Spock took his seat in the front row of the chairs set up on The Academy Quad next to Kirk He had spent up until the last moment he could spare that morning meditating.
He needed it. He was horribly nervous although he did his best to suppress and control it and not let it show on the outside. It didn't and no one would notice his nerves.
He knew he had no reason to be nervous anyway. This ceremony called 'Graduation' was a formality. All the cadets had completed their finals successfully and they had all already been given assignments or made their obligations to come back in the fall to continue their education.
But how much it mattered to those around him aided in making it feel incredibly important.
Additionally, His parents were here. As were Jim's.
"So does it feel weird to you that Bones is in the back row somewhere?" Kirk asked Spock after he sat.
"No. He isn't graduating today-why would he sit up here with us?" Spock said.
"Well, he always sits with us."
"In unofficial functions. This is very much official." Spock countered.
"Maybe so but still-oh we're starting!" Kirk said, standing with all the other cadets to recite the same oath they'd taken when they started out as cadets. After that they sat while some speeches were given by professors, captains, and a member of the federation council.
And of course, a speech or two by students-such as the class valedictorian.
Kirk got up from his seat and took a deep breath as he walked onto the stage that had been set up and to the podium.
"Like most of you, I showed up here one September day four years ago. And I showed up with ridiculous expectations. Not of the school, but of myself. That somehow my natural intelligence and charm would let me fly through school as if it were nothing. That somehow I would always be a step ahead and a floor above anyone else around me. Well. I couldn't have been more wrong.
"I found a challenge here. Not just in academics-although they were-but in every area of my life. I had to prove at every turn who I was and that what I stood for. and if it wasn't what Starfleet stood for then why was I here? Well I found a reason to be here and to struggle forward. I found people who made me feel more alive than I've been. I found out what I'm good at and what I just need to try harder at, and I found out-much to my relief-that I can be a leader among leaders. And I learned to take the responsibility of that seriously.
"But what am I getting at here? Well, I guess what I'm getting at is I've come out of this fine school on my way to being a grown man and ready to go out not just into the world but into the galaxy. And ready to serve and aid the Federation as a Starfleet Officer. And there are so many people at this Academy-both graduating today and continuing their education a while longer-who I can only hope I'm worthy to have at my side while I do.
"I'd like to thank all the teachers who challenged and educated us. The officers who had the sense to slap some into me, and the medical staff who fixed the cuts and bruises along the way as we all toughened up and learned to tolerate enough pain to be prepared to protect others from it. And...I'd like to thank my roommates who had as much to do with who I am today and what I've accomplished as any of the rest I've thanked. I'd like to think I had some influence on them as well-I suppose time will tell.
"I hope we can all take a moment today to reflect on who we were, who we've become, and who we will be as we go out from this place, no longer Cadets but Officers. Ensigns of Starfleet prepared to Seek out new Life and new Civilizations. To Boldly Go where no Man.." Kirk paused and looked over the crowd of cadets and their families before him. All the men, women, others, humans, aliens, and his own Vulcan friend... he took a breath and revised his sentence...
"...Where no One has gone before. Thank you." Kirk stepped away from the podium to applause as he returned to his seat, catching Bones's eyes a few rows back where he sat in dress uniform with other, non-graduating Cadets.
Kirk smiled to Bones who smiled back, nodding his head a bit as he found himself proud of his friend as he watched him return to his seat while the Dean took the stand again.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you the Starfleet Academy Class of Two-Thousand-Two-Hundred-Fifty-Four!" The applause-more thunderous than before-started back up as everyone stood. There was no hat tossing or cheering from the cadets-not at a school such as this. But there was excitement and joy as they looked among themselves.
Jim looked to Spock, smiling widely. "We did it-we're Ensigns!"
"Yes. I suppose we are." Spock said, looking around the crowd.
And for a moment-just a moment-as Kirk saw Spock in profile, he could've sworn he saw the Half-Vulcan Ensign smile just as widely.
THE END