True to his word, Pike put her in Nimitz Hall with Bones –her new nickname for McCoy- as her roommate. The doctor thought it was a little odd but he had the same aversion to chronically optimistic teenagers that she did so he let it go. She'd rather have the grouch over some of these kids, they were all too happy and excited to be here.
"This is gonna suck," she muttered to herself as she dropped into an empty seat in the lecture hall.
Of all the classes Jim was dreading, Introduction to Federation History was the one that bothered her the most. All the first years had to take it; you couldn't test out and there were no waivers or exceptions. The problem is that Jim –and a bunch of people she knew- lived through some of the stuff that they'll cover and she knew that the official story wasn't the whole story.
"Guess your name can't get you out of everything," one of her classmates mumbled from somewhere behind her. Word got around that Jim was there and the sharks were already circling, it was only the third day. She really wished Bones was sitting with her but he had this class later in the day. She was just gonna have to ignore the idiots. It's not hard, Jim's been ignoring idiotic comments about her family since she was a kid. As long as nobody did anything to her, she was good.
"Is this seat taken?" a voice asked her. Jim looked up and found herself dwarfed by the guy from the bar... the guy she called Cupcake.
"Go ahead. Don't wanna sit with your buddies, Cupcake?" she asked.
"They don't have this class until it later in the day. And it's Hendorff, Gavin Hendorff," he told her.
"I like Cupcake better," Jim told the burly cadet. "Everybody likes cupcakes."
"You sure about that? I mean, I know people who don't," he countered.
She smiled and looked at him, "They're missin' out."
"You're still here?" Jim asked as she stepped into one of the engineering classrooms. It was well after class but some of the cadets hung around to work on projects, which was her reason for still being in the building.
"I can't get this. I figured running through it again would help but I'm still stuck. You know anything about warp engineering?" Cupcake asked.
"PhD in warp-physics," she told him.
"Really?" The look on his face was priceless.
"Yep. I also have master's degrees in applied mechanics and one in military science," she told him.
Hendorff chuckled, "So, that's why Pike recruited you. I figured there was more to it than your family. People talk."
"I'm used to it. Its not all wrong. I wanted to be like my mother for a long time. She's one of the best engineers in the fleet so I went to school to work on warp cores. I was getting my degree in mechanics when I realized that I'd much rather be me. Had a conversation with Chris... Captain Pike and got my degree in military science. I do take solace in the fact that I'm usually smarter than the people giving me grief. You want some help?" Jim asked. When he nodded, she pulled out the seat next to him and began to look over how far he got. "You're closer than you think."
"Really?" Cupcake asked.
"Yea, really. Let's get you to the finish line."
The Starfleet Academy Desert Survival Course wasn't a real class. There weren't any grades or tests and the only person that mattered in the end, was the one that finished first. The cadet who won gained the respect of the upperclassmen and bragging rights as the 'King of the Plebes'.
Jim stood right at the starting line with Uhura and Uhura's roommate, Gaila. The Orion girl was bubbly and sweet but Jim knew better than to underestimate anyone. She thought Bones might be down for something like this but he had a shift at the hospital. He threatened to hypo the crap outta her if she got hurt.
Pike gave her a warning that wasn't a warning. The man simply told her to watch her six. Well, she does that already. Fortunately, Hendorff had friends who were in the year ahead of them, and they warned him about booby-traps all over the course. In turn, Cupcake warned her. She looked for him when she got off the shuttle but she couldn't find him.
"This is probably gonna suck," Gaila muttered.
"Maybe you ladies should stick with me," came the booming voice of the big Andorian cadet behind them, "I'm Thanas." Gaila smiled at him while Jim and Uhura rolled their eyes. Jim has better game than that. She didn't have to think about it too long, a small group of upperclassmen hopped onto a rock that was off to the side of the course.
"Alright, plebes," one of the upperclassmen said. "Ahead of you is the Starfleet Desert Survival Course. Your only objective: be first to finish. The only person that matters is the winner. That cadet gets no prize, just the knowledge that they are the best in the class. You go on my mark."
At the shot from the phaser, they all took off. Jim would've laughed at the idiots who were sprinting in an effort to get ahead if she had the time or inclination to. Even though she couldn't see the end, Jim was well aware that this was at least a marathon length course with obstacles, the first was ahead of her.
Jim leaped over the pit like it was nothing. Unfortunately, some of her classmates weren't so lucky and they were pulling themselves up. That's what they get for sprinting off like they did, they were dropping like flies; too fast from the line and taken out by booby-traps. Jim dodged the stun-mine and the phaser fire.
Gaila spoke from behind her left side, "They aren't kidding, huh?"
Jim chuckled, "Of course not."
They zig-zagged though the terrain until they came to a cliff face. There were a quite a few cadets who looked terrified at the idea of climbing it. Jim chuckled and nudged her way to the front, she found hand and foot holds and began the climb down.
"Fancy meeting you here," came Hendorff's voice from above her. Crap. Due to his height, he actually had an advantage on her and he knew it.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite operations cadet," Jim said to him. "You know I'm gonna win, right?"
"You win, I'll buy your drinks for the rest of the semester. I win and you buy," he offered as they neared the bottom.
"You're on, Cupcake." He jumped the last few feet and she was right behind him. They had made it to the last leg of the course, a flat out run. Hendorff has the longer legs but she was faster. It was gonna be close. She just managed to catch up to him when the Andorian from before caught up to them and sped past, getting the win.
"We were so close, Cupcake," she said she slowed her run to a walk.
"Did it really have to be Thanas? He's already an ass, this'll just make it worse," Cupcake muttered.
"No kidding. Come on, let's go get cleaned up and grab a drink. I'll even buy the first round."
"I told you not to get hurt," Bones growled at her.
"This is from a bar fight. I didn't even start this one," she mumbled.
Hendorff nodded, "It's not her fault, doc. That asshole wouldn't stop saying shit about her dad. I told him to back off and he started swinging. There were six of them and the two of us. What else were we supposed to do?"
"You're lucky it's not worse," Bones muttered.
Jim smiled, "Ha... I wish. Lucky's not a word in my vocabulary." Of course, that's when Pike walked into the room. "See… crappy luck. What can I do for you, sir?"
"You can stop giving me gray hair. A bar fight, Jim?" Chris asked. She sighed before she explained what happened. He looked at her, then Hendorff, then back at her again. "Since you like to fight, you can be my assistant for the advanced hand-to-hand class. Hendorff, you're taking the intermediate class?" When the tall cadet nodded, Pike smiled, "Jim, you're gonna get him ready for the advanced class."
"Yes, sir," Jim sighed. She was not happy about getting more duties because some jerk in a bar wouldn't leave her alone. If she had to guess, Pike was just trying to keep her busy. "Am I done, Bones?"
"Yeah, kid," her roommate answered.
"Thanks for trying to stick up for me, Gavin. It's been a while since someone has, I almost forgot what it felt like," she gave his knee a squeeze and left the room. Pike followed her out.
"You wanna tell me the whole story?" her advisor asked.
"There's nothing to tell. Every time I turn around, someone is my face about George. I never even met the man… but for some reason everyone seems to forget that. Your mom died when you were a teenager, can you imagine if everyone kept telling you that Willa hated you? That she died to get away from you? That you're not good enough to be her son? That it's your fault that she's gone?" He didn't have to say anything, the look of hurt on his face was enough. "Exactly."
