I Don't Believe In The No-Win Scenario

Posted on Fri Sep 7th, 2018 @ 8:49pm by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Sonak
Edited on on Fri Sep 7th, 2018 @ 8:57pm

Mission: Holographic Horrors
Location: Starfleet Academy, Earth, Sector 001
Timeline: 2395

“Captain's log, stardate 72633.1. Starship Enterprise on training mission to Gamma Hydra sector 14; coordinates, 22 – 87 – 4. All systems report nominal.”

“Leaving section 14 for section 15,” reported the woman at the helm without turning to the lieutenant sitting in the command chair behind him. “Projecting parabolic course to avoid Neutral Zone.”

On the main viewer, a graphical display of the surrounding sector of space showed the graceful curve of a trajectory line around delineated borders from a graphic outline of a Sovereign class starship. Behind the helm, the Vulcan in the central seat kept his steely grey eyes glued to the data display in the upper right corner as he spoke with an even tone.

“Incorrect, Helm; there is no neutral zone between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Neutral Zone is between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, bearing 270 mark 5, forty light years from our current position. This is the Organian Peace Treaty Zone, negotiated under completely different terms.”

“Ah... aye Captain Sonak Sir, you are quite right,” mumbled the nonplussed pilot, checking again the data on her nav computer. “Yet, the computer insists that this is a... neutral zone.”

“The computer is obviously in error,” concluded Sonak impassively. “Computer; this is an A1 priority compulsive directive; proceed with a level 4 diagnostics and implement proper data regarding the Organian Peace Treaty relating to this sector of space and implement all corrections to the data banks.”

There was a long pause and even a brief flicker in all controls and instruments which made everyone blink on the bridge.

Everyone except Sonak.

Behind him, the pale, yellow-eyed officer standing hands behind his back blinked as well, looked around then furrowed his thin brow at him. Then his eyebrows shot up and he stared fixedly at the screen.

“This is... intriguing.”

Sonak did not turn towards him.

“You disapprove?”

“Your correction is indeed accurate as to actual facts. But in the present circumstances... nevermind; please continue on your assignment.”

As if on cue, the black-skinned man at the tactical station raised his voice.

“Sir, I'm getting a distress signal! Very faint; audio only.”

“On speakers.”

There was a hiss and a crack filling up the entire bridge before a distorted voice was heard. Despite the bad transmission, the earnest and fear in each inflection was clearly audible.

“To all vessels in... fzzz... this is... fzz... Federation transport... fzzzz... Kobayashi Maru, ninteen days out of Altair 6! We... fzzz... struck a gravitic mine! All power lost... fzzz... fzzz... fzzzzzzzz...”

Sonak made a gesture to the man to open a channel.

“Kobayashi Maru, this is the starship Enterprise. Your message is breaking up. Please try to boost emission, repeat and provide coordinates.”

Another succession of crackles and hisses preceeded the return of the barely audible voice.

“ Fzzz...erprise! We are adrift, no nav...fzzz... hull rupt... fzzz... life support failing!... fzzz... Position; Gam... fzzz... Hydra sector ...fzzz! Gamma Hy... fzzz... fzzz tor 10! Can you assist us Enterprise! Can you assist us! Fzzz... fzzzzzzzz...”

“We have a fix on their position, Sir!” declared the Bolian at the sensor console, his blue ridged bald head bobbing with worry. “Gamma Hydra sector 10 confirmed; right into the Neutral... sorry, the Treaty Zone, Sir.”

“Data on the Kobayashi Maru.”

On the main viewer appeared the schematics of a warp capable transport vessel and the sensor readout of the disable ship was superimposed on it to display the damage extent in real time. But what only mattered for the grey-eyed Vulcan was the complement manifest; a crew of eighty and eight hundred passengers.

Sonak frowned. He knew a Sovereign class like the Enterprise had six personnel transporters and six short range emergency transporters. Quickly calculating their capabilities, he estimated that using them all would require to be no farther than fifteen thousand kilometers from the disabled vessel and that it would take approximately twenty-nine point thirty-four minutes to complete the evacuation.

Even reconfiguring the four cargo transporter and risk beaming back living beings with them would only reduce evacuation time to twenty-four minutes exactly. Adding the two-man transporter of all the sixteen shuttles launched simultaneously, if at all possible, would but barely shave off twenty point sixty-four seconds to it all with each fly-by.

And time was of the essence; the progression of the damage data alone on the display was enough to convince him.

Sonak looked for a brief second to his right arm chair as if searching for some controls that were obviously not there, then tapped his commbadge.

“Attention all hands, this is the Captain. Yellow alert; prepare for a ship to ship rescue operation. All transporters and shuttlecrafts at readiness; prepare EVA suits on board for beam out. Sickbay, implement emergency protocols; cargo bay 2 is at your disposal to establish a camp hospital. All personnel cross-trained in medical, report to sickbay. Captain out.”

“Shields at full, defense field activated, phaser strips pre-heated, torpedo in tube number one; yellow alert status confirmed,” the man at tactical stated.

The yellow-eyed officer behind the command seat remained stoic and unmoving as the Vulcan next shifted his attention to his bridge crew.

“Helm, plot an intercept course and engage, best possible speed. Tactical; all sensors active and ready tractor beams.”

The woman at the helm turned around in her seat to face him.

“May I remind the captain that if we enter the zone...”

Sonak cut her off with a severe stare and yet his voice was utterly calm, soft even.

“Starfleet General Order 6; The request for emergency assistance from Federation citizenry or non-aligned persons demands unconditional priority from Starfleet personnel. Such personnel shall immediately respond to said request, postponing all other activities. This responsibility extends to current governments at odds, actively or passively, with the Federation. Even if this was the Romulan Neutral Zone, the treaty would allow entry for a rescue mission. We will assume our responsibilities, Ensign. Do I make myself clear?”

“Aye, Captain,” the woman said with a nod before turning back to her console and complying with her orders.

Behind Sonak, the officer lowered his head to whisper to him.

“I believe the Ensign wanted to remind you that not everyone in space follows the rules of Starfleet. Especially in this region of space.”

“I'm counting on it.”

The curt retort from Sonak again made the yellow eyes blink. But he stood back once more and closed his half-open mouth, lost in his own thoughts.

“We are crossing the border,” announced the flight control officer. “ETA with Kobayashi Maru, one minute... mark.”

She was followed by a sudden shout from the tactical station.

“Three Klingon vessels decloaking aft, Vor'Cha class! Their weapons are armed and locked on us!”

“It's a trap!” shouted the alarmed Bolian.

“Stay with us in our universe, Mister Codwell,” admonished Sonak without looking at his fish-like countenance.

On the screen appeared the ominous vulture-like shape of three attack cruisers closing in in a triangular flight formation, each one as powerful as their own starship. The glow of their forward torpedo tube was growing like the opening mouths of Cerberus itself.

“Sir? Sir, we must go to red alert!”

“As you were, all of you,” ordered the Vulcan.

A moment later, the entire ship rocked with the impact of three quantum torpedoes. Lights flickered madly on all boards and everyone but Sonak gripped their console or their seat. The tactical officer looked up from his display with a barely controlled panicked expression.

“Shields at forty-seven percent! Another salvo like that and they will be gone! Sir, we must retaliate!”

“And get the Hell out of here!” added the helmswoman, pale but still composed as she let her trembling fingers fly over her panel. “Escape route plotted and laid in! Ready for emergency warp Sir!”

“But... but those civilians in the Kobayashi Maru!” exclaimed the Bolian at the sensor station.

Sonak rose from his seat, his eyes lifted as if to implore the heavens. His voice was as deadpan as his features on his angular face.

“Computer; this an A1 priority compulsory directive. Correlate current events with corrected data of this sector and implement proper resolution.”

The ship shook again from another volley, just all consoles flickered for a second, a crackle filled the speakers and the officer blinked again his yellow eyes. They all looked at Sonak as if he was mad; all except the pale, yellow-eyed officer who visibly startled then nodded in sudden understanding.

There was a curious moment of utter silence and stillness around them, as if their last second of life stretched out to infinity. Then there was another strange static burst from the speakers before the soft feminine voice of the computer was heard.

“Computed.“

And just as suddenly as it had begun, the attack stopped. Before everyone's astonished stares, the three Klingon warships stopped firing. Their nacelles flickered to darkness and almost all of their lights darkened as they started to drift.

“Sir?” stammered the man at tactical. “The Klingons... I can't explain it, Sir but... but their ships have lost all power... everything except batteries... barely enough for minimum impulse and life support. But how...”

They had not yet recovered from their surprise that a light shimmered between them and the screen. It was blinding at first but then quickly coalesced into the shape of an old grey-bearded man wearing what appeared to be a simple wool tunic. His eyes were sad even as he was smiling at them.

“I am Ayelborne. By the stipulations of the treaty signed in good faith on Organia by your people and the Klingon Empire on your spacetime measurement of stardate 3199.0, all hostilities are forbidden within seven hundred and fifty parsecs between both your territories. Neither party can deny peaceful access to this area and any act of violence will result in the immediate disabling of all instruments of violence.”

His soft gaze went straight to that of Sonak.

“You are to be commended for your show of restraint while engaged in a life-saving action. You may resume your intended course. Your aggressors will be rendered harmless, whoever and wherever they may be and allowed to return to their home unimpeded. It is our wish that one day...”

“Computer, end simulation.”

As soon as the yellow-eyed officer spoke, The Organian, the crew, the whole bridge, everything and everyone disappeared, leaving only a silvery grid all around him and the stoic Vulcan.

“Mister Sonak,” said the officer, “since the first success of legendary Captain James T. Kirk, those whom have ever managed to beat the no-win scenario do not fill all the fingers of one human hand. By using the computer itself as it ran the simulation to have it provide the solution, you have just joined that elite few. A commendation for original thinking will be added to your record... and another for helping refine the test. Rest assured that, after what you managed to do here, we will correct the simulation so that access to the computer will no longer be possible from inside the simulation itself.”

The Vulcan just blinked once before he spoke.

“Captain Data; may I speak candidly, Sir?”

Despite his own blank face, it really looked as if the yellow eyes reflected puzzlement, if not surprise.

“Proceed.”

“Sir, I do not think this was a fair test of my abilities.”

The puzzlement only spread to the features on the pale face.

“The Kobayashi Maru scenario has been successfully used as a test of character for Starfleet command officers since the mid twenty-third century. You might have found a previously unexpected flaw in the simulation but that does not invalidate the test.”

“But with all due respect, that's just it, Sir; the Kobayashi Maru scenario is just that; a simulation. Everyone knows it. In a simulation, once the candidate realizes all the odds are artificially stacked against him and that he faces no real risk, it is easy to act with courage, even bravado even up to suicidal heroism... because one knows this is a simulation.”

Sonak looked straight into Data's eyes.

“It is when you are truly out there, when you know that only a thin sheet of metal and plastic stands between you and the airless, lifeless coldness of space, when you know that lives including your own truly depends on each action you take or do not take; that is when your true character emerges. You know it at least as well as I do, Sir; you too have been out there.”

“What would you propose we do, Mister Sonak?”

“Apply this... no-win scenario the same way you do the so-called psycho-test; live, unannounced, tailored for each and every candidate, safety measures well thought-out but with the candidate unaware of them. Make it... feel real.”

Data thought for a moment and nodded. Then he looked quizzically at Sonak.

“An excellent suggestion, Mister Sonak. I shall certainly bring it up to the Commandant of Starfleet Academy at the first opportunity. That being said, I did not expect a being of logic as a Vulcan, a Kolinahr master no less, to promote feelings as a tool for proficiency and character assessment.”

“There is more to Kolinahr than logic; and more to life than Kolinahr,” answered Sonak cryptically.

Data again thought for a moment, then obviously put the thought aside for another time and invited the Vulcan out of the holographic room. As they walked through the well lit corridor beyond, they followed it's large transparencies showing all the beauty of San Francisco bay and it's historical well-restored and preserved Golden Gate Bridge. Across the sky could be glimpsed the occasional training shuttle darting like a silver star under the morning sun. Data took it all in for a brief moment before returning his attention to the Vulcan by his side.

“It has been a full year of study and training for you, Mister Sonak. Of course, you are aware that Starfleet Academy normally requires four years of such study and training. But in your case, since you were already perfectly cognizant with it's full curriculum, albeit somewhat oddly outdated, and able to complete most of the final tests with little preparation, a special dispensation has been authorized in your case. Your record will stipulate that you took a series of refresher courses before being returned to active duty.”

“I have indeed been through all of it before,” confided Sonak. “I even taught here for several years; correction, at a very... similar facility. I needed to be updated in many things; but other things, starship operations, rules of engagements, requirements of command, scientific principles... much has not basically changed for well over a century... here... or back there.”

“I would appreciate continuing our conversations about quantum universes and time travel, Mister Sonak,” Data said with a definite glint of interest in his yellow eyes. “Your practical knowledge and experiences on those subjects are truly... fascinating.”

“As would I, Captain. We may hopefully have an opportunity to resume our conversations and studies at a later time. But until such opportunity arises, I am resolute in returning to active duty.”

“Let us proceed then.”

The android guided him into a well-furnished office. Nodding to the man at the reception desk before entering the next room, Data invited Sonak to sit on one side of a translucent desk while he activated a terminal from the other side. His fingers flew so fast over it, his hand was but a blur.

“At your request, we will dispense you with participating in the graduation ceremony. Few Vulcans bother with it anyway. I have entered your final test results and compiled it with all the rest of your studies here. Congratulations, Mister Sonak; you have passed all requirements of Starfleet Academy and with High Honors. And Starfleet Intelligence has greenlit you. Henceforth you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and authorized to enter active duty.”

Sonak simply nodded.

“I understand that, as a Vulcan, you have... no ego to bruise. Yet, your record state that you have been a starship captain before, with forty years of actual Starfleet service experience.”

“That was in another universe, Sir. Another time... another life.“

The steely-eyed Vulcan paused a moment, as if he was about to say something. Then he chose to speak factually instead.

“This past year was devoted to catching up with one hundred and twenty-eight years of progress and discovery. Not to mention a universe where it's history was at the same time similar, yet different than what I have known and experienced all my life. All the while Starfleet Intelligence had to monitor me carefully to assess if I represented any kind of risk. This assessment indubitably is still ongoing. Being a lieutenant again will give more time to bring everything and everyone, including myself, into clear and proper focus.”

“Logical,” admitted Data. “Yet, such experience and performance as yours should not be wasted.”

Sonak's eyes suddenly took on an intense light.

“In that case, Sir... if I may be so bold... may I take the liberty of requesting my first assignment?”

“As an Honor Graduate of Starfleet, it is traditionally your prerogative. I am sure you know this already.”

"I was counting on it, Sir.”

The cryptic remark made the android pause a moment. So he asked the question.

“Have you already made a choice as to the duty station where you wish to serve?”

“Affirmative, Sir; the USS Hera, refitted Nebula class, NCC-79010, Captain Enalia Telvan commanding.”

Data's left eyebrow rose in a very good approximation of the usual Vulcan mannerism.

“An... interesting choice, Lieutenant. The Hera being a vessel assigned by Starfleet to missions of scientific study and exploration, it would be an obvious choice for an accomplished science officer as yourself... if the Hera had not been a classified ship.”

The pale-skinned android paused again, watching vainly for any reaction on the feline face of the Vulcan.

“Only officers of captain rank and above are supposed to know this is the new designation of the USS Bonchune... and that she was recently refitted.”

“I was a captain once,” Sonak reminded him.

“But not anymore,” retorted data in turn.

“Computers are not always cognizant of such nuances.”

The other eyebrow of Data shot upward.

“Are you telling me, Lieutenant, that you managed to hack Starfleet's database?”

Again, there was a short moment of silence before Sonak spoke.

“I hold an A7 grade in computers, Sir. But there was little need to hack anything. When you know what to look for and how to correlate bits of data from different sources, shipments of parts and materials, shuffling of personnel, mission orders... it is sometimes possible to reconstruct an image that has been careful deconstructed and hid; like that of a specific starship.”

Data nodded.

“I remember doing such a procedure several times myself, most notably to uncover an alien infiltration within Starfleet. Remarkable. Well done Lieutenant... even if I will not congratulate you on this officially, you understand. But this alone should be a good incentive for Captain Telvan to consider your request to serve on her ship, once I answer her own surprise as to how you found her. I shall personally see that your request is brought to her attention... and give you her answer myself.”

“Thank you, Sir; most kind.”

Had he been human and emotional, Sonak would have sighed with relief. Although he had proceed as he had described, it had been much accelerated by the fact that thanks to an extradimensional distress call he knew exactly where to find one particular starship crewed by one particular Starfleet officer.

Lieutenant Rita Paris.

But his Academy tutor did not need to know that. And already, Data was dismissing him.

“Once again, congratulations on your early graduation and welcome to the service, Lieutenant Sonak."

The Vulcan rose.

“I come to serve.”

Data rose in turn and offered the Vulcan salute.

“Your service honors us.”

Sonak departed Data's office with his eyes set straight ahead.

This was the last step of his journey; or rather, the first step into his new life.

Moving forward into the future, yet back towards her.