"baQa'," Jim said to no one in particular. Everyone sitting at the table looked at her.
"Language, Kirk," Uhura muttered. The command cadet rolled her eyes and kept reading the message on her PADD.
"What does that even mean?" Bones asked.
"It's a Klingon curse word. There's no real translation but it's like dropping an f-bomb," the linguist told him.
"I didn't know you speak Klingon, kid," the doctor said, giving Jim a nudge.
"I can curse in Klingon, that's not really speaking it. I do know some basic stuff but not enough to hold a conversation," she answered. Hoshi was teaching her on Tarsus but they didn't get past the basics before half of the colony was massacred. At least they finished the Vulcan lessons.
"What warranted a Klingon curse?" Gaila asked her.
"A.T.T." she told the group.
"What about it?" the Orion cadet asked.
"I got an invite," Jim told her.
A.T.T., or Advanced Tactical Training, is a specialized course of tactical and intelligence training for Starfleet cadets and officers. It was a highly challenging course that one had to either be invited to or recommended for since half those who took it usually washed out. Jim was just invited. She shouldn't have been so surprised, she was at the top of the survival strategies and tactical analysis courses. And, thanks to Pike, the assistant instructor in advanced hand-to-hand combat. Just the kind of person A.T.T. recruits.
"You're gonna do it, right?" Bones asked just as Hendorff sat down in the empty seat next to her.
"Do what?" the burly cadet asked. She handed him her PADD. Jim watched as his eyes widened and he smiled. "You gotta do it. You know how rare it is for a first year to get an invite to A.T.T."
"I know. Though, technically, I'm not a first year. I tested out of too many classes, I'll graduate in under three like Bones," Jim pointed out.
"Fine. A second year. Does it matter, Jim? You got invited to one of the most exclusive courses in all of Starfleet. You gotta do it," Cupcake told her.
"I never said I wasn't. I'm just wondering how much this is about me and how much this is about my name. Heaven forbid someone sent me an invite just to see George Kirk's daughter wash out," she told the other cadets at the table. Bones rested his hand on her shoulder in silent support. Surprisingly, Uhura was the person who spoke first.
"I will deny this if you tell anyone but you're good. Like annoyingly good. While it is very obvious that there are people who want to see you fail, I highly doubt that Starfleet would let you into A.T.T. just for you to wash out. I'll even bet you a round of drinks that Pike put your name up for it," the communications cadet told her.
"Maybe. I'll ask him when I see him later," Jim muttered before she went back to eating her lunch, willing her friends to go back to their previous conversations. Thankfully, they did.
"Hey," Gavin nudged her. When she looked at him, he smiled. "It doesn't matter why you got invited to A.T.T., you did. So, go through the course and kick ass."
"Just like that, huh?" she asked.
Cupcake smiled, "Just like that."
"Whatcha doin'?" a voice whispered from behind her. Jim was in the library studying for her Interstellar Political Organization exam. It was a third year course but she tested out of the prerequisites.
"Trying and failing to understand politics. Sup, Cupcake?" she asked as he sat in the empty seat next to her.
"Nothing much. Got kicked out of my room," he said with a sigh. "Roommate's getting laid."
"Wanna crash with me?" she asked. He opened his mouth to refuse but she cut him off, "Bones is working the night shift. I'll sleep in his bed and you can have mine. He won't care as long as I actually sleep. I'm really bad about stuff like that."
"Sleeping? You know that's basic human function, right?" Cupcake asked.
"Bad habit. My mom took an assignment… somewhere and something bad happened, sleep was the least of my worries. After that the nightmares kept me awake. Now A.T.T. is zapping all my time. I don't think I've had an honest good night's sleep since I was a kid."
"That's really sad," he muttered. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. You know that saying about what doesn't kill you and all that jazz. So, are you gonna wander the campus all night or are you gonna take me up on the warm bed that I don't use nearly enough to appease Bones and Pike?" Jim asked.
"You know the second I walk into your room, people are gonna think we're sleeping with each other," Gavin whispered.
"Because they don't already think that," she said. Of course she's heard the rumors and they didn't stop with Cupcake. Every time she was even remotely friendly with someone, a rumor that she slept with them popped up in record time. It was more annoying than anything. She was by no means a virgin but she certainly wasn't a slut.
"Good point," he said after a minute. "I guess you got a roommate for the night."
"Alright then."
"So," Bones said to her.
"So, what?" Jim asked.
"So, I'm not trying to pry and you don't have to answer this but what's the deal with you and the big guy?" he asked her. Jim looked at her friend and roommate for a few minutes. He sighed, "You and Hendorff. Are you guys a thing?"
"Me and Cupcake? That's cute. You know, you can't assume that just because I hang out with someone that's I'm with them. If I listened to all the rumors, I'd be with you, Chris… don't wanna think about that too hard, Sulu, Gaila, Mitchell and a few other people," Jim deflected. Not that she wouldn't date any of the people she named, save Chris because he was like her dad and it would just be wrong, but Jim wasn't dating anyone at all.
"You know what I mean, kid," the southerner was just as sharp as she was and he saw the dodge.
"We're friends, Bones. Just like I'm friends with you. And Gary. And Hikaru. And so on," she told him. "I appreciate the whole big brother thing you got going on here. I can't wait until you meet Sam. You both have this uncanny ability of mothering me."
"Yea, well... that's what you do when you get stuck dealing with an infant. I have no idea how your brother put up with you for two decades," the doctor said.
"He loves me. Just like you love me," Jim told him.
"I never said that," Bones smirked.
"Didn't have to."
Jim didn't like being grabbed, she especially didn't like the person who grabbed her and pulled her behind Tucker Hall, the engineering building.
"What do you want, Vik?" she asked the cadet with his arm around her. Viktor Tikhonov was the leader of A.T.T.'s team Alpha for the three final tests of the six month long course. Jim was in charge of Delta. He gave her a look before two of his buddies showed up. "So, it's like that?"
"I got plans and you're in my way, Kirk," he spat her name at her like a curse. Viktor was pissed because her team aced the First Contact scenario. While Delta got their asses kicked in the Security final, they had the advantage going into the Science final, Tanika Station. Vik was obviously trying to tip the odds in Alpha's favor.
"You think beating me up is gonna solve that problem. You can't be that stupid, Vik," Jim tried. She could tell it wasn't gonna help so she went with Plan B and hit him in his thigh. Vik let her go but one of his buddy closed in on her right. Luckily, he ended up on his ass with Hendorff standing over him. Jim let out a sigh of relief. Explaining to Pike why she was fighting another cadet –on campus, no less- was not part of her plan for the night.
"Walk away, Tikhonov," Gavin growled.
"Didn't know you were so soft, Hendorff," Tikhonov said to her friend.
"I didn't know that you were such a bitch that you needed your buddies to fight a hundred and twenty pound woman," Hendorff told the other cadet as he moved himself between her and Vik. "She's my friend. Stay away from her or you'll have to deal with me. Come on, Jim." Cupcake didn't give Tikhonov a chance to say anything, he reached back and took her hand. The pair walked away, leaving Vik and his sidekicks behind the building.
"You know this isn't the end of it, right?" Jim asked when they were closer to Nimitz.
"I know. Might have to walk you home at night to keep you out of trouble," Hendorff replied. Jim couldn't help but smile.
"And they say chivalry is dead."