Late in the afternoon Kirk woke. He was surprised that he'd managed to fall asleep. Luckily he had been too tired to dream that night. Sitting up he slowly stretched his muscles, working to get the blood pumping through his arm and legs. Bones glanced over at Kirk as he shifted himself into a sitting position.

'Last day,' he announced.

Kirk grunted in reply.

The Tellarite stretched, his arms reaching out for the treetops, 'good. The effects of that food are starting to wear off. Don't know if I'll be able to last another day with an empty stomach.'

Uhura made her way over to the trio and sat down on the ground next to the Tellarite.

'How are we suppose to know when this thing is over? The teacher said two nights right?' she asked.

Bones nodded slowly.

'Maybe they'll use the klaxon alarm again' he mused.

'What I don't get, is how come we didn't see a single soldier besides the ones we stunned earlier,' deliberated Kirk, 'It was barely a survival test, more of a fasting-in-the-forest assignment.'

'That's probably it,' Uhura said

Kirk raised his eyebrow at her comment, 'What's probably it?' He asked.

Uhura rolled her eyes at him but she explained her reasoning, 'the cadets who got chosen to be soldiers were only given rations for three days, whereas the soldiers on Tarsus IV had whatever Kodos gave them. It was their job to go out and hunt the locals, but the cadets don't have any incentive. They've probably been sitting around complaining about their stomach's for the last two days.'

So that was it Kirk thought. It was a good thing too, he didn't know if he'd have been able to keep it together if the assignment was anything like his time on Tarsus IV.

'Ah…'

The Tellarite was staring at his arms, as they grew brighter and turned into atoms.

'I guess we've finished our practical,' said Uhura, before she disappeared shortly after the Tellarite.'


40 minutes later Kirk stood under a showerhead and let the flow of warm water wash away the sweat and dirt that had accumulated. After appearing on a transporter pad he had been instructed towards the academy hall where he had been greeted by his Bones and waited for the rest of the 'survivors' to fill the hall. There had been at least 10 survivors out of the original 30. The teacher had awarded them 20 credits each and Kirk had chucked a smirk towards loudmouth and the Andorian who were standing in the group of 'dead' locals. He felt a surge of satisfaction when loudmouth's face turned a deep shade of purple. But then the teacher had then reminded them all of their next class and Kirk's brief moment of happiness was crushed when she mentioned that they would continue studying Tarsus IV for the next few lessons.

Standing in the shower, Kirk contemplated his next class. He could always study on his padd and try to ignore the lesson; but even with his eyes averted he'd still be able to hear what was going on and he didn't think headphones or earphones would be very subtle. Frustrated, he went to bed.

'Before we start today's class, Starfleet Academy's commandant has asked me to make an announcement,' the teacher announced, 'in accordance with the anniversary of Tarsus IV, one of the survivors will be present to speak to us about his experience tomorrow.'

Immediately the other cadets were alert, leaning over their tables to whisper amongst each other. Kirk looked up from his padd and glanced around the classroom at the other cadets. A survivor? He thought to himself, why the hell would any of us want to reveal ourselves to the public? Worse still, what if he recognizes me?

The teacher quickly silenced the class. 'That's all I know, you'll have to wait till tomorrow for answers. In the meantime, we're going to watch footage from Tarsus IV and I want you to analyze and compare it to your survival assignment.'

The lights in the classroom automatically dimmed and the footage appeared on the screen at the front of the class. Kirk quickly dropped his head back down to the screen of his padd and propped his head up with his hands, shielding his face with his arms so that no one could see the panicky expression on his face.


Nyota Uhura sat at the front of the class and grimaced at the morbid scenes that were unfolding on the screen in front of her. She glanced around the classroom to see if anyone else were as appalled as her but they all appeared unconcerned at the footage. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted Kirk a few rows behind her, face buried between his hands staring intently at his padd. He had acted unusual during their last assignment – not that she was complaining – normally he would have flirted with her every 5 minutes and act irrationally, probably causing their group to be caught within the first hour. However he had apparently matured – making coherent decisions and even worrying for her health after they had stolen the rations. Either something drastic had happened or there was something he wasn't telling her. Mentally shrugging, she pushed her curiosity aside and turned back to the screen.

Child soldiers ran amok. Following the orders of Kodos, they shot any survivor that moved. One of the soldiers – a boy with jet-black hair – wandered away from the others. Apparently he heard a noise for he whipped his head around, scanning the undergrowth to his left. Like his hair, his eyes were incredibly dark and cold, hardened by what they had seen. Suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed the shirt of a small boy hiding in a bush. The child screamed for help, thrashing against the soldier until he managed to get free, and ran towards the cover of a copse of trees. No sooner had the soldier lost his grip; he shrugged his gun free, raised it, aimed and shot. The fleeing child slumped to the ground. Then a screaming form rammed into the soldier's side, pushing him to the ground. Another child most likely avenging the death of his friend pummeled the soldier with his fists. Shouts came from off-screen and the child hesitated momentarily before sprinting back into the undergrowth. His mop of blonde hair lost amongst the green. Two more soldiers ran in from the side of the screen.

'42! What d'ya think you were doing? You should have shot him before he got onto you!'

The sound quality was horrible and Uhura had a hard time deciphering the dialogue. Two rows behind her, Kirk stiffened in his seat. 42… Mitchell…He glared at his padd and fought to control the rage that was threatening to burst from him.

'He got me by surprised,' 42 growled, 'I only just got rid of another one and then he came at me!'

Kirk clenched his fists and concentrated on his breathing.

Uhura watched, as the footage grew more violent. When the Starfleet ships finally arrived she allowed herself to relax in her seat.

The Starfleet officers divided themselves into small scouting groups. They broke down doors and raided building after building, hoping to find any survivors. The scene shifted to a makeshift camp. A boy hid behind an officer's leg as he was brought into a medical tent. Whiplashes scarred his back and a knife cut ran down the length of his hand.

Uhura leaned slightly forward in her seat, that boy looked awfully familiar she thought. Then she realized – it was the same boy that had attacked the child soldier earlier – same unruly blonde hair and his eyes… Uhura scrutinized; she had seen those same eyes before, they were incredibly blue… She twisted around in her seat and her eyes came to rest on Kirk. She peeled her eyes through the dimness of the room and made out his hand, still fisted at the side of his head. She swore she could almost see the silver line of a scar running down the back of his hand…

The screen disappeared, indicating the end of the footage and Uhura quickly turned to the front of the classroom as lights lit up the room. Around her, students groaned and squinted their eyes against the sharp light as they waited for their eyes to readjust.

Kirk unclenched his fists and wiped his sweaty palms against his uniform. He put his padd to sleep and cautiously looked up from desk. Once satisfied that the footage had ended, he breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to relax in his seat. That wasn't so bad he told himself. Yet deep down he couldn't push away his memories of Mitchell from his head. Mitchell had been the worst of Kodos soldiers. Relentlessly, he had hunted and even killed three of Kirk's boys. Kirk had tried to take revenge for his friends on multiple occasions but those damn soldiers always got in the way and he'd been forced to flee to avoid the same fate as his friends. The sound of chairs scraping pulled him back to the present and he quickly gathered his stuff before hurrying to catch up to Bones.