Chapter Text
Prue -
One thing that had never failed to amuse Khan, was the sheer arrogance of humans. It was the reason for their overthrow three hundred years ago and it was the reason for the Admiral’s failure as well.
Arrogance in thinking that because they held control of Khan and his family, they would always hold control.
Stupid.
But it always worked out in Khan’s favour in the end.
Or this is what he had told Prue. Well, not in so exact words, but she hadn’t survived this long herself without figuring out a thing or two on her own.
So when she saw in the newscasts that the Renegade John Harrison had been caught and incarcerated for the term of his natural life, she knew it was time.
She threw the small bag that contained all her worldly belongings over her shoulder, settling it firmly on her back so that it wouldn’t hinder her movement. Into the many and varied pockets of her oversized jumpsuit went all the bits and pieces she needed. Her knife and sonic blade went in the holders at the small of her back, right where the bag would hide them but not inhibit a quick reach. Protein bars and packets of water were swiftly sorted as well. Then, her rebreather with a kobarian mossmouse, highly illegal in Federation territory due to their protected status on their homeworld. Anyone caught with one threatened the very treaty itself with Kobaria and that threatened the Federation's main source of dilithium crystals. But the glowing, oxygen creating plant creature was worth the risk if you didn’t care about the Federation and only about your own survival. Lastly, her ‘wallet’ was safely tucked in it’s own special pocket against her chest, its store of electronic picks and circuits more valuable now than ever before.
One last scanning sweep of the little squat she had called home for the past year and she was off, a running jump and a kick and she was climbing up through the ductwork of the building and disappearing into the late San Francisco evening rush.
2 days later found her tucked securely away in the small casing cupboard off a rarely used jefferies tube as the ship around her shuddered and quaked its way off base. She had blanked the sensors in the immediate area just enough so that it wouldn’t trigger maintenance, but that she herself didn’t trigger the sensors either. Now she just had to wait the 3 day trip until she could get to the next step. She adjusted the rebreather, tightening the straps and ensuring the moss was damp enough to last the trip and then hypoed herself to sleep.
It took a while to come to. Prue could feel her muscles spasm and cramp as she twitched her way out of the induced sleep. When her ankle twitched and slammed into the wall of her confined space, all she could do was smile. She hadn’t been discovered and if her dosage was correct, she should have woken up just before the ship docked at Space Station Harna. Even the agony of full body cramping wasn’t enough to quell the tiny smile that graced the grimy face. She concentrated on her meditation, forcing her muscles to stretch and relax while maintaining her small position in the jefferies tube cupboard. Behind her, the circuit board beeped as it continued its functions and Prue slowly turned and plugged in her wallet, the tiny screen lighting up as information flowed across it.
Her smile quickly vanished and a snarl echoed in the small space. Wrenching off the rebreather and coughing slightly in the stale air, she reread the info.
Shit. The ship had been docked for an hour! She had lost her window where she could have snuck down to the cargo hold and snuck out with the first rush of transports in and out of the ship. Now she was going to have to risk sneaking out when the crew was a little more alert. She had chosen to stowaway on a federation hauler only because if she was caught, her risk of assault would be marginally less than if she got caught on a trader’s hauler. At least a fed ship wouldn’t sell her to the first slaver it found. But their security was klicks better than a scrap freighter!
Well, nothing to be done about it now. She pocketed everything and setting the bug going in the surveillance system that would block her movements, she crawled the jefferies tube and made her way to the cargo hold.
She had never had a trip go so well and it was making her very very nervous. Nothing ever went this good. She had made it out the ship and into the massive federation hanger at S.S.Harna. She had even managed to sneak through the station and was now crouching in a dark corner of the meeting hall where all the ‘lesser’ peoples gathered. Those that were not Starfleet or Corporations, but rather where those that worked the wheels and dug the shithouses gathered. It was here that she was hoping to get on with the next step of her plan.
Prue found the bathroom and hid away in a cubicle until she was sure the room was empty. It was now mid shift on the station, so she should have time to effect the next step of her plan.
Looking in the mirror, Prue studied her reflection.
She was small and thin, so small in fact that she was able to often pass for a child of 14 or 15, sometimes even 12. Her hair was long and knotted, hanging to her waist and at the moment was a filthy grey instead of its normal stark white. Her dark brown skin was covered in a layer of grey dust, mud and sweat, so that is was nearly impossible to see if she was black, white or green. Her chest was bound tightly, flattening and hiding the shape further enhancing her childlike stature. Big brown eyes with long white lashes and thin lips completed the look.
Prue sighed with real regret. She both loved and hated washing off the protection the filth gave her. But the next step required her to be able to garner trust and looking like tramper skutt would definitely not do that.
An hour later and it was though someone completely different now stood at the mirror. Washed and cleaned, new clothes and brushed hair and Prue looked every bit like the repentant runaway ward of a StarFleet officer. Deep brown skin glowed, her white hair contrasting well in its tightly braided coils. New, highly fashionable tunic and pants proclaimed her as a loved and pampered child of wealthy parents and the necklace she secured around her throat finished off the picture.
Quickly stashing everything away in secret pockets and her now slimmed down bag, she hunched her shoulders and rearranged her face. A tear leaked down her face and she looked at the result clinically. Perfect.
It hadn’t taken her long to find her mark. A quick hack of the space station's system’s showed Prue that a federation research ship was just about to leave for Outpost 675, a remote research station that would take 3 weeks at warp 6 to reach from here, while passing a few planets and other Space Stations. Plenty of time for what Prue needed to do. It was manned by a ship’s crew of 7 plus three scientists returning from leave on Earth.
Another few minutes of hacking the station’s system from her wallet and the fake missing child alert she had activated over a week ago suddenly found itself sitting at the top of the alert systems. All she had changed was the location of where she was to be ‘returned’ so that the research ship would have to be the one that took her ‘home’.
Then, swallowing hard and wiping the fear sweat off her palms onto her tunic, Prue stepped out into the main thoroughfare of the Station and for the first time ever, allowed herself to be caught.
It hadn’t taken long. In fact, it wasn’t even long enough for Prue to get second thoughts, not that she would have, this was too important. While she had stood there, wondering if she should go to the Market Hub to ensure that the security cameras saw her, she had felt a movement behind her and it was only with sheer force of will that she didn’t yank away and defend herself. Years of fighting had conditioned her to hit first, ask questions later, but she hoped that they would read the barely controlled flinch as childlike fear. The words from the security detail confirmed it and Prue hid her smirk in her shoulder as she glanced over her shoulder at the hand now placed there.
“Samantha Wilson? Are you Samantha Wilson?” The kind but firm question was answered with a hesitant nod from Prue. Excellent.
An hour later, she was sitting in a chair in the Office of the Station Manager as she swung her legs childishly while she slurped a cup of water and watched as the Station Manager attempted to call her fictional guardian. All he got was a recording from a supposedly frantic guardian stating that they were absent for the next 24 hours while they were following up a lead on their poor missing ward and to leave a message.
It wasn’t long until she was being carefully handed over to the kind crew of the research ship, the USS Marie, which had warmly agreed to detour it’s trip slightly to take the repentant runaway home. She was situated in her cabin while one of the scientists fussed over her, frequently mentioning how much like his daughter she was and how happy her guardian would be to see her again. Prue barely managed to not roll her eyes at this kindness. Kindness wasn’t something she was accustomed to and it made her twitchy.
Shyly promising to see the fussing scientist at dinner time, she pled off with tiredness and sighed in relief when he finally left.
Crawling into bed fully clothed, she used the sheets to hide from any surveillance systems and pulled out her trusty wallet. It only took a matter of an hour before she had her bug in the ship's systems and then it was a matter of waiting. She had to be ready for when the bug activated in 2 days time. Because in just 2 days time, if everything went according to plan, she was going to go from an unnoticed hidden escapee to probably somewhere near the top of the Federation's Most Wanted List.
The plan went off without a hitch. During beta shift, when the majority of the people aboard the ship were asleep, Prue’s bug activated. It adjusted the life-support systems so that every single part of the ship was flooded with a sleeping gas. Prue, prepped with her rebreather, had waited until all lifesigns had registered as unconscious. It had gone so smoothly that the 3 crew on duty hadn’t even had a chance to sound the alert.
Prue made her way onto the Bridge and with the help of her bug, had transported the entire crew onto a waiting shuttlecraft. There was enough food and water to last them 2-3 days, the length of time she would most likely have until they managed to gain back control of the shuttle crafts controls and alerted Starfleet.
Then, she was to use the USS Marie to find a secret facility and, on her own, help break out the most wanted criminal of her time - Khan Noonien Singh.