Chapter Ten

                Finals sucked. It was so confusing because I was used to using my water skin in my mind, allowing me to still hear thoughts of others, but filter them out, except when they were really concentrating. I would have put myself in my windowless room, not allowing anyone else’s thoughts to penetrate through, but it was so exhausting, by the time I had my last final I couldn’t afford to us that shield. Which meant, that when someone was really concentrating on their answers I couldn’t focus on my own.

                I need to continue this test in private. I told Spock mentally, causing him to look up at me with his characteristic eyebrow.

                And why should I allow this for you? He retorted, albeit amused. As to him, it didn’t appear that I had broken from my concentration visually.

                Because these people suck at controlling their thoughts, and I am exhausted from having maximum blocking shields up the entire day. Right now, I can’t distinguish my own answers from theirs. I am afraid of typing in the wrong answer. It took me a bit to swallow my pride and admit I was having difficulty with my telepathy today, knowing how far I’d come in such a short amount of time. You should be proud, your students are focusing on their tests, and only their tests. I added, hoping he would feel something good from that and allow me to continue my test later, alone.

                I will allow it today. However, in the future, I suggest you make arrangements with your other professors to take your finals in private. He submitted.

                “Cadet Mor, you are needed elsewhere at the moment. You shall finish your test at a later hour. I will contact you. It will be today.” He spoke aloud, breaking the concentration of some students only for a moment. Thankfully, they were far too concerned with their own tests to pay much attention to the favor he was granting me.

                 “Yes, commander.” I said aloud, for the benefit of the cadets. Thank you. I added mentally. I rose from my seat, handed him my test. And proceeded to walk out of the classroom.

                I am changing the rest of your test, it will be more difficult to compensate for the compromise I am allowing you. Do you understand? Spock asked me mentally as I broke out of his classroom doors.

                I would expect nothing less. Although, I think I just might surprise you. I said playfully.

                Even if you manage to pass the rest of this test with 100% accuracy, it would not surprise me. He replied, and with that I continued on my way back to my room for a much needed nap. I was, truly, exhausted from having full shields up most of the day.

                A couple hours passed, I was unable to sleep, so I decided to meditate in the way that Spock had taught me. It was the best rest I could muster at that point. Meditation was not easy to start out with, but I was beginning to get the hang of it. Sometimes I preferred meditation to sleep, mainly because when I slept my shields were not active, I didn’t really have a mental defense. However, meditation granted me a respite from the chaotic thoughts that threatened to drown my own consciousness out while at the same time allowing my mind to rest. It was a happy compromise. As my telepathy began to strengthen, and my defense against being bombarded by carless cadets and their thoughts as well, I found I didn’t need to sleep as much as I used to. I guess it must be a thing with all telepaths.

Vulcans were renowned for how little sleep they actually needed, but meditation seemed to make up for the time they didn’t actually sleep. I, by no means, could stray from legitimate sleep as long as a Vulcan could, or even a full-fledged betazed woman of the fifth house, but I also didn’t need as much sleep as a normal human did anymore. This was particularly helpful for my studies. I had more time to devote to my classwork and learning.

A beeping sound pulled me from my calm meditative state. A communication message popping up on the screen in my room.

“Ms. Mor, it is time for your test.” It was Spock’s voice and image. We had deduced that during meditation it was unwise to communicate telepathically. Also, sometimes, depending on the depth of my meditation, he could establish contact with me in that way, being that he was a touch-telepath. Usually I kept, for all intents and purposes, a line open for him, so that he could communicate with me at his leisure telepathically. This line seemed to be closed in deep meditation, not that he used it frequently anyway.

“I’ll be right there, sir.” I replied and his image vanished.

The test was actually easy. I could tell where he made it harder. I mean, I understood his reasoning. It wouldn’t be fair to the other cadets if I had time, which they would perceive, to study more, not that I needed it. The test was conducted in Vulcan. The questions were in Vulcan, and we had to answer in Vulcan. That gave me a distinct advantage. The knowledge, well that I had to know from studying. There were questions on the half of the test he reformatted for me that weren’t covered in class. Sneaky b*****d. It took me an hour and a half to finish the exam. The cadets in class had used up all three hours of class to finish theirs.

“I’m done.” I got up and walked to his desk, handing him my test PADD. He looked up at me, eyebrow raised in question as per usual.

“I promise, I answered every question, to the best of my capability, and no, your tricky questions that covered material which was not discussed in class did not best me.” I smiled and laughed softly.

“Very well.” Was all he replied with, taking the test PADD from me, our hands brushing against each other for a fraction of a second. A fraction of a second was all I needed to gather information, involuntarily, from his mind, shielded or not. He was proud of me, he was not surprised, as his eyebrow would have had me believe. He felt…protective as well. His emotions were what I felt then, not his thoughts. He was intrigued by me, by my very existence. It sent shivers down my spine.

“I am singing tonight at the talent show.” I offered, not understanding why.

“I was unaware that you wished to participate in the academy’s extracurricular activities that were not academically revolved.” He replied.

“Well, it was Tasha’s idea. She wouldn’t let me NOT participate. Something about a waste of talent, not sharing it with the rest of the world or something crazy like that. I just signed up to shut her up.” It was a lame excuse, even if it was half-way true. There was a part of me that didn’t want to, but there was also a part of that was excited from the prospect. I LOVED music. It was the one thing that was absolutely mine. It wasn’t Starfleet’s, it wasn’t the Sealtag’s legacy, it was pure and simply me. Who doesn’t want to be accepted for something that is such a huge part of them?

“I see. You do not seem so opposed to the idea.” He said, not questioning it, he was stating a fact. That was another thing, as much as I had been able begin to understand him through his telepathic thoughts, leading me away from being angry or in conflict with his outwardly cold nature, he had done the same with me. Especially because of the meld. It was a weird circumstance. He probably knew me better than Tasha did at this point, and I no longer cared. In fact, I reveled in the idea that someone knew me so well. I was at peace around Spock now. He didn’t expect me to be anyone other than myself, and he pushed me to be better. It was nice.

“No. Not really. I just opposed it for her benefit I guess. Honestly, I am pretty excited.” I admitted out loud, even though I didn’t have to. “Will you be there?” I asked as an afterthought.

“As a member of the faculty it is my duty to attend such programs.” He answered. Translation, he would be there, but he wasn’t going to admit to the fact that he wanted to be there, if he did.

“Right. Well then, I’ll see you later. Thanks again, for allowing me to finish the exam privately.” I offered.

“It is of no consequence. Thanks are unnecessary. I will see you in two hours.” He said, effectively dismissing me. I needed to go get ready for the damn talent show.

As soon as I walked out of the classroom I was met by Tasha, Leo, and Kirk. What the heck was Kirk doing here?

“Hey! Ready to sing your butt off, Aila?” Tasha teased.

“Only because you’re forcing me to.”

“You’ll do great! I know you will. Leo is going to sing too, apparently they need just as many staff members to participate as well as the student body. I didn’t realize.” Tasha said. Leo harrumphed. Kirk laughed out loud.

“What are you even doing here, captain?” I turned to him and asked him icily, but not really meaning it so harshly.

“I gotta talk to my first officer. None of your business, cadet.” He replied sarcastically, then laughed again. “I’ll see you guys later. Break a leg you two.” He looked at Leo then at me before he walked into Spock’s classroom.

“Well, let’s go get changed!” Tasha exclaimed.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Leo asked aloud to himself as we started heading towards the dorm. Yeah, these were my friends, and I was damn happy to have them.

 

SPOCK

 

“Captain.” I supplied, feeling him walk in the room, not even bothering to look up. I had heard him outside the door only moments prior.

“It’s Jim, Spock, come on!” He retorted, as usual. “So, did you find anything else out about that Kayden Ross kid?” He asked. I had informed him of the unusual circumstances of Cadet Ross’ arrival at the academy after Aila had visited me in my office panicked weeks ago. I had also informed him of Aila’s predicament and her Sealtag heritage, considering that most of her professors voiced the opinion she should be assigned to the Enterprise following her graduation. I had been among them that did, prior to her attack at the beginning of the semester. Now, armed with the information about her, I felt it imperative she be assigned to the Enterprise, and the captain agreed. She was unaware of her pending status as yet, but it had been decided, she would serve under Mr. Scott as his second chief engineer. She was talented enough to do so, and probably would have been assigned under him current circumstances notwithstanding.

“I refer to your rank currently because this is a professional matter, not a personal one, captain. However, since you have stressed your desire to be called by your first name so often, I shall do so, Jim. Concerning Cadet Ross, I have gathered more information since I first informed you of his peculiar presence. As you know, at the moment I informed you of his presence, Cadet Ross had no records in Starfleet, let alone the London Campus, or transfer orders to the Academy here.”

“Yeah I know, Spock. Get to the point. What new s**t have you found?” He asked impatiently. This was not new. Jim Kirk was, although a great captain, a very impatient man still.

“It seems he is a legitimate cadet in his third year of study at Starfleet Academy now.” I informed him, knowing he would understand the irregular nature of my information. “It seems that his paperwork was correctly filed, after a delay of two days. If you were to look into his file now, everything would appear to be in order.”

“Do such delays usually happen?” He asked.

“Delays in paperwork are not unheard of.”

“But, having no past, having no paperwork in the system at all is.” It wasn’t a question.

“Undeniably. When I first searched the database for a Cadet Kayden Ross, Starfleet did not seem to have a file at all, concerning either the Academy, or the smaller London campus. I then initiated a search in the Federation database concerning civilian citizens residing on Earth. My search did not yield any information concerning a Kayden Ross. I then increased the parameters of my search to include all Federation planets, all databases, still the search yielded no information. I was then inspired to search every database I had access to, and you know I have access to almost every database, I could not find a Kayden Ross matching this alleged cadet’s description. As Ross is a rather common terran surname, I found it odd that I did not yield any results whatsoever.”

“But you said that it appears he is a legitimate cadet with a legitimate past now. What do you mean?”

“Two days after my initial search, I attempted to resume the search, considering criminal databases that I had not included in my original search. The search never made it to the criminal databases. Cadet Kayden Ross appeared in the Starfleet Academy database, file complete.”

“So you think he somehow hacked the database, inserted some fake history and a fake profile of study at the London campus? That Cadet Kayden Ross is an imposter?” He questioned.

“Indeed.” Was the single answer I provided. It was sufficient enough for the captain.

“Well s**t. Are you actually saying we have a damn imposter strolling around the academy with god knows what intentions who can hack Starfleet databases?” His tone increased dramatically.

“Captain,” I began, he gave me a cross look which I took to mean he wanted me to call him by his name, “Jim, there is no question that Kayden Ross is not in fact a cadet, that he is an imposter. The only question is why is he here and what are his motives.” I supplied, he nodded in agreement.

“Speculation?”

“As he has made contact with Cadet Mor and her abilities seemed to warn her of his presence to assume it was of a nefarious nature, I can only speculate he is here and has some motivation regarding Ms. Mor.” I explained.

“What the hell does he want with Aila?” He asked, mainly to himself before turning back to face me. “This-this prophecy you told me about….does it say anything else besides that she’s supposedly going to come into some pretty great powers?” He asked. I had told him, after contacting my father immediately following the meeting with a panicked Aila, if I could at least share the information concerning the Sealtag with the senior staff of the Enterprise. My father relented, knowing that no information would be leaked to Starfleet from any one of them until absolutely necessary. “I mean, all evidence, speculated or not, seems to point out that he is after Aila for some reason.” He finished, putting both hands on my desk in a supportive posture.

“Jim, I do not doubt the fact that she is danger. That was made apparent to me at the beginning of this semester.” I began. “Whether or not that danger has come in the form of Kayden Ross or not remains to be seen. This evidence you point out could be no more than a coincidence. In which case, Starfleet needs to be informed of his presence, as I do not doubt they have not looked into the matter such as we have.”

“Spock, you know better than that. I know you could probably come up with a million other logical reasons why this kid has faked being a cadet at the academy, but look at the timeline. He comes here, what two fudging days or so after you remove the block in her mind, which supposedly starts to unlock her damn powers. I mean, s**t, she wasn’t telepathic before you did that, was she? Then there’s the matter of his paperwork being all jacked up, then magically appearing in the system, full of a past and everything. I’ve asked around the London Campus. Don’t look at me like that, I have friends there. No one remembers anything about some freaking Cadet Kayden Ross who transferred over here. Then there’s the fact that Aila said she felt the way she felt around him and after he left. You even described her as hysterical.”

“Her telepathy had not surfaced to the degree it is at now at that point, there may be another reason why she reacted so to his presence.” I supplied.

“Oh bullshit, Spock! The facts line up good enough. I mean, come on, you guys didn’t believe me about Nero at first, and there was even less evidence to support that. I was right then. I’m right now. That fake cadet is after Aila, I don’t know why, but I know that.” I winced when he mentioned Nero. It was still painful to be reminded of my planet and its inhabitants’ existence being extinguished. “It doesn’t take a genius, which you are, to put the pieces together, Spock. That kid has some sort of freaking agenda with her, and you know it, don’t even deny it.” He looked at me finally, after pacing in front of my desk ranting. “Kayden Ross wants her, and not in a good way. He is a danger to her and we are just sitting around letting him traipse around campus like nothing is wrong.”

“Captain- “

“Jim.”

“Jim, I do not disagree with you, however, there is little we can do about the matter at the moment.”

“Bullshit! I don’t accept that. We can at least tell Starfleet he’s a damn imposter!”

“We could, however, they would be forced to act upon that information, and we have no evidence to support our conclusions any longer.” Knowing his file exists now, and how well the hack was done, there would not be a way to determine the information of Ross’ file is false.

“Bullshit, you have records of your search, right? The initial one?” He asked, giving me a sharp look. “That’s your evidence right there.”

“I had not considered using my lack of findings as evidence against his falsified information.” I acquiesced.

“Well there you go. We have the means to oust him, now all we have to do is do it.” He slammed his palms on my desk once more in finality. “We need to head out, the show’s about to start.”