Snippet 1i

Spock raised an eyebrow. "I suggest you do. You all have one hour before you return here. I suggest that you learn the material before we reconvene."

An unsettled murmur passed through the crowd of cadets. Some of them looked indignant - while others just looked plain worried.

"Just one hour?" one cadet asked weakly, watching as Jim stepped back grouchily into the crowd. "...wh-what if we're dyslexic...?"

Spock raised his eyebrows. "I would suggest increasing your speed of retention."

The cadet looked dumbstruck.

Jim raised his hand determinedly one more time. "And what do we call you?"

"You have already stated it." Spock replied, turning to him as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Commander Spock, and you would do well Cadet Kirk to take your time to study well. All are dismissed."

The cadets all moved after that - some looking more on the verge of a panic-attack than others.

"Can you believe that guy?" Jim muttered to the dark-haired man next to him - who he could tell was a doctor from the patch on his sleeve - as they walked back toward the main building again. "He's a total hard-ass. And he looks like he's 19. He's not really serious about all this, is he?"

"He better not expect the medical teams to be involved." The doctor grouched, glancing behind him as Spock watched them all leave. "It's complete counteractive."

"Of course you'll have to be involved. Where would rookie cadets be without rookie doctors?"

The doctor gave him a look. "We didn't become doctors because we like killing people."

*

An hour later, everyone reported back to the training field, some of them looking more bleary-eyed from reading than others.

"I couldn't get through it all," one cadet groaned. "That's a SHIT-load of stuff to read in an hour!"

"I got through it all," a dark-skinned female cadet announced, folding her arms. "And I'm already fluent in the Vulcan language, so I read the first half in that dialect as well."

"Go die in a fire," Jim said lazily as he stepped forward. He looked around. "So where's Commander Spock? You'd think he be standing right here waiting for us to get back."

"Or he could be standing right behind you like in a bad movie." The doctor next to him whispered casually.

Jim craned his neck cautiously over his shoulder.

Sulu waved at him cheekily.

Jim turned back around. "Very funny. Now, seriously, where is he? Don't we actually have to start learning stuff today?"

"Cadets!"

The call rang through the murmuring room, and everyone looked up to the front where Spock, dressed in casual (and obviously Vulcan) attire was standing looking at all of them. "Stand at attention."

All of them quickly moved to obey. All of them except Jim, who took his time getting in line. There were several very happy sighs coming from some of the females, though, until they were silenced by several males glaring at thetm.

Spock surveyed the room for a moment, making eye contact with several of them before turning and stepping onto a mat that had suddenly appeared during their break. "James Kirk, come forward."

Jim's eyes widened slightly. He glanced around, as if giving another Jim Kirk a chance to come forward, before he took a few careful steps forward. "Yeah?"

Spock glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised expectantly. "We will test your knowledge. Quicken your pace."

"Sounds painful," Jim said, half in joke, half in worry at the complete business-tone of Spock's voice. Only a few of the cadets dared to chuckle.

Spock moved to one end of the map as Jim approached. "First, we must begin in the proper position which Kirk will demonstrate."

"Oh...right," Jim moved forward, giving a slightly nervous glance around, before he moved to the other side of the mat, and carefully moved himself into the position he remembered from the text book. "...like that?"

Spock moved down into a clearly more defined position, his eyes trained on him. "I will begin first with a randomly chosen offensive move. You will attempt to block me." he said, and before Jim even had a change to react he lunged forward, a fist heading right toward the human's jaw.

And Jim attempted to block it all right - by taking the best defensive maneuver in the book and falling flat to the ground.

The ripple of laughter coursed through the group as Spock slowly straightened and looked down at the fallen cadet. Glancing at him and then the crowd, he turned back to the other end of the mat.

They had a long way to go.

*

"Doin' alright there Jim?" The doctor - who's name turned out to be McCoy - asked Jim who was walking up to the port-o-transport that they had been assigned to. "Your jaw looks a little better."