AN: I based the timing of the story starting with Chapter Nine-One onwards on the concept that Jim is a Skywalker more than a Kirk and he was born two years before The Revenge of The Sith happened, which would have made him approximately two years of age. Considering Jim was 22 when he enlisted, and Luke Skywalker was 19 when he blew up the Death Star, I made it work for my own mostly-harmless, nefarious purposes. No essays or flames, but con-crit and other reviews are quite welcome. Read on!

Chapter Nine Part One

2235 - "Corrected" Timeline

George Kirk sat on the bridge of the dying Kelvin, weeping softly.

"Padme?"

"I'm here, George." He heard his wife's voice over the pickup.

"Tell Anakin to take care of our children. Take care of Tiberius, and Leia, and Luke."

"Don't worry about your family, George, we'll make it through this." He heard Anakin Skywalker's voice and smiled. One of them had to die, he'd banished his clone-brother and sister-in-law to the shuttles long ago. The Skywalker line would survive by them, it had to. So much had changed because of a bold, young Jedi Knight who had altered the past to save the future. Praying for the safety of his family, George braced himself as the Kelvin slammed into the massive alien ship. His death was sudden, swift, and painless. But it had not been for nothing.

2255…Twenty years later…

Jim Kirk hit the floor of the bar and felt the air rush out of his lungs.

Not much of a Jedi tonight, are you, Kirk? His conscience sneered. Jim groaned and started to rise. The Starfleet bullies pounding him did him a favor and dragged him up by the collar. Jim, who lived by the rules of avoiding violence when he could, wasn't going to sit around and be a punching-bag anymore. And it wasn't like the lightsaber hanging on his belt was just there for show. He clocked the guy holding him and flipped another one over his shoulder. The bar got real quiet when he armed himself. Starfleet recruits weren't dumb enough to gang up on a guy carrying a weapon like a lightsaber, they knew better than that.

"Only Jedi carry lightsabers!" one of the bullies coughed. Jim twirled the purple blade, chosen to honor one of the Order's best Masters, one of it's fallen heroes.

"That is a Jedi, gentlemen." A new voice reached them and Jim smirked. Busted.

"Evening, Captain Pike."

"Jim." The Starfleet Recruiting Officer nodded to Jim and looked at the thugs, "That's James Tiberius Kirk, Tiberius Skywalker. I wouldn't mess with him for a lot of reasons, the fact that he'll kick your collective sorry asses without trying too hard is just one. Messing with a Jedi is a good way to get kicked out of Starfleet before you're even in." Christopher Pike looked at the ringleader, his expression one of disgust, "Kadinski, get up and get out of my sight. Take your band of merry marauders and scram before I have you booted for causing a disturbance of the peace." The thugs were gone faster than the time it took Jim to power down his unused lightsaber and put it back. Pike didn't stick around long, he had skulls to crack, and Jim went back to the bar.

"Sorry about that, Tyler."

"You didn't start it, Jim." The bartender shook his head, "It's been worse than that, actually." Jim shrugged and turned to the recruit he'd been flirting with when Kadinski and his thugs decided she needed rescuing and Jim needed his skull bashed in.

"Not such a dumb hick, huh?"

"Oh my god!" she stared at him in shock, "You're a Skywalker?"

"Surprise." Jim smiled and looked at Tyler, raising two fingers, "Look, let me buy you a drink and we'll call it even."

"Would saying I'm sorry help at all? I really had no idea."

"That's alright, most people don't associate this with the Skywalkers." Jim motioned to his general person. Tyler set two glasses of Desert Glory on the bar with an upraised eyebrow. Jim nodded and handed one to the recruit.

"So, now will you tell me your name?"

"My name's Nyota Uhura."

"Pleasure's mine." He smiled, "Cheers."

"What is this?"

"That, my dear lady, is a Tatooine gut-rot we call Desert Glory. It'll knock you right on your ass if you're not careful."

"Sounds like fun. I've never been to Tatooine."

"Don't go." Jim tossed back the contents of his glass, "You're not missing anything."

"Aww, you don't mean that."

"Sweetheart, I grew up there for the first ten years of my life, and I always swore six ways to Sunday I'd never go back there."

"Why not?"

"You ever heard of a crime-family called the Hutts?"

"Everyone knows about the Hutts."

"They rule Tatooine. Most of the time they ignore the people who live there, I kept my head down."

"I heard Jabba's not above hiring bounty-hunters to track down somebody who's crossed him wrong."

"He ignores the Skywalkers, thankfully. I've got enough trouble with the law in Riverside, I don't need inter-stellar trouble too." Jim looked around the now-quiet bar. Uhura was actually a lot of fun to talk to, and it was easy to make her laugh. They stayed and talked for hours, until it got late enough she was bound to be missed at billeting. Jim offered her a ride when Tyler kicked them out, she said yes. He dropped her off at the billeting hotel and said goodnight.

"Where are you going?"

"I've gotta talk to the captain." Jim shrugged, "I bet I'll see you tomorrow, kid."

"Goodnight, Jim."

"Goodnight, Nyota." He leaned up for a kiss and headed for the Shipyard. He got through the gates with a little suggestion and parked in front of the Quartermaster's Office. Captain Pike was outside, standing at ease as he leaned against the wall of the building, and if Jim hadn't known the man practically from birth, it would have bothered him to see the man smoking a cigarette.

"I was wondering when I'd see you around here, Jim."

"Sorry about the rumble earlier, Uncle Chris." Jim joined Pike against the wall, "And no, I didn't start it."

"You don't need to convince me of that. I take it you made up with your linguist girlfriend?"

"We made up, and she's not my girlfriend."

"Hmm." Pike snorted and passed the cigarette to Jim, who took it without a second's hesitation, "Why don't you call your parents, Jim?"

"I did, yesterday."

"Ah." A shrug. Jim handed the cigarette back and followed Pike inside five minutes later, where he filled out all of the necessary paperwork to sign his life away to Starfleet. It was time he did something with himself. Whether history remembered him as a Skywalker or a Kirk, it wouldn't matter as long as history didn't forget him in it's pages.