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Jim caught up to Jaylah just as she was leaving the administrative building that housed the admirals’ offices. He could see even before he got close to her that she was furious, teeth gritted into a look that had other cadets on the walkway taking a few steps out of the way to avoid her. She looked like she was getting along just like he’d thought she would.
Which was to say that he knew she was getting flying colors in all of her engineering courses and also that she was annoying the hell out of every instructor and officer she came into contact with. She was a nightmare for the admiralty. A girl after his own heart, he had to say.
She was certainly making him proud to have sponsored her.
“Jaylah!” he called, breaking into a jog to close the last few yards between them.
She turned, the vicious scowl on her face melting away as soon as she realized who it was behind her. “James T.!”
They practically crashed into a hug in the middle of the walkway. Out of the corner of his eye, Jim could see a few passing cadets looking at them strangely, but he ignored it. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was in captain’s dress and she was in cadet reds, or because they recognized one or both of them, or because they were just being very loud in a generally very quiet area of the campus.
Whatever it was, he didn’t really care. All attention was good attention in his opinion, and he was pretty sure Jaylah felt the same. It probably came of being alone for a very long time on dangerous worlds.
“What are you doing here, James T.?” Jaylah asked as they separated. She still looked tense, but he was glad to see most of the barely coiled anger had gone from her features.
“We’re on planet to pick up a diplomat and cart her over to Andor for a council assembly, and I thought I’d come see you while I have some free time in between,” he said, grinning. He was really glad to finally see her in person again. “Heard you got into some hot water with the admiralty today.”
Jaylah hissed, her upper lip curling. “The admiralty does not like the way I speak or act, especially around the non Starfleet visitors,” she said, the anger returning to her voice. “But it is their fault for making me deal with them when I have to study.”
“Not so good at making nice for the tourists, hmm?” Jim asked. He shook his head, giving her a wry grin. “I wasn’t either, you know. And yet they kept choosing me to lead the tours around campus every year.” He shrugged. “Gotta show off their best and brightest, even if their best and brightest are a little less polished than they’d like. But that’s a them problem, just like you said.”
“I do not understand why they do these tours,” Jaylah admitted.
She frowned at him, and Jim wished he could help. He could explain what he knew, sure, but he wasn’t sure it would be enough. Even after two years with Starfleet, he knew there were still a lot of cultural things she didn’t quite grasp, and a lot about the running of Starfleet and the Academy that she didn’t understand either. Heck, he’d grown up on Terra and been in Starfleet for years now and he wasn’t always sure he understood the things Starfleet did.
“It’s a way for them to show off their campus and their best students, is probably the simplest answer,” Jim said after a moment of thought.
“And what is the not simplest answer?”
Jim chuckled at Jaylah’s determination, feeling even more fond of her than he already was. She was so curious about this new world they’d brought her into, even if it was strange and confusing to her. That, more than anything, told him he’d made a good decision in sponsoring her into the Academy despite the complaints of some of the admiralty.
Cadets like her — brilliant and inquisitive and hungry to know more about this wide, complicated universe they lived in — were the future he wanted for Starfleet.
“Well, I guess in the end it all comes down to perception. Everything Starfleet does comes down to that, really,” he said. Jaylah nodded, though she still looked frustrated and confused. “Starfleet and the Federation, they’re big and expansive, so what they look like matters to a lot of people. Maybe more than it should sometimes, in my opinion, but that’s how it is.
“The Academy needs to look good to those in Starfleet, those in the Federation, even those who aren’t in either. The better they look, the better their reputation and the more they can get from people with power.” He waved a vague hand back toward the administrative building. “The tours are how they show off what they’ve gotten and entice the higher officers and politicians to give them even better.”
Jaylah looked pensive for a moment, then nodded. “We who were picked to do the tours are…” She paused, as if trying to think of the right word. “Starfleet Academy’s arm candy, then?”
The phrase from Jaylah’s mouth was so surprising that Jim couldn’t hold back a sudden bark of laughter. It startled a group of cadets walking past, making him laugh even harder.
When he caught his breath, he could see the edge of a smile pulling at the corner of Jaylah’s mouth. Well, that was something. It reminded him of Spock pretending to not understand human euphemisms just to see how people would react. He wondered exactly how much she understood of human culture now; he had a feeling it was more than she usually let on.
“Where did you learn a phrase like that?” he asked, shaking his head, still amused. “No, never mind, I feel like it’s probably better if I don’t know.”
“I have learned a lot from the beats and shouting,” Jaylah said, so serenely that Jim couldn’t quite tell if she was teasing him or not. He found it delightful. “I have heard a lot more since coming to this planet. I like it.”
“I bet you have,” he said with another laugh.
There was a beep and Jim looked down at his communicator to find a message reminding him of the next meeting he had with the admiralty. They always loved to pack in all the debriefs and meetings they could whenever he was planetside. It was exhausting, honestly, since he was of the opinion that he already said all he needed to through his captain’s logs and incident reports.
“I’ve got another meeting in fifteen,” he said. He looked up to see a disappointed look cross Jaylah’s face before she could stop it. He grinned. “How about we go get some food and you tell me about your classes for the next hour?”
Jaylah smiled, all sharp teeth and delight. “I would like that very much, James T.”