Star Trek puts its greatest hero on trial for no good reason

Secondly, the elder Kirk pointed out that Khan’s anger that at least in the Prime Universe, he was given a nod for original thinking after reprogramming the Kobayashi Maru. That film presents this mostly as a character-defining bit of background for Kirk (“I hate to lose,” he grinned), but it’s easy to see why at least some Starfleet high-levels would appreciate Kirk’s cheating style.

It’s all well and good teaching cadets to deal with death, but Starfleet probably doesn’t do that. want to cadets who give up right away, and Kirk’s determination to always find a way to win is, honestly, what makes Kirk such a great captain.