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TV/movie where a routine battle response drill on a spaceship turns into an actual battle

Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by Harper - Reinstate Monica on January 6, 2021

I’m wondering about a movie or TV show where:

  • A starship captain (or other person responsible for calling routine drills) calls a red alert/battle stations etc. for no apparent reason.
  • Actually, he has a sneaking feeling about an ambush or trap.
  • Everyone races to battle stations and the ship achieves readiness.
  • Most people expect this to end routinely
  • Instead, the Bad Guy attacks. The Bad Guy expects to catch them off guard.
  • Crews are already at stations so the ship’s response is near-instant.
  • Lucky guess by the captain/person responsible.
  • I don’t recall how much this helps them.

No battle simulations are involved. (in fact, the whole idea of using a real ship’s live warfighting equipment to stage simulations is absurd to me; that’s what Holodecks are for.) So no Ender’s Game scenario where they don’t realize it’s real, and no “crew fails to defend because they think it’s a sim” scenarios. Just a standard red alert/condition 1/action stations etc.

It was not the Horatio Hornblower case; that one was botched; this one was cunning and visionary. I’m 99% sure it was in speculative fiction in space, and about 30% sure it’s Star Trek.

2 Answers

Star Trek Voyager - Favorite Son.

When Voyager encounters an alien ship they have never seen before (the Nasari ship Nerada), Kim instinctively transfers tactical control to his station. Though the Nasari show no apparent hostile intent, Kim raises Voyager's shields and fires phasers without orders, claiming that the alien vessel is charging weapons.

Voyager takes heavy damage in defending itself from the Nasari vessel, forcing them to withdraw. Janeway demands Kim explain his actions, and Harry tells her that he just knew the Nasari were going to attack. Tuvok says he detected nothing but a tetryon surge coming from their ship, and points out that there could be any number of explanations for that. Kim is suspended from duty, and shadowed by a security guard, pending investigation of his overly-hostile actions.

Kim reports to the captain's ready room and admits fault about starting the last engagement. Janeway reveals that he was right about the Nasari ship charging weapons, and they would have caught Voyager with her shields down had he not acted. The question now is how did Harry know they were going to attack. Kim can only say this part of space has become increasingly familiar.

Answered by Pete on January 6, 2021

It sounds like the 2009 version of Star Trek. The crew learns of the danger of an ambush from Chris Pine(eventually Captain Kirk) who stowed away to warn the captain of a possible ambush due to the language being used over the comms(I think romulan). The captain(Pike), knew Kirk was someone he should listen to, and orders the red alert/battle stations/head between legs to kiss ass goodbye. Turns out-the warning was right and the crew manages to escape a situation that wiped everyone else out. They come out of hyperspace right on top of the end of the battle-with ship debris everywhere and a giant enemy ship.

Answered by King of NES on January 6, 2021

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