Star Trek: Prodigy Reveals Starfleet Academy Still Has TNG’s Nova Squadron
Star Trek: The Next Generation's season 5 episode "The First Duty" showed Wesley Crusher as a cadet at Starfleet Academy. Wes was a member of an elite squadron of cadets called the Nova Squadron. This team was responsible for the recent death of one of their own after Nova Squadron's forbidden maneuver backfired. Even though this happened, their status above other cadets gave them special privileges and allowances. The squadron's leader, Nick Locarno, tried to convince Wesley to lie but eventually took the fall for their teammate's death.
At the beginning of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, Dal R'El and the young crew of the USS Protostar follow the orders of Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway to join the crew of the newly-built USS Voyager-A. Dal, Zero, Rok-Tahk, Murf, and Jankom Pog immediately encounter Maj'el and Nova Squadron, who are cold and dismissive to Admiral Janeway's warrant officers. So, Starfleet Academy still sets some cadets above the others as 'elite' despite the proven mistakes that can come of that, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Why Starfleet Academy Elite Squadrons Are A Mistake
Starfleet is an exploratory organization meant to advance the United Federation of Planets' knowledge about the galaxy and harbor peace, so why does its school actively pit students against each other? Nova Squadron from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Prodigy and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Red Squad both seem to clash with the principles of Starfleet by placing "elite" cadets above other students. With Star Trek: Prodigy focusing so heavily on the cohesiveness of the Federation and the need for more teamwork, the inclusion of such a divisive group of cadets might be a big mistake.
There might be hope for Starfleet's Elite Squadrons to prove themselves as nobler than their predecessors. Just like Wesley Crusher and the original Nova Squadron came to terms with their own mistakes, Maj'el and her squad work closely with Dal and the rest of Star Trek: Prodigy's main group of misfits-turned-heroes in season 2. This teamwork means there might be hope for Starfleet's elite squadrons to prove themselves as nobler than their predecessors. Because Star Trek: Prodigy is known to excel at finding positive outlooks regarding dire situations and exploring the good in even the worst of characters, if anyone can redeem Star Trek: The Next Generation's mistake, it's Star Trek: Prodigy.
