Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 94
- 2
PaperclipPerfector
1mo ago
(text post)
2728 thread views
Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness is a wild ride and a special effects extravaganza, but its good points are overshadowed by the dumbest move ever: recasting Ricardo Montalbán's Khan Noonien Singh as English actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Whatever one might think of the practice of racewashing in film, this is a move that made nobody happy (except Cumberbatch's agent and banker). The casting was intended as a surprise reveal, and when people guessed correctly, Abrams lied to the fans. So dumb.
So I fixed it.
This scene takes place after "John Harrison" the augmented human defeated a cadre of Klingon soldiers and then surrendered to Chris Pine's Kirk and crew. It's largely Claude's prose, since I was more interested in reading it than writing it, but I've edited it with a weed-whacker.
The sound of Captain Kirk's bootsteps echoed against the brig's sterile walls as he approached the cell's transparent barrier. Beyond it, the man who called himself John Harrison sat with an unsettling stillness, watching him with eyes that seemed to calculate even in repose.
"Why is there a man in that torpedo?" Kirk demanded.
Harrison tilted his head slightly. "There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there."
"Who the hell are you?"
Harrison rose smoothly, each movement economical and precise. "A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be different." His voice carried the weight of disappointment, of expectations betrayed. "But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift. I alone was revived."
Kirk crossed his arms. "I looked up John Harrison. Until a year ago, he didn't exist."
"John Harrison didn't exist," the augment agreed, "because János Horváth was planning the conquest of Europe when Khan Noonien Singh fell." He said the name with something between reverence and bitterness. "I was second in command of Britain's domestic intelligence apparatus when Khan surrendered. I never got to see if my strategies would have succeeded."
He moved closer to the barrier, and Kirk forced himself not to step back. "Marcus found it easier to give me a name with no history. A blank slate. But I am exactly who I claimed to be: one of Khan's officers. His left hand, if you will, while he was the mind that shaped an empire."
"If you're not Khan," Kirk said slowly, "then why should I believe anything you're saying?"
Harrison's smile was thin and sharp. "Captain, please. It would be so much easier for your pride to accept that you were beaten in hand-to-hand combat by the great Khan himself—tyrant, legend, the boogeyman of your history texts—than by one of his lieutenants." He spread his hands. "But I, like he, like everyone in those torpedoes, was designed to lead, Captain Kirk. Engineered. Every chromosome optimized, every genetic sequence refined to eliminate the accumulated errors of a million years of random mutation."
His voice took on an almost evangelical fervor. "You are the product of blind accidents. Your ancestors crawled out of the sea, stumbled through evolution's lottery, and called it progress. We were built. Purpose-made by men who followed the rules of reality to their ultimate conclusion: design, even by their limited minds, was far better than a roll of the dice. My reflexes are five times faster than yours. My strength, three times greater. My cognitive processing—" He paused, searching for smaller words. "You think with the tools that survival happened to give you. I think with an instrument precision-crafted for the task."
Spock, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke. "Yet you surrendered to that 'blind lottery' when you allowed Captain Kirk to capture you."
"I surrendered to save my crew," Harrison said quietly. "The only comrades I have left. Marcus used them as hostages, frozen in torpedoes like specimens. I built those weapons for him, yes—I helped him realize his vision of a militarised Starfleet. He sent you to fire my torpedoes on an enemy planet." His jaw tightened. "The Klingons would come searching, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have his war."
"I watched you open fire on a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers," Kirk shot back. "You killed them in cold blood."
"Marcus took my crew from me!" Harrison's composure finally cracked, fury blazing through. "He used my friends—my family—to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I designed, but I was discovered. I had no choice but to escape alone, with every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single person I hold most dear. So I responded in kind. And now because I made those choices, they live."
He leaned forward, and Kirk saw something raw beneath the calculated facade. "My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"
A proximity alert shrieked through the ship before Kirk could answer.
"Proximity alert, sir," Sulu's voice crackled over the comm. "There's a ship at warp heading right for us."
"Klingons?" Kirk asked.
Harrison's expression shifted to something almost like satisfaction. "At warp? No, Kirk. We both know who it is."
"I don't think so, Captain," Sulu responded. "It's not coming from Qo'noS."
Kirk was already moving. "Lieutenant, move Harrison to med bay. Post six security officers on him." He paused at the door, looking back. "And Lieutenant? He's exactly as dangerous as he claims to be."
More options
Context Copy link