Two Captains

Chapter 7

"We're recieving a distress signal from the USS Kobiashi Maru. The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them." Uhura says.

"Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them..." The red alert sounds. "Captain." Jim says.

"Two Klingon vessels have entered the neutral zone. They are locking weapons on us." Bones says right as another smaller alert sounds.

"That's okay." Jim says, grinning.

"That's okay?" Bones repeats, looking at Jim with a questioning look.

"Yeah don't worry about it." Jim answers simply.

"Did he say 'don't worry about it'?" One of the test administrators says to the other one next to him up in the observation room, looking up from his tablet.

Damn it Jim...what the hell are you planning now?

"Is he not taking the simulation seriously?" The other test adminstrator asks, walking closer to the glass, looking down at Jim.

"Three more Klingon Warbirds decloaking and targeting our ship. I don't suppose this is a problem either?" Bones says, turning to look at Jim and gesturing to the screen which shows an image of space and Klingon Warbirds surrounding the USS Kobiashi Maru.

"They're firing, Captain." A man next to Bones informs Jim.

"Alert medical bay to prepare to recieve all crew members from the damaged ship." Jim orders.

"And how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons, Captain?" Uhura asks, gesturing to the image in front of them.

Jim turns to her, swiveling in the Captain's chair. "Alert medical." He grins at her. Annoyed, Uhura turns back to the controls in front of her.

Jim turns back to face the image right when another alert sounds and Bones speaks.

"Our ship is being hit. Shields at 60%."

"I understand." Jim answers, reaching into one of his pockets.

"Should we at least...I don't know...fire back?" Bones asks, turning to Jim.

"Mmm...no." Jim answers, then takes a bite of the apple he pulled out.

"Of course not." Bones says.

I look over and see Gaila, a girl with green skin and curly red hair who I guess Jim had been "studying" yesterday since he had been eyeing her for the past few days (he likes to do that). She's leaning against the wall and checks her watch right when the digital clock on the wall ahead of me flicks from one hour to the next.

All of a sudden, right as she checks her watch, every single computer and piece of technology in the room and in the room Jim is in crashes. Everyone reacts, confused, while Gaila and I look around, also confused. We look each other in the eye and I give her a questioning look.

I walk over to her right when one of the test adminstrators cries out.

"What is this? What's going on?"

"Gaila...do you know...?" I trail off when she shows me what's on her watch. A message from Jim:

I'M SORRY.

"I'm sorry?" I ask her. "What's the supposed to mean?"

Then I look at Jim, who has no reaction and seems pleased about something.

"Damn it, James Tiberius!"

"Is that his middle name?" She asks.

"It will have been his middle name when I get through with him." I pause. "Because he just cheated on a God damn test-in Starfleet." I add even quieter than before.

"Wait, how did he...?" She asks.

"He planted some kind of virus in the message which is like a bomb, when activated at a certain time, it explodes. And when you opened that message, that activated the virus which targeted the whole system, changing something in the test which will make Jim win." I explain quietly to her. "Don't mention this to anybody, promise? If worse comes to worse, he could be expelled, and that's the last thing anybody needs, okay?"

She nods.

"Good."

I turn back just as the system turns back on.

"Hm." Jim says, pretending to notice that something odd just happened but doesn't know why. "Arm photons prepare to fire on the Klingon Warbirds." He commands.

"Yes sir." The man next to Bones says.

"Jim, their shields are still up." Bones points out.

"Are they?" Jim asks, taking another bit out of his apple, appearing to be more interested in the apple than the test.

Bones turns back to the controls in front of him.

"No..." He answers. "They're not."

"Fire on all enemy ships!" Jim commands, then points to the man next to Bones. "One photon each should do it, let's not waste ammunition."

"Target lock acquired on all Warbirds...firing." The man answers, and right afterwards, the image shows each Klingon Warbird being destroyed by photons. "All ships destroyed, Captain."

"Begin to rescue the stranded crew." Jim orders. "So...!" He says, standing up, announcing to everyone else in the room with him. "We've managed to eliminate all enemy ships. No one on board was injured..." He walks around the room and slaps Bones on the back. "And...the successful rescue of the Kobiashi Maru crew is underway." He takes a bite of the apple and looks up at the room we're in for the first time since the test began. Right before the test Jim looked up at me and winked, at first I thought he was looking at someone else but realized there was no one around me. Now I realize he was, in fact, winking at me, but for a different reason. He was trying to tell me something...that he would succeed, that he would be the first person alive to win the legendary, unbeatable test.

Well, not necessarily-he cheated, that's not really succeeding or winning in anything.

"How the hell did that kid beat your test?" One of the testing adminstrators asks, turning to a Vulcan who's standing right next to me.

All I knew was that his name was Spock, a half-human half-vulcan, and one of Starfleet's most distinguished gradutates.

"I do not know." Spock answers slowly, clearly confused.