No Win Scenario

The No Win Scenario is given to every Temporal Operative cadet before they may become a full Temporal Operative. The cadet will not know ahead of time which mission will be the no win scenario. By this time, cadets have been screened for those who are either unable or unwilling to take the simulations seriously, thus every cadet is aware they may behave as if every scenario is an actual mission.

The mission is not clearly identifiable as the no win scenario, and there is no correct resolution. In a way the test is a test of sacrifice as the scenario is designed that the cadet must engage and allow themselves or their crew to be killed or otherwise destroyed in attempting to complete the primary objective (the ultimate failure).

Mission Format

The cadet is given a singular primary objective and then additional conditions are placed on how that objective can be achieved.

Primary Objective

Prevent a temporal incursion by unknown forces, that is already underway. It is important that the incursion be underway already, the cadet cannot simply stop the incursion prior to arriving in the past.

Restrictions

The primary non-active entities (those who are native to the timeline) in the scenario are all detected to be critical to the timeline, thus no alteration in their timelines may be caused by interaction with either the aggressors who have caused the incursion or the cadet / their team who are there to stop the incursion. Additional restrictions also apply, disruptions to the daily life on a large scale are prohibited and will cause a failure of the mission (no causing earthquakes or native military forces to go on alert in order to alert the path of key figures).

Incursion Objective

The objective of the incision is to cause changes in the timeline by either eliminating a key figure in a historical event in order to replace that figure with an enemy operative or coerce the key figure into bending to the will of the enemy organization. Coercion is usually done through blackmail or some sort of threat on the lives of the family of this key figure. It is key to understand that this key figure and those around them are identified to be significant to not only the particular event but to the timeline itself. While most historical figures can be aided using properties of the elasticity of the timeline and the ability to snap-back into alignment with proper events, in this case the figure and surrounding people are of particular significance and are thus extremely sensitive to alterations in the timeline.

Potential Courses of Action

The simulation opens up with the cadet's team already having jumped into the past. They will appear in an era (sufficiently randomized) where technology requires a great deal of stealth while also requiring the cadet and team to deal with what they feel to be archaic technologies.

In this the cadet will be faced with the following key points:

• Cloaked Enemy Vessel (Singular)
• Enemy Operatives Already in Place (Unknown in Number)
• Enemy Escort Vessels Nearby (Unknown in Number)

The cadet must choose on his or her best course of action to complete the mission, and will be unaware of the special nature of those native to the past unless the cadet actually checks for this or attempts to interact with them directly (which will trigger a causality warning on the part of HAL).

Reasons for Failure

The mission will be considered a failure if any of the following occur.

• Advanced technology is revealed to those native to the time
• The cadet or crew are killed or otherwise incapacitated prior to the completion of the objectives
• Any member of the cadet or their team interacts directly with any significant figure of the past
• The historical chain of events is altered in any way
• Any significant figures of the past are allowed to be seriously injured or killed
• The enemy team is allowed to directly interact with any significant figure of the past

No Solutions Clause

The simulation is designed so that there are no correct solutions, just varying degree's of how bad the situation can get. Thus, if a point comes when the cadet has managed to near completion of the primary objectives without violating one of the restrictions, the simulation will automatically create additional tasks that prevent said completion or creation secondary problems to solve caused by the cadet's initial solution. These unseen consequences prevent the cadet from completing their primary objective and are very real threats in the field.

The cadet may request help or advice from above, as in any mission simulation, but will not be given conclusion information in any case and will still be forced to make the best out of a bad situation.

Test Objectives

The test is designed to present a situation that cannot be defeated, instead the cadet must choose the best possible outcome where the mission is still a failure and changes to the timeline occur. In this inaction (failure to engage the situation) will be a higher level of failure than attempting to resolve the scenario and failing. Cadets are judged based on the creativity on their responses and how long they are able to stave off changes in the timeline without violating the conditions of the test.