Exiting the docking port Sazra came to a halt looking around at the location. The location looked stunning with beautiful weather, the wonderful colorful plants. Then, she heard a voice, “Welcome, Lieutenant Praugol,” in her head. She looked shocked as her eyes stopped at three Haliian, and she blinked a few times. “Hey….Thank you, or welcome me to your wonderful homeworld. I want to start immediately with my research on the designated area if possible?”

The woman looked at the other two and nodded as she waved her hand toward the transporter pad. “Please follow us to the transporter,” This time not in her head as they all started to walk. “It is a privilege to have you here with us. Your academic records and work in the Typhon Frontier have not gone unnoticed by my people,” The woman continued to the pad other travelers occupied. Hence, their walk came to a halt.

“Yes, my knowledge in the field of Mineralogy and Planetology will come into play, and who knows, I might be able to provide you with information on the composition of the rare material that came from that comet. I have to say that I am glad that there are no wounded people among your people and that this impact was as clean as it could get” Sazra did her best to show compassion to their people. The woman nodded out of respect and was thankful for her kind words.

“Please step onto the pad, and we shall let you begin your work immediately” The woman walked behind the console as Sazra got onto it with her bag. She took a deep breath and nodded toward the woman. Then, seeing that she was getting materialized to the other location, she saw nature appear around her. Finally, her eyes stopped at the crater and started to walk to it.

“Better get a scan from the location to see what we might be dealing with” She grabbed the tricorder from her bag and aimed at the meteor. The tricorder started to give results that made Sazra blink a bit. “Why …” She looked at her left side and then back at the tricorder. “Stupid thing, give me the correct results” She tries again. “Why am I getting results from my left side and not from ahead of me” Sazra shook her head and moved carefully downwards to the rock. 

Taking the tricorder to the side of it and trying again to do a scan, she finally gets the results “Damn, not my luck. I grabbed the wrong tricorder” She placed the tricorder back at her side of the bag and started to work on the rock to gather samples and such.

After a good few hours, the burning sun was getting at her as she grabbed her bag again and opened it up, looking again confused about what she was looking at. “What is this…” She pulled out the Mugato plush and looked at it, looking at the label marking it as an official brand. “I am legit going to kill Adrián” She put the plush down, looked back into the bag, and grabbed a PADD written with Klingon Opera. “What the….Rami?” Sazra remembers that Rami loved Klingon Opera. Maybe this was his way of sharing his passion. Sazra shrugs and puts the PADD down, knowing that the Opera is far from her taste.

Taking a deep breath as she sat down pulling the bag to her hearing something clink, she opened up the bag more seeing dilithium shards “Why are there …what” She was getting more and more confused with this travel bag as she noticed the canteen “Ah…some water” She grabs it. She pops it open and takes a large sip of it. It only took her a few seconds to spew it out as a little fountain. “What the ….ahh gross…” She turns the canteen sideways as the water drips out onto the ground. “Urg ….tonic?” She throws the canteen away and curses herself. 

“I am going to murder the people that were involved in this joke of a bag. They dared to change my bag!” Sazra shrugs, taking a deep breath. “I can’t disappoint these people….” She grabbed some paper and a pencil. “Then we do it the old fashion way” She started to take notes and calculations out of her head. She would not give up her assignment because some jokers tried to be funny with her equipment. Sazra looked at the data and nodded to herself as she continued for a good few hours. 

Eventually, she puts a dot on the paper. “Done! Beat that, Adrián” She shook her head and looked at the bag, grabbing the packed food. Looking at the same, her eyes were filled with rage. “Dried Gagh!” Looking at the other package, “And what the frak is Viinerine?” She drops the bags on the ground and sighs, “I am going murder them. This is by far not only Adrián’s plan. The others pitch in on this as well…oh, they will feel my fury” Sazra lets her head hang out of misery and shrugs looking at the Gagh. “Oh, screw it….I am hungry” She opened the bag and looked into a bag of dried worms, which in a nutshell was Gagh.

With disgust, she took a bite of the Gagh and started to gag after the second bite. “Oh…damn…how can Klingons eat this crap” Sazra complained. She heard some shuffling then behind her. Her head turns, seeing a wild animal appear that was drawn by the Gagh. She looked at the bag and then back at the creature. “You got a poor taste, you know” She shook her head and threw the Gagh in front of the animal that started to sniff and take some bites from it. But its hunger was not yet satisfied. 

Sazra had already grabbed the phaser just in case as she aimed it at the creature. “Not today…” She wanted to give a warning shot as the device started to beep. Sazra pressed the phaser again….beep. “Oh no…,” Glancing at the phaser, she saw a 3% battery capacity left. “COME ON, THIS IS SOMETHING YOU DONT JOKE WITH” She shrugs and suddenly, out of reflection, rolls back from her position as the beast attacks her. “Ohh, easy boy….” She quickly grabbed her bag. Maybe they placed helpful something in it.

Pulling her hand out, she had the PADD in her hand, looking at it. It was the Klingon Opera. “Well…maybe you like it as much as I do” She pressed the button as the Klingon started to loudly sing its Opera as it pierced into her head so bad that Sazra closed one eye out of reflection. But she noticed the creature had run away, making her press the stop. “Praugol to the docking port, one to beam out, please” She didn’t want to fill up her rage even more. 

Arriving back at the transporter pad, the woman that guided her stood there looking at a dusty Sazra. “Did everything go as…” Sazra just walked off the pad, pulled a few papers out of her side pocket, and gave it to the woman “My report on the meteor. Thank you for the opportunity. But if you excuse me, I have to go back to my ship and murder my crew” She dragged the bag with her as she left the confused Haliian there, who looked at the another. “Did she just say…murder her crew?” 

The house was lovely and calm as her mother was out doing some official government stuff she didn’t care much about and leaning back in her chair as she was reading a novel by her favorite writer. The sixteen-year-old Sazra had a wonderful day. Nothing wrong could happen. In the background, she had the Federation News Netwerk softly debating the latest outcome of council topics.

She looked up as her eyes looked straight into the mirror, seeing the reflection of the screen where FNS was on. It had changed to another format. Looking over her shoulder, she saw breaking news coming past the screen “Computer volume up to 65%” With a beep, the speaker on the FNS was now understandable.

“This just got in, ladies and gentlemen! The news of Romulus star is on the brink of going supernova! Starfleet has deployed emergency ships to give the proper assistance to the Romulans in evacuating their worlds. Notable is that USS Enterprise-E is planning to leave for Romulus to help out with an evacuation fleet soon!”

She quickly grabbed a nearby PADD and swiped upwards to the Trill News Broadcast, also known as TNB. It was no joke. The TNB was also getting the same broadcast about the upcoming disaster. Dragging down the latest news, she narrows her eyes. “Federation council members are not all in one line with the evacuation? What?” Sazra sat up and checked deeper into the topic, “Aiding the oldest enemy of the Federation is not in favor of future planning as those resources can be used for different Federation members that need it” Sazra shook her head.

“Fourteen members of the Federation Council are threatening to secede if aid will be given to the Romulan Empire” The anchor at FNS spoke in disbelief.

“What are they doing? This is the core belief of the Federation!” Sazra was getting frustrated as she got up from her chair.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are receiving terrible news” Sazra looked at the screen seeing the video changing of Mars and the evacuation fleet being destroyed. “For an unknown reason, a group of compromised synths has attacked the evacuation fleet. This will go down in the history books as the ” event that could have ever happened.” 

“Oh no…” Sazra spoke in disbelief looking at the screen that all hope was gone for Romulus. “Damn it! If only ….I was there to help!” Looking at the developing feed, she could hear the information coming through the TNB beeping on her feed. This was indeed a page for the history books. 

“Computer start after report Jaxartes, month august under the command of Praugol”

The computer made the recognizable beep that confirmed its command and started recording the session of what Praugol wanted to do.

“Operation Stormbreaker was, on our part, a curious contribution. Because of our size, we were useless in search and rescue operations and needed to redefine our orders to be useful for these people. So for those purposes, we were seeing the action on a later date” Sarza took a deep breath looking out of the window “The records and history of our vessel made us useful in the field of gathering data on the nature of the storm and thus our adventure began to focus on this. We followed the protocol as well as possible to stay safe but still gather the information that was seen as vital for us to be able to understand the storm.”

She put her hands together and continued, “The initial scan and results indicate a violent behavior of subspace rifts opening up across the Paulson Nebula. We were almost caught in one of these ourselves if it was not for the quick reflection of our helmsman. Further information indicates the increased radiation emanating from the other side that had agitated the nebula’s particles. We sent the data to Starfleet as requested, and they were able to send stronger ships which could close those sub rifts.”

Looking outside, seeing the docking crew work on the hull of her ship, “Thought we are now in docks of Deep Space 17 to repair our hull. Even though we could stay safe, the storm did a number on us. After repairs are done, we will resume our operational duty within the Typhon Frontier. Starfleet increased its presence in that area after the Free State was seen operating there. Starfleet warned us to stay on high alert and avoid contacting their vessels. End log” 

The USS Hermes, an Akira class vessel, flew by the port side window as it was making its way to jump to its next destination. A science mission to catalog a new fungus? A medical mission to help with a planetary disaster, or even a simple patrol mission along the borders. The sun’s reflection hit the ship windows, which reflected again back to Starbase Bravo. Sazra’s eyes were focused on the ship with a gaze of amazement, 

“Captain Praugol?” 

She blinked and looked at her side, seeing a smiling Silina standing in her teal-colored cadet uniform. “Heh, yes, Cadet?”

“It is time for your command exam, Captain” Silina nods to the side. “Come on”

Sazra looked one more time as the Hermes jumped into warp and then nodded to herself, following Silina to the academy premise. “I honestly not sure why I am required to do this,” she muttered.

“Because you want to command your scientific mission if I remember your bold words on the introduction day of the second year,” Silina pointed out in an embarrassing moment. “Plus, this exam is the last one until you are recognized for command.”

“Please don’t remind me of that moment” Sazra wanted to facepalm herself. “I know I said that, and I know that the other teachers set their phasers on me since that day”

Silina smiled at that. “To stun, you mean…”

“I think it was more to kill,” Sazra shrugs, thinking about the amount of extra homework she got after that speech. “Plus, why would someone need to follow the command course when I am most likely not even the Captain of the ship itself”

Lifting her shoulders, Silina shrugs. “I honestly don’t know. I think the teacher said that commanding a ship is not the only thing you shall lead-in. More challenges will cross your path” She pointed out a finger and laughed, trying to imitate a teacher.

“Is that so, Cadet Ruslanovna?” A Caitian voice came behind as they both jumped aside, looking at the Caitian. “Now, now, I don’t bite ladies.”

“We didn’t notice you, sir. Are you going to the exam as well?” Silina asked formally.

“Well, yes, of course, it is a pleasure to see every cadet that throws their towel in the ring for command go through this specific exam” The man responded and then looked at Sazra. “Good luck on your ending result, Cadet Praugol” He patted her on the shoulder and moved along into the exam area.

Sazra halted seeing the next bridge cadet crew enter the holodeck. “I …am no longer sure about this Sil” She said, looking at her good friend.

“Now…are you chickening out? Come on. You nailed most exams in both practical and theoretical” Silina pointed out and gave a clap on her shoulder that made Sazra move a bit forward. “So chin up, Captain, I am right there with you as your medical officer” She winks at her.

Sazra hugged her friend. “Thank you so much” There was this brief moment of true friendship that nothing around them mattered. 

“MISS PRAUGOL” A voice finally echoed. 

Sazra let go of Silina, who was dozing off herself at that moment and looked at the teacher standing there with her arms crossed. 

“Get in” The teacher points with her thumb behind her into the holodeck. Both Silina and Sazra shuffle quickly into the holodeck.

Inside the holodeck, Silina quickly took her spot on the Second Officer seat and let Sazra pass her by to the Captain’s chair. Everyone was at their station as Sazra looked around and bowed. “Apology that you guys were waiting on me,” She said, raising her head, seeing some of them smile in approval and turn back to their console.

“Start simulation Command Exam for Cadet Praugol” A voice came over the intercom.

The ship started to make a sound as if Sazra was standing on a real bridge. 

“Captain, we are receiving a distress signal” The Operation Officer spoke. 

Sazra blinked a looked at him. “Let me hear it” The cadet nodded and put it on.

“This is the Kobayashi Maru out of Altair VI. We have struck a gravitic mine and have lost all power. Our hull is penetrated, and we have sustained many casualties” Static became worse throughout the message.

“This is the starship, Mercury. Your message seems to be breaking up. Can you give us your coordinates? Repeat, this is the USS Mercury…”

“Mercury, thank the gods, our position is Gamma Hydra. Section 10”

“That is…” Sazra tried to calculate and triangle the location in her head. “Wait, is that not the neutral zone?!”

“Hull penetrated, life support systems failing. Can you assist us, Mercury?”

“Sir, your orders?” Helm spoke up, looking over her shoulder to Sazra, who was rubbing her face for a moment.

Sazra took a deep breath staying calm “Time for diplomatic matters will take too long and time is not what they have…Ruslanovna ship info on Kobayashi Maru?” She looked at her side, seeing the doctor snapping to her console to get the information.

“Hmm, Kobayashi Maru is a third-class neutronic fuel carrier with a crew of 81 people and about 300 passengers” Silina shrugs at that. It was quite a large hull of people.

“Ops, are there other vessels in our area that can assist?” Sazra asked.

The Operation Officer looked at the data, “USS New York is the closes, but it still takes more than an hour to get there. We can reach the Kobayashi Maru within 10 minutes ma’am” Giving the indication that it would take the USS New York a delay of 50 minutes on high warp. 

“Damn it…” Sazra mutters and takes a deep breath, “All hands to yellow alert, helm plot an intercept course to the Kobayashi Maru. Doctor, please get the sickbay ready for receiving people” Sazra looked at the screen as the ship altered its course.

“Sir, we will enter the neutral zone in a minute. Is that wise?” The Tactical Officer said.

By all accounts, it was not the most brilliant move, but lives were at stake, and most likely, the teachers would punish her for abandoning her duties as a Captain. “I am well aware of the situation. I take full responsibility as your Captain” She spoke formally as the bridge light changed to yellow, indicating that the ship shields were also active.

“Entering the neutral zone in five, four, three, two, one” The helm brings the ship out of warp as the Kobayashi Maru comes into view. “Vessel in sight, we are approaching them”

“Sir, we have three bird-of-prey decloaking!” The Tactical Officer responded in haste.

“What” Sazra was amazed at how fast they had responded. “Send a message out that we are here on a rescue mission. We are not here to pick a fight!” Sazra raised her voice, looking at her Operation Officer.

“They are jamming all communication efforts!” He responded from his operations console.

This was going quicker than she expected. “They are loading their weapons, sir!” She heard, and Sazra shrugged. “Full power to front shielding! Heat the weapons! Send a broadcast for help to the Federation on repeat! I know they won’t get through, but if we can get one ship down, we might get that broadcast up!”

The Mercury gets hit by the torpedoes, but the frontal shield is held with the quick thinking of Sazra. The bride shook violently. “Fire back on the lead ship!” Mercury fires back as it hits the frontal ship, but getting shield power to the other side took a long time, causing the side to get heavy hits.

“We got breaches on decks 12 to 15!” Engineer Officer replied.

Sazra felt that the situation was going out of her favor quickly. “Damn unfair ….three against one. Evacuate the outer decks and seal them off! Tactical, send the next volley at them!” But it was too late, as one of the birds got at her weak side and sent the next volley of torpedoes, shaking up the bridge and ending the simulation.

“Command Exam over, USS Mercury is destroyed by a direct impact from the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Two hundred forty-three people died, and the Klingon Empire captured 45 people. The Kobayashi Maru got destroyed due to a lack of time they had left” A teacher spoke over the intercom.

The frustration was high with Sazra. She did most of it by the book. “I am sorry I failed you all in this simulation, but thank you for being part of it,” Sazra spoke to the crew as they looked at each other and clapped their hands. Sazra smiled kindly at them, but she instead wanted to crash onto her bed and cry.

Walking out of the holodeck, the Caitian teacher stood there looking at Sazra, that walked to him, “Well done, Cadet Praugol, but what have you learned from this exam?” He asked as Silina kept quiet, putting an arm on Sazra’s shoulder for support.

“That it was an impossible situation. The urge to save the people in the neutral zone was impossible. Within seconds, I was surrounded by the Klingons, and I had to see and witness death right there around me” Sazra spoke bluntly.

The Caitian hums a bit. “Yes, this exam was set for you to fail. You made some incredible choices. But death was the only outcome, which is what every Captain faces daily. Their choices have impact and weight as lives are attached to them. But you held your ground and accepted the outcome of your choices. Even though it was very frustrating for you.”

Of course, it was a test to see where her limits were. Taking a deep exhale, “Yes, I suspected something like that in the end. I hope I didn’t fail you in this result.”

The Caitian smiled with his wickers going up. “You passed your exam, congratulations”  The Caitian saw a stunned young girl hearing the results as her friend cheered for her. With that, he nodded to them and left the conversation.