Niklesh Sanjay is my Captain in a series of ongoing stories that can be read here: http://adastrafanfic.com/index.php Here's how HE dealt with the Kobyashi Maru. Sanjay looked out at the viewscreen. “Hail them,” he ordered. Cadet Williamson gaped at him. “Sir, the controls of our bridge are distinctly outmoded, and the Klingons are approaching in D-6 cruisers. The cargo ship is transmitting from the former Klingon Neutral zone. Everything says this scenario is set before the Khitomer Accords. I don’t think they’ll listen.” Sanjay smiled. “Hail them.” Cadet Williamson shrugged and opened a channel. The Klingon captain who appeared on the screen had a look of amazement on his face. “What do you want?” he growled. “You have crossed into the Neutral Zone! That is an act of war!” The Klingon seemed beside himself. Sanjay smiled. “We come in peace. One of our vessels has become disabled and drifted into the Neutral Zone. We were hoping you could help us with search and rescue operations.” Williamson eyed him with a mix of suspicion and wonder. The Klingon sputtered. “Help you? I am a warrior! Federation scum-you insult me!” He turned to his left. “Prepare to fire!” Sanjay grinned. “I wouldn’t do that, Captain. My ship is equipped with Kirkium. If you fire on us we’ll self-destruct and take your little flotilla with us. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just help us with our lost ship?” “Kirkium?” the Klingon gasped. “Hold your fire!” he ordered his crew. Williamson whispered to Algol, the Bolian running navigation, “What the hell is Kirkium?” The other cadet just shrugged. Sanjay continued, “So, Captain, if you could help us out…” His voice trailed off. The look on the Klingon Captain’s face was interesting in that it looked as though his head would explode from the tension he was so obviously holding back. He attempted to speak and emitted incoherent sounds. A faint hint of drool appeared. Sanjay gazed at him mildly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” The Klingon gathered himself visibly. “We shall help you. Your freighter is, indeed, here in the Neutral Zone. We will...” the pain was so obvious on his face…”tow it to you.” “Thank you, Captain. You are most honorable.” Sanjay kept the smirk off of his face. “Kill the…viewscreen.” The Klingon looked as if he’d bitten a poor piece of meat. The starscape returned to the main screen and Sanjay sat back, contented as one of the cruisers pulled a transport into view. Williamson turned in his seat and stared at Sanjay. “Pardon me, Captain, but what the hell just happened? And what is Kirkium?” “A magic substance all Federation ships are equipped with-when in the Kobyashi Maru scenario.” Sanjay looked quite smug. Ramirez, over at the Science station, peered at him through hooded eyes. Williamson just stared at him. The Klingons towed the disabled freighter to the edge of the Neutral Zone and released it into the care of Starfleet. Sanjay’s crew tried to act professional and handle things as they would if the situation had been real but their hearts weren’t into it. The scenario eventually ended and the mocked-up Bridge vanished into a relatively bare holosuite. At a nod from the admiral in charge of the testing the cadets fled, trying to look discrete. Sanjay bounced out of the captain’s chair and practically danced towards the exit, only to be stopped by Admiral Ross. “Kirkium?” he asked dryly, “Don’t you think that’s a bit obvious?” His arm casually blocked the exit . “Ah, I don't know what you mean, Admiral.” Sanjay began to sweat just a bit. He tried to step past Admiral Ross, but the man refused to drop his one-armed barricade. “Everyone knows that Kirk beat the Kobyashi Maru scenario by reprogramming the computers. You want to tell me what that was all about?” Ross did not look pleased. “I used Kirk's Corbomite maneuver, sir.” Sanjay's heart pounded so hard, he thought the admiral could hear it. If he'd been a Vulcan, he just might have. “I've read the records. The computer has not.” Ross lifted his eyebrows. “So, care to explain what just happened?” His arm still blocked the exit. “Ah...” Sanjay trailed off. His body sort of sagged under Ross's glare. “I didn't exactly re-program the scenario like Kirk did. Sir.” Ross peered at him under bushy eyebrows. “Care to tell me what you did do?” “Well, um, while I was researching the solutions others had used, ah, I sort of noticed a little hole in the test.” “A hole in the test?” Ross inquired, his voice dripping with menace. Sanjay swallowed hard. “Well, yes. There was a port to add information in the test menu...” “That's designed for the instructors to add variables to the test so cadets don't all get the same situation.” Ross's voice was dry. Very dry. “I just thought that if Kirk could pull off the Corbomite Maneuver in real life, I should be able to pull it off in the test. I linked the database from the Enterprise's library computer to the test computer and...” Sanjay trailed off weakly. Ross looked very annoyed. “So, you cheated.” “No, sir! I attempted to succeed!” Even in defeat, his earlier elation long since gone,Sanjay held his ground. Ross looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “We'll have to change the linkages you created before you re-take the test. Let's meet back here on Tuesday at Oh-Six-Thirty. Dismissed!” Sanjay fled the room. After he had left, Ross triggered his com. “I don't know, yet, about that one-but I think he bears watching.” “Agreed.” The voice that responded came through the holo-suite speakers. “Very innovative, wouldn't you say?” Ross smiled faintly. “Yes. I think a note in his file about his creativity would be in order. I don't think he's top tier command material, but perhaps a science vessel or a Border Dog posting might be in order.” The disembodied voice echoed through the room once again. “Yes. We concur with your assessment.” “Still,” Ross said, partially to himself, ” He bears watching.”
Oh, dear Lord, not a Border Dog billet! Better to keel-haul Sanjay or better yet, break out the cat-'o-nine-tails! Nice little vignette, Mistral - well done!
Pretty nice. I'd be interested in reading more about Niklesh Sanjay -- is there a link directly to your stories? The one above just goes to Ad Astra.
A nice little snippet of the infamous test and an interesting option. I've never really thought about how any of my characters would've handled the Kobyashi Maru, but it might be somethign worth exploring--it'd make a good writing challenge (should it ever be resurrected).
The link goes to Ad Astra. I'm Mistral. Authors are listed in alpha order. Most of Sanjay's stories are in Tales of the USS Seleya-3 novelettes and some shorts. Some side characters are in individual stories as well. I tried to group them as a series, but had issues with that particular function so a few stories just sit there in my list, orphaned from the series itself. Thanks for expressing the interest! Ah, you may want to start with The Fracture.
There must be 1000 different variations on the Kobayshi Maru exercise. Now there are 1001. And this one is actually quite original, considering how it is based on the first person beating it ... in a way.
Quite a creative solution to the test. Was the last bit (Ross communicating with someone) an allusion to Section 31?