'En garde.'

'Pret.'

'Allez!'

Two figures dressed in white Starfleet fencing uniforms danced backwards and forwards along a wooden platform. Their swords darted in and out as fast a pair of serpent tongues, flickering against each other and eliciting clear metal rings. They lunged, parried and riposted. To the side, the judge of the match stood with his hands on his hips as his eyes followed the match. A devious feint tricked one of the fencers and his opponent expertly jabbed the tip of his sword at his lamé.

'Arrêt!'

Instantly, the two players lowered their weapons as the Judge called the end of the match.

'Cadet Sulu wins the match,' the senior cadet announced.

Hikaru Sulu pulled of his face guard, panting slightly not from exertion but from the rush of adrenaline he had just experienced.

'Good game, man – that was fun,' he said and stuck out his hand.

Jim Kirk tugged his face guard off and easily accepted Sulu's hand – he'd gotten use to handshakes after his first few weeks at the academy, it seemed everyone here did that a lot.

'I concur, congratulations,' he said breathlessly, 'you're the fastest person I've played against.'

Sulu grinned.

'Thanks, you're not so bad yourself.'

The pair walked off the platform and began stripping off their fencing gear. With the final match over, the rest of the cadets in the fencing team began packing their own equipment from the days practice and heading back to their dorms – more likely for a shower.

'I'll see you at practice tomorrow,' Kirk said as he picked up his bag and headed for the exit.

'Practice is cancelled, remember?' Sulu replied from where he was still stuffing his uniform in his bag.

Kirk stopped mid-step.

'It is?'

'Yeah, we've got that assembly tomorrow… remembrance for that Tarsus IV massacre. There's going to be a presentation for the victims.'

Kirk nodded, he had forgotten about that… purposefully. If he didn't, it'd mess with his head – emotionally compromised was the term that Starfleet had taught him. On Tarsus, it would get you killed. On Earth, it would reveal his past.

'I'll see you next practice then,' Kirk said and walked off.

[break]

'Hey Bones, how's your studying going?'

Kirk dropped himself down on the edge of his friend's bed.

'Fine, until you got here,' came the gruff reply, 'don't you have that report to write up?'

'I finished it,' Kirk answered promptly, 'and now I'm bored.'

'I'm busy – go annoy someone else.'

Kirk grinned. After the shuttle ride, he and Bones had stuck like glue and Kirk had gotten use to his friend's constant sour mood. Later, he'd recognized Bones as the med volunteer he'd saved at the hospital ward but, like Uhura, had decided to stay quiet on the matter. It helped that he had been underweight and still a teenager when they'd both seen him. Bones had been an adult when he'd volunteered and there was little difference in his appearance so it was easier to recognise him.

'Yeah, well, you've studied into lunchtime and I'm hungry so I'm dragging you to the distribution complex,' Kirk told his friend.

Bones frowned.

'You mean the Regurgitation Row' he muttered as he checked the time on his PADD.

'Whatever, its got food,' Kirk waved aside the correction and true to his word, grabbed Bones by the arm and pulled him away from his desk, 'come on.'

[break]

'You study too much,' Kirk commented before he took a bite out of his sandwich.

Bones glared in reply and started on his own food.

'I didn't know we'd get hit with this much work in out first month.'

Kirk grunted in agreement as he chewed. There had been virtually no time to do anything else but learn, study and complete exams since he'd gotten to the academy. He didn't mind though, if the other cadets were too busy they wouldn't be able to poke into his personal life.

'So who taught you?'

Kirk looked up as Uhura slid her tray onto their table and sat beside Bones so that she was facing Kirk. Carol followed her friend and took the seat next Kirk. He raised his eyebrow in a silent question and Carol shrugged apologetically. Bones glared accusingly at Kirk.

'What?' Kirk asked him.

'You know what,' Bones grumbled and switched his gaze back to his lunch.

'It's not my fault,' Kirk muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

He turned to Uhura and plastered a synthetic smile to his face.

'Hey… haven't seen you since the shuttle,' he said with fake enthusiasm.

'Yeah I know and we never finished our conversation.'

Kirk raised his eyebrow. Uhura was the most persistent person he'd met – their conversation had been almost a month ago. But Bones was right; they'd all been hit with a blizzard of work so he hadn't talked to her after their first meeting.

'I think we did.'

Uhura nodded thoughtfully.

'You're smart, Kirk – I'll give you that.'

Kirk frowned slightly.

'How do you know my name? I never told you.'

Uhura smiled cryptically.

'You didn't have to, everyone at the academy knew who you were after the first week.'

'Figures,' Kirk muttered and took another bite from his sandwich.

'So your dad really is George Kirk, then?' Uhura asked.

'I thought that was already established?'

Uhura shrugged.

'So who taught you Romulan?' she persisted.

'A friend.'

'You're not going to tell me, are you?'

'Why do you want to know so badly?'

Uhura sighed.

'How does someone like you,' she began – Kirk raised his eyebrow in indignation, 'speak Romulan so fluently if not for a damn good teacher?'

'I learn fast,' Kirk said simply, 'and you already know how to speak Romulan so what's the deal? Besides, the linguist instructor at the academy is a good teacher.'

Bones snorted, diverting the attention of everybody on the table.

'He's a Vulcan, or so I've heard. They practically live by the book, most of them go to the science academy back on their planet though.'

Uhura rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, well, Mr. Spock is good with languages as well. And there's a rumor that he's only half human – probably why he's the first Vulcan to join Starfleet.'

Kirk blinked in surprise. Besides his kids on Tarsus IV, he'd met a Vulcan before – Spock. It could be a coincidence but 'Spock' was a unique name and the boy he'd met was indeed half human – Spock's mother had educated Kirk when he was still recovering at the hospital ward. He could always catch a glimpse of the linguistics instructor to confirm his suspicions but all Vulcan's looked pretty much identical – same ears, haircut and especially eyebrows.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

'Sorry guys,' Carol muttered as she dug around her pocket for her comm.

She checked her message before snapping it shut.

'Gotta go, dad's here.'

'For the assembly?' Uhura asked.

Carol nodded.

'Yeah, he wasn't actually on that planet,' Carol glanced warily at Jim but he gave no sign of having noticed, 'but he's suppose to be representing Starfleet tomorrow.'

Bones nodded in understanding.

'He's the head, right?' he asked and Carol nodded.

'Bye,' she waved once before leaving.

Uhura waggled her fingers in reply before turning back to the table.

'It's going to be a depressing assembly tomorrow,' she commented absentmindedly.

'Yeah, I remember when it happened. I did some work at the hospitals when I was still in med school,' Bones agreed.

Jim kept his pretense of eating but in his mind he was alert for any sign that the conversation would endanger his past.

'You did?' Uhura asked, surprised.

Bones nodded.

'Yeah. Like you said – it was depressing as hell and scary too.'

Uhura scoffed.

'I helped translate at a hospital and there was a fight almost every week.'

Bones gave her a look of long suffering.

'You're telling me you knew how to speak multiple dialects five years ago?' he asked incredulously.

Uhura raised her eyebrow.

'What are you implying?' she asked sweetly, but both cadets at the table knew instantly that behind her façade she had turned deadly.

'Uh… nothing,' Bones replied, 'just that you were… a smart girl,' he finished lamely.

Uhura rolled her eyes and looked down at her tray. She stabbed a thick, white slab of pseudo-eggs with her fork and raised it to eye level. She made a face but ate it anyway.

'I hate replicated food,' she muttered.

'Why did you get shuttle rations, then?' Kirk asked through a mouthful of bread and ham.

'I'm in a rush,' she said shortly.

Kirk shrugged, disinterested in her choice of protein. Besides, Uhura was always busy – that woman could study like a machine. No wonder she was one of the cadets at the top of the year.