Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 5 – “Series Acclimation Mil”Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 5 introduced a new Dax to continue the Trill’s legacy from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Written by Kirsten Beyer and Tawny Newsome, and directed by Larry Teng, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 5 addresses the enduring legacy of Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
When Series Acclimation Mil aka SAM (Kerrice Brooks) investigates Captain Sisko’s disappearance at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the holographic cadet finds a mentor in Professor Illa (Tawny Newsome), Starfleet Academy’s Cardassian teacher of a course titled “Confronting the Unexplainable.” Isla helps SAM understand Captain Sisko’s role as the Emissary to the Prophets of Bajor.
SAM gets another surprise when Professor Illa shows her Anslem, the never-published novel by Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton). Jake emerges to tell SAM the truth about his father and assure the Kasqian that she is worthy of being an Emissary like Captain Sisko. However, Professor Illa had one more surprise for SAM and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans.
Isla Dax in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Explained
At the end of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 5, Professor Illa shows SAM her Trill spots and reveals her full name is Illa Dax. This makes Illa the host of the Dax symbiont in the 32nd century, and the successor to Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Lt. Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer), whose memories of Captain Sisko Isla retains.
Isla being half-Cardassian and half-Trill also shows how both races have intermingled and evolved.
As Tawny Newsome explains in an exclusive interview with ScreenRant, Kirsten Beyer created Illa as a mentor figure for SAM who would have intimate knowledge of the Siskos and be able to assist Jake’s novel to the young Kasqian Emissary. Illa being half-Cardassian and half-Trill also shows how both races have intermingled and evolved since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in the 24th century.
Tawny Newsome was also a last-minute casting choice to play Illa Dax. Luckily, Illa being a Cardassian masks Tawny enough so that she doesn’t appear as her Star Trek: Lower Decks character, Lt. Beckett Mariner. Illa Dax becomes Newsome’s second Star Trek character. It’s also fitting as Tawny is a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine superfan who championed DS9 being properly honored in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
How Old Is The Dax Symbiont In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Professor Illa being Dax means that the Dax symbiont has endured into the 32nd century in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but this does raise questions. The Dax symbiont was born in 2018, and it was 357 years old in 2375 when Ezri Dax was its ninth host in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7.
Curzon Dax was a young Benjamin Sisko’s mentor and also contributes to the Dax symbiont’s intimate memories of Deep Space Nine’s Captain.
While it’s been established by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that Trill symbionts can live up to 800 years, the Dax symbiont would be 1,177 years old since Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in 3195. However, any number of technological or evolutionary changes could have occurred in the 800-year interim that could explain the longevity of the Dax symbiont.
Given the important role Dax has played in galactic events with its Starfleet Officer hosts, perhaps a way was found to extend the Dax symbiont’s life, with Illa as the current caretaker of the Dax legacy. Or perhaps the Dax symbiont can simply live for over a millennium naturally.
Professor Illa calling Captain Sisko “Benjamin” was a clue to her identity as Dax, as was her knowledge of Sisko’s love of tomatoes in his Creole and Cajun cooking. It makes perfect sense that <em>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would have a Dax as a professor to teach the cadets about the unexplainable things in the universe they will encounter as Starfleet Officers.
