The Kobayashi Maru (novel)

Plot summary

When the Venkatsen Research Group goes silent near the Hohweyn system, the USS Enterprise is dispatched to find out why. The system has 47 planets and unstable gravitic anomalies that prevent transporter use, so Kirk and his crew take the shuttle Halley down to Hohweyn VII. On the way, a stray gravitic mine hits the shuttle, knocking out communications and navigation and leaving Kirk and Sulu badly hurt. To fill the time, McCoy gets Kirk to recount his experience with the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk describes how, as a cadet, he spent many nights studying ships and battles trying to outsmart the computer running the test, until he understood the only way to win was to alter the rules. On his third try, he changes the computer's programming so the Klingon commander backs down when he learns he is facing Captain James T. Kirk, and the Klingons then offer an escort to rescue the stranded freighter. This trick impresses Kirk's superiors and marks the first of his many celebrated exploits. Chekov's tale covers both the Kobayashi Maru and a separate training drill on an empty space station. Chekov chooses to destroy his own ship and the Klingon vessels while evacuating his crew, but gets criticized because the resulting debris field would block any rescue. The second exercise has all cadets fighting each other to survive a set time; Chekov fails by eliminating everyone he sees as beneath him, and learns that only Kirk succeeded by making the cadets cooperate. Sulu recalls his great-grandfather Tetsuo and his first day at Command School. His initial exercise is a simulated Federation meeting where cadets bicker while playing heads of state. When Sulu hears that Tetsuo is stopping treatment for a fatal illness, he refuses to talk to him, and learns of Tetsuo's death after coming back from a field exercise. In the Kobayashi Maru, Sulu decides not to aid the freighter, suspecting a Klingon trap; his crew objects but a female cadet who agrees to a date with Sulu silences them with shame.