Christopher Pike: Are you giving me attitude, Spock?
Spock: I'm expressing multiple attitudes simultaneously, Sir. To which are you referring?
Bones: Jim, you just sat that man down at a high-stakes poker game with no cards and told him to bluff. Now, Sulu's a good man, but he's no captain.
James T. Kirk: For the next two hours, he is. And enough with the metaphors, all right? That's an order.
Bones: Jim, you're not actually going after this guy, are you?
James T. Kirk: I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, I only know what I can do.
Uhura: You brought me here because I could speak Klingon, now let me go speak Klingon.
John Harrison: I am better.
James T. Kirk: At what?
John Harrison: Everything.
Spock: In your travels, did you ever encounter a man named Khan?
Spock Prime: As you know, I have made a vow never to give you information that could potentially alter your destiny. Your path is yours to walk and yours alone. That being said, Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise ever faced. He is brilliant, ruthless, and he will not hesitate to kill every single one of you.
Spock: Did you defeat him?
Spock Prime: At great cost, yes.
John Harrison: John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smoke screen to conceal my true identity. My name... Is Khan.
John Harrison: Well, let's play this out logically then, Mr Spock. Firstly, I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve, then, if yours holds I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew.
Spock: If you destroy our ship, you will also destroy your own people.
John Harrison: Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people. Now, shall we begin?
Khan: My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?
John Harrison: No ship should go down without her Captain.
Christopher Pike: Do you know what a pain you are? You think the rules don't apply to you. There's greatness in you, but there's not an ounce of humility. You think that you can't make mistakes, but there's going to come a moment when you realize you're wrong about that, and you're going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed.
Chosen answer: McCoy has no real idea how much blood he's going to need to bring Kirk back - given the catastrophic radiation damage to his body, there's every possibility that he might need multiple transfusions over a period of time, which would be much easier if Khan was still alive. Plus there's also the issue that killing Khan could well involve spilling some of the blood that McCoy so desperately needs. Bringing Khan in alive is the best way to maximise their chances.
Tailkinker ★