TB2020 – Card 2 – To New Experiences

Title: To New Experiences
Author: Saydria Wolfe
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Genre: AU, Episode Related (Star Trek Into Darkness)
Relationships: Khan Noonien Singh/Leonard “Bones” McCoy
Author’s Notes: Bones is ¾ Betazoid because I said so.
Challenge: Just Write Trope Bingo Card 2, Square: Enemies to Lovers
Beta: PN Ztivokreb
Word Count: 2,858
Summary: Being bonded at first touch was not something anyone ever expected to happen. A bonding at first touch between an empathic healer and a genetically enhanced soldier was even less expected and it would certainly lead to new experiences.

 

 

“Put your arm through the hole,” the second scientific officer that had accompanied the captain to his cell ordered. “I’m going to take a blood sample.”

Khan watched the man dispassionately as he worked his sleeve up over his elbow and slid his arm through as ordered. The man could only be Dr. Leonard McCoy, the Chief Medical Officer of the quaint little ship. His bored stare was much more interesting than the captain’s furious rage or the Vulcan’s scientific curiosity.

This was an opportunity. The Enterprise’s triumvirate were all present and accounted for. He could manipulate them all in one fell swoop.

The moment the doctor touched his skin, he felt something shift inside him. Something fell into place, connecting him to the other man—much to their mutual surprise. The doctor’s mind was…kind, gentle, even with one such as him. Being known and knowing this man was a joy.

Even the Vulcan gasped in surprise

“I understood Mr. Spock was the only touch telepath aboard this vessel,” he said as he stared at his new bondmate, trying to understand exactly what had happened.

“The only thing touch does for my abilities is amplify them,” the doctor said simply, and Khan caught a series of mental images from the doctor’s mind.

Leonard—Len’s grandfather meeting and mating a woman of full Betazoid heritage. His father doing the same. Accepting for himself a bondmate from the First House of Betazed and giving the woman a daughter before she died in a shuttle accident. Refusing the second bondmate his maternal house attempted to force on him. Not going through that again…

He was a good man, this unfortunate doctor. Sensitive, empathetic, compassionate, intelligent. Bonded to him, needing him, of all people.

Khan…or perhaps John, found he liked it.

“Captain Kirk, I formally request you release Commander John Harrison from custody,” the doctor announced when he finished taking his blood sample. John refused to remove his arm from the hole.

The doctor sighed at him like he was a trial and took his available hand.

“The fuck, Bones,” the young golden captain of Starfleet objected. “He hurt Pike! He’s killed hundreds of people! Hurt thousands!”

“What would you do, Jim,” Len demanded fiercely. “If the Klingons captured this ship right now and killed all but seventy-five of the crew? What if they forced you to work for them against the Federation and killed three of us every time you refused?”

John was taken aback. He had not realized his doctor had gained so much knowledge of him in a single moment. The situation, the sensation, was singular.

“How many times did he refuse?” the Vulcan—Mr. Spock, the warm thread in the back of his mind informed him—said.

“Just once,” Len answered for him.

“The torpedoes,” Mr. Spock realized more quickly than John would have given him credit for. “Admiral Marcus gave us seventy-two torpedoes with which to complete the mission.”

“They contain his crew.” Len looked at him and then turned back to his friends. “Marcus sent us to murder my bondmate to cover up his own crimes. He found a man in cryo, in space while searching space after the Narada Incident. He took him to Earth, hid him, enslaved him, held his people—actual living, breathing people—as insurance, used them like chess pieces. Marcus is the monster. He is the reason those people were hurt or killed, not John.”

John shuddered at the sound of his name on his bondmate’s lips.

“He pulled the trigger, Bones,” Captain Kirk objected.

Bones had nothing to say to that. “Captain, if you will not release Commander Harrison from custody, I will be forced to take myself off duty and join him in custody.”

“What? Bones, no. You didn’t see him down there. He could hurt you!”

“I don’t have a choice, Jim.”

“What the—”

“The Lieutenant Commander is correct,” Mr. Spock said. “A newly established telepathic bond is fragile and must be reinforced with…extensive physical contact. The Federation Charter protects such bonds and establishes extensive legal consequences to the denial of rights to bonded individuals.”

“Betazed isn’t a Federation planet,” Kirk countered and the silent hurt it sent rippling through his mate made John snarl.

“Dr. McCoy and Mr. Harrison are citizens of the Federation,” Mr. Spock argued. “And the verbiage of the Federation Charted makes no distinction regarding the origin of bondmates. All bondmates are protected equally.”

“Jim, if I cannot re-enforce this bond, I will lose control of my abilities,” Len admitted. “If I lose control of my abilities, I will empathically compromise every person on this ship. The closer we are emotionally the greater the compromise will be. Jim, the people I love most won’t survive it.”

Kirk looked at the doctor in surprise and then turned to the Vulcan in silent conference.

“There is a reason, Captain, that new members of the crew must be notified that the Chief Medical Officer is an empath before they are given notice that the First Officer is a touch telepath,” was Mr. Spock finally said. “The…threat is real.”

Threat. Threat! He sent mental images to Dr. McCoy as quickly as he could. Len’s response was a wordless !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“We have to head for Betazed, now.” Dr. McCoy released him to hit the emergency release button on the side of his glass cage. “John can locate the sabotage device and get us moving. We cannot stay here.”

“Bones, what are you doing!”

“We have at most an hour before Marcus gets out here with a ship twice our size, three times our speed—built for war. We cannot be anywhere Marcus expects to find us and the intergalactic media net and Federation diplomatic outpost on the planet will prevent any untoward military action against our ship.”

“Bones, what are you talking about?”

“Admiral Marcus is a criminal, Captain,” Mr. Spock interjected before his mate had to. “He cannot allow Mr. Harrison to live to testify. That is the true reason for the illegal mission the Admiral assigned us—he cannot allow any of the crew to survive to testify on that matter, either.”

“We have to run,” the captain realized. “It’s the only way we’ll survive.”

“That is correct, Captain.”

Kirk finally looked at him. “You know the way to Engineering.”

Biting back several scathing answers, John nodded. “Yes, Captain.”

“Lead the way.” Kirk stepped to one side. “Security, I want six beings on him at all times. Phasers on stun.”

Several “Yes, Captains” echoed back from around the room and John led them out of the room and down to Engineering with his doctor at his side.

“What’s the big deal with this guy?” Kirk muttered to his First Officer. “Why would Marcus do so much to…”

McCoy sent him a questioning thought. John looked at him and nodded. He didn’t want to talk about it—about who he was, who he had been. He could not be that man again, not while bonded to an empath as he was. The…savagery and rage he and his people had embraced would destroy his bondmate and no one was ever going to harm his bondmate ever again—that included himself.

McCoy nodded back and fell back a step. “He’s Khan Noonien Singh.”

“Bones!” Kirk protested.

“No, he is. Or he was. Marcus is a warmonger. He used John to make weapons of war—but first he had to make sure no one could take him away from the project, so he altered him to be unrecognizable. Face, fingerprints—genetically, he’s not even related to himself anymore. Marcus gave him a new identity and set him to work whether he wanted any of it or not. And he didn’t, Jim, Marcus violated every single human right John had to fight a war that only exists in his mind.”

“He’s a criminal, Bones.”

“Even criminals have human rights.”

“As Mr. Harrison has never been tried nor convicted for his recent actions, I find I must object to his dismissal as a criminal.”

“Khan had a trial,” the captain objected.

“Khan has been legally dead for over two hundred years. The man before us in John Harrison in every way that can be validated.”

“You can’t trust him, Spock!”

There was silence behind him long enough for them to enter the Engineering section of the Enterprise before Mr. Spock admitted. “I trust Dr. McCoy.”

And that was the end of it.

“Mr. Chekov,” John called as they entered engineering, “you need activate the six and seventh bypass valves on the third coolant line into the main warp core.”

The frantic young man came to a sudden stop, for the express purpose of staring at him. Then he turned to Kirk. “Captain?”

Kirk gave a single nod. “Do it.”

While Mr. Chekov located the correct panel to obey his orders, John located and donned a repelling harness. The third coolant line ran below the warp core and could only be accessed in specific ways using specific gear. That was why he had chosen it during the design process for Marcus’s sabotage device—the device’s discovery was most unlikely in its current location, allowing for maximum damage capacity.

“What does the device do?” Kirk asked sharply.

“The first level is a simulated coolant leak, raising the core’s temperature outside of ideal parameters but not dangerously so,” John answered when his bondmate didn’t. He understood he needed to earn the trust of a man that hated him—he had to create and maintain his own relationships without the crutch of his bondmate if he wanted any sort of life at Leonard’s side—but that didn’t mean he wanted to do it immediately. “If the tool is not removed it can—either by timer or on a radio signal—create a true coolant leak and other damage to the core up to and including misalignment of the core housings.”

Chekov hissed in shock when he heard the last part.

John glanced at him. “It was nothing you did. The device is designed to be placed and activated by the largest possible number of personnel using skills taught to all Starfleet Academy graduates.”

“An officer aboard my ship did this?” Kirk demanded.

John hesitated. The man was furious and less civilized than most of his counterparts, but could he understand the brutality in Admiral Marcus’s character? Or how it had been nurtured by association with John’s own.

“It is unlikely, Captain,” Mr. Spock answered before John had reached a decision. “Under the hypothesis that all of Admiral Marcus’s recent actions have been intended to obscure his previous crimes, he would not have allowed a witness such as the being that placed the device to remain.”

Kirk relaxed. “So, they aren’t on my ship? They aren’t waiting to strike again?”

“He’s saying he’s dead, Jim,” McCoy said flatly. John knew he was the only one to detect the faint nausea hidden deep in his bondmate’s core. “You might want to call the bridge before we all are.”

Kirk turned away. “Kirk to Bridge. Mr. Sulu, point us at Betazed and proceed at maximum impulse. Calculate the fastest route from here to there and once we have warp, I want you to punch it.

“Uhura, no status updates to Starfleet are to leave this vessel until further notice. That’s an order.”

As the yes, Captain’s rolled in, John looked to Chekov.

“The procedure is complete,” the very young officer confirmed. “Sir.”

“Very well.” He slapped the mag connection to the bulkhead that ran parallel to the coolant line. He felt the spike of Len’s nerves and he felt the desire to assure him before he could continue. “All will be well. You should be able maintain contact with my ankle for the length of the procedure.”

“Assuming the device was placed correctly,” Leonard groused and John was charmed.

“Assuming,” he agreed. He sat on the raised metal flooring and stretched down under the warp core. Whoever had placed the device had been a coward and not gone down the appropriate depth to place the device.

“I need a spot welder and safety glasses,” he called back up.

Once the tools were provided and the maintenance completed, he tapped the mag connector, activating it so it would drag himself and the device back t the level on which his companions had remained.

“Return the coolant line to the standard configuration and warp will be available within six minutes,” John told them.

“Do it,” Kirk ordered when Chekov hesitated. “Now what?”

“Now you get the ship to Betazed on the double and hail the First House as soon as we get there,” Len told their captain. “Tell them the First Son of the First Daughter has bonded and is seeking sanctuary.”

“You’re First House?” Kirk blinked. “Damn, Bones, why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s…recent. My matriarchal house disowned me when I refused the bonding they had arranged. That was when I joined Starfleet. Politics being what they are, and my daughter being as young as she is, it took her a bit to find out what happened. When she did, she insisted her grandmother take me on as a ward and restore my Betazed citizenship.”

“And they’ll give you sanctuary?”

“You bet your ass. Probably be on the line with the High Council before Marcus’s ship finds us…But John and I have some things to discuss first so we’ll be in my quarters.”

Kirk looked at Len like he was crazy, but John understood. For their bond to be protected to the fullest extent of Betazoid law, it had to be consummated.

“Do you top or bottom?” John asked as soon as Len’s cabin door was closed behind them.

Len looked at him in surprise and then burst out laughing. “I prefer bottom, but I don’t mind topping. You?”

“I’ve never bottomed,” John admitted. “I’m willing to try it with you, but—”

“Hey, no pressure,” Len reached out and squeezed his shoulder, a frustratingly platonic gesture in John’s books. “You know I won’t pressure you. I know you know that.”

“I do,” John confirmed.

“You probably need a shower, being stuck on Kronos like you were. And I need one—spontaneous anal sex just isn’t a good idea.”

The hazards of mating a medical professional, John thought with some amusement.

“You shower here,” Len decided. “I slip around the corner to SickBay and grab one there. I don’t have condoms or lube either so I’ll get that while I’m there.”

“Very well,” John agreed.

“Race ya,” Len smiled and hustled from the room.

John rolled his eyes, but he would admit at least privately that he was entirely amused.

In Len’s bathroom, he stripped of his clothes quickly and stepped into the closet that were considered showers on a spaceship. First, he ran the sonics to ensure he wasn’t carrying anything that could harm his mate. Then he took a water shower. He helped himself to Len’s chosen soap but was careful not to overuse his water ration for the day.

He returned to the living area once he was suitably dry settled on the bed to wait for his soon to be lover. He started to stroke himself, the better to tease Len when he finally returned.

It wasn’t long after he’d reached full hardness that his doctor returned with wet hair, wearing only his blacks. Len froze for just a moment at the sight of him before tossing the lube and a strip of condoms toward the bed. Then he started throwing off his clothes with careless abandon and joining John on the bed.

Len held himself on his hands and knees over John’s body, looking down at him. “How do you want to do this?”

John pulled him down into a kiss and then rolled them over so that he was on top. “Like this,” he said and then dove back into Len’s mouth before he could object.

You know I don’t need my mouth to object if I want to, right?

John huffed as he pulled away from his bondmate. “I want you under me,” he told Len in no uncertain terms. “I want to watch you writhe on my cock until all you can think about is how I feel inside you. I want you to come from nothing but my cock.”

“We can do that,” Len nodded. “I’m totally okay with doing that.”

“Good.” John leaned back and pushed and pulled Len until he was in the position he wanted, on his back with his hands over his head and his feet flat on the bed, legs spread. Then he bent over to grab the lube from where it had landed on the floor near the bed. “Tell me if anything feels wrong. It has been a while for both of us.”

“Will—” Len gasped as John slid a single finger into his hole. “—do.”

It was satisfying to have a partner under him because they wanted him. Not because they wanted his political favor or military might. Just because they wanted him, needed him.

To new experiences, Len said in his head. Now give me your cock before I push you over and take it myself.

John chuckled to himself. To new experiences.

 

 

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