Here be the beginning of ST:XI. Familiar adventures abound with a new twist! Enjoy!

Several people address Jim as Skywalker instead of Kirk, just FYI, please don't get too confused and then yell at me because I keep name-changing. Thanks!

Chapter Sixteen

Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Jim and Wolf Squadron found themselves thrust into combat once again. This time, however, it was different. Jim was grounded after he was accused of cheating on the Kobayashi Maru, Starfleet Academy's unbeatable training simulation. He hadn't cheated, it was completely original thinking, but the test's programmer didn't like the fact that a measly Human had beat his "unbeatable" test. Jim could see why Biggs Darklighter had hated these things, all they did was teach you how to fail and feel like shit later because you knew there was no way to win. The court-martial was cut short and the assembled student body was dismissed to report to their stations aboard a fleet of eight ships in orbit around Earth. When assignments were handed down, Jim's name was not called. Bones and Nyota were furious, but Jim had an idea.

"How will you get to the Enterprise, Jim?"

"The same way the rest of you will." Jim looked around for the Enterprise shuttles.

"You boys go ahead, I'll catch up." Nyota whispered. She was fuming. After everything she'd done, everything she'd accomplished, she had been passed over a commission for the Enterprise and was instead assigned to the USS Farragut. Jim quietly reminded her that at least she had a commission. While she went off to confront Commander Spock, Jim and Bones headed for the nearest Enterprise shuttle. Instead of a flight-officer, they found Hikaru Sulu waiting for them. Jim smirked.

"Lieutenant Sulu."

"Commander Skywalker." Sulu cut a neat salute, "There should be a few seats left, sir."

"Good man."

"Where is Lieutenant Uhura, sir?"

"Oh, she's coming. Don't worry, Wolf Six." Jim clapped his loyal pilot on the shoulder, "She'd kill me if I left without her, I kind of like my head where it is." Sulu just smiled and Jim ducked into the shuttle. Everyone except Nyota was there, he counted all nineteen of his pilots and a few extras. Nyota arrived five minutes later with Gaila Pardee in tow. Jim smiled as the girls sat down and buckled his harness. The shuttle launched and Jim looked out as they left Earth behind. He had the window-seat, Bones still had a wariness for space-flight unless he was in the cockpit of his X-Wing. Jim could understand why he preferred the X-Wing to something bigger, he had more control in the X-Wing, full control now that they had upgraded their fighters to a fully automatic system complete with specialized hyper-drives and copilot computers to replace their droids. When they came into view of the armada, Jim took one look at the Enterprise and X-Wings were forgotten.

"Wow, look at her!"

"Isn't she something?" Bones breathed, "Prettiest death-trap I've ever seen." Several of their pilots snickered. When they reached the Enterprise, they were assigned divisions, except for Jim, who went to see Captain Pike while the rest of them got settled.

Christopher Pike was finishing up a few last-minute tasks before the Enterprise launched, going over crew rosters and division assignments for the Cadets. He couldn't help noticing that, somehow, he had ended up with Wolf Squadron in full force, give or take a few. Missing from the roster were Wolf Leader, Wolf Three, and Wolf Seven. He frowned and checked their statuses. Wolf Three and Wolf Seven had been assigned to the USS Farragut, Wolf Leader had been put on Academic Suspension. It was the only time Chris despised his First Officer. It was petty jealousy that had spurred Spock's actions, Chris had always thought the half-Vulcan above that kind of thing. Suddenly, an update was posted. Nyota Uhura and Gaila Pardee had been reassigned to the Enterprise at the request of Commander Spock, but there was no change in Jim Kirk's status. This would fray Admiral Skywalker's edges for sure, Christopher thought blandly. He rarely saw the man get angry, but Anakin Skywalker was notorious for spending most of his time and energy with the Rebel Alliance. The man was also very fond and supportive of all of his children, especially his first-born son. Christopher wouldn't wish Anakin Skywalker's fury on anyone, but that's what Spock would face if and when the admiral found out about his son's current issues. As he was contemplating this, he heard the lock of his door give way and looked up. That door was sealed against break-in, unless you knew how to break a lock without codes. The door opened and admitted a confident Jim Kirk. Christopher just smiled.

"So, I have the honor of Wolf Squadron's service to the flagship. Has Doctor McCoy complained?"

"He doesn't know that there are twenty X-Wings in Shuttle Bay 2. I can't wait to tell him."

"Or show him. I knew you'd find a way aboard the Enterprise, Skywalker. Have you run into Commander Spock yet?"

"No, sir. I figure it will only be a matter of time before I encounter your bitter First Officer." Jim wiggled his eyebrows, "He just doesn't like me because I outsmarted his "unbeatable" test."

"But you didn't exactly cheat." Christopher smirked, "Go get into uniform, you'll be bunking with Doctor McCoy, and stay out of trouble."

"Yes, sir." Jim saluted and disappeared. Shaking his head, Christopher finished up pre-launch procedure and placed a call through to the Star of Osiris.

After finagling a few uniforms out of the Quartermaster, Jim found his quarters, made himself at home, and went to "stay out of trouble". He hunted down his roommate and found Bones hard at work in Sickbay. Jim quietly glanced at his friend's belt and smirked. Sneaking up behind his wingman, he hugged Bones from behind and almost sent the man to the ceiling.

"Jim!"

"You're wearing your lightsaber, Bones."

"Damn it, Jim! How'd you sneak up on me like that?"

"It's not really that hard." He gave his best friend his most charming smile. Bones glared at him, or tried to, but he just couldn't. To stay out of trouble, he followed Bones around Sickbay for a while before moving on to bother Gaila and Nyota in Engineering. When the Navigator announced their mission and what it entailed, Jim grabbed Nyota and Gaila, ran to find Bones, and stormed the bridge.

The relative quiet of the bridge was rudely disrupted when the doors flew open and Jim Kirk rushed onto the bridge followed by three of his pilots. Christopher Pike didn't have to ask to know something was seriously wrong.

"Jim?"

"You have to stop the Enterprise, Captain! It's not a natural disaster!" Jim caught the rail, the only thing that stopped him. It was also the only thing to keep him on his feet. Christopher did not miss the pained expression on his face. People were dying, and Jim could feel every death.

"Kirk, you are not cleared to serve aboard this ship." Spock got himself involved and Christopher just closed his eyes for a minute to pray for Spock's wisdom. Four Alliance pilots, four of their best pilots in fact, looked at each other before they turned to the First Officer and looked at him.

"With all due respect, Commander Spock, I think we have a slightly bigger problem here than you accusing me of cheating. I did not cheat, we both know that, you just don't like the idea of a measly Human beating your stupid test." Jim never smiled, or grinned, or gave any indication that he was yanking Spock's chain so to speak.

"Cadet Kirk…"

"It's Commander." Jim raised one hand to show the rank-stripes on his sleeve, but he was also doing something else, "Commander, your home-world and your people are under threat from malevolent enemy forces that don't quite scare me the way they should, and you're picking a fight over academic conduct? I'd be more worried about Vulcan and it's people than that damn test of yours." Oh, Jim was good. Of course, he was half-Skywalker. Born out of extraordinary circumstances, to one of the most powerful Knights of the Jedi Order, in hiding since the age of two, in exile since ten. Spock geared up for a smack-down fight, Jim stopped him.

"Commander, you don't want to fight me for any reason. After what I saw and did three years ago, I think I can tell you there are bigger things in this universe than you and me."

"And what did you do? What did you see?" Spock snarled. Jim's eyes narrowed to slits. Oh, this was not good, but Christopher knew better than to break it up between them.

"Captain Pike, if you would?"

"Lieutenant Sulu, prepare to break warp on my mark."

"Aye, sir." Sulu, one of Jim's pilots and a bloody loyal one, just nodded.

When Jim Kirk arrived on the bridge and told Captain Pike they had to break warp, Spock was far from thrilled to see him and reminded him that he was on suspension and therefore banned from service. Kirk turned on him and Spock had the feeling he'd just picked a fight with the wrong person. It was rare he got that gut-feeling, but the fact that all three of Kirk's cohorts were giving him a similar look of disdain, Lieutenant Uhura's bearing a touch of malice, told him this wasn't the time to bring up the Kobayashi Maru. When Kirk mentioned that Vulcan was under threat from enemy forces that, as he said, didn't scare him quite the way they should, Spock wondered who this upstart Human thought he was. Kirk then proceeded to bring up some events that had taken place three years ago, something he had done and seen.

"And what did you do? What did you see?" Spock snarled. Kirk's eyes narrowed to slits. He spoke to Pike first, then gave his full attention to Spock.

"Remember Alderaan." Two words. At first, they meant nothing to Spock.

But he remembered seeing twenty small snub-fighters tucked away in Shuttle Bay 2, all twenty of them bearing kill-marks of some kind. Curious, he'd gone for a closer look at some of them. On the cockpit-rims above the kill-marks were names. J. Skywalker, L. McCoy, N. Uhura, G. Pardee, and H. Sulu were among the names listed. Emblazoned on the helmets were several emblems. Two coats-of-arms adorned the helmets, a stylized trident of some kind and a wolf's head in silhouette on opposite sides of the helmets.

He remembered seeing these same fighters at the Academy, wondering why the Board allowed them to remain. It was some elite student-group that called itself Wolf Squadron, that's all he knew of them. Rumor floated around campus that some of the pilots were Jedi Knights hiding from the Galactic Empire that hunted their kind to the death. Spock returned his focus to the pilots before him, and frowned. He looked past Kirk to McCoy.

"I was under the impression you disdained space-flight, Doctor McCoy."

"Yeah, well, I hate the Galactic Empire more than I hate flying."

"I see."

"Commander, we have a situation on our hands that doesn't make the Battle of Yavin seem insignificant, but it's definitely a problem. I would really hate to involve Admiral Skywalker if I didn't have to." Kirk looked at him calmly, but the threat was thinly-veiled. Spock knew when to pick his fights, and which fights to pick. This was not one of them. Without a word, he backed down. The Enterprise shuddered as they emerged from warp and almost immediately they were pulling outrageous maneuvers to avoid colliding with debris. It was all that remained of seven ships. Spock glanced at Kirk, who gripped the railing tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

"Skywalker?"

"They had no chance, no warning, no escape." Kirk looked at him, "Commander, we just lost thirteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-seven officers and crew."

"You felt their deaths."

"Every single one of them." Kirk looked ahead, "Just like Alderaan. Please don't let this turn into another Alderaan." Spock couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like to know that kind of pain. Clearing the debris field, they encountered a massive ship unlike anything Spock had seen before. Kirk and McCoy and the others made a weird noise.

"Still smaller than the Death Star." McCoy whispered. They were hailed by the Romulans, for it was a Romulan ship, and a bizarre exchange took place.

"Skywalker, deploy as many of your pilots as you can spare. Start the evacuations if they haven't already begun." Pike was giving orders as they left the bridge. Kirk nodded and broke off to round up a token force of pilots. Spock accepted full responsibility of the Enterprise when Pike gave it to him, and Kirk was made First Officer. Spock didn't see Kirk again until he went to rescue the High Command. Kirk appeared in uniform after leaving the transporter room as he came in, and Spock didn't stop him from coming.

Upon returning from Vulcan with a fraction of the High Command, clutching Amanda Grayson by the arm to keep her safe, Jim Kirk was reeling. The sheer force of a planet destroying itself was giving him a bitch of a headache. With the death of so many Vulcans following the deaths of seven crews, Jim felt himself fall backwards when Vulcan went the way of Alderaan. Bones and Spock caught him as he sank to the floor, someone lifted him onto the nearby bed.

"What happened to him, Doctor?"

"If I had to guess? Vulcan's gone the way of Alderaan. With seven ships gone before it, I'm not surprised he did this." He heard Bones.

Skywalker?

Spock?

Will you be alright? Jim's eyes flew open at that one. He glared at Spock.

"I'm not so emotionally crippled I can't do my job, Captain!" he snapped, fighting to sit up. For once, Bones let him. Jim stared at the floor for such a long time he heard Bones telling Spock to leave off for a while, stay out of the way. He found a release and looked at Bones, who just gave him that sly smile as he set to work on Jim's multitude of injuries.

"For what it's worth, I don't like him much either." Bones said quietly, "He's a prick."

"He has a superiority complex that makes me want to rip his head off. But I'm better than that, it's not the way of the Jedi to act on feelings of anger or rage like that."

"That's good common sense, I guess all that training was good for something after all." Bones just kept to his work and Jim looked around the crowded Sickbay. He'd survived worse than this, defeating the Romulans shouldn't be too hard if he just planned his moves carefully.