The Kobayashi Maru is the infamous no-win scenario from Star Trek. A test that cadets
of Starfleet must go through to prepare them for the possibility of cataclysmic failure
to pressure them and see how they react. There is no right solution, no perfect outcome,
just a choice of a rock and a hard place. Hi, Ric here and this lore blip will be looking
at the unwinnable test and examining how it unfolds. In canon, we have three depictions
of the Kobayashi Maru, two of which are in Star Trek 2, the Wrath of Khan and one from
an alternate universe film, the 2009 Star Trek. From the looks of both of these situations,
the test takes place in a mock-up Starfleet bridge for either one cadet acting in the
role as captain, or numerous cadets when the test is being taken as a team.
Yes, these are from two different universes, but I don’t see that constant changing between
the two, especially if every potential command officer has to pass through it at some stage,
running it in groups seems far more efficient. So the scenario unfolds thusly. The controlled
Starship would receive a distress call from the Earth Cargo Vessel the Kobayashi Maru.
The vessel has more often than not struck a mine and drifted across an enemy border
and has a crew and passenger compliment of 381. The cadet or crew being tested is then
tasked with handling the situation and here we have the first choice. They either attempt
to save the Kobayashi Maru, or maintain the integrity of the treaty with the enemy and
not cross over into their space to enact rescue operations.
As said, this test has no real answer and is designed to adapt to the choices of the
tested, presenting more variables that keep the situation stacked against them. The program
adapts to your choices. So what if you choose to abandon the Civilian freighter Kobayashi
Maru? Well done, you successfully maintained a larger peace treaty between political powers
but now you have to watch the vessel drift further into harm’s way an eventually be
lost with all hands, you cold hearted monster. Honestly though, this is a pragmatic solution
to the problem and potentially the best outcome many a cadet could choose, if they can live
with that. It doesn’t risk a potential political crisis or the lives of your crew, as a purely
numbers game, it’s a good answer. Alright, but say you cannot ignore the lives
in jeopardy, makes sense you’re only human. Or Andorian, Bolian. Although maybe a Vulcan?
You move in to investigate the vessel and find it out of transporter and tractor beam
range, the only way is to go get them, which means crossing the border. Again, you could
turn back, but the coast looks clear, you run scans, no other ships in sight, no sensor
grid to be tripped. So you tip toe across the line and close in on the Kobayashi Maru.
But then the enemy, let’s say Klingon’s de-cloak, or warp in, or emerge from hiding
in some way and have you, dead to rights violating their territory. The Kobayashi Maru may have
even been a trap at this point, a dummy ship or a false reading as seen in the Wrath of
Khan. Things are only going to escalate from now.
You can try to hail them and they may answer but more often than not, they aren’t interested
in talking. In most test scenarios, the enemy opens fire on you, so what now? You could
sound the retreat, fending off the attackers and hurry back to the border but in which
case, the Kobayashi Maru is destroyed with all hands and you still crossed over. Not
an ideal outcome, but at least you tried to save them, though proved unwilling to risk
your life or your crews. What if you attempt to save the vessel regardless
of the warnings from the opponents? Well, you’ll have to drop shields to transport
and any shuttles you use might be shot down, but hey, get creative, the scenario is meant
to be fairly robust and adaptable, see how far you can stretch this rescue operation,
you might impress your instructors with your ingenuity but remember, every action you take
will most likely be countered in some way. And of course there is the defiant last stand
option to attack the enemy, to engage them in combat. This, with no retreat always results
in the destruction of your vessel, even if you beat back the opponent against all the
odds, you leet, tactical, pro-gamer genius you, you will eventually lose to greater numbers.
Maybe during all this you manage to repair the damage to the Kobayashi Maru and cover
it’s retreat, well in this situation, if it escapes, all you did was trade the lives
of one ship for another and still cause a potential incident by actively engaging in
hostilities. Though if the enemy is attacks a rescue operation
of civilians then you could say that the issue needs to be escalated but that is not your
choice to make. As we can see, the purpose of the test is simply to determine a cadet’s
grit, their level headedness. It’s as much for their instructors as the cadets at it
informs them as to the sort of officer they’re training and if in command, what kind of leader
they will be. Of course in main lore, only one captain ever
went down as beating the Kobayashi Maru, and that was James T Kirk, but even this claim
is a bit of an in-joke to those who know how it went down. He rewrote the test’s program,
he cheated. He also did this in the Kelvin universe, he rewrote the Klingon vessels to
fail to fire and lower their shields. In the prime timeline, memory beta, he apparently
wrote himself into the program as a legendary war hero that the Klingon’s respected and
simply demanded that the Kobayashi Maru be returned to Starfleet and they obliged. In
both realities, he was written up for the violation and given a commendation for original
thinking. But continuing in Memory Beta, there are others
who have taken the test with a variety of results. In my recent File on Nog, he took
the test twice, once managing to save the civilian freighter at the cost of his own
vessel and life and the second time… Well, he crashed the simulation as he began to try
to haggle with the opponent, an outcome the program has never been designed to delve too
deeply in to. So it got too complicated and shut off. So again, depending on how you look
at it, Nog may have beaten the test itself but that’s akin to burning the paper without
answering the questions. Another mention is of one Peter Kirk, nephew
to James Kirk who challenged the captain of the Klingon squadron to a duel in man-to-man
combat. While engaged, his crew evacuated the Kobayashi Maru and retreated without him.
William Riker also demanded a similar situation, preferring to risk himself as a distraction
than the entire crew. One infamous captain, M’k’n’zy, anglicised
into the name Mackenzie Calhoun also earned that dubious honour of supposedly beating
the test. He was by all accounts a tactical genius and an absolute bas’tich. In his
simulation, when the Romulans de-cloaked next to the Kobayahsi Maru, he targeted the civilian
freighter and blew it up with a barrage of photons and phaser fire. The subsequent core
breach and barrage also destroyed at least one of the Warbirds, possibly two and the
last one retreated. When questioned on his “solution” he said that it was probably
a trap, the crew was most likely already dead and if not, they were better off not being
Romulan prisoners. One thing that I like about the extra-canonical
stories is that they establish that the Kobayashi Maru scenario is always being updated and
re-written, possibly as creative cadets uncover loopholes and workarounds and as a representation
of Trek’s current political climate, after Khitomer, it wouldn’t be prudent to keep
pitting the Cadets against the Klingons and in several instances, if the stories are to
be believed, the Klingon culture was exploited to work around.
Another reason to change up the program was to somewhat compensate for its reputation
as there’s no doubt that a stagnant unchanging test would become the subject of many cadet
forums and discussions until an optimal solution had been worked out by the community.
Speaking of which, how would you confront the unwinnable situation? Would you retreat,
the safest and most pragmatic option? Sacrifice your vessel or life to try, and I stress,
try to evacuate the Kobayashi Maru? Or go down in blaze of glory because screw it, it’s
a test and I wanna say “Ramming Speed” at least once in my career?
Thanks for watching this video on the no-win situation and until the next video, I’ve
been Cadet Ric. Thanks again and goodbye.