Kids These Days

In a bleak post-Burn prologue, Starfleet officer Nahla Ake rules on a case involving pirate Nus Braka, who killed a Starfleet officer during a theft of food rations, and Anisha Mir. Braka goes to a penal colony, Anisha to rehabilitation, and her young son Caleb into Federation care, but Caleb escapes. Fifteen years later, Admiral Vance persuades Ake, long gone from Starfleet, to become chancellor of the newly reopened Starfleet Academy. Caleb, now a captured fugitive still searching for his mother, is offered a place instead of prison, and Ake promises to help find Anisha. Aboard the training ship USS Athena he meets his new classmates. When Caleb secretly tries his mother's old frequency, Braka traces the signal and attacks with programmable matter. The cadets pull together to save the injured Lura Thok and free the ship, and Braka escapes. In San Francisco, Caleb chooses to stay, and Ake reveals that her own son died in the Burn.