Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 6 – “Come, Let’s Away”Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 6 features an unexpected reference to Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) from J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) reboot. Written by Kenneth Lin & Kiley Rossetter, and directed by Larry Teng, this episode sees Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) return to seek vengeance against Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) and Starfleet Academy.
Nus Braka was revealed to be collaborating with the Furies, who took a group of Starfleet cadets hostage aboard the derelict USS Miyazaki in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 6. The Furies, cannibalistic alien/human hybrids, operated from a cloaked starship that needed to be neutralized by the USS Athena to transport the cadets home.
From the USS Athena’s bridge, Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) and Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) devised a plan to track the Furies’ hidden vessel (which was “mostly Genesis’ idea”). Commander Lura Thok praised Genesis’ vision, stating, “You use your eyes with the precision of a hengra.”
Explanation of Starfleet Academy’s Secret Connection to Captain Kirk from Star Trek 2009
Jörg Hillebrand, a prominent researcher on Star Trek: Picard season 3, connected the hengra, Genesis Lythe in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and James T. Kirk in Star Trek (2009). Hillebrand noted on social media that the hengra is a callback to the creature that pursued Kirk on Delta Vega:
The hengrauggi was a massive predator that stalked Kirk across Delta Vega’s frozen wasteland after he was exiled from the USS Enterprise for mutiny by Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto). The hengrauggi is a multi-eyed creature that nearly devoured Kirk until Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), also stranded on Delta Vega by Nero (Eric Bana), chased it away.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy executive producer and co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman co-wrote Star Trek (2009) with Roberto Orci, and they created the hengrauggi with director J.J. Abrams, possibly inspired by the monster in Abrams’ produced Cloverfield.
The comparison of Genesis’ eyes to a hengra suggests that these creatures exist in Star Trek‘s Prime Universe version of Delta Vega, similar to their portrayal in J.J. Abrams’ alternate Kelvin timeline.
Three Intriguing New Aliens in Starfleet Academy
Genesis’ eyes possessing “the precision of a hengra” is the first significant detail revealed about Lythe’s race, the Dar-Sha. Aside from curved ridges instead of eyebrows, Genesis resembles a human but is exceptionally educated, driven, and on track to become the Starfleet Captain she aspires to be.
Genesis Lythe’s father is a Starfleet Admiral, and she was raised on starbases and starships, not stepping foot on a planet until she reached Earth.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s main cast includes two more new aliens: the fish-like Khionians, which are Darem Reymi’s race, and the holographic Kasqians, creators of Series Acclimation Mil aka SAM (Kerrice Brooks). As the Emissary of her people, SAM has been the most developed new alien in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy so far.
Genesis first saw Darem’s true blue form in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s series premiere when Reymi revealed that Khionians can survive in space for up to 8 minutes. While not much more has been explored about the Dar-Sha or Khionians yet, there is still ample time left in season 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, as well as in season 2, which is nearing completion of production.
