To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh (35 page)

On the transporter pad before him, a burnished steel capsule held the ashes of Marla McGivers Singh. After much deliberation, Kirk had decided to remove Marla’s remains from her lonely tomb on Ceti Alpha V. He thought he knew what she would want done with her ashes.

“We are gathered here to pay our last respects to our former crewmate,” he announced soberly. Spock and McCoy stood at attention, while the ship’s intercom carried his remarks to Sulu, who remained stationed at the helm. “Some may fault Lieutenant Marla McGivers’ service to Starfleet, but we cannot question her bravery and resourcefulness. She had the courage to follow her heart wherever it led, and the record shows that she accepted the consequences with grace and determination. As Marla McGivers Singh, she faced harrowing trials without complaint, and ultimately gave her life for the man she loved. Khan writes that, in the end, she had no regrets, and I, for one, do not doubt that this was the case.”

Kirk was surprised to feel a pang of sympathy for Khan as well. Although he could not forgive Khan’s bloody-handed exploits, reading the man’s journal had given him some insight into the hellish circumstances that had fueled Khan’s descent into madness. No one deserved to go through what the displaced dictator had endured on Ceti Alpha V, not even Khan Noonien Singh.

“For myself,” Kirk concluded, “I regret that I did not take the time to know Marla better in the brief time she served aboard the old
Enterprise
, and, most of all, I regret that I never had the opportunity to know the strong, resilent woman she became.”

Kirk nodded at Spock, who crossed the compartment to man the transporter controls. The three men watched in silence as the metal capsule dissolved into a cascade of shimmering energy that sparkled briefly before fading into nothingness. Spock beamed the energized atoms into the empty space where Khan had died, reuniting Marla with her beloved husband at last.

“Amen,” McCoy murmured.

Kirk shared the doctor’s sentiment.
Godspeed, Marla,
he thought. He hoped that somewhere, far beyond the Mutara Sector, Lieutenant Marla McGivers—and Khan Noonien Singh—had finally found peace.