*A/N I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters. I only own my own OC. Warning: Story contains spoilers for Stark Trek: Into Darkness. Also, slight AU… in case some people care…

Year 2259

"Captain on the bridge." Mr. Sulu, the USS Enterprise's helmsman, announced as Captain Jim Kirk walked into the Enterprise command center.

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk called as he walked across the bridge, "Doctors Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid, yet?"

"Yes, sir." Sulu confirmed. "They're moving the torpedo into the position now."

"Good." Kirk stated firmly. "Any activity from the Klingons?"

"Not yet. But if we're stuck here much longer they will find us." Sulu replied grimly, and Kirk sighed. Well, at least the Klingons hadn't found them yet.

That would have been one more headache than he already had with his still-raw anger at their captive terrorist, John Harrison; his still-burning grief at his mentor, Admiral Pike's, death; and the tight knot in his stomach that something really wasn't right with their situation.

He hated to admit it - mostly because he hated to admit that Harrison might actually be correct – but there was something too convenient about their position: stranded, with a malfunctioned warp core, on the edge of Klingon space, right after Admiral Marcus issued them 72 untested photon torpedoes?

Scotty's words from their previous argument, before the Scotsman had ultimately resigned from his position as chief engineer, kept ringing in Jim's mind: "A subtle shift in magnetic output from, say, firing one or more of six dozen torpedoes with an unknown payload…"

Unknown payload. And why 72, specifically? It hadn't really occurred to Jim before, but Khan's obsession with the number of torpedoes, followed by his surrender upon learning the number 72…

'Something's not right here.' Jim thought grimly. 'And I'll get to the bottom of it, if it's the last thing I do. It's the least that I could do… for Pike.'

"Lieutenant Uhura." Kirk called to his communications officer. "Did you let Starfleet know that we have Harrison in custody?"

"Yes, sir." The beautiful Lieutenant replied grimly. "No response yet."

Another thing that wasn't right.

Kirk turned to look at Uhura with his brows furrowed deeply, thinking, when a thick Russian-accented voice called over the comms: "Engineering to Bridge. Hello, Captain, can you hear me?"

"Mr. Chekov." Kirk replied, sitting down in his Captain's chair. "Give me some good news."

The young navigator, and temporary replacement for the resigned Scotty, called back: "We found the leak, sir, but the damage is substantial. We are working on it."

"Any idea what caused it?" Kirk asked, and his jaw tightened as Chekov replied hesitantly: "No, sir. But I accept full responsibility."

Kirk pursed his lips, but he replied neutrally: "Something tells me it wasn't your fault. Stay on it."

He cut the comms, just as Sulu informed him: "Shuttle is standing by, Captain."

Taking a deep breath, Kirk opened a new comms link and he called: "Bones, thanks for helping out; Dr. Marcus asked for steadiest hands on the ship."

"You know," Kirk's friend and chief medical officer 'Bones' McCoy replied dryly, "when I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo."

"Dr. McCoy," Kirk said with a hint of a smirk on his face, "may I remind you, you are not there to flirt."

Bones ignored him pointedly as he called, while keeping his voice near the comms so Kirk could also hear him: "So, how can these legendary hands help you Dr. Marcus?"

"Bones." Kirk sighed, but Carol Marcus took the question at face value as she replied in her precise British accent: "To understand how powerful these weapons are we need to open the warhead. To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, warhead's on these weapons are live."

"Sweetheart," Bones replied, "I once a performed an emergency c-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets; and let me tell you those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."

Sulu turned to give Kirk a look and a raised brow, and Kirk just shook his head at Bones's terrible flirting.

Again, Marcus remained professional as she replied firmly: "Dr. McCoy, there is a bundle of fiber optic-cables against the inner casing, you'll need to cut the 23rd wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?"

"Right." Bones muttered a tad sarcastically. "The thought never crossed my mind."

"Dr. McCoy, wait for my word." Dr. Marcus said firmly.

Inside the bridge, the atmosphere became tense as they watched the technical readouts displayed across the screen, fed directly from Dr. Marcus's scanner technology.

Kirk gripped the armrests on his seat as Dr. Marcus stated: "I'm rerouting detonation processor. Are you ready?"

"And raring." Bones answered a little dryly, and Marcus replied: "Good luck."

There was a brief silence as Bones cut the wire, before he suddenly yelled and Kirk's eyes widened as parts of the screen before them started to flash red.

"Sir, torpedo just armed itself." Sulu informed tightly, as another one of his officers called warningly: "The warhead is going to detonate in 30 seconds!"

The countdown appeared on the screen as Dr. Marcus also pulled up the countdown, while Bones yelled: "What the hell happened? I can't get my arm out."

"Target clear signal, beam them back right now." Kirk ordered, but Spock - his first officer and friend – replied grimly: "Transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and torpedo. We cannot beam back one without the other."

Kirk instantly switched orders, calling firmly: "Dr. Marcus, can you disarm it?"

"I'm trying." She replied shortly, clearly focusing more on her work. "I'm trying."

Down on the planetoid, Carol Marcus quickly opened up a small section of the torpedoes wire casing, and she quickly scanned it with her eyes, trying to find a way to disarm the torpedo, even as Dr. McCoy called: "Jim get her the hell out of here!"

"No!" Carol fired back sharply. "If you beam me back, he dies. Just let me do it!"

She started tentatively poking at the wires, looking around and trying to find something, anything, to disarm the device, when Bones started to countdown tightly: "10, 9, 8…"

Onboard the Enterprise, Sulu said tightly: "Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, sir."

Kirk stood, his hands clenched tightly as he willed Dr. Marcus to pull off a miracle, even as he readied himself to call the command at the last possible moment if necessary.

"4, 3…" Bones counted, and Carol snarled: "Shit!"

Taking a leap of faith – knowing Bones would die either way if she was wrong – she reached her hand in and simply ripped out all the wires by pulling hard on the central device.

Instantly, the torpedo powered down, releasing Bones's arm as it deactivated and unlocked.

On the Enterprise, Kirk bowed his head, leaning forward on a console with sheer relief as Uhura also breathed deeply, while Spock informed them in his customary monotone, though he too appeared relieved: "Deactivation successful, Captain."

Reactivating the comm link, Kirk called: "Dr. McCoy, are you alright?"

On the planetoid, both Bones and Carol stared at the torpedo as it opened itself up, the side sliding open… to reveal a cryotube, with a young woman held frozen inside.

"Bones?" Kirk called, and Bones finally managed to get out faintly: "Jim? You're going to want to see this… woah!"

He flinched as Carol's eyes widened when the tube suddenly whirred and fizzled, and Kirk called sharply: "What? What's wrong?"

"It…" Bones said, his eyes widening while Carol whispered in a mix of wonder and apprehension: "It's opening."

The tube's workings were starting to unlock, the system defrosting thanks to a small device attached to the cryotube, which Carol had apparently accidentally activated. It seemed specially made and specifically designed, as it drained the fluids keeping the body in stasis while feeding oxygen and the necessary gases into the chamber to aid in the revival process.

Carol and Bones could only stare in wonder while Jim called worriedly over the comms, neither able to quite move as the woman inside was revived automatically.

"Bones!" Jim shouted, and Bones said faintly: "We're here… this is just… it's incredible, Jim."

The tube slid open at last, about fifteen minutes later, fully revealing a petite woman with flaming red hair and deathly pale skin. This was particularly highlighted by the stark contrast against the black sweater and skin-tight black pants she was wearing. Completing her look was a pair of sturdy looking yet light black combat boots with red flecks that oddly complemented her hair.

"Is she…?" Bones began, when suddenly the woman inhaled sharply, her chest actually lifting off the ground as she took in her first deep breath in who knew how long.

Her eyelids fluttered before they opened, and both Carol and Bones took a sharp intake of breath as they found themselves staring into bright if dazed, green eyes.

"Hello? Are you all right?" Carol asked tentatively as Bones seemed too shocked to even move while the young woman stared at them with wide eyes. "What's your name?"

The young woman stared at her, breathing shallowly as her eyes darted around, and Carol repeated: "Are you all right?"

The young woman glanced back at her, as though appraising Carol, and the good doctor had to suppress a shiver at the intelligence that seemed to gleam out of the woman's eyes.

And yet, unlike Harrison's, they were neither cold nor calculating: they were warm, and though disoriented, Bones detected a curious spark not unlike his own Captain's in those green depths.

"Can you understand me?" Carol wondered, more to herself, and then both she and Bones were shocked again as the young woman jerked her head in a nod.

"Sweet Lord…" Bones murmured, while Carol swallowed and ploughed through, asking: "What's your name?"

The young woman's lips parted, and she croaked out hoarsely at last: "Asha…"

Bones and Carol exchanged surprised looks, both at the woman's reply and at her incredible recovery rate. After all, the woman had been in stasis just minutes before.

Their eyes were drawn down once more as the young woman spoke up once more, asking weakly: "Where's… Khan?"