Kobayashi Maru - 4 of 5

Posted on 19 Feb 2015 @ 4:17pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn

1,145 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD 43 - 1010 hrs

[ON]

Having left Lirha to complete her own set up ahead of the group's arrival, John stepped into the holodeck and took a swig of his coffee before proceeding. He had done this test himself before and whilst he might have known what to expect, the Captain already knew it would be a shock to the system for some of his junior officers. The infamous Kobayashi Maru test - the final test that prepared an officer for the rigors of the big chair, the confirmation that they were ready to lead a ship in the field.

"Computer - load the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Authorisation Holliday Lambda 9-7 Omega."

With a cursory bleep the computer powered up the ship's holoemitters as the bridge formed around him. The layout was a standard design - captain's chair, the conn, tactical, operations and engineering - a layout that he recognised as that of a Defiant class vessel . The simulation was designed to generate random variables such as the class of starship and indeed the opponents involved, in order to avoid a repeat of James Kirk's famous manipulation of events, which was still recorded as the only victory within the simulation's history.

As the simulation finished materialising, John took a seat in the lone Captain's chair, and waited for his exam group to arrive.

Tuula was the first to arrive. Without any formal training as a helmsman and barely able to fly anything larger than a shuttle, she spent the night before running simulations in the holodeck and studying attack patterns. The sort of rote memorization that that entailed reminded her a little of med school, although she wasn't sure whether in the heat of combat she would know the difference between attack pattern Alpha-3 and evasive maneuver Beta-2. Still, she hoped she would do well, or at least well enough to not embarrass Allyndra.

"Hello, captain," she said as she rolled onto the bridge. Looking around, her eyes immediately fell towards the floor and the system of raised and lowered platforms that made up the bridge. "Computer, add ramps between the turbolift and the helm station. And remove the helm chair."

As the door slid aside for Andreus Kohl, his eyes were drawn to the shimmering display of the Bridge's deckplates changing shape. With one foot raised to cross the threshold, Kohl stayed where he was, standing on one leg, until the deck looked decidedly firmer. After, he made his way across the bridge, and took a seat at a multi-purpose console. Although he understood much of the theory of starship operations management, Kohl didn't really have the muscle memory of experience for what it felt like to navigate that LCARS interface. Unlike Tuula, he hadn't done his homework the night before.

Allyndra was all but flying literally down the hallway. She had gotten the invite to do a simulation for bridge training. While she had temporarily once had held an Exec. position way back on the Firebird that had been more of necessity and thrust upon her. It had left something of a bad taste but it had also kindled a hidden desire to see if she had it in her. Their respective assignments had come through last night and she had been flattered to find that she was going to be in the big chair. Then it had struck her that that was the dangerous one. She would have to really prove if she could handle a command. She spent the rest of her shift studying some of the scenarios of the past.

"Good day!" She greeted as she entered.

From his station, Kohl turned towards the effulgent greetings. "Allyndra, hullo," he said with some excitement.

Quinn entered with his customary smile and ever present nonslip coffee mug. "Hiya, Skipper. Whose the victim today?"

"Thank you all for coming." John began, standing up from the centre chair, knowing full well that he wouldn't be occupying it again for the rest of the simulation. Stretching up to his full height, John folded his hands behind his back as he had done so many times before during his tenure as an Academy instructor.

"You are all here to take part in the Kobayashi Maru simulation - a mandatory examination before any officer can qualify to take command of a starship in any situation. This is a simulation that has been at the heart of Starfleet tradition for centuries, and whilst there have been some subtle changes over the years, the general idea is the same."

John reached back to the command console on the holographic captain's chair and tapped a control to advance the program to it's starting point.

"Each of you will be responsible for one individual bridge station - Miss Warraquim, you wil be in command, Tuula, the helm is yours, Mr Kohl you will be stationed at Ops, and our CoB will take tactical. The mission will begin with a small sequence to familiarise yourselves with this vessel and her controls, then the real portion of the test will begin. I will remain within the simulation as your instructor, guide, and examiner, the rest will be up to you. Any questions?"

Allyndra raised her hand, "What class of vessel will be commanding? The abilities of each class are different as to warp, weapon and sensor capabilities."

"A good question - the simulation has configured to provide you with the Defiant-class vessel, USS Manhattan. Standard configuration and capabilities apply - no special tricks, cloaking devices, enhanced warp drives or other facilities exist aboard ship."

John replied waving his arm to show the bridge layout, arguably one of the most defining features of the vessel class, being one of the smallest and most compact designs even compared to the Galileo.

"Defiant Class," Allyndra mused to herself. Heavily armored and heavy weapons. This ship had been designed primarily as a heavy escort and to fight the Borg.

"Very well - in that case take your stations, and when you're ready Captain Warraquim, order your crew to set course for the fourth planet of the Epsilon Omega system."

Allyndra moved the Captain's seat. It felt odd to be here and again the memories of the time on the Firebird came back. That had been a nasty thing and it had been mostly just to escape.

She waited a moment while the rest took their stations and made a quick familiarization of their stations and when satisfied they were ready leaned forward slightly and said, "Lieutenant Voutilainen, set course for Epsiion Omega, Warp Four."

[TO BE CONTINUED]


CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

CMCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

LCmdr Andreus Kohl
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

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