Red6

She made her way slowly to the door and flung it open. Alex rushed in before she could say anything and pulled her into a hug.

"Don't you worry, I'll let you borrow all my notes and so will Kirk" said Alex

Sam closed her eyes and just let her friend hug her. Before she knew it she was crying.

"The others are downstairs, they want to see you" said Alex

Sam pulled back.

"no I can't" said Sam

Alex snorted

"We are all here for you and we understand why you didn't turn her in. It's okay, you have no reason to be upset" said Alex

"No reason to be upset! Alex I am back to square one damn near, do you have any idea how hard I worked to even get this far?" said Sam

Alex gave her a sad look.

"No not really, but maybe he's right. You do push yourself quite hard" said Alex

Sam sighed and slid on her shoes. She headed for the door with Alex right behind her. Maybe Alex was right just a little bit she did need something besides schoolwork. She pushed the button for the lift and waited. When she exited it on the ground floor she found a small gathering of her friends in the lobby. Jim came forward and enfolded her in a hug too.

Hands reached out to her and clasped her shoulder and someone mentioned that the decision was totally unfair. She started to feel better surrounded by friends and sympathetic acquaintances. Jim was being friendly but that didn't stop him from flirting with everything female in sight. She decided maybe being just friends with him was enough for now. It was just the fact that she had so many supportive friends that helped her not fall into a deep depression in the coming weeks.

6 months ago

People she didn't even know gave her their notes for classes they had already taken or were even still taking. During that time she pulled out discarded copies of assignments she had already turned in and rewrote them. They made her retake the majority of her classes but this time it was like a fog had lifted. Ever since that dream she felt like she wasn't alone anymore.

Yeah he wasn't real and god help her if she ever mentioned him to anyone, she would probably end up in psyche but the way he made her feel was very real. It was like the universe had been waiting for just the right moment and he was the missing piece that made it complete.

She joined the two clubs or rather they asked her to join. One was a cross between competitive shooting and extreme sports. Basically it was a lot of hitting moving targets from the back of moving objects. One of the guys in the club came up to her after she had passed a test to get her phaser certification. She decided to check it out after he invited her to do so. She liked what she saw and signed up. The second club was ironically a flying stunt group. One of the leaders had seen her marks in the simulator and asked her to check it out. She tried to bow out of it of course. Citing both her fear of heights and the freezing episodes did her no good. The guy, Cade was his name, got her into a fighter somehow. He went up with her of course because he was not entirely sure about the freezing up part. He did look somewhat greener when they landed.

Sam was certain it was because she didn't really look where she was flying. He still called her back so she figured she would give his club a chance if he was going to be that persistent about it. Kirk remained just her friend for now. He tried again on the kobayashi maru and failed again .this time he locked himself away in his dorm room and ignored all efforts to get him to come out.

The only reply Sam got when she asked him if he was okay was a short note that said" I am re-writing the rules"

She had no idea what he meant. He started hanging out with Gaila one of the Orion girls that helped operate the test. He was up to something she knew he was.

She was scheduled for her first time taking the test the next day and she was very nervous. She was certain she would freeze up or throw up in the middle of the simulation. She waited in the ready room for the instructor to call her name. She tried to ignore Commander Spock as he stared at her. She wasn't sure why he kept doing that. The door buzzed and the group before her stumbled out of the simulator. They looked like they had just been in an off road race and had wrecked at least twice. Possibly even got ran over by the other vehicles.

She eyed them as they passed and became even more nervous by the minute. She waited for the signal from the instructor. She kept a running mantra in her mind of it's only a simulation it's not real.

"Royce communications, Nguyen helm, Sabatori operations, MacGregor first officer, Morningstar Captain" said the instructor

Her mouth dropped open in shock. She was playing the captain?

"Whenever your ready crew take your positions" said the instructor.

Sam nervously walked on to the simulated bridge and took the captains seat. The rest of her assigned crew took their places and the doors slid shut. The boards lit up just like on a real starship and the front display showed a field of stars. It was smooth running for a few seconds.

"Captain I am receiving a distress call from about twenty clicks into the neutral zone" said Royce.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say but she was certain they weren't supposed to cross into the neutral zone.

"Let's go check it out" said Sam

Nguyen moved his hands on the controls like he was really steering the ship. The ship slowly appeared on the view screen as if they had really moved towards it. It was very realistic and a small part of her couldn't help but admire the artwork on the damaged ship.

"Captain the ship is reporting that they struck a mine and have taken heavy causalities" said Royce

"There engines are damaged captain" said MacGregor

She wasn't surprised by that for some reason, why make it that easy.

"Are they within transporter range?" said Sam

"No captain we would have to cross into the neutral zone to be in range" said Sabatori

Sam considered doing just that until Kirk's words came back to her.

"I couldn't save the ship I couldn't even save my own" he had said

So it was a trap then, very clever.

"Captain may I remind you that crossing into the neutral zone is a direct violation of the treaty" said MacGregor

She knew that already but assumed that he was simply getting into the part.

"how long do they have?" said Sam

Sabatori looked at his console

"About three to four hours at the most, their life support has been damaged and their leaking atmosphere out that hole in their side" said Sabatori

Sam pursed her lips. So they were dying which adds a sense of urgency to the decision.

"How many life signs?" said Sam

Sabatori looked back at his console but he was wearing a frown now.

"Forty two captain err forty one I think we just lost one" said Sabatori

Sam was mentally doing the math in her head.

"Our ship has a crew of how many?" said Sam

Sabatori hesitated and she could see him looking up the information

"Ah two hundred captain" said Sabatori

"Ah sir the captain of the Kobayashi is hailing us he is requesting our assistance" said Royce

All eyes turned to her and she could guess what they expected her to do. Race to the aid of the other ship and die just like everyone else did. The only problem with that scenario was that if she did race to the aid of the other ship she placed her own crew in danger just by crossing into the neutral zone. She wasn't sure if she was willing to risk her crew, fictional as it was it was still lives in her care, on what looked like a trap.

"Sabatori scan for more mines" said Sam

"On it captain" said Sabatori

"We have four more directly off their port side and a cluster on their leeward side, all active and magnetic sir" said Sabatori

Sam gave him a strange look when he called her sir again.

"Can we use a tractor beam to pull them out?" said Sam

"Not without hitting the mines ma'am, but we could steer through them" said Nguyen

"But there is a chance that the mines could hit us" said MacGregor

"Plus we would still have to cross into the neutral zone just to be in range of them" said Sabatori

He left it unsaid that it would also place them within range of any mines that exploded while they pulled the other ship out. Sam was running every plan she could think of and coming up with nil. Her only available options were to go in there and try to retrieve the crew of the other ship, hoping that the Klingons wouldn't show up while they did. She was willing to bet they were already waiting out there she wouldn't put it past them to set up this trap in the first place.

"Captain the other captain is still waiting for an answer" said Royce

"He will get it in just a second, Sabatori raise our shields and take us to yellow alert" said Sam

Her bridge crew gave her strange looks but complied.

"Kill the klaxon and arm torpedoes" said Sam

Her crew was stunned speechless for a second.

"Ma'am?" said Sabatori

"Captain there are no enemies out there, just a crippled ship" said MacGregor

"Are you willing to bet your life on that, because I'm not. Sabatori target the Kobayashi, Royce go ahead and patch me through to the other captain" said Sam

He calmly obeyed but he was giving her a confused look the whole time. The sound cut out a few times but she could partially understand the other captain

"This is Captain Thompson of the USS Kobayashi Maru requesting immediate aid, we have struck a mine and require immediate evacuation, please respond" said Captain Thompson

"This is Captain Morningstar of the USS Cadet we have received your message captain and assessed your situation, it is with greatest regret I have to inform you that we cannot help you at this time. I wish to apologize on behalf of my crew and Starfleet for what I am about to do. Your families will be informed of your fate, god speed captain. Mr. Sabatori fire, fan dispersal" said Sam

Sabatori's fingers moved across the console and three streaks of light flew across the screen striking the kobayashi maru in three locations. The ship exploded then broke apart piece by piece. Two Klingon ships materialized just out of range of the mines and the exploding ship.

"Captain should I hail them?" said Royce

He sounded slightly upset by what she had just done. She guessed he would have been the type to just fly in there and try to rescue the ship regardless of the danger such actions posed to his crew.

"Do you speak Klingon Mr. Royce?" said Sam

"Well sort of, I'm not really good at it" said Royce

The others gave him incredulous looks. Sam sighed

"Do you know enough not to insult them, invite them home or ask them on a date?" said Sam

A couple of the crew giggled then quickly stifled it. Royce hesitated. The light on his board pinged.

"They are hailing us captain" said Royce

"So answer them" said Sam

"Sabatori keep an eye on their weapons systems" said Sam

A bunch of guttural nonsensical sounds came over the loud speaker. Sam looked at Royce.

"They either want to know what we are doing here or just invited us to a wedding" said Royce

Sam gave him a level look and he shrugged.

"Inform him what happened" said Sam

"Do you want me to apologize for alarming them?" said Royce

"No something tells me they might find that insulting" said Sam

Royce attempted to respond in the same language and it sounded like he was trying to imitate a chiauha with a head cold. She had no idea what he was trying to say but he sounded awful saying it. There was stunned silence on the other end then more angry guttural words which Royce responded to then silence.

"They've stopped transmission" said Royce

"They are powering up their weapons captain" said Sabatori

"Evasive maneuvers Mr. Nguyen" said Sam

The deck tilted under her feet, she quickly sat down in her chair and strapped in. The deck tilted crazily beneath them. What the heck maneuver was he trying to do? This was supposed to be a galaxy class not a star fighter.

"They've fired captain" said MacGregor

"No kidding really? Just what did you say to them Royce?" said Sam

The whole simulation chamber rocked just like a ship under fire panels blew out and the lights flickered.

"Ah I'm not sure, I could have sworn it was that we were just leaving captain" said Royce

Smoke and alarms filled the room.

"Shield strength?" said Sam

"Down 20% a few more shots like that and we are toast captain" said Sabatori

"All right Mr. Nguyen get us out of here" said Sam

She could feel the ship turning then suddenly more stuff blew out. The lights went down. Then came back up the buzzer sounded saying the simulation was over.

"What happened?" said Sam

"They took out our shields and hit us with a torpedo, the ship blew up underneath us" said Macgregor.

The door to the outer room slid open and the instructor was standing there. Sam numbly unstrapped. She should have won. They were on their side of the neutral zone the Klingons shouldn't have fired at all. The simulation was a cheat. No wonder Kirk was so bent about it. There was literally no solution that didn't lead to death. That dirty rotten, ooh that was so unfair. Her crew filed out looking defeated and upset but at least they didn't look like they needed to go to medical. Still there was med students scanning them as they walked out. A couple of her crew were treated for slight burns that must have happened when the panels shorted out.

"A most unorthodox albeit logical solution, cadet Morningstar" said Spock

"Err thanks I think" said Sam

She never knew if the man was insulting her or not.

"I just have one question if I may, you raised shields prior to destroying the ship might I ask why?" said Spock

Sam shrugged not that it mattered now.

"It felt like a trap, you know something the Klingons might try just so they could say we broke the treaty first" said Sam

Spock nodded in understanding.

"What exactly felt like a trap to you?" said Spock

He was tapping something into his PADD and Sam hoped she didn't just make the test harder for the next group.

"Honestly everything except the name of the ship, it couldn't have been a more obvious trap if you had named the ship cheese" said Sam

Spock paused in his typing and looked up at her.

"Cheese?" he questioned.

Someone was laughing behind him and he came forward to clasp Spock on the shoulder.

"Cheese, very funny as in build a better mouse trap am I correct?" said the man

He was dressed like an admiral and looked vaguely familiar.

"Yes sir, you are correct sir" said Sam

He moved forward and held out his shook it.

"Not a popular solution mind you but one that would have seen your crew live to see another day" said the admiral

"Ordinarily yes" said Sam

The admiral smiled and she knew he got her meaning.

"Too true it is not a very fair test is it?" said the admiral

"There is no such thing as fair sir and I doubt any of us would truly want a world where everything was fair" said Sam

He grinned.

"How very right you are, so very true." said the admiral

"One last question if I may admiral" said Spock

The admiral nodded in her direction

"By all means I must admit a certain level of curiosity regarding her solution" said the admiral

"I understand your reasoning behind destroying the other ship but why did you apologize?" said Spock

Sam shrugged

"It seemed rude not to, I mean just because you have to kill someone doesn't mean your manners have to lapse" said Sam

Spock and the admiral stood there with almost identical looks of shock on their faces.

"Amazing, simply amazing. It seems this mouse was too clever for your mousetrap commander" said the admiral

Her instructor was waiting for her, the admiral nodded in the instructor's direction. He smiled at Sam and she had this weird feeling that the man was sizing her up for some reason.

"You may go cadet" said the admiral

Sam nodded at the admiral and then Mr. Spock

"Thank you admiral?" said Sam

"Marcus, admiral Marcus and the pleasure is mine cadet Morningstar" said the admiral

Sam smiled at him and started to walk away, then she turned back to him.

"The mousetrap didn't work sir because I'm not a mouse sir, I'm a raptor" said Sam

She gave him her squadron name with a smirk. She caught his chuckle as she walked away from them.