but if not…

He stepped to reach around the desk to pull him up but McCoy stood before he could make contact. They eyed each other, brown and blue, until Khan turned and led the way out of the office. Joachim was waiting in the hall and fell into step behind them.

With increasing annoyance, Khan realized that McCoy was walking in step beside him, rather than behind. This would not do. They made no deal, it was simply a surrender. To reassert his control, Khan reached out and firmly grasped McCoy's arm. He caught a glimpse of those unsettling blue eyes once again before he looked away. They had been filled with judgement and... disappointment.

As he steered the doctor to the conference room he was beginning to fill with people, he wondered what effect this man could have on the survivors. McCoy had a charisma that worked very differently from Kirk's. In an odd sense, the doctor made you want him to like you by the simple fact that he made it clear when he didn't. That could be dangerous among a conquered people.

Oh, well. If he couldn't control the doctor through threatening his patients, then he would simply have to kill him. It would need to be a fitting end, Khan thought as they marched further. After all, a modicum of respect had to be shown for the only man who could threaten him.