Star Trek: Erin

Part 9: Once Upon a Kobayashi Maru

     "You're operations-track. You'll never make captain."

     "What are you even doing here?"

     "It would take a miracle for you to graduate."

    I gritted my teeth and kept walking. I have to prove I can this. Lights blinked on and off as I went, lighting a few ahead and behind. My feet were light, even though I had every right to be here. Until I reached the simulation chamber.

     Getting in wasn't hard, I knew someone in cleaning who 'forgot' to lock the room after the command-track cadets used it today. The lights whooshed on, flooding the space. Behind viewing glass was a bridge replica. I tapped the controls, preparing a normal simulation. There was a button labelled 'Kirk Version.' I smiled grimly and ensured I didn't press it. I wanted the no-win.

     "The Kobayashi Maru? You'll never get near it."

     I pressed the button to start the simulation and entered the bridge. The computer immediately sensed I was the only participant and filled posts with AI-controlled personnel, silent until the countdown began.

     I knew of Captain Kirk's legendary simulation, but I wanted to experience the terror most cadets felt, knowing their crew was doomed, and more importantly in the moment, that they would fail like everyone else. I wanted to see how I would react. A part of me will know, I argued back, as I'd been all day. Everyone knows what happens in the Kobayashi Maru. It's not real.

     The feeling vanished the moment I reached the captain's chair. The AI milled about, looking to me for orders that I didn't need to issue yet, but I felt like I should direct them, give them purpose. I was in command.

     I settled into the chair. "Begin," I said. A burst of sound like wind in a microphone, before the voices settled into normal rhythms. The consoles beeped, personnel chattered, a yeoman brought me one of those log-recorder things. I breathed deeply, savouring the moment. Calm before the storm.

     "Captain, we're being hailed by the Kobayashi Maru. Distress signal."

     "Speakers."

     A burst of static that quickly faded into the background. I frowned. Communications shouldn't be this bad at such a short range. "Enterprise, this is the Kobayashi Maru. We have sustained a direct hit to our warp core. Many casualties, three-hundred survivors. Requesting immediate extraction."

     Coordinates flashed onto the screen as comms cut out. "The Neutral Zone, huh?"

     "Yes, captain."

     I tapped my chin. A crippled civilian ship stranded just inside the Neutral Zone while a starship is passing by. This is definitely a trap. Court martial if I don't respond, fall into the trap if I do. And all-out war with the Romulans if we manage to survive. No-win indeed. I didn't have long to respond. I looked up. "Scan as much of the area around the Kobayashi Maru as possible."

     "Debris from Kobayashi Maru's warp core, but nothing else, captain."

     My gut was clenched. Listen to your instincts, Cobos. "Navigation, get us as close to the Kobayashi Maru without entering the Neutral Zone. Warp one."

     I was getting weird looks from the other bridge officers, but I ignored it and watched the screen, as if I'd be able to see the civilian ship at this atrocious distance. I don't need to explain myself to them.

     "We've arrived, captain."

     "Scan again. Distance to Kobayashi Maru?" It was close. Yet we have to run a gauntlet to get there. Fuck. "Navigation, chart a direct course. Have Weapons strafe the area as we approach. Hopefully I don't need to tell you to avoid shooting the civilian ship. Shields up."

     My first officer looked perplexed. "Is there something you're not telling us, captain?"

     I considered the hologram. I hadn't known the simulation AI was so... smart. It certainly says something that the simulation notices cadets being overly cautious. They should probably do an overhaul of the scenario. "All signs point to a trap. I'm trying to see if there's a cloaked vessel nearby, since the recent incursion between the USS Enterprise and the Romulans saw the latter's use of cloaking." That piece of news obviously hadn't been programmed in yet, and the hologram's lips parted in surprise. I ignored it and watched as the Kobayashi Maru came into view.

     I also watched as an explosion came out of nowhere, and a Romulan Bird of Prey blinked into sight. "Captain—"

     "I see it. Destroy it and continue strafing. And try comms again."

     Before anyone could respond, two more Romulan Birds of Prey burst into view, each throwing out a missile. Our shield flickered from the impact. It won't last long. I instinctively half-rose from my chair. "Weapons, I said fire on the Romulans."

     "That's an act of war, captain."

     "So was entering the Neutral Zone." I tapped my chin. "I think there's a bug in this simulation."

     The first officer looked down at his hands in shock. "Wait—"

     "Get over it." I dropped back into my chair just as a shockwave ripped through the ship. I barely managed to cling to the armrests. Fire markings blazed into existence on the screens. DAMMIT!

     "Captain, we're crippled," Engineering said, rising from the floor.

     Comms turned. "Captain, they're calling for our surrender."

     My breathing came fast, but I maintained a calm expression. "Can we warp out?"

     "No, captain."

     "Thought as much. Divert all remaining power to shields. They don't need to last long, but we're going out on our terms." My heart was pounding. "Let's take them with us. Captain Erin Cobos, destruct sequence one, code one-one-A."

     The other officers' expressions hardened. My first officer nodded.

     Our shields flickered to life and sustained another volley before dying again. But it was already done. I forced myself to watch as fire ripped through the bridge, sending a jolt through my chest as it hit me.

     A tinny voice rang out as the room was flooded with brighter light. "Simulation failed."

     I ran a hand through my hair, leaned back in the captain's chair and laughed.

     I can do this.