398 lines
15 KiB
Groff
398 lines
15 KiB
Groff
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
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FROM: Thometz, G., Admiral, Commandant, Star Fleet Academy, San
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Francisco, USNA, Earth
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TO: Kirk, James T., Admiral, Star Fleet Command, commanding NCC-1701
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ENTERPRISE, on active-mission status (via: Star Fleet Command/Deneb:
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scrambled/Captain's Seal: hold for arrival: routing code
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EFTO70137226012144030951852SF/FSIG)
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SUBJECT: ADVANCED CADET-EVALUATION MATERIALS
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Sir:
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You will be pleased to know that Star Fleet Command has chosen the
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Enterprise's recovery of the USS Robert A. Heinlein during the second
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five-year mission as the model for the new cadet-performance evaluation
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exercise at Star Fleet Academy, Earth and Star Fleet Academy, Deneb,
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supplementing the "Kobayashi Maru" scenario. (Star Fleet Academy, Vulcan
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is presently evaluating the supplement to see that it meets their logic
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standards, and Admiral T'Kaien's office assures me of a decision within
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several standard weeks.)
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You have not been the only commander to point out the Academy's urgent
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need for a subtler and more complex evaluation scenario than the one
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offered by the "Maru."
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While administering the "no-win" scenario gives us a good preliminary
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sense of who our potential heroes are, it leaves untested those
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qualities in a commander that are as important as heroism but less
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spectacular: namely, observation, accurate evaluation, and multi-level
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"synthesis" -- not to mention sheer endurance, empathy, and humor. The
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Enterprise's recovery-mission scenario gives us ample opportunity to
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test for all of these, in depth. And since the mission results were
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(naturally) never declassified, the effectiveness of the material as a
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means of testing the command aptitude and intelligence of new cadets
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should be very high indeed.
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I suspect that some of Fleet's eagerness to implement this new scenario
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has to do with the fact during the past year three more cadets have
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broken the old "Kobayashi Maru" scenario---and only one of them used
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methods similar to yours. (This information is to be treated as
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confidential until further notice.) Apparently, cadets are getting
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smarter. Or perhaps the no-win scenarios of the past are no longer a
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sufficient match for the deviousness (and resourcefulness) of the
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present.
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At any rate, we need to prepare our cadets for reality, not fantasy.
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Both the despair of the pure no-win scenario and the equally dangerous
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elation of the "no-lose" attitude lie mostly in the latter category. We
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look for good results from the new scenario, for it concerns the
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real-life, "gray" area between those two attitudes. Administration
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methods will vary. The test may be conducted via sleep learning or in
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computer simulation.
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Star Fleet Academy, Earth will be administering it aboard the new
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training ship USS Sans Souci. I am enclosing a copy of the computer
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version for you to evaluate. Please feel free to make any suggestions
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you think will improve the usefulness of this scenario as a test for
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future starship captains.
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Sincerely,
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Admiral G. Thometz, Commandant Star Fleet Academy, Earth
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(P.S.: Let's see them cheat on this one, huh, Jim? Also, 'Eliake sends
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her regards. Best, Greg)
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BRIEFING
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Transcript of disk SFC/SFAMK2 #664658: Audio/sleep-learning cadet
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preparation session. Authorized personnel only.
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(CAUTION: Full Vulcan cadets should not take the direct-experiential
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version of this briefing, due to the presence of species-idiosyncratic
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emotional reactions.)
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The communicator whistles right into your ear. The dream you were having
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about hiking in the Grand Canyon falls right out of your head as your
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eyes snap open. You lie there staring at the ceiling for just long
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enough to let your heart rate slow down a little, then sit up and swing
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out of bed, hitting the communicator switch.
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"Kirk here. This had better be good, Lieutenant."
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"It may not be good, sir," says the dry voice of the duty communications
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officer, "but it's important. Eyes-only dispatch from Star Fleet."
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You groan softly to yourself and sit up a little straighter, just enough
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so that you can reach the keyboard by the bed and type in the long
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string of characters that will give the comm officer access to your
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command ciphers.
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"Have the computer send it down here."
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"Aye, aye, sir."
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You wait a few seconds. The communications officer wakes up your desk
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screen by remote, then switches off.
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"Voiceprint," says the desk computer.
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You say your name.
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"Retinal," says the computer.
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You hold still and let the low-power laser flicker in your eye. Without
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further ceremony the desk screen fills up with print, amber on black.
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**************************************************************** *
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URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT *
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****************************************************************
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From: SFC, EARTH VIA SFC, DENEB TOP SECRET/EFTO/SC937-0176CEC To: JAMES
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T. KIRK, CAPT. (COMMANDING) From: NHAURIS RIHAUL, ADM., SFC, DENEB
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Subject: SPECIAL MISSION ORDERS
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TEXT: U.S.S. Heinlein, on exploratory mission in Trianguli area, has
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fallen out of communication under what we consider suspicious
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circumstances. Routine hourly telemetry squirts ceased without
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explanation twelve hours ago. Appended to these orders is the contents
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of a single unscheduled squirt that came to us via an unusual routing
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--- dumped to a robot communications satellite near Gama Trianguli,
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apparently by high-powered communications tachyon packet beam. You are
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to evaluate the contents of the telemetry squirt and report immediately
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at maximum warp to the Heinlein's last known position, which is
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indicated in the squirt.
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WARNING: Heinlein was persuing a mission, the objectives of which are
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highly sensitive and have not yet been declassified for any personnel
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except those of Star Fleet Command, Earth Fleet Admiral's Office. This
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mission material will be available to you as soon as declassification
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procedures are completed.
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Address any inquiries to Star Fleet Command, Earth.
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(Respectfully) NHS. Rihaul, Admiral, Star Fleet Command, Deneb
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****************************************************************
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You sag a little where you sit, letting out a worried sigh as the
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screen scrolls down and adds:
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****************************************************************
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P.S.: Jim --- Stay out of trouble. You're going to be a long way from
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help. Best, Nhauris.
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****************************************************************
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"Stop," you say to the screen as you get up and head for the closet to
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get into uniform. Damn, you think. Sulu has the Heinlein. What's he
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gotten himself into now? Brand-new ship. And you were the one who
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recommended him for this temporary command assignment. When one of
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command rank with sufficient knowledge of the Trianguli sector was
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available, he was the perfect choice. You thought he'd just ride around
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for a few weeks, enjoy the scenery, and not get himself right into
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trouble.
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You pull the uniform top over your head and sit down at the desk. "Go,"
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you say to the computer.
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"Appended," it says. "Visual and audio content."
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"Ready. Go."
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The text vanishes. Part of the screen begins reading out printed
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telemetry, the ongoing status of a starship's main function boards. The
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rest of it fills with an image of the ship's bridge. The Heinlein is one
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of the newer light-cruisers and, though the bridge is a touch smaller
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than the Enterprise's, it's sleeker, neater. Banks of switches have been
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replaced by light-controlled relays or motion sensors; screens are
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bigger and clearer: the fore screen looks more like a picture window,
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one that you could walk right out of and into the stars drifting slowly
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toward you. You look past the helm, at that screen. Sitting in the
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center seat is a lithe young form, with his back to you. You know that
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back well, having stared at it for so many years when you were sitting
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where he is now. But he's not so young anymore, and very straight he
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sits in his own center seat, superbly self-assured. He is staring at the
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contents of the screen intently.
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"Don't lose it, Michael," he says softly. "You lose it, I promise you
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I'll dock your pay."
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The navigator looks over his shoulder for a second. Wearing the
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slightest grin, he says, "Sir, this fish is hooked. Eighteen light-years
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and closing."
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"Screens," says Sulu.
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"Deployed," says the helmsman, glancing over her board. "At full
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intensity."
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"Phasers---"
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"Ready, sir."
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"Don't get trigger-happy, Brynne. They're just in case."
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"Noted, sir," says the helmsman. But you notice that her fingers are
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twitching a bit --- the way Sulu's used to, once upon a time. Despite
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the building tension, you smile a little.
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"Target at sixteen light-years," says the navigator.
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"Identification yet?"
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"Not close enough, sir."
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"I want to know who that is," Sulu says softly, "and what they're doing
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here so close to what we just passed."
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"Target's accelerating, sir! Warp five now --- warp six ---"
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"Oh, no you don't," Sulu says. "Catch him. Maneuvers at your discretion.
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Mr. Wilhelmsen, hail him. Ask him politely to stop and be identified."
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"Warp seven now, sir," says the navigator, and the ship moans softly in
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its bones as it leans into higher speed. You lean forward a little with
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it. Stars stream by the screen faster. And up there in the darkness,
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just barely visible, something shines.
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"Visual!" says the comm officer. "No response to hails."
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"All right," Sulu says, not sounding entirely regretful, "we'll do this
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the hard way. Rhia, what do its engines' power-consumption curves look
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like? Can you get a fix on them?"
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-- and your insides jump in terror as the screen whites out, as the ship
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lurches madly and people caught entirely unaware spill onto the floor as
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the Heinlein's automatic red-alert sirens begin wailing like banshees,
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as the moaning of the ship's engines gets alarmingly loud. Sulu is still
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in his helm --- how, you can't imagine, shouting orders, hearing answers
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back before he finishes them.
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"--- five ships --- six --- eight now ---"
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"--- fore screens down to forty percent, sir!"
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"--- fire at will ---"
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"--- hull pressure ---"
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"--- explosive decompression!"
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"--- seal down decks five and eight ---"
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"--- Wil, dump the log three ways, hurry it -- packet the top
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to the nearest station and load the buoys with the rest -- no,
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even better, just one buoy ---"
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"Star Fleet Command, Deneb, this is Heinlein ---"
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"--- twelve of them, sir ---"
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"What are they? who are they?!"
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"--- can't even ---"
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"--- hull pressure ---"
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"--- starboard nacelle ---"
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And then comes another terrible explosion and crash and flinging of
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bodies about. Visual goes down, leaving you with a screen two-thirds
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black, the rest displaying frantic and deranged readouts from science
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station, helm, navigations: all systems near failure, life support
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going, matter-antimatter reaction near critical --- and the voices, the
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terrible voices, confused, desperate, brave:
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"--- come on, Wil, move it!"
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"--- phasers ---"
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"--- tubes are crushed, no use ---"
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"--- Star Fleet, Deneb, do you read? U.S.S. Heinlein ---"
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And worst of all, Sulu's voice, flavored with something you've
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never heard in it before --- despair.
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"Oh, my god ---"
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A scream; then nothing but black noise, the complacent hiss of
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uninvolved stars. And even the telemetry dies.
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"End file," says the screen.
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You have to hold still for a few seconds, again, to let your heart
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slow.
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"Bridge," you say then.
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"Bridge. Lieutenant Renner."
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"Get me Star Fleet," you say. "And once you've done that, recall the
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special-missions crew. We've got trouble."
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"Yes, sir"
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Sulu... you think.
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"Any other orders, sir?"
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You think about that too.
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THE CREW
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Cadets may wish to review the histories and careers of the principal
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Enterprise special-missions command crew. Although much of this
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information is common knowledge among Star Fleet personnel, cadets of
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species in which latency has occured recently (plus/minus ten standard
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years) may not be familiar with the qualifications of the command crew
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of the Enterprise. For their benefit, and to dispel many rumors
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(justified or not), a brief career history of each crew member is
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included. (Excerpted from Who's Who in the Federation, revised
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edition. Reproduced by permission, Marquis, Who's Who Interstellar,
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Earth/Vulcan/Deneb V.)
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ADMIRAL JAMES T. KIRK
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Admiral (Commanding) James T. Kirk: A legend in his own time; soldier,
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diplomat, and student of history; past and present commander of a ship
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whose name is synonymous with bold adventure; born Iowa, U.S.A., 28 July
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2132; graduated Star Fleet Academy with highest honors; relieved Captain
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Christopher Pike and served as captain of U.S.S. Enterprise for the
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duration of her second five-year mission; promoted to commodore, then
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admiral, and assigned to Star Fleet Command, San Francisco, Earth;
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reassigned to the refitted Enterprise at the time of the Vejur crisis;
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now commanding Enterprise for special exploratory, diplomatic, and
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interventional missions; adviser to the Federation Council on
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Interspecies Affairs; Chairman, Cadet Commandant's Training Studies
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Group, Star Fleet Academy, Terra.
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CAPTAIN SPOCK
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CAPT. Spock First Officer and Science Officer, USS Enterprise
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Half-vulcan - WEIGHT: 170 lbs. at 1g Typical Vulcan physiology: Two
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hearts and manganese based blood cells. Special attributes: Contact
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telepathy; scientist and mathematician of galactic repute.
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Captain Spock: An inseparable part of the Enterprise legend;
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galactically renowned scientist, research mathematician, and computer
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specialist; serving for these missions as First Officer and Science
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Officer; born ShiKahr, Vulcan, 56 Tasmeen, 503 VSD; graduated Star Fleet
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Academy with highest honors; assigned to Enterprise during Captain
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Christopher Pike's command; associated with her ever since, excluding a
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period spent on sabbatical on Vulcan after the second five-year mission;
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returned to service aboard Enterprise during the Vejur crisis; promoted
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to captain shortly thereafter; assisting Star Fleet in designing the
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courses and curricula to be used when the Enterprise becomes a training
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ship; currently in special-mission service.
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