Trial Run (Star Trek: TOS story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Trial Run
Author(s):	Elise Madrid
Date(s):	2007
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:	Trial Run
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Trial Run is a Kirk/Spock story by Elise Madrid.

It was published in the print zine The Legacy #2.

Summary

"Unless he can pass all their tests, Spock will be refused entry into Starfleet, so he accepts the help of a young Cadet Kirk after failing the swimming test."

Reactions and Reviews

New Star Trek movie? Oh, yes, the one that’s supposed to be about Kirk and Spock’s academy years. Well, step aside all you Hollywood writers – the perfect academy story is published in Legacy and it’s called “Trial Run”. You can name it whatever you wish, but if Kirk and Spock had actually met during their years in training for Starfleet, heaven and earth could not have kept them from becoming lovers. Not with each full of the bloom of youth and the excitement of discovery waiting just over the horizon. Both beautiful young men in their prime – glowing with health and enthusiasm and vitality – they would have been drawn unerringly together by the fates.

Ms. Madrid is very adept at portraying Kirk and Spock at this stage of their lives. An earlier story of hers along the same vein is one I will never forget. She’s done it again here. She’s managed to show us what Kirk and Spock were like in their late teens when the universe stretched endlessly ahead of them. Is there anything sweeter than young love? There’s a verse in an old song: “Young love, first love, filled with deep devotion”. And it fits this situation so very well. In addition, the qualities that personify the adults these young men will soon become are already well defined. We instantly recognize that this is Kirk and Spock and the love that draws them together is as familiar as the sparkle in their eyes.

This would be a real block-buster, Hollywood!

As I have said before when reviewing this author‘s stories, she has an uncanny ability to base them on particular themes I am not very fond of and yet due to her unique talent as a writer, manages to keep me reading. One of those themes is the basis of this story – a young Kirk and Spock together at Starfleet Academy. While some may argue it is not possible that the two were there at the same time, we do have a new movie coming out next year which is supposed to show otherwise. But long before that, there were more than a few K/S stories based on that very subject and while most of them can barely hold my attention beyond the first few pages, this story, I am happy to say, is an exception to that rule. Maybe it‘s her portrayal of these two men which is spot-on, maybe it‘s her style of writing, but whatever it is, it pulls me right in and keeps me there until the very last page.

In this story, Spock is alone at the Academy and while he is doing very well with his training and testing, there is one test that he has little skill at, a test that if he does not pass will end any chances of a career in Starfleet. He needs assistance, someone to teach him the skills to pass the test, but no one comes forward. Until, quite unexpectedly, Kirk shows up to help. Spock barely knows this young human, having only observed him from a distance a few occasions, yet he also knows he is in no position to refuse if he is to achieve his goal. But while the lessons are going well, an unexpected turn of events brings them to an abrupt halt and Spock finds himself in a position where he would be leaving the Academy regardless, test or no test. When Kirk discovers this, he invites Spock to his home and with no other option, Spock accepts. And while their time there is far less adventurous than what they will face together in the future, the discoveries they make about themselves and each other prove just as important as the ones they will make in space. And it is this portion of the story where the author‘s talent really shines. Page after page, there is no villain, there is no crisis, there is no danger, there is only a young Kirk and Spock alone together, forging a relationship that, as we all know, will become legendary over time. Yet each moment is to be savored as we are given a glimpse into how such a relationship might have come into being. There is no rush to get each other in bed. There are only small moments of discovery and friendship that build upon each other until that relationship is complete. It is these moments that make the story utterly believable and thoroughly enjoyable.

I can‘t wait to see what she comes up with next.