A/N: Hello all! So, this is my first Star Trek story; which is really weird cause I've been a hardcore fan for quite a few years now. But I digress. Basically, I would really appreciate as much constructive criticism as I can get on this piece. I intend to write more for this fandom in the future and I don't want my characters to be OOC or anything. Another thing, this story was one hundred and ten percent inspired by Annenburg's story Antithesis, so please, if you haven't already, enjoy that story; it's really good! Last, this is the first installation of nine; this is going to be a long ride so buckle up. ;)

Jim bit back a groan and sunk deeper into the material of his middle row seat, as if the chair itself would suddenly swallow him whole.

He'd thought he would be in the clear. He'd thought they could finally be done with the hellish topic and move on. Unfortunately he'd forgotten about the large-scale project that accompanied the finishing of each chapter. Something about ensuring all the students understood the topic; Jim didn't really care. The only reason that fact even mattered was because it meant they had to spend at least two more class periods submersed in a chapter that hit far too close to home for Jim's comforts.

For the past three weeks Jim's Political Worlds Studies class had been covering the Tarsus IV massacre. How someone could spend three weeks on said topic was an utter mystery to Jim and had left him in a rather foul mood through most of it.

Professor Krestridge was talking about the importance of the final project, his thin grey hair combed neatly across his rather flat head, and his black beady eyes combed the room for misbehaving students. The man was giving the same speech he did after every chapter they finished. Jim didn't know if the crusty old man honestly just forgot that he said the same thing, or if he purely enjoyed torturing his students with his monotonic teaching voice. The sad thing was Jim knew either option was equally likely.

As it was Jim always chose to ignore the speech, even the first time he'd heard it he had only half paid attention. "-will count for most of your final grade- blah, blah, blah,- Responsibility- blah, blah, blah." He'd gotten the gist of it.

That day Jim happened to be reflecting on his luck, or lack-thereof. Honestly, if it wasn't the Calvin and his father's heroic actions –which everyone knew about- it was Tarsus IV and the massacre that took place there –another thing everyone knew about however, Jim's close involvement was something the general public was less privy to-. Honestly Jim wasn't even sure how many people in Star Fleet knew he'd been present; his current professor didn't seem to be aware.

Eventually Jim refocused on the professor speaking too loudly in the small lecture hall filled with less than one hundred students. The man had just mentioned something about a debate and the young man sitting a row in front of Jim and two seats to the left promptly conducted a not-quite subtle fist pump. Evidently he was very excited at that fact.

"Now, I will divide you into two halves."

Jim wasn't sure if the professor was attempting to be funny and failing miserably, or if he was just pain moronic, but whatever the case no one even acknowledged his blatant reference to what had happened on Tarsus.

"This half," the man gestured to the people to Jim's right, "Will argue against Governor Kodos' actions on Tarsus while this half," A dramatic sweep of his arm indicated the remaining students in the room, "will argue for the governor's actions."

The hall was encompassed in an awkward silence before Jim's loud laughter shattered it. Jim's eyes swiveled to glance at his classmates but the laugh soon faded when he saw he was the only one who believed their professor's statement to be cause for amusement. His smile was soon to follow, disappearing as soon as his gaze centered back on Krestridge and realized the man wasn't joking. "Wait, what?"

"Tell me Cadet Kirk, did you misunderstand the assignment or do you just have cotton balls lodged in your ears? Your half of the class is to prepare an argument defending Governor Kodos' actions on Tarsus IV."

Jim released another laugh, this one shorter and more disbelieving. "No I heard you fine the first time. I just don't understand how you expect any of us to defend the man's actions after having spent all this chapter learning about the atrocities he caused."

There were a few mummers and lots of nods by Jim's classmates in consent with what he'd said. Any fool could see they were all confused with their professor's demands.

"I realize it may seem difficult at this moment but go and conduct a little research, you may find there are some very compelling arguments def-"

"Compelling arguments!" It took nearly all of Jim's self-control not to stand up. "The man slaughtered four thousand innocent people and you're telling me there are compelling arguments defending his actions? No way!"

There were more nods of conviction and one brave student even shouted a "Yeah!" in support.

"Now students, you misunderstand. You do not necessarily have to agree with what you find but I'm telling you now that there are many people in this world who believe Governor Kodos was completely justified in his-"

"Justified?" A female voice resounded from somewhere up and to the right of Jim. She sounded absolutely horrified. Jim just felt as if he was going to be sick. Images flashed through his head: heaps of bodies being thrown into holes, the terrified eyes of all the surviving children, the bones that became increasingly more visible as their food supply ran dry, what the hell was justified about that?

Jim had to fight to keep his breathing under control as his brain reeled. While he was lost in thought, the entire hall had broken out in argument, basically every student yelling in tandem no matter which half they had been sorted into.

"Children! Children!" Professor Krestridge racked his long ruler against his desk causing the entire hall to lapse into slice. Jim barely even registered that the man was holding an honest to god wooden ruler, normally he would've had a field day with that fact. "Listen to me now. There will be times when you are captain of your own vessel that you will have to go along with something you yourself do not necessarily agree with. Learning to deal with that fact and still being able to make a convincing argument is a very important skill to have. Now, we will not meet formally on our next scheduled class session but the lesson after I want everyone to come with their debates prepared. We will be meeting in the large lecture hall in the linguistics building and, as always, it will be open to the rest of the student body. Class dismissed."

Jim stood and gathered his things as if in a daze. Numbly he shoved his way through the maze of grumbling students, some complaining more loudly than others. Jim made it approximately three feet around the side of the building before his stomach rebelled and promptly expelled any and all substances he had consumed that day.