Marinette trudged grumpily with the guards toward an office. She was in the future for five minutes, and then she already landed herself with trouble. What kind of Ladybug is she?

The red-shirts shoved her into the room. It had pale green walls, a bunch of filing cabinets similar to the ones in Principal Damocles's office, and a glass desk. Beside the desk are two dark blue flags with pictures of Earth on them. There are two dark oak chairs in front of the desk, one of which is occupied by a blond male wearing a maroon uniform. His name tag read, "James Tiberius Kirk". Behind the desk were two gentlemen, one with the name tag of, "Admiral Barnett", the other one labeled, "Capt. Christopher Pike".

Marinette was forced into her chair. Kirk glanced at her curiously, before turning back to face the Admiral and Captain.

"Cadet Kirk," growled Admiral Barnett. "You have been found near the database of the programming of the Kobayashi Maru. Explain yourself."

The cadet shifted uncomfortably, but replied, "I was taking a walk."

"Taking a walk," replied the Admiral. When Kirk said nothing more, he changed his tactics. "Do you know this young lady?" he asked.

Kirk looked at Marinette again, then faced the directly in the eye. "No, sir."

The Admiral decided to question Marinette next. "Who are you? Why were you also near the database? Are you an accomplice of Kirk? I never saw you before. Your clothes are peculiar and out-of-place. Are you a cadet?"

Marinette felt overwhelmed by the questions, but as she felt Tikki moving inside her purse, she gathered her Ladybug courage, and replied, "My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I... was lost and was near the database of your Kalabashi Magu something when the guards found me. No, I have never seen Kirk before. I am not a cadet." Better the truth, she told herself. "I am a citizen of France. My Mom is Chinese, my father a French. I was... in Paris, and suddenly, I was... here." What a lame explanation, but nevertheless the truth, she thought.

Barnett and Pike looked at each other. "Someone might have beamed her here," murmured Pike.

Barnett turned to Marinette. "As you have no business here, I will arrange for you to be beamed, or transported, to the Eiffel Tower. Now, Captain Pike will accompany you to the transporter room, and..."

"No, sir," Marinette said quickly. She took a deep breath. "You may not believe me, but... I am from the year 2016. I have no intention of returning to a place two centuries older than what it was when I last saw it."

Staycalmstaycalmstaycalm, Marinette told herself. She might be in hot water. The two authority gentlemen were thinking. Kirk was sent away to his quarters with a stern warning to stay away from the Kobayashi Maru's programming. She was alone in the office with the Captain and Admiral.

She had already told them here entire story, which was shocking for Barnett, Pike, and Kirk. But she only revealed Tikki and transformed in the room once Kirk had left; she didn't want a cadet to know her big secrets. Both the Admiral and the Captain agreed that she will join Star Fleet as a cadet, and then she can join a starship, and start her new life.

She stayed an hour longer to be quickly tutored by Captain Pike about the era, the third world way, warp drives, replicators, phasers (the guns the red-shirts had earlier) and enough basics to be qualified as as clever as a fourth-year cadet (she took the lesson as Ladybug, in order to process and remember the information better). She was then given her uniform, an name tag, her lesson schedule, a map of the cadet grounds, and a list of other random information. Marinette was then accompanied to her new quarters by Captain Pike, and she met her room mate, Nyota Uhura.

The next day, Marinette woke up at 0530, which was 5:30 A.M. for her. She dressed and washed quickly, ate a quick snack of croissants from the replicator (a bit more plain than her parents' goodies) fed Tikki a chocolate chip, and left for her first class, which was 'Captaining a Starship in a Crisis'.

She had an easy lesson, having been in many serious crisis with Cat Noir when she was a teenager. Her teacher, Professor Admenson, praised her, saying, "Cadet Dupain-Cheng showed exceptional skills in this lesson, considering she had not attended before. She has good wit and reflexes."

"Where to next, Nyota?" asked Marinette after the lesson.

"Let's see, I have linguistics at 0900, and you have... Woah, you can take the Kobayashi Maru test today!" Nyota turned to Marinette with astounded eyes. "I think Professor Admenson believed that you are ready for the test! But," Nyota whispered, "it was programmed by a Vulcan to be unbeatable. The test is supposed to teach you fear, but however good you do in it, it will ALWAYS be a no-win scenario. Anyway, the test room is just down this corridor, you are in... room C. Good luck, Mari!" And Uhura left for the her next class, leaving Marinette by room C.

In room A, she saw a cadet taking his test. He was eating an apple. Does he really feel the fear? He can't expect to win, the test is unbeatable, thought Marinette.

"Cadet Dupain-Cheng, your room is ready. Please enter to participate in the Kobayashi Maru," said a neutral voice behind her.

Marinette turned around. The voice came from a tall, pale man who had dark hair and bangs, and was wearing a grey Starfleet uniform. He had slanted eyebrows and pointed ears. He must have realized she was staring, and he said, "Cadet, your test and temporary crew mates are waiting. Please cease your staring."

Embarrassed, Marinette entered the room and took her seat in the captain's chair. The lights started to dim, and a vessel on the view screen turned toward her. "Fire phasers, full power," commanded Marinette. The helmsman, a cadet called Sulu, replied, "Phasers firing, Captain."

But the vessel had maximum shields up. "Lieutenant, bring us behind the vessel, ahead warp factor six." "Aye aye, captain."

But the vessel must have anticipated their sneak attack and fired two photon torpedoes. The maintenance crew was reporting maximum damage to the warp drives and life support systems. What would Ladybug do?, thought Marinette desperately. She would transform and use her Lucky Charm.

"Tikki, spots on!" cried Marinette. She felt the magic rolling around her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the shocked and awed faces of her fellow cadets. No time to think, thought Marinette. This is a life-and-death situation. "Lucky Charm!" she screamed. A bag of pencils landed in her hands.

"Now, Captain, enough playtime. Put the pencils away and focus on the mission!" growled a grumpy cadet called McCoy.

Marinette ignored him. She used her lucky vision and saw McCoy, the pencils, and a small vent on the enemy vessel. "Of course! Lieutenant, take these pencils to the torpedo room. Tell the lieutenants to replace the torpedoes with these pencils. On my count, fire at full power."

McCoy left and returned in a few minutes. The enemy vessel was right in front of them. "Steady... fire." On the view screen, Marinette could barely see the small slivers shoot through space. It would be impossible for the vessel to spot the tiny torpedoes. Paralyzed with fear, the young captain felt like she would cry for joy as the pencils entered the vent and crashed into the vessel's life support, communication, and torpedo systems. She had saved the lives of many of her crew.

The lights came back on, and Marinette jumped. She had forgotten that it was only a simulation. The pointy-eared man stepped toward her. "Cadet," he said, "this program is unbeatable. How did you survive in the simulation?"

Marinette shrugged, and then remembered that she was currently Ladybug. "Spots off. Commander, I believe that every simulation has a loop hole. Every situation has an answer. I found that answer. Thank you for your time, sir."

She left the area and went for her quarters. She had nothing else planned for the day.

It was 1500. She lay in bed, recalling her actions during the Kobayashi Maru. She had revealed her identity to the surrounding people, but it was necessary to do so in order to "save everyone's lives".

The door opened. "Hello, Nyota," said Marinette, not bothering to look at the door.

There was a pause. "The name's Jim. Jim Kirk. I... I'm the cadet that you saw last night." Marinette turned to him, surprised.

"Why are you here?"

Jim blushed and thought for a moment. "I also beat the Kobayashi Maru. When the security team found me near the database of the Kobayashi Maru, I was actually hacking into it and reprogramming the simulation in room A to be beatable. You were doing the same when you were caught, right?"

Marinette was disgusted. "You cheated."

"Not really. The program said to use any skills know to beat the simulation. I used my hacking ski-"

"You cheated. I passed legitimately. I used my skills of..." Marinette paused. Was it worth it to reveal her identity to the cadet? But then again, nearly everybody in the immediate area saw her. "Magic and transformation."

Author's Note:

The sun is bright,

The sky is blue.

Thank you for reading,

And please review!

Cat Nari