Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 6 review: a devastating turning point

TL;DR: Come, Let’s Away is the Empire Strikes Back moment for Starfleet Academy. The villains win, the heroes pay the price, and the Federation’s optimism takes a direct hit. If this is the back half setup, we’re in for one hell of a warp-speed ride.: Come, Let’s Away is the Empire Strikes Back moment for Starfleet Academy. The villains win, the heroes pay the price, and the Federation’s optimism takes a direct hit. If this is the back half setup, we’re in for one hell of a warp-speed ride.

If you told me a year ago that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would deliver one of the bleakest, most gut-punch endings in modern Trek, I probably would’ve smiled politely and rewatched The Wrath of Khan for comfort. And yet here we are. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 6, titled Come, Let’s Away, doesn’t just raise the stakes. It fires a quantum torpedo straight through the heart of Starfleet idealism and leaves us floating in the debris field.

This episode feels like a mid-season finale disguised as a training mission. By the time the credits roll, we’ve got a destroyed starship, thousands dead, a cadet in a coma, one confirmed casualty, a glitching photonic being, and a villain who just outplayed the Federation at three-dimensional chess while sipping whatever passes for Klingarite espresso.

Let’s unpack that ending, because Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6 ending explained is not just about plot mechanics. It’s about betrayal, sacrifice, and the cost of trusting in the Federation’s better angels.

Nus Braka’s Masterstroke: The Long Con That Broke Starfleet

Let’s start with the architect of this chaos: Nus Braka.

Played with delicious menace by Paul Giamatti, Braka doesn’t just twirl a metaphorical mustache. He dismantles Starfleet’s trust in itself. His plan in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6 is layered, precise, and fueled by a deeply personal grudge against Captain Nahla Ake.

On the surface, Braka is called in as a Hail Mary. The Furies have taken War College and Academy cadets hostage aboard the derelict USS Miyazaki. The Federation needs someone who’s beaten them before. Braka claims he once defeated the Furies with a sonic weapon. He’ll help… for a price.

Classic Trek setup. The devil you know, right?

Except the Furies were never the real endgame.

Braka’s true objective was J19-Alpha, a Federation station housing top-secret tech. Guarded by the Intrepid-class USS Sargasso, it was safe until the Sargasso was lured away to assist the USS Athena. That diversion was the key move. The Furies’ cloaked ship disables the Sargasso. The Athena destroys the cloaked vessel, but by then the damage is done. J19-Alpha is laid bare.

The Venari Ral, Braka’s allies, massacre the station and loot whatever was inside. Thousands die. The USS Discovery arrives not as cavalry, but as cleanup crew, collecting escape pods from a massacre.

That’s the twist. The hostage crisis aboard the Miyazaki? A decoy. The emotional manipulation of Captain Ake? A bonus.

Braka didn’t just win tactically. He humiliated Starfleet. He forced them to react emotionally. He exploited their instinct to save lives. He weaponized compassion.

That’s cold. Even for Trek.

Tarima Sadal’s Sacrifice and the Coma That Changes Everything

If Braka’s plot is the macro tragedy, Tarima Sadal is the micro one.

Tarima and Caleb Mir’s psychic connection has been simmering all season. In Episode 6, it becomes the lifeline that keeps the cadets alive. Through her Betazoid abilities, Tarima relays Chancellor Kelrec’s Singularity Drive plan to the trapped cadets on the Miyazaki’s bridge.

But here’s the kicker. Tarima has a neural inhibitor limiting her telepathic power. She rips it out.

And that moment? That’s where Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6 ending explained becomes emotionally devastating.

She unleashes her full Betazoid power in a psychic and sonic blast that wipes out the Furies storming the bridge. It’s raw. It’s uncontrolled. It’s heroic.

And it puts her into a coma.

We also learn why her father is deaf: a childhood incident where she lost control of her powers. This isn’t just a power-up moment. It’s trauma revisited. Tarima’s arc is no longer about romantic tension or cadet rivalry. It’s about whether she can survive being the weapon she never wanted to be.

Caleb, who was already carrying emotional scars, now has to process the fact that the girl who reached into his mind may not wake up.

That’s not a cliffhanger. That’s a character earthquake.

B’Avi’s Death and the Wrath of Khan Echo

Then comes the moment I genuinely did not expect: B’Avi’s death.

The Vulcan War College cadet, rival to Darem Reymi and walking embodiment of disciplined snark, is shot point-blank by a Fury phaser before Tarima unleashes her blast.

It’s abrupt. It’s brutal. It’s very un-Starfleet Academy in the best way.

Earlier, B’Avi quotes Spock from The Wrath of Khan, referencing the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. If you’ve watched enough Trek, that’s practically a red shirt soaked in narrative foreshadowing.

And sure enough, like Spock in Star Trek II, B’Avi dies mid-mission, sacrificing his future before it even really begins.

What makes it hit harder is that this was supposed to be a training exercise. A simulation turned hostage crisis turned war zone. War College pride means nothing against a phaser blast to the chest.

For Chancellor Kelrec and the War College, this isn’t just a loss. It’s a reckoning. These cadets are not playing at heroism anymore. They’re living its consequences.

SAM’s Glitch and the Fragility of a Photonic Life

As if one death and one coma weren’t enough, SAM takes a phaser hit.

Series Acclimation Mil, our endlessly optimistic photonic cadet, survives. But she’s glitching. Visibly unstable. And even The Doctor looks uncertain about repairing her.

This stings because Episode 5 was SAM’s victory lap. She embraced her role as Emissary of the Kasqians, drawing inspiration from Benjamin Sisko’s legacy. She finally stepped into her identity.

Now? There’s a black cloud hanging over her existence.

A photonic being isn’t just flesh and blood. Damage to her matrix could ripple through her entire consciousness. Star Trek has always loved exploring what it means to be alive. SAM’s condition puts that question back on the table, and I suspect it’s going to get very philosophical very fast.

Captain Ake and the “Special Gift”

And then there’s Captain Nahla Ake.

Holly Hunter absolutely devours this episode. Her scenes with Braka crackle with personal history. He needles her about The Burn and the death of her son. He accuses her of choosing duty over family.

That’s not just villain monologuing. That’s psychological warfare.

Braka’s hatred isn’t abstract. It’s personal. She put him in prison 15 years ago. He lost time. He lost power. And now he’s engineered a catastrophe that leaves her reeling.

But the most chilling line? He promises her a “special gift.”

He already stole whatever was hidden at J19-Alpha. He’s now the most wanted man in the quadrant. But that promise suggests this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

If Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6 feels like a mid-season finale, it’s because it detonates the status quo. The Academy is no longer insulated. The War College has tasted real war. The Federation has been embarrassed on a galactic stage.

And Braka is still out there.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 6 delivers a shocking, emotionally devastating ending that redefines the series. With Nus Braka’s masterful long con, Tarima’s coma-inducing sacrifice, B’Avi’s tragic death, and SAM’s uncertain future, this episode transforms a cadet drama into a full-blown galactic tragedy. It’s bold, brutal, and powered by phenomenal performances from Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.