Kobayashi Maru Part Two

Posted on Fri Jul 7th, 2023 @ 1:06pm by Ensign James Phoenix & Captain Shran dh'Klar

Mission: Writing the Q Cards
Location: USS Washington
Timeline: Current

ON:

*SNIP*

A minute later the helmsman spoke up. "Captain, Lieutenant Scott has done it. He has given us more power to the warp engines."

"Good. Good. Tactical, once we drop out of warp I don't want those warships destroyed. We can't afford a war with the Klingons."

The USS Budapest in the simulation sped off to the Kobayashi Maru's last known location. Little did Chris know Q Junior was about to add a little twist.

*SNIP*

Chris leaned back in the command chair as the holographic crew worked their magic.

A few minutes later the Budapest was closing in on the Kobayashi Maru which was still under attack. Meanwhile, Chris was still unaware of Q Junior's plans for him.

Q watched as the simulation began to play out. It was simple enough, something he played out on Voyager once with Icheb. This was a perfect opportunity for him to have some fun. Without the knowledge of anyone else Q locked the holodeck, deactivated the safety protocols, and locked out all the controls. He watched in silence, replacing one of the minor functionaries on the bridge simulation. He considered what he might do next.

"Captain we are approaching the location of the distress call" the helmsman reported.

"Understood. Drop us out of warp at the edge of weapons range at full impulse. Tactical, ready all weapons."

There was a simultaneous "aye sir" coming from both officers.

The viewscreen showed the transition to normal space from the forward view of the ship.

Chris stood up while looking at the screen. "Set a course to divide the Klingons and the Kobayashi Maru. Engage on my command" he turned and looked at the tactical officer. "Can you get a classification on the attacking vessels?"

She looked at Chris. "Three Birds of Prey sir. Nothing we don't really know."

"Understood. Open hailing frequencies Lieutenant."

"Aye captain" she tapped a few buttons on her console to open the frequencies. "No response sir."

"Keep them open" he said before turning back to the screen. "Attention Klingon ships. This is the USS Budapest. You are attacking a Federation cargo vessel that is peaceful. This action is an act of aggression and a direct violation of the Khitomer Accords. Break off your attack immediately!"

There was no reply and the Klingon's weren't breaking off.

He sighed. "Status of the Kobayashi Maru?"

"She's holding in there sir, but she doesn't have much time left and she has a crew of 500" the lieutenant at tactical reported.

He couldn't avoid it. It was time to engage the Klingons even if it was risking a war. He turned on his heel and plopped down in the command seat. "Helm engage the course I ordered. Tactical open fire on the Klingons. Target their engines. Phasers only."

The helmsman began to fly the Budapest into the middle of the fight just as the tactical officer began firing off the weapons.

Chris gripped the rests on the chair. A smirk crawled onto his face. Never in his 18 years of life did he think that he'd ever be in command of a Federation Starship even if it was a holo program in an alternate future.

"All hands brace for impact!" he yelled out after pressing the comm button.

The Budapest flew into the battle at full speed firing off phasers just as the Birds of Prey fired off their disruptors. The hits on the enemy landed but so did the hits on the Budapest which shook the bridge violently before the tactical officer could report.

"Damage!"

Shields at 88% and structural integrity is holding. The-" she was interrupted by another barrage of weapons, this time three photon torpedoes from each ship, all of which hit, throwing everyone, including from their seats. Debris had begun to fall and it was becoming violent. But amongst the adrenaline, Chris realized that this test in the holodeck wasn't supposed to be this violent with the safeties on. He was clearly in shock, because he looked down at his hand which had two or three small cuts on his hand. He realized the safeties were off.

"Dammit Q!" he called out. "Computer pause program."

Nothing. He moved to the doors at the edge of the bridge and they opened only to reveal the turbolift on the program. "Computer, arch!" he yelled. Still nothing.

Chris knew that this was the work of Q. And the only way out of the Kobayashi Maru was to finish the test with no way of getting medical aid and with holodeck safeties off.

Q stood up and dusted off. "You know, you are lucky it is Klingons rather than Romulans. The Klingon tactics are straightforward, and you are an even match against 3 Birds of Prey. That is assuming you can handle this" he said with a smirk. "I could make this more difficult to really test your abilities if you like. Perhaps a pair of Romulan warbirds? D'deridex would be more than an overmatch for you, or perhaps the Norexan class. Or even more fun, a challenge against the Borg or Species 8472. But that might be asking too much of you."

It didn't appear that the holographic bridge crew took notice to Q. Young Q looked to be about his normal age or even a bit younger. But Q was offering him a challenge even if he was being a pain. He decided to give Q an answer that he may not have thought of. He decided to give in. "Alright Q, tire yourself out. You decide" he looked at Q. There were dangerous games being played.

Q smiled and snapped his fingers. Suddenly everything in the holodeck changed, as if the ship was at peak performance. "Alright, let's see how you handle this. Same simulation, different enemy."

Chris smirked. "Challenge accepted."

Suddenly the bridge shook a barrage of weapons nearly throwing the 18 year old to the floor. Chris regained his balance and slid into the chair. "Helm, evasive maneuvers! Tactical, fire phasers!"

"Aye sir, taking us about" the helmsman once again called out as he flew the Budabest about while evading weapons fire from three Jem'Hadar attack ships.

The tactical console beeped a few times. "Their in pursuit Captain!" The tactical officer called out just as the attack ships fired another barrage of energy weapons causing the proximity alert alarms to go wild.

"Transfer shield power to aft. All hands brace for impact!" Chris yelled out.

Before he could say anything more the bridge shook violently throwing people from their stations once again. Consoles were steaming and debris had found their place on the floor again. The shields had taken the brunt of the hit resulting them to fade.

The tactical officer spoke out. "Shields at 75 percent! We still have everything else."

"Tactical balance out the power to the shields" he looked forward to the helm. "Get us behind the Jem'Hadar. I want to flank them."

Both officers complied and carried out their orders. The tactical officer balanced the shield output while the helmsman attempted to fly the Budapest behind the enemy.

The maneuver was almost successful however one of the attack ships fired a full volley of torpedoes. The helmsman was able to evade most of them except for one which struck the port nacelle head on.

The ops officer spoke up. "Our port nacelle has sustained significant damage! Its not destroyed thanks to the shields. I'm diverting emergency power to the impulse engines to stable the power."

"Continue at full impulse try to get behind them helm"

"Aye sir. Taking us into their flank sir."

The Budapest flew into the Jem'Hadar's flank. This time successfully. But this was a dog fight and they didn't have long.

"Tactical, fire quantum torpedoes on each ship on my command"

"Aye sir" she tapped a few buttons before hovering over the button to fire. "Ready sir"

He waited for the right moment to so they could strike all three ships. The Budapest continued to fly closer to the ships which hadn't tried to continue their pursuit. He felt the time was right.

"Fire" he said. As soon as he gave the order the volley of quantum torpedoes screamed towards the attack ships. Most of them struck the first two, while some completely missed all ships. One ship got away almost scott free. The two struck vessels fell back behind the Budapest while the third continued for a bit and did the same.

It was a confusing move but the answer would be proved seconds later when all three ships fired a volley of weapons which struck the Budapest save for a few projectiles. The barrage proved effective especially after all of the bridge crew was thrown from their positions. Chris went face first into the floor, throwing him into a daze.

"Brilliant. Your ship is in shambles and you are still facing three enemy vessels. Care to admit you are out matched?" Q questioned.

He didn't answer the literal childish being quite yet. Instead he looked at the holographic pilot first while grabbing himself off of the ground and shaking off his daze. "Do we have propulsion?"

"We do, but if we want to go fast we need to divert power from some of our weapons. It appears that only one of the attack ships has propulsion which lessens the ships capable of pursuit" the Ensign stated.

"Good" he looked turned and shot a look at the Young Q. "I will admit that I'm outmatched. But that doesn't mean that I'm done. I came here to test myself on this test and I don't believe this simulation is complete Q."

The tactical officer spoke up. "Our shields are also gone sir. One more hit and we may be wiped out. And if we divert power from our weapons systems we need to pick and choose our weapons for the last ship.

"Understood. Keep our torpedoes launchers online. Transfer power from the phasers to impulse engines. I have a trick up my sleeve" he shot a look at Q. His goal was the make the enemy think that they were running when in reality he was gonna order a full stop to get behind the final ship if it decided to chase the Budapest.

"What are you up to?" Q questioned.

Chris smirked before looking at Q. "You'll see. Trust the process Q."

He turned to the helm. "Take us to full impulse away from the attack ships."

"Sir what about the Kobayashi Maru?" The helmsman questioned.

He looked at the Ensign. "We aren't running. But I'm acting on a small hunch."

He was reluctant but he was given an order. "Aye sir, taking us to full impulse."

The Budapest shot forward with a little bit of a struggle and soon enough, the last Jem'Hadar ship began to give chase.

"Captain the last ship is on a pursuit course. They will likely outrun us" the tactical officer called out.

"Understood. Helm, on my command I want you to come to a dead stop" he looked at tactical again. "Lieutenant, a few seconds after that I want you to fire as many quantum torpedoes as you can."

He looked around. "You have your orders. The timing needs to be exact."

An "aye sir" came at the same time from both officers.

The final attack ship was flying in hot. In no time at all they were right on the Budapest's rear.

A reply came from the tactical station "Captain, they are right on us!"

"Helm, dead stop. "Tactical, on my mark."

As he expected the warship flew right past the Budapest. They only had seconds to get this maneuver correct.

"Fire!" he yelled out.

As soon as he gave the order the barrage of quantum torpedoes emitted from the Budapest towards the attack ship. Almost all of them struck the ship. Something didn't feel right. He realized this felt to easy even though the attack ship was in shambles and beginning to combust.

Q looked over at him, "Interesting, but I think you have allowed yourself to overlook something."

"What-" he was interrupted by the sound of sparks flying and fires erupting on the bridge. "Damage!" he barked.

"Hull breach on decks five through eight. Emergency force-fields can't be risen into place. All weapons are offline Captain" the tactical officer reported just as the proximity alert alarms went off.

No. It couldn't be, they were dead in the water.

"It's one of the other attack ships. They're coming right at us on a collision course, full impulse! They must have gotten their engines back up and running."

"Helm, can you get us away?" Chris asked.

"No Captain. We're dead in the water and helm controls are frozen" the helmsman called out.

"Is there anything we can do? Even if it's ordering an evacuation?"

"Negative. The Jem'Hadar are coming in too quickly" the weapons officer responded. "Their coming in too quickly!"

As far as he knew, the safeties were still off in the holodeck. He didn't know what would happen if Q didn't stop this madness. Would he implode? Would the program just stop? He couldn't be certain. He turned to the young Q. "You have to stop this madness. Turn the safeties back on!"

Q gave a soft chuckle and snapped his fingers and suddenly the holodeck went back to its inactive state. "Young and headstrong and out of his depth. You at least had the humility to know when to ask for help, so that is something. Enjoy your remaining time here, I'll be sending you home very soon." With that Q disappeared in a brilliant flash.

He watched the god-like childish being disappear before his attention was grabbed by the Budapest's tactical officer. "3 seconds until impact!"

"Computer pause program!" he yelped out before everything around himself froze. He let out a sigh of relief and stood for a few moments before speaking to the computer again. "Computer, turn safeties back on and unlock the door to the holodeck."

The computer spoke in return. "Holodeck safeties have not been turned off and the door was never unlocked."

He sighed. Right. Q did it already. Even if the safeties were back on and he wanted to just leave the holodeck, he still wanted to see the conclusion of the program. He figured Q would leave the attack ships in the program since they could be configured into the holodeck anyways. At least that was to his knowledge of Star Trek.

"Computer, unpause program" he said. He looked around the Budapest bridge as the ship was struck head on by a Jem'Hadar attack ship. He knew he wouldn't die this time and that the program would just end. It was sad knowing that he could have done more to protect the holographic Kobayashi Maru and the Budapest's crew. The Kobayashi Maru simulation was meant to test one's command ability. From this, Chris knew that he wouldn't be ready for any command in Star Trek at this point in his life even if it was common knowledge. The holographic USS Budapest combusted and was destroyed by the collision course of the attack ship and Chris could go to sleep knowing that even if he could have done better and done more, the real USS Budapest was most likely alright and after all, this was just a simulation. As the simulation ended, the room went back to the empty room that it was without any program loaded. He left the holodeck and went to go take a breather.