'Starfleet Academy' Finale Falsely Promises Cadets Will Serve Together

The Season 1 finale, "Rubincon," sends the cadets into active service far earlier than expected and frames their success as a glimpse of what they might become. With only a year's training and an incomplete crew, Caleb Mir and the others, under Commander Jett Reno's guidance, topple Nus Braka and the Venari Ral and avert the Federation's destruction.

Their victory highlights how quickly the group has bonded and how promising their skills are. Luck and Reno's leadership played a big role, but the cadets nonetheless demonstrate the kind of chemistry that suggests they'd be formidable once they finish the Academy's usual four-year program.

Still, the episode's implication that they'll all one day serve together aboard the same ship is unlikely to hold up. Starfleet posts officers where they are needed, promotions tend to disperse people across the fleet, and even if Genesis becomes a captain she would have limited say in assembling a crew — Caleb's availability or willingness to transfer, for example, would be factors.

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