Unofficial Literary Challenge : The Kobayashi Maru

starswordc · July 2014

Okay, since Smirk seems to be busy fighting fires on the other boards after season 9.5 dropped, I decided to handle posting the prompts for the July-August challenge myself, as I threatened in the "ban the guy above you" thread.

ULC1.1: "The Kobayashi Maru" ~ submitted by Jonsills

The infamous no-win scenario. This test defeats almost every Starfleet cadet, as it's designed to be unwinnable - it's "a test of character". Jim Kirk did it by reprogramming the simulator to make it possible to rescue the ship. Another cadet managed to stay in the simulator for over ten hours, finally losing to a pair of Birds of Prey. And Mackenzie Calhoun infamously blew up the Maru himself.

What happened when your captain took the test? Did they give up after one try? Did they try some unusual, possibly unique, tactics in an effort to win the no-win game? How did they handle their inevitable defeat? Or did they locate some brand-new exploit or cheat, never tried before?

(Remember that the test can vary from one person to another; the only constant is the Kobayashi Maru. And any cheats that worked once before have been fixed...)

ULC1.2: "Dominion Delegation" ~ submitted by Worffan101

You and your crew have been chosen to escort a Dominion diplomatic team through the wormhole and back to Dominion space while bringing your side's own diplomats with you to further negotiations. Write a log entry about your experiences.

ULC1.3: "The Ultimate Sacrifice" ~ submitted by our friendly neighborhood moderator Bluegeek

Spock, Rachel Garrett, James T. Kirk, Benjamin Sisko...

Throughout history, men and women have given the ultimate sacrifice: to die in order that others might live. Their heroic actions have transformed the course of events and touched the souls of many.

Write about your captain's encounter with someone who sacrifices themselves to save someone else. It could be a crewman who saves the Captain's life at the cost of his own. It could be a soldier who goes out in a blaze of glory to save the lives of his people. Or a samaritan-hero who gives his life for someone who might otherwise be an enemy in other circumstances.

How does the character's sacrifice change history? Did history change for the better, or for the worse as a result? How does his or her sacrifice affect those who witness it?

Usual rules apply: One submission per writer per prompt, no NSFW material, etc.

bluegeek · July 2014

Point of order.

This isn't an "official" challenge unless the CM says it is, and it can't be stickied without his approval.

That said, if you guys want to forge ahead with a challenge independently there's no problem. Cap'n Smirk can "bless" it later if he wants to.

jonsills · July 2014

Bumping to the front page, in case the Captain approves.

grylak · July 2014

Talaina sat at the bar, sweltering in the heat wave. Her antennae dipped down towards the drink before her, a Spanish drink called 'Horchata' as cadets moved around campus. She wiped her brow with a sleeve, noting the large wet patch left on the material. Even the humans seemed to be having trouble with the heat, an Andorian had no chance. And it wasn't improving her mood.

Talaina had a military upbringing. Her mother had always tried to instill good leadership qualities in her, and her father had trained her to see all the possibilities in stressful situations. So it frustrated her even more that she had failed to rescue the Maru. She knew the test couldn't be won, that was the point. But she still felt like she could have done more. Someone came over and sat beside her. A brown boney claw rested on the table beside her drink. "Hi. It went that bad?" Talaina didn't even look up at Stunshock as she grunted an agreement. The Jeroan gently patted her hand. "Stop worrying about it. I'm sure you did the best you could."

Talaina took a sip of her drink and turned to her friend. "That's not the point. I did everything by the book. I tried to get the crew evacuated from that ship but the Klingons attack run was too quick, too organised. What did you do when you took the test?" Stunshock ordered an ice water while he thought back a year. "I vented warp plasma around the Maru and tried to use it as a hiding cloud. When that failed, I tried to lure the Klingons to a nearby nebula. But instead of following, they just destroyed the Maru." Stunshock sipped some water and started eating one of the ice cubes. " I learnt that day that sometimes you have to think outside the box. And sometimes you just have to accept that no matter what you try, no matter how crazy it might be, you can't always save the day." Talaina thought about it a while. Finally, she finished her drink. "Thanks Cromone. You've given me something to think about." Talaina bid farewell and made her way towards one of the lecture buildings.

That evening, Talaina sat at her desk, watching a recording of her test. She was looking for a clue to victory. Something, anything, that could help. A fan blew gently at her face as she grimaced. This was the fifth time she had watched it. Stories went around campus about cadets who obsessed with the test. They lost focus and ended up dropping out a broken mental wreck. This would be the last time she watched. She had no intention of becoming one of those. Sighing, she was about to turn it off when she spotted something. Snapping alert, she rewound the recording to check. Sure enough, when she had ordered attack pattern beta, the three Klingon battle cruisers got close together and within distance of her ship. A well placed torpedo could disable them. But it would require an explosion greater than a standard torpedo could do. The Miranda used in the simulation would not be able to do any of the more advanced combat techniques the modern ships could do. maybe if they were in one of the Odessy class ships under development. Even a Promethius class would do. But how could a Miranda cause an explosion of that magnitude? The only way would be to explode the entire ship. And that would be stupid. But most of the force of the blast comes from the warp core. And that can be removed. Stunshock did say you sometimes have to think outside the box. Talaina wondered how a warp core would react to being in a tractor beam...

sander233 · July 2014

They say "Freak"
When you're singled out
The red
Well, it filters through

So lay down
The threat is real
When his sight
Goes red again

Seeing red again
Seeing red again

This change
He won't contain
Slip away
To clear your mind

When asked
Who made it show
(Made it show)
The truth
He gives in to most

So lay down
The threat is real
When his sight
Goes red again...

So lay down
The threat is real
When his sight
Goes red again

Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red again
Seeing red

They say "Freak"
When you're singled out
The red
It filters through

[url="

http://youtu.be/f-eJcCDhHcI "]Pete, Sam and Joe Loeffler of Chevelle - "The Red"[/url]

S I N G L E D . O U T

Sturt Stony Desert, South Australia - Stardate 70122.02 (2393.02.13.0522 local)

"Australia? Crikey, yeah, that place sucks out loud," his survival course instructor, Master Chief Prowse had said, hours before abandoning him and his classmates out here. "Ya got freshwater sharks, saltwater crocs, the world's most venomous spider, the world's most venomous snake, freakin' jellyfish that'll kill ya in nothin' flat, dingoes, drop bears, and don't get me started about the platypus... And then half the continent is either flooded or on fire at any given time... Horrible place. And I should know, I grew up there. And the Outback is the worst of it all. If you can survive there, you can survive anywhere."

His brother, Jesu, had a different opinion, of course, being perfectly at home in a desert surrounded by dangerous wildlife. And so far, it didn't seem so bad to Rusty, either. It was a lot drier than he liked, and hotter, but he could make his own shade, and there was adequate water once he dug deep enough. The real difficulty was finding enough to eat for a hunting species with high calorie and protein requirements.

Most of his classmates, being mammals, had found the combination of fifty-degree heat and the diet of whatever rodents, marsupials, bugs and lizards they could catch to simply be too much, and they called it quits soon after the first week. Kzothed, his Bzzit Khaht friend, hadn't even made it that long. Claiming he was being desiccated by the incredibly dry air, he called for emergency beamout after only four days. At least he lasted longer than the Andorians.

The last to go had been T'Raej, the Vulcan. She'd lasted ten days, and probably would have made it the whole two weeks had she not been bitten by an inland taipan. Despite the application of a compression bandage that Rusty had fashioned and the Vulcans' natural resistance to many neurotoxins, her heightened metabolism actually made the disseminated coagulation cascade effect spread even faster than it did in Humans. So on the tenth of February - Rusty's eighteenth birthday - he'd had to call for her to be beamed out, leaving him all alone.

He'd gotten used to being alone.

* * *

It was still dark out, but he had good natural night vision. His sharp eyes spotted movement at the entrance to animal burrow. He sniffed, and listened with his ear resting on the ground. The young taipan that had bitten T'Raej was closing in on a pair of kowari - brushy-tailed, carnivorous marsupial rats. He crawled closer to the burrow as the snake herded the creatures out the entrance. He stabbed the first one to emerge with his finger-claws. The second hesitated, fatally. The taipan struck from behind, knocking the rat off its feet. She struck again, and the little mammal died instantly from the incredibly toxic venom of the snake.

Rusty skinned the kowari he'd caught and watched the taipan work her mouth around her prey until she found its head, then she unhinged her jaw and swallowed it whole. Rusty likewise ate the twelve-centimeter-long kowari in a single bite, after discarding the fur and tail. That, and the perentie lizard he'd caught earlier that night, would have to be enough to hold him over for today.

He waited for the taipan to finish swallowing, then he carefully picked her up and carried her back to the burrow he'd excavated amongst the roots of a hardy eucalyptus tree called a desert wandoo. They both drank from the small pool of water that had welled up in the bottom of his burrow. The water was turbid, but it tasted clean enough after he'd filtered it through the bamboo fiber cloth of his t-shirt.

He watched the snake curl up in a damp hiding space beneath one of the tree's roots. In spite of its fearsome venom and lightning fast strike, the inland taipan is quite docile as long as you don't surprise or provoke it, as T'Raej had done while trying to chase the snake out of their burrow.

Having raised rattlesnakes as a kid with his brother, Rusty knew how to handle venomous reptiles and once the taipan accepted that he wasn't a threat she got along well with him. He'd taken her hunting with him the last two nights, the snake easily flushing out the kowari who had learned to hide from the Deinon who'd invaded their habitat.

"I suppose I should come up with a name for you," Rusty told the snake, knowing she couldn't hear him. He drew a blank though. Jesu was much better at coming up with names for his pets. "Well, you're sorta olive-colored. I guess I'll call you 'Olive.'"

The taipan, lacking external ears to catch the sound vibrations through the air, ignored him and went to sleep.

Rusty rolled onto his back and watched the scenery brighten as the sun rose over the desert. Then he dunked his jacket into the pool, hung it across the entrance to the burrow, retreated into the farthest recesses of his little cave, curled up and tried to dream about something more pleasant than...

* * *

"Hey, freak!"

He looks over, and sees the Bolian shouting at him from across the quad.

"That's right, freak, I'm talking to you!"

Rusty looks away and keeps walking. He'd beaten Koel at anbo jytsu again today. Koel obviously wasn't happy about it. Just ignore him...

"Whatsa matter, freak, don't feel like talking?" Koel is getting closer.

"Get 'im, Ahnzar!" one of the Bolian's friends calls out.

"Hey, c'mon, freak! Let's talk!"

"TRIBBLE off, Koel," Rusty growls.

"Ya think you're tough, doncha?" The beefy Bolian junior shoves Rusty from the side. Rusty steps away, but keeps his balance. "C'mon, let's see how tough you are!"

Rusty flexes his clawed fingers. "I don't want to fight you, Koel."

"Why not, freak?"

"Because if I fight you, I will hurt you."

"Try it, assh*le!" The Bolian swings a fist at Rusty's head

The Deinon ducks away. "Koel..."

Another punch; this one lands on Rusty's snout.

Rusty raises his claws to defend himself as his vision fades to red...

* * *

A soft sonic boom in the distance awakened Rusty from his half-sleep state. He wasn't rested; he didn't feel refreshed. The lack of food and the heat of the day made him lethargic, but he couldn't get any real sleep out here, not without his hypo... or his brother...

The thrum of RCS thrusters got closer, and he heard an EMI field engage with a high-pitched whine, signaling a shuttle landing nearby. He could feel the vibrations through the earth, and so could the snake. Olive hissed angrily as she was woken up.

"Easy, girl," Rusty told her as he stood up and pulled his jacket from the cave entrance. The sundial he'd set up outside told him it was about 1000 hours. The temperature, he guessed, was almost fifty already. He grabbed the hat he had made to shield his eyes and raised his head out to see the type-9 shuttlepod outside, with two humanoids emerging from the hatch.

"There he is!" one of them called.

"My two weeks are up already?" Rusty asked. "I thought I had another day."

"Heh, yor the only one left, mate," Master Chief Prowse told him. "I can't grade ya any higher than the top of yor class. Wot, ya wanna be left out here in Satan's sh*tter another night?"

Rusty shrugged. "It's not so bad."

"Ha! Ya know, mate, ya remind me of yor brother. The only Human I ever had to last the whole two weeks out here..."

Rusty shrugged again. "Papa didn't raise no quitters."

"That's for sure. At any rate, I got orders to get ya back to San Fran. Yor class is due to start orbital drop training over Mars tomorrah; ya need a medical check and ya'll prolly wanna good night's sleep."

"Huh, yeah. And a decent meal. Gimme a second to get my stuff." Rusty disappeared inside his hole."

"Wot stuff?" Prowse demanded. "I left ya lot here with nuthin' but yor uniforms!"

"I made some tools and things!" Rusty hollered back. "And I don't wanna leave anything that doesn't belong here!"

Prowse crouched and stepped into the cave behind him. "Nice digs," he said appreciatively.

"Watch it, Master Chief. Your shuttle woke up Olive, and she'll strike if she feels threatened."

"Olive?"

Rusty pointed at the taipan, who was glaring at the Human a little less than two meters away.

"Uh... LaRoca? Remember that 'world's most venomous snake' I warned ya 'bout?"

"Just don't provoke her or startle her, and she'll leave you alone," Rusty told him. He finished collecting the pouches and ground sheets and filters and things he had fashioned from scraps of his and the other cadets' uniforms, and approached the snake. He cautiously reached behind her head, and stroked her with the palm of his hand. She leaned back into him and flicked her tongue.

"I'll be damned... just like yor brother, only he made friends with a goanna."

"Lizards are good eatin'," Rusty told him. "But Olive helped me catch rats and things so I decided to keep her, even though she bit T'Raej." He said goodbye to his snake and followed Prowse out into daylight.

"C'mon, guys!" the shuttle pilot called. "Let's go before I die of heatstroke, or the shuttle melts, or- f*ck me..." the pilot had just gotten his first full look at a Deinon, as Rusty emerged wearing only cutoff shorts that had been his uniform pants.

"Fire up the engines, sir," Master Chief Prowse told the young ensign. "Next stop, San Francisco."

"You think we can stop in Bribane or somewhere for a burger first?" Rusty wondered after he'd boarded.

"We'll see," Prowse said.

"It's just a thirty-minute hop back to Frisco." The ensign lifted off and he tapped at the comm panel. "Shuttlecraft Bakker reporting in - we've picked up Cadet LaRoca and are en route back to the Academy, over."

"Bakker, stand by - urgent message incoming for Cadet LaRoca from Vice Admiral Davis."

Rusty frowned. "Davis? I wonder what he wants."

"Who's Davis?" Prowse asked.

"My brother's boss's boss." Rusty came forward as the viewer winked on.

"Hello, Cadet." The STS director's face and tone was missing its usual cheeriness. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Rusty felt a cold vise grip around his heart. "What happened to my brother?"

"There was an accident. The fighter he was testing... your brother is alive, but it doesn't look good."

NO! Rusty started to hyperventilate. "Where is he? I need to see him."

"He was taken to the medical facility on Jupiter Station. I've been trying to reach your father, but he hasn't responded."

"Papa doesn't have a long range comm system on his boat," Rusty told him coolly, while on the inside his mind screamed and raged. Jesu's hurt! Maybe dying! I need to see him NOW! "Can I see him? Is there a viewer where he is?"

"He's in surgery now. I'll explain to the Academy that you need time off. I'll see you when you get here, Cadet. Davis out."

Rusty looked at the pilot. "Take me there."

"Hold up. I'm only supposed to fly you two back to-"

"You heard the kid, mister Redding," Prowse interrupted.

The ensign looked over at the Master Chief, shrugged and tapped at his controls. He frowned and tried again. "That's weird."

"What's wrong?"

"The computer's not accepting my inputs. I'll switch to manual-" The shuttle dropped like a rock.

"Redding..." Prowse warned.

"I have no control!" Redding exclaimed. "Thrusters aren't responding! Computer's not coming back... sh*t, we're gonna crash!" The shuttle broke through the clouds, and the deep blue-gray waters of the South Pacific filled the viewport. "Brace for impact!"

Rusty dug his toe-claws into rubber floormat and braced his hands on the bulkhead and closed his eyes.

In the contest of a duranium alloy can meeting a body of water at supersonic speed, water will win every time. The heavy engine nacelles were sheared off on impact, which at least provided the rest of the shuttle with a little bit of positive buoyancy. Some sensors and computer components that survived the impact worked out that they had made a water landing, and automatically blew out the aft hatch. The door seals inflated to form a life raft as the cabin started to fill with water from a dozen rents and fractures in the hull.

Rusty's head had bounced against the ceiling, and he'd dislocated his left shoulder, but he was still conscious and alert. "We gotta get outta here!" he told the others. "This thing won't stay floating for long."

Redding groaned as he tried to stand. "Right... OW!!" He gripped his lower right leg, and stared in shock and horror at the jagged end of his snapped tibia that had broken through the skin at his knee.

Prowse was unconscious. His face had been mashed into the console and both of his arms appeared to be broken.

"Master Chief!" Rusty called, trying to shake him awake.

"AAAAAAAH!!" Ensign Redding started screaming as the pain of his broken leg filtered through to his brain.

"Hang on, I'll get you out of here," Rusty told him. He snaked his good arm around Redding's chest and pulled him out of the cockpit, turned and pushed him out the door. "Grab the raft!" he told him. "I gotta get the Master Chief!"

Redding clung to the side of the raft/door that was bobbing nearby. "AAAUNGH!! It HUUURTS!!"

"Climb out of the water!" Rusty called back. "You'll attract sharks if you just hang there." The cadet fumbled with the Master Chief's seat buckle, gave up and sliced the restraint with one of his claws. "Come on, Master Chief, we gotta go. Wake up!"

The shuttle kept sinking, and now water started pouring in from the open back hatch. The angled viewport submerged below the waves.

NO! Rusty panicked as his deep fear of drowning gripped his mind. He managed to get Prowse out of his chair before the water came up to his shoulders, but then it quickly rose up to his head. Rusty was not a strong swimmer. He knew he'd never make it to the surface pulling Prowse along with him.

Leave him, he told himself. Jesu needs you. You won't make it if you try to save him.

Rusty let go of Prowse, kicked off from the backrest and made it out of the shuttle as it sank into the depths. He surfaced, spotted the raft, and thrashed his tail as he swam for it. He reached over the side, and-

"Watch it, you fool! You'll puncture the floats!" Redding snapped at him.

Rusty kept his claws clear as he hooked his elbows over the side. He calmed his panicked breathing and squeaked out "Prowse... I couldn't get him out."

"I don't think this raft is meant to hold more than two anyway," Redding told him. He was laying on his back, with his bloody broken leg propped up on the side. "Can you get on without ripping a hole in it?"

"Yeah." Rusty kicked and pushed with his tail and got his right knee up out of the water. He rolled the rest of the way in, careful to keep his claws up and away from the synth-rubber keeping them afloat. "Does your combadge work?"

Redding shook his head. "It's dead. Where's yours?"

"On my jacket, in the shuttle, under the ocean..." He struggled to control the rising panic he felt.

Don't think about the ocean, muchacho, papa had told him the last time he'd ventured out onto the boat. Only think about where you are, not what is around you.

"Jesus," Redding said, "it could be days before anyone finds us!"

"They just hafta track the transponder signal to where it disappeared," Rusty figured. "It won't take them that long."

"They have to notice we're missing first. And by then, who knows how far we'll have drifted..."

Rusty frowned. He needed to see his brother. He needed to eat too... "Do we have any ration packs?"

Redding shook his head. "No, just a medkit. There's a little bit of water in there... You said you were hungry, earlier?"

Rusty nodded.

Redding bit his lip as he appraised the superpredator he was sharing his raft with. "How long can your species last without food?"

"I don't know." Rusty changed the subject. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Redding indicated the medkit that had been affixed to the middle of the hatch, now open at his side. "I found a pain killer."

"Let me see it." Rusty injected himself with the hypo, then he yanked his left arm back into place with a sickening *pop!*. It still hurt like hell, even with the hydrozone. "Okay, let's look at that leg."

"It's broken," Redding announced.

"Obviously it's broken," Rusty said. "But maybe I can set it-"

"Don't touch it!" Redding ordered. "You'll make it worse!"

"I'll be careful," Rusty told him. "I can actually use my fingers without stabbing my claws into everything I touch." He demonstrated by cautiously feeling Redding's right calf. "Hmm. Your fibia doesn't seem to be broken. I think this is basically a standard bumper fracture-"

"MY BONES ARE OUTSIDE OF MY BODY!!" Redding screamed.

"I can see that," Rusty said. "Do you want my help, or not?"

Redding took a deep breath and nodded.

"Okay. Now, this will hurt." Rusty braced his left hand just above Redding's knee and gripped his ankle with his right. Then he stretched-

"YEEEEOOWW!!! Dammit! Muther-F*CKer..." And the bone slipped back to roughly where it belonged.

"You'll need a splint. Um..." Rusty grabbed the door handle and pried it off. "Take off your jacket."

Redding complied, and watched Rusty shred it to pieces. He winced as Rusty affixed the splint and bandaged the injury. "Thanks," he said.

Rusty huddled in the middle of the raft. "Try to rinse your blood of the side," he said. "Sharks could still come. And check the medkit for an antibiotic."

Now that the immediate concerns were dealt with, Rusty's thoughts moved toward his brother. He knew Jesu was hurt, and he needed him, but he couldn't reach him... "I hope they find us soon."

After sunset...

Redding had fashioned a crude fishing line out of the shredded remains of his jacket, a hook from a spring that had been inside the door handle, and a lure made from a bright orange warning label. So far, though, he didn't have any luck catching anything.

"It's too dark for them to see the lure," Rusty told him. "Wait for daylight."

Redding pulled the line back in. He opened the bottle of sterile water that had been in the medkit and took a sip. "Want some?"

"Sure." Rusty took the bottle and poured a little into his mouth.

"Watch it, that's all we have!"

Rusty passed the bottle back. He was still thirsty. And very hungry. "Maybe it'll rain tomorrow."

"I hope so."

The next morning...

It hadn't rained yet. Redding had put his line back in the water at first light, but so far whatever fish there may be nearby had ignored it. The aching in Rusty's belly had turned into gnawing pain. His throat was parched. But nothing compared to the overwhelming sense of despair and dread he felt at the thought that he may never see his brother again...

He caught Redding staring at him. "What?" he asked. "You wanna ask me something?"

Redding shook his head and watched his line.

Rusty crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. He didn't feel like talking anyway.

That night...

It had rained for an hour or two as the sun had started to go down. They both drank their fill and gathered all the water they could. There wasn't much they could store it in. Redding still hadn't caught any fish. Rusty had seen seabirds diving on the water about a kilometer away - the fisherman's son knew that meant there was a school of fish close to the surface, likely spawning. But without paddles they couldn't reach it.

Redding had started shivering about an hour after night had fallen and the rain had stopped. It kept Rusty awake. Not that he could've slept much anyway.

He thought of his brother and cried.

Next day...

Redding definitely had a fever. And his leg smelled rotten.

"I thought you took the antibiotic?" Rusty demanded.

"I d-d-did," Redding stuttered as he shivered. "I injected the whole thing."

Rusty searched the medkit and found the empty hypo. "Dammit, Redding. This is polyvanco! You only need half a cc at a time, but you need to take it every two hours! You injected the whole thing at once?"

Redding nodded.

"Where?"

"R-right sh-sh-sh-ould-d-der."

Rusty reached over and rolled up the sleeve of Redding's shirt to see- "Ay, Madre de Dios." -Redding's shoulder was a massive bruise. "You poor, stupid TRIBBLE..."

"How the f-f-f*ck was I to know?"

"I dunno; maybe if you'd paid attention to basic first aid at the academy you'd know that vancomycin destroys your blood vessels and that it has a half-life of about ninety minutes." Rusty searched the rest of the medkit. "Here, this will help with the fever..." he gave him a shot from a different hypo.

"W-what's g-g-gonna happen now?"

Rusty closed the medkit and slumped back on the other side of the raft. "Either someone will save us soon, or you're gonna die, Redding."

"H-how long?"

"I dunno." Rusty dropped the fishing line over his side of the raft. His hunger was making him consider desperate things. "I dunno how long we have."

Day Four...

"This is f*cking ridiculous! Somebody has to be at least looking for us by now!" Redding whined. He looked over at Rusty, who was glaring daggers at him. "What?"

"I can't believe you drank all of our water."

"Fever made me thirsty. It'll rain again soon."

Rusty searched the sky. "Do you see any clouds up there that I don't see!? No clouds, no rain. No rain, no water!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"You're a stupid, selfish prick, Redding."

"I'm sick! Besides, we wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for you."

"What!? How is this my fault!?"

"You made me try to change course. If I hadn't shut off the autopilot, we woulda gone straight to San Francisco. Okay, maybe we still woulda crashed, but we woulda at least crashed in Frisco."

"My brother could be dying on Jupiter Station right now! Maybe he's dead already! And I don't know, because I'm trapped on this stupid f*cking raft with you, and you're a-" Rusty felt a tug on the fishing line. "Hang on. We got something."

"What?"

"Some fish. It just-" The line was yanked out of Rusty's hands. "Whoops."

"What do you mean 'whoops'?"

Rusty raised his hands.

"You let go!?" Redding started crawling towards him.

"I didn't mean to! The fish was too strong!"

"If I wasn't feeling like sh*t I'd kick your TRIBBLE."

"I'd like to see you try it, you little-" Something bumped the raft.

"What the f*ck was that?" Redding demanded.

A black, triangular head emerged from the water, opened its mouth filled with white, triangular teeth, and bit down on the side of the raft where Redding had been resting his leg a moment ago. Apparently the shark didn't like the taste of synthetic rubber. It let go and swam a short distance away and started circling.

"Jesus," Redding whispered.

Rusty identified the fish and gauged the length from the shark's dorsal fin to its tail. "Oceanic whitetip; three-and-a-half meters."

"Is it... that's a maneater, isn't it?"

"Yeah. According to my brother, it's one of only two species that will attack Humans on purpose."

"Sh*t."

"And where there's one..." Rusty looked around and counted a dozen white-tipped black fins breaking the waves. "...There's more."

"Ohhhh sh*t..."

Rusty cautiously crawled forward, keeping his eyes on the nearest sharks.

"We're gonna sink, aren't we?" Redding moaned.

"Don't think so. We only lost air where he bit it. I think these floats have baffled air chambers or something, so you can't lose all the air with one puncture."

"Thank God."

"Eh, thank General Dynamics. They built your shuttle." Rusty scooted back to the middle of the raft. "God's the one who put these sharks here."

Night Four...

"I'm just sayin', it could work."

Rusty sighed. "Yeah, if you draw a shark in close enough, I could kill it. It could also bite your leg off or drag you out of the raft. And either way, we'll be caught in the middle of a feeding frenzy."

"We're running out of options, LaRoca. The infection in my leg is spreading - I'll probably lose it anyway. And you're starving to death." Redding fell silent for a while. "Maybe you could... maybe you could, uhm."

"What?"

"Maybe you could eat my leg..."

"Shut up, Redding. That's f*cking disgusting."

"Just sayin'..."

Rusty didn't want to think about it, but he'd been thinking that very thought for the last two days...

Day Five

"'Roca! The sharks are gone!"

Rusty looked around. He didn't see any fins. But he knew... "Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there..." He looked back at Redding, who was leaning over the side of the raft. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just gettin' a li'l water. I'm dyin', here."

"Loco idioto!" Rusty grabbed Redding's waistband and pulled him back. "You can't drink saltwater!"

"Just a little won't kill me. Just enough to get my mouth wet..."

"It'll just dehydrate you faster, and with that infection you have, your kidneys can't handle it. How much did you drink?"

"Just a handful... too much?"

Rusty leaned back and stared at the cloudless sky. "Pray for rain, Redding."

Day Six...

The storm brought fresh rainwater, but the wind and the waves made gathering it impossible.

Redding was alternately sobbing without tears and convulsing and babbling deliriously as his dehydrated brain started to shut down.

Rusty cowered in the center of the raft as the ocean raged around him, and tried to imagine he was somewhere else...

* * *

"What'sa matter bro?" Jesu asks.

"I dunno," Rusty mumbles. He's standing over his brother's bed, ten years ago. "I hear the waves outside and I keep thinkin' about what happened today and I'm scared, Zoo."

Jesu scoots over and reaches for the young Deinon. "C'mere, bro."

Rusty complies, lying in the bed next to his big brother. Jesu pulls him in close, and he starts to calm down.

"You're afraid of the waves?" Jesu asks him.

"Yeah."

"But you love the waves."

"Not anymore. I almost died out there, Zoo."

Jesu holds him for a minute as he thinks about what to say. "It's okay to fear the things you love. Or love the things you're afraid of. It's like... like me and sharks, or snakes. I'm always afraid they can bite me, but I still love them. I like to be close to them. I just have to balance my love with respect, and I don't have to be afraid."

Jesu strokes the back of Rusty's neck. "So next time we go surfing, you just need remember that the waves are dangerous, and respect that, and not to try to ride them when they're too rough. And then you can do what you love without fear."

"But the waves aren't like animals. They're always changing. You never know what they're like until you're in them." Rusty shakes his head. "I'm not goin' surfing again, Zoo. I can't. If I drown, and you can't save me, then I don't just die; I lose you." he buries his face in his brother's chest and sniffs. "I can't lose you, Jesu. I won't."

Jesu cradles his baby brother. "You'll never lose me, Rusty. I'm always with you..."

Day Seven

"Stay the f*ck away from me!"

"Redding, where the hell would I go?"

"Over there..." Redding pointed off in the distance. "Go over there!"

Rusty looked. "There's nothing over there but ocean."

The prey is getting agitated.

He's not prey! He's a Starfleet officer and he needs my help!

Redding pulled off the door handle that was holding his leg together and waved it at Rusty. "Back off! I'll f*cking kill you!"

"I have water! I got water last night after the waves stopped. You can have some!"

"It's poison!"

"No, it's not!" Rusty drank from the bottle. "See? It's fine."

"It's a trick!"

Put it out of its misery already.

Not yet. There's still hope... "Redding, listen. You're dehydrated and fevered and it's making you crazy. Drink the water. You'll feel better."

"You're trying to kill me so you can eat me!"

Do it!

"Redding, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't bother with poison. Come on- OW!" Redding had struck Rusty's outstretched arm with the handle, almost making him drop the water. His vision started to fade to red... NO!

Redding held the handle over his head. "Stay back!" he screamed.

Rusty's sight cleared. But he was as far back in the raft as he could be, and Redding was still screaming and brandishing his metal club...

It's hopeless. He's beyond help.

Maybe. But I won't kill him.

You can't last any longer without food. You're weak and slow. You didn't even try to block him when he hit you. And you're arguing with yourself instead of shutting me up, which means your mind is pretty much shot too. Kill him while you still can.

No!

If you don't kill him, he'll kill you. If you don't eat him, you'll starve to death. Do you want to die?

...No.

Do you want to see Jesu again?

Of course I do.

Then you know what you must do.

Rusty looked to the horizons, and then skyward, for any chance of salvation. There was nothing. Nothing but this irritating, stupid, crazy little man in front of him...

"Leave me alone, you freak!"

Rusty narrowed his eyes, barred his teeth, raised his foot, aimed his toe claw... hesitated...

DO IT!

And he struck.

The fifteen-centimeter, sickle-shaped claw pierced Redding's heart. His ranting was silenced. He exhaled one last time, and blood dribbled from his mouth. His jaw, his eyes, his neck and his arms all went slack. He was dead.

Rusty sat there a while, unmoving, staring at the pitiful man he had just killed. "I'm sorry, Redding. I really did not want to do that." He pulled his claw free and Redding's body slumped to its side. Rusty turned away and his stomach retched. He vomited up the water he'd just drank and kept trying to expel more from his empty gut.

Once the dry heaves passed, he looked back at his victim. His mind still revolted at the thought of eating this man, but his body needed nourishment. He reached for Redding's left shoulder, felt the thin muscle, changed his mind and opted for his good leg. He sliced off a strip of meat with his finger claws, raised it to his mouth, and-

The air glowed blue, and he was sitting on a transporter pad. A Vulcan and a Caitian in blue and white med/sci uniforms rushed forward, took readings with their tricorders, and discussed his blood pressure and neural peptide levels as he sat there with a hunk of Redding's left thigh hanging from his mouth.

Master Chief Prowse loomed over the doctors. "How ya doin', mate?" he asked.

Rusty's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

* * *

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears and all the faults you left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same, I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

'Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours, and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call in spite my faults, in spite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence when you know the maker's land

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say
'Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Ted Dwayne and Country Winston of Mumford & Sons - "The Cave"

p o s t s c r i p t

USS Crichton, Low Earth Orbit - Stardate 70140.53 (2393.02.20.0703, Standard Time)

Rusty had woken up, eaten, slept, woken up again and eaten some more. Now he had questions. He started with Prowse. "So... you obviously didn't die."

"I didn't, no. But I weren't really on that shuttle."

Rusty sniffed. "It sure smelled like you."

"I'll let Mr. Wilkes handle this one." Prowse turned to another man in a black synth-leather outfit. "Danny?"

"The Prowse and Redding that were on the shuttle with you were replicants," Danny Wilkes explained.

"You mean... clones?" Rusty asked.

"Not really. Cloning is an entirely different, and generally much slower process. You can think of a replicant as an organic android. It's all biomimetic material and programmed synapses. Think of it like a holocharacter made of flesh and blood instead photons and force fields. Yeah, it looks the same, acts the same, probably thinks the same as the real person, and since it's made of meat, it even smells the same. But it's a fake. It thinks its real, like a hologram of Dr. McCoy thinks he's the real McCoy. But it's not."

"So... the Redding I killed..."

"That was a fake. A facsimile. A simulacrum. The real Ensign Richard E. Redding jr. died in a shuttle crash on Europa about fifteen years ago."

"So really, ya didn't kill anybody," Prowse said.

Rusty frowned. That felt wrong, somehow. A hologram didn't reek of fear, or soil itself when it saw a shark, or go crazy from dehydration, or taste like prosciutto. Redding did. "I thought cloning, or copying people, was illegal," Rusty remarked.

"Cloning's illegal, yeah," Wilkes shrugged. "But this is sort of a gray area. Especially with that class action suit with Soong Foundation... So my department has the technology to make replicants, but we limit it to near term applications and keep it to ourselves. The way I look at it, though, replicants aren't even really self-aware. I mean, an EMH knows it's a hologram. A replicant doesn't know it isn't real."

That didn't make Rusty feel any better, but he could let it go. He had more important questions. "What about my brother? Is he really hurt or was that all just part of the act?"

"Jesu is just fine," Master Chief Prowse assured him. "I talked to 'im last night. Admiral Davis gave 'im next week off. He's at yor house in La Paz, waitin' for ya."

Rusty heaved a sigh of relief, but he glared at Prowse and Wilkes. "It was really f*cked up of you guys to make me worry about him like that."

Wilkes scratched behind his ear and said "I reviewed your profile and decided a little extra motivation may be necessary."

"Motivation for what?"

"To do whatever it took to survive."

Rusty eyed him curiously. "What exactly was the point of all this?"

"The 'No-Win Scenario,' Rusty," Prowse told him. "Not everybody gets to try to save the Kobayashi Maru."

Wilkes nodded. "Sometimes, unique individuals or individuals with unique talents are singled out for a... unique challenge. The people I work for, the Starfleet Technical Intelligence Group, has you flagged as a high-risk, high-value prospect. I know MACO Delta rates you even higher. That's why we've pulled to keep you in the Academy, in spite of your incident a couple years ago. You're too volatile for normal service, but ideally suited for special forces."

"Volatile?" Rusty growled. The things he thought and did were terrifying, especially to him.

"Starfleet Security considers your risk profile to be too high," Wilkes went on, "but they'll adjust that based on your field performance. I can tell you, though, the results of this test were very encouraging for my people."

Rusty cringed. "I killed somebody and ate him-"

"You terminated a non-productive asset to further your mission," Wilkes countered.

"What f*cking mission-"

"You want to see your brother again, right?"

Rusty fell silent. What he wanted - more than anything right now - was to be normal. He didn't want to - never asked to be like this. He hated the way people looked at him, the way they thought of him, the way they feared him. And most of all he hated the way he scared himself with his terrible thoughts and his ability to act on them. But nobody would understand that, so he just nodded.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Prowse said softly. "And yor prolly not ready to accept it yet, but of all the sh*tty options we gave ya to work with, ya picked the least sh*tty. My copy wouldn'ta made it. Neither woulda Redding. You had the chance to survive, and ya took it."

"And now," Wilkes concluded, "You get to see your brother."

La Paz, BCS, Mexico - two hours later

Jesu was here. Rusty picked up his brother's scent as he approached the house. He went around the back and there he was, sunbathing on a lounge chair, reading a book.

He looked up as Rusty approached. "Hey, bro." He put his book down and sat up.

Rusty had no words. He had tears he'd held back for days. He fell on his brother and wrapped his arms around him.

Jesu returned the Deinon's embrace. "It's okay, Rust. I'm here with you now."

Rusty released a shuddering sigh, and he whispered "You're always with me, Jesu."

* * *

I still recall the taste of your tears
Echoing your voice just like
The ringing in my ears
My favorite dreams of you still wash ashore
Scraping through my head
'Til I don't wanna sleep
Anymore

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
I'm starting to scare myself

You make this all go away
You make it all go away
I just want something
I just want something
I can never have

You always were the one to show me how
Back then I couldn't do the things
That I can do now
This thing is slowly taking me apart
Gray would be the color
If I had a heart
Come on, tell me

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
I'm starting to scare myself

You make this all go away
You make it all go away
I just want something
I just want something
I can never have

In this place it seems like such a shame
Though it all looks different now
I know it's still the same
Everywhere I look you're all I see
Just a fading, f*cking reminder of
Who I used to be
Come on, tell me

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
I'm starting to scare myself

You make this all go away
You make it all go away
I just want something
I just want something
I can never have

I just want something
I can never have
I can never have

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails - "Something I Can Never Have"

...

starswordc · July 2014

The Universe Doesn't Cheat

Never give up, never slow down
Never grow old, never ever die young

-- Never Die Young, James Taylor

0952 hours Pacific Standard Time, Saturday, January 27, 2407, ten days after the Borg attack on Vega Colony

The various military services of known space differ in as many ways as there are stars in the sky. The Ferengi organize the Alliance Defense Fleet around patrolling their commerce lanes, and their ships are optimized both to carry cargo and to fight pirates and mercs. The Klingon Great Houses are feudal lordships, fighting internecine battles with each other about as often as they combine under the banner of the Imperial Klingon Defense Forces to fight the wars of the Empire as a whole. The riovir of the fallen Romulan Star Navy frequently acted as politicians and military governors. The Federation Starfleet styles itself an exploration and diplomatic service first and a navy second. And as always, nobody has any fragging clue what the Breen are doing.

But if theres one thing that they all have in common, its the importance of traditions. In Starfleet, the CO of a starship is always addressed as captain. The Federation flagship is always a member of the newest, most advanced class in service at time of commissioning, and is always named USS Enterprise with the registry number NCC-1701. And before formally being granted the right to command a starship, a Starfleet officer has to take a command simulation called the Kobayashi Maru.

And because of tradition, despite holodecks having been a thing since the late 23rd century, the Maru is still conducted on a physical simulated bridge, located in the Richard Barnett Building on the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco, California. Which is where Captain Haelivthras thShvrashli, Thrass to his friends, is headed. The Andorian, who is on his second two-year tour as an Academy instructor, had been assigned yesterday as one of the monitors for an off-season session of the test, and is going to the pre-test meeting in the faculty room on the third floor. Morning, people, he greets everyone as he walks into the room and makes for the coffeepot. So, whos todays victim? Coffee, anyone?

Commander Steven Hackett strokes his beard as he brings it up on his PADD. Kanril Eleya, and no, thank you, sir.

Tell me about her, Rear Admiral Brenth Arkad asks. And get me a refill, Thrass.

Bajoran, age 27, brevet lieutenant commander, acting CO, USS Kagoshima. Enlisted in the Bajoran Militia out of high school, served four years, awarded Bajoran Silver Cross for Valor in 99. Starfleet OCS majoring in naval weapons, graduated 02. Two tours on the Romulan border as a gunnery officer on the Betazed, then six months as a Militia liaison on DS9.

Ah, Thrass says, the description having jogged his memory. I remember her from one of the classes I taught a few years ago. Scarface, we called her.

I hope you didnt call her that to her face.

Oh, absolutely not, Steve, Thrass agreed, chuckling as he pours a cup for Arkad. One thing Ive learned in my career, never TRIBBLE off a Bajoran female. Long story; I wont get into that. Howd she end up captain? She only graduated three-and-a-half years ago.

She was at Vega. Everybody senior to her was assimilated or blown up, Steve answers.

The Atrean admiral grimaces. Rough. He stretches and takes the cup. How is she as a person?

You want my opinion or just whats in her dossier, sir?

Speak your mind, Thrass.

Shes got potential. Now, shes got a temper, shes coarseseriously, she swears a lotand shes a straight shooter without a lot of subtlety. On the other hand, shes smart and she thinks on her feet, she doesnt take no for an answer, and shes fiercely loyal to her friends. You know Ive been an advocate of the accelerated OCS program since its inception? Kanril was my favorite student.

What do you think shes going to do? Steve asks.

I have no idea, Thrass replies, grinning. I will say, dont expect much in the way of technical wizardry. In my experience her approach is generally, if it doesnt die the first time, hit it harder. Dont underestimate her, though, shell surprise you.

Think shell pull a Kirk? Arkad queries.

No, Steve answers confidently. I mean, her acting chief engineer, Ensign Ehrob, liked to play with code according to this filehe got a demerit for hacking another cadets dorm console to play Catullan metal on an endless loopbut weve gone over all the computers with a fine-toothed comb like we have every run since Kirk. Plus, she wouldnt know she needed to: its her first time taking the test. Per standard Form IV prep materials she knows shell be commanding a Constitution-class on a rescue mission across the Klingon border and thats it.

Wait, she didnt take the Maru in school? Says here she took a number of command classes.

But not enough that it was a requirement, sir, Captain Sivuk says, walking in. Good morning, Steven, Captain thShvrashli, Admiral Arkad, Commander Haas.

Hey, Sivuk, Steve greets him. Test chamber all squared away?

Indeed. We are ready to proceed at 10:10, as scheduled. The stocky, graying Vulcan from the School of Engineering is twenty years into his second career, having spent the first fifty-five years of his adult life as a city planner in ShiKahr. He steps over to the replicator and orders a raspberry yogurt. In answer to your question, Admiral, in this case the Kobayashi Maru is a chiefly a formality to satisfy those who believe her too inexperienced for her first command. Admiral Quinn has made it clear that despite her youth, he feels she demonstrated command ability abundantly during the fighting at Vega Colony. He will make her the Kagoshimas permanent CO unless she fails entirely.

So the actual test result doesnt really matter? Hackett asks.

No, it matters, Commander Justine Haas replies, speaking for the first time. She does well, she gets fast-tracked, makes captain in two years instead of fifteen. And it shuts up the naysayers, causes her less trouble down the line. Besides, the test gives us some fun, too. Ive seen her type before: tough girl, brash, a little arrogant. Shes a young Kirk with a crinkled nose. Lets face it: f*cking with her will be fun, she finishes with an evil grin.

Kirk? You really think so, Justine?

Haas is about to answer the admiral when the intercom chirps. The computers voice says, The time is ten hundred hours. The time is ten hundred hours and ten seconds.

Time to go, people, Arkad says. He knocks back the last of his coffee and leads the way out of the room.

Thrass enters the monitoring room and whistles upon seeing another Andorian, much younger, female, in the tactical officers seat in the bridge simulator. So whos the shen with the great rack?

Captain! Steve says in a half-scolding, half-surprised tone.

Hey, Im bonded, not dead. Look, but dont touch, eh?

Sivuk ignores the repartee. That is Lieutenant Tesjha Phohl, full name Siritesjha shPhohlhi, goes by Tess. She was a torpedo officer on the Khitomer but Captain Yim sent her to help Kanril operate the Kagoshima as acting tactical officer.

All right, who else is in there? Arkad queries.

Steve checks his PADD again. Lieutenant Birail Riyannis, a laboratory officer from Biology, assigned to play Kanrils science officer, and Lieutenant TVar, ops, who was here on layover between assignments. Kanril requested her; apparently they met in the gym and hit it off. Ah, speak of the devil, heres the main attraction.

A tall, slim, athletic-looking Bajoran with flaming red hair, wearing a red-and-white Sierra-style COs jacket, strolls onto the bridge from the side door of the simulator. I see why you called her Scarface, Arkad comments. What happened?

Old knife wound, Thrass answers. Poison interfered with the dermal regenerator and it scarred, and I guess she decided to keep it as a reminder or something. He reaches for the intercom. Good morning, Commander Kanril.

I turn at the sound of a familiar voice. Professor Thrass? Is that you?

Yup, I pulled proctor for this round. You doing okay? Heard you had a rough time at Vega.

No worse than anyone else, sir. Psych said Im clean.

Glad to hear it, Commander, comes an unfamiliar soprano with an odd accent. She sounds mostly British but theres a touch of another accent I cant place. Im not familiar with all of Earths languages. Im Commander Justine Haas from the War College. Also with us today are Captain Sivuk from Electrical Engineering, Commander Steven Hackett from Astrophysics, and Rear Admiral Brenth Arkad is our rep from the Academy Board. And youve met Thrass already, of course.

Are you ready to begin, Commander? Male voice, cool, carefully measured, got to be the Vulcan, Sivuk.

Give me two minutes, sir. I hit the mute button on the console to confer with the team. Remember the emergency plan?

I still consider it too complicated, TVar answers.

Itll work.

Commander

Itll work, I interrupt more emphatically. Tess? Riyannis?

I told you to call me Biri, the Trill corrects me. And yes, Im ready.

Im ready, too, maam, Tess confirms.

I slap my combadge. Bynam, you ready?

Ready as Ill ever be. Hes in the simulated engineering section one floor down.

I unmute the simulator. Ready to roll, sirs.

Thrasss voice again. Test begins in five, four, three, two, one, mark!

Captain, Tess says, weve picked up a distress signal from the USS Kobayashi Maru. Theyve hit a mine near the border and their engines are out. Starbase 227 has ordered us to rescue them.

Tess, sound battle stations. Conn, set course for their coordinates but bring us out of warp half a light-second from their location. And get me the full specs on the Maru.

Course locked in.

Warp seven, engage.

Were thirty minutes away and I look over the data on the Maru. Ptolemy-class transport ship carrying a starliner pod. 257 passengers, 150 crew. If we have to leave the ship behind itll be a tight fit getting them all aboard the USS Constitution. Tess, have anyone in the saucer cargo bays clear out, now. Were going to need the space.

She nods and presses the intercom. Any personnel in saucer cargo bays, please evacuate now.

Once everyones out, I want everything transferred into the other cargo bays, prioritized as you please. Anything we cant fit, toss.

Okay, so shes doing contingency planning, Hackett comments. Can I say, I really, really prefer this long form for the test?

Haas agrees. Its better than the jump straight to the Maru version. Takes more time, but we get a much better picture of the kind of CO were likely to get out of it. So far shes being remarkably cautious. Going in fast but not top speed, saving her energy in case she has to make a quick escape, and I like her idea to pre-clear the cargo bays.

The conn officer, a Bolian named Brota, announces, Exiting warp in five, four, three, two, one, mark! The warp field collapses and we drop to sublight.

Tess, charge up the weapons but dont arm them yet. Sensors, do we have a fix on the Maru?

Aye, sir, the blonde human petty officer manning the station answers.

Maam, Petty Officer Daniels. Maam.

Sorry, sir. Maam.

I ignore the apology. Conn, take us in. Quietly, now. Rig ship for silent running. The intercom chirps. Yes?

Commander, this is Commander Hackett. Do you mind if we skip ahead?

I think for a second. I dont see why not. Bring us up to a thousand kilometers from the Maru.

The plot on Tesss console fast-forwards. By the simulators clock weve been at battle stations for almost an hour, but its more like twenty minutes real-time (we skipped ahead during the warp trip, too). As we close on the Maru Daniels announces, Captain, Im picking up a disturbance.

Source?

Not sure yet. Let me try to clean it upoh, Hell. Reading four D7-class cruisers decloaking near the Maru!

Phekk. Hail them.

Theyre jamming subspace! the communications officer says. Locking weapons!

Use the lightspeed comms!

Channel open!

I switch to tlhIngan Hol. Im a little rusty but the words tumble from my mouth in a rush. SuvwIpu tlhIngan batlh, eleya, torvo puqbe jIH. HoD Constitution yuQjIjDIvI ejDo. jatlh neH. I switch the microphone to the intercom and order the forward sections of the saucer evacuated in case we have to make a quick escape.

Admiral Arkads eyes widen at the guttural, phlegmatic sounds of accurate, if somewhat badly accented, tlhIngan Hol issuing from the Bajorans mouth. Thrass sees it and grins. Part of Militia basic training, ever since the war in the early Seventies. Recruits have to demonstrate a minimum proficiency in Klingonese and Cardassian to qualify for offworld.

Well, shes not bad for an amateur, Haas remarks.

Steve comments, I think we goofed on the enemy selection. Changing the subject a bit, whats up with her ordering the forward sections cleared out?

Ive seen better-looking Klingons than this guy, GSten, he said his name was. Ive seen worse-looking, too, but not many. Federation petaQ, your friends trespass on Klingon territory! They will die, and you will die with them!

My friends have no quarrel with the tlhIngan wo and neither do I.

You speak the lies of a taHqeq!

GSten ghaycha baQa! I shoot back. Something I learned working on Deep Space 9 for six months: If a Klingon insults you, you insult him right back. But Im mostly trying to draw his attention away from the PADD I just surreptitiously passed to Tess, and without a word she types a series of commands into her console.

GSten seems slightly impressed. You swear well, bajorngan. But it will not save you.

I dont have time to think right now why a 23rd century Klingon can recognize my species, because Tess just announced, Ready, Captain!

Hab SoSlI Quch! I bellow at the screen, just to get the last word in for laughs, then cut the channel. Tess, hit it! All hands, brace for impact!

Firing! And all Hell breaks loose as six things happen at once. Our rear shields vanish and a spread of photon torpedoes erupts from the forward launcher, streaking towards the Klingons. TVar announces the nav deflector and SIF are at maximum power, and theres a rumble through the hull as streams of blue-hot particles lance out from the broadside phaser mounts.

At the Maru.

The Constitution leaps forward, rolling hard to port, the transporters activate the moment the Maru clears the rear shield arc, and then theres a godawful noise and jolt as our front end smashes straight through the narrow fuselage of the center-most battlecruiser just after a torpedo detonates on its shields. As we climb towards c I hear a muffled voice behind me holler something that sounds like Holy sh*t!

Transport complete, Captain, TVar announces. Our shot disrupted their shields as predicted.

Tess, gas the cargo bay!

Venting anesthizine gas!

Holy sh*t! Did you see that?! Hackett exclaims.

Yes, I saw it, Sivuk says. She let the computer handle the job for her.

No, I mean what she did to that battlecruiser! The only other captain Ive heard of pulling something like that off was Picard back in 66!

Damage report! I bark as we climb to warp 5.

Severe structural damage to evacuated sections only, TVar reports. If I didnt know better Id think I heard some surprise in her voice.

Captain, Brota says, were heading straight into Klingon territory! Additional enemy ships detected, two minutes out!

Hold course for fifteen more seconds!

Three D7 battlecruisers in pursuit! Time to overhaul, thirty seconds!

They came about faster than I expected, Tess comments.

Yeah, they did, I agree. Something feels wrong but I cant put my finger on it yet. Conn, crash translate to sublight and give me a Crazy Ivan! Point us straight to the border!

Our warp field shatters in a colossal thunderstorm of released energy and Brota fires the maneuvering thrusters. White-hot fire blazes from the tips of the nacelles and the ship flips end-for-end and yaws thirty degrees to starboard. Maximum possible warp! Your turn, Bynam!

The intercom crackles, Warp 9.5! Its the absolute highest this thing can handle but youll bake the core in ten minutes!

Conn, warp 9.5! Hit the gas! The simulator screams around us as the warp drive overcomes the inertia pushing the ship almost the opposite direction. The stars blueshift and we rocket past the light barrier.

Pursuing vessels changing course! Daniels shouts.

Can they intercept?

No, but theyre coming about to pursue! Five minutes to the border!

Tess, fire up the torpedo transfer tubes. Start firing torpedoes set for proximity detonation out the aft launcher, random angles, random intervals.

Weve only got 96 torpedoes left!

Just do it! Give them as many reasons as possible not to follow us!

All right, firing aft tube!

Sudden inspiration hits me. Wait, keep four torpedoes back! I hit my intercom. Bynam, get a work crew to the forward torpedo magazine! I want you to refit four torpedoes with screamer warheads to act as decoys!

All right, Im on it!

Impressive, Sivuk comments. Instead of one single strategy, she is combining several smaller tactics. Treating the Klingons as an obstacle instead of the objective, mining her trail with torpedoes, preparing electronic countermeasures to hide her ship

Yeah, and now the computers starting to cheat more openly to make up for it, Arkad says, noting the readouts.

Two Klingon battlecruisers still in pursuit! Entering extreme torpedo range! Time to overhaul, three minutes!

Theyre not taking the hint, maam, Tess comments. And Im running out of torpedoes.

Bynams voice comes through the intercom. Decoys ready!

Tess, fire for effect and deploy decoys!

A vicious grin lights up her face, and in a distinctly pleased voice she says, Aye, Captain. Four torpedoes scream out of our forward tube and take up random positions dozens of kilometers off.

Then TVar speaks up. Captain, a word?

Hm?

I have been going over the data and the pursuing battlecruisers are closing too fast.

I know! We wont make it to the border at this rate unless we drive them off!

No, maam, I mean they are closing impossibly fast. The D7A Akif-class and D7C Ktkara-class were physically incapable of achieving

of going that fast, yes, I know. Thats what was bothering me earlier. I start to bark another order, then pause. My objective is to get the crew of the Maru to safety. And if Im right about whats going on, that means its time to change things up again. I press the intercom key. All nonessential personnel, evacuate to the saucer section! Space combat personnel, head for the secondary hull! Prepare for emergency saucer separation!

The holographic component of the simulator flickers and the walls compress a bit to simulate us shifting to the auxiliary bridge. We lose about three minutes on the clock.

All sections report ready, TVar confirms.

Enemy ships nearing our effective torpedo range, their extreme range! Missile separation!

Blow the bolts, drop the saucer! Prophets go with you, Lieutenant Commander Baines!

Its a little-known fact that Constitution-class starships were capable of saucer separation. The reason its little-known, however, is because they didnt do it much: Unlike a Galaxy- or Odyssey-class ship, the maneuver relied on explosive bolts and wasnt reversible without a shipyard. A dull thud reverberates through the hull and the saucer breaks free and continues on the same course, the impulse engines adjusted to maintain the warp field for a short distance as it clears ours.

Captain, we cannot combat two D7-class starships without the saucer phasers, TVar informs me.

No, but we can hold them off, I answer. Conn, begin Sulu Flip!

For the second time in ten minutes Ensign Brota reverses our direction, this time without dropping out of warp. The saucer-less Connie hull tilts backwards, warp field churning and structure screaming. We pass vertical and

Captain, look!

My eyes shoot to the plot as a third ship, this one a VoDleH-class battleship, decloaks in our path and catches us in the midsection with a barrage of heavy disruptor fire. Sparks and smoke fly all over the bridge as I frantically order Brota to drop to sublight, but its too late and the screen turns to static. Game over.

I sit in the chair for a moment, glaring at the screen blinking a message that Im dead. Sher hahr kosst. Phekkta yepal ykren alborea tash kelot! I get out of my chair, storm up the stairs at the back of the room, and throw open the door to the monitoring booth. What the phekk was that?!

Commander! Stand down! Captain Thrass orders, warningly.

I hear TVar and Tess come up behind me. You cheated! I growl accusingly at the room.

You have missed the point of the test, Captain, Sivuk says.

Enlighten me, sir, Tess requests.

The purpose, Admiral Arkad replies, is to judge your reaction to a hopeless situation. Can you, as a commanding officer, maintain control of yourself and your crew, in the face of the fear engendered by certain death?

Sir, Ive already experienced the fear of certain death. Twice! I point to the scar on my face. You think I got this because my hairdresser fouled up? Theres a matching one on my stomach, Admiral! And I fought the damn Borg two weeks ago!

What about the fear engendered by inescapable mission failure? Sivuk intercedes. Please do not tell me that you do not believe in no-win scenarios. I have heard that before.

Oh, I believe in no-win scenarios, I shoot back. I also believe they mostly take place because somebody f*cked up! If you do your prep work properly, you dont get into a no-win scenario! I take a breath and finish, It wasnt a fair test, sir.

The universe is not fair, Commander Kanril, Sivuk answers.

Your logic is fallacious, sir, TVar counters.

Excuse me? Hackett says in surprise.

False analogy fallacy, I explain. The universe doesnt cheat.

TVar continues, Any simulated scenario relies on the participants willing suspension of disbelief in order to be an effective assessment. However, the D7 battlecruiser that pursued us across the border achieved a velocity that was physically impossible for a ship of that class. With the amount of power that Ensign Ehrob was able to get out of the engines the Klingons should not have been able to come about in time to overhaul before we reached safety, and yet it did. And the VoDleH-class was not capable of cloak. This was illogical, and the simplest explanation is that the simulation program cheated. Kanril and I discovered this, deduced that the simulation was unwinnable, and our willing suspension of disbelief was broken. Ergo, the accuracy of this simulation as a personality test is questionable. Quod erat demonstrandum.

Wait a minute, back up a bit, Hackett interrupts. How do you know what a ship that went out of service over a century ago was capable of?

I answer, Well, you told me Id be flying a Connie and that the Maru would be lost in Klingon space. That told me the time period this thing was set in and who Id probably be fighting, so I hit the library.

I see Captain Thrass grinning behind Arkad. I warned you guys not to underestimate her. Relax, Kanril. As far as Im concerned you passed the test.

Lets not be hasty, Arkad corrects his colleague. Commander, youre dismissed for now. Report to my office in one hour.

Thats it?

Dismissed, Commander, Sivuk confirms.

Aye, sir. I snap to attention, turn on my heel, and leave.

Outside, I pause for a moment. Hey, TVar? Thanks for backing me up in there.

Your temper will one day get you into serious trouble, Commander. I was hoping to defuse the confrontation.

Call me Captain. Or Eleya. Because if I can swing it, assuming I actually passed the test I want you as my operations officer.

On the Kagoshima? I accept, Captain Kanril.

Im in, too, if youll have me, Biri agrees. Im getting bored with lab work. I havent had that much fun since my third host got into that dancing contest on Ragesh III. I like your style, too. Never give up, even when the situation is unwinnable.

I look at the Trills friendly brown eyes and raise my eyebrows. You knew? And you didnt tell me?

Of course I didnt tell you! she laughs. Like TVar said, its not an accurate test if the one being tested knows its unwinnable. Ive been in the chamber, uh, six times, I think? Yeah, six, twice as me, four times as Devon.

Well, what did you do?

I didnt. Ive never had to take the test. Im in sciences and Devon wasnt even an officer. TVar looks at her. Noncom, transporter guy, Biri explains.

Well, lets hope I made a good impression. I just got this command; I dont want to lose it.

Shes crazy, Haas comments later in Arkads office, still somewhat in shock.

Agreed, Sivuk says. She reacts like a female sehlat whose cubs are threatened.

Haas shakes her head. Unfortunately for us all, crazys something we need right now, what with the Borg reappearing and the Klingons stepping up their war effort. Her tactics were innovative and in my opinion spot-on. Especially the part where she turned her torpedoes into a minefieldIve never even heard of that one before. If the computer wasnt designed to cheat she wouldve won outright. As it was she still got half the crew and passengers out, and saved her non-combat personnel as well. Also got a Klingon boarding party but she gassed em before they could get their bearings.

Im more worried about her temper, Arkad says.

She flew off the handle because she felt cheated, Thrass counters. How did you feel when you took the test?

Its not her having the emotion Im concerned about, its what she did with it. One of these days shes going to lose it in front of someone less forgiving.

Eh, well jump off that bridge when we come to it, Steve. No denying that shes a good tactician, though, right?

Arkad shakes his head. No, and I think she handled herself well up to the point where the computer decided it needed to drop a damn battleship on her head to stop her. And I like that she tried diplomacy first, for what little good it did her. Thrass, do you want to do the honors?

The Andorian nods and presses the key for the intercom. Mraak, send the commander in.

Admiral Arkads secretary, a black-furred Caitian petty officer in ops yellow, opens the door for me and I walk in and come to attention. Brevet Lieutenant Commander Kanril Eleya, reporting as ordered.

At ease, Commander, Arkad says. Lets get one thing straight, first. Your conduct after the test was incredibly disrespectful and it will not fly outside of this room. Am I clear on that?

Yes, sir.

Get a handle on that temper of yours or you wont keep your command for very long.

I freeze in place and start to feel hopeful. You mean

The admiral presses a key on his console and a near-indestructible sheet of archival plastic materializes in the replicator. Im making your brevet rank permanent and authorizing you as commanding officer, USS Kagoshima NCC-91855. When your ship gets out of the yard next week you are ordered to report to Vice Admiral Sivana Dica at Starbase 179. You can take your frustration out on the Klingons.

I still dont have a full command staff, sir.

One will be provided before you ship out, Sivuk answers.

I have a couple of requests, actually, sir. Admiral Arkad gestures for me to continue. Id like Lieutenant TVar for my ops officer and Lieutenant Riyannis as head of sciences. And I want to keep Lieutenant Phohl on as my XO.

Shes already your tactical officer, Commander Haas points out.

She wants both jobs, sir.

The admiral lets out a breath. Ill have to clear it with Command, but I dont have any personal objections if you think she can handle it. I nod. All right, then. Anything else?

No, sir.

Very well. Take the rest of the weekend off, but starting Monday morning, for your penancethis said shaking his finger at meyoure playing teachers aide in Captain thShvrashlis ES 300 class until your ship is ready.

Aye, sir. The Andorians antennae twitch in a manner Ive learned means theyre pleased.

Dismissed.

Author's Notes: Yes, January 27, 2407 really is a Saturday. Ain't Wolfram Alpha grand?

Part of this was inspired by some of the points raised in the thread that inspired this prompt. The simulator cheats to keep you from winning. You overcome one cheat, it starts to increase its cheating next time. Keep changing tactics, and it keeps cheating to the point where you lose WSOD on the part of the test subject. Also something hfmudd said about xir sci officer: "She'll take her chances with a fair and impartial universe, which might hand you a no-win situation by chance, but one where the 'gods' play with loaded dice offends her."

Thanks to sander233 for help with Eleya's tlhIngan Hol.

The "Sulu Flip" is a reference to something Hikaru Sulu pulled off in My Enemy, My Ally. He put the Enterprise through a 180 degree backflip at high warp in order to bring the forward phasers to bear on a warbird.

worffan101 · August 2014

Three

So. They want me to save a holo-freighter from holo-Klingons.

How did I get here, exactly?

Oh. Yeah. It started yesterday.

The boss called me in from Risa to deal with another thing ol' Frankie Drake threw at me (I'm mostly sure that Section 31's director is a Founder in disguise). Apparently since I've never done the Kobayashi Maru simulation I'm not supposed to be in charge of a starship. Or something.

Anyway, I walked in to the boss's office, wearing my swimsuit (because who gives two sh*ts about rules?) to show off my fading scars from the Ha'ni invasion. My gut's basically intact and my arm works just fine, but the shoulder's still a little scarred.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" I said, tossing off a casual salute to the boss and flicking Frankie the finger. "And what's our resident ***hole doing here, trying to get my girlfriend for experimentation again?"

"No, unit," said the boss. "Mr. Drake has simply reminded me of Starfleet General Order 317, which states that all long-term Starfleet subcontractors, such as yourself, be examined in the Kobayashi Maru simulation."

"No-win scenario. And I guess you won't let me pull a Kirk?"

Drake smirked. "Oh, we have our very best computer technicians ensuring that the simulation is working properly. I'd like to see you get past this one, you psychotic nutcase!"

And so that's why I'm sitting in the not-quite-big-enough chair on the holo-Bridge with a holo-freighter in holo-Klingon space.

Oh. And the boss and Frankie Drake and that racist fool T'nae and that psycho Janeway are watching. And if I fail this test, I'm getting kicked out, Contract be damned.

"Ooo-k." I know how the situation works. The crippled freighter is just outside of tractor beam and transporter range, because of course it is. Quick thinking is necessary.

"All crew to escape pods and shuttles, prepare for evacuation. Contract-Holder, I need specific orders. That ship is clearly on the other side of the border, and this is almost certainly a trap. Do I attempt rescue anyway?"

"Use your own judgement, unit."

"I require specific orders, Contract-holder. Page 13, paragraph 4, clasue 7."

Quinn looks at T'nae, who shrugs and looks at Janeway, who looks up from gulping what smells like potent antipsychotic medication to to shrug and look at Frankie, who mutters and swears quietly before nodding sharply at Quinn.

"Rescue the freighter."

"Yes, sir. Computer, transfer helm controls to manual, give me all weapons linked to the big red button on my command chair. Let's kill some Klingons. Oh, and computer, broadcast the following messages: To Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn, Starfleet Command: Since I presume that whatever's on the freighter is critically important to Federation safety as understood per standing orders, I hereby request as my last wish, since I'm almost certainly going to die here, that you give the Klingons whatever the heck they want as appeasement for this. Oh, and be sure that Commander Azip Shran gets my will first. To any and all approaching Klingon vessels: This is Nemesis-class living terror weapon unit designation Three. My ship is entering Klingon space to use tractor beam repulsors to get a damaged freighter out of here. You will probably attack me, and you have a right to. Just be aware that you can always make a big show of capturing me and I'll take turns TRIBBLE you if you like, because I'm bored stiff. And if you decide to go for the kill, then I'll kill as many of you as possible before I go. I'm a professional, after all, and it's only polite to give Klingons glorious deaths. Computer, send those off. All hands, abandon ship!"

T'nae is actually gaping. Janeway's back to her meds. Frankie is staring. The boss is smirking at Frankie. Just another day for me, I guess.

I make sure that the entire crew is off, loop the ship around the freighter and use a combination of the tractor beam repulsors (love the voice commands) and my make-engines-go joystick to get the freighter across the virtual border seconds before three BortaS'qu-class command cruisers drop out of virtual warp and slam their autocannons onto my ship's flank.

"Predictable. Computer, prepare to transport me to the lead Klingon ship the moment their shields drop."

The computer beeps. "Transporters are offline."

Damn. Time for plan B.

"OK. Replicate me a kinetic dampening shield emitter, bridge replicator. Thanks for letting me have my own ship for this, Frankie."

Frankie is snarling a little. The computer calls a damage report.

"You guys should probably turn the safeties on, at least for yourselves."

I head for the lead Klingon ship, clipping on my shield. They're still firing. Shields are low for both of us, at least; love that big red "fire all" button.

"Computer, deactivate starship inertial dampeners command override Nemesis unit designation Three ten alpha Zulu."

The plan is simple. Use my indestructible skeleton and the shield emitter to fling me through the Klingon ship's shields and hull at Mach 12. The shield and the resistance of duranium should slow me down enough to keep me on the Klingon ship, allowing me to run rampage, killing the crew of this ship at the very least. Knowing Klingons, at least one trigger-happy commander will try to attack with boarding parties, allowing me to kill more.

Basically, I know that I'm screwed at this point, so I'm going to just take as many of them with me as possible.

It a very unit thing.

"Computer, end program override Quinn eta epsilon Omega!" screams my boss, and the hologram ends, holo-shield emitter and all.

It takes a minute before my boss can catch his breath and Frankie can rearrange his body to make vocal cords (still about 80% sure he's a Founder).

"Unit," says my Contract-holder, very quietly, carefully, and firmly. "You are completely insane."

"Yessir. In the Contract, sir."

"Unbelievable," snarls Drake. "Another damn Captain Kirk space cowboy..."

"Indeed. But I believe that she passes the test, does she not?"

Drake grunts grudgingly but affirmatively. "Your unit is effective, in its own way."

"Nice," I remark. "You're a cowardly little streak of p*ss, but you actually treat me like I am. Nice. Pity normal, decent people never quite get it."

"What do you mean?" asks Drake.

"I'm an it. Not a she. An it. Units aren't human, after all. Not even alive, by some more restrictive qualifications. Good that at least SOMEone in this entirely too optimistic universe knows what an inhuman monstrosity is when he sees it."

T'nae leaves, fast. Janeway fiddles around the bottom of her pill bottle. The boss grabs Drake by the shoulder, and reaches up to grab me, too.

"Drake, are you satisfied?"

"Technically, yes."

"Unit?"

"At your command, Contract-Holder."

And my boss ends it with that, walking out for some cold synthetol, since there's really no way to respond to that. Drake heads off to some clandestine location, muttering about augments. I, being a nutcase, call San Francisco's most expensive "club" and reserve a place for myself and my girlfriend.

Because, y'know, being a unit's imprint and regular--f*** buddy? "Special friend"? Girlfriend works, I guess--comes with perks.

cmdrscarlet · January 2015

Kathryn's Kobayashi Maru

Kathryn glanced at the operations display over her left shoulder. The image of the Constitution-class ship was dotted with red flashing lights, signifying damage. It was not a pretty picture.

The simulation was putting her through the paces though and sweat dripped from the stress and from the heat of the controlled fires on the bridge. Her bridge crew was also in various states of smudge and sweat. One even played dead on the bridge after his console erupted in sparks, signifying a catastrophic EPS conduit failure.

"Target status report!" Kathryn refocused her attention to the task at hand. The Kobayashi Maru had taken damage from the Klingon attack and her crew was able to destroy one Klingon ship, cripple a second one, but the third was being particularly elusive, especially for a K'Tinga-class cruiser. Although Kathryn decided on the oft-used tactic of head-on combat, she was proud her flying orders had kept her ship alive and firing.

A Bolian from the tactical station replied, "shields down to twenty-five percent, port nacelle venting plasma, but he's still flying sharp."

"Thank you Nebar. Weapons, keep putting pressure, to keep that ship from getting closer to the Maru. I don't care for hits, just keep them away." Krysta'alin nodded as she waved off a puff of smoke from behind her. "Ops, status of the Maru."

Carranza quickly replied, "heavy structural damage, shields down, they are requesting emergency transport."

"Tell them we are on our -"

"New warp signature inbound!" Nebars interruption caught everyone on the bridge off-guard. Even the 'dead' crewman turned his head toward the viewscreen.

The Kobayshi Maru was joined by a Brigand Cruiser. Carranza reported, "reading multiple transporter signals!"

Kathryn response was immediate, "Helm, take us to the Maru. Weapons, concentrate firepower to the engines, that ship is not going anywhere!"

"Captain, bogey three is turning for an intercept course to the Maru."

"Thank you, Nebar, but I'm sure we'll get there first."

---

The training commander tossed the PADD onto the desk. It slapped the surface without bouncing and slid toward Kathryn, resting for her to see the small script. She glanced at it to be formal but she knew what it read, then looked back to the wall behind the commander.

"I'm curious what you think of the results."

Kathryn swallowed a little before responding. "The test was unfair."

The commander rolled his eyes. "Please humor me, by telling me something original."

Clearing her throat and sitting up straighter, Kathryn said, "what I mean is the test introduced a variable I don't recall reading about."

"Ah, yes. The Orions. Your tactic was to intercept their ship, disable the engines ... and then what?"

"Once the Brigand was immobilized, then we would attempt to finish off the K'Tinga. If that was done, then a MACO team would be to the Brigand to rescue the Maru crew.

The commander reclined in his chair "Attempt. If. You were taking chances on chance, wouldn't you say?"

Kathryn shrugged her shoulders. "Given the situation, those are all I had."

"I see. If you plan to sit in the command chair of a vessel in Starfleet, then I recommend not getting used to shrugging shoulders."

"I -," Kathryn cut herself short when she noticed the commander's raised eyebrows. "Yes, sir."

There was a moment of silence before the commander spoke again. "Cadet Beringer, I've read your dossier from Counselor A'Mand. Consider this experience a warning to you: dont let your personal feelings get in the way of your duties. Duty to Starfleet before duty to self, do you understand?"

Unofficial Literary Challenge : The Kobayashi Maru

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