"Alright, today's trial is the Trial of Cultivation," Jim said, glancing around at the away team. They were seated around a long table, a breakfast of fruits and some kind of oatmeal-like thing in front of them. Jim had barely touched his food, but that was normal. "We've planned for Sulu to be the Federation representative on this one, but we don't know the full details yet." He turned to Sulu, who was biting into what looked like an apple, but more oblong and with dull green skin. "Remember, you can back out if you want to, Hikaru."

Sulu wiped off the juice on his chin and shook his head with a smile. "I'll be fine, Captain. I've been doing some research on Ewlean plants and animals, and so far there hasn't been anything too strange."

Jim held his gaze for a moment longer and then nodded. He then turned back to the rest of the table. "I'm not sure how the viewing procedure is going to work or if there will even be anything for us to view. Uhura, your trial is tomorrow, so I want you to conserve your energy as much as you can today."

She nodded.

"Ambassador Hchun should be here in the next thirty minutes. Is there anything else we need to address?"

"After you're finished eating, I want to run a tricorder over you again, Sulu," Bones said. "It'll give me accurate readings to compare against later today."

"Understood, Doctor."

Jim nodded at the pair of them. There was something in Bones' eyes when he returned the nod, but Jim dismissed it as stress over the trials. He would hate to be in his friend's shoes, knowing that they were all about to take a hallucinogenic drug with uncertain effects and not being able to do anything to help.

"If that's everything, you're dismissed." Chapel, Uhura, and Bones all stood from the table, taking their plates with them to the kitchen just off of this room. Sulu grabbed another one of the apple-like fruits from the center and then did the same, pausing briefly by Jim's chair to flash a smile.

There was quiet for a moment, broken only by the sound of Spock's spoon hitting the side of his bowl as he ate. Jim stared at the far wall across from him, not really seeing the landscape mural that was painted there. He had known that it would be difficult to allow his crew to take the trials at all, but he hadn't expected the way his stomach seemed to churn like there was a hurricane spinning in his gut. He itched to order Sulu to stand down so that he could take the trial—and the drug—in his place. It was a reckless thought, illogical even, and he knew that. Stars, the Academy had never prepared him for things like this...

"Are you not hungry, Captain?" The sound of Spock's deep voice pulled Jim from his drifting thoughts and he looked over at his friend, blinking in confusion. "I asked if you were not hungry," Spock eventually repeated, nodding at Jim's still-full plate. "Your body requires nutrients."

Jim shrugged, forcing his lips into a small grin. "Nerves kind of shot my appetite, Spock," he replied lightly. "I've got a few ration bars in my bag though, and I'll bring one with me when we leave."

Spock's lips twisted downward a fraction. On anyone else, the expression would have hardly been noticeable, but it was the closest the Vulcan got to a true frown. "Captain, I—"

Whatever Spock was going to say was cut off by Bones poking his head through the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Jim, you done eating?"

Jim glanced at his plate and then at Spock. "Yes."

"Come here, I want to run a scan on you, too."

"Why? You took one before the feast yesterday," he asked as he stood, carrying his plate into the kitchen. Bones followed him. If he noticed how little Jim had eaten, he didn't say anything about it.

"Because I said so, Jim."

For a moment, he thought about arguing further, but it wasn't like Bones wanted to do a full physical. "Fine. Have you already done Sulu?"

"I will in a few minutes. He said he wanted to double-check something about one of the Ewlean gardening techniques."

Jim nodded, putting his now-empty plate in the sink, and then turned to follow Bones back up the stairs and down the hallway to their rooms. He took a seat on his bed and waited as Bones ran the tricorder over him a few times.

"You feeling alright?"

"Hmm? I'm fine, Bones. It's been almost twenty-four hours and I haven't injured myself at all—you should be proud of me." Jim grinned as Bones grumbled something about reckless Starfleet captains under his breath. Then the doctor looked down at his tricorder and nodded to himself before putting the device away and turning his attention back to Jim once more.

Somehow, the gaze seemed more exposing than the tricorder had been.

"Do you remember the nightmare you had last night?" he finally asked, and Jim felt himself go cold.

"No." Panic raced through him, and he clenched his hands into fists. "Did I wake anyone? Did I disturb Sulu?"

"Just me and Spock, but I wasn't really asleep yet," Bones replied. "It looked bad, but not the worse I've seen. You don't remember any of it?"

Jim shook his head, guilt settling in his stomach. He should have known that he would have nightmares while on the planet. He could have taken one of the couches in the front room, and then he wouldn't have woken anyone. "You didn't need to wake me up?"

"I was going to, but you needed your sleep. Spock managed to do some kind of pseudo-meld to calm your brain back down. Said it wasn't deep enough to see any of your emotions and whatnot, but whatever it was, it worked."

Spock had been in his head? No, that wasn't entirely true. There were a couple of things that Jim knew for certain, and one of them was that Spock would never invade his privacy without permission if his life wasn't in danger. Still, he had done something, and Jim was grateful for it.

Bones looked at him for a few moments longer, as if trying to decide whether or not to say something else. Eventually, he shook his head. "I'm going to run a scan on Sulu. Make sure you eat something before we leave."

Jim nodded and watched his friend exit the room, thoughts swirling in his mind.

. . .

Spock stood at attention just behind Jim's shoulder as they listened to the Trial Master explain the Trial of Cultivation. He could sense the tension radiating off of the man, but he doubted the Ewlean would notice. The rest of the away team was less tightly-wound, although their faces were solemn.

"—test of your representative's ability to cultivate living organisms, but it will also be a test of their wisdom and judgment," the Trial Master who would be presiding over the event was saying. "As in all aspects of life, cultivation is about making decisions that lead to the greatest benefit."

Spock saw Sulu nod as if the man had expected the words, and perhaps he had. Since the Enterprise had received its latest mission, Sulu had spent over half of his available free time in the labs, learning about Ewlean cultivation techniques and studying the plants of the planet. It was far from a complete knowledge, of course, but it was considerable, especially when the time constraints he had been under were considered.

"The trial area has been prepared and contains everything your representative will require. The hallucinations will be a large portion of the trial, but the physical surroundings will be equally important. Your Doctor McCoy and Nurse Chapel may remain 'on-call', as you say, in a nearby room in case your representative should be injured." Spock saw the doctor shift and knew without looking that his expression was one of shrouded displeasure. "Following the trial, your representative will be returned to your ship. You now have one standard hour to decide who will participate in the Trial of Cultivation. Should you reach your decision sooner, the device on the wall to your left will contact us." The Trial Master bowed and then exited the small room, the door sliding shut after her.

For a moment, there was silence, and then Jim turned and clapped his hands together with slightly more enthusiasm than the look in his eyes suggested. "Well, she didn't mention death or maiming even once, so I'd say that's a good sign!" Sulu, Uhura, and Chapel chuckled.

"Don't you dare jinx us like that," Doctor McCoy threatened, his voice almost a growl. "I still don't like this hallucinogen, and I don't like that I can't sample it before they inject someone."

Jim's expression sobered. "I know, Bones, but this is how it's got to be." He turned to Sulu. "Do you still want to do this?" he asked.

"I know what I'm getting myself into, Captain," Sulu responded, smiling. "I'm ready. Besides, I promised Chekov I'd tell him what it was like."

A chuckle escaped Jim, and he looked almost surprised by it for a brief second before the expression passed and he shook his head. "Of course you did. Well, is there anything else we need to cover, any way you want to prepare before the trial?"

Sulu shook his head, as did the rest of the away team. "Alright then." Jim crossed over to the communication device on the wall and pressed a button.

"We're ready. Lieutenant Sulu will be the Federation's representative in the Trial of Cultivation," he declared. There was a moment of silence and then,

"Very well. Lieutenant Sulu and the medical officers may exit the room now." The door that the Trial Master had exited from slid back open. "The remaining representatives will be retrieved in five minutes."

Spock watched Jim turn away from the device on the wall and share a look with Doctor McCoy, who nodded slightly. Then, the man's attention shifted to Lieutenant Sulu, and he smiled. "I'd wish you luck, Sulu, but I doubt you'll need it."

"Thanks, Captain."

The away team fell silent for a moment, a million thoughts passing without speech through the still air, and then Sulu turned toward the door, Nurse Chapel and Doctor McCoy only a few steps behind. The door closed behind them.

Spock stepped forward, allowing his shoulder to brush Jim's as he moved to stand at his side. Logically, Spock knew there was very little that he could do to remove the tension in the man's shoulders or the worry that lined his eyes while any of the crew faced these trials, but that would not stop him from attempting to do so.

. . .

Jim looked down at the arena-like room and tried to keep the unease that swirled in his stomach from showing on his face. Ambassador Hchun had arrived five minutes after Sulu and the others had left and brought them to a kind of viewing box that sat above what reminded Jim far too much of a Roman arena, although considerably smaller in size. It was maybe seventy meters long and forty wide, ringed with seats that were filled with Ewlean citizens. In the center of the room was a make-shift garden that had been created for the trial.

There were a number of plants that Jim recognized from his review of Ewle, and even more that he didn't, although he doubted Sulu would have the same problem. There were also a number of empty plots in the garden. In all, it looked far less dangerous than the name 'trial' suggested, but that did little to reassure him.

Jim rolled his shoulders in an anxious movement and glanced around the room he sat in. It was small but comfortable, with three chairs turned to face the window-wall that looked over the arena. He had taken the seat in the middle out of habit, and now Spock sat to his right and Uhura to his left. He was about to ask Uhura if she had slept well last night—anything to take his mind off of what he had just allowed Sulu to do, what he should have done himself—when a soft beeping sound drew his attention back to the window wall in front of him.

Or at least, it had been a window wall the last time he had looked at it.

Now, the wall shimmered, and as he watched the scenery changed and he realized he was looking in on another room, not unlike the one they were in now. In it, the four trial masters and Ambassador Hchun were seated.

"The Trial of Cultivation will begin shortly. The screen on which you are viewing the Trial will display the actual surroundings of Representative Sulu as well as the reality that his mind sees, to the best of our ability. May he go with wisdom and prudence."

The screen shimmered and then changed once more to display the arena below them. Jim looked over at Spock. "I wasn't aware that the...hallucinations would be visible to everyone," he said, and although he tried to keep his tone conversational, he knew Spock could hear his unease.

A not-frown pulled at Spock's lips. "Nor was I, Captain. However, it explains the ability of the Trial Masters to judge the worthiness of the representatives."

"Captain."

Uhura's call pulled Jim's attention away from Spock and back toward the screen in front of them. Sulu now stood in the middle of the garden, dressed now in some kind of ritual robe similar to the ones the Trial Masters wore. They were too far away for Jim to see Sulu's face, but his stance seemed confident.

After a few moments, Sulu stepped forward to a container off to one side of the garden and retrieved some kind of gardening tools, and went to work on the garden. As Jim watched, he began to realize which of the plants were real and which existed only in Sulu's mind. The hallucinations shimmered slightly whenever Sulu interacted with them. Aside from that, they were virtually identical to the other plants.

Sulu worked diligently, taking his time with each plant, and walking up and down the rows several times, leaning in to examine a leaf or stem and working there for several minutes before moving on. Jim felt himself beginning to relax. He knew, of course, that Sulu had been the best choice for this trial, but watching the man work eased some of the lingering doubts in his mind. He still wished that he had been able to take the drug first, but so far it didn't seem to be doing Sulu any harm.

The Trial continued as it was for the next hour and a half or so, with Sulu carefully tending to each plant. As Jim watched, he was struck once more by the skills of his crew. Sulu wasn't a member of the biology department, and although he had taken several biology classes at the Academy, he had been Command track. And yet he had found the time to follow a passion of his and that passion was helping them establish a relationship with an entirely different species on an entirely different planet. It was incredible.

A sudden movement came from one of the plants in the arena, and Jim saw Sulu's mouth open in a yell. One of the plants, a large vine snaking up the side of a tree had attacked Sulu. Jim turned to Spock, hoping the Vulcan's eyes had caught the details despite the distance.

"Lieutenant Sulu was attacked by one of his hallucinations," Spock explained before Jim could ask. "However, I believe he has sustained actual injury, although minor, through some means in order to make the trial more real."

Jim felt his face begin to flush with anger, but he pushed the feeling back and locked it up right alongside his helplessness and doubt. "Why? He's been doing everything right so far."

This time, it was Uhura who answered, speaking for the first time since the Trial had begun. "Cultivation is about life, but life doesn't exist without death," she murmured, eyes fixed on the arena below them where Sulu was now cradling one of his arms and slowly walking around the vine. "It's Sulu's job to decide what lives and dies."

Sulu was now standing just out of reach of the vine hallucination. Then, he picked up the watering can—or at least Jim assumed it held water—at his feet and carefully stepped forward to pour water at the base of the tree. After a moment, the vine snaked downward, towards the water. Sulu emptied the can along the vines and then backed away slowly until he was level with a bag of fertilizer. He kept his eyes trained on the vine as he crouched to pick it up and carried it back to where the vine grew. He spread it around the base of the tree with slow motions and then stood back again. The vine stayed where it was.

Another minute passed, but when the vine still didn't move, Sulu nodded to himself and continued deeper into the garden.

After about thirty minutes of Sulu watering and fertilizing plants as well as cutting back parts of them or providing stakes so that the top-heavy plants wouldn't fall over, he stopped. Once again, the distance was too far for Jim to determine what exactly was happening, but he could see that the tree Sulu stood in front of was a different color than the others around it, a strange blackish grey.

Sulu seemed to gaze at the tree for several minutes, slowly walking around it, looking at it from every angle. As he did so, Jim began to suspect what it was he was seeing. The tree was infected somehow, and that infection would likely spread to the other plants in the garden if it wasn't taken care of. Life and death.

Despite the distance, Jim could see the heaviness in Sulu's shoulders as he made his way back across the garden to where the chest of supplies stood and pulled out a spray of some kind. Then, he made his way back to the infected tree and placed the canister on the ground, walking around it once again as if he were searching for a way to save it. He ran his hand down the bark and pulled a few pieces away—they shimmered in his hands; the tree was one of the hallucinations—holding them up to the light and examining them. Then, he dropped them and picked up the canister and began to spray the solution inside over the tree. The entire hallucination fuzzed and changed as Jim watched, withering and dying at an unnatural rate.

As the last leaf fell to the ground where once a tree had stood, a chime rang through the arena loud enough to be heard in their room and the screen shimmered and switched to the view of the Trial Masters' room. "The Trial of Cultivation has been successfully completed," the Cultivation Trial Master declared, raising her arms. "Representative Sulu has demonstrated that the Federation values the preservation of life whenever possible while recognizing its duty to protect the whole. He will receive an antidote for the drug and may then be transported back to the Enterprise."

The screen went dark, and there was silence for a moment before Uhura laughed, the clear sound breaking the spell that seemed to have fallen. "Well, that's one down, Captain!" she exclaimed. "Chekov is going to be jealous he didn't get to see it."

Jim smiled, relief flowing through his veins. One down indeed.