WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 1, "Kobayashi Maru," streaming now on Paramount+.
Across the entire history of Star Trek, one of the more infamous tests that cadets face at Starfleet Academy is the Kobayashi Maru. Programmed by Spock in the Kelvin Timeline, the virtual simulation is an exercise in teaching cadets on track for command positions that there are no-win scenarios as an inevitability of life, gauging how each cadet confronts the certainty of total, inescapable defeat. And as Michael Burnham settles into her new role as Captain of the USS Discovery in the Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 premiere, she faces her own harrowing version of this cruel test.
The Discovery is called away to come to the aid of a space station that cut off contact with Starfleet Command abruptly after sending a distress signal. With the newly elected Federation President Laira Rillak accompanying the crew to observe them in action, the Discovery finds the station spiraling out of control, and, after Sylvia Tilly and Adira beam over to initiate repairs, an anomaly turns this routine emergency repair mission into a full-blown rescue operation. And though Captain Burnham and the Discovery are able to rescue their crewmates and most of the personnel on the station before it is destroyed, the station chief is killed by debris as he arrives on the starship.
Burnham does not handle the loss of life particularly well, with this being the first in her time as the Discovery's commanding officer. Rillak privately consoles and chides Burnham for this; Burnham went against Rillak's wishes to save the station crew at any cost, including her own life and that of Tilly and Adira as they went directly in harm's way. Comparing this incident to the Kobayashi Maru, Rillak observes that Burnham is incapable of accepting any loss after the tragic deaths of her parents when she was just a child, and that makes her unfit to command any of the new line of starships Starfleet is preparing to launch in the near future.
Despite this admonishment, Burnham rightfully defends her actions. As Captain Kirk put it before her during Star Trek: The Original Series, risk is part of the responsibility that comes with serving in Starfleet. While the only way to pass the Kobayashi Maru is not to play -- unless one opts for Kirk's brash decision to secretly rewire the program into making victory a possibility -- Starfleet and those that lead it are driven by those willing to make those hard decisions. Had Burnham chosen not to risk her own life and limb, far more than just the station chief would've been lost, all in the name of procedural safety.
The space station rescue mission and Burnham's command decisions have underscored a combative dynamic between Burnham and President Rillak that is sure to persist throughout Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 over dueling perspectives on Starfleet's role while the United Federation rebuilds itself. And though Burnham's decisions may have led to the loss of one life, and she is visibly upset by this, she stands by her decision for all the other lives she just saved. Burnham may have failed this real-world version of the Kobayashi Maru, but it's a no-win scenario she faced with confidence and bravery.
To see Michael Burnham's tenure as captain, Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.