Sorry for the delay haha life happened and I was also trying to add more of my own stuff to this chapter. It... didn't really work. Anyway, thanks for all those who are just joining the story! Hope you guys stay
I do not own Star Trek
"-we are receiving a distress signal from the U.S.S. Kobayashi Maru. The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them." Uhura announced, turning to Jamie.
Jamie sat in the command chair. She knew it was only a trainee command chair, but she couldn't help but feel important… hell, special even. Not just some plain blonde farmhand girl, but she felt that she could make a difference.
Even if this was just a test, a mere mock trial of what was meant to come - she still felt the power from the Chair. It was remarkable.
"Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them... Captain." Jamie corrected.
Uhura just glared at her, but then turned away. However, Jamie managed to catch the slight twitch of Uhura's lips into the smallest of smiles. Jamie smirked, knowing how in control she actually was in this situation, and she knew she had everything under control as well. She could do this.
After all, she had a secret weapon.
"Klingon vessels have entered the Neutral Zone. And they are firing upon us." McCoy reported, looking up from his screen exasperatedly.
"That's ok."
The crew turned to her in surprise. However, McCoy looked to her in concern. "It's ok?" He approached her starkly. Then, He added in a rushed undertone, "Did you get any sleep last night, woman?"
"Plenty, Bones." When in fact, she had found a loophole in the system. She shot him one of her crooked smiles, in order to convince him. "Don't worry about it."
Any problem that came up that the "Klingons" caused, however, firing back was not an option.
At least, not until her plan worked.
The systems crashed, and once it booted back up, Jamie smirked. "the Kobayashi Maru is still in distress... but... the Klingons have stopped firing."
"Arm photons. Prepare to fire on the Klingon warbirds." Jamie ordered.
"Jamie, their shields are up." McCoy warned.
"Are they?"
"...no."
Once the ships were fired, the crew was rescued and Jamie saved the day, the training session was over. She looked to the one-sided window to where she knew the spectators were, and asked, "Anything else?"
Jamie found herself in a meeting with the high council, she stood behind a podium as she was being interrogated. "An incident has occurred today that concerns the entire student body. Academic immorality by one is an assault on us all. It will. Not. Stand. Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to regulation 17.43 of the Starfleet code. Is there anything you care to say before we begin?"
"Yessir. I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly."
The counselor nodded to the assembly, and a Vulcan rose from his seat. He had an annoying bowl cut, but his high cheekbones and dark eyes were entrancing. "Step forward please. This is Commander Spock, one of our most distinguished graduates. He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru test for the last four years."
Hatred seethed through her chest as she watched Spock move forward. "Cadet Kirk. It is obvious you somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code, thereby changing the conditions of the test."
"Your point being?" Jamie smirked.
Spock paused, levelling his gaze with her.
"In academic vernacular, you cheated." The counselor stated.
Jamie scoffed. This was insane. "Respectfully. Define "cheating"."
"To deceive by Trickery." Spock answered immediately.
"Now let me ask you something I think we all know the answer to: the test is rigged, isn't it? You programmed it to be unwinnable." Jamie said, leaning over her podium and pointing at Spock accusingly.
"Ms. Kirk, I don't see how the intent of the exam is relevant to these proceedings."
Without taking her eyes off of Spock, whose face somehow remains emotionless, she responded, "Because if I'm right, Sir, then the test itself is a cheat."
"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario -" Spock argued.
Jamie narrowed her eyes. "Yeah? I don't believe in no-win scenarios -"
She was going to win this. She truly believed in what she was saying, not only because it was her father's reasoning, but it was her own. She would have to break through tooth and nail to get her message through.
"Then not only have you violated the rules, you've failed to understand the principle lesson." Spock still countered.
"Please, enlighten me." Jamie stated thickly.
Spock pursed his lips, which looked so… tempting.
That was ridiculous. Now was not the time for something like that. This man was a jerk - a grade A asshole. Not handsome in any way, shape, or form at all. "You, of all people should know, Cadet Kirk - A captain cannot cheat death."
Her mouth dropped open. She imagined she must look pretty silly, but this statement hit her hard. She'd basically hit rock bottom, since she knew exactly where this was going to lead. "'I of all people'?"
"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, had assumed command of his vessel before killed in action, did he not?"
"My father…" She balled her fist, her face flushing with embarrassment. The audience switched awkward glances with each other, murmuring under their breaths. Any nice thoughts she had of the Vulcan disintegrated. "How long did it take you to look that up?"
"How long did it take you to program the virus that allowed you to cheat?"
She breathed slowly, deeply. The comment about her father threw her off. She must stay on top of the game. "Maybe you just don't like that I beat your test." In truth, it took her all night to formulate the code and send the hack. After about an hour of studying, she found a loophole, and spent the rest of the night to program a code to hack the system.
"I am Vulcan. "Like" is not a verb in our vernacular. I've simply made the logical deduction that you're a liar."
"What an idiot I am for taking that personally -" She wanted to say that she hated this, she wanted to leave the counsel and go home. However, it actually thrilled her. She was arguing with a Vulcan for crying out loud! One of the most intellectual species out there. She wasn't about to go down, either.
"Agreed. Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test."
She sighed. "Enlighten me again."
"The purpose is to experience fear. Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear and maintain command of one's self and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain."
"So basically, the whole point… is to be afraid?" Jamie asked after absorbing this new information. Which was stupid, because she was basically fearless. She loved to step in front of the face of danger. She lived for danger, how could she be afraid of it?
"Fear is a necessity, yes." Spock replied.
"Have you taken the test, Commander Spork?" She asked, smirking.
Spock raised his damn eyebrow. "Spock. As a Vulcan, I require no additional training to control my narcissism when making command decisions."
The crowd, which she basically forgot was there in the first place, made a chorus of 'Ooohhs' as her cheeks heated in rage. She huffed, remembering that she's broken bones for less. Much, much less. "You keep reminding me that you're Vulcan. And I'm sure you're really proud of that, who wouldn't be- but isn't it true you people don't experience fear at all?"
She kept her eyes on Spock, to see any sort of emotion radiate off of him. His lips only twitched slightly in annoyance, which was definitely a score on her part. "And if that's the case - What's that say about your ability to make command decisions?"
The Academy President broke the sudden silence, announcing that they received a distress signal from the planet Vulcan. Jamie was sent on probation until further notice, while the cadets were being sent off to shuttles.
She stood behind the podium as everyone else moved around her, suddenly lonely. She wasn't in the spotlight anymore, she wasn't special. She moved around the podium to move to… who knows where? Probably her dorm to rethink her purpose of life.
No. She had to get on the shuttle.
"Cheating isn't winning." Pike had said to her.
She sighed, but that was when McCoy caught up with her. However, she also managed to find Spock in the crowd, catching his eye for a brief moment before he raised an eyebrow and turned away.
Jamie grinded her teeth. "Who was that pointy-eared bastard?"
McCoy grinned. "I don't know, but I like him."
Jamie punched his arm and sighed.
There was one thing she absolutely knew for sure. She was going to become Captain this year, whether Starfleet liked it or not.
