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distant reaches of the galaxy.
    Khan allowed himself a fleeting moment of regret. If only Kirk had not managed to regain control of
Enterprise
…! It would have been good to be in command of such a vessel, complete with its awe-inspiring phasers and photon torpedoes. The
Botany Bay
had been state-of-the-art when stolen from Area 51 back in 1996, but the
Enterprise
made his primitive sleeper ship seem like a rowboat in comparison. Who knew what sort of interstellar empire he might have carved with such a fearsome warship at his disposal?
    But that was not to be.
    Very well,
he thought, turning his back on the past. Ceti Alpha V was his future now, and he was determined to make the best of it. Milton’s immortal words came at once to his mind:
“The world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide.”
    Taking a deep breath of the hot and arid air, Khan surveyed his new domain. With an entire planet’s worth of landing sites to choose from, great care had been taken in his selection of this particular location. Located in the planet’s southern hemisphere, this particular geographic region was not unlike the fertile Indus River valley that had served as the birthplace of Indian civilization. The nearby river was bounded on both sides by endless kilometers of semitropical grasslands. In theory, according to planetary modeling conducted back aboard the
Enterprise
, their proximity to the river would lend itself to agriculture, especially after the coming rainy season, while the sprawling veldt no doubt abounded with fresh game—as well as, he took care to remember, the attendant predators.
    It appeared, in short, an altogether fitting place to found a dynasty, and to commence his inevitable reign over the entire planet.
    Let us begin,
he thought.
    No longer separated from his people by the intrusive Starfleet myrmidons, Khan strode toward the waiting throng: his genetically enhanced brothers and sisters from the distant years of the twentieth century. The surviving crew of the
S.S. Botany Bay
had followed him from the dark days of the Eugenics Wars into an unknown future, in search of new worlds to conquer. Forty-one men, not counting himself, plus some thirty women besides Marla. Looking over the crowd, whose simple attire resembled his own, he spotted the faces of many of his most loyal lieutenants: Suzette Ling, Liam MacPherson, Vishwa Patil, and, of course, his faithful bodyguard from the old days, Joaquin Weiss.
    The latter, a looming giant of man whose stolid expressionwas as blank and emotionless as a block of granite, stepped forward from the crowd, taking his place beside Khan as though the centuries they had spent in suspended animation had never transpired. Long ago, Khan had liberated Joaquin from an Israeli prison, where the belligerent superman had been serving a life sentence for multiple assaults and homicide, and Khan knew that the brawny, brown-haired bodyguard would gladly die before letting any harm come to him.
    “Greetings, my old friend,” Khan said, grasping Joaquin’s beefy arm. “Together again, just as before.”
    Joaquin grunted in agreement.
    Letting go of the bodyguard’s arm, Khan raised his voice to address his people. “Friends, comrades, fellow explorers, our time has come! Did I not promise you a new world, fresh and unspoiled and ripe for the taking? Across vast spans of time and space, we have at long last arrived at our glorious destination. Here, upon this virgin planet, we will plant our seed and build a civilization—a truly
superior
society—such as the universe has never seen before!”
    Cheers rose from most, but not all, of the assembled castaways. Khan noted the discrepancy, but made no mention of it … yet.
    “But first we must prove our worthiness to survive,” he continued. “These early days will not be easy. We shall have to struggle to find food and shelter, and this alien world surely contains dangers that we can