During Khan Noonien Singh's pursuit of Kirk and the USS Enterprise into the Mutara Nebula, David Marcus bitterly criticizes Kirk, whom he has just learned is his father, to his mother Carol Marcus and Leonard McCoy in the Enterprise sickbay. David believes Kirk to be a warmonger and blames him for the deaths of his fellow scientists on Regula I. McCoy and Carol both suggest that David come to know his father better. David leaves Sickbay and heads to the bridge, climbing with difficulty up a ladder between decks because the turbolifts are out below C deck. While observing Kirk's command presence as the USS Reliant pursues the Enterprise into the nebula, David realizes that Khan has the Genesis Device, and that Kirk is not fighting Khan for sport, but to stop him from using Genesis as a weap