Space can be cruel. It's vastness and darkness hides the evil that can drive a man mad. Mad men have destroyed one James Tiberius Kirk's life once and it would happen again. Fate seemed to be cruel to this soul.

 Tarsus IV was a beautiful but isolated earth colony on the edge of Federation space. The council of the colony was fair but throughout the course of a year, unfortunate accidents happened to get rid of the eight useless council members. Only one council member remained alive. During this strange year, James, almost nine years old, had driven an antique car off a cliff and was sent to live with relatives on Tarsus IV. His stepfather had done it regardless of the rumors that crops were failing and a revolution was on the horizon. 

Kudos, the only councilman left alive, had engineered a fungus to wipe out the crops and only one person on the planet knew about it. This person was James, who had managed to copy Kudos's notes. The colony was in upheaval less than a week after the fungi started to appear, devouring all plant life in its way. Fear radiated from the adults as the rations started to dwindle. Messages were sent but the signals never left the planet. Kudos devised a list of those to die and those that would survive. People started to slowly disappear, causing more worry throughout the colonists that were isolated from the rest of the Federation. Little did they know that Kudos had sent a message at the beginning of the famine that Tarsus IV was under quarantine. No ships would come until it was lifted. 

James Tiberius Kirk knew this and tried to warn them but they would not listen. Until 4,000 people were summoned to the courtyard in front of the town hall. Kudos gave a speech and assured the people that help was on it's way. James knew it was a lie and looked around the courtyard. he paled at what he saw, knowing what would soon follow. Men with phaser rifles entered through hidden doors and surrounded the unsuspecting people as Kudos spoke of rationing and doing all he could to help the colony. James, called JT by all on Tarsus IV, used every second that he could to sneak children out through vents and the sewers. He had saved twenty children from the massacre. They didn't see their parents fall under the shots of the phasers, never felt the heat of the beams, and never heard their families screaming for help.

Most of the children he had saved were younger than JT, so he had to steal food to keep them alive. He only ever ate after all the others had. He killed the guards that got too close to wherever they were hidden at the time. He would move them to different locations after a week or so to keep the children alive and safe. No one ever knew his real name, always calling him dad or leader. JT did his absolute best to keep his kids alive. Some died of illness, starvation, infection, or even from the phaser of one of Kudos's men. One day, though, JT and the others were betrayed. Kudos's Army hunted the area they were hidden in. The children were caught in less than an hour and killed but nine children, including JT survived.

He continued to protect his kids until he was caught in a trap. He was brought before Kudos and questioned. When he refused to betray his kids, he was tortured. He was beaten, whipped, had bones broken, and was subjected to any other form of punishment that Kudos would deem acceptable. He had been tortured for a week before Starfleet had finally arrived, saving those that survived the two years of famine and death. He had just turned 11 the day the doctors had healed the worst of his injuries.

He ran from Starfleet the moment he could, traveling from planet to planet. He learned everything he could through online colleges, receiving countless degrees which became masters which progressed to a multitude of PhDs. He was fluent in all Federation languages and had studied at all of the highest schools of education, excluding the VSA and Starfleet Academy. He wrote many papers on all subjects that became required materials for almost all courses for all colleges. He had only just turned 15 at this point in time. His works were never published under his name but under the name of Kelvin O'Henry. He saved the money he made to continue traveling and to give to relief efforts. 

He applied to the VSA once as a joke, knowing he would never be accepted into the Vulcan Science Academy as he was a human. At the tender age of 15, he became the first human to attend the VSA. He was given a heavier course load than his peers a week into his attendance as he was surpassing them rapidly. He was at the top of every class he was in, moving through each course as if they were not difficult. A year and a half after he had entered the VSA, he had completed to the very highest possible education everything they could teach him. He graduated with more PhDs and MDs and was considered an honorary Vulcan Citizen.

Starfleet recruited James Tiberius Kirk without realizing who he was at the age of 16 and a half.  He became an employee of Starfleet, never showing his face and being called Doctor K. He designed hundreds of new gadgets with new technology for Starfleet and a more diverse and challenging survival course for officers and cadets. He changed the way some classes were run. He programmed and designed starships for fun. He found it amusing that Starfleet had not put the pieces together about who he was. 

He got into a bar fight and somehow ended up as a cadet. He breezed through the courses as most of the material had been written by him. His professors found it annoying but couldn't do anything because he never cheated. He had managed to hide the fact that he had been one of the Tarsus Nine, that he had been the boy who had saved eight children and defied Kodos the Executioner until the third year at the Academy. He had kept it a secret until an Ethics class about Tarsus IV that fell on the anniversary of the massacre.

"Cadet, was Kodos justified in his decision to execute 4,000 people?" Commander Spock, the teacher of this particular class called on the apparently zoned out cadet.

"No, sir. He was not justified. The colony could have survived till help came if Kudos did not quarantine the planet, destroy any way of communication from the surface, release an engineered fungus that wiped out the crops, and kill half of the population because of some sick experiment to test the survival instincts of people he had sworn to protect." Kirk was standing as he spat out his response.

"Cadet, how do you know that he had been the one to release the fungus?" Spock's eyebrow rose in his curiosity. 

"I was there when it happened. I was on Tarsus IV when it all happened. I was just nine when I watched thousands die. Their blood remained for days, bodies never buried. I watched as people killed each other over a piece of bread."

The auditorium was as silent as a graveyard. Commander Spock stared at the cadet in front of him as if the cadet would reveal how Starfleet never knew of this survivor.

"What were you doing on Tarsus?" Spock was intrigued now.

"I kept my kids alive, sir. I kept them alive through any means necessary." Kirk's eyes became haunted when he said the last bit.

"Are you implying that you led a group of children through a genocide, Cadet?"

"I am not implying anything. I am stating that I led 20 children through two years of hell and had to watch twelve of them die in front of me while I was helpless to save them." Kirk's eyes bore into Spock's with all the determination that he had shown to Kudos.

"What is your name, Cadet?"

"My name's James Tiberius Kirk."

"You are JT, the hero of Tarsus IV?"

"First, you have no right to even utter that title unless you were hurt, tortured, and bled for the survival of the children. Second, I had every right to keep myself hidden. Third, if words fail to prove it than I have the scars from the torture Kudos ordered because I would not betray my kids. All I did was keep my kids alive, fed, and safe as much as I could. I did what I had to do to ensure their survival. I was no hero."
Cadet Kirk stormed out of the auditorium, every eye following him. Bones ran after him because Kirk didn't need to be the strongest or be alone anymore. He had made it through years of abuse from Frank to Tarsus IV and survived. 

There was no such thing as a no-win scenario. At least, not for the future captain of the USS ENTERPRISE.