STAR TREK
STARFLEET ACADEMY
Season 1, Episode 3

Vitus Reflux

Series: Starfleet Academy - (2026 - present)
Season: 1
Episode #: 3
Production #: SFA-103
Original Airdate: 01/22/2026

Writer(s): Alex Taub & Kiley Rossetter
Director(s): Doug Aarniokoski

Also Starring
Gina Yashere as Lieutenant Commander Lura Thok
Stephen Colbert as Starfleet Academy's Digital Dean of Students
Tig Notaro as Commander Jett Reno Guest Stars
Raoul Bhaneja as Commander Zeeren Kelrec
Romeo Carere as Ocam Sadal
Alexander Eling as B'Avi
Dale Whibley as Kyle

Co-Stars
Cecilia Lee as Dzolo
Scott Gemmel as Darem's Posse Member
Mia Yaguchi-Chow as Darem's Posse Member
Ritchie Lawrence as Darem's Posse Member
Lily Du as the Voice of Vitus Reflux
Kostyn Mitruk as the Mugato
Chris Hong as the Holo-Guard
John Fray as the Botany Instructor
Brian David Gilbert as the voice of a DOT
Rekha Shankar as the voice of a DOT
Jeremy Culhane as the voice of a DOT

Stardate: 868858.7

Synopsis

Before the dawn of a new day, the Starfleet Academy cadets are already pushed to their limits during a joint physical training session with their perennial rivals, the War College. What begins as competitive posturing quickly curdles into open hostility. The War College cadets-severe, uniformed, and unyielding-trade barbs with Academy students who pride themselves on ingenuity over brute discipline. The rivalry is old, bitter, and very much alive.

That tension detonates almost immediately. The War College launches a merciless opening salvo in what becomes an all-out prank war, hacking Academy transporters to beam cadets into public spaces wearing nothing but their dignity-or rather, lacking it. Mocking highlight reels of the humiliation flood Academy viewscreens, rattling confidence and leaving Team Starfleet shaken and furious.

As the cadets reel, preparation continues for Calica, the annual inter-school competition that blends capture-the-flag, laser combat, and tactical teleportation into a brutal test of teamwork and nerve. But Team Starfleet can’t even agree on who should lead them. Genesis Lythe and Darem Reymi clash over the captaincy, their rivalry exposing deep fractures within the group. Desperate to win, Darem crosses a line during tryouts, needling Genesis with deeply personal jabs about her family to throw her off balance. It works-he gets the captain’s slot-but the team pays the price in trust. Meanwhile, Caleb Mir, who loudly disdains organized competition, proves to be a natural savant at Calica, much to his own irritation and everyone else’s surprise.

[ Complete Screencap Index ]

Sensing the team’s morale collapsing under the combined weight of humiliation and infighting, Chancellor Nahla Ake steps in. But instead of shutting down the chaos, she reframes it. Drawing on her own past-and echoing the Starfleet tradition of winning by thinking sideways-Ake challenges the cadets to respond creatively, not conventionally. Enter Vitus Reflux: a rapidly growing, bio-mimetic fungus that repeats any sound it hears in an increasingly shrill, maddening loop.

Inspired, the cadets devise a covert operation worthy of a heist film. Under cover of night, they infiltrate the War College dormitories and plant the fungus, turning their rivals’ living quarters into echo chambers of sleepless insanity. It’s risky, reckless-and exactly what the moment calls for.

While the rivalry escalates, quieter stories unfold at the margins. Caleb continues his forbidden connection with Tarima Sadal, a War College cadet whose intelligence and empathy challenge his assumptions about both institutions. Their stolen moments offer a reminder that the divide between the schools is cultural, not personal. Elsewhere, the episode drops a surprising revelation: instructors Jett Reno and Lura Thok are romantically involved, adding personal stakes to their attempts to maintain professional distance from the cadets’ escalating antics.

Everything converges during the Calica match. As Team Starfleet takes the field, the effects of Vitus Reflux ripple through the War College ranks, leaving them distracted and disoriented. But the true turning point isn’t the prank-it’s the shift within Team Starfleet itself. Forced to rely on one another mid-match, the cadets finally begin to function as a unit. Darem recognizes that his ego nearly cost them everything and makes peace with Genesis, ceding control when it matters most.

In the aftermath, Chancellor Ake makes the lesson explicit. Beating the War College was never the real objective. The point was transformation-turning a group of talented but isolated individuals into a crew. In the end, Team Starfleet stands united at last, having learned a core Starfleet truth: brilliance means nothing without trust, and survival depends on working together.

 | Beta Test (S1:E2) | ~ | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode List | ~ | Vox In Excelso (S1:E4) |