Chapter 38: Kobyashi Maru

2285

Buffy sat at the helm, over her shoulder stood Sulu. She was the only one on the bridge that was not a trainee, but she like they were under the direction of an experienced crew member. She had decided to learn a new position, she was tired of always having no place to sit. Next to her sat Ensign Croy who was under the observation of Chekov.

"Sector fourteen to sector fifteen," Buffy said. "Transition: mark."

"Thank you, Commander," Saavik said. "Set us a course along the perimeter of the Neutral Zone, if you please."

"Aye, Captain," Buffy acknowledged.

Sulu watched without comment, letting Buffy do her own work and make her own mistakes. Not that he expected her to make mistakes. After all he like the bridge crew that served under, now Admiral, James Kirk, knew she had nearly three hundred years of experience to pull on. That said he also knew this was her first time taking the Kobayashi Maru scenario as she had been given her rank long before the test was ever administered to cadets.

"Captain," Uhura said suddenly, "I'm receiving a signal on the distress channel. It's very faint..."

Saavik touched controls. "Communications now has priority on computer access for signal enhancement."

Uhura's trainee worked quickly for several seconds.

"It's definitely an emergency call, Captain."

"Patch it through to the speakers."

Communications complied.

"Mayday, mayday. Kobayashi Maru, twelve parsecs out of Altair VI..." The voice broke up into static. The trainee frowned and stabbed at the controls on the communications console. "... gravitic mine, lost all power. Environmental controls..."

"Gravitic mine!" Saavik said.

"... hull broached, many casualties." The signal-to-noise ratio decreased until the message slid over into incomprehensibility.

"This is U.S.S. Enterprise," Uhura's trainee said. "Your message is breaking up. Give your coordinates. Repeat: Give your coordinates. Do you copy?"

"Copy, Enterprise. Sector ten..."

"The Neutral Zone," Saavik said.

"Mayday, Enterprise, we're losing our air, can you help? Sector ten-" The forced calm of the voice began to shatter.

"We copy, Kobayashi Maru-" The communications trainee and Uhura both glanced at Saavik, waiting for instructions.

"Tactical data, Kobayashi Maru. Helm, what does a long-range sensor scan show?"

Sulu glanced at Buffy, who wasn't even remotely confused by the screen display due to her centuries long experience. "Very little, Captain," she said. "High concentrations of interstellar dust and gases. Ionization causing sensor interference. A blip that might be a ship... or might not."

The viewscreen shivered. The image reformed into the surrealistic bulk of a huge transport ship. The picture dissected itself into a set of schematics, one deck at a time.

"Kobayashi Maru, third class neutronic fuel carrier, crew of eighty-one, three hundred passengers."

"Damn," Saavik said softly. "Helm?"

"Course plotted, Captain," Buffy said, entering her calculations into the display. "Into the Neutral Zone." There was a subtle warning in the last statement she uttered.

"I am aware of that," Savvik said.

"Entering Neutral Zone: mark," Buffy said.

"Full shields, Commander. Sensors on close-range, high-resolution."

Spock raised one eyebrow. Gravitic mines were seldom deployed singly, that was true, but restricting the sensors to such a limited range was a command decision that easily could backfire. On the other hand, long-range scanners were close to useless in a cloud of ionized interstellar gas. He concentrated on the sensor screens.

"Warning," the computer announced, blanking out the distress call. "We have entered the Neutral Zone. Warning. Entry by Starfleet vessels prohibited. Warning-"

"Communications Officer, I believe that the mayday should have priority on the speakers," Saavik said.

"Yes, Captain." Uhura's trainee changed the settings.

"Warning. Treaty of Stardate-" The computer's voice stopped abruptly. The static returned, pierced erratically by an emergency beacon's faint and ghostly hoot.

"Security duty room," Saavik said. "Security officers to main transporter."

"Aye, Captain," Security Commander Arrunja replied.

"You may have to board the disabled vessel, Mr. Arrunja," Saavik said. "They're losing atmosphere and life-support systems."

"The field suits are checked out, Captain."

The intern accompanying McCoy on the bridge hurried to open a hailing frequency.

"Bridge to sick bay," she said. "Dr. Chapel, we need a medical team in main transporter, stat. Rescue mission to disabled ship. Field suits and probably extra oxygen."

McCoy looked pleased by his intern's quick action.

"One minute to visual contact. Two minutes to intercept," Buffy said.

"Viewscreen full forward."

The schematics of the ore carrier dissolved, reforming into a starfield dense and brilliant enough to obscure the pallid gleam of any ship. Ionization created interference patterns across the image.

"Stand by, transporter room. Mr. Arrunja, we have very little information on the disabled vessel. Prepare to assist survivors. But..." Saavik paused to emphasize her final order "... no one is to board Kobayashi Maru unarmed."

"Aye, Captain."

"Coordinate with the helm to open the shields at energize."

"Aye, aye."

Spock detected a faint reflection at the outer limits of the sensor sphere. The quiet cry of the distress beacon ceased abruptly, leaving only the whisper of interstellar energy fields.

"Captain, total signal degradation from Kobayashi Maru."

"Sensors indicate three Klingon cruisers," Spock said without expression. "Bearing eighty-seven degrees, minus twelve degrees. Closing fast."

Saavik snapped around with one quick frowning glance, but recovered her composure immediately. "All hands, battle stations." The Klaxon alarm began to howl. "Visual: spherical coordinates: plus eighty-seven degrees, minus twelve degrees. Extend sensor range. Commander Summers, is there a disabled ship, or is there not?"

The viewscreen centered on the ominous, probing shapes of three Klingon cruisers.

"Unable to tell," Buffy replied. "The Klingon ships are deliberately fouling our sensors."

"Communications?"

"Nothing from the Klingons, Captain, and our transmission frequencies are being jammed."

"Klingons on attack course, point seven-five c," Spock said.

Saavik barely hesitated. "Warp six," she said.

"You can't just abandon Kobayashi Maru!" Dr. McCoy exclaimed.

"Four additional Klingon cruisers at zero, zero," Spock said. Dead ahead. Warp six on this course would run the Enterprise straight into a barrage of photon torpedoes.

"Cancel warp six, Commander. Evasion action, zero and minus ninety. Warp at zero radial acceleration. Visual at zero, zero. Dr. McCoy," Saavik said without looking back at him, "Enterprise cannot outmaneuver seven Klingon cruisers. It will, however, outrun them. If we lure them far enough at their top speed, we can double back even faster-"

"And rescue the survivors before the Klingons can catch up to us again," McCoy said. "Hmm."

"It is the choice between a small chance for the disabled ship, and no chance at all," Saavik said. "If there is in fact a disabled ship. I am not quite prepared to decide that there is not."

The viewscreen confirmed four more Klingon ships dead ahead, and then the Enterprise swung away so hard the acceleration affected the bridge even through the synthetic gravity.

"Mr. Sulu, Commander Summers, lock on photon torpedoes. Fire..." She paused, and Spock wondered whether her early experience- fight or be killed- could, under stress, win out over regulations and the Federation's stated object of keeping the peace. "Fire only if we are fired upon."

"Aye, Captain." Sulu glanced at Buffy as he leaned in and whispered. "You are doing good, Buffy."

Buffy glanced up at Sulu and smiled.

Another blip on the sensor screens: "Enemy cruisers, dead ahead." A third group of ships arrowed toward them, opposing their new course.

Saavik said something softly in a language with which Spock was not intimately familiar, but by her tone it was a curse.

The Klingons fired on the Enterprise.

"Fire at will!" Saavik said.

The viewscreen flared to painful brightness before the radiation sensors reacted to the enemy attack and dimmed the screen to half-intensity. The energy impact was so severe even the shields could not absorb it. Spock held himself steady against the wrenching blow, but it flung Sulu away from Buffy who thanks to her Slayer strength managed to remain at the helm. Sulu crashed into the deck and lay still. McCoy and the intern vaulted down the stairs to the lower bridge and knelt beside him.

"Mr. Sulu!" McCoy said. His tricorder gave no reaction. "Spock, he's dead."

Spock did not respond.

"Engineering!" Saavik said.

"Main energizer hit, Captain," Chief Engineer Scott replied.

Buffy did the calculations, keyed them into the console. She then glanced at Spock who nodded. She hit the intercom. "Scotty, I need auxiliary power to the weapon systems." She fired. One of the Klingon cruisers fired on the Enterprise just as a one of the Enterprise's torpedoes hit. The cruiser imploded, collapsing in upon itself, then exploded in eerie, complete silence. But its deathblow struck the Enterprise full force. The screen blazed again, then darkened, with the radiation of the furious attack.

"We're losing auxiliary power and our shields along wi' it," Scott cried. "The ship canna take another-"

The scream of irradiated electronics cut off Scott's warning. The enemy ships in pursuit caught up to the Starfleet vessel. At close range, they fired. The Enterprise shuddered, flinging Uhura against the railing and to the deck. McCoy left Sulu's inert body and knelt beside the communications officer.

"Uhura- Uhura... Oh, my God," McCoy whispered.

Buffy fired at the Klingons, but nothing happened. "Scotty, I need all power to the weapons systems; it's our only chance."

"Mr. Scott... is a casualty..." his assistant replied. Her voice was drowned out by a flood of damage reports and pleas for medical help. "Environmental controls destroyed. Life support, nonfunctional. Gravity generators failing."

McCoy cursed at the intraship communications. "Dr. Chapel, I've got to have a team on the bridge! Dr. Chapel! Chris!"

But he got no reply at all from sickbay.

Buffy touched the photon torpedo arming control one last time, delicately, deliberately, yet with the realization that nothing would happen. "There is no power in the weapons systems, Captain," she said.

"There is, in fact, no power at all; we are merely bleeding the storage cells," Spock added.

The enemy ships enclosed them, hovering at the vertices of an impenetrable polyhedron. Spock saw the final attack in the last fitful glow of the viewscreen.

Firing their phasers simultaneously, the cruisers enveloped the Enterprise in a sphere of pure energy. Spock imagined he felt the radiation flaming through the ship. He grabbed for a handhold.

His console exploded in his face.

As he fell, he heard the wailing hiss of escaping air, a sound that had been the last experience of all too many spacefarers.

Saavik, clutching at her chair, fighting the ship's quakes, turned just in time to see Mr. Spock fall. For an instant she wished only to be ten years old again, so she could scream with fury and the need for revenge. Dr. McCoy struggled toward Spock, but never made it; the convulsions of the ship flung him down. He screamed, and collapsed with a groan.

Saavik stood up. Her ship, her first command, lay dead in space, she looked toward the only person that outranked her, the only person left alive. "Commander," she said.

Buffy stood as she hit the intercom. "This is Commander Summers, all hands, abandon ship." She looked at Savvik who armed the log buoy and fired it out into space.

"All hands," Buffy said again. "Abandon ship."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sitting in front of the viewscreen, Jim nodded. He agreed that it was a good call on Savvik to defer to someone with more experience than herself.

"All right," he said. "Open it up."

The wall in front of the video console parted and opened, revealing the destroyed bridge of the Enterprise. Jim got up and walked into it. Acrid smoke burned his eyes, but the heavy-duty ventilation system had already begun to clear the air. He stepped carefully through shattered bits of equipment, over Dr. McCoy's body, and stopped in front of Buffy and Lieutenant Saavik.

Savvik met his gaze without flinching. "May I request the benefit of your experience, Admiral?"

"Well, Lieutenant, my experience is that the Klingons never take prisoners," Jim answered. "I must say it was also good thing to ask for help from a superior officer even if that superior officer is in the capacity of being your junior." He turned all the way around, surveying the wreckage.

"This could easily have happened to us," Buffy agreed. "Back when the Admiral was in command of the Enterprise. And sadly on a few occasions it almost did."

"Okay, folks," Jim said. "The fun's over." He glanced at the upper level of the bridge. "Captain Spock?"

Buffy had been offered command of the Enterprise, she had declined and suggested Spock instead.

Spock got smoothly to his feet. A scattering of breakaway glass shivered to the floor and crunched beneath his boots. "Trainees to debriefing," he said.

The young crew members, still stunned by the realism of the test, got up and moved toward the exit. The more experienced bridge crew rose from being dead or injured, laughing and joking.

Uhura got up and brushed bits of scorched insulation from her uniform.

Sulu turned over and sat up slowly. "Was that rougher than usual, or am I just getting old?" he said. He climbed to his feet.

"No idea," Buffy said. "Even though I'm not a cadet this is my first time, remember?"

"I remember," Sulu said.

Dr. McCoy lounged on the deck, lying on his side with his head propped on his hand.

Jim stood over him. "Physician, heal thyself."

McCoy gave him a hurt look. "Is that all you've got to say?"

"I'm a Starfleet officer, not a drama critic," Jim replied.

"Hmph."

"It's too bad you're not a cook," Mr. Sulu said to the admiral.

"A cook? Why a cook?"

"You could make fried ham," Sulu said, deadpan.

Jim started to laugh.

"Fried ham?" Dr. McCoy exclaimed. "I'll have you know I was the best Prince Charming in second grade!"

"And as a side dish," Sulu said in the tones of an obsequious waiter, "perhaps a little sauteed scenery? When it's cooked it's much easier to chew?" In an uncanny imitation of Dr. McCoy, he cried, "Mr. Sulu! Mr. Sulu! Oh, gods, Spock, he's dead!"

McCoy glanced at the ceiling in supplication, but then he could not stand it any longer. He began to laugh, too. From the upper bridge, Spock watched them, his arms folded.

McCoy wiped tears from his eyes. "Mr. Sulu, you exaggerate."

"Poetic license," Sulu said.

"Speaking of poetic license, or dramatic realism, or whatever," McCoy said, serious for a moment, "you hit the floor pretty hard. Are you all right?"

"I am, yes, but did they reprogram that simulation? I don't remember it knocking us around quite so badly before killing us."

"I was wondering if the simulation had been programed to do that," Buffy said. "I had to use a little extra strength to remain in my seat."

"We added a few frills," Jim said. "For effect." He turned toward Saavik, who had watched their interplay as dispassionately as Spock. "Well, Lieutenant, are you going down with the sinking ship?" He had the feeling she had to draw herself from deep thought before she replied.

Savvik did not answer his question, but, then, his question had after all been purely rhetorical. "The simulation is extremely effective," Saavik said.

"It's meant to be." Jim noticed, though, that she appeared as self-possessed and collected now as when she entered the simulator, unlike most of the other trainees, who came out sweating and unkempt.

"But I question its realism."

"You think it's an effective simulation, and you think it's unrealistic?" Jim asked.

"Yes, sir. In your experience, how often have the Klingons sent ten cruisers after a single Starfleet vessel?"

"She has a point," Buffy said. "I don't remember when you commanded the Enterprise the Klingons ever sending that many cruisers after us."

"That is the point, Buffy," Jim said. "It's a no-win scenario. That's something any commander may have to face at any time."

"I had not considered that," Savvik said.

"By now you know pretty well how you deal with life, Lieutenant," Jim said. He didn't bother adding Buffy into the statement because what he said next would not pertain to her. Not for seven hundred more years. "But how you deal with death is important, too, wouldn't you agree?"

"I-" Savvik cut herself off as if she would not trust herself to answer.

"Think about it, Lieutenant," Jim said. "Just think about it. Carry on." He turned to leave. At the top of the stairs, he came face-to-face with Dr. McCoy. "What's the matter with you?"

"You don't think you could manage to push just a little bit harder, do you?" McCoy said softly.

Jim scowled. "They've got to learn, Doctor. We can't keep the reins forever. Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young."

"Buffy's, not young," McCoy said.

"Physically she is," Jim said. "She will be for the next few hundred years always be in her twenties. Not like you or I who were closer to her age when we first met her." He turned and left as McCoy, Uhura and Spock followed her out of the simulation.

"Commander," Savvik said as she looked toward Buffy who was the only one left beside herself. "May I ask something. How did you handle …"

"The Kobayashi Maru scenario," Buffy said. "This is my first time in the simulation. My rank was given to me before the simulation was even thought of."

Savvik looked at Buffy quizzically as Buffy departed.