10 No-Win Scenarios In Star Trek (And How They Were Resolved)

In the immortal words of Admiral Kirk, how you handle death is at least as important as how you handle life. Never one to let a good soundbite go to waste, Starfleet Academy made manifest this sentiment with the Kobayashi Maru test, where cadets are faced with insurmountable odds and, thus, certain death.

Now the aforementioned Admiral might also, famously, have not believed in these "no-win scenarios", but thankfully Star Trek's writers always have. Situations, where certain death (and other unpleasantries) follow regardless of the course of action, are part of the franchise's very DNA, with certain episodes being almost entirely about how these disasters are dealt with, rather than how they're avoided.

But, then again, this is Star Trek. Even when things look their most hopeless, even when resistance is proverbialy futile, there's always someone on the crew brave enough to make the hard choices and snatch some kind of victory from an otherwise crushing defeat. It might not always be painless, and they might not always walk away from it, but where there's Starfleet... there's hope.

Scenario: A decorated Starfleet vessel has gone rogue, attacking several Cardassian vessels in direct opposition to the peace treaty. Captain Picard can either sacrifice the USS Phoenix and its commanding officer, or sacrifice the peace treaty he is sworn to protect.

Resolution: Captain Benjamin Maxwell, having suffered horrific losses to the Cardassians during the war, believes he has found proof that they are arming again. If Starfleet is unprepared, they could be seriously outmatched. Yet a preemptive strike could bring war about far sooner than expected, which the Federation is not willing to sanction.

Captain Picard cooperates with the Cardassians, despite privately agreeing with Maxwell's catalyst, if not his actions. He is forced to allow Gul Macet to stand on his bridge and insult the highly commended Starfleet captain, all in the name of a peace treaty that the Cardassians may well not be honouring.

In the name of keeping the peace, Picard does everything by the book. However, his last words to Macet let the man know that, despite the duty he had to perform, he fully believed that Maxwell was correct. Though he was not yet willing to act on these suspicions, Picard warns his counterpart that the Federation is watching.