Geeks were easy to design training scenarios for. Especially when you could walk them into a movie.

Gawain had been looking forward to his next training session with Alice for multiple reasons. One, it was exciting to have his own trainee, one that was both fun to be around and had a very cool, intriguing power. Two, he was honestly curious how Alice would deal with his gender-shifting; she had promised that she would not treat Gawain differently than Maya, but the first encounter with the same person as a different gender usually came as a shock to people.
And then, there was the movie.

Gawain had the flat-screen TV set up inside the DR. He did not want random Mansion kids to watch as the two of them went through the movie (he still got letters sometimes about wrecking that one Disney screening, although that was entirely Maxine's fault), and since they might need to leave the story in a less than peaceful way, it was best to land on the nicely cushioned floor of the DR setup, rather than in the living room.

Gawain was wearing his X-men uniform, and stood by the TV set with his arms folded, waiting for Alice to show. He had only told her that they had a training session scheduled; since she did not yet know about the movie-walking option, this was bound to be fun...

Alice Rivers

More training with her mentor was pretty exciting, which was weird to the blue haired girl. Normally she wasn't one to like leaving perfectly good game time to exercise but Maya had made their last session really enjoyable, the idea of more was kind of cool. That and she was damn curious about the male version, of course he wouldn't be cute, but she could appreciate looks on a guy. She was gay, not made of stone.

So, dressed in similar clothes to last time but opting for a thin hoody with it's pockets filled with snack bars for that eventual need. Alice didn't go anywhere without food on hand, the side effects of ignoring it were way to much to risk anything.

Entering the Danger Room (seriously how cool was this place) the first thing she clocked was the lack of....anything really. All there was in were a TV set and an unfamiliar figure in a pretty familiar looking outfit. Yeah, this had to be Maya, or not Maya in this case. Huh, he wasn't bad looking, had similar features as Maya so it was pretty obviously her trainer.

Raising an eyebrow, "Well, I can't say the view is improved but colour me impressed." She was only teasing a little, mostly she just thought it was really cool. "Bet your wardrobe is like double the size of anyone else's round here."

"Anyway, whats with the TV, I thought we were doing some training?" Unless their training was to watch binge. If it was she'd been training her entire life.

Alice walked in, looking excited, and a lot better prepared than the firs time. Gawain could see some energy bars poking out of her pockets. Good. Where they were going, she was going to need those. Possibly all of those. He smirked as his trainee looked him over.

>>"Well, I can't say the view is improved but colour me impressed. Bet your wardrobe is like double the size of anyone else's round here."

"Exactly double." Gawain grinned "And impressed is good enough. I prefer girls too."

People usually jumped to all the logical questions once they got over the gender-shifting, and Gawain had better ideas of how to spend the DR time.

>>"Anyway, whats with the TV, I thought we were doing some training?"

"Oh, we are." Gawain grinned, picking up the remote. He had skipped ahead a little in the movie; starting at the beginning, it would have been likely that they would both die a horrible death right at the get go. Besides, he had an idea of what scene would make a great first impression. "Remember how I told you my powers level up sometimes? Well, this is the latest update." he held out a hand for Alice to hold; once he had her, he clicked the remote, and pulled her right into the screen.

Well, she would have probably asked that question at some point so having it answered before she had too was way less embarrassing. Less likely to be taken as flirting too, not to say Maya wasn't good looking but, well the gender switching think did kind of have issues for Alice. Oh and thanks to recent events she'd learned her lesson on hitting on people a lot older than her.

Plus, well, Astrid.

Alice totally nonplussed, what kind of power up could involved a TV. "Okaaay? Are you going to explain or are we just going...." as she took the offered hand the world shifted around her. She was never getting used to that.

"mess around......on," she didn't have a chance to finish. This couldn't be real, right? They were in the movie, like actually in one of the scenes. Scratch what she'd said about the Danger Room, this was a true nerds dreams in real time. Like, she could actually go into films and what, see them.

"Oh my god. We're in Star Trek, like not watching it...in it!" Which nerd in her position wouldn't be freaking out a little. "You can just go into any movie? Like whenever you want?"

Screw gender-shifting and mirror walking, this was the best power ever!

Alice began to say something snarky, but walking into the TV screen effectively took her voice away. Gawain let go of her hand, watching with a satisfied smirk as she processed just what exactly was going on.

They were standing in a large, open field next to a dusty road; ahead of them, a gigantic spaceship was being constructed in its full glory. The air smelled like metal and sparks.

>>"Oh my god. We're in Star Trek, like not watching it...in it!"

"Yup." Gawain grinned. He had bet on the gamer girl knowing Star Trek, even without asking, and he was glad that it took her a total of two seconds to get her bearings. One could trust the geek.

>>"You can just go into any movie? Like whenever you want?"

"Yes." he nodded, then, because things were about to move soon, he decided to say more "Catch is, once we're in, we are not getting out until the movie ends. Or if we die. Which is possible, depending on the movie."

There was a roar of engines as a motorbike pulled up next to them, with a handsome blonde man on it. Gawain chuckled.

"They can see us, hear us. You can talk to them. Most of them get confused about us. It is possible to change the story too, but it is harder than you think."

They had to be here till the end, that was a bad thing? That was awesome, she could live the entire film, in 3-D, talk to the crew and even change the story if she really tried. Had she died and gone to nerd heaven? Because it definitely looked like it. Except dying. That was decidedly less exciting.

"Wait, this is dangerous? Like we can actually die?" Was he sadistic or something, this was the second time she'd been dragged into a dangerous situation without being warned. "You get your jollies from torturing students don't you?" The question was only mildly accusatory

Watching the scene unfold with rapt attention, the fan girl inside was fighting the reasonably side and winning by a landslide. Getting to go up in a spaceship, to starfleet academy was not something she was missing. Danger be damned and frankly, she knew the plot like the back of her hands, things wouldn't get hairy for a while

"Oh my God it's Kirk, It's Kirk! Come on we have to get a seat," there was no way she was missing the first meeting between the two best characters.

"Hey, wait up!" running up alongside a living hero, she tried to give him an innocent look, "I'm a bit freaked about flying, mind if I sit next to you?" Come one, she had to be right next to them, had to see the meeting up close. Maybe even slide herself into the story.

>>"Wait, this is dangerous? Like we can actually die? You get your jollies from torturing students don't you?"

"Relax, it's not that painful." Gawain smirked at the accusation. Alice was obviously too hyped up for the movie to care, but every action flick had the potential of killing off unwanted characters, if they were not careful enough... But dying in movies, while definitely shocking and uncomfortable, was not nearly as realistic as the real thing would have been.
The fangirl side won out in his trainee as Alice finally noticed the main character in the movie.

>>"Oh my God it's Kirk, It's Kirk! Come on we have to get a seat... Hey, wait up!"

Gawain grinned as he followed Alice; the trainee immediately took the lead, moving towards the shuttle after Kirk-who-was-not-captain-yet. The mirrorwalker decided to hang back and let her have her fun. They took their seats in the shuttle, earning some confused looks from other characters that were supposed to sit there.

"Keep an eye on your displays, rookie" he muttered to Alice "This is a training session, after all..."

"Death isn't painful? What kind of loopy land have we entered." Seriously since when did dying become blase? He couldn't be that callous, there must be something more to it. Maybe they were relatively safe in a movie, like they got kicked out or something if they died.

Not that it mattered, she was going to Starfleet, on a spaceship, sitting next to Kirk and Bones. Nothing could dampen her mood. Not the slightly more worrying things the doctor said now that she was on the spacecraft, the juddering and shaking of the surroundings or the insistance of her trainer that this was still technically her training. Who could focus on training with this in front of them?

"Yeah, fine you're right, here give me your hand," made sense to form the party, get her used to being in one for a long period of time. Also it might quiet down the grumbling. From....she ddin't know his name. Or if he changed names with genders. Maya was a nice name but it didn't fit the current look that much. Hand still out stretched she got a little plan. The system would tell her his name anyway, she could surprise him with that info.

Well, whatever, she was only half paying attention to her mentor anyway, plans already forming. Could she get one of the crew to join her party? Oooo could she have Kirk join?

All very important questions.

"Death isn't painful? What kind of loopy land have we entered."

Gawain did not grace that with an answer. She would find out soon enough if she was not careful, and a healthy fear of death was definitely a good thing in a trainee. Besides, one was not really an X-man until they have died at least once...

They got into the seats, and Alice was not even trying to pretend that she was not listening to Kirk and Bones. Gawain reminded her to keep an eye on her powers too.

>>"Yeah, fine you're right, here give me your hand,"

Gawain gave her his hand, and clicked the button about joining the party when it popped up in his field of vision.

"You're leading this, just so you know" he told her with a grin "It's your playground now. Let's see if we can survive the entire movie... Go make some friends."

Now that he was in her party she finally got a name. Gawain huh? Odd choice for a name but whatever, she wasn't the only one named by a parent after a book apparently. It had to be said though, it was a pretty unique one.

"You say that like you expect me to get offed. I know the movie back to front, I'm no red shirt in this movie." The bravado wasn't entirely false, she kenw all the most dangerous moments, avoiding them was another thing though. The ice planet might get sketchy and some of the fight scenes were hectic, but it was the drill she was really worried about. That could go badly.

For now though, it was just a bunch of academy stuff, a few training montages and an awkward moment watching Kirk seducing an alien girl with your teacher standing right there, but all of that was minor, what she really wanted to mess with was the most famous Star Trek academy moment.

It was time to face the Kobayashi Maru. A no win fight. Even as a simulation (inside a simulation?) this was going to be intense and awesome to watch up close. What true geek wouldn't want to see the famous test in person. Not just the test, but the way it was going to be messed with. "You ready to see history?"

>>"You say that like you expect me to get offed. I know the movie back to front, I'm no red shirt in this movie."

"Famous last words" coughed Gawain, but he smiled nonetheless as he watched Alice throw herself into the movie. They were still fairly early on in the story, with Kirk's academy years, and some underdressed alien women were definitely nice to look at. The story kept plowing forward to get to the good parts, and so far no one had paid much attention to Alice or himself. They were getting to the famous test now, and Alice was positively giddy with excitement.

>>"You ready to see history?"

"If I wanted to see history, I woulda watched the movie." Gawain deadpanned "Get in a seat, cadet."

Well, there were so many seats to choose from but there were only two she wanted, the captains (which she wasn't taking from Kirk) and the flight controls. Sitting across from Sulu, piloting the ship and really messing with the test. This was one giant game, and she knew games. "Better strap in teach, this will get bumpy."

The confused extra didn't know who this blue haired girl was in his seat and just stood there a little off put, meanwhile she was quickly getting a grip of the controls, copying some of Sulu's movements to get an idea of what control which doohickey.

As they approached the stranded ship and the Klingon's warped in, her plan was already in action "Cap'n recommend transport all survivors on board immediately and prepared torpedo's. Locked onto the civ ships warp engine." Sure it would provoke the enemy, get them to fire, but a large explosion would scramble sensors and give them an edge.

If Kirk was planning to cheat before, he seemed to like the bold plan, "Do it, Sulu transfer control to the left side console," nodding at Alice, "Be ready to fire on my command."

"Aye Cap'n prepping photo torpedo's and locking on." Sure, this would probably fail, or they'd have to fall back on the cheating but there was no way she was not giving the impossible test and actual try. There were plenty of impossible games and she had worked through them, time for a real challenge.

It was interesting to observe which seat the trainee decided to take. Of course if she had tried to go for the place of a major character, or even captain, the movie would have gone out of its way to keep her from doing it - but even then, it said a lot about a person which seat they wanted to take on the Enterprise.

>>"Better strap in teach, this will get bumpy."

"Break a leg" Gawain grinned, before he used his powers to go up to the observation deck. He did not want to mess the scenario up even further by taking another seat, and also was not nearly as attracted to the control panels as the geek girl was. Some of the Starfleet officers observing the test gave him funny looks, but he waved them away. "I'm her training mentor."

He watched the scenario unfold below. Alice was not shy at all about taking up the lead and recommending some options, once the enemy made an appearance.

>>"Cap'n recommend transport all survivors on board immediately and prepared torpedo's. Locked onto the civ ships warp engine."

Gawain arched an eyebrow. Alice clearly knew the trick of the training program, but even then, he was not sure the program would let her pull it off in time. Kirk, on the other hand, looked impressed.

>>"Do it, Sulu transfer control to the left side console. Be ready to fire on my command."

There was some grumbling from Bones, and some surprised staring from Sulu. "Captain... Who is she again?..."

>>"Aye Cap'n prepping photo torpedo's and locking on."

Gawain was very much amused. The other officers were less so. Someone grumbled about protocol, and made some notes. In the meantime, the Klingons took on their battle positions. This was going to get interesting...

Cracking her fingers and rapidly putting commands into the console, it was pretty intuitive. Prepping the weapons, forming the lock and sitting ready for the command, her hand hovered over the buttons.

"All civilian hands on board sir, the Kobayshi Maru is empty but the Klingons are firing! Shields already at 70%." Thank God for quick orders and the element of surprise, no way they could have handled that during a fire fight. Any long though and they would start taking heavy hull damage and as tempted as she to let loose she waited for the command. No point rocking the command structure.

"Permission to fire at will, get us out of here cadet," Kirks words cut straight through her, pushing her into action.This was her game now, time to have fun.

Launching the torpedo's while simultaneously taking the ship to full impulse, she ducked and jived the vessel as much as she could between the rows of fire, just waiting for the explosion to smash across them. Setting a tractor beam on the Maru and setting the ship away, she tried to book it away from the Klingons, towing the unstable bomb the civilian ship had become. If Kirk and the other helm crew were surprised, they kept it to themselves and focus on keeping the ship from blowing up. 

"Status on the warp core, estimated time on full rupture?" Alice needed it to go or everything was lost, their shields were dangerously low, their weapons all focus on one warbird hadn't done much yet. Come on, it had to go!

"Helm, the Maru's warp core has hit critical, explosion imminent!" Screens were exploding now, the shields were shot and the hull was getting slammed. Now or never then, she released the ship and attempted to jump to warp. If she'd timed this right, hopefully their jump would be masked just enough to confuse the ships and give them the chance to escape. If not, well the cheat was still an option.

Well, Alice was definitely in her element. Gawain was impressed by the speed with which she figured out how the control panel worked. She was either very talented, or very much obsessed with Star Trek... or a little bit of both. In any case, she managed to somehow hold out in the scenario long enough to catch a faint chance of escape. Gawain watched the faces of the characters, some confused by the disruption of a stranger, and some impressed. Kirk looked impressed. Gawain suddenly realized that he would have to stand between his trainee and the galaxy's most notorious womanizer...

The explosion was almost blinding, even through the computer-generated windows. The ship took some heavy damage, but it did make the jump. It was unlikely that it would arrive as anything more than a clunky piece of metal floating dead in space... but it did not fall apart.

The simulation ended. There was stunned silence in the observation room. Spock, a few seats down from Gawain, muttered under his breath. "How did she..."

"WHOO!" Kirk jumped out of his seat, while the other participants were still trying to piece together what happened "We win!" he walked over to clap Alice on her shoulder. "Good job, cadet.... umm..."

"Good job?!" Bones piped up "She wrecked the ship! if this simulation was accurate, we'd be dust in space!"

"Did you just call my simulation inaccurate, Dr. McCoy?" Spock intervened through the comm with a hint of annoyance.

Gawain snorted and covered his grin.