As Jim brought his arm up, his grip on his knife automatically loosened in anticipation for its release.

Up, up, up…. Stop.

Carol Marcus ran along the wall until it ended. Glancing inside the corridor, she spotted Jim with his back turned to her and hand gripping his knife. She ran through the dire situation at hand and realized what the teenager had in mind. Instantly, she broke into a sprint as Jim's arm began its ascent.

As she ran, she watched as the knife moved closer and closer to the apex of the throw. A cold fist clenched her stomach and she feared that she would be too late.

Whisshh-

As the knife reached the height of it's climb through the air, Carol reached out and grabbed Jim's arm. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that the knife remained in his hand and not in the skull of the suicidal teenager.

Immediately, Jim whirled around, wrenching his arm from her grip. His hand shot out as fast as a snake and clamped down on the arm she had used to stop his throw. He lunged forward and his free hand shoved her against the wall. His hand finally relinquished its grip on her arm and the knife inside it was brought up to her throat.

Carol's heart stopped briefly from fear as her eyes met with Jim's. They were murderous.

'What d-' he snarled but then stopped.

She exhaled a shaky breath as she watched his face clear, it's lethal expression slowly replaced with a shocked one.

'Carol?' he asked, 'why-what are you doing here?'

In her mind, she answered him with a remark about the fact that those were the first words he'd said since she'd met him but the knife against her throat warned her that it wouldn't do to waste his time with small talk.

'I-I was trying to stop you,' she stuttered, 'you can't kill that boy.'

His face softened as he noticed her petrified expression and he stepped back from her, moving his arm and knife away from her throat.

'Sorry,' he muttered, 'force of habit.'

'From Tarsus?' murmured Carol, rubbing her throat.

Instantly, Jim's face turned dangerous once more.

'You were eavesdropping,' he accused, 'I knew I felt someone watching,' he muttered to himself.

When she didn't say anything he sighed in annoyance and started to turn towards the entrance of the corridor. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was about to do.

'No! Wait! Jim, you can't-'

She froze as he turned back to her, his blue eyes so lethal they were ice from the intensity of his emotion.

'Can't what?' he demanded.

When she didn't reply he turned back to the entrance one more and gripped his knife more forcibly.

'He's going to die himself anyway, suicidal arse,' he muttered although he sounded more unsure of himself.

Carol grasped onto his moment of doubt and reached out to hold his wrist so that he wouldn't be able to throw his knife. He glanced down at her hand and flinched away but she held on, determined to stop him doing what couldn't be undone.

'He won't if you don't throw that knife,' she said quietly, reasonably, 'and neither will any of those people.'

'If I don't throw he'll die as well as those people – as well as your father,' he said.

Carol swallowed back her fear at her father's possible murder and concentrated on the task at hand. Her father was always telling her about his Starfleet career and she remembered him once warning her of the importance of regulation 619.

"The commanding officer must relieve themselves of command if their current mission leaves them emotionally compromised and unable to make rational decisions"

She could not let herself become emotionally compromised – especially in a situation such as the one she found herself in now. If she was emotionally compromised she wouldn't be able to make rational choices and seeing as Jim was already making irrational choices it would most likely result in the death of at least one individual, today.

'You once had to do terrible things to survive but this isn't Tarsus IV, this is Earth. Are you prepared to bear the consequences of your actions? Because Earth isn't like Tarsus, there are rules you have to follow – ethical decisions you have to make, not emotional,' she told him.

'There's a lot worse things than living in a prison cell for the rest of your life,' muttered Jim, his eyes glued onto Tyker who was slowly walking towards the crowd.

'And what about Pike? Does he deserve the consequences of your actions?' Carol asked.

For a few seconds, Jim actually looked confused. But then the mask was back on his face.

'Pike won't have to receive the consequences of an action that was not his,' he said.

'Yes, he will because this isn't Tarsus this is Earth,' Carol replied, hoping to hell that he would believe her.

In truth, she wasn't entirely sure herself of the truth behind her arguments but for the time being they seemed to be doing the trick so she kept with it. Jim was wavering; she could feel his hand fidgeting with his knife.

'Don't do this Jim, it isn't your job – let security deal with it. You don't always have to do a job meant for adults.'

'You really think those officers will do anything?' he demanded, 'Starfleet is far from perfect and their officers are just puppets, they strip your individuality from you.'

He doesn't trust Starfleet to take care of the problem, thought Carol he lost that trust after they failed to realize the situation on Tarsus IV… I'm so screwed, he's going to throw it and there won't be anything I can do to stop him.

'Jim,' she pleaded.

'Um… er, we seem to have a breech.'

Both she and Jim turned towards stage at the front of the service as, whoever was having their turn behind the lectern, said a sentence out of place from the speech they had been giving.

The two teenagers watched as three security personnel drew their phasers. Two of them kept their weapons gripped by their hips but the third raised his phaser and immediately stunned Tyker before he realized that he'd been spotted.

A few, present in the crowd uttered feminine squeals at the short scene of action but as most of the attendants were disciplined officers the three security officers were able to arrest Tyker without too much of an upheaval.

Carol sighed in relief and released her grip on Jim's wrist. She felt her faith in Starfleet justified and hoped that Jim's had be restored.