I always thought it was sort of a meta-allegory for Kirk’s plot armor. Like, for most people, there might be nothing at all you can do. Sometimes you do everything right, and you still lose. That’s reality.

Star Trek is fiction. Captain Kirk is mother fucking Captain Kirk. He will prevail, even when things seem bleak and hopeless. His losses will be temporary, and his victories sweeter because he never compromised his values to get them. His mistakes, however few and far between, will be opportunities for growth and self-reflection that will become critical during a subsequent event and help him prevail even harder next time.

The Kobayashi Maru was supposed to teach him humility in face of the stark realities of command. His response is to reject that reality and substitute his own. These are his voyages.