Here is another chapter and it's not yet a adventure. It's more like a scene that is not active, but will be a crime to miss. Klingon and tribble references. Klingons are distasteful at this time, and tribbles are pretty much bunches of fur that eat and reproduce at exponential rates.

Starbase 12 recreation room 3.

"What the hell just happened?!" Drew thought to herself. Taking a long drink of her coffee she kept wondering why she didn't notice. "I know who Captain Kirk is of course. Who doesn't? I saw his picture, but without malnutrition, various cuts, and messy hair it wasn't until now that I realized he is JT. Long lost leader of a rag tag group of starving kids. Why didn't I even notice him in the stands?"

"Drew." JT's voice cut through her thoughts.

A few halls away from recreation room 3.

"Drew survived. Why did I even doubt she would. She survived being shot at by phasers, starvation, and even the flu when it wiped out nearly half of our group on Tarsus." Jim's last thought caused him to shudder involuntarily. He was on his to recreation room 3 for some quiet without the questions, and weird looks he had been receiving since after the trial "I should have looked for her harder. At least make sure to give my respects. She said she was alone like me. but stuck around for the other kids like I did. If I could have contacted her I could have told her about the other ki-" His mind went into overdrive when he saw Drew sitting by herself in recreation room 3. Before he could think of something to say he heard himself say "Drew."

Drew jerked out of her thoughts and turned a surprise look etched on her features as she turned around to look Jim in the eye's. "JT" she said. They both had large vocabularies and both of theirs failed them as they stared at each other for a few minutes. Drew was the first out of her trance and let her academy instincts take over. In seconds she was at attention and giving a flawless salute. "Captain." she said.

In Jim's mind he wondered what she was doing, then remembered that she was a cadet with cadet like instincts now. before he could form any words he enveloped her in a bone crushing hug. Drew stiffened for just a second before hugging back with equal strength. When they finally released each other it was Jim who broke the embrace. Looking her in the eye he noticed her wet eyes shining with happiness, excitement, and a hidden darkness that they both shared from their stay on Tarsus.

In Drew's mind when she felt Jim pull away she was almost tempted to just hug tighter, but had to resist it. Looking into Jim's eyes she saw relief, happiness, and a very well hidden darkness that she suspected only showed because she had that very same darkness. All in an instant he wasn't a captain or a scared boy who some how managed to keep herself and so many other kids alive for so long, instead she saw a friend who understood her deepest fears.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good. That was until people started looking at me like I was either a Klingon or a particularly big tribble." Drew responded hoping to get a laugh out, and was rewarded with a real laugh from her old friend. "How are you Starfleet Captain? You put on quite a bit of weight." She teased.

"Hey I am not fat. You're starting to sound like Bones." He defended. "Anyway I'm good, and the looks I'm receiving are no longer incredulous jealousy. What have you been doing? I would have called you or something,but I didn't know. . ."

"I've been doing okay on my own. Anyway you didn't have much to go on. With me though I saw your face all over the news and didn't even recognize you!" She went on "Maybe we should sit down. I have a feeling this is going to be a long talk."

Around an hour of catching up later.

"Kevin is nice. He's going through the same treatment as us. He went through more than they know" Drew brought up something pretty close to Tarsus for the first time in nearly an hour. We should help him out with coping."

"You've met before?" Jim cursed spending time with Spock as his eyebrow inched it's way up.

"First your eyebrow is trying to escape." Drew warned while smothering a laugh unsuccessfully. "Second we were on the same ship from Tarsus. He was a scared little kid and decided that a twelve year old girl who didn't trust the crew either was henceforth trustworthy. The only reason we started trusting Starfleet again was Pike. He found a way to get to open up to him. Why did you join Starfleet?"

"I joined when Pike dared me to." Diverting the conversation he asked "What's Riley's story?"

" know how he said he saw him at the speech?"

"Yeah." Adding "He didn't lie, did he?" rather suspiciously.

"No no he didn't lie. It just wasn't the only time he saw him. Right after his parents were able to get him locked in the basement Kodos himself along with many guards appeared in his house. He watched as Kodos searched the house, making sure as council members they didn't have a radio or a deep space communicator to tell Starfleet what he had done for the good of the people he explained to them. Then as his parents refused to accept what he did was right killed them while he watched from a small hole in his invisible door."

Jim was silent as he processed the new information. "All that and he still wanted to testify? To see the man who killed his parents again?" He remarked quite amazed. "Kid's got gut's"

They sat in silence each brooding over the trial. Suddenly Jim found he didn't want to face the questions from his crew alone. Devising a plan to keep them all together. At least make sure Riley isn't face all the newfound attention by himself. Getting both of them on the Enterprise as Cadets will be hard but doable hopefully. Now all that is needed is a reason.

"What year are you?" The question was unexpected and came out of know where which startled Drew.

"Fourth year." she said sheepishly.

"And Riley?" Jim added.

"Third."

"How experienced would you two be on a Starship?"

"Our instructors think we could graduate early. You know losing quite a portion the 'Fleet."

"How would you feel training for anything that could happen in space on the Enterprise?" Drew instead of responding stared at Jim not comprehending what he just said so he continued on. "We'll be making port back on Earth for shore leave in a about four months. We can drop you off at the academy then."

"That would be amazing." Was all Drew could think of saying when she got her voice back. " But how would you pull it off?"

"Well you're both being recommended to graduate soon, and you'll need some hands on experience before you do. Plus publicity would love it." Making his voice sound dramatic imitating the press he went on "Three survivors of a tragedy form a bond while traveling through space, beating the odds by even surviving the massacre. They'll eat it up"

"Then none of us will have to go through the press alone!" Drew was absolutely beaming by now.

"Just let me talk to Pike. He'll be the most understanding."

I really wanted to keep writing but my mom's yelling at me to go to bed, and I just realized

it's already over 1000 words long. (1000 words is now my minimum.) Plus school is starting tomorrow and I won't be able to write as often. Also if you have any ideas for adventures for the Tarsus survivors in this story please let me know before I start writing it.