They watch as Joshua faced off against his opponent. Peenk paused the video. "Were you out of your mind? He's almost two feet taller than you!" "I had to do it! First of all, I was defending my sister. Secondly, the Chief of Starfleet Combat Operations was there." He pointed to a tall woman standing next to a tall, elderly Klingon male. "That's your mother!" Melee said. "That's right. And next to her is the Dahar Master Kang. He was the greatest Klingon warrior alive, and a friend of my parents. And the boy with him is his son Gond, my future sworn brother. My mother had heard about the pain I was causing my sister, so she came to kick my ass. And she brought an audience. But then Julia told her about what I'd done earlier that day and the day before. Well her and Kang wanted to see this. Now watch. This is how I fight." They once again watched as Joshua beat down an opponent. "That was just as bad as the fight with your brother!" Peenk said excitedly. "How did you do that?" "It's like I told you." He said looking at her. "I'm an improvement over the General class. I'm twice as fast, and twice as strong. At twelve I was as strong as the cadet I fought, and he was sixteen. He never stood a chance. And no one ever bothered my sister after that." "What happened to him? Did he get in trouble?" #2 Arner asked. "No. As long as the Commandant of the Academy was there to witness it, and two instructors were there to stop things in case they go too far, it was a legal duel. Though they had four there for my fight. You see, they'd never seen me fight. They didn't know what I was capable of. The only way he could have been in trouble is if one of us continued to make trouble. Then we would have been expelled." Joshua stared at the frozen image for a second. "But he got his revenge a few years later." "What happened then?" Melee asked. Joshua turned to her and smiled. "He hid in a hallway while I delivered his first son!" They all laughed once more. The watched as Joshua finished playing the video. Everyone started laughing again, harder. "Joshua!" Kinna said. "What did that elderly Klingon say to you that got you so excited?" They all went silent as he turned to Kinna with tears in his eyes, and a big smile on his face. "The Dahar Master said that he was impressed with me. Me! A twelve year old Human boy! I thought my chest would explode, I was so proud!" But the smile on his face slowly faded. "Well anyway, my first year was fun. But unfortunately, it ended the same way it started." "You were accused of cheating again?" Ano asked. "Yes. I ended up taking a verbal exam before a panel of Starfleet judges. Every year I was there! Then this enemy tried to keep me from my first placement aboard the Excellsior C. There was an accusation that I was too young and immature to serve on a starship." He looked around at his friends. "I've spent more time in space than I have planetside! Mack and I lived on a Klingon warship for three months with our father. And we had fun too. A Federation starship is a walk in the park compared to a Klingon ship." "So I underwent a psych evaluation, which I passed. I had to have one every six months. And when I became the youngest starship commander ever, someone leaked to the Federation controlled press about my cheating scandals." "And those were just the big things. Every month, like clock work, there would be a complaint from the Senate, or another story about me in the Fed controlled press. That's why I resigned my commission. I was tired of fighting a coward who refused to show him or herself." "You never found out who was doing this?" Lele asked. "No." Joshua told her. "All we know is that every accusation came from the Senate. In fact, when I graduated, I learned that the senators on the Starfleet commitee were later investigated for the exam they gave me." Peenk put her arm around his neck. "When did you decide to become a commando?"