Regarding a guest review; the character Mitchell, included in chapter 3 is not the Star Trek character known as Gary Mitchell. Mitchell is a character from the novel 'Collision Course (Star Trek: Academy)' written by William Shatner.
15 minutes.
That's how long it took Kirk to maneuver through the crowd of people in the cafeteria, get his food, keep that food without dropping it and then shoving his way through the crowd again to squeeze himself into the seat next to Bones.
'I swear, getting food is like trying to make a Vulcan laugh,' Kirk told Bones.
'Yeah, well, everyone does tend to get hungry around lunchtime and some of us are half starved after the yesterdays practical,' Bones responded.
Kirk grunted in reply, his mouth half full with pasta. He glanced over at Bones plate and wrinkled his nose in distaste at the bowl of plomeek soup.
'Seriously? How are you eating that stuff? It's so bland and it's meant to be for breakfast, not lunch.'
'I'm hungry,' retorted Bones, ', I just took the first thing I saw. At this stage I really don't care what I put into my stomach.'
'Which happens to be a soup… and a sem'hal stew,' added Kirk as Bones finished the soup and began attacking the stew. 'Seriously, if you're hungry get something solid to eat.'
Bones just shrugged and continued his slurping.
'Anyone sitting here?' Uhura indicated to the two spare chairs on their table.
'Nope,' Bones managed before returning to his eating.
Kirk swept his hand in a go ahead gesture. Uhura sat down in the seat opposite Kirk and Galia took the one next to her.
'Hey Kirk,' Galia smiled at him and Kirk returned the expression.
Galia turned to Bones and hesitated as she watched him eat the alien food. Kirk saw Galia's incredulous expression and waved in Bones direction.
'Don't mind him, he's trying to catch up on his carbs.'
Galia nodded slowly, her gaze transfixed on Bones bizarre eating strategies. Uhura took a moment to watch Bones too before she turned back to Kirk.
'Is that a scar?' she pointed at Kirk's hand, 'never knew you had that, how'd you get it?' She said, keeping her voice casual.
Kirk glanced down at his hand with apparent disinterest.
'Oh that? I've had it since I was a kid, think I split it on a rock when I fell off a tree.'
Uhura regarded Kirk for a few more seconds before leaning back in her chair and eating her chicken wrap. Well, he got it when he was a kid, that's saying something I guess she pondered.
Bones finished his stew. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and sighed with appreciation.
'Yum?' Inquired Kirk, the sarcasm heavy in his voice.
Bones missed the hint, 'Of course, why else would I have eaten it?' he asked.
Kirk looked at Bones, 'It's times like these when I understand how your ex-wife felt.'
Bones huffed at him and angled his body away from Kirk to use his padd.
'So did you hear about that speaker that's suppose to come tomorrow?' Gossiped Galia.
Immediately Kirk went on high alert. He had to be careful about the way he conveyed himself through his body actions and resolved to stay quiet. Shifting himself in his seat, he positioned himself in a more casual arrangement.
'Yeah, though I don't think it's true. Probably a fraud looking to scab off Starfleet,' Uhura said.
It was true, thought Kirk – Starfleet had been ridiculously infamous after the public found out that the incident on Tarsus IV had gone on for years unchecked. After all, it was suppose to be Starfleet's job to prevent such an event from occurring and it was reasonable to assume that they had simply accepted this 'survivor', sans questions. Kirk breathed out silently in relief – chances were, it was fraud looking to take advantage of Starfleet's ego.
'That would explain why the media isn't invading the academy,' mused Galia.
Her face morphed from thoughtful, to devious.
'How much do you reckon I'll get if I leak the word? Do you think they'll let me be on the news?' She asked Uhura.
Uhura rolled her eyes at her friend's narcissism.
'Probably not, news spreads fast and leaks out by itself without anyone having to hand over their credits. I'm wouldn't be surprised if it already has,' she replied.
Galia pouted before straightening and grinning at Uhura, 'ah well, it was a long shot anyway.'
At that moment, Bones decided that he'd forgiven Kirk and turned in his seat to face him.
'You still up for this afternoon?' he asked.
'What?' Kirk said distractedly, his mind was still on the girls' conversation.
'The Physics test this week' Bones reminded him, 'we're suppose to meet at the library to study with Sulu and the other guys, remember?'
'Oh yeah,' muttered Kirk.
He went to get his padd but then remembered he'd left it at his dorm.
'Meet you there?' Kirk asked, 'I left my padd in my room.'
Bones nodded his consent as he collected his empty tray and pushed his chair back under the table.
'Goodbye ladies,' he tilted his head in Uhura and Galia's direction before heading towards the bathroom to relieve himself.
Kirk waved goodbye as well, and dumped his rubbish in a nearby bin before making his way out of the cafeteria.
Kirk breathed in the fresh air as he left the cafeteria - stuffy with the body heat of numerous humans and aliens. Walking along the path that took him to his dorm, he rounded a corner and was surprised by the sudden appearance of loudmouth and the two thugs he called 'friends'. More likely they're hunks of meat with pea sized brains that loudmouth talked into being his personal bodyguards thought Kirk. Loudmouth narrowed his eyes when he spotted Kirk.
'You! Your the know-it-all cadet who made me fail that assignment!'
Kirk frowned at him.
'You did that to yourself. Whining like a 2 year old just cause you were a little hungry.'
'You better shut your mouth cadet,' loudmouth warned, 'even someone as stupid as you can count – It's three against one and you're badly outnumbered.'
Kirk had, had enough of this guy. He'd been in is fair share of bar fights – even if some of them hadn't ended exactly as he had planned – he was reasonably sure he could handle loudmouth. The two thugs on the other hand… what the heck, he'd fought multiple guys before.
Yelling his battle cry, he ran towards loudmouth and his overgrown cohorts.
Bones flushed the toilet paper down the loo as he zipped up his fly and stepped into the sensor, which automatically opened the cubicle door to the rest of the bathroom.
Kirk ducked as thug one swung a clumsy fist where his head had been only moments ago. He pivoted on his heel and swung his elbow around, allowing the momentum of the spin to compensate for the size of his opponent. Normally, his elbow would have struck into thug one's cheek bone and send him in a crash course towards the ground. However, Kirk had neglected to take in the size and height of thug one and his elbow – instead of serving its usual purpose – smashed against the back of thug one's shoulder blade, forcing his arm forward and out of it's socket. Interesting thought Kirk as thug one fell to his knees, wailing and clutching his injured shoulder. Amateurs usually gave up on a fight as soon as they were injured in the slightest instance. Accustomed to his opponents yielding beneath his massive size and strength, he had grown overconfident and underestimated anyone short of his size.
Bones pushed his head underneath the bathroom tap and water immediately gushed out, washing away the countless amount of germs that had been multiplying on his hands.
Kirk's head snapped back as thug two's fist struck him underneath his chin. He staggered backwards to give himself room as he waited for the sharp pain to dissipate. He lurched to one side to avoid thug two's second punch and kicked out with his foot, aiming for the kneecap that would disable his adversary. Before his foot could find its mark, thug two grabbed Kirk's foot and pulled it past his waist. Thrown off balance, Kirk followed his foot past thug two's waist and onto the ground.
Bones ran his hands through the dryer. He stepped into the proximity of the sensor and the bathroom door swung outwards.
Winded, Kirk lay on his stomach, gasping for a breath. He felt a curiously uncomfortable tightening sensation around his neck as thug two grabbed his collar and pulled Kirk up onto his feet. Then he punched him in the face, releasing his grip at the same time so that Kirk flew backwards and back onto the ground. Blood ran into his mouth from his nose. This is more like it thought Kirk as he rolled over onto his belly and pushed himself up onto his feet.
Bones exited the cafeteria and followed a pathway that would lead him to the library. Incidentally, it was the same one that led to the cadet's dormitories.
Kirk rammed himself, shoulder first into thug two. Unfortunately thug two was even heavier than he imagined and his tackle was as good as pushing against a tree trunk. A flash of exasperation crossed Kirk's face before a fist shoved itself into Kirk's ribs with more force than he could ever imagine. It's like fighting a baby hippo thought Kirk as he heard a sharp crack that confirmed the fate of his ribs. He reached up with his fist to squash thug two's face and his ribs protested with the movement. His pain was soon rewarded when thug two gave a muffle cry as his fist found its target.
Bones was mentally revising the numerous laws he had to memorize for his physics exam when he rounded the corner and froze in his tracks. 5 metres away Kirk and an oversized cadet were grappling with each other while a second, similarly built cadet was crouching on the ground, crying and clutching his dislocated shoulder.
'Stop! What the hell do you think you two are doing?' he yelled.
Thug two turned around at the sound of Bones voice, his face betraying the fear he felt at being caught. Bones stormed over to them and stabbed his finger at Kirk.
'Dammit Kirk what's wrong with you! Can't you go even a week without a fight?' Bones accused him.
Kirk struggled to stand up straight, his hand wrapped around his torso.
'I didn't even start it! That insufferable cadet we ditched in the forest threatened me with these two airheads – I didn't have a choice!'
'Like hell you didn't!' Bones shouted irrationally.
He grouped his side for his communicator but it wasn't there.
'Dammit!' he swore
Must have left it in the cafeteria he thought.
'Wow… what happened here?'
A cadet slowed his pace as he walked around the corner.
'Chekov!' Bones called, 'Do you have your communicator with you? I need to call the medical clinic to transport these children. Doesn't look like he'll be walking anytime soon,' Bones jerked a thumb at the whimpering cadet still cradling his dislocated shoulder.
'Yes, yes – I can do that,' Chekov bobbed his head up and down so vigorously Bones was afraid it might fall off.
Walking over, Chekov handed his communicator to Bones. Within minutes, Kirk and the two thugs had been transported to the med bay. Bones nodded his thanks as he handed the communicator back to Chekov and ran off towards the academy's medical clinic.
